BBNaija 2021 witness six housemate’s nomination for eviction.
Prior to the eviction of some housemate, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu took time to clear up issues that occurred over the week.
He questioned Pere over his eviction of Whitemoney from kitchen operations, especially on why he felt about the latter employing some sort of strategy of monopoly.
The eviction of Arin’s from the house came on live on Sunday. The fashion designer cum arts collector was nominated alongside Tega,Saskay, Princess, Emmanuel and Nini.
Princess became the next and final housemate to exit the show this week, as she halt the housemates from giving her a farewell hug. As she was set to go, she spilled out who her man crush was in the house.
According to her, Cross was the person she had a strong feelings for, not Whitemoney.
Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas passes on
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas whose literary songs like “Love at the Five and Dime” celebrated the South, has died. She was 68.
Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith died Friday but did not provide a cause of death.
“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.
Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris. She had a high-pitched voice, and her singing was effortlessly smooth with a twangy Texas accent as she sang about Dust Bowl farmers and empty Woolworth general stores.
Griffith was also known for her recording of “From a Distance,” which would later become a well-known Bette Midler tune. The song appeared on Griffith’s first major label release, “Lone Star State of Mind” in 1987.
Her 1993 album “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” earned a Grammy for best contemporary folk album. Named after a Truman Capote novel, the album features Griffith singing with Harris, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie and Guy Clark on classic folk songs.
In 2008, Griffith won the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association.
Country singer Suzy Bogguss, who had a Top 10 hit with Griffith’s song “Outbound Plane,” posted a remembrance to her friend on Instagram.
“I feel blessed to have many memories of our times together along with most everything she ever recorded. I’m going to spend the day reveling in the articulate masterful legacy she’s left us,” Bogguss wrote.
Darius Rucker called Griffith one of his idols and why he moved to Nashville.
“Singing with her was my favorite things to do,” he wrote on Twitter.
Keeping in line with the tradition of folk music, Griffith often wrote social commentary into her songs, such as the anti-racist ode “It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go,” and the economic impact on rural farmers in the 1980s on “Trouble in the Fields.”
“I wrote it because my family were farmers in West Texas during the Great Depression,” Griffith told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “It was written basically as a show of support for my generation of farmers.”
Griffith gained many fans in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she would often tour.
Afghan president flees country as Taliban move into Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, joining thousands of his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking the country.
The Taliban fanned out across the capital, and an official with the militant group said it would soon announce the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the presidential palace in Kabul. That was the name of the country under Taliban rule before the militants were ousted by U.S.-led forces after the 9/11 attacks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The Al-Jazeera news network later aired footage showing a group of Taliban fighters inside the presidential palace.
The city was gripped by panic, with helicopters racing overhead throughout the day to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents, and the American flag was lowered. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out.
Afghans fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings. The desperately poor — who had left homes in the countryside for the presumed safety of the capital — remained in parks and open spaces throughout the city.
Though the Taliban had promised a peaceful transition, the U.S. Embassy suspended operations and warned Americans late in the day to shelter in place and not try to get to the airport.
Commercial flights were suspended after sporadic gunfire erupted at the airport, according to two senior U.S. military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations. Evacuations continued on military flights, but the halt to commercial traffic closed off one of the last routes available for Afghans fleeing the country.
Still, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected comparisons to the U.S. pullout from Vietnam, as many watched in disbelief at the sight of helicopters landing in the embassy compound to take diplomats to a new outpost at Kabul International Airport.
“This is manifestly not Saigon,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The American ambassador was among those evacuated, said officials who spoke condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing military operations. He was asking to return to the embassy, but it was not clear if he would be allowed to.
As the insurgents closed in Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country.
“The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation,” said Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council. “God should hold him accountable.”
Ghani later posted on Facebook that he had chosen to leave the country to avert bloodshed in the capital, without saying where he had gone.
As night fell, Taliban fighters deployed across Kabul, taking over abandoned police posts and pledging to maintain law and order during the transition. Residents reported looting in parts of the city, including in the upscale diplomatic district, and messages circulating on social media advised people to stay inside and lock their gates.
In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.
Sepp Blatter, the former world football chief, arrived on Monday for final hearings with a Swiss prosecutor in a fraud probe surrounding a 2011 FIFA payment to Michel Platini.
Former FIFA president Blatter, 85, is being investigated over a two million Swiss franc ($2.2 million, 1.85 million euro) payment to Platini, who was then in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.
“This morning, Mr Blatter went for his hearing at the federal prosecutor’s office in Zurich,” Blatter’s spokesman Thomas Renggli told AFP.
The final hearing in the investigation was postponed to August due to the retired Swiss football administrator’s poor health.
In March, he was convalescing in a clinic after spending two months in hospital in December and January.
Due to Blatter’s condition, the hearing with a federal prosecutor from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland can only last for around 90 minutes.
The hearing could therefore continue on subsequent days this week if required.
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter became FIFA’s general secretary in 1981 and the president of world football’s governing body in 1998.
He was forced to stand down in 2015 and was originally banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches when he authorised what prosecutors termed a “disloyal payment” to Platini — in other words, one made in his interests rather than FIFA’s.
Blatter and Platini, 66, found themselves at the centre of a Swiss investigation.
“Specifically, the criminal proceedings against Joseph Blatter are now being conducted on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and unfaithful business management,” the OAG said in a statement ahead of the hearing.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, in lengthy and complex proceedings, “the accused are questioned one last time before the investigation is concluded, and asked to comment on the results of the investigation”, the OAG added.
The OAG said the presumption of innocence applied to all parties in the proceedings and it could not put a time frame on concluding the investigation.
A Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Monday remanded a 21-year-old student, Chidinma Ojukwu and one other for 30 days at a correctional centre for alleged murder.
LAGOS, Nigeria – Ojukwu and Adedapo Quadri, 40, are facing trial for allegedly killing the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Mr Usifo Ataga.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Adeola Adedayo gave the order after the Prosecutor, Mr Cyril Ajifor appealed to the court to remand them to enable the police complete investigation.
Adedayo also ordered that the case file should be forwarded to the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice. She adjourned the case until Sept. 5 for mention.
Ajifor told the court that the defendants allegedly committed the offences on June 16, at No. 19, Adewale Oshin St., Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
Ajifor alleged that Ojukwu and Quadri, conspired to kill Ataga and stole his laptop, phones and cash valued at N3.8 million. On arraignment on Monday, the police had brought Ojukwu, Quadri and five other defendants to court.
The other five defendants are, Onoh Ojukwu, 57; Obafemi Disu, 42; Chioma Egbuchi, 28; Olutayo Abayomi, 23; and Ifeoluwa Olowu, 24.
But the magistrate ruled that the prosecution should separate the charge of Ojukwu and Quadri from the other five defendants before arraignment.
The magistrate said Ojukwu and Quadri should be arraigned for conspiracy, murder and stealing while others should be rearranged for allegedly receiving stolen property, resisting public officers and attempt to pervert justice.
The prosecution separated the charges and appealed to the court that the other five defendants would be docked before the end of Monday’s sitting.
Nigeria finishes 74th at Tokyo Olympics, 8th best from Africa
Team Nigeria was placed 74th at the end of the 2020 Tokyo Games on Sunday and eighth best among the 54 African nations at the Games.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team Nigeria won two medals comprising one silver and one bronze, after being represented by 55 athletes.
While Ese Brume won the bronze medal from the women’s long jump event, Blessing Oborududu won the silver medal from the wrestling event’s women’s freestyle 68kg.
The Games which began on July 23 and ended on Sunday had 93 of the 206 participating teams making it to the medals table, including 13 of the 54 from Africa.
Olympic body seeks to boost diversity among swimmers
After an Olympics of too little diversity in the swimming pool, and less on the medal podium, the sport’s governing body is investing tens of millions of dollars to change that by 2024.
Elite training centers in Africa and scholarship programs worldwide are part of a strategy to help athletes emerge from outside the sport’s power bases. Of 105 medals won in the pool at the Tokyo Games, almost half went to Americans and Australians. Only three were won by Africans, and none of those by Black swimmers.
That picture should be different at the 2024 Paris Olympics, newly elected FINA president Husain al-Musallam told The Associated Press, pledging to make student-athletes a priority.
“I believe there will be a lot of athletes coming from Africa in swimming and they will reach the podium,” al-Musallam said in an interview at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. “When you give opportunity to everybody they perform. Africans have a lack of resources, especially for aquatic sport.”
One stand-out story in Tokyo was 18-year-old Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia, who won a surprise gold in the 400 freestyle.
Two years ago, Hafnaoui didn’t make the 400 final at the junior world championships, but had access to a gym to build his strength for the Olympics, the FINA president said.
“Without weights, it’s difficult to produce,” al-Musallam said. “I’m sure if he was doing one year of good preparation he will (set) a new world record.”
FINA has identified Tunisia, Senegal and two universities in South Africa as elite training bases to place African athletes. Others will go to Europe, in Hungary and Russia.
Abeku Jackson of Ghana trained for the men’s 100 butterfly at a FINA-supported base in Kazan, the 2025 world championships host city in Russia. His time of 53.39 seconds set a national record but did not advance him from the heats.
“You can’t snap your fingers and put minorities (swimmers) on the podium,” new FINA executive director Brent Nowicki said.
He pointed to FINA spending $29 million over four years on a strategy to widen and deepen swimming’s talent pool.
“You will see a number of Africans and minorities student athletes competing,” predicted Nowicki, an American sports lawyer hired to help reform FINA.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization has long been among the richest Olympic sports bodies but with little transparency.
To lead the change in June, al-Musallam was elected president as the only candidate despite being implicated four years ago by an American court in buying votes in soccer elections. Al-Musallam, who denies wrongdoing and has not been indicted, had been FINA’s senior vice president since 2017.
In Tokyo, FINA announced a 50% rise in prize money for the 25-meter pool world championships, which will be held in Abu Dhabi in December. World records will earn $50,000 bonuses from a total pot of $2.8 million.
The previous FINA leadership’s failure to reward athletes led to the breakaway International Swimming League, and an anti-trust suit in California filed by swimmers including three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszú and Tokyo gold medalist Michael Andrew.
That case is ongoing, and al-Musallam said he has taken part in two online meetings with a judge seeking to reach a settlement between the parties.
The FINA president has talked with and plans to meet Matt Biondi, the American swim great who leads the new International Swimmers’ Alliance representing the sport’s athletes.
Al-Musallam said he did not announce having spoken with Biondi “because then I will be a showman. I am not a showman.”
He also engaged with Olympic stars in Tokyo, inviting them to go to Africa and inspire young swimmers.
“I said, ‘I can give you this opportunity. I send you to Ghana. Talk to the kids in the river,’” al-Musallam said. “I want to work in the field, I’m quiet. You judge the result.”
Gyakie’s ‘Need Me’ single laced with a mid-tempo afrobeat orchestration is a love song that shares a remarkable talent of deep afrocentric fusion and soul, backed with a supper vocal power.
Gyakie’s much awaiting single came with tremendous acceptance from her fans and music enthusiasts.
The afro-soul diva gave an insight of the essence of the song, according to her: ‘Need Me’ is a love song. This song goes out to people that are willing to sacrifice everything for the people they love. The people that are always available for the ones they love. This song is powerful, it’s a song for the heart and the message that is being sent out is that “love is a beautiful thing, and if you happen to find love, enjoy the most out of it”. I’m very excited about this release because it’s been a year since I dropped music and I know my fans have been yearning for it. It’s finally here and I believe it’s going to be another global wave!”
“Drugged and carried” unconsciously onto plane according to a new book, Aaliyah was deep asleep when it took off and crashed.
R&B singer Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash at the age of 22, didn’t want to get on the doomed plane but she was carried on board unconscious after being given a sedative, a new book claims.
Aaliyah tragically died in August 2001 alongside eight others after a plane destined for Miami crashed less than a minute after take-off in the Bahamas.
It later emerged that the tiny aircraft had exceeded its allotted weight by several hundred pounds, the New York Times reported. In addition, the weight was improperly distributed, making the aircraft difficult to control while in the air.
Meanwhile, the pilot had reportedly faked his license and was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time of the accident, according to a 2002 toxicology report.
Crash investigators inspect the wreckage Aug. 26, 2001, in which Aaliyah and her film crew died at Marsh Harbour Airport in Abaco, Bahamas. | Image: AP
However, what remained a mystery since the devastating crash almost two decades ago was why, as initially suggested that Aaliyah, a known nervous flier, had insisted on boarding the overloaded plane back to Miami, despite there being a chartered jet due to pick her up the following day.
But in her upcoming book, Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, music journalist Kathy Iandoli believes she’s finally uncovered the truth.
As first reported by the Daily Beast, a Bahamian man who had been with the popstar just moments before her death has claimed that was not the case.
Kingsley Russell, whose family ran a taxi and hospitality business in the Abaco Islands, was just 13-years old on August 25th 2001, but he was with the star as his stepmother drove her team to the airport for her return flight back to the U.S.
Russell got to work with Aaliyah’s entourage as her team’s baggage carrier thanks to his aunt, Annie Russell, who ran a small hospitality business on the island.
As a teen, Russell claims that when the singer saw the plane to take her back to the U.S. mainland, she refused to get on board and went back to sleep in the cab his stepmother was driving, telling her team she had a headache.
The book | Image: Atria Books
Aaliyah had just finished filming a music video for her song Rock The Boat and upon completion of the shoot, the team were keen to get back to Miami, about 50 miles away.
After dropping the team off at the airport, Aaliyah had concerns about the aircraft after hearing that it would be overweight. Feeling a little under the weather and suffering from a headache, she decided to spend time in the back of the cab with the air conditioning leaving her crew to sort the problems out.
Later, according to Russell, someone from her entourage returned to ask her what was wrong. Aaliyah is said to have repeated her concerns about getting on the plane at which point she was handed a sleeping pill. She fell into a deep sleep.
Russell headed back inside the airport while the star dozed in the back of the taxi. Upon entering the terminal, the book details how he could hear people bickering and arguing over the weight problems and the subsequent delays that were being caused.
“[The airport staff] and Aaliyah had the common sense that the plane was overweight,” Russell is quoted in the book.
Two hours later, the pilot once again advised there was too much cargo for the aircraft to fly. He was backed up by baggage handlers at the airport, but then the argument ended abruptly and the pilot agreed to continue with the trip.
All the while, Aaliyah was still fast asleep in the back of the taxi van completely unaware of what had been going on inside the airport terminal.
Russell details how Aaliyah was brought out of the van and carried onto the plane despite her earlier reservations. She was still knocked out from whatever pill she had been given.
“They took her out of the van; she didn’t even know she was getting boarded on a plane,” Russell states in the book. “She went on the airplane asleep.”
Moments later, the aircraft was ready to depart and began hurtling down the runway. It was airborne for less than a minute before it came crashing down a couple of hundred feet from the end. Although some on board survived the initial crash including Aaliyah’s bodyguard and hair stylist, within hours they were all dead.
Aaliyah’s body was found still strapped into her seat, about 20 feet away from the wreckage. An autopsy detailed major head trauma and extensive burns making her survival was ‘unthinkable.’
“I remember when Aaliyah passed away, I was really upset,” Iandoli added to The Daily Beast. “The story kept saying that she was adamant about getting on the plane. I was almost upset with her. Why did you want to get on that plane so badly?
“In learning that she did not want to get on the plane, for someone like myself and so many other people, I think that’s closure for us. It’s an unfortunate closure… but I needed to hear she didn’t want to get on that plane; I needed to know that. The person who I thought had the most common sense in the world had common sense to not get on the plane. The fact that she was so adamant, staying in the cab, refusing — these are things we never knew.”
Iandoli added: “The only thing I’ve taken with me is that after 20 years, I can finally say that Aaliyah didn’t want to get on the plane. That makes me feel a little better, but not much. This didn’t have to happen. She should still be here, and I think that’s the saddest part about it. She deserved better.”
Oven-hot, Sarkodie’s Rollies & Cigars gain momentum
Ghanian smooth rapper extra ordinary, Sarkodie, has officially released a new official music video, titled “Rollies and Cigars“. The music video is a one-off from his newly released “No Pressure” album.
The quality of the music video shows the depth and effort put into the production, led by Yaw Skyface and Kayso, who produced the song.
