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Afenifere: Pa Fasanmi lived a fulfilled life
Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, says the late Pa Ayo Fasanmi who died on Wednesday at the age of 94 lived a life of fulfillment. The Spokesman for Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said this in a telephone interview with newsmen on Thursday. He said, “He lived a long life of fulfillment and we pray his soul rests in perfect peace.” Odumakin said the group would send in a tribute to the late Yoruba leader later. Until his demise, Fasanmi was the leader of Yoruba socio-cultural group, Egbe Afenifere, and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress. He joined the Obafemi Awolowo-led Unity Party of Nigeria in 1978 and was a candidate in the Ondo State governorship primary election but lost to Adekunle Ajasin, the former governor of Ondo State. Fasanmi subsequently won a senatorial seat i...
Eid-el-Kabir: Senators Lawan, Ekweremadu, Adeola felicitate with Muslim Ummah
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan; former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; and Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, have felicitated with the Muslim Ummah on the occasion of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebrations. Lawan in his Sallah message urged Muslims to continue to seek the face of the Almighty “in our various national wars, be they against insecurity or the COVID-19 pandemic, and as we strive to make Nigeria a comfortable home for all its citizens. “As we celebrate the feast of sacrifice with worship, I enjoin us to be mindful of the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic and adhere strictly to the safety protocols prescribed by our public health authorities”. In the message personally signed by him on Thursday, the Senate President...
Publishing Briefs: Rodney Jerkins Puts Hipgnosis Under His Spell, Primary Wave Acquires Stake in Devo
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited has acquired the 982-song music catalog of four-time Grammy winner Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who under the terms of the deal will also join Hipgnosis’ Investment Adviser’s Advisory Board. The agreement includes 100% of Jerkins’ writer’s share of income for his early works and 100% of his publishing interest and writer’s share of income for his later works. Jerkins’ long list of hits includes tracks for Mary J. Blige (“I Can’t Love You”), Brandy (“The Boy Is Mine”), Whiney Houston (“It’s Not Right But It’s Okay”), Destiny’s Child (“Say My Name”), Beyoncé (“Déjà Vu”), Spice Girls (“Holler”/”Let Love Lead the Way”), Michael Jackson (“You Rock My World”), Sam Smith (“Stay With Me”), Lady Gaga (“Telephone” feat. Beyoncé), Jennifer Lopez (“If You Had My Love”), Jus...
SiriusXM, Pandora Add Self-Pay Subscribers, Advertising Falls Amid Pandemic
Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM, the home of Howard Stern, on Thursday said it added self-pay subscribers in its satellite radio and Pandora businesses for the second quarter, the first one that was fully affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The company, controlled by John Malone‘s Liberty Media, said its satellite radio subscribers fell when including promotional subs, just like had been the case in the first quarter. In the year-ago period, it had added a total of 174,000 net users. In the latest period, SiriusXM added 264,000 self-pay customers, but lost 768,000 promotional subs to end June with 30.3 million self-pay and 34.3 million total users, down 516,000. “Paid promotional subscribers decreased due to declines in shipments from automakers offering paid trial su...
Police arrest pastor, 34 others for kidnapping dispatch rider
The Police force headquarters in Abuja has paraded a 52-year old self-acclaimed pastor, Adetokunbo Adenokpo, for abducting a dispatch rider and detaining him in an underground facility in his church in Sagamu, Lagos. The suspect, had called the company where the dispatch rider works, Glory Master Logistics, who mainly distributes Forever Living products and ordered for supply of some products to be delivered at his residence only to abduct the rider. The police also paraded 34 other suspects for kidnapping, armed robbery ritual killers, and cattle rustlers for terrorizing innocent travelers with their deadly activities. Parading the suspects, Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said the dispatch rider with Glory Master Logistics, Job Ekpe Jonathan, who mainly distributes Forever...
PDP: President Buhari government frustrating war against corruption
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Wednesday, accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of deliberate hoarding of relevant information from Nigerians on the extent of corruption in his administration. This is even as the party said Nigerians have noted the blackmails, intimidation, and threats coming from government quarters, “in their feverish bid to frustrate whistleblowers and truncate on-going uncovering of widespread corruption in ministries, departments and agencies, under the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration.” Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said one of such antics by this administration was Tuesday, July 28, 2020 press conference by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Moh...
EFCC docks woman for ‘N2.7 million oil fraud’
The Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, arraigned a suspected fraudster, Ikujemisi Modupe Naomi, before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos on two-count charges of obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N2, 790,000.00( Two Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira only). The sum is the value of 18,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), she fraudulently obtained from her victim, Miss Faith Meribe. One of the charge read, “That you, Ikujemisi Modupe Naomi, sometime in 2017 in Lagos, within the Ikeja judicial division, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, induced Miss Faith Meribe of Merit Integrated Service to confer a benefit of 18,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO)...
Benue health commissioner resigns
The Benue State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Sunday Ongbabo, has resigned his position. Dr. Ongbabo until his resignation also doubled as the Secretary of the State Action Committee on COVID-19. His resignation was announced Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi, at the end of the weekly State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Samuel Ortom. According to the Information Commissioner, Dr. Ongbabo resigned on his in terms of duly informing the Governor of his decision to quit his position. “Dr. Ongbabo disclosed that he was resigning for personal reasons and not in connection with any problems whatsoever. And Governor Ortom wished him well in his future endeavors,” Mrs. Addingi said. The Information Commis...
Ashley Judd’s Sexual Harassment Claim Against Harvey Weinstein Revived by Appeals Court
Harvey Weinstein will have to face a sexual harassment claim from Ashley Judd even though the actress was never actually employed by the disgraced movie mogul. On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that California Civil Code § 51.9 encompassed their relationship sufficiently to provide Judd with the ability to sue him for sexual harassment. Judd alleges in her complaint that she became Weinstein’s victim when the movie mogul made demands on her in a hotel room about 20 years ago. Judd says that she only escaped after relenting to a deal where she would let him touch her if she won an Academy Award. Later, Judd says she was in serious discussions for a big role in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, but that opportunity was torpedoed after Weinstein or someone ...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Grilled at Big Tech Hearing About Being Unfair to Streamers
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might be the richest person in the world, but he’s also a rookie. Until Wednesday, he had never before been grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That changed today when top executives at the nation’s leading technology companies gathered — at least virtually — for testimony before a House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee. There, Bezos faced blistering questions about whether the e-commerce giant has abused its market power. “A lot of people want to know when the HBO Max app will be available on your Fire devices,” Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Bezos. “I understand negotiations are ongoing but your company is not only asking for financial terms but also for content from Warner Media…. Is it fair to use your gatekeepe...
Alice Ivy Signs Global Publishing Deal With Concord, Native Tongue
Alice Ivy has struck a new worldwide publishing deal through a joint venture with Concord Music Publishing and Australian independent publisher Native Tongue. “Publishing is something I’ve taken my time with,” said Ivy of the new arrangement, which is effective immediately. “I wanted to hold off until I’d matured as a songwriter and a producer and wait for the right partners to come along. Between the team at Native Tongue, who’ve always looked out for me, and my new family at Concord, it feels like the best possible set-up for me at this exciting stage in my career. When it came down to it, they asked what I was looking for and I said, ‘I want to be jumping on planes and writing music every day’ and they said, ‘we can do that.'” The Melbourn...
U.S. suffered worst quarterly contraction on record as virus ravages economy
“This is obviously the ugliest quarter we’ve ever seen in our history,” Edward Moya, senior analyst at currency trading firm OANDA, said of the Commerce Department’s initial estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product, which showed the economy contracting 32.9 percent on an annualized basis, the biggest drop in more than seven decades of records. “A couple of weeks ago there was a lot more optimism that we would see a strong V-shaped recovery,” Moya said. But right now “there is a lot of bad news about how some areas are handling the virus. And every day we don’t have a new stimulus agreement in place is hurting the economy.” A misleading video about hydroxychloroquine has gone viral. Trump is back to touting the drug as a Covid-19 cure — despite evidence that it’s ineffective. So wh...
