The Kano police command says it will not comply with the directive of the state government on the eviction of Aminu Bayero, the deposed 15th Emir of Kano.

Speaking in an interview with Punch on Friday, Usaini Gumel, Kano commissioner of police, said the state government is “jumping the gun” with the eviction directive.

“The police will not evict the deposed Emir because the same government has filed a case at the state high court on the eviction order, which would come up on Monday, 24th June 2024,” Gumel was quoted as saying.

“The government is jumping the gun because the same government has filed a case on the eviction order, which is coming up on the 24th of June, 2024.

“So, if we carry out the order, it is like we are pre-empting the court because we don’t know what will happen at the court.”

On Thursday, the federal high court in Kano nullified all actions by the state government repealing the Kano Emirates Council Law of 2019 on May 23.

Muhammed Liman, the presiding judge, held that the defendants were aware of an interim order previously granted by the court but ignored it and implemented the Kano Emirates Council Law 2024.

The judge, however, ruled that his order did not affect the validity of the emirate law passed by the state house of assembly.

On May 23, Abba Yusuf, the Kano governor, announced the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi as Emir of Kano.

The governor also ordered the dethronement of Bayero as Emir of Kano.

Speaking after the court verdict, Haruna Dederi, Kano attorney-general and commissioner for justice, said the state has acknowledged the judgment, noting that the ruling affirmed the validity of the emirate law.

Dederi said the government has ordered the demolition of a section of the palace of Bayero.

He added that the police have been directed to take over the Emir’s palace in Nassarawa LGA.

Grammy award-winning Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi popularly known as Tems has expressed her desire to start a women’s football team.

The ‘Essence‘ coroner shared her passion for sports during a recent episode of her YouTube podcast, expressing a keen interest in football.

According to the singer, her team will compete in regional competitions to support the Nigerian women’s football league.

She said, “I love sports. I love sports, but if I could play football, I would. I’m like a football fan.

“I want to start a female football team. I think it is something that is needed. Like, why can’t we just have something like a local tournament with the girls? I feel like it would be fun.”

Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has faulted the decision of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to disallow the Netherlands’ goal against France in the 2024 Euro Championship.

Recall that Xavi Simons’s goal was disallowed in the second half by the VAR for offside.

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However, Evra insisted that there was nothing wrong with the goal scored by the Netherlands.

“It’s a shocking decision; that should be a goal. Someone should tell me about this rule.

“The Dutch player was not blocking Maignan’s view. Maybe the person sitting in the VAR room tonight was Stevie Wonder.

“It’s a clear goal. As a Frenchman, I should be finding an excuse, but I can’t; it’s a goal,” Evra said.

Celeste Arantes, the mother of Brazilian football legend, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, popularly known as Pele, has died.

The family announced the sad development in a statement on Friday, noting that Arantes passed away at the age of 101.

“Rest in peace, grandma,” Pele’s eldest son, Edinho mourned Arantes via his social media page on Friday, attaching a photograph of him and his grandmother.

Naija News reports that the bereaved family has not made public further details regarding Arantes’ burial at the time of filing this report.

Arantes was said to be 17 years of age when she gave birth to her first child (Pele) on October 23, 1940.

Reports had it that at the time of her son’s death, Arantes had cognitive difficulties and was unaware her world-famous son had died.

Recall that Pele, who is considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time, died on 29 December 2022, at 82 years old.

Arantes, who married Pele’s father, Joao Ramos do Nascimento, at the age of 16, also had another son, Jair, who died in 2020 of cancer, the same illness that claimed Pele’s life.

“From a young age, she taught me the value of love and peace,” Pele wrote on Instagram on his mother’s 100th birthday, along with three pictures of them together at different stages in life.

Days after celebrating his mother, Pele was admitted to a hospital in Sao Paulo, where he later died of cancer.

His funeral procession included an emotional stop at his mother’s house.

Pele was the only player in history to win three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).

The naira depreciated to N1,495 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.

The current rate represents a drop of 0.33 percent from the N1,490/$ traded on June 19.

Speaking to TheCable in Lagos, currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N1,460 and the selling price at N1,495 — leaving a profit margin of N35.

At the official window, the local currency depreciated marginally to N1,485.53/$ on Friday — from N1,485.36/$ on June 20.

According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the official FX trading in Nigeria, the dollar exchanged for as high as N1,505 and as low as N1,401, during trading hours.

The daily FX market turnover stood at $193.50 million.

On June 14, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the FX market.

Owing to the devaluation of the naira, there have been consistent fluctuations in the FX market.

The FX situation, according to Timi Bomodi, comptroller of Seme command, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on June 9, has made Nigerian goods affordable for African countries.

However, Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on May 29, said the devaluation of the naira accounted largely for the high cost of local medicine production.

Flynas, a Saudi Arabian airline, says arrangements have been concluded to airlift the first batch of Nigerian pilgrims back home on Saturday.

In April, the airline signed an agreement with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to airlift pilgrims in the 2024 hajj exercise.

Yasser Ajlan, Flynas director for business development, had said the airline airlifted pilgrims from Borno, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe, and Zamfara states to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

In a statement on Friday, Umar Kaila, general sales agent (GSA) of Flynas, said pilgrims from Kebbi state would be airlifted from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport (SABIA) in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.

“We are happy to announce that Flynas is fully set to begin Phase Two of the airlift operation of Nigerian pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria from Saturday, June 22, 2024, with pilgrims from Kebbi State,” the statement reads.

“Like we had a seamless airlift operation from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia during Phase One without any delay, we have made adequate arrangements to transport our pilgrims back to Nigeria seamlessly and efficiently.” 

Kaila said the airline has provided a smooth and seamless return airlift operation from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria.

He said the airline will conduct the return operation in 49 flights with five aircraft which will include pilgrims returning to Kebbi, Lagos, Sokoto, Zamfara, Yobe, Borno, Osun, Ogun, and Niger state.

An officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was on Friday injured by a driver along Osogbo/Gbongan Road, near Osun Government Secretariat in Abere.

The driver was said to be driving at top speed when FRSC officers at a roadblock near the Osun Sector Headquarters located along the expressway, waved him to stop.

It was however learned that the driver travelling in a Lexus Jeep, did not stop.

He was said to have hit the FRSC officer and dragged him along the road until he (the victim) fell off the vehicle.

Two eyewitnesses, identified simply as Fatai and Ramota Olagunju, who were roadside traders, near the Osun Government secretariat, said the driver did not wait after the officer fell off, adding that the vehicle sped off towards Akoda Junction.

Fatai further said, “The incident happened between 9 am and 9:30 am today (Friday). The driver was coming from the Osogbo end of the road facing Gbongan end.

“Some road safety men who usually stay on the road near the corps head office had resumed at their duty post when the vehicle emerged and the driver was flagged down. But he didn’t stop 

“Rather than stop, he moved towards one of the officers and hit him. After hitting the officer, he dragged him on the road as the driver headed towards Akoda Junction.

“The badly injured officer eventually fell off the vehicle. His colleagues immediately mobilised and chased the vehicle that hit their colleague. But I can’t say if they eventually caught the perpetrator.”

When contacted for confirmation, FRSC Osun Sector Commander, Inyang Umoh, confirmed the incident, noting that the injured officer was in stable condition.

“The officer is in stable condition. We are making efforts to get him (the driver of the vehicle). He has not been arrested,” he told City Round.

The Kano State government and a legal practitioner, Abba Hakeem, have disagreed on the Federal High Court Thursday’s ruling regarding the claim to the Kano royal stool by Muhammadu Sanusi and Aminu Ado Bayero.

Naija News reported that Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Federal High Court, Kano, overturned all the actions taken by Governor Abba Yusuf after the State House of Assembly amended the Kano Emirate law on May 23, 2024.

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abba Yusuf, Sani Bature, in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, alongside Hakeem, argued that the ruling was in their favour for several reasons and it affirmed the dissolution of the five emirates created in 2019.

Bature said, “People need to understand that yesterday’s judgment is in our favour because of several reasons. One, the judgment accepted the validity of the repealed law 2024, which invalidates the five emirates and also deposed the five Emirs in Kano.

“So, therefore, at the moment and based on yesterday’s judgment, Aminu Ado Bayero and the other four Emirs were officially deposed and they should remain deposed until the determination of the appeal that was filed by us.”

However, Hakeem countered the Governor’s CP, stating that the court set aside repeal of the law setting up the five emirates.

He said, “The ruling of the Federal High Court yesterday was very clear. In fact the certified true copy of that ruling is currently going round on social media and it is clear that the first order given by that court is that all actions taken portion to the 2024 Kano State repealed law are set aside.

“The second order was that that does not affect the validity or invalidity of the law because it is a subject of a substantive suit which is still pending before the court.”

Veteran Nollywood actor, Amaechi Muonagor, was on Friday, laid to rest at his Obosi country home in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State amid tears from family members, relatives and the Nollywood family.

Naija News reports that the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, Anambra State Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Entertainment, Dom Onyenji, among others, were present to mourn the late actor.

While delivering his condolence speech, Peter Obi expressed sadness over the death of the Nollywood icon and urged the bereaved family to take heart as he prayed to God for the repose of his soul.

On his part, Onyenji noted that Nollywood had lost a creative personality in the late Amechi Muonagor.

The Commissioner maintained that the Anambra State government came to the burial ceremony to mourn with Nollywood as the legend played his roles well while alive and mentored stars in the industry.

Also, the National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Emeka Rollas, represented by veteran actor, Steve Eboh, urged the bereaved family to take heart as the deceased was a great man.

Eboh prayed that God, in His infinite mercy, would give them the heart to bear the loss.

In her speech, the state chairman of AGN, Chinyere Anyaegbunam, said they lost somebody precious to all, emphasising that the late icon was somebody people looked up to as a father figure in the industry.

Anyaegbunam said that the late Muonagor mentored many of them in the movie industry.

A Nigerian boxer identified as Isaiah Olugbemi was shot dead by his neighbour, Nicholas Francis Xavier Giroux on Monday.

The unfortunate incident happened in Meadowmist Way and Stehlik Drive in Odenton, United States.

The victim who was reportedly shot multiple times, was a neighbour to the accused and an up-and-coming boxer.

Despite being rushed to Baltimore, he did not survive the incident.

Detectives obtained video surveillance footage showing Giroux, walking directly to Olugbemi with a handgun before shooting him multiple times and fleeing the scene on foot, according to court documents.

According to the Police, Giroux confessed to the shooting on June 18.

Abraham Olugbemi, the victim’s brother, was quoted as saying that Giroux was Isaiah Olugbemi’s neighbour.

He alleged Giroux threatened Isaiah Olugbemi at least two other times with a gun this year; once in January and a second time in June.

It was revealed that Giroux fired six to 14 shots at Olugbemi, paused and then fired at least three more times.

The commencement of the hearing in the case is set for July 17.

The accused is charged with first-and-second-degree murder in the Nigerian, Isaiah Olugbemi’s death.