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SOB unveils ‘Entertainment Company’ Targeting the Global Space

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

A fashion company, ‘Shaper of Beauty’ on Monday, launched an entertainment company.

A press statement jointly signed by its founder, Taiwo Hassan Alli and Kehinde Hussein Alli, stated that the company will be aimed at galvanizing the enormous talents in the fashion and music industry across Nigeria.

“SOB entertainment was established to bring solutions to the lingering problems in the Nigerian entertainment industry.

“In view of the recent Afrobeats revolution, there is a need for more hands in the entertainment industry”

The duo who are also Tai Solarin University Of Education (TASUED) undergraduates further revealed that two of their upcoming projects – SOB International Beauty Pageantry and SOB Talent hunt competition would be held later in the year.

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Life StyleHeadlines

Meet Ojo Who Was Sentenced To Death At Age 17; He Shattered The Prison Wall To Marry His Heartthrob

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Mr. Adebayo Ojo is a man that could rightly be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives.  He is an inspiration to those who life has thrown to the dungeons.  

This is because he has been there himself, saw the bloody walls of the Nigeria prison yard and survived it.  Mr Ojo was erroneously jailed and charged for murder.  A death sentenced was subsequently passed.  While waiting for his execution, the unexpected happened. 

Do you remember him? One of his friends who attended his marriage ceremony asked.

His name is Adebayo Ojo. He was falsely accused of armed robbery and was sentenced to death at the age of 17, just about the same year he was planning to write his West African Examination Council- WAEC.

Mr. Ojo spent a total of 18 years in prison with no hope of being exonerated from a crime he never committed.  His pleas were turned down.  His innocence was thrown to the winds.  The evidence before the judge was too heavy to let him go.  It was simply a case of ill-luck.  Mr. Ojo was never involved in the said armed robbery that led to the death of the victims, but he was a prime suspect.  The prosecuting council proved their case beyond all reasonable doubt and Mr. Ojo was marked for death, waiting for the heavy hands of the men who will take his neck to the gallows. 

Miracle, they say still happen.  Mr. Ojo lived to experience the least expected event in his life that became the turning point in his life. While he awaited execution, the actual culprits were caught.  Even after the culprits were caught and confessed to the crime, Mr Ojo was still held in custody with the death sentence hanging over him.

While in prison, he met Barrister Kingsley Ughe, GC1 of JLAA.  Barr. Ughe taught him Literature and other subjects alongside other inmates. He also played a huge role in his sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment and finally a pardon.

“He got married recently. I was there alongside Barrister Kingsley Ughe”.  His friend said.

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Sports

PSG Beat FFP Rule As Messi Reunites With Neymar

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The reality of seeing Lionel Messi team up again with Neymar especially in a team like Paris Saint-Germain who already boast of Kylian Mbappe, Mauro Icardi, and Di Maria shows how the Qatar-backed French side is beating the Financial Fair Play rules.

Not all the fans will rejoice. Many will struggle to come to terms with Messi leaving Barcelona.

Others would have preferred to see him go to a club where he really could have a transformative impact, like Diego Maradona at Napoli.

But modern football is now dominated by a narrow elite financed by mega-rich owners, state wealth in the case of Qatar-backed Paris Saint-Germain and Abu Dhabi’s Manchester City.

Add in Roman Abramovich’s Champions League winners Chelsea and even the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid can’t keep up.

Barca ruined themselves in the transfer market trying to replace Neymar to the extent they could not keep their greatest ever player due to La Liga’s financial fair play rules.

FFP Rules Is A Ruse?

PSG are not immune from the financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, but they are better placed to survive the economic downturn.

PSG lost 124.9 million euros before tax in the 2019/20 season which was curtailed by the pandemic.

Last season’s figures are likely to be far worse, reportedly around 230 million euros, with PSG almost entirely deprived of gate receipts as games were played behind closed doors while French TV revenue went off a cliff after the collapse of a record deal with Mediapro.

Yet they have splashed out in the transfer market, spending 60 million euros ($71 million) on Inter Milan right-back Achraf Hakimi and signing several big-name players who were out of contract in Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Wijnaldum was snatched from under the noses of…Barcelona.

PSG can do it because their Qatari owners are there to cover the losses and because, for now at least, French league rules do not stop clubs from having wages to income ratio of almost 100 per cent, as it was in 2019/20.

They have also been helped by UEFA’s decision to soften its financial fair play rules to compensate for revenue shortfalls caused by the pandemic, meaning assessments of the 2020 and 2021 financial years would be done together rather than separately.

Clubs are expected to be able to register losses over the 30 million euro limit provided they can show they were caused by the pandemic.

Critics say that FFP is no longer fit for purpose, and PSG’s rivals would claim to sign Messi, allied to their other summer spending and the fact they already have Neymar and Kylian Mbappe on their books, means the French club are showing a blatant disregard for the rules.

An Imaginary Front Line For Pochettino

Nevertheless, signing Messi certainly improves their chances of winning the prize they want more than anything, that their Qatari owners have been chasing ever since buying the club.

In May 2011 Messi inspired Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona to a 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League final. A few weeks later Qatar Sports Investments bought a controlling stake in PSG.

In August 2017 PSG made Neymar and Mbappe the two most expensive signings in history. Now they have Messi.

“Every coach in the world would like to have the best player in the world in their team,” admitted manager Mauricio Pochettino.

PSG’s summer recruitment already looked impressive. They were especially crying out for a new midfielder and a right-back needs that were addressed with the arrivals of Wijnaldum and Hakimi.  

A team that missed out on the Ligue 1 title last season but who in the last two campaigns reached a Champions League final and semi-final, now appear well equipped to land their first European Cup.

The model is the Barcelona team of 2014/15 which won the treble with Messi scoring 58 goals and Neymar 39. The third man, then, was Luis Suarez who added 25 goals. Now the third man will be Mbappe.

It is over to Pochettino, Messi’s compatriot, to accommodate them all, and Angel di Maria, and find the right balance to make his a team of champions as well as a modern-footballing version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

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Sports

Akwa United Clinch First Ever NPFL with a match a go

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Akwa United of Uyo of Uyo have been crowned the champions of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) on Sunday with a 5-2 defeat of Mountain of Fire Ministry FC.

Akwa United are now top of the league with 71 points ahead of second-place Nassarawa United (62) and would be winning their first NPFL title in their 25 years of existence with a game to spare.

They won on Sunday with a flourish, with Charles Atshimene grabbing a hat-trick in the 24th and 85th minutes, and the second minute of final added time.

Alimi Adebayo’s own goal in the second minute of first-half added time, and Mfon Udoh’s 62nd-minute goals added to their goals haul.

The 2013 Federation Cup and 2018 Aiteo Cup winners however conceded twice during the game, from Michael Mbonu’s 68th-minute penalty kick and Dennis Obasi’s 89th-minute goal.

They have so far won 19 matches, drawn 14, and lost four while scoring 52 goals and conceding 22 for a goals difference of +30 to stay miles away from their rivals.

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Entertainment

R. Kelly accused of sexually abusing 17-year-old boy

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

R. Kelly sexually abused a 17-year-old boy after meeting him at a Chicago-area McDonald’s in 2006, a new court filing alleges.

Federal prosecutors in New York have detailed a string of new accusations against the disgraced singer, including sexual assault and bribery, going back 30 years.

In a lengthy court filing on Friday, they asked a judge to grant permission for them to admit new evidence of the allegations at his upcoming sex-trafficking trial in Brooklyn, New York, despite him not being charged for the offences.

They argue the acts, including the alleged abuse of a victim named John Doe #1, are “directly relevant to and inextricably intertwined with the evidence of the charged crimes.”

According to the filing, the I Believe I Can Fly star sexually abused the teen after asking “what he was willing to do to succeed in the music business.”

He allegedly introduced Kelly to a close male pal, aged 16 or 17, and several years later, the star apparently started a sexual relationship with that person, referred to as John Doe #2, and forced several of his girlfriends to have sex with the young man while he filmed.

Prosecutors also claim to have evidence that Kelly sexually abused singer Aaliyah and married her in 1994, when she was 15, so that she couldn’t be forced to testify against him, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. She died in a plane crash in 2001.

Other allegations include unlawful imprisonment, hush money payments, threats and psychological abuse, with a woman named Jane Doe #5 claiming Kelly directed her to search the internet and find “child pornography involving boys for him.” According to the papers, a search of Kelly’s computer corroborated the claim.

Two audio recordings, allegedly showing the Ignition hitmaker physically and psychologically abusing women, proving his “regular use of audio and video recordings to maintain control,” are also being presented.And a “crisis manager” for Kelly is accused of bribing a Cook County, Illinois, clerk with US$2,500 (C$3,100) to get inside information on his legal troubles, following the broadcast of Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly in early 2019. 

The musician is accused of leading an enterprise to recruit women and girls for sex. He denies any wrongdoing. His case is due to head to trial on Aug. 9.

He is also set for a separate trial for his child pornography charges in his native Chicago in September.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all counts.


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HeadlinesEntertainment

Sound Sultan Finally Laid To Rest

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Nigerian music legend  Sound Sultan has finally been laid to rest in Brooklyn, New York in the United States.

A video captures the moment his casket was being lowered down into the pit with the help of an excavator.

His burial was attended by family members and some close friends all dressed in black outfits. Nigerian rapper, Olamide Adedeji, was also spotted at the funeral.

Popular Nigerian musician, Olanrewaju Fasasi, popularly known as Sound Sultan, is dead.

His death was announced in a statement Sunday morning by his family.

He was 44.

His U.S-based colleague, Lamboginny, hosted an Instagram live video showing the burial ceremony of the late ‘Jagbajantis’ crooner.

His wife, Farida, was sighted in the video laying her head on her late husband’s coffin while crying bitterly before it was finally lowered into the grave.

Our reports that in a statement by his brother, Kayode Fasasi, on behalf of the family, Sound Sultan died on sunday after a long battle with Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma.

The statement added that the late singer and songwriter is survived by his wife, three children, and his siblings.

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HeadlinesLife Style

T. B. Joshua: Photos From Lying-In-State Ceremony

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The late Prophet T. B.Joshua was honoured today as the funeral rites continued via a lying-in-state ceremony which took place at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos.

In attendance were the deceased’s widow, children, and members of his church who all paid their last respects to the late clergyman.

T.B, Joshua died on the 5th of June, 2021, a few days to what would have been his 58th birthday. Following his demise, a South African bible scholar named Howard Nyoni claimed that the cleric secretly treated himself for an undisclosed ailment.

The late T.B. Joshua

Also, a fetish Ghanaian priest had boasted in a video that he killed Joshua, saying that he had given the latter an ultimatum of 10 years to live.

Prominent Nigerians paid a condolence visit to Joshua’s widow, following criticism of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) by controversial OAP Daddy Freeze who called the association out for keeping mum on the death of the SCOAN founder.

Below are the pictures of the lying-in-state:

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Life Style

Meet A Lady That Blinded Herself To Fulfill Her Lifelong Dream of Being Blind

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

At age 21, Jewel Shuping purposefully blinded herself with drain cleaner, fulfilling her lifelong dream of being disabled. “I should have been blind from birth,” she says.

Since she was a child, she had dreamed of being blind. She used to spend hours staring directly at the sun, hoping it would blind her. But that didn’t work. Finally, she found a psychologist willing to pour drain cleaner into her eyes. With her psychologist’s help, Jewel finally went blind, fulfilling her lifelong ambition.

Jewel Shuping

Jewel has body integrity identity dysphonia (BID), a condition characterized by a desire to be disabled. Some people with BID amputate their own (healthy) limbs. Others, like Jewel, blind themselves.

Another account says that Jewel Shuping blinded herself with the aid of a sympathetic psychologist.  The process was said to be very long and painful. But today, after nine years she blinded herself, Jewel is sharing her own stories to raise more awareness of BIID.  She encourages people who have this dangerous mental illness to seek professional help, instead of taking steps that may disfigure them.

Some doctors will assist BID patients, helping them amputate their healthy limbs. But the ethical considerations are complicated. In Scotland, one doctor lost his medical license after amputating the healthy limbs of people with BID.

Some people argue that BID is a form of human diversity, and that it should be accepted by society. Others call BID a mental disorder.

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Life Style

36% Of Nigerian Married Women Suffer Emotional, Sexual, Physical Violence – Experts

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Stakeholders in the campaign against gender-based violence against women and girls, on Wednesday raised the alarm over increasing cases of  Violence Against Women And Girls, VAWG,

Disclosing 36 per cent of ever-married women have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence in the hand of their spouses while 1 in 4 girls have equally experienced sexual violence.

In Lagos alone, a total of 455 cases of child protection concerns were recorded in one year.

Disclosing these and more during the opening of a 4 -day Media Dialogue with Journalists on Ethical Reporting and  Advocacy to Eliminate Violence Against Women And Girls jointly organised by Spotlight Initiative Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, they lamented that the perpetrators of this violence against the women were mostly spouses and intimate partners.

In her submission, the Coordinator, Spotlight Initiative Lagos, Foluke Omoworare said violence was rarely an isolated incident and majority of children surveyed experienced violence in the home.

Continuing, she said the most affected are women and girls with disabilities who are twice likely to experience violence of any form.

Speaking, an Assistant Director, Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mrs Olasunbo Daniel who also raised concern over cases of violence against women and girls said, the child protection unit has attended to 455 cases of child protection concerns in the last one year.

According to her, the state has activated a surveillance response team into local governments in the state, Imorodu and Yaba, to escalate the reporting of gender-based violence cases in the grassroots to authorities for proper management of the issues.

Earlier, the Chief of Operations, UNICEF Lagos, Muhammad Okorie said violence against women was a global issue, adding that, the trend was threatening women’s achievement of their full potential.

” Before 25 years, a girl must have been violated either sexually or physically. If we do not end violence against women, we can reduce it to the nearest minimum.”

He said the 4 day training for journalists was to ensure that the country ends violence against women and girls..

”The media has a vintage position to reach a larger audience since they have more access through their report to speak to stakeholders.”

On his part, the Director, National Orientation Agency, Lagos, Mr Waheed Ishola said the media dialogue was to beam the spotlight on women and girls as well as address the negative socio-cultural norms attached to reporting cases of violence.

Ishola identified some of the perceived reasons for prevalence of abuse of women and girls to include, poverty, indecent dressing among adolescent girls, missing parental care, quest for money, fame and political position by women.

Others he listed are, neglect of family values, inability of men to manage their home, illicit drug/substance abuse, ritualistic purposes, and fear of stigmatization.

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Life Style

Bill Gates quit Microsoft amid sexual probe with staffer

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters
  • In October, when the relationship between the two burst into public view, French Gates was unhappy, so she hired divorce lawyers, setting in motion a process that culminated with the announcement of their divorce.

Bill Gates quit the Microsoft Corp. board in 2020 over an inappropriate relationship with a female employee, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

The board members pressured Gates to step down as they began an investigation in 2019 after a female engineer working for the firm had alleged in a letter that she had a sexual relationship over years with Gates, the Journal reported, citing people close to the matter.

During the investigation, some board members decided Gates should no longer sit as a director at the software company he started and led for decades, the people said.

“Microsoft Corp. board members decided that Bill Gates needed to step down from its board in 2020 as they pursued an investigation into the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate.”

A Microsoft spokesman also said, “Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000.”

“A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.”

Meanwhile, Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, said, “There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably,” noting, “Gates’s decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter.”

Gates quit the Microsoft board to focus more on his philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Arnold added

“He had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier.”

Gates and his wife Melinda French, who co-founded their charity to fight global poverty and disease, announced earlier this month that they were ending their marriage after 27 years.

In a joint statement posted on Twitter, the couple said, “We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”

In a divorce petition, Melinda said their marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

Bill and Melinda Gates speak in New York in 2018 (AFP photo)

Although the couple has not said what prompted the divorce, one source of concern for French Gates was her husband’s dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Journal.

A spokeswoman for Gates said in 2019 that he met with Epstein for philanthropic reasons, but regretted doing so.

In October 2019, when the relationship between the two burst into public view, French Gates was unhappy, so she hired divorce lawyers, setting in motion a process that culminated with the announcement of their divorce. Credit: PressTV

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