Dame Shirley Bassey blasted Beyoncé for her 'skimpy' Met Ball dress

Beyoncé

Dame Shirley Bassey has blasted Beyoncé for her skimpy Met Ball dress.

The 78-year-old Goldfinger hitmaker has said she doesn't understand why modern singers feel the need to "see who can wear the skimpiest outfit", rather than focus on their talents, having seen the 33-year-old Crazy In Love superstar's barely-there bejewelled dress.

Dame Shirley said: "It is like they are all in competition with each other. Who can wear the skimpiest outfit? I mean come on"

"When I saw Beyoncé at the Met Ball the other night I was like, 'excuse me?' I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination.

Zuma concludes 'successful' Mozambique visit

                                                                              Jacob Zuma

President Jacob Zuma has returned to South Africa after completing his two day state visit to Mozambique, the presidency said on Tuesday.

In a statement, spokesperson Harold Maloka said Zuma and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi held successful talks and discussed issues of mutual interest, in particular, bilateral, regional and continental co-operation.

"The issue of co-operation was high on the agenda and both presidents agreed to establish a binational commission which will enable continuous monitoring and implementation of decisions taken," Maloka said.

Emmanuel Adebayor given compassionate leave after Facebook post

Emmanuel Adebayor

ottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor will miss his club's final game of the season at Everton on Sunday after being allowed to return to his native Togo on compassionate grounds.

Adebayor published the latest in a series of lengthy Facebook posts this week in which he revealed he had contemplated suicide due to a family feud.

And concerns over the player's mind-set have prompted Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino to step in on his behalf, Press Association Sport understands.

The 31-year-old, who has already been granted compassionate leave once this season, is also set to miss the club's post-season tour of the Far East, and his future at the club must now be in doubt.

Xavi: Spain’s greatest ever footballer?

        Xavi Hernandez

Two days before he partied with his Barcelona team-mates after playing a part in a club record eight league titles, Xavi Hernandez took to the stage at his club’s training ground in front of a packed room of journalists. His wife had commented that he’d been on edge for a few days; his mother, the strongest influence in his life, had finally accepted his decision.

“I didn't want this time to come,” he’d say, “I’ve been dreading this moment.”

Everyone knew that the diminutive midfielder from the nearby industrial city of Terrassa was going to announce that he was leaving the club where he’s been man and boy. A club where he’s shattered the club appearance record with 764 appearances in 17 seasons. The next highest is Carles Puyol with 593.

Buhari must start by jailing thieves –Kokori

         Frank Kokori

Human rights activist, Chief Frank Kokori, has advised the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to start his administration by prosecuting and jailing looters immediately after he takes oath of office on May 29.

Kokori, who is a former General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, said this during an interview with our correspondent on Thursday.

The activist said by immediately prosecuting looters, Nigerians would have an idea of what the Buhari administration stands for and change would gradually set in.

He said, “You cannot change everything in four years but when Nigerians start seeing little changes in three to six months and then in one year and you see people being prosecuted and jailed for stealing public funds,

Justin Bieber makes a sex confession during a fun carpool ride with James Corden

Justin Bieber

In another carpool episode, Justin Bieber rode shotgun with the Late Night Host, James Corden. 

The carpool ride immediately turned into a karaoke session with the two men belting out Justin Bieber's 2010 hit Baby.

National Assembly to abandon PIB

                                                                            David Mark and Aminu Tambuwal

The current National Assembly may abandon the Petroleum Industry Bill owing to the slow progress of work on it.

The PUNCH observed on Wednesday that it was becoming clear that the bill might be abandoned as senators and members of the House of Representatives have only 16 days to the end of the 7th National Assembly.

Findings showed that while the Senate is behind by not reporting the bill out of the committee stage, the House which started considering its own report last week, was being slowed down by disagreements among lawmakers over the many clauses in the proposed law.

For example, at the resumed consideration of the report by the House on Wednesday, members hotly disagreed over the funds oil majors were expected to share with the Federal Government for exploration activities in the River Basins.

Oyinlola’s lawyer loses practising licence over election case

                                                  Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Kunle Kalejaye

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee has expelled a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Kunle Kalejaye, from further practising as a lawyer.

The LPDC disbarred Kalejaye after finding him guilty of professional misconduct. A five-man panel of the LPDC, led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, conducted the investigation.

The LPDC found Kalejaye guilty of misconduct while representing the Peoples Democratic Party and its then candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, where Oyinlola’s victory in the 2007 poll was being challenged by the then candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

Okonjo-Iweala, govs clash over $20bn ECA funds

                       Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum on Tuesday demanded an explanation from the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on how $20bn that allegedly accrued to the Excess Crude Account   was disbursed.

The forum, in a statement issued at the end of a four-hour meeting of the NGF which ended in the early hours of Tuesday in Abuja, said the sum was paid into the ECA between June 2013 and April 2015.

“In the light of the fact that funds in the ECA were last disbursed in May 2013, there is a need for the minister, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, to provide explanations for accruals to this account from June 2013 to April 2015 which is estimated at over $20bn,” the NGF said.

Niger lawmakers get N17m each, stop gov’s removal

                                                                     Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu

The impeachment plot against the Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, may have been stalled as the members of the state House of Assembly pushing for the governor’s removal have been paid N17m each.

Our correspondent gathered that the lawmakers after receiving the N17m each were also promised by the state government that their other demands would soon be met.

Consequently, the lawmakers have decided to stop the impeachment move against the governor.

Though the Speaker, state House of Assembly, Isah Kawu, refused to comment on the issue when our correspondent sought his reaction to the development, sources at the assembly complex including lawmakers, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development.

Police shut Anambra restaurant for serving human flesh

A restaurant in Anambra has reportedly been shut down for cooking human flesh and serving it to customers. The police were tipped off by locals who suspected something horrific was taking place inside the kitchen.

They raided the hotel restaurant to discover human heads which were still dripping with blood in plastic bags. A local priest who ate at the restaurant was alarmed at the price of meals there, let alone where the meat came from, BBC Swahili reported.

He was presented with a bill of N700.

Oshiomhole, wife shift honeymoon

Oshiomhole and wife

There were indications on Saturday that the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and his newly-wedded wife, Iara, have postponed their much expected honeymoon till June.

Governor Oshiomhole had on Friday married former Miss Iara Fortes, an ex-model from Cape Verde, at a marriage ceremony witnessed by a large turnout of dignitaries from various sectors of the country and he was expected to proceed on a honeymoon with the new First Lady.

Ex-govs, Buhari’s associates lock horns with Tinubu

                                                                                                Buhari and Tinubu

A gigantic test of wills is rocking the All Progressives Congress just 12 days to the inauguration of President-elect Mohammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s substantive President.

Impeccable sources within the party told SUNDAY PUNCH over the weekend that some ex-governors, Buhari’s associates and mutinous party members from the South-West are trying to whittle down the influence that the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will have on the incoming government.

Tinubu, the party’s undisputed leader in the South-West, is widely feted as the force behind the merger of all the major opposition parties in the country which led to the emergence of the APC as Nigeria’s major opposition party.

American fans sue Pacquiao over injury

                                                                               Manny Pacquiao

Two Nevada men filed a class-action lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday, seeking millions in damages because they say he fraudulently concealed a shoulder injury before his defeat to Floyd Mayweather, AFP reports.

It is just the latest fallout from Mayweather’s victory in Las Vegas on Saturday in a unanimous decision, with Pacquiao saying afterwards that the shoulder complaint hampered his performance in the welterweight world title showdown.

The plaintiffs argue that by failing to go public with the injury before the feverishly anticipated bout, the Philippine icon and his camp violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

PDP is in a coma –Mark

                                                President of the Senate, David Mark

Senate President David Mark on Wednesday raised the alarm that the Peoples Democratic Party might be heading for a final destruction if the infighting among its leaders was not immediately resolved.

Mark, while receiving the Senator Ike Ekweremadu PDP Post – Election Review Committee, in Abuja, said the   acrimony between top members of the party   was dangerous.

He said, “The PDP is already haemorrhaging, unless we halt the bleeding and find the necessary therapy, we may be heading for the final burial of the party.

Govs should be blamed for unpaid salaries – Okonjo-Iweala

                Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Federal Government on Wednesday absolved itself of blame in the inability of some state governments to pay their workers’ salaries.

It said the governors of such states should be blamed for the development in their states because they were told through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee to make the issue of wage a priority.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said this in a statement by her Special Adviser on Communications,   Paul Nwabuikwu.

My brother stole 21 phones in one month –Adebayor

                                                                                       Emmanuel Adebayor

Former African Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Adebayor has launched an astonishing attack on his family, in which the Tottenham Hotspur striker accuses them of turning their backs on him, renting out property he paid for without his knowledge. In the case of his brother Rotimi, Adebayor accused him stealing mobile telephones while at a football academy in France.

In a lengthy Facebook post, the Togo international Adebayor talked about the financial burden of supporting his family but his reasons for bringing the issues light were an effort for other families to “learn from what happened in mine”, adding “keep in mind that none of this is about money.”

I’m cautiously optimistic about Buhari, says Soyinka

        Prof. Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says he believes that the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot be worse than past presidents because he will be guided by a sense of history.

He, however, said he “is cautiously optimistic” about Buhari’s performance.

Soyinka said this while delivering a lecture titled, ‘Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research in the United States, according to a gazette by the institution.

A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, had asked Soyinka if Buhari could reform Nigeria like the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

Dangote insists on buying Arsenal

                                                      President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he is still working towards buying Arsenal Football Club, despite the fact that his bid to acquire a stake in the club was rebuffed by the owners in 2010.

In an interview with Bloomberg, while on a journey from Addis Ababa to Lagos last Friday, Dangote expressed hope that his new strategy would enable him buy the north London club at a price the owners won’t want to resist.

He said, “I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team. I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy,” Dangote, a known fan of the north London club, said.

‘Missing’ $20bn: Reps panel wants PwC probed

                                                                            Hon. Solomon Olamilekan

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Sunday asked the Federal Government and its agencies to stop further dealings with Pricewater House Cooper,   the firm that investigated the alleged $20bn missing oil money.

The committee said considering the controversy generated by the firm’s report on the missing money,   the International Federation of Accounting and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria should   probe   past audits carried out on behalf of the Federal Government the PwC.

A former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi had last year   raised the alarm that   the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation did not remit the said sum to the federation account.

If winning is a crime, Chelsea and Floyd Mayweather are both guilty as sin

Within hours of Floyd Mayweather reducing boxing’s most eagerly-anticipated showdown in ages to another one-man supershow of tireless dedication and meticulous accuracy, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea did the exact same thing on the football pitch to the most-watched league in the world.

It matters not at all to everyone but the most ardent supporters of the Blues or of ‘The Money Team’ just how good you have to be to make it look so simple against the money of a Manchester United or City, or against the legendary skills of a certain Hall-of-Famer like Manny Pacquiao.