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Did Buhari watch Chelsea’s incredible victory?

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CUSTOMSGATE: $3 BILLION PROJECT RUNS INTO DISPUTE

Did Buhari watch Chelsea’s incredible victory?

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Tunde Odesola

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’Twas a spectacle with all the trappings of a full-fledged drama: conflict, timing, tension, rhythm, mood, language, sound, space, focus, contrast and a crushing climax. ’Twas the UEFA Champions League final played before 50,035 spectators on a 115x68m stage called Dragon Stadium in Porto, Portugal’s second largest city after Lisbon. Believe you me, the dragons that emerged within the stadium and afflicted the Manchester team won’t be exorcised too soon.

It’s not only art that imitates life, sports do, too. And many a time, life, in its fitful drama, offers grapes instead of oranges and waxes bile instead of honey.

For me, the outcome of the impending UEFA finale was as sure as death. Lightning doesn’t strike at the same spot twice. Eewo orisa! Impossible abomination! But I was soon to discover the futility of this age-long belief even as science has proved that lightning strikes the 102-storey Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York, about 25 times every year.

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I had it all figured out, or so I thought. I had cast some catchy headlines and thought up some super storyline with twists and turns leading to the ultimate triumph of Manchester City FC in the UEFA final.

But life is quicksand; after Chelsea’s lightning had struck Manchester City twice in England, it travelled an air distance of 1,812 kilometers to Portugal and struck City for the third time in six weeks! Chelsea FC put a grenade to my personal pot of fantasy and shattered the initial layout of this article. Ha! How do I beat my deadline?

Usually, I write my column on Saturday morning but I delayed it till Saturday night – after the epic final – just to accommodate Manchester City’s anticipatory victory, hoping to use the triumph to rile my known and unknown football frenemies, who cut across countries and continents, online and offline.

In England, for instance, I dislike Chelsea FC with passion and long draped it in the garb of an archenemy while in Spain, where I support the club that plays football like angels, FC Barcelona, my archfoe is (un)Real Madrid FC, which I do not dislike but hate for their dominance.

When Chelsea came up against Madrid in the semifinals of the competition, I supported the London club but I silently prayed it never get past Manchester City in the finals.

Worldwide, tit-for-tat aka ‘gbas gbos’ is the language spoken in football fandom, where revenge is never cold, but served hot like the pounded yam of 20 years.

In Porto, on Saturday, Chelsea’s cunning coach, Thomas Tuchel, exacted another pound of flesh from the greatest coach in club football today, Pep Guardiola, who had peppered Tuchel four times while they both coached Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Before the UCL final, Guardiola had only lost in one of the 15 finals in his career while Tuchel had lost in his two finals only to come back a year later and win both titles.

The mantra among Nigerian football supporters is ‘the enemy of my friend is my enemy’, and inter-club banters could spring from trivias such as jersey colour or coach’s height, reinforcing the proverb which says an enemy never kills a big grasscutter, ota eni kii pa odu oya.

To understand football fans’ psychology, a peep into Nigerian politics or polygamy will suffice. Except suspicion, envy and rivalry, nothing is cast in concrete in Nigerian politics or a typical polygamous home. What is sauce for the goose is never sauce for the gander: rules change like quicksilver, depending on the idiosyncrasies of who is at the driver and the convenience of the seat.

For me, May is a month I won two battles but lost the war. One, my preferred team, Leicester defeated Chelsea 0-1 in the final of the English FA Cup. Two, Villareal, a Spanish team, defeated Manchester United in the final of the Europa League final 10-11 on penalties, but the biggest prize of all was lost to Chelsea’s never-say-die spirit and Guardiola’s oversabi which is turning into an albatross over the years.

I’m still in shock as to why Guardiola, like it’s now becoming common to him in the knockout stages of the UCL to come up with questionable line-ups, decided to play without a natural striker and a defensive midfielder on the biggest stage of club football, and Chelsea punished his indiscretion when a Mason Mount intelligent pass split open City’s defence through the very middle for Kai Havertz to maroon goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, scoring the only goal of the match.

Today, I neither intend to bemoan the twin bombs dropped on the city of Manchester by Villareal and Chelsea within three days apart, nor do I intend to count the countless teeth of Adepele, the hyperdontia that Nigeria’s political class has become.

Now that the hurlyburly’s done and the battle is won and lost, Chelsea, worthy Champions of Europe, deserve their time in the sun for ‘Blue is the colour, football is the game’.

I doff my hat for Chelsea, whose fans, britannica.com describes as one of ‘England’s most notorious gangs of football hooligans known as Headhunters’, and ‘have been responsible for organised violence in the stands since the 1970s’.

But as the euphoria of victory and the bitterness of defeat ebb, I guess it’s also time the Nigerian leadership looks in the mirror and takes lessons from the Chelsea triumph.

I wish Nigerian President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, watched the match. I don’t give a hoot if they oohed or aahed during the match. All I care about is that they both did not lose the lessons inherent in the Chelsea victory.

I also wish the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, and the leadership of the House of Representatives – all watched the match, and not lose sight of the lessons in the exemplary leadership of Tuchel, who took Chelsea from the ninth position in January this year to the pinnacle of club football four months later.

Tuchel, unlike the Buhari-Osinbajol-led government, didn’t whine about the players he inherited from Chelsea’s former coach, Frank Lampard, but settled down to work and turned an average team to Europe’s best.

I wish Nigerian political leaders at all levels saw the economic stupidity in our love for foreign football and truly develop our local leagues to partake in the multi billion dollars venture football has become globally.

As I said early on, this article is a salute to Chelsea’s indomitable spirit, and not a criticism of the inept Buhari-Osinbajo government. Tuchel picked the best available legs for every game. He wasn’t nepotistic like the Buhari-Osinbajo rudderless government, which has never criticised killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen across the country.

Tuchel understands the burden of leadership. He knows the goals of the board and the expectation of the club’s teeming supporters worldwide, and he rose to the occasion by constantly communicating with his players, never absented himself at critical moments, demonstrating compassion, exuding confidence and building trust – virtues lacking in the Buhari-Osinbajo government.

It’s Chelsea’s moment of joy, I won’t spoil their fun by allowing what a popular ex-Edo lawmaker calls ‘odoriferous saga cum gargantuan saga’ to take the shine of their victory. I won’t allow the Buhari-Osinbajo government to take the centre stage of this piece.

May was a month of Chelsea triumph. It was also a month when Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Bashir Magashi, delivered a ‘heartless’ speech at the funeral of former COAS, Lt.-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru. May was the month when the new ‘Aide-de-Camp’ to the Aide-De-Camp of Governor Nasir El-Rufai was unveiled and the incoming First Lady got into a fresh ‘thug’ of war.

May was the month when the parents of kidnapped Greenfield University students paid N180m and bought many motorcycles to secure the release of their children from kidnappers.

May Buhari and Osinbajo take the lessons of Chelsea victory beyond May.

Up Blues!

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com
Facebook: @tunde odesola
Twitter: @tunde_odesola

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Stop Press! Jesam Michael, AAS Investors Are Aggrieved 

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Stop Press! Jesam Michael, AAS Investors Are Aggrieved 

Stop Press! Jesam Michael, AAS Investors Are Aggrieved

 

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Recently, a popular Nollywood actress Shan George was defrauded of her N3.6m from her account and the expression of her distress and frustration was best imagined on her social media page as she cried physically for help. Now imagine a scenario where a CEO was defrauded of a whooping sum of $87m belonging to investors from different parts of the world! How would you feel if you were in the CEO’s shoes?

 

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That best explained the pains, anger and annoyance of Jesam Michael the CEO of AFRIQ ARBITRAGE SYSTEM and the thousands of investors across the 540 countries, states and provinces of the world whose source of livelihood was allegedly stolen by Abayomi Oluwasesan who has openly confessed to the heinous crime both at the police and a reputable court of law.

 

 

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As if that was not enough, certain disgruntled elements namely Humble Prince Eta, Donald Michael, Fifeyin Awajumo and Michael Okoh started a campaign of calumny of cyberbullying and cyber stalking against an aggrieved CEO and his investors. Like paid salesmen, they fabricated falsehoods to change the narrative about Abayomi.

 

 

Interestingly, emerging facts from the accused reveal that they were not investors of AAS. That explains the anger and annoyance of Investors of AAS when a well known controversial legal practitioner Maxwell Opara was trying to doctor the truth with an erroneous narrative about the unfortunate incident. Besides, how can a lawyer who knows quite well that the matter is in a reputable court of law pass judgement in an ongoing case he is involved in by calling the accused victims of the saga? Truth be told, his utterance and actions are like a man threading the lion’s den.

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Theo Somolu And Folake Olowofoyeku To Star In Disney’s ‘Mufasa’

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Theo Somolu And Folake Olowofoyeku To Star In Disney’s 'Mufasa'

Theo Somolu And Folake Olowofoyeku To Star In Disney’s ‘Mufasa’

 

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Nigerian actors Theo Somolu and Folake Olowofoyeku will star in Disney’s Mufasa, a prequel to The Lion King that explores Mufasa’s rise to kingship.

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Nigerian actors, Theo Somolu and Folake Olowofoyeku have secured roles in Disney’s prequel to the classic, The Lion King, titled Mufasa, which delves into the origin story of Simba’s father, scheduled to hit cinemas on December 20, 2024.

The casting of Somolu and Olowofoyeku marks a significant milestone for Nigerian representation in Hollywood. Details regarding their character are yet to be revealed.

Olowofoyeku brings a wealth of experience to the project. She has captivated audiences in both movies and television series, including her role in the popular sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola (2019), Death Race 2050 (2017), Female Fight Club (2016), and the epic adventure, 10,000 A.D.: The Legend of the Black Pearl (2008).

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In addition, Somolu contributes his knowledge from previous projects, such as the children’s television program Mighty Express (2020), and Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (2021).

Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk director, Barry Jenkins is the director.

An era before Simba’s problems with his jealous uncle Scar will be revisited by viewers through Mufasa. Through a detailed account of his early years, the prequel will trace Mufasa’s development from a helpless cub to a courageous king.

The movie will explore the circumstances that lead Taka down a dark road and the complicated nature of their relationship.

According to Disney, “Mufasa: The Lion King enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka — the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny — their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.”

Starring in the film are Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Blue Ivy Carter, Kelvin Harrison Jr., John Kani, Billy Eichner, Aaron Pierre, and Seth Rogen.

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How Ajobiewe settled long-standing feud between movie stars Yinka Quadri, Ogogo

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How Ajobiewe settled long-standing feud between movie stars Yinka Quadri, Ogogo

How Ajobiewe settled long-standing feud between movie stars Yinka Quadri, Ogogo

 

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The internet was stirred up when a video of two veteran Nollywood actors, Yinka Quadri and his colleague, Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogogo, surfaced on social media platforms on Wednesday evening.

 

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Although, PUNCH Online could not confirm when or how the disagreement started between the two actors, they were seen settling their differences in a now viral video.

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In the video, one of Nigeria’s legendary Esa Oriki Orile exponents, Sulaiman Ajilara, popularly called Ajobiewe, was seen begging the veteran actors to put aside their differences and sheath their swords.

 

 

Ajobiewe made the peace call on Wednesday night during the birthday of actor Yomi Fabiyi.

 

When Quadri approached the dance floor, Ajobiewe insisted he call on his friend, Ogogo.

Afterwards, Ogogo joined Quadri while the chanter pleaded with them to settle their misunderstandings with his lyrics.

He sang in Yoruba, “Where is your Ogogo? Why did you come here alone? Call him for me. Tell him to come to me. I beg you, it is impossible not to have misunderstandings but I am begging you in the name of God, to settle whatever it is.

 

“Please hug each other and let it end there. I do not want to hear anything about your misunderstandings anymore for God’s sake.”

The two then hugged and smiled at each other.

Reacting to this, some Nigerians commended Ajobiewe for reuniting the actors, noting that it was good to see them back together.

Lanre Adeola, tweeting with the handle @lanreadeola said, “That’s lovely. An elder that doesn’t allow the baby’s neck to twist in the market.”

A tweep, Olanrewaju, who identifies as @olanrewaju wrote, “Agba o ni tan lori le…May God keep Ajobiewe for us for many years in good health. This is so nice.

Others expressed shock that the two were not on good terms. Sope, who tweets as @Dcsopetie wrote, “Wow! I never knew they were not talking to each other and how they hid it from the public is beyond me.

Meanwhile, Quadri, in a video shared by a YouTuber, Kilarigbo, earlier on Wednesday, confirmed their friendship, saying they are five and six.

 

He said though they are not biologically related, they are more like twins, adding that they have been friends since they met in 1985.

He, however, hinted that they have their issues, noting that they settle their misunderstandings without a third party.

He also warned the public to desist from spreading rumours of their fight, noting that they can never be separated by any force whatsoever.

However, PUNCH Online observed that both friends were hardly seen together in public in recent times.

Efforts to speak to Ogogo proved abortive as he didn’t pick calls or respond to text messages sent to his phone as of the time of filing this report.

Reacting, PUNCH’s style Editor, Tofarati Ige, said though the cause of their rift was unknown to the public, they started appearing less in public together.

He said, “Originally, Ogogo and Yinka Quadri were known to be close friends, as they often appeared at events together. In many films, they acted as friends, and their relationship continued off-screen. In some instances, they even wore outfits similar to those for public events.

 

“However, for some time, they started appearing less at public events together. Even when Ogogo’s daughter, Shakirat, got married, Yinka Quadri did not attend.

“Though the cause of their rift was not made known to the public, there were different rumours that they had fallen out, but neither of them acknowledged it publicly.

“However, the rift was well managed, as it was only known to insiders and privileged sources in the industry.”

Speaking further, he noted that when Quadri was approached about the issue, he declined to comment on it.

“Personally, when I heard of the rift about two years ago, I asked Yinka Quadri a question about it at an event, but he refused to comment on the issue.

“Till date, there are just speculations as to what actually caused the rift, I am not privy to what actually happened. As regards reconciliation, I am not aware of any elder that had tried to mediate between them.

“But, they are both close to elders in the industry, such as Jide Kosoko and Oga Bello, who are likely to have attempted to broker peace between them,” he added.

 

@PUNCHNG

 

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