The United States is opposing plans by Nigeria to give $100 million from loots recovered from former Nigeria military dictator Sani Abacha to Kebbi State governor Atiku Bagudu.US Department of Justice said Bagudu was involved in corruption with the late Abacha who Transparency International (TI) said may have looted as much as $5 billion during his 1993-98 rule in Nigeria.DoJ also contends that the Nigerian government is hindering U.S. efforts to recover allegedly laundered money it said was traced to Bagudu, Bloomberg reported on Friday. DoJ said in a statement earlier in the month that Bagudu with Abacha and Abacha’s son Mohammed Sani Abacha “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through U.S. financial institutions and the purchase of bonds backed by the United States.”“The United States has asked the government of Nigeria to withdraw litigation it has instituted in the UK that hinders the U.S. effort to recover these additional funds for the people of Nigeria,” DoJ said in February 2020.According to the Bloomberg report, the Nigerian government said there is a 17-year-old agreement that entitles Bagudu to the funds and prevents Nigeria from assisting the U.S., according to recent filings from the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington.This case illustrates how complex and contentious repatriating stolen assets to Nigeria can be,” said Matthew Page, an associate fellow at London-based Chatham House and former Nigeria expert for U.S. intelligence agencies.“Instead of welcoming U.S. efforts, Nigeria’s lawyers appear to be supporting the interests of one of the country’s most powerful families.”Prior to this, Nigerian governments have sought to recoup the money looted by Abacha, who died in office, and have so far repatriated more than $2 billion with the cooperation of other countries, according to U.S. court filings.In the case involving Bagudu, the U.S. in 2013 initiated a forfeiture action against a host of assets, including four investment portfolios held in London in trust for him and his family, according to the district court filings.

Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Kogi West Senatorial district, on Saturday said he will head to court if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, fails to review the initial poll.Melaye who made this known after voting at Saturday’s supplementary rerun described the result of the last election as ‘fraud’.He said, ”I will head to court if INEC does not review the initial poll.“What we have as result is fraud, a major fraud,” he added.Recall that INEC had on November 18 declared the Kogi West Senatorial election as ‘inconclusive.The returning officer, Professor Olayinde Lawal, said the margin between the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Smart Adeyemi and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Dino Melaye is 20,570.He said Adeyemi polled a total of 80,118 votes, while Melaye got 59,548 votes from the seven Local Government Areas in the senatorial district.Prof Lawal explained that the total margin between both candidates is lower than the 43,127 registered voters in 53 polling units of 20 registration areas in the zone where elections were cancelled.

Dele Momodu in his weekly column ‘Pendulum’ writes about the rumors surrounding President Buhari and a possible third term agenda.According to him, ‘on a serious note, I choose to believe President Buhari on this occasion.I can’t see how he can come out in the open and tell us he wants to stay longer than 2023, after swearing by the Holy Koran.Besides as a Muslim he understands man alone cannot determine his tomorrow’.Read the full piece below…Fellow Nigerians, I don’t know about you, but I find the cynicism of many Nigerians very strange and sometimes distressing and depressing.If you’re a social media addict like me, you must have experienced the horror of reading some banal arguments on some platforms.Believe me, it is no longer funny! No surprise that some wonder legislator has decided that hate speech must not only be legislated out of existence but made a capital offence so that horrible death awaits the purveyors of such filth, not minding the constitutional guarantee of Nigerians to freedom of speech and expression.Everywhere you turn, on the internet and even in the print and electronic media, you will be assailed and assaulted by all manner of conspiracy theories. We seem to have all become ‘doubting Thomases’.

A Police officer attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Ogun State Command has allegedly caused the death of Remo Stars FC assistant captain Tiyamiyu Kazeem according to the club’s media officer Oladimeji Oshode.The jarring incident was reported to have occurred on Saturday afternoon in Sagamu while the defender who is known to fans of the club as “Kaka” was driving with teammate Sanni Abubakar.Citing unnamed eyewitness accounts, Oshode claimed the SARS officers flagged the car conveying the players and then labelled Tiyamiyu a “Yahoo Boy” – a term used locally term to describe an internet fraudster.The cops then insisted on arresting the players and taking them to their station despite both men having shown their ID Cards which identified them as Remo Stars football players.Both men reportedly acceded to the police officers request to follow them to their station.However, on noticing that the alleged police officers were driving towards an unfamiliar destination, the players demanded to know where they were being transported to upon which the officers allegedly pushed Tiyamiyu out of the car and he was hit by an oncoming vehicle.He was reportedly transported to Fakoya Hospital in Sagamu where he was declared dead on arrival.“The SARS officer stopped Tiyamiyu Kazeem insisting that he was a Yahoo Boy, he brought out his identity (ID) card to identify himself as a player of Remo Stars FC but the officer insisted on taking him to the nearest police station in Sagamu,” Oshode wrote citing unnamed eyewitness reports.“Tiyamiyu and Sanni obliged, followed the SARS officers, only for them to notice that they were driving towards Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway, then the guys questioned to know were the SARS officers were taking them to, but this prompted them to stop the car and push him (Tiyamiyu) out of the car, whereby an unknown vehicle knocked him down.”The club described Tiyamiyu “as a humble and reliable defender for Remo Stars FC in the ongoing 2019/2020 Nigeria National League (NNL)”.

Nollywood actor, Olu Michaels has opened up on his plans to never get married nor have children.While speaking in an interview with The Nation, the 48-year-old actor revealed that he is scared of marriage and he thinks it is too late for him to have kids.“I’m not married, and I don’t intend to. Truth be told, I’m scared of marriage and I don’t think I will ever get married.Though I wanted to have kids when I was younger but not now, it is too late.Why I said it’s too late for having children is that I am a workaholic and I don’t like a situation where I would want to sleep and then a baby starts crying. My parents have been begging me to get married but no” he said.On what he looks out for in a woman, Olu Michaels said;“I am a jealous man. For example, if I marry an actress and I see her kissing another actor on set, I will never tolerate such. Also, if I marry a beautiful woman, I might never concentrate on my work because I will be on the look to protect her.”He also opened up on what he does whenever he feels lonely at night. Olu Michaels said he drives around his Mercedes Benz which has a lovely interior and sleeps off on it whenever he feels lonely.“What I do every time I feel lonely is that I have a car that I bought with all my money. It is a Mercedes-Benz and the interior is wow. I love it. I just drive around town and get home and sleep off” he said.

Legendary Ghanaian gospel singer Stella Seal , formerly known as Stella Dugan, has a surprising outlook on polygamy.What with being a gospel singer and all, you’d think she would have some ‘old-fashioned’ views on marriage ie ‘one man, one woman’.However, in a chat with Becky on ‘E with Becks’, Seal said she has no problem with polygamy.She said she even believes if it’s allowed it could help curb cheating among couples.“If a married man can be responsible enough to take another wife instead of having multiple girlfriends, then let him,” she said.“If you think you love the woman enough, do the needful or fix your marriage. I speak to ladies who tell me they have four to six boyfriends just because they don’t know who will give them security,” she added.Seal, who used to be known as Dugan, is one of Ghana’s most beloved gospel singers from the ‘golden age’ of gospel.

Barnabas, an undergradute of Cross River University of Technology, (CRUTECH), who was said to be in his first year, has been reportedly drowned in a swimming pool in Calabar, the state capital.According to Daily post, the student, who was in the URP department, had his Matriculation on Monday, February 24, 2020.According to a source, who spoke under anonymity with Daily post, the incident occurred at Orange Resort, Akai Efa in Calabar, on the same day of the CRUTECH Matriculation.The source said the students went to cool off as a way of making their Matriculation into the University a memorable one.“A group of CRUTECH students went to Orange Resort to swim after their Matriculation and that was how one of them (Otu) drowned.“People were saying the guy was drunk, but what really transpired is still uncertain as the friends refused to say anything,” the source said.The source added that the family of Otu wanted to carry his corpse to his hometown in Ugep, Yakurr local government area of the state for burial, but the police refused.“May be the police or relevant security agencies are investigating the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death but his body has been deposited at the morgue at General Hospital Calabar”, the source added.The Public Relations Officer of CRUTECH, Mr. Onen Onen confirmed the incident.He said, “The information is true, but I don’t have many details now because I travelled, when I come back, I am going to compile a report on that”.

The chapel of a cemetery in northern Italy has been turned into a mortuary chamber as the town cannot cope with the number of people killed by coronavirus.Bergamo, in the Lombardy region near Milan, is among the Italian towns worst affected by coronavirus. It has more than 2,000 confirmed cases - recording a jump of over 300cases in 24 hours - and almost 150 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.Doctors in the area have said they cannot cope with the rate of infected patients, likening the virus to an "earthquake"."The chapel of All Saints, next to the city's cemetery, has been transformed into a mortuary chamber," Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera and other Italian reports said.An average of 40 coffins a day are kept there ahead of burial or cremation.The adjacent cemetery has been closed to the public for the first time since the Second World War.

Nigeria's first confirmed case was not detected at airport, and travelled through Lagos before he became ill and went to a hospital, the country's health minister said.The Italian man, who authorities said arrived in Nigeria from Milan on the evening of February 24, did not have symptoms when the plane landed.Authorities are now working to "meet and observe" all those who were on the flight with him, and are also identifying all the people he met and places he visited in Lagos, a city of some 20 million people.