News
BREAKING: Again Tinubu splashes dollars on D’Tigress *Players, $100,000, technical crew $50,000
Like the Super Falcon, Nigeria’s female national football side, it was another dollar rain on Monday as President Bola Tinubu, doled out another whopping $100,00 to each of the members of the victorious D’Tigress, the female basketball team for lifting the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket Championship in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, for the fifth time.
Apart from the cash reward, which saw the technical crew netting $50,000, the President also conferred on each member of the contingent with the award of the Order of the Niger (OON) national honours, well as three-bedroom apartments.
Tinubu who was not physically present at the reception of the team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, was represented by Remi Tinubu, his wife and Kashim Shettima, his wife, who made the announcement to the victorious Nigerian side, who beat Mali in the finals of the tournament, on Sunday.
Last week’s largesse to the Super Falcons came after the female team, came from behind to prevail over the Desert Tigress of Morocco in a tension-soaked match, which saw them winning Nigeria’s 10th title of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, on Saturday, July 30.
In the final on Sunday, Nigeria edged out Mali 78-64 in a tense showdown, displaying resilience and composure to claim their seventh AfroBasket title, which saw them dominating African women’s basketball, winning their 29th consecutive game without a single loss since 2015.
However, spurred by Mali’s intensity, Rena Wakama’s side regrouped in the second quarter and headed into halftime with the scores level at 41–41.To qualify for the final against Mali, Nigeria had to dig deep to defeat Senegal 75-68 in a hotly-contested game, rightly dubbed “final before the final”.
Channels Television, reports that a standout performance by Amy Okonkwo and Ezinne Kalu on Sunday night was critical to ensuring that the D’Tigress retain the title for a historic fifth consecutive time, adding that while Okonkwo contribute 19 points on the night, Kalu delivered 20 points, including several crucial baskets in the second and third quarters.
Promise Amukamara and Victoria Macaulay also made key contributions, while Musa added nine crucial points and four rebounds in a game that once again showcased Nigeria’s depth, the report, said, adding that the Third quarter of the game proved to be very decisive, with the Nigerian ladies tightening their defence to outscore the Malians 20-15.
The women’s basketball team landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday aboard two chartered flights conveying both players and officials.
On the ground to receive the team were officials of the National Sports Commission, the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Association of Nigerian Women in Sports, and a handful of supporters.
They brought home not only the championship trophy but also an unprecedented achievement in African women’s basketball.
D’Tigress defeated Mali 78–64 in Sunday night’s final at the Palais des Sports de Treichville, sealing a seventh AfroBasket title and extending their AfroBasket winning streak to 29 games, a run that began in 2015.
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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