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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.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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