Buhari nominates Emefiele for second term as CBN governor

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Godwin Emefiele for a second term as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), TheCable understands.

Emefiele was first appointed in 2014 by former president Goodluck Jonathan and was retained when Buhari came to office in 2015.

More to follow…

New UEFA rule favours Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, Tottenham

Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur are all battling for the top four but thanks to a Champions League rule change that came into force this season, it doesn’t matter if the triumphant clubs finish third or fourth.

With Manchester City and Liverpool clear at the top, all four English teams are now be given a direct route into the Champions’ League group stages.

This was after Uefa changed the rules – and scrapped the playoff games for clubs from the bigger leagues.

This means clubs from Italy, Germany, and Spain, as well as the current holders of the Champions League and the Europa League, all benefit.
And with that, it means Arsenal and Chelsea can get into Europe’s elite competition via winning the second tier competition.

However, it’s still worth busting a gut to finish third rather than fourth. Premier League prize money sees whoever finishes in third get £34.6m – where you ‘only’ get £32.6m in fourth.

The lack of qualifying rounds is a huge boost for English sides who have seen themselves navigate tricky ties in order to qualify for the tournament over the years.

Despite finishing fourth, the season before last, Liverpool had to overcome German side Hoffenheim in the qualifying rounds before going on all the way to the final.
This season they went straight through to the group stage – despite finishing in fourth in 2017/18, 25 points behind Manchester City.

A further two teams from the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga will also qualify directly for the Europa League group stages as well as two from France But sides from lesser leagues will still have to play off.
This means that from next season, the top six will all be guaranteed a place in both European competition’s group stage and will not have to play a two-legged qualifier.

UEFA also revealed more teams will be directly qualifying for the group stages, with 26 in total compared to 22 from this season.
Now, only six teams will gain entry via the qualifying round opposed to 10 this term, but this format will still remain a mini knockout tournament.

Their final change sees more clubs trickle down into the Europa League from the group stages, with 10 sides now playing in Europe’s second club competition.
Seventeen teams will qualify for the tournament directly through domestic league positions and a further 21 clubs will make it through the normal qualifying route.

Brila

Jigawa Assembly impeach speaker, chief whip, majority leader

Speaker of Jigawa State House of Assembly, Mr Isah Idris has been impeached.

The Speaker was impeached on Thursday in an emergency meeting, DAILY POST reports.

The meeting had in attendance 20 out of 30 lawmakers.

The House, after the impeachment unanimously voted Idris Garba Kareka as the newly elected Speaker of the House.

Also impeached, were Majority leader, Sank Isiyaku as well as Chief Whip, Aminu Sule Sankara.

The evil I feared in PDP has befallen me 10 times in APC - Okorocha

The outgoing Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, on Tuesday lamented that he had been afflicted with more evils in the ruling All Progressives Congress than he would have suffered if he had been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He regretted that the APC had inflicted what he called the greatest devilish political machinations against his person 10 times more than what he would have been inflicted with if he were to be a member of the PDP.

Okorocha spoke with journalists in Abuja.

The embattled governor however said he would remain in the ruling party despite alleged moves to frustrate him out of the APC.

He accused the National Chairman of the APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, and other unnamed leaders of the party of working with the Independent National Electoral Commission to kill his senatorial ambition.

This, he said, was being done by ensuring that he did not get his certificate of return as the duly elected senator for Imo West Senatorial District.

He said there were moves to damage his political career by his enemies.

Okorocha, who was elected governor in his first tenure as a member of the All Progressive Grand Alliance before he joined others to form the APC, said it was regrettable the evil that made him to dump the PDP for the ruling party had become more fiery.

He said, “The evil I feared in the PDP has befallen me 10 times in the APC. Last week, I wrote a letter to INEC for the first time informing them of their wrongdoings and illegal actions to withhold my certificate on mere allegation of duress which was never founded, neither was there any committee set up to investigate the matter.

“So, INEC on its own believed the reports of the Returning Officer without investigating the authenticity of the accusation. So, there was no issue of fair hearing at all.

Punch

Court of Appeal nullifies Adeleke's tribunal victory

The Court of Appeal on Thursday in Abuja nullified the victory of Ademola Adeleke at the Osun State governorship election petition tribunal.

This was after the appeal filed by the Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, challenging the declaration of Ademola Adeleke as the duly elected governor by the state election petition tribunal.

The appellate court also set aside the judgement of the tribunal of March 22, which declared Mr Adeleke winner of the election.

A five-member panel of the appeal court led by Jummai Sankey delivered the judgement with three members of the panel agreeing with the lead judgement.

El-Rufai tells Republic of Niger to use Kaduna port instead of Lagos to create commercial opportunities for northern businessmen

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, plans to send a delegation to the Republic of Niger to tell it to start receiving goods at the Kaduna Inland Dry Port instead of using the seaports in Lagos State.

El-Rufai disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony for the commencement of cargo delivery by rail to the Kaduna Inland Dry Port.


He said, “We are very grateful today’s event has opened a new vista of commercial opportunities, not only for northern businessmen but even for our neighbouring countries.

“I intend to send a delegation to the Republic of Niger to sensitise the government of that country on the opportunities of receiving their goods in Kaduna instead of Lagos and having to truck them, as well as any of their exports from Kaduna port to any part of the world.”

Punch

Bangkok hospital offers instant six packs

Summer is almost with us, so no doubt you're already dreaming of sunning yourself in tropical climes... or at least catching some rays in the back garden with a few tinnies. But if you've left it too late to crack on with that beach bod, a company in Thailand has got your back.

Masterpiece Hospital in Bangkok now offers 'instant six packs', so you can swerve the gym and get ready for the sun the easy way - you might want to check out the pictures first though.

In cosmetic surgery terms, ab implants are fairly commonplace - people who are already lean get silicone implants popped in to create a fake six pack.

Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

But the gang over at Masterpiece Hospital instead etch out 'abs' on patients' stomachs, removing some of the fat around the abdomen. According to Thai website Coconuts, this method creates a more natural look than fillers, that also lasts longer.

Although the hospital says that the surgery doesn't hurt, the recovery doesn't look great. I'd turn away now if you're squeamish.

Bandages soaking up blood and fat. Nice. Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

Bandages soaking up blood and fat. Nice. Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

Apparently, most of the hospital's patients are folks who work out regularly but find that stubborn belly fat is the trickiest bit to shift, so opt for the THB120,000 (approx £2,900) procedure to speed things up.

Hospital CEO and surgeon Raweewat Maschamado said: "We've been doing this for about three to four years now. We get anywhere from 20 to 30 customers requesting a six-pack every month."

The recovery doesn't look great, no pain, no gain though, right? Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

The recovery doesn't look great, no pain, no gain though, right? Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

He continued: "In order to naturally get a six-pack, one needs to work out as well as get lean. Most of our clients come in with a lot of muscle, they just want to save themselves months of leaning down.

"We are a licensed, legitimate hospital, unlike many other cosmetic surgery clinics around Thailand. Which means, we have access to anesthetic and quality medicines."

The fat is sucked out to create a six pack effect. Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

The fat is sucked out to create a six pack effect. Credit: Facebook/Masterpiece Hospital

According to its Facebook page, the hospital is licenced and registered - so not just a clinic - and does all manner of treatments, including nose jobs, eyelid lifts, skin procedures and more.

But if all your spare cash is going on paying for your holiday, you might want to get other people to pay for your beach bod - and here's how you can do just that.

Although it's only open to women, Allegra Cole has started up a website where people can actually crowdfund their cosmetic surgery.

In a bid to help others to 'achieve their body goals', Allegra set up the website BoobJobs4Moms.com, as a platform for models to feature their bios.

Anyone who's interested in a model's story can then buy various picture packages and content, in turn funding their surgery.

LAD BIBLE