CONFLICTING REPORTS ABOUT HEALTH STATUS OF FORMER BOXING WORLD CHAMPION MUHAMMAD ALI AS HIS FAMILY PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

The former heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali remained in hospital on Friday, for treatment of a respiratory problem.

The Associated Press reported that the hospitalization was more serious than Ali’s previous hospital stays, though this could not be confirmed.

Other reports said the boxer’s family had gathered at the hospital and were “prepared for the worst”.

ANGRY MUSLIM YOUTHS BEHEAD IGBO WOMAN IN KANO OVER ALLEGED BLASPHEMY. CC @POLICENG @MBUHARI @PROFOSINBAJO.

Angry Muslims youths in Kano on Thursday evening decapitated an Igbo woman trader named Bridget Patience a native of Orodo, Mbaitoli, Imo State, over allegations that she blasphemed Prophet Muhammad. 

The victim, who was said to be of Igbo extraction was accused of blasphemy during a religious argument at Wambai market. 

The woman, who sells plastics at the local market was in the company of her husband when she was murdered.

BLOODBATH AS MILITANTS AMBUSH SOLDIERS IN DELTA STATE.

Two soldiers and six civilians have reportedly been killed on Wednesday’s night attack on soldiers’ houseboat around a creek close to Omadino/Idjere junction in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.

Information gathered reveals that the incident occurred between the hours of 7pm and 8pm on Wednesday.

Investigations reveal that the militants struck when some of the soldiers deployed to safe-guard oil facilities had gone on a routine patrol.

ECOBANK SACKS 1040 WORKERS.

The gale of job losses being witnessed in the country due to the current economic hardship has caught up with Ecobank Nigeria, which has sacked over 1,040 of its employees.

It was reported on Tuesday that Diamond Bank Plc sacked over 200 members of its workforce, while FBN Holdings, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, recently said it would prune the number of its employees by 1,000.

Investigations by our correspondents revealed that the affected staff members of Ecobank included full time and contract workers.

DETAILS OF PETITION BY BASELINE RECORDS AGAINST SKALES AND HIS MANAGER OSAGIE.

Earlier today, a petition issued by Skales‘ record label, Baseline Music against his manager, Osagie of Metal Entertainment surfaced online after which she was invited to the police station for questioning.

GAME OF THRONES IS TAKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST PORNHUB FOR BREACH OF COPYRIGHT.

The makers of Game of Thrones are taking action against Pornhub over breach of copyright. HBO says it's because some scenes from the show have appeared on the site.

Some other videos even include parodies of porn stars pretending to be characters such as Cersei Lannister and Lord Varys from Game of Thrones.

In a statement, HBO said: "HBO is aware of the issue and is in the process of getting material taken down from Pornhub."

JOBLESS MAN KILLS HIS WIFE OF 26 YEARS IN OSHODI OVER ALLEGATIONS OF INFIDELITY, ATTEMPTS SUICIDE.

A crowd besieged Araromi Street in Oshodi area of Lagos State on Friday after a 49-year-old man, Jafaru Sougie, allegedly killed his wife of 26 years.

The suspect was said to have poisoned himself thereafter and was vomiting in the bathroom when one of their children, Richmond, woke up.

Jafaru had reportedly slit the wife’s throat with a knife around 2am but she was discovered dead at 4am by Richmond and his aunt who raised the alarm.

#DIEZANIALERT - 11 INEC OFFICIALS ADMIT RECEIVING N120M FROM DIEZANI'S N23BN.

Eleven officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission who supervised the 2015 general elections in Gombe State have admitted to receiving N120m out of the N23bn ($115m) allegedly disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The revelation comes about a month after the EFCC arrested a former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila Khan, and other top INEC officials in the South-South for allegedly receiving N675.1m from Diezani.

Sources at the EFCC said on Friday that the 11 officials had been interrogated and had made confessional statements.

KYLIE JENNER DENIES RUMOURS ABOUT HER EX TYGA OWING HER $2M.

Reports began circulating recently claiming that the rapper had been using the E! star's cash flow for his own expenses, and once their relationship came to an end, Kylie was "begging" him to start paying her back the "over $2 million" he reportedly owed her.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Kylie took to Twitter to deny the claims, responding to a user who tweeted about one of the reports with, "Lies lies lies."

Tyga has not publicly addressed the claims.

The longtime, on-again, off-again couple called it quits earlier this month. An insider told E! News at the time that ending things with the rapper "hasn't been easy but she's just keeping busy."

14-YR -OLD ESE ORURU WHO WAS RESCUED FROM HER ABDUCTOR IN KANO DELIVERS BABY GIRL.

The rescued 14-year-old girl, Ese Oruru, was on Thursday morning delivered of a baby girl.

Ese was allegedly abducted in Bayelsa State in August 2015 and taken to Kano State where she was converted to Islam and married out without the consent of her parents.

Since her return to Yenagoa,  she has been living at the Police Officers’ Mess in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

OLISA METUH IS READY TO RETURN N400M #DASUKIALERT, WRITES EFCC.

The immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Olisa Metuh’s lead defence counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), has said his client has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that he is willing to return the N400m he allegedly received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November, 2014.

Metuh is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly receiving the money, which the prosecution alleged was collected from the $2.1bn arms funds allegedly diverted by the former NSA’s office to other purposes aside from buying arms to fight insurgency.

The money was said to have been released to him to launder the alleged bad image of former President Goodluck Jonathan a few months to the 2015 presidential election which Jonathan eventually lost.

COURT SENTENCE RETIRED COLONEL TO SEVEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR DUPING CHURCH OF THE SUM OF N34.5M

Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu has sentenced Col. Eugene Okpala (retd.) to seven years in prison in a case of conspiracy, and obtaining money under false pretences to the tune of N34.5m.

The convict duped a church, Dominium City Church, of the sum in 2010.

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the 62-year-old convict was earlier slated for trial on Wednesday but the case took a different turn when the retired colonel decided to change his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty”.

THE FIVE KEY 2016 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL CLASHES.

Real Madrid face local rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final for the second time in three years at Milan’s San Siro on Saturday. Atletico are aiming to win the competition for the first time after losing out 4-1 to Real after extra-time in the final in Lisbon two years ago. By contrast, Real are already the most successful side in Champions League history as 10-time winners.

Here, We sports look at five key clashes that could decide the outcome.

40 NIGERIANS DEPORTED FROM AUSTRALIA AND UNITED KINGDOM.

For the second time in a month, United Kingdom and Australia, yesterday, jointly deported 40 Nigerians for various immigration offences. The deportees, males and females, arrived the Hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on chartered aircraft. It will be recalled that last year, more than 40 Nigerians were similarly deported from UK for what the United Kingdom government called immigration offences. Switzerland also deported some Nigerians. 

The latest deportees came on two separate chartered flights. One of the chartered aircraft, with registration number ZTA -4741, arrived Lagos Airport with 36 Nigerians: 29 males and seven females. 

PASSENGERS STRANDED NATIONWIDE AS DANA AIR PILOTS GO ON STRIKE

Dana Air pilots have gone on strike, grounding the airline’s operations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded nationwide.

“The strike started this morning and passengers that were supposed to travel this morning are stranded,” a source at the airport told our correspondent, adding that the pilots were protesting the non-payment of their salaries.

According to the source, the airline had continued to sell tickets to passengers earlier today in the hope that the dispute would be resolved.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPOINTS DGs FOR NTA, FRCN, VON AND NAN.

The Federal Government on Wednesday named chief executives for six agencies under the Ministry of Information and Culture.

The appointments were announced in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

The new Director Generals include Ishaq Modibo Kawu – Director-General, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Mansur Liman – Director-General, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN); and Yakubu Mohammed – Director-General, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

EFCC DECLARES IYIOLA OMISORE WANTED.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), today, May 24, declared former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, wanted. The former senator is wanted in connection with a case of receiving and misappropriating the sum of over N700, 000,000.00 from the Office of the National Security Adviser, between June and November, 2014.

According to EFCC, Omisore has been elusive and refused to report to the Commission after invitation was extended to him on April 7, 2016 requesting him “to come and make clarification on the ongoing investigation”.

 Instead of responding to the Commission’s investigation Omosore had approached the Federal Capital Territory High Court for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.

FAMILY OF ELECTROCUTED UNILAG STUDENT GETS N45M COMPENSATION.

LATE OLUCHI WAS A 1ST CLASS STUDENT

The family of Oluchi Anekwe, a 300-level student of Accounting in the University of Lagos, who was electrocuted by a live wire on the school premises, has been paid N45m as compensation.

A source said that the money was paid after the Eko Electricity Distribution Company reached a non-disclosure agreement with the victim’s family.

It was reported in September 2015 that Oluchi, a first class student of UNILAG, was electrocuted at about 7pm, while returning from an evening mass with her younger sister.

EFCC TO KEEP FANI KAYODE FOR ANOTHER 3 WEEKS.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has transferred a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to its Lagos office.

The EFCC also obtained a fresh remand order from a Lagos Magistrate’s Court to hold the ex-minister for another 21 days.

Fani-Kayode, who was the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation was arrested on May 9, 2016 for allegedly receiving N840m during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

NEITI DISCOVERS N1.12TN FRAUD IN NNPC.

The long-awaited Nigeria oil and gas as well as the solid minerals sectors 2013 audit reports by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, was officially unveiled in Abuja on Monday.

The Minister of Solid Minerals and Chairman, NEITI Board, Kayode Fayemi, who unveiled the report, said the document contained damning revelations about revenues either lost or unremitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its sub-units.

About N1.12 trillion, consisting $3.8billion (about N756.2 billion) and N358.3billion, was outstanding revenues from NNPC as unpaid royalties from the divested oil mining leases, OMLs.