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Here is a rundown of five of the hottest news topics…
1. Oyetola defeats Adeleke at court of appeal
The appeal court sitting in Osun State has ruled in favour of the governor of Osun state Adegboyega Oyetola in the Osun governorship elections.
The election petition tribunal had earlier ruled in favour of Senator Ademola Adeleke.
INEC had declared APC candidate Oyetola, the winner of the Osun State governorship elections on the basis of the cumulative results of September 22, 2018, main election and September 27 supplementary polls.
Dissatisfied with the results, PDP and Adeleke filed their petition before the three-man Tribunal. The tribunal in March split the judgment, nullified Oyetola’s victory and declared Adeleke the winner of the election.
A five-man panel at the appeal court upheld the appeal filed by the Governor, challenging the verdict of the tribunal and affirmed him as duly elected.
2. UN appoint Emir of Kano, five other Africans
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, announced the appointment of the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Muhammad Lamido Sanusi II, as one of his new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates for 2019-2020.
The advocates which comprise of 17 influential public figures from around the world, were tasked by the Secretary-General to promote the goals, raise awareness with a new audience, maintain global commitment and call for greater ambition and scalable actions to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Sanusi is one of five Africans selected and the only Nigerian. The other Africans are Ghanian President Nana Akufo-Addo who will co-chair the group, Chadian activist Hindon Ibrahim, former Mozambican first lady Graça Machel and South African Edward Ndopu.
Other advocates are Jack Ma (China), Queen Mathilde (Belgium), Sheikha Moza bint Nasser (Qatar), Richard Curtis (Britain), Dia Mirza (India), Alaa Murabit (Canada), Nadia Murad (Iraq), Paul Polman (Netherlands), Jeffrey Sachs (USA), Marta Vieira da Silva (Brazil) and Forest Whitaker.
3. Jeff Bezos unveils Moon lander
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a moon lander mock-up created by his aerospace company Blue Origin. The lander is a robotic ship roughly the size of a small house, which can carry up to four rovers. The company said a following version of the spacecraft would transport people to the moon in the near future.
“This is an incredible vehicle and it’s going to the moon,” Bezos said at a rare media event. “It’s time to go back to the moon, this time to stay.”
Bezos also stated that the lander is only the beginning of a larger project to create greater infrastructure in space. “The price of admission to do interesting things in space right now is just too high because there’s no infrastructure,” he said.
“Blue Moon can deliver payloads to the lunar surface, host payloads and even deploy payloads during its journey to the moon,” the Blue Origin company said on its website. The lander is expected to launch on reusable rockets. Other companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, have also developed reusable rockets, which are crucial to lowering the costs of space-bound voyages.
4. BBC radio broadcaster sacked over royal baby racist tweet
A BBC radio broadcaster, Danny Baker, has been sacked by the media organisation after posting a racist tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new baby. The BBC Radio 5 Live presenter tweeted a black and white photo of a man and woman holding hands with a chimpanzee in a suit and top hat, with the caption, “Royal baby leaves the hospital.”
The tweet soon went viral and received widespread accusations of racism. Baker soon deleted the tweet, claiming the connotations had not occurred to him. Baker said that the tweet was “supposed to be a joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys and race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching, not my forte.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgement and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody. Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.”
Since the announcement of her pregnancy, Meghan has been a target of racist abuse across social media. The newborn makes a significant milestone for British society becoming the first biracial child in the royal family.
5. Arsenal, Chelsea set up all English Europa final
Arsenal and Chelsea are on course for an all-English Europa Leaguefinal after winning their respective semi-final ties on Thursday night.
The Gunners went into the match with a comprehensive 3-1 advantage and looked to just see off the tie. But things went better than they expected as star forward Aubameyang grabbed a hat-trick to put the icing on the cake. He became the first Arsenal player to score a hat-trick in the semi-final of a European competition. Arsenal ran out 4-2 winners on the night and 7-3 on aggregate.
London rivals Chelsea, however, needed a telling performance at Stamford Bridge having managed to get a 1-1 draw away in the first leg. Things seemed to be going according to plan when Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s strike put the hosts ahead. But the hosts soon equalised levelling the scores once again.
The tie dragged on into extra time and subsequently penalties when neither of the teams could grab the winner. In the ensuing shootout, Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga made two crucial saves after Chelsea captain César Azpilicueta missed from the spot to send the Blues to their first European final since 2013.
The results mean that both Arsenal and Chelsea will battle it out in Baku on May 29 in a historic all-English final. And with Liverpool and Tottenham qualifying for the Champions League final, this is the first time that all four places in the Champions League/European Cup and Europa League/UEFA Cup finals will be filled by one country.
Muslihat Shaka reporting
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