Members of the Eletu-Odibo family have distanced themselves from Lagos socialite, Sam Larry Balogun who has been accused of bullying and assaulting late singer Mohbad while he was alive.
In a statement released, the family stated that SamLarry has no paternal or maternal link to their family. The family had to set the record straight after some persons claimed he was a member of their family.
Read the statement below..
The Presidential candidate of Labour Party during the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has distanced himself and his supporters from online attacks on the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
Adeboye was attacked on social media on Monday, May 8, after reports claimed he declared his support for President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Online reports claimed that the clergyman while speaking during a sermon on Sunday, May 7, declared that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, can fix Nigeria with God’s help.
In a series of tweets post on his handle, Obi stated that some people were masquerading as Obidients to carry out the attacks on the clergyman.
“The use of subterfuge by people masquerading as Obidients to abuse and insult eminent personalities like Most Reverend Pastor Enoch Adeboye or anyone else is most unacceptable. Obidients are by and large, law-abiding citizens.
While differences of opinion are normal, calculated efforts to create ethnic or religious chasm all in the name of politics should not in any way be tolerated. As a person, I eschew name-calling, insults, and abuses, likewise most of my supporters.
The suggestion that some in the fringes engage in such conduct casually overlooks the fact that the political opposition deploys such methods to gain undue advantage and create confusion and bad blood.”
In a related development, the Head of the Obi-Datti media office, Diran Onifade, released a statement today May 10, distancing Obi and members of the Obidients movement from the social media attacks on the pastor.
The statement reads
“Our attention has been drawn to yet another campaign of calumny emanating from opposition ranks, this time blaming ‘Obidients’ for recent unjustified social media attacks on the revered General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
We wish to state categorically that supporters of Mr Peter Obi, like their Principal, have great respect for Pastor Adeboye, indeed every responsible and respectable Nigerian, and therefore are not involved in any social media hounding of the revered man of God most especially over a statement he did not make.
It has become a pattern for desperate political operatives to orchestrate a ruse and blame it on Peter Obi’s supporters in furtherance of the opposition’s subterfuge strategy which has failed back to back.
We wish to appeal to fellow Nigerians to ignore the antics of election riggers who believe that demarketing Peter Obi is their sure means of keeping a stolen mandate.
Nigerians are aware by now that issuing personal insults is not Peter Obi’s character and he does not encourage his followers to engage in the same.”
Yaya Toure has distanced himself from talks about his former agent placing a curse on Manchester City to prevent the club from lifting the Champions League.
The former Manchester City star spoke out after his former agent Dimitry Seluk said that a curse that had been placed on manager Pep Guardiola had been lifted.
‘I want to apologise for this matter,’ the Ukrainian agent said. ‘I think it is time for this bitterness to stop – and I know that Yaya feels the same because he wishes nothing but success for City.
‘I can say that the spell has now been lifted by the shamans – and that I think City will win the Champions League under Pep.
‘They have a good chance of winning it this year. But whatever happens they will definitely win it in the next three years.’
Taking to Twitter, Toure distanced himself from ex-manager and slammed the ‘lazy stereotypes about African curses.’
He wrote on Twitter: “My former agent is being quoted by the media about a ‘curse’.
“Please don’t associate me with this nonsense and lazy stereotypes about African curses!?
“Media… move on please. This man does not represent me in any way. Amplifying these stereotypes can be harmful.”
Seluk fell out with manager Pep Guardiola over his treatment of the Ivorian midfielder and called on shamans to “curse” the Spaniard.
Many believe that the curse has prevented Guardiola, 52, from winning the Champions League and adding to the two he had previously won with Barcelona.
Seluk is said to have tried to nobble City in 2018 and the club are still waiting to win that elusive European crown, despite largely dominating English football.
The closest City have come to breaking the curse was in 2021 when they reached the final, only to be beaten by Premier League rivals Chelsea.
TV host, Phillip Schofield has distanced himself from his brother, Timothy Schofield, after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a period of three years.
Timothy Schofield was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child, following a trial at Exeter Crown Court.
The 54-year-old, a civilian police worker from Bath, told the jury while giving evidence that he had watched pornography with the boy, whom he insisted was over the age of 16 at that time, and they had masturbated while sitting apart, but denied performing sexual acts on the teenager.
The jury found him guilty on all counts with a majority of 10-2 after more than five-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
Jurors heard previously the defendant told his elder brother Phillip in September 2021 that he and the complainant had watched pornography together.
In a statement released by his lawyer after the guilty verdict, Phillip Schofield said: ‘My overwhelming concern is and has always been for the wellbeing of the victim and his family. I hope that their privacy will now be respected.’
He continued: ‘If any crime had ever been confessed to me by my brother, I would have acted immediately to protect the victim and their family. These are despicable crimes, and I welcome the guilty verdicts. As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.’
The boy, who alleged the offending started when he was 13, told the jury he felt ’emotionally blackmailed’ by Schofield and ‘forced’ to participate in sexual activity.
He said: ‘I felt that emotionally there was no escape from what we had to do and I felt that there was a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation for me to fulfil what was being asked and wanted.’
The police IT technician, from Bath, had repeatedly blamed his actions on his ‘mental health struggles’ and suggested the complainant is ‘exaggerating’ what happened.
Meanwhile, his defence lawyer said that while he was guilty of ‘the most serious crimes in the court of public morals’ he had not committed a criminal offence.
But closing the case for the prosecution, prosecutor Robin Shellard said: ‘We are not dealing with morals but criminal abuse against a child.’
He added: ‘There are good reasons why society – and we here are all part of this society and the law which is founded because of society – treats those under 18 and those under 16 not as full adults.
‘Society tries to protect children from adults who want to abuse them and tries to protect children from themselves.’
Referring to the defendant’s claims of ‘exaggeration’, Mr Shellard said: ‘The problem for Mr Schofield is how restrained the boy is in his allegations.
‘Is that person motivated by hate and spite or is he saying things about what happened? We say the evidence shows the boy is not motivated by hate and lies.’
Schofield was convicted of three counts of causing a child to watch sexual activity, three of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and two of sexual activity with a child.
“This Morning” confirmed last week that host Philip would not be returning to the show for weeks after he chose to take time off during the trial.
WASHINGTON — The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group that spent nearly $150 million in the past two election cycles, has invited a half-dozen potential Republican presidential candidates to its annual donor retreat next month — but not Donald J. Trump.
In a meeting with reporters on Monday, David McIntosh, president of the group, said that Republican chances of winning back the White House next year would be diminished if Mr. Trump were once again at the top of the ticket and that he hoped to introduce Republican donors to other possibilities.
“The party should be open to another candidate,” Mr. McIntosh said, suggesting that Republicans had already lost too many elections with Mr. Trump as the face of the party.
Mr. Trump and the Club for Growth, which is based in Washington, were frequent foils during the 2022 midterms, backing opposing candidates in some high-profile primary contests, including Senate races in Ohio and Pennsylvania. When the group started campaigning last year against J.D. Vance, Mr. Trump’s pick in Ohio, the former president ordered an aide to text Mr. McIntosh a vulgar message.
On the eve of Mr. Trump’s presidential announcement in November, the group publicized internal polling that showed the former president trailing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida with Republican primary voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. (Mr. Trump is so far the only declared candidate in the race, but President Biden is expected to seek re-election.)
Mr. McIntosh insisted that there was no personal animosity guiding the group’s interest in seeking another option for the 2024 nomination. Instead, he said that Mr. Trump had proved to be toxic among general election voters, adding that Republicans had lost elections in 2018, 2020 and 2022 on the former president’s watch.
Mr. Trump’s standing among Republicans dipped in public opinion polls in November and December. In addition to being largely blamed for the Republicans’ disappointing midterm season, he was also roundly criticized after hosting a private dinner — a week after his campaign announcement — with Kanye West, who has been denounced for making antisemitic statements, and Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and prominent young white supremacist.
How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.
He reported a less-than-stellar fund-raising haul in his first campaign finance report last week, yet another signal that his hold on some conservatives might be loosening. And the donor network created by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch is preparing to get involved in the presidential primaries in 2024, with the aim of turning the page on Mr. Trump.
Still, Mr. Trump remains the front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination, and his typical fund-raising strength is in small-dollar donors. And, if he were to capture his third consecutive nomination, Mr. McIntosh said his group would support Mr. Trump against Mr. Biden in 2024. In Mr. Trump’s presidential bid in 2016, the Club for Growth initially opposed him, but eventually got on board.
A spokesman for Mr. Trump declined to comment and instead pointed to three social media posts two weeks ago in which the former president repeatedly attacked the club, including one that referred to both the group and to Mr. DeSantis as “globalists.”
On Monday, Mr. McIntosh spoke highly of Mr. DeSantis and provided reporters with internal polling that showed the Florida governor beating Mr. Trump in a head-to-head primary matchup, but trailing when the poll included a wider, hypothetical field of seven candidates. Mr. DeSantis, who won re-election last year, has not said whether he will run for president in 2024.
Mr. McIntosh said that Mr. DeSantis had been invited to his group’s donor retreat, along with the other five non-Trump potential candidates in his group’s poll: former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.
Mr. McIntosh declined to say whether any other contenders had accepted invitations to the retreat, which is set to be held in Florida, home to both Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis.
Mr. McIntosh said Republicans had underperformed last year in part because of abortion issues, but also in part because of Mr. Trump. He said the former president’s insistence on promoting candidates who repeated his lies about the 2020 election had unnerved voters, who viewed Republican candidates as “future Trumps.”
“Trump was on the ballot,” Mr. McIntosh said. “So I worry that when we get into a general election, if Trump is the nominee, they’re going to be able to take a chunk of Republican votes.”
Asked if he thought Mr. Trump could beat Mr. Biden, Mr. McIntosh said, “Anything is possible.”
“The last three elections show he’s lost,” he added.
Show promoter, Sam Larry has distanced himself from singer Portable’s shocking claims that he is aware Portable founded ‘One million boys and Ajah boys.’
Earlier today, the singer went online to brag about being the founder of ‘One Million Boys and Ajah Boys,’ which many perceived were gangs that terrorised residents of different areas of Lagos.
In a now-deleted video, the singer said in Yoruba, “Open your ears and hear me, you’ve heard about Ajah Boys, One Million Boys, I’m their founder.”
He also added that socialites, Samlarry Eletu and Abu Abel knew him back in the day.
Shortly after the video went viral, Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, ordered an investigation into the claims made by Portable, that he formed the “notorious cult group, One-Million Boys.”
Also reacting to the news, Samlarry bitterly distanced himself from Portable’s statement and issued a serious warning to the singer. He also shared recordings from their phone conversaton as well screenshots of a chat with Portable, who apologized and stated that he made the video just to catch “cruise.”
Portable has since clarified his statement, claiming that the ‘One Million Boys’ he referred to in his viral video are his fans and not the notorious cult groups that has terrorised some parts of Lagos state.
Azman Airline has distanced itself from Captain Jamil Abubakar and a tweet he shared following the killing of a Christian student by her Muslim counterparts for alleged blasphemy.
Deborah Samuel was beaten and stoned to death before she was set ablaze on Thursday, May 12.
Her crime was a statement she made on her class WhatsApp group which her Muslim colleagues considered to be blasphemous to the Prophet.
Tweeting following Deborah’s death, Captain Jamil, an experienced pilot, son of the former Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar, and son-in-law of Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote, tweeted: “In Islam we respect the Injil, Taura, Zabur, we were never taught to disrespect any of the book, or any of the prophets From Adam to Muhammad SAW & the Quran.
“The punishment for Blasphemy is D£ATH! in most religions including Christianity.
Respect Peoples religion it’s simple!”
He added: “In Islam the Sharia court handles these cases. Islam put rules & regulations to control peoples action and motives, so the wrong ones are not cheated and justice is served the right way.”
He has now deleted the tweets after it caused outrage.
Twitter users mentioned Azman Air as his employer and called on the Airline to take action. Others defended Jamil and said they agree with his tweet.
Azman Air has now said that he is no longer their pilot and last worked with them in Dec 2019.
The Airline also said it will not take responsibility for the comment of a former staff.
The tweet reads: “PUBLIC NOTICE: Capt Jamil Abubakar is no longer a pilot @AzmanAir; his last flight with us was 22nd Dec 2019.
“We refuse to take responsibility for a comment or view of a former staff.
“The General Public should kindly take note.”
