Author: damazah@gmail.com

Senator Iyiola Omisore is not on the ballot for the August 15 governorship election in Osun State. He does not need to be. In a contest where every voting bloc is important, and every alliance could prove decisive, candidates from across party lines have been making their way to Omisore is a former two-term senator and ex-National Secretary of the APC. Once a serious governorship contender himself, he has evolved into something the political class often finds more useful: a kingmaker. The reasons candidates want him are not mysterious. There are three, and each is concrete. The first is Ife…

Children who open social media accounts at the start of secondary school appear to perform worse in tests than those who delay, with researchers suspecting that the constant checking for updates is a major distraction for many students.Pupils who opened their first social media account aged 11 to 12 scored lower in mathematics and reading tests than those who waited a few years, with scores at age 16 differing between the groups by the equivalent of about six months of learning, the study found.The work does not prove social media is to blame, but the researchers took account of many…

FTFull Time AETAfter Extra Time LIVEThis is a live match. ETExtra Time HTHalf Time Celtic vs Dundee. Scottish Premiership. 7:30pm, Monday 3rd August 2026. Celtic Park.

EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck and Jamie Ding didn’t just secure $1 million for Eastern Congo Initiative on Who Wants to be a Millionaire last week, the pair also helped boost ABC to a ratings high. The series boasted its best performance in a year with 4.22M live + same-day viewers tuning in for the July 29 episode, which saw Affleck and Ding clinch the seven-figure prize after correctly answering a question about presidential turkey pardons, per Nielsen. That’s up 4% from the Season 5 premiere’s 4.07M viewers. The series was also the top program of the night for the second week…

Few figures in Nigeria’s cultural landscape embody rebellion, wit, and social conscience as vividly as Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy. For decades, he has occupied a peculiar yet fascinating space between performance and protest, fusing music, media, and activism into a life that has constantly defied convention. In his memoir, 999, Oputa invites readers beyond the flamboyant persona into the intimate terrain of struggle, identity, resilience, and self-invention. Some may view the book as the story of a controversial celebrity, but it is also the testimony of a man who repeatedly and unapologetically chose to live on his…

Holdouts for Trump’s attorney general pick say they will vote in favor of his nominationRepublican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, two key holdouts on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination – now say they will vote to advance him to the full Senate.The outgoing lawmakers, who have repeatedly clashed with Trump over the past year, said their concerns were resolved after “successful negotiation of a legally enforceable document” that formally ends the $1.8bn “anti‑weaponization fund” and makes clear that Trump and his family will not receive indefinite protection from audits of future tax filings. Both issues had been deal‑breakers for…

Linus Aleke in Abuja A coordinated intelligence-led operation by the Department of State Services (DSS), supported by Katsina State community vigilantes and specially trained hunters, has led to the elimination of notorious bandit kingpin Idi Abasu Aiki and more than 60 other suspected bandits during a raid in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State. Security sources said Aiki, who was believed to have masterminded several bandit attacks across Katsina and Zamfara States, was among those killed in the operation.  They added that four members of the Katsina State Community Vigilantes and the specially trained hunters also lost their lives…

Pressure is mounting on FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of the 2027 presidential election after England, Wales and Serbia became the latest football associations to withdraw their support, intensifying calls for a change in leadership following the collapse of FIFA’s controversial World Cup investment proposal. The growing opposition comes after Infantino was forced to abandon plans to sell minority stakes in a new commercial subsidiary that would have managed the commercial rights to the FIFA World Cup and other major tournaments. Read Also: UEFA declares no confidence in Infantino’s FIFA leadership England, Wales and Serbia withdraw support According to BBC…

Former Abia State Governor and Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, has commended the meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), describing it as a positive step towards strengthening democracy and promoting national development. In a statement, Kalu said sincere engagement between government and respected institutions remains essential to nation-building in every thriving democracy. He noted that the Catholic Church has continued to play a significant role in promoting justice, peace, moral values and national unity, while acknowledging the enormous responsibility President Tinubu bears in steering the country through economic…

Your editorial rightly criticises the decision to cease funding the Lovell telescope from March 2028 (The Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics, 31 July). There are additional reasons why this decision is so shortsighted. Modern astronomy is no longer simply physics. It brings together physics, chemistry, biology and computing to understand how the universe evolved and where we came from. The universe is an inexpensive laboratory in which we can study the interaction of physical, chemical and biological processes under conditions that can never be reproduced on Earth. Understanding how…