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  Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will play in Saudi Arabia next season under a “huge” deal, a source close to the negotiations told AFP on Tuesday. “The contract is exceptional. It’s huge. We are just finalising some small details,” added the source, who is not athorised to speak to media. Asked about the comments, Messi’s current club Paris Saint-Germain simply noted he remains under contract until June 30. A separate PSG source said: “If the club had wanted to renew his contract, it would have been done earlier.” The 35-year-old World Cup winner was suspended by Qatari-owned PSG last week for an unauthorised trip to Saudi, where he is a tourism ambassador. Messi’s expected arrival in the oil-rich kingdom follows in the footsteps of his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr in a massive deal in January. Ronaldo’s agreement to June 2025 is said to total more than 400 million euros ($439million), making him the world’s highest paid athlete according t

  Jorge Messi, father of Lionel Messi has denied reports that the Argentine star will be moving to Saudi Arabia next year. Reports of Paris Saint-Germain talisman signing a deal to play in Saudi Arabia next season had been widespread on Tuesday.  A Saudi source close to the negotiations told AFP that the deal was agreed on lucrative terms.  “The contract is exceptional. It is huge. We are still finalising some details,” the source added, without revealing the name of the club concerned. However, in reaction, the player’s father debunked the reports, adding that no agreement verbally or otherwise had been reached.    “There’s absolutely nothing agreed with any club for next season,” Jorge Messi, who also represents his son, said. “We will decide at the end of the season. Nothing is signed, agreed or verbally agreed. Only fake news using Leo’s name.” Messi is already under contract with Visit Saudi in a deal that sees him promoting the Kingdom’s tourist destinations. The 35-year-old was

  The jury in E Jean Carroll’s civil rape trial against Donald Trump has found him liable for her sexual abuse but not for rape. The former president was also found to have defamed the magazine columnist. She has been awarded a total of $5m in a payout after a unanimous verdict was reached by the nine jurors in less than three hours. Both sides delivered closing arguments in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday, with Ms Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan saying: “In a real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself.” Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina countered that while the former president’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” comments in the infamous Access Hollywood tape are “rude” and “gross”, he claimed “that doesn’t make Ms Carroll’s unbelievable story believable”. Independent.co.uk

  The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 General Elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), has come to stay as a legal instrument for the accreditation and transmission of election results in Nigeria.  Atiku made the declaration in his response to the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State. This was contained in a statement issued by his Media Office, in Abuja, on Tuesday. Atiku, equally congratulated the people of Osun State for the affirmation of their collective mandate given to Governor Adeleke, said that the introduction of technology in the conduct of elections in Nigeria is a progress that cannot be reversed. He said, “We are all witnesses to the copoius references to the BVAS technology in coming up with this judgement. “The law governing our elections has truly brought power to the people, and those power mongering politicians who believe that they can freely

  The Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Tuesday, raised the alarm over plans by some hoodlums to disrupt the May 29 inauguration of Prince Dapo Abiodun, as the governor of the State for his second term in office. The students, under the aegis of NANS Ogun Joint Campus Committee (JCC) and the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS) alleged that some members of a yet-to-be-identified cult group, who had infiltrated its association, are currently working with the opposition political parties in the state to cause mayhem and consequently unleash terror on some members of the public during the inauguration period. In a statement jointly signed by NANS JCC Chairman and NAOSS National President, Damilola Kehinde Simeon and Ogunrombi Oluwagbemileke respectively, copies of which were obtained by Vanguard in Abeokuta, called on the government and security operatives in the state to immediately investigate the issues raised so as not to jeop

  Afrobeats singer, David Adeleke, Davido has celebrated the ruling of the Supreme Court affirming his uncle, Ademola Adeleke as Osun state governor.  The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, affirmed Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the validly elected Governor of Osun State. The apex court, in its lead judgement they were delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, dismissed an appeal that was lodged against Adeleke’s election victory by the former governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola, who was the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Reacting to the verdict of the court, Davido mocked oppositions with a line from ‘Over Dem’ a track in his latest album, Timeless.  He tweeted, “We go dey shock them like high-tension’. https://twitter.com/davido/status/1655933267902877698/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1655933267902877698%7Ctwgr%5E929a4583654706a17aeb2f2009352e876db81d4e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-2061247195207199

  The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, affirmed Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the validly elected Governor of Osun State. The apex court, in its lead judgement they were delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, dismissed an appeal that was lodged against Adeleke’s election victory by the former governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola, who was the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC. It held that though Oyetola alleged that Adeleke won through over-voting that occurred in 774 polling units in the state, he, however, failed to produce any Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, a machine that was used in any of the polling units to prove his allegation. “It is glaring that the Appellant did not provide in evidence, any BVAS, but sought to prove over-voting by means of a report of examination of INEC’s database or backend server”. The apex court held that since it was not in dispute that the BVAS contain a record of accredited voters, “it is,

  The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja to dismiss a petition the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, filed to nullify his election victory. Tinubu, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, maintained that the petition was bereft of merit and substance. The APM had in its petition marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023, contended that the withdrawal of Mr. Ibrahim Masari who was initially nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy in view of Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. The party argued that there was a gap of about three weeks between the period that Masari, who was listed as the 5th Respondent in the petition, expressed intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal of his purported nomination, and the time Tinubu purportedly replaced him with Senator Kashim Shettima. It further argued that Tinubu’s candida

  The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, yesterday, commenced hearing in the petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election. Though, the tribunal held its inaugural session, a legal ritual that precedes the actual hearing of petitions, at the session, a five-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal would determine all the five petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the presidential election, were revealed. While the panel will be headed by the Presiding Justice (PJ) of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, Justice Haruna Tsammani, other members of the panel are; Justice Stephen Adah (PJ Asaba Division), Justice Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf (Asaba Division), Justice Boluokuromo Ugo (Kano Division) and Justice Abba Mohammed (Ibadan Division). The sitting of the court held amid tight security presence at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, venue of the Presidential Election Pet

 The Chief Whip of the 9th Senate and former governor of Abia state, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has written personal letters to the members of National Working Committee of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and 108 Senators elect of his interest to be the next Senate President. In an official statement released by the Media office of the Chief Whip on Monday, Kalu refuted news making round that the South East senators-elect endorsed him. He explained that the senators-elect of the South East only met to make a demand from the President-elect, saying the party has yet to endorse anyone.  Kalu, in the letters he personally signed and addressed to each of the NWC members and Senators-elect, said he is offering himself for the position of the Senate President to the Nigerian people, the senators elect and the party with sincerity of heart, humility, and candour.  The lawmaker also noted that his seemingly inactive in the contest of the senate presidency was because of the one month mournin