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Former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma has withdrawn from the corruption inquiry, saying that he would no longer give evidence in the probe over his administration.

Zuma’s lawyer Muzi Sikhakhane according to Times Live, wrote to disclose that his client would no longer be giving evidence to the inquiry.

He wrote:

“You will recall that on Monday, I expressed my reservations that a commission, which is a creature of statute, which has set out ground rules, writes a letter in June to say ‘we are calling your client in terms of no rules’.

“We expressed our reservations because this commission at all times has to comply with its ground rules.

“Basically, our client from the beginning was treated as someone who must come and answer, as someone who is accused. Everyone [every witness] who came had a grievance against him.

“We said our client sat waiting to be treated just like you treated [other witnesses].

“This commission does not know who is guilty, it’s trying to find out.

“A legal process must be cleansed of prejudices which come from outside… We therefore submit to you that there is something irrational about a parallel approach to the witness.

“We’ve come to tell you that because of the reservations we’ve raised and our experience in this room that my client has instructed me that he will take no further part in these proceedings.”

A 37-year-old guard, Wasiu Orilonise has publicly confessed that he raped his 15-year-old daughter for verification of her virginity and protection.

Wasiu who appeared in Oyo State Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ibadan, however, appealed to the court to forgive him as he did that only to confirm if her daughter was still a virgin.

The prosecutor, Mr Sunday Ogunremi, told the court that the accused had sometime in December 2018 at Omo village, Agbofieti, Ibadan, in the Ibadan Magisterial District, raped the victim without her consent.

Ogunremi said the offence was contrary to and punishable under Section 34, sub-sections 1 and 2 of the Child Rights Law of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2006.

The plea of the accused was, however, not taken during the arraignment.

When the Chief Magistrate, Mr Taiwo Olaniran, sought to know what pushed him into defiling his biological daughter, Orilonise said since he lost his wife a few years ago, he had been taking care of the victim and her siblings.

He told the court that he committed the act in order to protect his daughter.

Orilonise said the incident happened when he was trying to ascertain if the victim had lost her virginity, adding that upon discovering that she was still a virgin, he started having sex with her regularly before she would leave for school and at night.

The magistrate berated fathers who were fond of sexually abusing their daughters and other under-aged girls, saying they were allowing the devil to use them to destroy the society.

He ordered that the accused be remanded in the Agodi Prison pending legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions and adjourned the case till July 30, 2019.

Nigerian-British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Nollywood Diva Genevieve Nnaji during the World Premiere of ‘Farming’ at Toronto International Fil Festival(TIFF). PHOTO credit:IG

Film

By Joshua Olomu(08189426868)

Abuja, July 19, 2019(NAN) ‘Farming’, the acclaimed memoir film of Nigerian-British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, featuring Nollywood Diva Genevieve Nnaji, is to hit Cinemas on October 11,its producers has said.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ‘Farming’ is based on the life story of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who grew up as a young fostered Nigerian boy that struggled to find an identity  in 1980’s England.

The movie is his directorial debut, and features international stars Damson Idris, Kate Beckinsale, John Dagleish, Jaime Winstone, Genevieve Nnaji, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

It received its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and its trailer is now released by the producers.

The plot of ‘Farming’ follows intriquing story of young Enitan (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who was adopted by a foster British mother (Kate Beckinsale) as he struggled to cope   with  the harsh realities of racism at the time.

In a scene, the young Enitan tried washing off his skin colour after he was ridiculed for being too black by his adopted mum’s friends.

He went as far as painting himself white just to look and feel white and suffered several humiliations, but gradually falls deep into the bullish gang’s clique to become one of them.

NAN reports that Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor and former fashion model was born in Islington, London, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba origin, who were students in the UK.

He is famous for his roles as Simon Adebisi on Oz, Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity, Kurse in Thor: The Dark World, Killer Croc in Suicide Squad.

He also played Mr. Eko  on Lost, Malko in the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones and Dave Duerson in the NFL biopic drama Concussion.

When Akinnuoye-Agbaje was six weeks old, his biological parents gave him up to a white working-class family in   Tilbury.

It was a common practice then among Nigerian families, when parents sent young children to live in the UK with white foster parents in the hopes their children would have better lives.

At 8, his biological parents brought him back to Nigeria but, as he was unable to speak the Yoruba Language and forbidden by his parents to speak English, and was returned to Tilbury.

The brief exposure to Nigeria left him struggling to reconcile his heritage with the distinctly British culture and environment he was raised in.

As a young boy, facing a cultural identity crisis, he joined a local Skinhead gang in order to escape racial persecution at their hands until he came to terms with  his background, turning his life around.

Popular Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw says she is happy celebrating her 48th birthday having been blessed beyond measure.

Henshaw who took to her Instagram page to appreciate friends and family members who have stood by her all the time thanked God for her career.

“I love my life; I am blessed beyond measure. I am grace personified.. I am grateful for my family and very lovely friends.

“I am grateful for my career that has brought me so much happiness and connections to do much more for those I come in contact with; I am thankful for another year.”

Click the video below to see Henshaw dancing in a recent post to celebrate her birthday:

Bill Gates has been unseated as the second richest man in the world, losing the position to Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the latest ranking by Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Arnault is in second place with Jeff Bezos still retaining first place.

Arnault and his family are the majority owners of Christian Dior and LVMH, parent of such brands as Louis Vuitton, Celine, Fendi, Moët, Hennessy, Dom Pérignon, and others.

As LVMH’s share price has soared in 2019, so has Arnault’s worth. It now stands at about $107.6 billion, more than $200 million ahead of Gates, Bloomberg estimates.

The report also states that Gates would had been ranked the richest person, even ahead of Bezos if not for his philanthropic giveaways which gave Arnault more room to climb.

The French entrepreneur entered the luxury industry in 1984, when he bought Boussac, a textile empire in the midst of bankruptcy that owned Dior.

The famed label by then had deteriorated by licensing its name out to companies producing sub-par products.

Arnault set about reviving it, turning it into a vertically integrated company that did its own production, distribution, and marketing.

He went on to buy up other brands, such as Céline, and in 1988 engineered the deal that made him the majority shareholder of LVMH.

Forbes currently ranks Dior as the world’s largest fashion brand based on sales, profits, assets, and market value.

Meanwhile, LVMH on the whole keeps attracting customers around the world, with China being the latest highly profitable frontier. (NAN)

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Dr Abiye Kalaiwo, the Programme Manager, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
says the organisation will begin a preventive intervention programme on HIV prevalence in Nigerian prisons by September this year.

Kalaiwo told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that USAID had prisons in Bauchi, Niger, Adamawa and Bayelsa
as its targets.

He said that the intervention was in line with the war to reduce the spread of HIV infection in the country, especially among key population.

He added that “we have already commenced the preventive intervention programme in Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Cross River among
prison inmates.”

The USAID official identified anal sex, drug injection and inadequate information as major reasons for HIV prevalence among prison inmates.

He explained that the agency would carry out thorough sensitisation of inmates on ways of preventing infection, which he said was abstinence
and use of condom.

According to him, prison inmates should be made to understand the risks of anal sex and unprotected sex to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS.

NAN reports that study by UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) reveals that gays, displaced persons and prison inmates are responsible
for new HIV infections globally.