Lawyer wants billionaire’s grave opened to retrieve buried money

 A lawyer has requested that the grave of Ugandan-born South Africa-based late billionaire, Ivan Semwanga, be opened up.

The 39-year-old billionaire was buried with large amount of money said to be about 100 million Ugandan Shillings by family and friends.

The lawyer, Tugume Gideon, had deposed that Semwanga was buried with money, a legal tender that no one is allowed to hoard.

Ugandan media reports that Gideon had sued to have the grave opened and the money removed, claiming that the money is a legal tender and should not be locked down with anyone.

The lawyer has consequently petitioned the high court to have Ivan Semwanga’s grave dismantled .

Ivan’s crew, who call themselves the “Rich Gang,” had poured hundreds of notes into the late billionaire’s grave, along with a generous quantity of champagnes.

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I can only afford water, says Muhammad Ali’s homeless son

 The late world-rated boxer, Muhammad Ali’s only biological son, Muhammad Ali Jnr, has said that he is broke and facing homelessness just a year after his father’s death.  He also says that he is so broke that the only thing he could afford is water. He accuses other family members of stopping him from getting an equal share of the boxing legend’s £62m fortune.

Forty-five-year-old Muhammad Ali Jnr says he has only received three “measly payments” of £2,000 in the last two months and is sleeping on a friend’s floor in Florida, just days away from living on the streets because he can’t afford to pay any rent. Ali Jnr said an equal slice of the ­inheritance had been agreed at a meeting in California with his seven sisters, adopted brother Asaad, and the will executor – Ali’s fourth wife of 30 years, Lonnie, 59.

Before his death from septic shock at 74 on June 3, 2016, Parkinson’s disease sufferer Ali, who styled himself as The Greatest, is believed to have told friends he wanted all of his children to have no money worries.

But his son told us: “It looks like I’ve just been cut off completely. I don’t have a bank account, so they’ve had to wire money to me.

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AFRIMA to honour Sunny Ade, Papa Wemba, Dibango

 AFRIMA has lined up African music stars for tribute performances in honour of Manu Dibango, King Sunny Ade and late Papa Wemba, three of Africa’s music legends. The night of tribute on 4 November will precede the award ceremony on Sunday, November 6 in Lagos.

In partnership with the African Union Commission, and the support of Lagos State, grand awards ceremony is preceded by The AFRIMA Music Village on Friday November 4, 2016, a non-stop music concert with over 40 African artistes performing live at the Waterfront, Bar Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos in Nigeria.

82-year-old Cameroonian saxophonist and vibraphone player Manu Dibango is hailed for making an enormous contribution to African music as a whole.

Nicknamed ‘The Lion of Cameroon’, Manu Dibango is recognised for developing a music style fusing jazz, funk and traditional Cameroonian music.

His song “Soul Makossa” has influenced several popular music hits, including Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin”, and Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” and Comedian Eddie Murphy in his 1982 parody song “Boogie in your butt”.

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Economy: A call for zeal with knowledge

 Virtually every Nigerian is lamenting about something at the moment. The rich are crying because the noise of the poor is disturbing their sleep, while the opportunity to flaunt their wealth has never been riskier than it is now.  Not only are they not sure of the backlash from the bad boys, 

government of President Muhammadu Buhari making a discrete check to confirm that the opulence is not the proceeds of privatisation of the commonwealth.  The lament of the poor is not difficult to rationalise: The money in his pocket is becoming more and more like papers: he now carries money to the market with a wheelbarrow and returns with the goods procured in his pocket.  

Those who are in employment are not sure if they will still have their slot tomorrow, while those in the labour market have seen the unemployment queue getting longer with very little hope of getting to the “service point”.

Motorists now sit for longer periods in their cars, not because of longer journeys but in queues for what will make the engine roar again.  The pedestrians are no better: they stay longer at bus stops for buses that may never appear, and when they do, more resources are needed to settle their fares with the bus operators.  With the spate of very high temperature at these times, everyone has a lament: Whether you have a generator or not.  

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Bullet-proof door found with man who reported it stolen

 An Upper Area Court, Gudu, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced 26-year-old Hashimu Abdullahi to three weeks’ imprisonment for stealing a bullet-proof door. The convict had earlier told the Police that the door was stolen by an unknown person.

Abdullahi, of Angwan-Rogo, Airport Road, Abuja, had pleaded guilty and was convicted on a count charge of theft. The judge, Umar Kagarko, however, gave Gudu an option of N6,000 fine.

The prosecutor, Mr. Fidelis Ogbobe, had told the court that the convict came to Garki Police Station on June 3 with a complaint of theft of a bullet-proof door.

“He complained that a bullet-proof door he took for sale at Pantaker, behind a popular fast food outlet in Garki II, had been stolen,” Ogbobe said.

The prosecutor submitted that the Police, however, discovered during an investigation that the door was stolen by the convict and that he attempted to sell it.

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Court discharges Lagos textile dealer who attempted suicide

 There was a mild drama at an Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after a 58-year-old textile dealer, Mrs. Taiwo Momoh, was discharged for offences bordering on attempted suicide.

After the court announced that her case had been dismissed as recommended by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Momoh stepped out of the dock, knelt down and started giving praises to God.

Immediately she got out of the court, she covered her face with two sets of clothes and hastened towards the back gate of the court.

After flinging the gates open, a resident asked if she was in purdah, which she denied and ran off with her face still covered.

One of her counsel said she wanted to avoid the harassment of journalists and people in the community.

Momoh had accumulated debts of over N18m after a bureau de change operator allegedly fled with money belonging to her Swiss creditor.

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Man ignores advice, dies after swimming with new tattoo

 A man died after ignoring advice given to people with new tattoos to wait two weeks before going swimming.

The unnamed 31-year-old suffered septic shock and cellulitis — an infection of the deeper layers of skin and the underlying tissue — after swimming in the sea in the Gulf of Mexico.

Expert advice normally given to people with new tattoos says they should wait at least two weeks before submerging them in pools or seawater.

But the man reportedly swam in the sea just five days after getting a cross tattooed on his right calf, resulting in infection and septic shock which led to his death.

His fresh wound became infected with flesh-eating bacteria and he developed a fever and serious rash surrounding his tattoo, the Daily Mail reports.

When his condition deteriorated two days later, he was sent to hospital where doctors saw that the patches on his leg had turned a bruised purple colour.

Medics immediately suspected the Vibrio vulnificus infection, which he was at a higher risk of due to suffering from a chronic liver disease.

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