He died in Singapore aged 95, as confirmed on twitter by current President Emmerson Mnangagwa

According to Mnangagwa: “It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe.

“Cde Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”

Mugabe had led Zimbabwe in 1980 and again in 2017, before ultimately being booted after a military coup. His early years in power was praised for broadening access to health and education for the black majority – but his later years were marked by rights abuses and corruption.

ZimLive first reported the death of the dictator who led the country during the two spells.

Ray Parlour, has warned Chelsea striker, Tammy Abraham, against ditching the England national team for the Super Eagles.

Abraham has started off the 2019/20 season with Chelsea on a blistering form, scoring four goals in four games, which has attracted interest from Nigeria.

The Nigeria Football Federation have been trying to lure the Chelsea striker, who has two non-competitive caps for England to switch allegiance.

Speaking on Talk Sport’s programme, The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Parlour said Abraham would get his chance with the Three Lions if he remained patient.

“If he keeps scoring goals, he certainly will get into the England squad because Jamie Vardy is obviously retired and they’re lacking a little bit up front,” he told TalkSport.

“He’s got an opportunity to be in the squad, but obviously he won’t be in front of Harry Kane.”

Parlour, however, believes Abraham should stick with England, having played for them at the age grade levels.

“Once you start as a youngster to play for a country, I think you should stick with them,” Parlour added.

“It’s up to the player; he’s looking at this situation, looking forward, whether he’ll get an opportunity, but he said no, I want to try and play for this country (England).

“It’s a battle, because there are a lot of good players at England, and it’s not easy to get into the squad.

“You’ll get a lot more caps if you go elsewhere. If he goes to Nigeria, he will get quite a few caps, lot more than he will get playing for England.”

He also called England coach, Gareth Southgate, to give Abraham assurances he has the youngster in his plans.

“As a manager, you’d be on the phone straight away saying, ‘You’re in my plans, keep playing as you are, and you’ll get an opportunity’. That’s what I’d be doing if I was Gareth Southgate.”

Meanwhile, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, was quoted as saying the youngster will make a final decision on playing for the Eagles by April 2020.

SHOP owners at the Novare Shopping Mall, Sangotedo, PEP Stores, Surulere in Lagos and MTN Office in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, were counting their losses on Wednesday.

It was in the aftermath of the attacks on their premises by some angry youths, who were protesting xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa.

The youths raided stores at the three facilities.

A firm, Timekeepers Store at the Novare Mall estimated the value of the goods looted and destroyed at the ware point at over N200 million.

A call to the company, picked by a woman, who pleaded anonymity, said the hoodlums forced their way into the locked store and went away with expensive wrist watches and sun glasses.

She said: “When we noticed the crisis, we locked our outlet and all our workers left. We were not there but they broke into the store and looted our wares. We deal in several brands of wrist watches and sun glasses worth millions of naira. The items were either damaged or stolen.

“I’m sure it’s over N200 million.  The government should do something urgently about this. Is there a way all lost can be returned? The government should act fast, because in the light of what had happened, we are not helping ourselves.”

According to her, the company belongs to a Nigerian, a Yoruba man.

“I don’t know why we should attack ourselves, damage things we own, injure our own people and say we are retaliating the killing of Nigerians in South Africa.

“Our youths are not learned enough and they need to be reoriented because the damage made no sense. They have only caused more damage; they have not resolved any problem. They have rendered so many people jobless”, she said.

In Akwa Ibom, properties worth over N5 million were destroyed by irate youths, who attacked the MTN office on Ikot Ekpene Road in Uyo, the state capital.

MTN Sales representative in Uyo, Idongesit Nkereuwem, listed the affected items as computers, staff phones, customers’ phones, windows and glasses among others.

The sales representative said: “The irate youths ordered people out of the office while they destroyed computers, stole money and customer’s phones but nobody was injured during the incident.

“They ordered staff and customers out of the office and we ran away through the back doors for safety.”

Nkereuwem said the youths came with cutlasses, axes, sticks and other weapons to vandalise MTN offices across the state.

Police Public Relations Officers, Odiko Mac-Don, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the Commissioner of Police had ordered security beef up in Uyo.

There was panic at Adeniran Ogunsanya and Bode Thomas in Surulere, Lagos as police officers prevented hoodlums, numbering over 30 from setting the Shoprite Mall ablaze.

The hoodlums burnt some used tyres and littered the area with broken bottles and sticks.

They confronted the police, asking the officers to allow them access into the mall.

The policemen got infuriated as the hoodlums became more aggressive; they shot teargas to disperse them.

In the process, four persons were arrested.

The Shoprite Mall in Surulere was shut as well as many offices close to the facility – First Bank, Polaris Bank, Eco Bank, LG, Samsung and Steps Exclusive, among others.

The two MTN offices and the PEP store on Bode Thomas were attacked. The goods at the store, including clothes, shoes, tables, chairs, laptops and desktops, were looted.

One of the hoodlums said they were fighting for their rights as citizens.

He said: “We learnt that our fellow Nigerians are dying in the hands of the South Africans; so, we want to retaliate and destroy all of their properties here in Surulere. We have destroyed Shoprite, two of the MTN offices and PEP.

“The police refuse to let us enter; we gave them 10 minutes, if they don’t allow us to enter, we will forcefully go in and finish what we started yesterday (Tuesday). We came with petrol and matches, stick, bottles. In the middle of the incident the police shot one of us in the chest.

“We are ready to destroy everything here right now and we do not care about the restrictions from the policemen”.

A worker at the KFC, an eatery outlet inside the Mall said they were loading the chicken to other KFC outlets to prevent them from being spoilt.

“Since activities have been shut down in this Shoprite branch of KFC, we have to move out basically our chicken to preserve them,” the worker said.

Super Eagles forward, Samuel Chukwueze, has disclosed how much he loved former Nigeria captain, Jay-Jay Okocha while growing up.

According to the Villarreal forward, Okocha is his “big hero.”

“My big hero was Jay JayOkocha. I loved watching him, and whenever he played for Nigeria I would be so desperate to see him win. If they lost, I wouldn’t eat. I couldn’t take it,” Chukwueze told Goal.

“In my home town, we had a local centre and I would try to go there to watch Nigeria games. We didn’t have a TV, but there was one there. I would peep through the window to see Okocha and the rest.”

Chukwueze has been in great form since signing for the Yellow Submarines from Diamond Academy in Abuja.

He scored five goals and created two assists in 26 La Liga appearances last season. The young forward has also started the new 2019/20 season well, scoring one goal in three league appearances.

He also talked about how he started out as a footballer and the resistance he got from his mother.

According to him, his mother was eventually the same person who later encouraged him to follow his dreams.

“My mum always tried to stop me from playing football. I loved to play from a very young age but she would try to stop me.

She would make me stay in the house and focus on my studies.

“Sometimes, I would go to training and would return home late, and I knew I was going to get punished. They’d say I would have to sleep outside. My mum would say I couldn’t come inside the house!

“My uncle told me ‘Samuel, you need to stop playing this game and focus on school’ but I didn’t listen. Then, one day they burnt my boots! All my training gear, they burnt them so I couldn’t go. I stopped playing for a while, but one morning one of my friends told me there was a screening happening, where they were picking players to go to a tournament in Portugal.

“I told them I wasn’t interested because I knew my family wouldn’t allow me to go. He said he would come to my house but I begged him not to. I told him not to disturb my sleep, but he came around 6am.

“My mum, the person who doesn’t like football, who didn’t want me to play football, was the person who answered the door. She woke me up that morning, I was so surprised. She told me my friend was there to pick me up. I told her I wasn’t going and she was the one who said I should take my boots and leave the house! I was so surprised.

“The person who pushed me away from football was the one who pushed me to that screening. She said God had told her ‘You must allow this boy to play.’ I’m so glad for that.”

Teachers in Oyo State on Wednesday commended Governor Seyi Makinde’s achievements in 100 days in office.

They described him as “a performer with unequal giant strides.”

The Chairman of the state wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Tojuade Adedoyin; and Secretary, Muhammed Abdullahi, in a statement, said Makinde was already repositioning the state for better service delivery.

The NUT leaders said, “Unarguably, his excellency’s sterling qualities as a leader are pointers that attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference.

“The prompt payment of salaries and pensions to both serving and retired teachers of Oyo State are considered topical issues that we less imagined over a period of time.

“The total release of monthly salaries by his excellency in funding teachers’ pensions board remains an act that cannot be easily forgotten in the annals of history of this administration in Oyo State,” they added.

The teachers also commended the governor for his promise  to allocate 10 per cent yearly budget to education, and the promotion of graduate teachers to salary grade level 15 and more.

“Importantly, his promotion of free, compulsory and qualitative education in the state is worthy of commendation,” they added.

They, however, appealed for the prompt payment of the 2018 leave grant to primary school teachers and the  creation of a separate pension board for teachers.

They also demanded the appointment of a primary school teachers as headmasters-general in schools and as permanent secretaries for teaching service commission zonal offices.

Meanwhile, the opposition All Progressives Congress in the state alleged that Makinde, within the last 100 days, had reduced governance to ‘purchase and supply’.

The APC lamented what it described as a regrettable downward slide in the fortune of the state as a result of alleged poor handling of its affairs by the Makinde-led Peoples Democratic Party’s administration.

The APC,  in a statement issued in Ibadan by its Assistant Publicity Secretary in the state,  Ayobami Adejumo, berated Makinde “for bowing to pressure and allowing his subjects to embark on a comedy show in the name of celebrating fake achievements which cannot stand the test of public scrutiny.”

Adejumo said, “Modern ethics of governance or public administration do not give room for experiments as an average prospective leader is expected to be armed with an ideal blueprint or roadmap with which he plans to add value or make a positive difference.

“In the case of Oyo State at the moment, the whole world is worried that we now have a man who still campaigns for an election after he had been sworn-in as a governor.

“Obviously, handlers of the current PDP government are grossly incompetent and the earlier they realise this, the better for the future of our dear state.

“If not a theatre of the absurd, how does a mere plan to purchase pleasure cars amount to a giant stride in enhancing security?

“How does the rebranding and unveiling of exercise books inherited from successive administrations change the face of education for the better in a state?

“How does a mere pronouncement change the status of Adeoyo State Hospital to meet up with the value of the University College Hospital, Ibadan?

“On many occasions in the last three months, we have heard Makinde speak on probing the administration of Abiola Ajimobi on the spurious allegations of graft in the morning and also come out in the evening of same day to applaud most of his policies while in office.”

The Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, on Wednesday, said he would not celebrate 100 days in office but would rather share his achievements with the people of the state on Friday.

Abiodun, who said he did not believe in celebration of the milestone, said the period would be used to share his performance within the first 100 days in office.

Speaking at the state’s free medical screening initiative held at Ilishan High School, in Ikenne, the governor said he had spent his first 100 days to lay a foundation for his vision,  tagged, ‘Building our Future Together.”

Abiodun, who spoke with journalists at the venue of the event, said his administration had put together the foundation for the agenda within the first 100 days.

He said, “I don’t know whether our administration will be marking a milestone. I think what we believe is sharing with you what we have been able to achieve in 100 days and those things are the foundation of our vision.

“As we have shared with you during the campaign, we have laid the foundation of all those things. You have started seeing them, like the roads we are constructing, the ICT, the Tech-up and so on. They will be unveiled to you in the next few days.”

On the free medical exercise, the governor said his administration was committed to preventive medicine rather than its curative aspect.

Medical experts screened residents for high blood pressure; blood sugar level; random determined malaria among others, on the occasion.

Abiodun said his administration had laid emphasis on preventive medicine because it was cheaper and also helps to detect and stop partial or permanent damage to health.

He said, “We cannot afford to allow ailments that are preventable to continue to make our people bed-ridden or take their lives.

“This is why we must continue to have health screenings and monitor the health status of our people.”

National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev Supo Ayokunle, has decried the precarious situation Nigeria has found itself, noting that the nation is passing through a difficult phase.

Ayokunle made this assertion at the ongoing 37th Holy Ghost Convention of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries a.k.a Christ Life Church, Ibadan, headed by Bishop Francis Wale Oke.

“Things are not going on right in Nigeria. Our nation is passing through a difficult phase” he lamented

However, the CAN president who is also the National President, Baptist Convention, expressed the optimism that God would intervene to salvage the situation.

Ayokunle who confessed that steering affairs of the association had not been easy, pointed out that the body was not a political party but rather an organisation out to defend the interest of Christians in the country.

Ayokunle described Wale Oke as “world shaker who came from nowhere but has been everywhere.”

He thanked the Bishop for supporting him and members of his cabinet, praying that God would always uphold him.

Speaking, the Presiding Bishop of the church, Wale Oke commended Ayokunle for always speaking when it mattered to the authorities concerned.

He said Christian leaders were not keeping quiet about the situation in the country, adding, “we are not keeping quiet; we speak up from time to time to the authorities”

The convention themed: The Manifold Wisdom of God, which started on Monday, September 2, would be rounded off on Sunday, September 8, which coincides with the 63rd birthday of the Bishop.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said that the Federal Government would at the end of September send the 2020 budget proposal to the National Assembly.

Ahmed said this at the High-Level Roundtable meeting on National Donor Coordination held in Abuja on Wednesday.

She said that the ministry was already preparing the 2020 budget had begun.

Ahmed said, “The 2020 budget preparation process is well-underway, and we intend to finalise and submit the 2020 appropriation bill to the National Assembly by the end of this month.”

Superstar Davido has shared plans to officially tie the knot with his long-time girlfriend, Chioma Rowlands.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 27-year-old singer had just concluded an introduction ceremony with his would be wife’s family on Monday.

On photos he shared on his social media handles, the celebrity said 2020 was the anticipated year for the big events, calling on friends and family to get ready.

He confirmed all pictures and information shared online recently in an interview with Beat FM, saying 2020 is the year for sure.

“We have not started all those plans yet. 2020 is the year for sure”, the singer said.

Meanwhile, he has also addressed rumours that his bride to be was pregnant asking Nigerians to be patient.

“Wait and see now,” he said.

Despite all attempts on him to confirm or debunk the rumours, an excited Davido explained.

This one is special”.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Navy have pledged deeper collaboration to tackle crude oil theft and attacks on oil and gas facilities.

The two organisations came to the resolution when the NNPC GMD, Malam Mele Kyari paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe-Ibas at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

A statement by the corporation’s spokesman, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, noted that Kyari expressed gratitude to the Navy for its efforts at securing the nation’s oil and gas facilities in the creeks and deepwater.

He said while the intervention of the Navy had restored sanity to the system, there was a need to do more as crude oil theft was still a potent reality in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

He added that NNPC was ready to support the Navy in any initiative it could come up with to further check the menace.

Ekwe-Ibas said the Navy was currently working at integrating its system with those of other maritime operators such as the Nigeria Ports Authority and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to facilitate efficient operation.

He said the Navy had over 130 impounded vessels, some of which were laden with stolen crude oil and petroleum products.

Ekwe-Ibas assured that the Navy would live up to its mandate and work towards ending all forms of criminality in the nation’s territorial waters.

He said government was addressing some of Navy’s operational challenges, adding that the NNPC’s intervention would also be invaluable.