Gist of The Hour Blog

Premier League club, Manchester United agreed with Leicester City on a £ 85million fee for signing Harry Maguire, making him the most costly defender in the world.  After weeks of negotiations between both clubs, the fee, which contains add-ons, was lastly reached. United will pay £ 80 m in advance and another £ 5 m in add-ons, according to Mail Online.  The 26-year-old had already taken friendly against Atalanta on Friday from the final pre-season of Leicester. On Saturday, August 3, 2019, he is anticipated to undergo his medical treatment.  The deal also puts him ahead of Southampton's Virgil van Dijk who bought Liverpool in January 2018 for £ 75 m. SEE  THE 10 ALL TIME MOST EXPENSIVE DEFENDERS BELOW. 1. Harry Maguire - £85m (From Leicester to Man United)  2. Virgil van Dijk - £75m (From Southampton to Liverpool)  3. Lucas Hernandez - £68m (From Atletico Madrid to Bayern Munich) 4. Matthijs de Ligt...

Arsenal, Premier League Club, announced a five-year contract to sign Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £ 72million.  Arsenal will pay an initial £ 20 m with the remaining £ 52 m spread over the next five years as a result of their transfer limitation, according to an arrangement reached between both clubs.  The 24-year-old Ivorian forward, who is going to wear the No 19 shirt, said after completing his move:' It's very emotional to be here because it wasn't simple for me. I've come a long way and struggled a lot, so it's a great reward to sign for this wonderful club. Making the correct decision was crucial, and I am persuaded that Arsenal is the correct option.' Unai Emery, arsenal boss, added:' Nicolas is a highly-rated and talented winger that many of Europe's top teams wanted. In this transfer window, signing a top-class winger was one of our main goals and I'm happy that he's joining. He will add pace, power and creativ...

The Nigerian Defense Headquarters (DHQ) has rejected allegations published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it has secretly buried over 1000 troops.  We stated previously that the study admitted that, according to Nigerian troops, diplomats and a senior public official,' after dark, soldiers ' bodies are covertly transported from a mortuary that sometimes gets so crowded the bodies are delivered by truck. The corpses are placed in trenches created by infantrymen or local villagers paid a few bucks per change by flashlight. The declaration issued by the Director of Defense Information Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, however, insisted that the "insinuation can only emanate from the uninformed situation of the author of the said publication." It further reads, "It must be unambiguously clarified that the Nigerian Armed Forces do not indulge in secret marriages, as it is sacrilegious and profane to the ethos and trading that still exists. "Th...

Ayo Oluwaniyi's family, the wife of one of the soldiers who allegedly stole N400 m they were escorting, lamented the Nigerian Army in Ondo State's arrest and imprisonment of the lady and her three kids.   According to reports, after her husband, Gabriel, was recognized as one of the five troops alleged to have stolen the cash they escorted from Sokoto to Kaduna, 37-year-old Ayo and her kids were detained.     A member of the family, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said Ayo and her kids were arrested at the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena Barracks, Akure. She said they were denied access to family members, adding that the family was concerned about the health status of Ayo and her children.   Five troops were revealed in the first week of July to have stolen the cash while on duty of escort from Sokoto to Kaduna.  Reportedly, the former General Commanding Officer, 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj. Gen...

Another two-story house collapsed in the  Gbagada region of of Lagos State  ' The house, situated on 24 Adio Street close New Garage Bus Station, Gbagada, was said to have crashed partly in today's early hours of 1 August. Lagos State Emergency Management Authority LASEMA's men are presently on the floor saving those stuck in the rubbles. See more pictures below from the accident scene.

The Lekki Concession Company Limited has handed 18 toll collectors to the police for inquiry, accused of defrauding it with enormous amounts of cash. Mubashiru Hassan, the managing director of LCC who announced this in a declaration on Wednesday, July 31st, said the staff impacted took benefit of the operational hitches that took place in January to perpetrate some heavy procedures at the Admiralty Circle Toll Plaza in Lekki, Lagos. According to him, after the hitches were resolved in June, the operations department conducted an audit and found some anomalies in transactions, such as transaction unblock main abuse and non-compliance, Including obtaining cash from clients without handling cars and failing to issue toll payments to clients after payment has been received. "Other offenses included sabotage of toll equipment; non-compliance with controls and operating procedures, including the use of personal phones in booths; processing of vehicles on the profile of ano...

FIFA MEN’S PLAYER FIFA on Wednesday released the list of the ten nominees for the Best Men’s player 1. Cristiano Ronaldo: Juventus 2. Frenkie de Jong: Juventus 3. Matthijs de Ligt: FC Barcelona 4. Eden Hazard: Real Madrid 5. Harry Kane: Tottenham 6. Sadio Mane: Liverpool 7. Kylian Mbappe: Paris Saint Germain 8. Lionel Messi”: FC Barcelona 9. Mohammed Salah: Liverpool 10. Virgil Van Dijk: Liverpool FIFA: BEST MEN’S COACH Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool Pep Guardiola: Manchester City Mauricio Pochettino: Tottenham Fernando Santos: Portugal Tite: Brazil Ricardo Gareca: Peru Erik Ten Hag: Ajax Marcelo Gallardo: River Plate Didier Deschamps: France Djamel Belmadi: Algeria The Best FIFA Women’s Player nominee s Lucy Bronze (ENG) – Olympique Lyonnais Julie Ertz (USA) – Chicago Red Stars Caroline Graham Hansen (NOR) – Wolfsburg / FC Barcelona Ada Hegerberg (NOR) – Olympique Lyonnais Amandine Henry (FRA) – Olympique ...

A Nigerian man took to Twitter to beg American rapper Offset for money and Offset gave him an advice instead. It all began after Offset told his followers to ask him anything. Others asked him about himself and his career. But a Nigerian man with the handle @Chukwuemeka01 replied to beg for money. He tweeted: "Bro I need money." Offset replied: "Gotta grind or find a job until u can fund your dream." But Chukwuemeka wasn't giving up and he begged again, writing: "Boss its for high school pls." But Nigerians were done with the disgrace Chukwuemeka was bringing on them so they called him out. Chukwuemeka, who had also tweeted at Don Jazzy asking for money, went on to change his Twitter handle, username  after he got attention for his begging.

 A total of 1,020,519 candidates who sat for the 2019 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for schools obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.  Mr Olu Adenipekun, Head of National Office , West African Examinations Council (WAEC), gave the figure while announcing the release of the results at a news conference on Friday in Lagos.  He said that there was an improvement in candidates’ performances in 2019 when compared to that of 2018 in the same examination. ADVERTISEMENT The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 1,596161 candidates registered for the examination from 18,639 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria.  The HNO said that, of the number of candidates who registered for the examination, 1,590,173 sat for the examination which was also administered to some candidates from some schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Equatirial Guinea, wh...

Timi Dakolo had a special message for brainwashed and conditioned people, though in an Instagram post with a turned off comment section.  According to the singer enmeshed in a rape allegation saga alongside his wife, Busola, and Commonwealth of Zion Assembly's founder and Senior Pastor, Biodun Fatoyinbo, the reason why most people don't know they've been lied to, brainwashed and conditioned, is because they've actually gone through the process.  He wrote;

Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa and his wife Julliet Ejue are celebrating their son's first birthday, today, July 26, 2019.  Taking to his Instagram page to share these adorable photos of his son, he wrote: May your Birthday, bring loads of joyful and sweet memories in your life. May you have a great and successful year ahead. Happy Birthday, Son.'  Musa also has two children with his divorced wife, Jamila.  See more photos below. 

On Thursday, newly elected British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson promised that Brexit would make Britain the greatest place on earth, echoing the patriotic rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump in a debut speech as prime minister before parliament.  Johnson has promised to strike a new Brexit divorce deal with the EU and to energise the world’s fifth largest economy after what he casts as the gloom of Theresa May’s premiership. On entering Downing Street on Wednesday, Johnson set the UK up for a showdown with the EU by vowing to negotiate a new divorce deal and threatening that if the bloc refused then he would leave without a deal on October 31.  “Our mission is to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 for the purpose of uniting and re-energising our great United Kingdom and making this country the greatest place on earth,” Johnson said.  He said he was not being hyperbolic as the United Kingdom could be most prosperous economy in Europe by 2050, ...

A trial is set to begin after the FBI discovered a human chop shop with buckets of heads, cooler of penises and corpses sewn like "Frankenstein".  The FBI made the gruesome discovery in 2014 when they raided a Phoenix body-donation business. A trial date has now been set for October 21, 2019, in Maricopa County, Arizona.  At the time of the raid, the now-defunct, for-profit Biological Resource Center held 1,755 parts. The center made its business centered around accepting corpses, where they removed and sold body parts, and cremated the remains for those they did not sell.  Eyewitness account of the raid is now being brought to light after three families filed a civil lawsuit against Biological Resource Center and its owner, Stephen Gore; where they claim body parts were obtained through "false statements" and being sold for profit to various middlemen.  In addition, the families say, the body parts belonging to...

An attack launched at Dalori IDP camp, located near University of Maiduguri in Borno State by motorcycle-riding Boko Haram gunmen left two people dead.  The attack was confirmed by Abba Aji, a top commander of the Civilian-JTF, and he alleged that the insurgents broke in through the back perimeter fence at about 8 p.m. He further revealed that they first attacked the soldiers’ station near the camp before they moved in, shooting sporadically. Even though the camp is well guarded by soldiers, the insurgents allegedly operated, broke into shops, stole food items and left without being stopped.  “It happened a few minutes after 8 p.m. when they (Boko Haram) broke into the camp and killed two persons, an old man a very little child,” he told Premium Times.  “It is really a very sad development that this is still happening,” he added.  A security attached to the State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA), Bello Danbatta, also said;  “It was...

According to Reno Omokri, 'I’ve been informed by 2 journalists with access to Boko Haram that the faction claiming Leah is dead is NOT the one that abducted and holds her. I‘m told Leah is ALIVE. I put aside my differences with Buhari and vow not to oppose him going forward if he‘ll #FreeLeahSharibu'.