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Nigeria’s National Female Football Team In Faraway Austria Preparing For Wasteful Self-serving Aisha Buhari Tournament

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The team is in Austria for an 8-day training camp as part of preparations for some upcoming games, most notably the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament.

Nigeria’s national female football team, Super Falcons are on a wasteful trip to Vienna, Austria to train for a self-serving tournament to honour the African country’s first lady, Aisha Buhari.

Already the trip is not short of drama as a visibly angry Nigerian man could be heard in a viral video querying the footballers for representing Nigeria during the government of Muhammadu Buhari, whose regime has been marred by human rights abuses, nepotism, sectarianism, killings, poor economy, and worsened unemployment rate and poverty.

This happened on a bus after their training in the European country.

Indeed, the contingent of the nine-time African champions – Nigeria – are in Vienna, the Austrian capital, for reasons that are less than noble.

The team is in Austria for an 8-day training camp as part of preparations for some upcoming games, most notably the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament.

A source in the government told the media that “a lot of money is being spent on the tournament organised by the Nigerian Football Association, and this runs into lots of millions.”

“It is a wasteful tournament to boost the ego of the first lady who never stands up for the real issues affecting the girl child in Nigeria. So what purpose is this supposed to serve?” the source asked.

Lagos is scheduled to host the six-nation invitational tournament that will see the Super Falcons, Ghana’s Black Queens, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses, Banyana Banyana of South Africa, Morocco, and Mali compete in September for a trophy named in honour of Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari.

Twenty-six Nigerian players, alongside technical and administrative staff, are staying at the Event Hotel Pyramide, Vienna for camping.

Director of organisation of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament, Aisha Falode recently revealed that the committee was determined and prepared to deliver an event befitting the person of Aisha Buhari, which comes at a time when the per capita income of the average Nigerian and other indices of measuring an area’s prosperity have nose-dived.

However, currently, Buhari Government is characterised by a high unemployment rate of 33.3% (Q4 2020), a high inflation rate of 18.17% (March 2021), and a prime lending rate of 11.24% in April, worse than previous governments. These placed the misery score at 62.2 index point, according to data from Nairametrics.

Africa’s powerhouses in women’s football, namely Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Mali, and Morocco have confirmed their participation in the maiden invitational football festival said to be aimed at uplifting the cause of the girl-child in the continent.

But hundreds of schoolgirls have been kidnapped in Northern Nigeria by bandits and insurgents with the first lady mostly withdrawing into sullen silence.

Meanwhile, according to organisers, the event will address issues affecting women in developing countries with direct reference to the place of the girl-child in society.

The six-nation football tournament is billed to hold in Lagos from September 14 to 20, 2021, when some kidnapped schoolgirls are still likely to be in the den of bandits and insurgents.

Organisers of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament have also confirmed that FIFA President, Gianni Infantino; CAF President, Dr. Patrice Motsepe; FIFA General-Secretary, Fatma Samoura, and other world football dignitaries will be in Lagos for the tournament.

But the same government cannot provide decent schools for schoolchildren.

For instance, just in June 2021, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said the country has the highest number of Out-of-School Children in sub-Sahara Africa.

Mr Nwajiuba announced that Nigeria had an estimated 10,193,918 children out of school, many of whom are girls.

He noted that “the current challenges affecting the Nigerian education system has left much to be desired, the system is characterised by high illiteracy level, infrastructural decay, and deficits.”

But according to Falode, “The football top shots’ acceptance to be part of the Aisha Buhari Cup as confirmed by the NFF President is a mark of respect for Nigeria’s indefatigable First Lady, Aisha Buhari.” “They want to use the occasion to honour her as well as recognise her various activities and contributions in and outside Nigeria over the girl-child advocacy and empowerment programmes.

“Remember that the football event will host the best women football playing countries in Africa and the presence on such august occasion of the movers and shakers of football in Africa and world will just be right and deserving for the name of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari,” Falode was also quoted as saying.

Culled from the Sahara Reporters

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Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.

In the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Emilio Garcia said that after a night out in 2022 in Ibiza, Spain, he was in an SUV with the hip-hop star when she began having sex with another woman right next to him. He was unable to get out of the moving car, and would have been in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country even if he was able. Garcia was “embarrassed, mortified and offended throughout the whole ordeal,” according to the lawsuit.

Alex Spiro, Megan’s lawyer, said she would fight the lawsuit in court.

“This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” Spiro said.

The next day Megan told Garcia never to discuss what he saw and berated and fat-shamed him, the lawsuit said. The complaint also said Garcia, who had already considered quitting because he was overworked and underpaid in a hostile work environment aggravated by Megan’s possessiveness and abusiveness, was misclassified as an independent contractor but treated as an exclusive employee.

Garcia raised those issues in the conversation with Megan, and was fired the following day after four years of working for her, the suit said. He has since filed a job discrimination complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.

The lawsuit, first reported by NBC News, names as defendants Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete; her companies Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment and Hot Girl Touring; and her label, Roc Nation. A defense response has yet to be filed. There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from a representative of Roc Nation.

Garcia is seeking financial damages to be determined at trial, alleging he has suffered severely both emotionally and physically because of his treatment on the job, the firing and having to witness the scene in the SUV.

Megan, 29, was previously involved in major legal drama — and underwent a torrent of online abuse — as the victim of a shooting by rapper Tory Lanez, who a jury found fired at her feet on a street in the Hollywood Hills in 2020. She testified at the trial where jurors convicted Lanez of three felonies and a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Already a major rising artist at the time of the shooting, Megan has since become one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No. 1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”

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Body of O.J. Simpson to be cremated this week; brain will not be studied for CTE

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April 15 (UPI) — The body of O.J. Simpson, who died last week at the age of 76, is to be cremated, a lawyer representing the ex-football superstar’s estate said, adding his brain will not be donated for research.

Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s longtime attorney and executor, told the New York Post that his client’s body is to be cremated Tuesday in Las Vegas.

He said Simpson’s family also gave a “hard no” to scientists seeking to examine the former running back’s brain for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is better known as CTE.

CTE is a rare and little understood brain disorder that is likely caused by repeated blows to the head. According to the Mayo Clinic, CTE results in the death of nerve cells in the brain and the only way to definitively diagnose it is with an autopsy of the organ after death.

Memory and thinking problems, confusion, personality changes and erratic behavior, including aggression, depression and suicidal ideation, are among CTE’s symptoms, the Alzheimer’s Association said.

The disease has been found in those who play contact sports, including football and hockey.

LaVergne confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that at least one person has called seeking Simpson’s brain.

“His entire body, including his brain, will be cremated,” he said.

Simpson died Wednesday following a battle with cancer.

Known by the nickname “The Juice,” Simpson was a NFL superstar during the 1970s, which made him a household name that propelled him into film and television during the next decade.

But his stardom would come crashing down in the mid-1990s when he was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

His high-profile trial lasted months, but ended with his acquittal.

In 2008, he was found guilty on a dozen charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, and was paroled in 2017 after serving nine years of his 33-year sentence.

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Houston’s Urban South Brewery Celebrates Fourth Anniversary

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Urban South Brewery Houston will host its upcoming Anniversary Party from Friday, April 5 through Sunday, April 7, in the HTX Taproom, starting at 11 AM, celebrating four years of crafting exceptional brews and fostering community culture. This milestone event will be an exciting day featuring live music, food, activities, and a vendor market.

Beer enthusiasts are also in for a treat with the release of four exclusive anniversary specialty beers. Highlights include “Press Start,” a crafted Czech Pale Lager brewed in collaboration with Parleaux Beer Lab. Additionally, beer fans can indulge in “Level Up,” an Old-Fashioned Cocktail Sour Ale infused with orange peel, Luxardo cherry syrup, and subtle bourbon barrel notes. The offerings continue with “High Score,” a robust Double IPA bursting with flavors of Mosaic, Citra, and Chinook hops, and “Game Over,” a decadent Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout layered with strawberry fruit, Tahitian vanilla bean, and milk chocolate.

To make the celebration even more memorable, fans can pre-order an Exclusive 8-Bit Beer Box featuring the four-anniversary specialty beers (Press Start, Level Up, High Score, Game Over), a 16oz can-shaped Silipint with discounted refills, and 2 tokens redeemable for draft beer.

The Anniversary Party is open to the public, welcoming families and furry friends. Urban South Brewery invites everyone to join in the festivities and toast to four years of brewing excellence.

For more information on Urban South’s Anniversary Celebration, follow the Houston taproom on Instagram and Facebook.

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