SPORTS Guardiola Will Take Mourinho Out For Dinner In Manchester

mou and pep

The Spaniard's assistant Domenec Torrent insists the new City boss is untroubled by the long-standing rivalry with United's new manager

Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach Domenec Torrent claims the Manchester City boss will take Jose Mourinho out for dinner and is untroubled by the rivalry with the Manchester United manager.>

Guardiola and Mourinho will renew their rivalry in the Premier League following numerous spats during their time in La Liga with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

“Apart from that famous press conference [before the Champions League semi-final in 2011], if there was something between them, it was kept between Jose and Pep,” Torrent told Punt Avui.

“Manchester is a small place and I’m sure that they’ll see each other in restaurants. One day Mourinho can pay, the next day Pep. I don’t think Pep is worried about anything.”



Torrent, who has followed Guardiola from Bayern Munich to City, insists the Spaniard will not overhaul his new side’s style of play.

“I’ve said it many times: people sell the idea that Pep tried to changed German football and that he’ll try to change English football.

“It’s simply not like that. We went to Germany and we realised immediately that we had to learn the counter-attacking style and that football there was much more physical. We then had to combine that with the idea of possession football.

ENTERTAINMENT Tiwa Savage, Banky W, Praiz, Cobhams Asuquo, Stonebwoy set to put African music on world map

AFRICAN ARTISTES

 Nigeria’s foremost disc jockey had his patience tested by controversial singer, Terry G, when the singer slapped one of his apprentices at a comedy show tagged, D’Good, D’Bash and D’Ugly.

When the incident happened, the ‘cool’ DJ Jimmy Jatt simply asked his boy to close shop. In an exclusive chat with Saturday Beats, the disc jockey said that Terry G had mended fences and there was no problem between them.

He said, “There was not really any problem between Terry G and I. It was just the DJ association that placed a ban on his music but the ban has now been lifted. From our side, the initial reaction was that we demanded for a public apology and he has done that. Terry G went further to come to my office to apologise to the DJ and myself. 

He also went as far as meeting with some members of the association and I think that is what convinced them to lift the ban. To err is human and to forgive is divine, so it was just fair for them to lift the ban against him.”

Recounting the experience, Jimmy Jatt said although he was at the show, he did not know that his boy received a slap till someone informed him.

“To be honest with you, I was on a table far from the stage. I thought he was exiting the stage, I did not know what transpired. It was someone that called my attention to the fact that he actually slapped the boy. 

When I heard, I got up and went to ask if my boy was slapped and he replied in an affirmative manner. I was shocked. I just told the boy to vacate the place. Luckily; there was a backup DJ, so he took over,” he said.

With over 25 years of his life dedicated to his job, the disc jockey said the incident would make Nigerian artistes have more respect for DJs.

The disc jockey said, “The incident has sent a strong signal that there is a vibrant DJ association. Some other things have happened in the past that people have done and they got away with them but that would not happen again because an action has to be taken. For anybody that would not want an army of DJs to come after them, it would be in your interest not to look down on any DJ either established or up and coming. 

I am glad where the industry is today even though we have not got to the promised land yet. “We have come a long way. This used to be a profession that people shunned but now parents are now proud to say that their children are disc jockeys. If you check the calibre of people coming in, it is enough to be proud about. There is still a lot to be done.”

He also told Saturday Beats that his fans should not be surprised if they noticed he has ventured into the make believe world.

“Never say never, I actually shot a movie about three years ago but I did not release it. If the urge returns, then I might release it. I did not release the movie due to some personal reasons. Who knows if I wake up tomorrow, I could delve into movies,” Jimmy Jatt said.

NEWS IPOB elders disown Avengers, MASSOB

NDA

The Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People Of Biafra on Wednesday disowned the Niger Delta Avengers and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. “Preachers of violence might be infants or non-existent during the 30-month Nigerian Civil War,” the group said, The Deputy Chairman of IPOB’s Supreme Council, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, stated this at a press conference in Nnewi, Anambra State on Wednesday. Ikedife was reacting based on the claims by some IPOB and MASSOB members that the groups were aligning with the Niger Delta militants as well as other militants in the country.

 The IPOB chief said there was no such a thing, adding that he witnessed the Civil War and saw how millions of people, especially from the South-East, were slaughtered and properties destroyed. He insisted that he would certainly not support any war because any life lost would not be replaced, but properties could be replaced. The ex-Ohanaeze President said, “The IPOB group I belong to is governed by the Supreme Council of Elders. There is a faction led by Nnamdi Kanu that abuses the elders, preaches violence and ethnic hatred. “We do not believe in that. The MASSOB led by Ralph Uwazuruike from its inception preaches non-violence based on the philosophy of the late Indian leader, Mahatma Ghandi.

  “If the militants have been blowing up pipelines, I don’t see how my group that has been following legal and diplomatic process will align with them. We have quite a different philosophy and modus operandi towards the issue of self-determination. “The two factions of the IPOB and the two factions of MASSOB are all talking about self-determination of the indigenous people of Biafra. But their approach is not the same. “The aim may be one but the method differs. We have not and cannot depart from dialogue, legal and diplomatic process and of course you know we are in court with the Federal Government over this issue of self-determination.”

On the prevailing economic hardship in Nigeria, Ikedife said, “It is a worthy sacrifice for the citizen to endure the hard living conditions now and enjoin a better future later. He added, “I see the current hardship as darkness before the break of the daylight. “We have now discovered that the economy was so badly managed before now that it requires some efforts, sacrifice and patience to get it right again.”

NEWS Ex Minister of Transport Ojo Maduekwe is Dead, Ekweremadu Mourns!

CHIEF OJO MADUEKWE

Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Chief Ojo Maduekwe has died at the age of 71. Maduekwe served variously as Minister of Culture and tourism, and Minister of Transport in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and also Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yar’Adua administration. He also served as National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Maduekwe was mourned last night by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who described him as a “political colossus, public administrator par excellence and uncommon patriot who gave his best to the fatherland.” Maduekwe..Maduekwe

Following the exit of Obasanjo from power, he served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Canada during the Umar Yar‘adua presidency. He was an unwavering associate of former President Obasanjo in the period between 1999 and 2007 and was pivotal to the development of some of the most cardinal political and policy programmes of that administration.

Even before bicycles exchange programmes became a central policy of many European and American cities, Maduekwe as Nigeria’s minister of transport had advocated the use of bicycles as a major mode of intra-city transport and demonstrated his passion when he rode on a bicycle to a meeting of the Federal Executive Council in Abuja.

Maduekwe was a central player in the politics of Abia State and represented the state at several levels. As a matter of irony, one of Maduekwe’s first political rivals, Senator Onyeka Okoroafor who fought off Madukwe’s bid to the Abia Central Senatorial District in 1991 himself died last February and is yet to be buried.

Many Ibo leaders including officials of the Abia State administration were yesterday comforting the family

NEWS Imo State Police confirm attack on Shell facility

SHELL NIGERIA

The police have confirmed an attack on a facility belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Awarra, Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo. DSP Andrew Enwerem, the Public Relations Officer of police in the state, told newsmen in Owerri that the police received report of the attack in the early hours of Thursday.

Enwerem could not disclose the extent of damage done to the facility or the group that carried out the attack. Mr Precious Okolobo, spokesman for SPDC said “the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), which runs through Awara, Imo State at the Assa-Rumuekpe line, has been shut for repairs since June 8, following a leak at Okolo launch, Bonny in Rivers State.

“We are investigating the reported incident at Awara’’, he said. A source in Awarra community told NAN that the incident occurred at about 5.30a.m. It said the explosion created huge flame at the site and could not confirm if there was loss of life. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.