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In a highly charged main event at UFC 305, South African fighter, Dricus Du Plessis, retained his middleweight title, defeating Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya by submission in the fourth round.

The event took place inside RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on Sunday, August 18. The grudge match, which had been fueled by pre-fight tensions over race and identity, culminated in a dramatic turn of events as Du Plessis secured the victory with a rear-nak3d chok£. Adesanya, a former two-time champion, came into the fight determined to reclaim the belt he lost to Sean Strickland last September.

Despite trailing 2-1 on the scorecards heading into the fourth round, Du Plessis turned the tide with a series of powerful hooks and jabs, followed by a decisive takedown. Once he locked Adesanya into the choke, the Nigerian-born fighter had no choice but to submit.

The fight began with both fighters showing aggression, with Adesanya landing sharp counters and cutting Du Plessis on the forehead early on. However, the South African’s pressure and wrestling skills proved too much for Adesanya as the fight progressed. The intense bout was marked by a tense atmosphere, stemming from Du Plessis’ claim of being the first “real” African UFC champion, a statement that did not sit well with Adesanya. Adesanya cut Du Plessis early in the first round. However, Du Plessis took control in the second round with effective wrestling, dragging Adesanya down twice.

The third round saw intense exchanges on the feet as both men battled for dominance, setting up a dramatic finish. Adesanya, a former two-time champion, entered the match looking to reclaim his title, but Du Plessis capitalised on his ground game to secure the victory in his first title defence. The submission win solidifies the South African’s position at the top of the middleweight division and leaves Adesanya pondering his next move after a bitter loss. The animosity between the two fighters was evident throughout the contest, adding to the drama of the night.

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A man has bragged about his mum who had to write WAEC at over 50yrs of age, bagged a BSc(2:1), won a scholarship to pursue an MSC in the UK, about to complete her PhD in nursing in South Africa and is now a lecturer in nursing.

He said, My mum defiled the odds and went back to school when she was well over 50years as the state government won’t promote Nurses without a BSc degree beyond grade/level 14.

As a result she went back to rewrite her WAEC exams and I could remember how much I laughed her on the first day of her exams when I saw her in school uniform. I was so little and didn’t know that my action was h¥miliating but she ignored me and went for her exams.

When she started her BSc in Nursing at NOUN, many people were calling her lya (old woman) and wondered what she was looking for. She remained focused and graduated with a second class upper division.

In 2014, she surprised everyone when she won the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship to study MSc Healthcare Management and Leadership in the UK. She didn’t only stopped there, but she’s now completing her PhD in Nursing in South Africa, while she’s now a lecturer in Nursing even though she’s a retired Nurse.

She’s my greatest role model and because of her l’m always on my toes and encouraged never to give up. Because of her, I went to a private university as she couldn’t bear to see me spend 3 years at home seeking for admission and doing nothing. Because of her, I also won the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship in 2020 for my 2nd master’s degree. Because of her, I’m motivated to compete my PhD as I know if she can do it, l’m also capable of completing my PhD.

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Former Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Saturday said he was deceived into handing over a free trade facility in Ogun State to an investment group from China, introducing a disturbing dimension to the ongoing legal battle that threatens the depletion of Nigeria’s assets abroad.

Mr Amosun, governor of the southwestern Nigerian state from 2011 to 2019, admitted in a statement personally signed by him that he didn’t do even a cursory assessment of facts before asking a Chinese team to take over the Ogun-Guandong Free Trade Zone in 2012. His decision marked the onset of a protracted legal crisis that led to aggrieved Chinese investors’ recent targeting of Nigeria’s assets in Europe and the United States.

The free trade zone was conceived in 2007 between Ogun State under Governor Gbenga Daniel and Guangdong Xinguang International China Africa Investment Ltd (or China Africa) to facility seamless trade between Nigeria and China in Igbesa, Ogun State. China Africa, the major investor at 60 per cent of the stake, was developing the 10,000 hectares facility when, in 2012, a year after Mr Amosun assumed office, another firm that identified itself as Zhongfu International Investment Ltd came in with tales about how the place was being poorly administered and thereafter sought to manage it.

Mr Amosun, in his statement, said he subsequently asked Zhongfu investors to take over as the interim managers of the trade zone before his administration could find time to investigate the allegations. “Zhongfu International Investment FXE, pretending to be a concerned and genuine tenant and Zone stakeholder, volunteered very damaging and destructive information about the official representatives of Guangdong Province, the Joint Venturer and lawful Zone Managers, China Africa Investment FXE and subsequently requested to be appointed as Interim Zone Managers.

Based on the information at the government’s disposal at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE was appointed interim zone manager on March 15, 2012, pending further evaluation. The whole idea was to ensure that someone was in charge and thereby prevent unwholesome and untoward development in the zone pending the completion of our fact-finding exercise.

“It was later discovered that the information and claims volunteered by Zhongfu International Investment FXE against China Africa Investment FXE were tissues of lies. Unknown to Ogun government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE merely sought to de-market China Africa Investment FXE and to surreptitiously covert the state-owned assets of Guangdong Province in China together with the zone ownership and management rights of their business rival,” Mr Amosun said.

The former governor said Chinese authorities later directly intervened through several notes from the country’s mission in Nigeria. “It was further discovered – much later – through the intervention of the Chinese Government via Diplomatic Note 1601, dated March 11, 2016,” Mr Amosun said, saying the Chinese government told him the company he had terminated was the rightful owner of the investment.

Mr Amosun said that after he ousted Zhongfu International Investment, the company approached Nigerian courts in different jurisdictions to ventilate its legal and business rights but lost all four cases filed. He didn’t list out the cases.

Consequently, the former governor urged the federal government and Ogun State to continue desisting from entering into any resolutions that would benefit Zhongfu. “Nigeria should not give Zhongfu International Investment FXE any listening ear as doing so would amount to indulging and, encouraging an unlawful entity without locus standi to appropriate our common patrimon,” Mr Amosun said. This matter of Zhongfu International Investment FXE should be treated the way Nigeria treated the P&ID case. There is no basis for negotiation.”

Mr Amosun has recently been critiized as the source of Nigeria’s confrontation with Chinese investors before international arbitration panels. The Chinese have been trying to seize private jets used by President Bola Tinubu in France. On August 9, an appellate judicial panel in the United States authorised Zhongfu’s parent firm Zhongshan to proceed with its legal efforts to seize Nigeria’s assets in the U.S. Zhongshan had in 2021 obtained a compensation judgment in the United Kingdom to the tune of $60 million, which it has since been trying to enforce in France, the U.S. and other countries where Nigeria’s assets could be targeted.

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Consumers are finally feeling some relief from price pressures. 

The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment improved to 67.8 in August, rising for the first time in five months. Recent reports have shown slowing inflation as annual price increases move back toward the Federal Reserve's target of 2%. 

“Recent encouraging developments toward bringing inflation back into the FOMC's target range have given consumers reason to be a bit more optimistic,” wrote Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Jeremiah Kohl. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the Fed's policy setting body, and it has kept interest rates at two-decade highs in an effort to tame inflation.

The University of Michigan poll is more sensitive to inflation readings when compared with other consumer surveys. For that reason, readings have been dour over the past year as inflation remained stubborn.

Consumers expect inflation to be 2.9% a year from now, in line with their predictions last month. Fed officials closely monitor consumer inflation expectations since people act on those predictions, which can influence both price setters and wage payers. 

Consumers reported feeling better about the economic outlook but souring on the current conditions.

“Overall, expectations strengthened for both personal finances and the five-year economic outlook, which reached its highest reading in four months,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers.  

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