Barcelona and Holland legend Johan Cruyff dies at 68

Johan Cruyff, the man credited with helping reinvent modern soccer, has died aged 68.

The former player and manager of Spanish giants Barcelona and the Netherlands' most successful
club Ajax, had been battling lung cancer.

One of the world's greatest ever footballers, Cruyff's Dutch team finished runners up in the 1974 World Cup playing a revolutionary style of soccer that was dubbed "total football."

A statement on his official website read: "On March 24 2016 Johan Cruyff died peacefully in Barcelona, surrounded by his family after a hard fought battle with cancer.

"It's with great sadness that we ask you to respect the family's privacy during their time of grief."

"Johan Cruyff, true football royalty," tweeted Belgian captain Vincent Kompany. "I don't think anyone has ever influenced the game as much as he has done."

A former smoker, Cruyff underwent heart surgery in 1991 during his time as coach of Barcelona -- a club he also played for.

After his operation he took part in an anti-smoking advertising campaign, which had the slogan: "I've had  two addictions in my life: smoking and playing football. Football has given me everything, whilst smoking almost took it all away."

Cruyff came to epitomize football in the 1970s and with his lanky hair and flared jeans, the Dutchman had as much swagger off the pitch as he did on it.

The Dutchman won the Ballon d'Or -- the old European Player of the Year award -- three times in 1971, 1973 and 1974 as he helped Ajax to its hat-trick of European titles in 1971, 1972 and 1973.

He also inspired Netherlands to a first ever World Cup final in 1974 in which the Oranje -- one of international football's most exciting sides in history -- lost to host West Germany. Cruyff received the Player of the Tournament award for his efforts.

The Dutchman also enjoyed success in Spain, where he won the Spanish La Liga title and Spanish Copa del Rey while at Barcelona.

As a coach Cruyff's influence has been almost as great as his playing legacy.

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Mikel Obi Named New Super Eagles Captain

Super Eagles interim coach, Samson Siasia, has picked midfielder, Mikel Obi as the new captain of the team ahead of Friday’s qualifiers against the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Mikel, who is one of the longest serving players in the Eagles’ squad replaces Ahmed Musa who was named captain of the team under former Eagles handler, Sunday Oliseh.

Mikel made his debut for the national senior team on August 17, 2005, when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 friendly win over Libya.

The Chelsea midfielder, has thanked the former captain, Musa and the entire team, and promised that he would lead the new Super Eagles with a new approach.

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Senate Passes 2016 Budget

The Senate has passed the 2016 budget.

The Senate Committee on Appropriation presented a budget of 6.06 trillion Naira to the Senate for passage.

In the report, the Committee of Appropriation set recurrent expenditure at 2.6 trillion Naira, capital expenditure at 1.5 trillion Naira and fiscal deficit at 2.2 trillion Naira.

The Committee observed that the executive presented the budget late to the National Assembly and this had subsequently delayed the passage.

The Committee also noted that the budget, as presented by the executive, was fraught with inconsistencies, as some Ministers disowned their budgets.

The Committee is recommending that, going forward, the Budget Office must work with Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in preparing the budget to avoid the problem of inadequate revenue for MDAs.

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No more elections till violence ends – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it will not hold any elections in Rivers State until peace is restored.

This was disclosed by INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi on Monday, March 21, 2016, The Cable reports.

“We are not going back to the state until the atmosphere is conducive to have a violent-free election. But I don’t want to preempt anything ahead of the Wednesday meeting,” he said.

“This issue will be raised there; thereafter, we will issue a public statement on our findings. We will also investigate any allegation that has been raised and backed with fact,” he added.
Osaze-Uzzi had earlier announced that INEC would no longer release results due to the irregularities witnessed during the elections.

INEC had earlier cancelled the elections held in eight out of the state’s 23 local government areas.
Meanwhile, about 10 people are said to have died during the elections leading the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to trade blame on who was behind the crisis.

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Beautiful collage of late singer Nomoreloss

The photo was shared by veteran comedian, Alibaba.

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The Singer and songwriter Nomoreloss passed away yesterday

Singer and songwriter Nomoreloss (real names Olumuyiwa Osinuga)  passed away after a brief illness  yesterday.

Nomoreless' last major performance was at the August edition of Afropolitan Vibes. He was on the bill with singers Waje, and Venus Bushfire. On October 2, 2015 he organized his own show 'Back To Stage' at Freedom Park.

In 2012 Nomoreloss wrote the biggest song of singer Jaywon's career titled 'This Year.' In June 2015 he released the album 'Grass to Grace'. In 2014 he dropped the album 'Standing ', and 'Then & Now'. His debut album was 'Let Them Say' was released in 2006 which featured the hit singles 'Iyawo Asiko' and 'Ololufe'.

Nomoreloss who was born in the late 70's entered public consciousness in 2002 when he featured in Ruggedman's classic cut 'Ehen'. Prior to that he was a presenter on the music TV show 'Groovoidz'.
While making a name for himself as a gifted singer, Nomoreloss also shot music videos for many Nigerian singers at the time.

 Nomoreloss got married to Rhythm 93.7 FM OAP Phoenix (Adeola Osinuga) in 2008. They had their daughter on Saturday, January 15, 2011.  Even though there were rumours that Nomoreloss and Phoenix had separated, the late singer denied this claim in a 2014 interview with Encomium Magazine.

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Beyonce throws tea party for daughter, Blue Ivy

Beyonce has shared new adorably cute photos of her daughter, Blue Ivy, as she had a lavish tea party thrown for her starring her aunt, Solange Knowles.

The pop singer shared the photos via her website yesterday, March 21, 2016, showing off their perfect start to spring.

Blue was pictured in a lovely pink dress while  Solange had been pictured fully covered in oversize coat.

Their looks had been paired perfectly with festive graphics, from floral crowns to bunny ears.
Blue Ivy at 4 looked older and wiser than her age as she was pictured in the adorable pictures.

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