Gist Arena

 As if to stamp his godlike authority on the Olympics for good measure, Michael Phelps has taken athletic achievement to Olympian heights by smashing a record that has remained untouched for two millennia. The American won his 22nd gold medal today, 9 have come from relays while 13 are individual triumphs. The 31-year-old swimmer won his 13th gold medal in the 200metres men's event to surpass the 2000-year record set by Greek Olympian, Leonidas of Rhodes who won 12 individual gold medals. Leonidas competed in four successive Olympiads in 164BC, 160BC, 156BC and 152BC and in each of these he won three different foot races. An athlete who won three events at a single Olympics was known as a triastes, or tripler. There were only seven triastes and Leonidas is the only one known to have achieved the honour more than once.  there were no consolation prizes at the Olympics, no silver and bronze, you either won or lost. He was 36 when h...

Coach of Under 23 football team at Rio Olympics Samson Siasia has made a sensational and revealing rant at the NFF and Sports Ministry ahead of the quarter final clash against Denmark on Saturday. The Bayelsa born coach made some startling revelations, saying he's been owed salary for five months and that he and his players have been disrespected by the Nigeria Football Federation and Sports Ministry all through out their Olympic journey.  According to Siasia, he has begged his players to carry on playing for the country up till this point but he is tired and that if the players decide to boycott the quarter final match against Denmark at Rio 2016, he'll support them. “We have been disrespected from all angles – the sports ministry, the Nigeria Football Federation. Is that how you will treat your own children? We are not street kids,” former Super Eagles coach Siasia said on Brila FM Sports Radio on Friday morning.  “We have only been paid allow...

In a 90-minute exclusive interview with London's Southbank Centre senior programmer, Ted Hodgkinson, multi-award winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who appeared at London’s Royal Festival Hall before a sell-out crowd on Sunday, August 7, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her acclaimed novel,  'Half of a Yellow Sun' , has sparked an outrage with her controversial comments over feminist campaign and Nigerian women. Below are some highlights from the internationally-known feminist's interview we culled from Buzzfeed; On feminism: “A feminist is who and what I am. It’s not a cloak I put on on certain days and take off on certain days. I just did not get the memo that men and women are not equal. I did not get that memo. I’m a daughter, I’m a sister, mother now, wife. All of those things, and being a good feminist, are not mutually exclusive at all.” On Beyoncé quoting her work in her album: “I want to live in a world wher...

The Chelsea player and Super Eagles captain took to his Twitter page to welcome new Man U record signing Paul Pogba who he famously nut-megged in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He captioned his post 'Welcome back to the @premierleague @paulpogba - looking forward to facing you again my friend 😉 🚕 ☠ #EPL' Welcome back to the @premierleague @paulpogba - looking forward to facing you again my friend 😉 🚕 ☠ #EPL pic.twitter.com/Rt0bFcgnFO — Mikel John Obi (@mikel_john_obi) August 12, 2016

I think I must have been 9 when my Mum caught me stealing fried meat from her steaming Egusi soup. Back then my Sister Iyabo and I were always given one piece of meat to share. On days when I had the task of dividing the meat, Iyabo got to choose and vice versa. We always ate from the same plate. Our younger brother Segun, who tragically died young, always ate with our Mum and Dad. He was the last-born then. My other Sister, Dupe lived with my grandmother, and I had no idea what the procedure was for ensuring she consumed some protein. In our own case, the fact that we always had to share one piece of meat niggled away at me. I always wondered why our neighbour’s children got to have a piece of meat each while two of us had to make do with one. In hindsight, I guess this was the first and perhaps most influential lesson in moderation, fairness and equity I was taught. It, however, wasn’t the biggest nor the most important that my mum would teach and again fried meat would a...

Ferguson Rotich Kenya coach, John Anzrah was allegedly carrying 800m runner Ferguson Rotich's accreditation. A Kenyan athletics coach has been sent home from Rio after posing as an athlete and giving a urine sample. Kenya said sprint coach John Anzrah "presented himself" as 800m medal hope Ferguson Rotich and "even signed the documents" for the doping test. "We cannot tolerate such behaviour,"  said Kip Keino, chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya. John Anzrah Rotich, who finished fourth at last year's World Championships in Beijing, is set to race in the heats on Friday. The athlete's agent, Marc Corstjens, said Rotich lent Anzrah his pass so the coach could get a free breakfast in the Olympic Village on Wednesday. Anzrah, 61, was then allegedly approached by a doping control officer who was looking for Rotich and asked to provide a urine sample, which the coach did. "Ferguso...

Nigerians and Ivorians rescued from drowing at the sea As things are getting tougher, more and more Nigerians are heading to Europe for a better life by any means possible. In fact, most of them using the sea have met bad luck as they keep drowning. This is the shocking photo of some Nigerians and Ivorians rescued off the Mediterranean sea.

Kalim and Nazim Amokachi, sons of Nigerian football legend, Daniel Amokachi, have been signed to top Turkish football club, BJK Besiktas. Congrats to them

Seasoned Comedian famous for his rib-cracking jokes; Prince White, sent Governors and APC chieftains reeling out of their seats at the "5-years Account of Stewardship" in Imo State. The Dignatries simply could not resist the hilarious jabs thrown at Rochas Okorocha by the awesomely talented humorist. The Imo state governor had no option but to publicly adopt Prince White; who sent the crowd reeling off their seats. Download and Watch video below https://www.youtube.com/embed/OhBWOTEdRac DOWNLOAD VIDEO Follow Prince White,  on Instagram: @iamprincewhite on twitter: @MrPrinceWhite Contact: 08055533360. More photos...

The suspected rapist According to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, the detectives from Owutu Division of the command have arrested a 47-year old suspected rapist, Emmanuel Magbatie, for allegedly defiling an 18-month-old baby. “The suspect lives at 23, Adebayo Street Owutu, Ikorodu, with the parents of the 18-month old baby that was defiled. "The mother of the victim narrated to the police that on August 5, her daughter went to play in the suspect’s room as usual, but she was shocked to meet the suspect fingering the 18-month-old baby when she went to pick her up. "The suspect, who blamed his action on the devil, has since been charged to court,”  Badmos said.

He said this while reacting to news that two new cases of Polio disease have been recorded in Borno state. Read more below

A 46-year-old businessman Stephen Nortey has made a shocking confession how he has been sleeping with virgins to maintain his wealth. The man revealed that he was forced into the business because of his desire to get rich overnight. He further revealed that he was forced into sleeping with virgins by his spiritual father in order to keep his wealth increasing.  According to Adom News , Nortey who hails from the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana, claims that one Togbe Atsu, a spiritualist who resides in Nankese, a suburb of the Suhum Municipality initiated him into sleeping with virgins which is the main source of his wealth.  He claims he uses a special handkerchief given to him by his spiritual father Togbe Atsu to wipe off the blood that comes out of virgin girls after sleeping with them, and later drop it in a pot which is meant to produce money after he goes through some incantation s. “I make a whopping amount of ten thousand G...

The embattled former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who was recently released from a 67-day detention in Kirikiri Prison, after his trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has taken to his social media pages to reveal that he is  “heartbroken”  by the level of betrayal he has experienced in the past few months. In a post on his Facebook page, the former director of media and publicity of the 2015 presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wrote on Thursday; "The betrayal that I have suffered from the least expected quarters in the last three months is heart-breaking. I thought I had seen and heard it all until this. Life! "Thankfully the Holy Bible says, 'he who repays good with evil, evil will never leave his household'. "I leave them to God. Destiny speaks at the end." Writing on his Twitter page, Fani-Kayode, reacted to the recent commencement of exploratio...

John Mikel Obi paid $4000 to free the Olympic football squad after the team was held to ransom by hotel officials in Sao Paulo over bills incurred by additional NFF officials according to reports. According to the report by African Football, the team is comprised of 25 players-18 players and 7 officials, but extra five officials were added to the team's hotel roster, and the hotel management insisted the team pay before departing, but instead of the NFF or the Sports Ministry to pay up the bills, Mikel Obi, who is also Team Nigeria's captain shelled out $4,000 before they were allowed to leave the Sao Paulo hotel to Salvador. “We just arrived Salvador now ( 5.20pm  Nigerian time) from Sao Paolo. We nearly missed our flight because of unpaid bills in the hotel. The hotel held us to ransom,” a team official told AfricanFootball.com “The problem is that all the additional officials here in Brazil are the responsibility of the Nigeria Footbal...

Nigeria's Basketball team at the Rio Olympics, D'Tigers despite putting up a brave and hard fought tactical battle lost 87-96 to World number 2, Spain. In the match which started in the late hours of  Thursday  night and ended  on Friday  morning, Spain started brightly and ended the first quarter 25-11 ahead of Nigeria, Nigeria then muscled their way through in the second quarter and cut the deficit to just two points, 43-41. Spain trying to avoid their third straight defeat just like Nigeria lost the third quarter 66-65  to Nigeria. Spain then showed tactical brilliance as they took it up a notch and defeated D'Tigers 96-87 in the fourth quarter. D’Tigers must now beat Croatia and Brazil in their next two matches to reach the quarter-finals as they have lost three games against Argentina, Lithuania and now Spain.

Photo of the IPOB members In a press statement issued to newsmen on Thursday, August 11, by Emma Powerful, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, in Onitsha, the Anambra state capital, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has revealed that the Federal Government, through the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, released all their members who were arrested by various security agencies in Aba, Abia State, during their prayer rally in February this year. According to Vanguard, the release of their members who were clamped into detention camps and prison custody, threw the IPOB members into jubilation in various parts of Onitsha, Anambra state, although the jubilation did not take place publicly as they did when a court granted their leader, Nnamdi Kanu bail, some time last year.  The statement said all IPOB members worldwide under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra were commending the Attorney-General of the Federation, ...

Samson Siasia The Nigerian dream team currently excelling at the Rio 2016 Olymipcs in Brazil may be forced to pull out as the Ministry of Sports has failed in the payment of their allowances. The Samson Siasia-tutored U-23 Olympic Eagles has threatened to boycott tomorrow's quarter-final match against Denmark if the government fails to provide its balance of allowances. The team who topped Group B despite going down 2-0 to Colombia Wednesday are following in the steps of the senior national team, the Super Eagles who also protested in Brazil before their second round match against France at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The Eagles lost 2-0 and crashed out. It would be recalled also that a similar protest by the U-20 team, the Flying Eagles cost them a match against Sudan who beat them 4-3 in Lagos after a 1-2 home loss in Omdurman. According to sources from the team’s camp the players the protest is also tied to the unpaid five month sa...

The man identified as Chukwuma Udenwa a 37-year-old, has been arrested by the police. The man was arrested by the Delta State Police Command in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State for ‎dumping his father’s corpse in a septic tank. Daily Post reports that Idenwa, a native of Uli in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, was picked by the police after his landlord raised alarm upon discovering a decomposing corpse in one of the septic tanks located in the compound. The suspect, who is a bricklayer, had reportedly informed his neigbours that one of his sisters living in Ibusa, near Asaba had brought his 83 year-old sick father, Mr John Udenwa to his house some days back. Meanwhile, Udenwa who is currently cooling his heels at the State Criminal Investigation Department, has allegedly admitted to the crime during interrogation. He said he decided to use the tank as a morgue since he had no money to take his de...