NBA Finals: Obama, Drake watch Warriors beat Raptors to level series

Former US President Barack Obama was among celebrities in attendance at Game 2 of the NBA finals, as defending champions Golden State Warriors levelled series with Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.

A mellowed Drake, who is a superfan of Raptors was also in attendance. The rap star had taunted Warriors stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the opener, but he was shell-shocked in Game 2 with some Twitter posts ridiculing him.

The Warriors prevailed 109-104 as the NBA Finals go into Game 3 in California on Wednesday.

Andre Iguodala sank the game-clinching 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to make the Warriors pull level with Toronto.

The Warriors, seeking a third consecutive title and fourth in five seasons, held off a late Raptors charge to even the best-of-seven series at 1-1 as the scene shifts to California for games three and four on Wednesday and Friday.

Thompson led the Warriors with 25 points while Curry added 23 and Green contributed 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 34 points for Toronto and added 14 rebounds while Raptors reserve Fred VanVleet netted 17 points.

Golden State trailed by 12 points in the second quarter, but scored the first 18 points of the third quarter and led by as much as 72-59 before Toronto rallied late, holding the Warriors scoreless for more than 5:30 minutes down the stretch only to fall short.

“We did a great job physically, way better than the first game,” Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins said. “We’ve still got to correct some mistakes but a solid effort all around.”

Victory was vital for Golden State. Of 34 teams that fell behind 0-2 in the NBA Finals, only four rallied to win the crown.

The Warriors have now won at least once on the road in 23 consecutive playoff series.

Kyle Lowry and Danny Green made 3-pointers to pull the Raptors, in the first finals of their 24-season history, from a 13-point deficit to within 92-88 early in the fourth quarter.

But Quinn Cook answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 14-6 Golden State run that stretched the Warriors’ lead to 106-94 with 5:39 to play.

Toronto trimmed it to 106-98 and Curry received a technical foul for an errant ball throw that set up three Leonard free throws, pulling the Raptors within 106-101 with 68 seconds remaining.

Danny Green sank a 3-pointer to lift the Raptors within two with 26 seconds remaining but Iguodala answered for the cold-shooting Warriors with a clutch 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining for the final points.

Early on, VanVleet had a back-to-back 3-pointer and 3-point play and Leonard added five points in a 20-7 Raptors run for Toronto’s biggest lead at 47-35.

But Curry, who missed his first six shots, scored 15 of the Warriors’ last 17 second-quarter points and Golden State trimmed the half-time deficit to 59-54.

Golden State opened the second half on an 18-0 run to seize a 72-59 lead, aided by the Raptors missing their first nine shots of the third quarter and committing seven turnovers in the pivotal span.

Thompson scored seven consecutive points and Iguodala, fighting a leg injury, added five in the crucial run over the first 5:30 of the second half.

The Warriors were again without top scorer Kevin Durant, but the forward is expected back soon after missing seven games with a right calf strain.

Curry’s run of six consecutive NBA playoff game with 30 or more points ended two shy of the record set by LeBron James against the Warriors in 2017.

Draymond Green was one assist shy of matching the NBA playoff record of four consecutive triple doubles and matching Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson as the only players with back-to-back triple doubles in the NBA Finals.

- PM NEWS

MFM suspends pastor for impregnating minor

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries on Monday slammed an indefinite suspension on its member David Onyekachukwu, over an indecent relationship with a 16-year old girl.

A statement signed by MFM Spokesman, Mr Collins Edomaruse, however, said Onyekachukwu, is “not an ordained Pastor” of the branch in Life Camp area of Abuja.

Edomaruse said the suspension was in line with the rules and regulations of MFM which forbade such acts and frowned at it.

He also said that Onyekachukwu’s indefinite suspension was a result of an investigation carried out by the Church that established that he was culpable of the alleged reported offence of rape, which resulted in the reported pregnancy of the minor.

“Confirming the incident, Regional Overseer (RO) Gwarimpa region of the church, Pastor Babalola Niyi, said: ”Onyekachukwu is not an ordained pastor in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.

“He is just a member and worker in that Life Camp branch and he has been suspended from the branch immediately.

“The church can not stop the law from taking its course as doing so will amount to condoning evil and being an accessory after the fact,” Edomaruse said.

He added: “After investigation, we confirm that the raping and impregnating of the girl is true and the matter is currently being handled by the police.

“However, we want to say that the alleged person is not an ordained Pastor or an officially appointed Pastor in MFM Gwarimpa Region.

“This is therefore a personal issue between the Brother and the innocent victim.

“It has nothing to do with Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.

“In MFM, the leadership does not condone indiscipline.

“Absolute holiness within and without is our hallmark in the Ministries.

“This is of a priority in all our training and teachings to our Pastors and members.

“The alleged brother is already in the Custody of the Police to allow the law to take its course”.

Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons confirmed the arrest of Onyekachuku a pastor of the MFM, Gwarinpa branch, for allegedly raping and impregnating a 16-year old girl.

NAPTIP said Onyekachuku, 48, who hails from Nsukka in Enugu State, met the victim, a Junior Secondary School II pupil in the Karmo area sometime in 2018.

NAPTIP also in a statement on Sunday, said the pastor, after his arrest and during interrogation, confessed to have sexually abused the girl two times and blamed the act on the “work of the devil.”

- PM NEWS

U.S. pastor under scrutiny for using 3 private jets

A Texas-based televangelist is facing scrutiny following a recent TV interview in which he defended his use of three private jets and referred to the public as “a bunch of demons” that he needed to avoid while preparing his sermons.

Kenneth Copeland, head of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, was confronted by reporter Lisa Guerrero of “Inside Edition” in May while in his car outside an event in Branson, Mo.

Asked why he needs the private jets, Copeland responds: “If I flew commercial, I’d have to stop 65 percent of what I’m doing.”

Guerrero then asks Copeland about a past statement attributed to him, in which he allegedly said he doesn’t use commercial airlines because he doesn’t “want to get into a tube with a bunch of demons.”

Copeland appears to become angered by the question and denies comparing people to demons.

“Don’t you ever say I did!” the preacher snarls at the reporter.

Copeland normally declines to address questions about his purchases, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The preacher’s organization operates 22 churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and runs a 1,500-acre campus that includes an airstrip and a hangar for its planes, the report said.

According to the newspaper, Copeland’s third jet, a Gulfstream V, was purchased in January 2018 from Hollywood star Tyler Perry.

But the preacher tells Guerrero in the interview that he got a good price on the aircraft and didn’t overspend.

When asked to disclose a specific price, Copeland declines.

“That’s really none of your business,” he tells Guerrero.

Neither Copeland nor his ministry responded when the Star-Telegram sought their reaction to the Inside Edition interview, the newspaper reported.

Copeland is far from the only religious leader linked to expensive purchases.

In December, a South Carolina pastor spent $200,000 on a Lamborghini as an anniversary gift for his wife.

Pastor John Gray, leader of the Relentless Church in Greenville, was widely criticized on social media but still defended the purchase.

“Pastor buys his wife this expensive car,” Gray said. “First of all it wasn’t a pastor who bought the car, it was a husband that bought the car. Get that in your spirit.”

He also addressed the speculation that he used some money from the church to pay for the Lamborghini.

“Did this man use any money from the church to do this?” Gray asked. “And the answer is no; absolutely not. And God, take my life on this live feed if I did.”

Last May, Louisiana-based preacher Jesse Duplantis announced he was seeking donations so he could purchase a $54 million private jet.

“I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the Earth today, he wouldn’t be riding a donkey,” Duplantis said at the time. “He’d be in an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world.”

- PM NEWS

IS NAIJA A COUNTRY ? GERC to construct 340km railway line in Ghana at $2bn — cost of 156km Lagos-Ibadan rail line

The Ghanaian- European Railway Consortium (GERC) has agreed to construct a 340km standard gauge railway line in Ghana at $2.2 billion, the same contract price as the 156km railway line between Lagos and Ibadan.

In 2016, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), had signed a $2 billion agreement with the Nigerian government to build a 156 km railway line between Lagos and Ibadan.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the construction held in March 2017.

The Eastern Railway line, which links Accra, Tema and Kumasi, is expected to boost economic activities along the corridor, especially at the Boankra Inland Port after completion.

Joe Ghartey, Ghana’s minister of railway development, said the project is based on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement.

GERC is expected to operate 24 passenger trains and six freight trains after completion of the 340-kilometre railway project.

The construction is expected to last for three years. The consortium has pledged to commence works in earnest.

There would be 6 main stations and 34 sub-stations along the double track corridor. The concession period is 27 years and the consortium hopes to recoup its investment within the period.

Ghartey recently visited Nigeria on the invitation of Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s minister of transportation, inspect and assess the railway construction projects that the Chinese conglomerate has completed and that are currently being undertaken in Nigeria.

- THECABLE

US-based Nigerians to pay N15,000 each for NIN

Nigerians based in the United States are to pay between $40 and $50 each to be enrolled for the national identity number (NIN).

Uche Chigbo, the special assistant to the director-general of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), stated this in New York on Thursday.

NAN reports that Chigbo spoke during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Consulate shortly before the exercise was launched in the city.

She said that registrants aged 15 years old and below would pay $40 each, while those from 16 years and above will pay $50.

At the official exchange rate, $50 is equivalent to N15,300, while $40 dollars amounts to N12,240.

Chigbo, who is also the deputy general manager of NIMC, explained that the commission came up with the fee after looking at the entire process and what it involved.

“NIMC does not have the legal backing and the resources to go to another country to enrol people and capture biometrics and other data,” she said.

“It is in this light that we decided to license private sector organisations which have the legal backing to engage in such services.

“They made investments in terms of equipment because we didn’t give them the equipment they are using; they have to buy all of that.

“They are also renting offices, employing people and establishing connections between whichever country they are operating in and Nigeria so that they can seamlessly send the records real-time online.

“All of these are investments they are making and as a going concern, a token should be paid for this service that they are going to be rendering.”

NAN reports that the diaspora NIN registration was launched in Houston, Texas on Thursday after it took off in Atlanta and Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to Chigbo, the exercise is ongoing in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, and would be extended to China, Europe and India soon.

Listing its benefits, the NIMC official said it would provide a database for the implementation of the much-desired diaspora voting.

She also said the NIN has become a requirement for accessing services provided by the government and private organisations in Nigeria.

- THECABLE

Kanye West opens up on his struggles with Bipolar disorder

Award-winning rapper, Kanye West has opened up on his struggles with bipolar disorder.

West, who has been campaigning against the stigmatisation of people with mental health issues, in his new season of David Letterman’s Netflix show, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction”, confessed that he has health issues.

Husband to the reality star, Kim Kardashian, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years ago, explained how he feels whenever he notices a change in his health.

“I wouldn’t be able to explain that as much just because, you know, I’m not a doctor.

“I can just tell you what I’m feeling at the time, and I feel a heightened connection with the universe when I’m ramping up. It is a health issue.

“This — it’s like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle and if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not going to push on him more.

“With us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse.

“You have this moment [where] you feel everyone wants to kill you. You pretty much don’t trust anyone.

“When you’re in this state, you’re hyper-paranoid about everything, everyone. This is my experience, other people have different experiences.

“Everyone now is an actor, Everything’s a conspiracy. You feel the government is putting chips in your head. You feel you’re being recorded. You feel all these things,” West said.

- DAILY POST

Daddy Freeze reacts to pastor’s warning against eating Titus fish, taking Vitamin C

Controversial On Air Personality, OAP, Daddy Freeze, has reacted after a pastor warned her church members against taking Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and Titus fish.

DAILY POST reported earlier that the female pastor, in a viral video, advised her congregants against eating Titus fish and taking Vitamin C, warning that they will not make heaven if they do so.

She said that those still in the habit of taking Vitamin C and enjoying Titus fish must go for deliverance.

According to her, vitamin C and Titus fish are got from the deep sea which is marine kingdom, and people who take such need deliverance before they can make heaven.

She had said, “If you continue taking Vitamin C you can’t make, how can you make? Unless you stop it and do your deliverance. Is it not ascobic acid? Ascobic acid is not produced anywhere on earth. Ascobic acid come direct from the deep sea. Some of you still enjoy Titus fish.

“You can’t make heaven while you are still eating Titus fish. You can’t make heaven. You must go for deliverance.”

Freeze took to Instagram to react to the sermon, describing the woman as an ignorant dingbat behind a pulpit.

He wrote, “What an ignorant dingbat behind a pulpit….You can’t make heaven if you use vitamin C? You can’t make heaven if you eat Titus fish???? WTF.”

- DAILY POST