GONE TOO SOON! SINGER GEORGE MICHAEL DIES AGED 53.

The singer, who had a string of hits with the band Wham! in the 1980s, died peacefully at home, his publicist confirmed.

In a statement they added: ‘It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.

‘The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.’

Michael, real name Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, sold over 100million albums throughout his 40 year career.

The Last Christmas singer almost died from pneumonia in 2011 and had to postpone a series of concerts after being taken to hospital.

At the time he said it was ‘touch and go’ whether he lived.

Earlier this month, producer Naughty Boy revealed he would be working with Michael on new material. He called it ‘the most interesting collaboration’ he’d ever done.

He was also set to reissue his 90s album Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1. alongside a film featuring Stevie Wonder and Elton John.

George was meant to narrate the movie, with the working title Freedom: George Michael, and musicians Mary J Blige, Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett and Liam Gallagher were due to feature.

Listen Without Prejudice, featuring hits such as Praying For Time, Mother’s Pride and Cowboys And Angels, was his second solo album and was almost entirely written by Michael.

DOG EATS NEW BORN BABY ABANDONED AT A REFUSE DUMP IN BAUCHI STATE.

There was outrage, yesterday, at Gwallameji, the Federal Polytechnic Student Village, Bauchi State when a dog was found eating a new born baby abandoned at a refuse dump.

Reports are that several of such incidents have been recorded in the area with this coming less than four months after the lifeless body of a new born baby in a polythene bag was found at a refuse dump in the same area.

It was learnt that the incident attracted many people to the scene. An eye witness, who only gave his name as Isaiah, said: “I was coming back from church when I saw many people behind a house away from ours. I became curious and went to see what was happening there.

“What I saw there was disgusting and annoying. It was someone, who dumped a new born baby at a refuse dump and a dog was found eating it (the baby).

“From the look of things and from what I heard people say, the baby was abandoned alive but was killed by the dog.

“How can someone do this to an innocent child? How can a human life be treated with such levity? It’s so bad and inhumane.”

He said some of the onlookers dug a shallow pit and buried the remains of the baby just beside the refuse site.

Contacted on phone, the traditional Chief of Gwallameji, Hassan Ibrahim, confirmed the incident, saying he was not at the scene personally to see things.

He said: “I got a call from someone informing me of the incident but I told the person that I was not around. When I called the number back, I was told that Wakilin Sarkin Gwallameji (representative of the chief of Gwallameji), Sanusi Mohammed, was already there.

“Since he was there, I continued with what I was doing knowing that he would handle everything well. As I speak with you now, I haven’t met him yet for information on the incident.”

Efforts to get comment from the Police were fruitless as several calls put through to the mobile phone of the Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bauchi State Command, Haruna Mohammed, failed.

22-YEAR-OLD FRAUDSTER POSING AS GIRL ON INSTAGRAM ARRESTED BY RRS.

A 22-year-old part-time student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos, Falope Oluwole Israel, who has been posing as a girl on Instagram to defraud unsuspecting people, was last week arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of Lagos State Police Command.

Falope was reportedly arrested by officials of the RRS decoy team at a popular club in Ikeja City Mall last Thursday after trailing him for weeks. His arrest along with a colleague was sequel to series of monitoring by the officers and those that he was interacting with at the club.

It was gathered that the suspect recently celebrated his birthday at Hard & Rock, Lekki, Lagos, a week before his arrest, where he reportedly lavished over half a million naira on foods and drinks.

The suspect, a 100 level part time student, confessed to the crime, saying he had been in the business for more than two years.

The Police revealed that Falope’s activities on Instagram was placed under investigations following series of complaints about an Instagram handle @blackberbiedoll, used for criminal activities, which was later traced to him.

Apart from @blackberbiedoll, which he prominently used for fraudulent activities, he maintained @froshwhite007 and @froshwhite separately for same purpose.

THE VICTIMS' STORY
One of the complainants, simply identified as Bernard, stated that he got a friend request from @blackberbiedoll: “Apparently, the picture on the account was that of a lady. The lady in question messaged me on BBM. Honestly, I thought I was chatting with a woman, who claimed to be in Nigeria at the time.

“She lied to me that her father was a Nigerian and her mum, a Kenyan, and so we got talking. At a point, she lied that she was building a beauty outfit in Ikota Shopping Mall, VGC and that she was in need of some money to complete the mall.

“I had to transfer N1 million to her. Weeks later, I grew suspicious of the account name Olawole Israel Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google, and then discovered it was all scam.

“Immediately, I reported the incident to Instagram and that account was blocked and later suspended to prevent others from falling victim.”

Another victim, who preferred anonymity, explained how he paid N100, 000 into his account to support his bogus fashion outfit.

The suspect confessed that since he started the fraudulent act about two years ago, he had duped no fewer than 33 men pretending to be a lady on Instagram and that the least amount he received from any of them was N80,000.

He confessed: “When I started, much as I pretended to be a lady on phone, some men on the other side didn’t believe me. I then downloaded an app on Google which transformed my voice into that of a lady whenever I am having conversation.

“I got several pictures of Shayla, a pretty United States-based lady on my profile. Since then, men have been disturbing me and calling to request a date.

“What I do is that I assess people based on their appearance on Instagram, add them and thereafter open up conversations with them before I started bringing up all manners of stories in order to dupe them.

“At a point, I lied to most of them that I had an accident and I lost my ATM. I told them that I need some money. Some of them were generous enough to drop money into my account.

“I lied to them that I was putting up a boutique and saloon at Ikota, VGC and Lekki, and that I needed money to finish setting up.

“I know I made a mistake downloading Shayla’s pictures and used them for fraudulent purposes. I am telling you the truth, those that I have collected money from can’t be more than 33”, he explained.

Investigations, however, revealed that the owner of the profile pictures the suspect used, @Shayla, had complained to Instagram that some Nigerians were using her profile pictures to scam unsuspecting members of the public.

It was also disclosed that the suspect claimed to be a friend of Toke Makinwa, Tonto Dike, Don Jazzy, Peter Okoye, Toyin Aimakhu, Tee Y Mix, Oristsefemi, Timaya, Sean Tizzle, Dami Adenuga, Ramsey Noah among others.

“I know all of them. I attend lots of shows; I meet them, take photographs with them, even exchange numbers. Like sister Toke Makinwa, Tonto Dike, Uncle Ramsey Noah, these are the kind of celebrities I look up to and I want to be like them”, he stated.

But RRS investigators confirmed that he was following a lot of Nigerian celebrities on Instagram but at press time they could not confirm if any of them had fallen prey to Falope’s antics, as many of his Instagram chats with them got no response.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Dolapo Badmos, warned Nigerians to be careful on the social media because scammers are on the prowl worldwide.

The suspect has been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigations.

King Sunny Ade's Guitar Auctioned At N52m

A vintage fender guitar owned by legendary Nigerian musician, King Sunny Adé, was on Sunday auctioned at N52.1 million in Lagos.

The guitar which was auctiond by Dr. Jogun Onabanjo, Certified Auctioneer and Chief Executive of Onabanjo and Onabanjo & Co, is known to have been designed by Nigerian artist Victor Ehikamenor.

The glittering artistic piece was revealed at the King Sunny Ade‘s 70th birthday concert tagged Sunny on Sunday, which had an audience comprising of Nigeria’s richest and top celebrities.

The starting bid of nine million Naira was followed by a very competitive bid by the well-heeled audience consisting of influential businessmen such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Femi Otedola, and more closing at N52.1 million.

While the bid was in progress, the asking price for the guitar doubled to N17m under two minutes before exceeding the N50m benchmark in 15 minutes.

The winner of the auction is yet to be revealed.

The concert held at the Temple Balmoral Marquee, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.