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http://ift.tt/2s2PafM Venus Williams / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD Serena Williams may be missing from this year’s French Open, but big sister Venus is still going strong and marks her Roland Garros 20th anniversary on Sunday. Three weeks shy of her 37th birthday, the American star, who made her debut in the French capital in 1997, kicks off her latest campaign against China’s Wang Qiang. Williams, seeded 10, has played every year since 1997 with the exception of 2011 and despite her senior citizen status, she is still a contender at the Slams as her run to the Australian Open final in January proved. Her staggering longevity is illustrated by the fact that her potential second round opponent is compatriot Amanda Anisimova who, at just 15, is the youngest main draw competitor since 2005. When Venus was losing the 2002 Roland Garros final to Serena, Anisimova was just nine months old. “I’m here as I still have a lot to give. That just wraps it up,” said Venus who has never got...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Ochereome Nnanna A NEW book by a Thisday Newspaper Editor and former presidential spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi, has already started knocking the heads of those who ruled us for the past nineteen years together. Entitled (in typical fashion): Against the Run of Play: How an Incumbent President Was Defeated in Nigeria , the book has predictably returned former President Olusegun Obasanjo to an old hobby: Goodluck Jonathan bashing. Obasanjo is well known for his life of ironies, pretences and contradictions. It was during his tenure that members of the National Assembly were reportedly routinely bribed to either remove or enthrone candidates of his choice as Senate President or Speaker or even to amend the constitution to enable him to obtain a third term. On one occasion, bags of old naira notes allegedly deployed for such inglorious venture by the Presidency were spilt on the floor of the House of Reps.  Yet, Obasanjo regularly calls legislators “thie...

http://ift.tt/2ch0FbL By Emman Ovuakporie ABUJA —THERE is a ray of hope for independent candidates in the 2019 polls as the House of Representatives Special Ad-hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution has approved independent candidacy for elections in Nigeria. This development was the outcome of the retreat organised by the  Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, for members of the committee in Abuja, weekend. After a robust debate on the clause contained in the amendment of the Electoral Act, members agreed that there was need to test independent candidacy in the political space to reduce the imposition of candidates by political parties Addressing members after the retreat, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff, who is the chairman of the committee, promised that the National Assembly would give Nigerians an enviable constitution. The chairman stated that the bill would be  considered at plenary to have members’ inputs and...