A former Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, was absent at his polling unit on Saturday, to vote for his party’s candidate for the Chairmanship and Councillorship election

Fashola, who was expected at the polling unit with the wife, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, was not seen throughout the election, which started at 8.00 a.m. and ended at 3.00 p.m.

NAN recalled that Fashola was also absent during the 2021 local government election.

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Journalists, who waited for the former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, from 8.19 a.m. when the election at the unit started, left for other places after hours of waiting, while some stayed till the end on the possibility of him coming.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that voting for the Chairmanship and Councillorship election in Polling Unit 002, at State Junior Grammar School (Special), Itolo Street, Eric Moore, Surulere, started at 8.19 a.m, as at the time the INEC agents arrived to set up the unit.

The unit, which is the venue where Fashola was expected to cast his vote, saw eligible voters trickling in.

The unit which had 1,355 registered voters, recorded only 213 voters who came to exercise their franchise.
(NAN)

Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the most one-sided women’s Wimbledon final for 114 years to win her sixth Grand Slam title.

The Polish eighth seed was in charge from the first point and wrapped up victory in just 57 minutes in a brutal display of precision hitting on Centre Court.

It is the first time a woman has won a final at Wimbledon without dropping a game since 1911, when Britain’s Dorothea Lambert Chambers triumphed by the same scoreline.

And Swiatek, 24, is just the second player in the Open era to win a major without losing a game in the final since Steffi Graf humbled Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open.

“It seems super surreal,” said Swiatek, who is the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland and has now won majors on all surfaces.

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“I didn’t even dream, for me it was way too far. I feel like I am already an experienced player after winning the Slams before but I never expected this one.

“This year I really, really enjoyed it and feel I improved my form here.

“I am always going to remember the opening of champagne bottles between serves. It is a sound that will keep me awake at night.”

Swiatek lost just one set during the entire tournament as she won her first trophy on grass, two weeks after reaching the final of the grass-court event at Bad Homburg.

US 13th seed Anisimova was expected to prove a stern test after ousting world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, but Swiatek performed a demolition job.

Anisimova made a nervous start in hot conditions on Centre Court, with Catherine, Princess of Wales, watching from the Royal Box.

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She was broken in the first game, soon slipping 2-0 behind and the signs looked ominous.

The American appeared to have found her feet in her next service game but the merciless Swiatek refused to give ground and recovered to move 3-0 ahead when Anisimova double-faulted.

At 4-0 down Anisimova was facing a first-set wipe-out but she was powerless to halt the rampant Swiatek, who sealed the opener 6-0 in just 25 minutes.

The American won just six points on her serve in the first set and committed 14 unforced errors.

An increasingly desperate Anisimova could not stem the tide in the second set, double-faulting again in the third game to give her opponent game point and then netting a backhand.

The crowd got behind her but to no avail as Swiatek kept up her level, serving out to win and celebrating before consoling her devastated opponent.

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Anisimova made 28 unforced errors in the 12 games.

Swiatek is Wimbledon’s eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion since Serena Williams won her seventh and final title at the All England Club in 2016.

She has won all six major finals in which she has competed.

Swiatek, who now has 100 career Grand Slam match wins, has won the French Open four times and also the US Open, in 2022.

Her previous best performance at Wimbledon was a run to the quarter-finals in 2023.

The distraught Anisimova left court briefly before returning for the trophy presentation.

The American, who lost in qualifying last year, broke down in tears again during her speech on court, calling Swiatek an “incredible player”.

“I know I didn’t have enough today but I’ll keep putting in the work. I keep believing in myself and I hope to be back here one day. Thank you everyone,” she said.

AFP

First female lawyer in the old Mid-West region, Grace Ogbemi, is dead.

She died in Lagos at the age of 89 just a week before her 90th birthday.

Before her death, she was a successful Itsekiri businessman and politician.

Born in Warri July 11, 1935 to Chief Reece Edukugho, Madam Grace Ogbemi was called to the English Bar in 1958, becoming the first female lawyer in the Mid-West Region, now Edo and Delta states.

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She was a partner in the law firm of Godfrey Amachree Ogbemi & Co.

She got married to Franklin Ogbemi, a Chartered Engineer.

She died on July 5, 2025.