Author: chicagoinquirer

by Jesse Bedayn and Sam Metz COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — When army veteran Rich Fierro realized a gunman was spraying bullets inside the club where he had gathered with friends and family, instincts from his military training immediately kicked in. First he ducked to avoid any potential incoming fire, then moved to try to disarm the shooter. “It’s the reflex. Go! Go to the fire. Stop the action. Stop the activity. Don’t let no one get hurt. I tried to bring everybody back,” he said Monday outside his home. Fierro is one of two people police are crediting with saving…

by Steve Douglas LUSAIL, Qatar — Saudi Arabia scored one of the biggest World Cup upsets ever by beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday. Messi’s quest to win the one major title to elude him got off to a shocking start and brought back memories of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over an Argentina team led by Diego Maradona in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup. Goals by Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in a five-minute span in the second half gave the Saudis the win. Argentina took an early lead with a 10th-minute penalty by Messi. The Argentina…

by Joseph Omoremi CHICAGO, IL –   A wire transfer of $80,000 to the First Heritage Bank account of Ashiwaju Bola A. Tinubu triggered the investigation of the former Lagos Governor and closure of nine bank accounts linked to him as well as the forfeiture of $460,000 to the U.S. government in October 1993. Tinubu had opened an individual money market account and a NOW account in Chicago in December 1989 according to U.S District Court documents obtained by The Chicago Inquirer. Mr. Adegboyega Mueez Akande who was under investigation by local police, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI wired…

Africans, are gradually climbing their ways into top echelon of leadership in America, especially the corporate world. One of the trailblazers is Dr. Akinyinka Akinyele, District Manager for Chicago Postal Service. After a couple of changes because of his tight schedule, he eventually spoke to our editor, Joseph Omoremi, on what is it being the headsman, areas of opportunities, race relations and his Christian values. It is an exciting reading. Excepts: Inquirer: We don’t have many district managers around. Yours quickly comes to mind in Chicagoland? Dr. Akinyele: America basically is a land of opportunity. Our preparation, when it eventually…

“We are here to solidify the relationship between Lagos and Chicago. Chicago is a sister city to Lagos and we are here to build on the existing relationship with the hope of turning Lagos into Chicago,” Nigeria’s monarch Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos told The Chicago Inquirer on Monday. In his first international outing as the Oba of Lagos, the monarch expressed satisfaction with the visit. “I met the mayor, city and Cook County officials, Lagosians and friends and Africans from all walks of lives,” the Oba said. He appealed to the Cook County board President John Stroger, to make…

by Joseph Omoremi The world stood still at the Harambee Hall, Chicago when the recently crowned Lagos monarch Oba Rilwan Akiolu was ushered into the main hall, venue of the 60th birthday party of Dr. Nurudeen Olowopopo. Long before the arrival of the king and Gov. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State, the main entrance to the hall was jammed by gatecrashers who were politely turned back by security men and police officers while invited guests with valid invitation cards streamed in continuously. Nigerians, nay Africans, decked in their glittering babanriga, Senegalese and other native attires and costumes were a…

Dan Anyiam planned to create a standing Feeder team to boost the Green Eagles. The idea was about bringing the best young legs from the four Regions and camp them in Lagos. Chief Eddie Enwere was one of those selected from the Eastern Region. Anyiam gave the team a name. The seniors were known as Green Eagles. The Junior Eagles became Federal Star Club. Enwere lived in Aba but was a student of National High School, Oguta owned by Chief H. P. Udom. Enwere said: “I was in the team Dan Anyiam put up in 1965 in the bid to…

In March 2004, we published an interview with Septuagenarian David Olupitan on the genesis of mistrust between recent African immigrants and African Americans as well as Blacks born outside the shores of the Black continent. A Jamaican American journalist and head of Sovereign African Diaspora Nation in New York, Neferrari Ahmose, read the interview and disagreed on some reasons adduced in the interview. She gave what she perceived as the missing links in another interview with Joseph Omoremi, editor of The Chicago Inquirer, during the meeting of Association of African Journalists in Nigerian House, lower Manhattan New York. Excerpts: Inquirer:…

by Will Weissert and Marc Levy COATESVILLE, Pa. — An election year weighted by economic turmoil, elimination of federal abortion rights and broad concerns about the future of democracy concluded with a final full day of campaigning Monday by leaders of both parties urgently appealing to their supporters. President Joe Biden was holding an evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best opportunities to reclaim a Republican-held governor’s seat. That was consistent with Biden’s late-campaign strategy of sticking largely to his party’s strongholds rather than stumping in more competitive territory, where control of Congress may ultimately be…

by Scott McFetridge DES MOINES, Iowa — Millions of lottery players around the country will try their luck again Monday night as they vie for an estimated $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot that dwarfs all previous prizes by hundreds of millions of dollars. The jackpot is nearly $400 million larger than the previous recordjackpot and will keep growing until someone wins the prize. Only four previous jackpots have topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at $20 million back on Aug. 6 and over three winless months has grown ever more massive. A…