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Update: Police release 11-year-old boy arrested over his alleged involvement in attack on Edo police station

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Update: Police release 11-year-old boy arrested over his alleged involvement in attack on Edo police station

Human rights advocate, Kola Edokpayi has secured the unconditional release of the 11-year-old boy arrested over his alleged involvement in the attack on a police station in Edo State.

 

Recall that the boy identified as Gift Osayuhi was arrested for allegedly joining the gang of hoodlums that attacked Oba Market police station at Evbuotubu area of Benin City. After the attack, the young boy was said to have worn the uniform of a police sergeant and declared himself as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Read Here

 

Update: Police release 11-year-old boy arrested over his alleged involvement in attack on Edo police station

 

Confirming the development on Friday October 30, Mr Edokpayi thanked the Edo State Commissioner of Police, CP Johnson Kokumo and the State Ministry of Justice for their understanding and cooperation.

 

He also disclosed that the boy, whose mother is a widow, said that his dream is to become the IGP.

 

“We have been able to secure the unconditional release of the 11 year old boy by name Gift Osayuhi whose picture went viral on social media yesterday for allegedly joining some miscreants to break into Oba Market Police station, took their police Uniform,wore it and declared himself as the new IG of Police during the ENDSARS protest. The boy was released to us after we undertook to rehabilitate and reform him,” said Mr Edokpayi.

 

“The young boy said his dream is to become the IG of Police and we also undertook to ensure the boy is giving a proper education so as to help help him achieve his dream. We sincerely thank Edo State Commissioner of Police and Edo State Ministry of Justice for the kind understanding and cooperation. We also met with his mother who told she is a widow who takes care of the children alone and the little boy usually assist her to sell water and drinks in Ring Road”

 

Update: Police release 11-year-old boy arrested over his alleged involvement in attack on Edo police station

 

#EndSARS: Why family members of Lekki shooting incident are afraid to speak up – Falana

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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says family members of those affected by the shooting at the Lekki toll gate have refused to speak about the incident “because of the environment under which we operate”.

 

The Cable reports that Falana said this on Wednesday, October 28 when he spoke at a virtual #EndSARS meeting organized by Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters.

Falana said the Lekki shooting must not be swept under the carpet like the ”killing of 347 Shi’ites in Zaria, Kaduna state, in 2015.”

 

In his words

“Nobody should believe the military, it has a history of lies, fraud and deception. Just in December 2015, the same chief of army staff claimed there was a traffic jam in Zaria and the big man wanted to move.

And because of that traffic, he got soldiers from the first division in Kaduna to mow down hundreds of Shi’ites. And what was the explanation? That the Shi’ites wanted to assassinate the chief of army staff, and so his boys had to save him and in the process, they repelled these Shi’ites who had guns and about six or seven people died.

But in a commission of enquiry set up by the Kaduna state government, we were told that indeed, 347 Nigerians were killed by the military; no autopsy, no postmortem, nothing whatsoever.

Their bodies were taken away in the dead of the night and given a mass burial. And people will ask you, ‘if anybody lost his child in Lekki, why can’t they come up?’ Who has come up in the case of Zaria? Because you must understand the environment under which we operate.”

The lawyer also said some of those injured in the Lekki shooting “had to forcefully discharge themselves.”

 

According to him, the injured protesters were told in a hospital that they were going to be held liable for the riots in town, “and so, everybody had to move.”

 

Public and private schools can reopen Monday November 2 – Lagos state govt

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The Lagos State Government has approved the re-opening of schools for all classes in public and private schools across the state beginning from Monday, November 2, 2020 while boarders in public schools are to resume on Sunday, November 1.

 

The state Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, disclosed this in a statement released on Thursday October 29. The statement in part reads

 

”The Lagos State Government has approved the re-opening of schools for all classes in public and private schools across the State beginning from Monday, 2nd of November, 2020 while boarders in public schools are to resume on Sunday, 1st of the same month.

This has been an unprecedented year with the recent happenings that have regrettably led to frequent closure of schools with attendant learning disruptions faced by all children.

We pray and hope that there will be no more disruptions in the academic calendar. However, the State Government will always regard the safety of pupils/students, parents and all staff as a matter of priority.

We recommend that when schools resume on Monday, teaching and learning should continue unhindered till the end of the term”she said

 

 

Lekki Shooting: Army used blank bullets – Former spokesman Sani Usman say

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Lekki Shooting: Army used blank bullets - Former spokesman Sani Usman says

A former Director Public Relations of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Sani Usman (rtd), has said that blank ammunition was used during the shooting of protesters at the Lekki tollgates on October 20.

 

Usman said this when he appeared as a guest on ARISE News on Wenesday October 29. He said that blank ammo has little or no effect on its target.

“If you look at the canisters, they were blank ammo and blank ammo don’t even kill. At a close range, l – maybe 100-metres – maybe it will have some pigmentation on your skin.

Remember the military are armed and by the nature of their training, they are trained to kill and I think the military in its wisdom instead of using live ammunition decided to use blank armour which is meant for training.

I think they should be commended for that otherwise there would have been serious collateral damage, but they were professional enough to have done that.”Usman said

 

Human rights group, Amnesty International had on WednesdayOctober 28, released a timeline of the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at the toll plaza on October 20. The AI said its crisis response experts investigated and verified social media videos and photographs that confirmed that security forces were present at the scene when the shootings occurred.

 

Usman, however, said Amnesty International has a long history of spuriously accusing the Nigerian military.

“There was a time when I was the director army public relations, Amnesty International accused the Nigerian military of killing over 5000 people in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

Common sense would have told you that there was no hospital with the capacity to contain even 50 dead bodies or 100. This and many other spurious allegations have been going on against the Nigerian military by the Amnesty International,” he said.

Desmond Elliot just destroyed all the precious childhood memories he gave us in movies – Davido

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Davido has again reacted to the controversy that has trailed Desmond Elliot’s comment about celebrities and social media influencers in the wake of the #EndSARS protest.

 

Recall that the lawmaker representing Surulere constituency in the Lagos House of Assembly has debunked allegation of being one of those pushing for a bill to regulate social media and stiffle free speech.

However in a new tweet shared on Thursday October 29, Davido alleged that Desmond Elliot has destroyed all the precious childhood memories he gave the youths, in movies.

He tweeted;

 

Desmond Elliot just destroyed all the precious child hood memories he gave us in movies

 

Desmond Elliot just destroyed all the precious childhood memories he gave us in movies - Davido

Police allegedly arrest 11-year-old boy who reportedly participated in attack on Edo police station and declared himself IGP

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The Edo State Police Command has allegedly arrested an 11-year-old over his ”involvement” in the attack on a police station at Evbuotubu area of Benin City by hoodlums.

 

Recall that hoodlums took advantage of the #EndSARS protest to attack Oba Market Police, Ugbekun Police Station, Idogbo Police station last Monday and carted away arms and ammunitions at the armoury as well as police uniforms and other valuables.

 

According to Human Rights Advocate, Kola Edokpayi, a senior News reporter with the Edo Broadcasting Service, Festus Alenkhe, stated that the young boy was arrested for allegedly joining the gang of hoodlums that attacked Oba Market police station.

 

After the attack, the boy was said to have worn the uniform of a police sergeant and declared himself as the Inspector General of Police (IGP)

 

He then went about in Benin metropolis bragging about his new status while most of his peers hailed and clapped for him.

 

He was subsequently arrested, paraded and will be arraigned in a juvenile court soon, according to the report.

 

Police allegedly arrest 11-year-old boy who reportedly participated in attack on Edo police station and declared himself IGP

Police allegedly arrest 11-year-old boy who reportedly participated in attack on Edo police station and declared himself IGP

#EndSARS: You are cancelled – Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers

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Some Nigerian celebrities have lashed out at actor turned politician, Desmond Elliot following his comment about Nigerian celebrities and social media influencers.

 

Recall that in a viral video which captured the Surulere lawmaker’s submission on the Lagos carnage, he asked the celebrities and influencers “to stop the hatred already”. He also pointed out that everyone has a means to change government.

However his comments seems not to have gone down well with his former colleagues in the entertainment industry. They have also taken to social media to express their “disappointment” with his comment.

Here are some posts below;

 

#EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers #EndSARS: You are cancelled - Nigerian celebrities call out Desmond Elliot over his comment about celebrities and influencers

 

Why US opposed Okonjo-Iweala as consensus candidate for WTO Director-General

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Why US opposed Okonjo-Iweala as consensus candidate for WTO Director-General

The United States opposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the consensus candidate to lead the WTO.

 

It has now been revealed that the US said it is supporting South Korean trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, to become the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation because she is a “trade expert”.

US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, while giving reasons for opposing Okonjo-Iweala, who gained American citizenship in 2019, said WTO needs “someone with real, hands-on experience in the field”.

This was contained in a statement issued by the office of the US trade representative.

“The United States supports the selection of Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee as the next WTO Director-General,” the USTR, led by Lighthizer, said.

“Minister Yoo is a bona fide trade expert who has distinguished herself during a 25-year career as a successful trade negotiator and trade policy maker. She has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organization.

“This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade. There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations.

“The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field.”

However, Okonjo-Iweala, while addressing the WTO in July, had explained that she is a trade expert.

She said: “I am a development economist and you cannot do that without looking at trade. Trade is a central part of development. So, I have been doing it. My whole career at the World Bank, I was working on trade policy reform in middle and low-income countries at the bank.

“As finance minister, the customs service in my country reported to me. And that is all about trade facilitation. I helped my country’s negotiation with my trade minister on the ECOWAS common external tariffs. I don’t know how much more trade you can have than that.

“So those who say I don’t have trade, they are mistaken. I think the qualities I have are even better, because I combine development economics with trade knowledge, along with finance, and you need those combinations of skills to lead the WTO. I think I have the skills that are needed. I am a trade person.”

Okonjo-Iweala, who also serves on Twitter’s board of directors, as chair of the GAVI vaccine alliance and as a special envoy for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 fight, saw her candidacy get another boost this week when the EU threw its weight behind her.

If she eventually gets a majority backing, she would be the first woman and the first African to lead the global trade body in its 25-year history.

MIYAN GYADA—————–A Hausa Delicacy.

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This recipe should have been put up on the blog months ago. I actually thought I had put it up only to come across it in my Drafts folder. What better time to try it out than a new recipe with the launch of the new Dooney’s Kitchen with a fantastic flavour packed Northern Nigerian dish.  Gyada is pronounced geh-da meaning groundnut, but this isn’t your regular groundnut soup, like Omisagwe from the people of Edo State, this has so much extra added to it, at first I wondered if it would work, but when i saw the bottom of my bowl within a few minutes, yaaaaaaaaaas!!!!! This ROCKS!!!!! Thank you Pauline B. Manilla for the recipe.

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MIYAN GYADA
Prep time:  
Cook time:  
Total time:  
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
  • 4 pieces of Garden Eggs – substitute with 1 large aubergine
  • 2 cooking spoons of Atarugu (fresh pepper – ata rodo) – or your heat tolerance level
  • 1 Kilo of Nama – meat (an assortment)
  • 1 cooking spoon of Dadawa – iru or ogiri isi
  • ¾ – 1cup of Gyada – groundnut (raw or roasted)
  • 1 – 2 cooking spoons of Crayfish
  • Stockfish – used just to flavour the meats
  • 1 big piece of Smoked fish
  • 1 handful of Eja Sawa – dry fish
  • 1 handful of Smoked Red prawns
  • 1 Alubasa – onions
  • 3 tbs of Tsamiya – tamarind, awin, icheku
  • 1 handful of Yakuwa leaves – ishapa, english sorrel, white zobo. Substitute with Ugu or spinach
  • 2 cooking spoons of Palm oil
  • Salt – used only to season the meats
  • Seasoning cubes – used only to season the meats
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Boil and season your meats and variety of smoked fish with onions, salt and seasoning cubes. To stay as much local to the flavour, I did not use any salt or seasoning cubes in the latter stages of cooking. I relied solely on the beef stock, so endeavour to get it right from here.
  2. While the meats are boiling, prep the rest of the ingredients starting from the raw groundnuts.
  3. Toast for a few minutes in a dry pan, till the skin crisps up.
  4. Proceed to blending the groundnuts (with their skin on) in a dry mill till you get a smooth powder. Mix the powder with a little water to form a thick paste
  5. Now to the Garden Eggs. Chop off the stalk and whizz in a blender till smooth. If you are using purple aubergines instead, peel off the skin. If you are using white aubergines, leave the skin on.
  6. Whizz in a blender till you get a smooth puree.
  7. Rinse and chop the Yakuwa leaves (English sorrel).
  8. Tsamiya – Tamarind. I bought this on Ebay. They can also be found in Asian food stores.
  9. Tear off a chunk of the tsamiya. Place in a pot with a few tablespoons of water. Alternatively, you can place in a bowl and pour hot water on it. What you want is for it to soften, which would also you mash into a paste, after which you pick or sieve out the wiry stems.
  10. Prepping done, time to cook. By this time, your meats should have cooked through. Heat up Palm oil in a pot, add chopped onions and let it fry for a bit.
  11. Add the variety of smoked fish which your cooked with the meats. Don’t forget the smoked red prawns. Leave it to fry in the oil gently, just to release some of their flavour into the palm oil.
  12. Add the groundnut paste and fresh pepper. Stir and allow to fry for about a minute
  13. Add the meats and stock to lighten the soup. You will notice the colour change to a pale lovely shade of orange. Turn down the heat to medium. Remember that the stock constitutes your major seasoning component, so use enough of it. Don’t worry, unless you dump a bucket load in it, it wouldn’t be watery forever. Groundnut thickens as it cooks, so you will be just fine. You need the heat at medium to allow the groundnut cook slowly, and the meats too to absorb the groundnut. If you cook on high heat the soup will cook too fast for and it’ll burn.
  14. Once you start to notice bubbles forming, add the dadawa (iru, ogiri isi) and stir. Give it roughly 2 minutes, ensure that you can taste the flavour of the dadawa in the soup. Very important. Add more dadawa, if you wish.
  15. With the dadawa flavour coming off, pour in the garden egg paste. Pour in half first (if you have a garden egg aversion like me), give it a minute or so and taste the soup to see if that is fine for you. You want a stronger flavour, add the entire puree. Stir and also leave the so merge with the other flavours. Still keep the heat on medium.
  16. Add the crayfish, stir and further lower the heat. Crayfish has a thickening effect with creamy soups. So once this goes in, reduce the heat a little more to counter balance that thickening effect, so as not to allow the soup burn before the flavours combine and develop.
  17. Once the soup has thickened noticeably, add the chopped Yakuwa and stir. Yakuwa adds a certain tangyness to this dish which is vital. You will notice its flavour almost immediately. Although Ugu or Spinach will serve as a vegetable substitute, Yakuwa truly is the deal. I cooked with it when making Miyan Taushe and I swear by it in any Northern dish that calls for Yakuwa.
  18. One last sour tanginess to this dish is Tsamiya. Never cooked with it before but has now surprisingly become one of my favourite ingredients. Tamarind takes this dish from pretty great to freaking awesome. Trust me. I started with 2 tablespoons and increased to 3. I suggest you do the same. You just may find that 2 tablespoons is okay for you. One tablespoon? Definitely not. You will barely notice its amazing flavour. 
  19. Once the Tamarind goes in, stir, and cover the pot. Still on low heat, let all those flavours combine. If you need to dilute it, dilute with meat stock or hot water. Give it about 3 minutes or so. Open the pot and be enveloped by the aroma that will set your senses buzzing excitedly. You will notice the lighter liquify part of the soup floating on top and simmering nicely away.
  20. When you stir, it becomes thicker, taking on the consistency of Egusi soup. Serve.

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How Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade Become One of Hollywood’s Biggest Success Stories

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Actress Gabrielle Union and NBA champ Dwyane Wade have one of Hollywood’s most enviable marriages—and more than six years in they keep finding reasons to celebrate.

By SARAH GROSSBART OCT 29, 2020 12:00 AMTAGS

Related: Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade Gush Over “Hair Love”

Gabrielle Union doesn’t do passive.

When she found herself unfavorably comparing her successes to others’—”I felt like you see everyone is having so much more,” the actress admitted on the Today show in 2018—she decided to implement a change.

Turning to her vision boards, she stopped “chasing after specific things and asking for stuff,” she explained, adding that she pared down her desires to one specific request. “I asked for more joy, peace and grace,” she noted. “And it’s been coming in abundance.”

Take her six-plus-year marriage to NBA champ Dwyane Wade. Having weathered a lawsuit from his ex-wife, a brief pre-engagement split and what the We’re Going to Need More Wine author describes as “eight or nine miscarriages” in their decade-plus together, they’re still rolling.

The actress and the retired NBA guard, 38, are the type of enviable power couple that can’t seem to stop bragging on each another. (In one Instagram referencing his stints in Chicago and Cleveland, the pro wrote, “Get you a ‘woman’ who supports you—even if you take her out of her newly built dream home and the sunshine in Miami.”) And they always seem like they’re just having more fun than everyone else.

Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade’s Best Family Moments

Which, they kinda are.

Because when you’ve been through enough tough stuff—the really hard, crushing moments—every other minor inconvenience is put into the proper perspective. The big joys have their place, too, with Nov. 7, 2018 rightfully earning a place in the highlight reel of their lives.

That was the day when the couple—already raising kids Zaire, 18, Zaya, 13, Xavier, 6, and Wade’s nephew Dahveon Morris, 19—welcomed their “miracle baby,” daughter Kaavia James Union Wade, to the party, following a years-long struggle with fertility.

When doctors at the L.A.-area hospital pronounced the newborn healthy, “I felt such relief,” Union, who’s marking her 48th birthday Oct. 29, told Parents‘ May 2019 issue. “To hear her breathing and crying was a dream. We didn’t really allow ourselves to believe it until then.”

Really, their entire union required quite a bit of faith.

When the pair first crossed paths co-hosting a 2007 Super Bowl bash, they barely interacted, not seeming to instinctually just know they were destined to become one of those please-never-break-up type of pairs. “I stayed on one side of the room with my people,” Union would later tell Essence. “We like to party and he doesn’t drink at all. He was on the other side of the room holding bible study.”

And in the moments they did connect, the actress—who, by then, had already starred in a slew of teen hits such as She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About You and Bring It On—was left unimpressed.

The Chicago-bred basketball pro was 25, a standout on a newly minted championship NBA team and in the process of splitting from his first wife, high school sweetheart Siohvaughn Funches. “His ‘resume’ looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me,” Union bluntly surmised to Glamour. “None of that screamed, ‘Let’s have a lasting relationship.'”

Plus, the Nebraska native was already wary of athletes. In her memoir she reveals NBA star Jason Kidd called to dump her two weeks before prom. And she claims NFL running back Chris Howard was unfaithful throughout their five-year marriage. Less than 24 hours after his proposal (which involved a bucket of KFC potato wedges, because why not?), she says she “discovered a message on Chris’ computer that hinted at an affair.”

So she dismissed Wade out of hand. Then something happened: She got her heart broken—again.

“After I had a heart-crushing breakup with yet another immature jerk, I thought, ‘It can’t be any worse if I date a fetus,'” she continued to Glamour. “Let’s just see what happens.”

Union was left pleasantly surprised. “Turned out he’d been on his own since he was 15,” she said. “He had wisdom that comes with facing an insane amount of adversity. He’s sweet, funny, honest about his shortcomings.” The lesson in all of this, she explained, “When I put my preconceived notions to the side, I found someone cool.”

Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade Neil Rasmus/BFA/Sipa USA

She also unearthed a mountain of drama. By the time the duo quietly started dating in 2009 (they were snapped together at basketball pro Alonzo Mourning‘s four-day charity event that June), Wade’s divorce with Funches was already, how you say, contentious.

She accused him of abandoning his children, cheating and infecting her with an STD. He, in turn, sued her for defamation. And at one point during the drawn-out financial portion of the divorce, she sat outside the Chicago courthouse with a cardboard sign that read, “NBA Miami Heat star, mother of his children on the streets.” (She was later awarded their six-bedroom Chicago mansion, four cars and $5 million.)

When Wade filed for sole custody of Zaire and Zaya in 2010, alleging Funches couldn’t “be considered a fit and proper person” to raise them, she went on the offensive.

Two months later, she named Union in a lawsuit filed on behalf of her and Wade’s children. Along with claiming the couple didn’t properly supervise them, she alleged the actress “engaged in sexual foreplay” with Wade in front of their kids and that her actions had caused their eldest so much stress and anxiety that he was forced to seek medical treatment.

Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union

Union’s rep labeled the claims, allegations that were later dismissed by a judge, as false. And amid all that mess—in the ultimate power move—the pair make their red carpet debut, at the same charity event they were snapped attending one year earlier.

By March 2011, a judge handed over sole “care, custody and control” of the kids to Wade, scolding Funches for embarking “on an unstoppable and relentless pattern of conduct for over two years to alienate the children from their father.” Wade’s response: “A huge weight is off my back.”

Through it all Union remained silent, even as she was labeled a mistress. But in April 2012—two months after she and Wade posed together for the cover of Essence—she had the opportunity to clear her name. “I think people mistook me taking the high road as an admission of guilt,” she noted to Jet, but she and Wade “made a decision very early to not react to the negativity.” Instead, they quietly submitted proof to the courts refuting Funches’ claims, “So, it was like, obviously you’re not telling the truth.”

And while being publicly branded a cheater wasn’t the best, she insisted she had no regrets about their pairing. “This kind of love is a gift,” she said. “It’s so consistent. There’s no way that I would trade it for people who refuse to simply acknowledge the truth.”

But even with the ex drama behind them, the duo couldn’t fall into happily ever after quite yet. Starting in January 2013—as Union was launching into her BET series Being Mary Jane and Wade was dealing with a nagging knee injury—the pair quietly separated for several months.

“It was because of distance and scheduling,” Union later explained to Glamour, blaming a calendar that forced her to go right from filming her show to shooting Think Like a Man Too in Las Vegas. “I couldn’t take time off, and I missed some quality togetherness we desperately needed.” And while she said she’d always dreamed of a career so hot it required her to work on projects back-to-back, “I realized I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my relationship for it. Moving forward, I decided my work schedule has to make sense for our family.”

Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade Bobby Metelus/Getty Images

Ultimately, the pre-engagement split proved successful just as it had for other couples before them. (See: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel and even Prince William and Kate Middleton.) “At the end of the day, we came back together and said, ‘Listen, we want to continue this. We want to continue to get better each day,'” Wade explained during a September 2013 appearance on The Tonight Show. “She’s been with me and I’ve been with her all summer long. We’re going strong now.”

That December, the 6-foot-4 athlete got down on one knee with an 8.5-carat cushion-cut diamond as his children stood behind him with signs asking, “Will you marry us?”

At first Union assumed the kids had acted on their own. “The thing is, they ask me all the time, so I’m thinking, ‘Well this is embarrassing, now they’ve made signs,'” she explained on Live With Kelly and Michael. “I turn to D like, ‘Ugh, they just made some signs,’ and he’s down on one knee—and he’s like, ‘Will you marry us?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, you’re serious!'”

In one of her most endearing moves to date, Union celebrated the relationship upgrade with some wood-fired grilled shrimp at her favorite restaurant: Red Lobster.

Dada Wade, Dwyane Wade, Zion Wade, Gabrielle Union, Zaire WadeJL/Sipa USA

Her cool girl chill remained through the lead up to their vows, even when just 10 days after their engagement, news broke that Wade had fathered a child with longtime pal Aja Metoyer. Fans were aghast, but Wade calmly confirmed the recent arrival of Xavier in a press conference, calling him “a blessing.” And that was that. Because of course Union knew. One of the tenets of their relationship, she told Glamour, is honesty: “I believe in full disclosure. No weird secrets. Let the chips fall where they may.”

While she surged forward with the logistics of legally entwining herself with Wade—she joked on the Arsenio Hall Show she would be getting a prenup because “the reality is I’ve never seen Dwyane balance a checkbook, so I gotta protect my stuff”—he went into full-on party planner mode.

Joking to Us Weekly that he’d become a “groomzilla,” she revealed that when the athlete realized she was trying to turn their June 2014 affair at Miami’s Chateau Artisan “into a frat party with k-cups and beer pong,” he took over. “He really Kanye’d himself and really doubled down, and it’s his princess day and I’m just along for the ride.”

Really all she did to prep, she told Vegas magazine, was to attend a wine tasting and pick out two Dennis Basso gowns. “That’s the joy of getting married to a man who loves clothes and wardrobe changes: You can have more than one dress.”

And while flouncy white dresses are great and all, Union said she was more concerned with what would come after they tied the knot.

“A lot of times, we become grown-ups and we feel like we have to act ‘grown,’ and that part of acting ‘grown’ is to somehow eliminate fun,” she told Refinery 29. “We should always keep a little bit of fun and immaturity as a part of our life, and certainly as part of our sex life.”

To that end, says Union, both she and Wade make affection a priority. “Dwyane generally gets up before I do to go to the gym, and he’s never left without kissing me and telling me he loves me,” the New York & Co. designer told Glamour. “As for me, I am complimentary to the point where I am almost a little Chester the Molester-y. I think he’s delicious. Watching him get out of the shower never gets old.”

They also do their best not to get bogged down in petty arguments. “He lets me off the hook, and I do the same,” she said. “Is it annoying that he refuses to put the cap back on the toothpaste? Yes. But at the end of the day, I just screw it back on myself. It’s give-and-take.”

And to the star what she reaps is well worth it. Calling her husband “a Nicholas Sparks book exploded into an NBA player,” she told E! News, “he’s very romantic and a great gift-giver.” Among his best: the poetry he pens himself and the time he told her to pack a suitcase for their first anniversary and didn’t reveal they were off to Bora Bora until the plane was in the air.

Union isn’t shy about listing his other attributes either, explaining to Glamour, “Sometimes my girlfriends will mention sexting or certain positions as something they’d only do with a guy on spring break. They’ll say, ‘You don’t do that with someone you love.’ And I’ll say, ‘That’s who you’re supposed to do it with.'”

Bobby Metelus/Getty Images

Still, she stops short of revealing all their secrets. In the initial years after their wedding, she politely deflected questions about when they would procreate. But by 2017 she was so tired of people prying into what may or may not be happening in her uterus, she gave the sort of brutally honest response that’s designed to halt all inquiries. Revealing her series of miscarriages, she wrote in her book, “For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant—I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.”

Then she made it perfectly clear that’s all she would be saying on the subject. Should she be spotted holding a newborn, by all means, she’ll address it. Until then, she told E! News, “If we are or if we aren’t, that’s, like, totally our thing.”

So, now they are and, as promised, she’s addressing it. Kaavia, a ridiculously photogenic tot known for her #shadybaby stares and hilariously dry wit (though we’ll give credit there to Mom and Dad), already boasts 1.3 million followers to her @kaaviajames Instagram handle. And you’re damn right she was down to model a series of costumes for her first Halloween in 2019.

Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, FamilyInstagram

It was a snap the family posted last Thanksgiving, however, that drew the most eyes.

When Wade took notice that people were criticizing Zaya’s stylish crop top and long nails, he appropriately dunked on all of them. “I’ve seen some post-thanksgiving hate on social about my family photo,” he tweeted. “Stupidity is apart of this world we live in—so i get it. But here’s the thing—I’ve been chosen to lead my family not y’all. So we will continue to be us and support each other with pride, love & a smile!”

He lived up to that vow weeks later, when he sat down for a lengthy interview for Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson‘s All the Smoke podcast. “I’ve watched my son from day one become into who she now eventually has come into,” he said. “And for me it’s all about…nothing changes with my love, nothing changes with my responsibilities. Only thing I have to do now is get smarter and educate myself more, and that’s my job.”

Gabrielle Union, Dwyane WadeInstagram

He’s already got the endless, unconditional support part down cold.

“First of all, you want to talk about strength and courage?” the former professional athlete, adept at putting his body on the line across decades on the hardwood, told fellow NBA alum Barnes and Jackson. “My 12-year-old has way more than I have. You can learn something from your kids. In our household, that’s all we talk about; we talk about making sure our kids are seen by each of us. Me and my wife, we talk about making sure our kids understand the power in their voice. We want them to be whoever they feel they can be in this world. That’s our goal: Understand you can be whoever, you can be whatever.”

Though the pair, honored as two of TIME‘s 100 most influential people, have been praised for their work as advocates in the LGBTQ+ community, they insist they’re the ones constantly left inspired as they watch their daughters grow.

“We have a daughter that is almost 2, who the world has seen is bound to nothing but whatever is in her heart and on her soul at the moment and it’s beautiful to watch truly free children,” Union said in their cover story. “We have another daughter who is 13, who has freedom to be exactly who she is, who she was born to be, to be her most authentic self. She doesn’t ask permission to exist. That is wildly inspiring.”

It helps to have parents that are proof positive that your wildest dreams can come true.

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