Portuguese and Juventus striker, Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly asked his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez to marry him.

Portugal’s best-selling newspaper Correio da Manha confirmed the engagement and revealed that the Spanish beauty said ‘Yes’ and has started trying on wedding dresses.

This comes after the couple who have a one-year-old daughter Alana Martina were pictured wearing matching new Cartier rings during their recent romantic dinner in London.

Correio da Manha, referring to Georgina by her nickname Gio, quoted a source as saying: 'Cristiano has already asked Gio to marry him and the wedding will take place, but few people know the details. All that is known at the moment is that Gio has already tried on some wedding dresses.'

Earlier this year Ronaldo's mum called Georgina her future daughter-in-law in a magazine interview about her son’s love life.

He said: 'She is the mother of my grand-daughter. She is a future daughter-in-law. She’s not my daughter-in-law yet. She’s a future daughter-in-law. She’s a very calm person.'

 

Shares of South Africa’s MTN Group rose by 2.6 per cent Wednesday, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, following media report of a possible resolution and reduction of the $10.1 billion claims on it in Nigeria.

Bloomberg, while quoting a source, said the deal hasn’t been signed and could yet fall through.

On Tuesday, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Rob Shuter, had said that the telecommunications firm was doing everything within it means to resolve the issue amicably.


The Nigerian authority had asked MTN to refund $8.1 billion allegedly repatriated out of the country without due process and the Office of the Attorney-General, equally asked the telecommunications firm to pay $2 billion tax arrears.

Media report claimed that MTN may likely get a reduction from the $10 billion to about $800 million. However, a source very close to MTN told The Guardian, Wednesday that if MTN admitted to getting a reduction, “it would amount to the fact that telecommunications firm was culpable. Moreover, the case is in Court already, and they have a good case at hand. I don’t see where the $800 million would come in.”

But the Senate has condemned attempt by the Federal Government to reduce the $10.1 billion fine imposed on the communication giant, MTN, to $800 million.

The upper chamber said the planned reduction of the fine is a matter of interest to it, noting that although it was not particularly against whatever the government would want to do with the MTN fine, it should be intimated on why the reduction became necessary.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had in a recent statement by its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, hinted that it would reduce the amount it ordered MTN Nigeria to repatriate.

But Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, told reporters on Tuesday in Abuja that he was shocked when he was contacted that the CBN failed to implement Senate resolutions before conducting another investigation into the alleged infraction by MTN.

Ibrahim said his committee would immediately ask for CBN’s report on the matter to be better informed, adding that the only way Nigerians would know what transpired between the CBN and MTN on the $10.1 billion fine was through a detailed report.

Popular instagram blog, Instablog9ja broke into the media scene in 2015 alongside many other blogs but is widely considered the most successful news blog on instagram.

For years, many have wondered who the mystery person behind the instagram blog was, with so many names thrown around...and none, until now, has been right. Being anonymous was obviously important to the creator of instablog but we think it's time everyone knows the man behind the IG blog.

The owner of instablog9ja is John Abayomi, a former online editor of Vanguard news and current online editor of Punch. He is also a Social media strategist, creative content developer, documentary producer and SEO expert.

John is a 2002 graduate of University of Agriculture and has a Master's Degree in New Media & Society, Communication and Media Studies from University of Leicester UK in 2014. He also holds an international Broadcast Presentation certificate and Broadcast Journalism from Radio Nigeria training school, Lagos.

His experience in news editing, his degree in new media and communication and his training in broadcast journalism is what has pushed his platform instablog9ja into the success it is today and we think it's time for John Abayomi Aruleba to take the stage and take a bow.

Oh, and for everyone who desperately wanted to know who Instablo9ja owner was....you're welcome! *wink*

A resident of Lagos state is currently seeking help to recover his car after it was stolen while he was in church on October 28th.

Mr Kolade said his wife had gone to the church situated at Anthony village with the car and had parked it on the street close to their church. Two men who drove in a white car, vandalised his car and drove off with it.
Thankfully, a CCTV car installed around the area captured the moment the two elderly men stole the car.

In conversation with newsmen, Mr Gbadamosi said
My wife on the 28th of October went to our church at Anthony on Ajike Faramobi Street with my blue Toyota Corolla car, my kids and a boy that lives with me.

All doors were properly locked and all the keys in her possession. After service, I got a call from her that she couldn’t find the car where it was parked (which of course is the designated church car park in an adjoining street called Alhaja Oluwakemi Street). It was at that point that I got over and we looked at the CCTV footages. This revealed how it was stolen by these 2 elderly men most likely in their 50’s.

The Chasis no is JTDBR32E730017617. Toyota Corolla 2003 with Reg no EKY 716 EP. Checks also confirmed they have been around for about 3 hours scanning through the area before they perpetrated their evil. My wife got to church around 9:40 a.m while they had been around since 7 a.m.

 

An Open Letter to Mr. Peter Obi Angwal Village, Jaba LGA, Kaduna State. Wednesday, 14th November, 2018. HE, Peter Gregory Obi PDP Vice Presidential candidate.

My dear Mr. Obi,

Compliments of the citizen with warm regards. How are you and the season of politicking? Hope both you, Atiku nd your families are doing great. I wrote in response to your reply to one "Gov. Nasir Ahmed Elrufai" of Kaduna state who in his usual fashion of half truths alleged that you were a tribal bigot sometimes ago when u were a governor as a result of a story he probably cooked up regards being restricted to move around and forment trouble in Anambra state a certain time he came for election. I was pained at first when I saw on a newspaper that you dignified Mal. Nasir with a reply but became happy reading the first paragraph of your reply that carried the clause "my attention has been drawn to" suggesting that you didn't even notice he said something until you were notified. Sir, Mal. Elrufai for donkey years had been known to have launched media propaganda against many but eventually chickens out when facts are brought to the public for scrutiny.

He gains a lot of political capital in churning half truths and lies, hatred, daylight deception and no wonder, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo described him as "A pathological liar" in his book ; "My watch" ; a clear description of how Nasiru's Modus operandi had always been. Sir, You'll remember that; - On, April 7th , 2017, Mal. Nasir Ahmed Elrufai launched a media war on the very distinguished speaker of the house of representatives; RT.Hon. Dogara Yakubu after he personally invited him to Kaduna for a state function. This media war led to the display of pay slips to the public where the governor claimed that he earns less than 500,000 naira a month. When Dogara challenged him about the over 4.5 billion naira he collects monthly as security votes, he chickened out and claimed he used the security votes to buy CCTV cameras scattered across Kaduna State; a development residents of Kaduna are yet to see to this moment. Dogara brought facts to the public and since then, we never heard from Elrufai regards the matter. - On 8th September, 2017, Mal. Rufai attacked the former minister of women affairs, Haj. Jummai Alhassan. He claimed that she never supported Muhammadu Bihari's candidacy and that they warned Buhari not to appoint her as a minister but Buhari went ahead and did.

From the stories we read, we learnt that Jummai Alhassan replied Elrufai with a threat to expose him regards his role in the bokoharam kidnap of School girls to discredit the Jonathan's government. Whatever that meant, we were surprised not to have received another reply from Rufai as he went numb with tails between the legs after the alleged threat. - On 1st October, 2015, Elrufai launched another media propaganda claiming that in the former government of Jonathan , N13billion was spent in 2011, N15billion in 2012 and N14billion in 2013 and N22billion allegedly spent in 2014 for Independence day celebration while only 70million naira was spent in 2015 by the Buhari led Administration. He was replied by Abubakar Sulaiman, the immediate past Minister of National Planning during the Goodluck Jonathan presidency. Abubakar told Nigerians that Elrufai had lied as a breakdown of the spending for this event between 2012 and 2104 goes thus; 2012-107.6million; 2013-45million and 2014 had 180million. Mallam Elrufai knowing that his claims were false, kept mute and never replied again. - Most recently, Mr. Elrufai told everyone that it was President Muhammadu Buhari that asked him to punish Shehu Sani for being disobedient to their party. In less than 24 hours, the presidency came out in clear terms to clear the air, affirming that their is no truth in what Elrufai had said. If one is to dwell in many of the inconsistent statements of Elrufai, a whole book with twelve chapters will be written but to safe time, let's embrace the description to which our Former President Olusegun Obasanjo described him with; The pathological liar.

Dear Mr. Obi, we thought Elrufai was going to compare his achievements with yours as:
1. Education; Your educational reforms in Anambra state is unequalled as i am a witness to how you heavily invested in infrastructuraldevelopment in public schools. You were concerned about developing ICT skills among young students, no wonder no public secondary school in Anambra state has less than a hundred computers in their computer labs with First grade hummer buses for all the secondary school in Anambra state for easy transportation. As a corp member back then in Anambra, I learnt of how you always had periodic meetings with class monitors of secondary schools in Anambra for the sake of monitoring and evaluation and how you expressly gave them permission to call you directly report any problem in their various schools. Your educational reforms yielded positive results as Anambra state emerged best in WAEC back to back during your period as governor. Elrufai on the other hand spent 10bn naira for a wasteful school feeding in 8months on 'moi-moi', fried yam, Jolly Jus drinks and the likes which all ended in the suckaway with results of Kaduna state coming 12th position in WAEC in 2017 against the 10th position they were in 2014.

2. Roads: Sir, your Administration paid a lot of attention to construction of roads across Anambra state and because of you, Anambra today has the highest kilometres of state owned roads in Nigeria. The Awgbu bridge which is the longest bridge built by a state government in Nigeria, links my friend's community; Obi Trice Emeka. Elrufai cannot boast of any 10km of standard road, anywhere around Kaduna State.

3. Security: While you invested heavily on local security, empowering Vigilante service to reduce any forms of killing, Your friend in Kaduna state mobilised funds to go as far as Chad and Mali to appease foreign mercenaries without any permission from the Minister of foreign affairs, DSS, Defence ministry etc an act of insubordination, treasonable felony, Novel arrogance that yielded no results as the kidnap along Kaduna-Abuja highway, Kachia-Kaduna road and the killings in southern Kaduna had heightened.

4. Debt Profile: While you left Anambra state with 75billion naira for the next government, Elrufai tirelessly seemed to collect a loan of $350 million that will take Kaduna State about 50 years to repay; something he had always criticised when he was in the opposition.

5. Modest Lifestyle: Your life as a governor in Anambra was characterised by modesty. In Kaduna today, we know more about Elrufai's children and their flaggerant Lifestyles; snapping in parties abroad with white women and posting on social media while insulting and denigrating poor Nigerians. It will interest you to know that we don't know the names of Ahmed Makarfi children, Namadi Sambo''s Patrick Yakowa 's or even Ramalan Yero's who were all governors in Kaduna but even kids on the street today know the likes of Bello Elrufai, Bashir Elrufai and the likes for the flamboyant and wasteful Lifestyles they live. Sir, if Elrufai says he was stopped from moving around in Anambra state during election, it is not new to us as he claimed he was also stopped from moving around in Ekiti elections if 2014. This affirms the possibility of Security operatives seeing him as a trouble maker, crisis entrepreneur that has capability of erupting a crisis where he lands. Elrufai seeks to compare himself with your personality; something President Buhari himself will never attempt to. In view of this, I will kindly advise that you pay no attention again to any tantrums Elrufai will throw in the near future as it is only a trick to draw attention to himself. Your integrity and statesmanship is bigger than 50 Elrufais combined in this life and the one thereafter. Until we meet, accept assurances of my highest esteem.
Kind regards. Meshack Katuka [email protected] ahoo.com
Twitter: @McMeshman

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said he is willing to let Nigeria’s oil producing states have absolute control of crude oil revenues from their domains, but added he is reluctant to immediately implement such policies at this stage of national development.

The PDP candidate told The Africa Report that federating units once had considerable control of their resources, unlike the current federal laws that only allow 13 percent derivation for states in the Niger-Delta, where Nigeria’s sweet crude is extracted.

Although Mr Abubakar acknowledged the appropriate sharing formula might be difficult to say at this point — suggesting it would depend on ‘negotiations’— he recommended a limited role for the federal government in appropriating crude revenues.

Nigerian states “can get more because in the First Republic the regions had 50/50,” Mr Abubakar told The Africa Report in an interview published Wednesday. “I don’t mind giving even 100% […], but I would tax those states to maintain the federal government.”

But the former vice president recognised this is “not advisable at this stage of our development.”

“Even during the First Republic there was this derivation sharing between revenues and resour­ces, or between the regions and the federal government. So I think we could have a middle course. It would be unfair to ask me for specifics; that will depend on negotiations,” he added.

Of all the presidential candidates for the 2019 election, Mr Abubakar has emerged the most vocal advocate of restructuring, an ideological standpoint that canvasses more powers for states at the expense of the central government.

He believes Nigeria’s subsisting Constitution, which recommends a federal system but implements a unitary one, should be urgently reviewed and replaced with a sovereign document that would engender a more peaceful and economically viable nation.

Oil revenues still account for over 80 percent of the Nigerian government’s revenues as of 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, despite efforts towards economic diversification.

In the face of a floundering agriculture and services sector, reducing the federal government’s share of oil revenues to only taxes paid by about nine oil-producing states could be difficult to achieve soon.

“It is a good thing that the former vice president said he cannot go ahead with giving the Niger-Delta total control of oil income right now,” Busola Odukoya, an economist, told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday morning. “The only problem here is that it could cause some people in the region to resume violent agitation for resource control, especially if Mr Abubakar is elected.”

Ms Odukoya said it would be difficult to predict any negotiation that would result in allocating up to or more than 50 per cent of crude earnings to the states.

“Apart from the offshore oil revenues which the government in Abuja can easily control, the crude lifting within states’ borders in the Niger-Delta cannot be shared even 50/50 with the centre,” the economist said. “The negative impact on some states in the northern or central parts of the country can only be left to imagination.”

“You have to allow decades of regular economic growth, some of which I have seen the candidates talk about this year, before you can be thinking of cutting oil revenues from federal government,” she added.

 

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state, says since he dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), he has been paying workers their salaries.

According to the governor, godfatherism in APC did not allow him to be a free man.

He stated this while swearing in nine commissioners in Makurdi, the state capital.

Ortom said there is no “godfatherism again in Benue” under his watch.

He said since he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he had become free to pay salaries.

“There is no godfatherism again in Benue under my watch. That is why you can see that since I detached myself from godfather, even salary I have been able to pay as at when due,” he said.

“I’m seeking for other ways in offsetting the remaining arrears of salaries. Since I left APC, I have been paying salaries. In APC, godfathers will not allow me but now I’m a free man.”

 

President Muhammadu Buhari, in his response to the a question posed at him, has mentioned that Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje is a responsible leader despite allegations of the governor receiving bribes putting his position in question.

The embattled governor has been in the news over the past few weeks after the publisher of Daily Nigerian, Ja'afar Ja'afar, alleged that he regularly received bribes from contractors handling projects in the state.

In a series of videos in Ja'afar's possession, the governor was alleged to have received a total of $5 million in installments from a certain contrator on several occasions. Five different video clips have gone viral on social media showing the governor accepting bundles of dollar notes from the yet-to-be-identified contractor.

The president has been notably silent over the issue since it first broke last month, but was questioned about it while meeting with the Nigerian community in Paris, France on Monday, November 12, 2018.

According to a report by Channels Television, when one of the participants asked the president what his government was doing about the allegations, he deflected by praising the governor for "doing so much".

He said:

"I commend the governor for doing so much. He once invited me and I went to Kano. The good projects started by Kwankwaso in education and healthcare, Ganduje completed them.

"He completed the projects and now the people of Kano are enjoying the benefit. I think that is very responsible of him."

President Buhari's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said last week that the president has no business interfering in the matter in its current state.

The most populous nation on the African continent also recorded 735,000 unsafe abortion in the year under review.

Nigeria has recorded over 1.3 million unwanted pregnancies in 2018 alone, the 2018 global family planning report has revealed.

The most populous nation on the African continent also recorded 735,000 unsafe abortion in the year under review.

According to the report mailed to TheCable, and unveiled at the ongoing International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Kigali, only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women use contraceptives in 2018.

The report defines unintended pregnancies as “the number of pregnancies that occurred at a time when women (and their partners) either did not want additional children or wanted to delay the next birth”.

This is “usually measured with regard to last or recent pregnancies, including current pregnancies”.

Nollywood actress, Adesua Etomi-Wellington did a feature for the 2nd Edition of the fashion weekend magazine by GTBank.

As usual, she looks absolutely stunning!.

 

Barcelona Star Lionel Messi has claimed that La Liga is now more competitive that ever following the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo stunned world football as he quit Real Madrid in the summer and signed for Serie A Champions Juventus in a £88m deal.

After a poor start to life in life in italy including a Red card in the Champions League, Ronaldo has started showing his best.

The Portuguese has six goals from his last seven appearances and recently scored against former club Manchester United and rivals AC Milan.

Meanwhile in La Liga, Both Real Madrid and Barcelona are struggling to dominate the Spanish topflight.

The lower rated club have stunned some many fans this season, including the 4-3 win by Real Betis against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona are still top of La Liga but just four points ahead of rivals Real Madrid in sixth.

And Lionel Messi believes Cristiano Ronaldo's exit has seen the Spanish League become more competitive than ever.

“It’s good that the league is more competitive than ever,” Messi said.

"Nothing is easy, anyone can beat anyone and I hope it continues like that for some time.

“I am always more interested in the importance that goals have rather than how good they look.”

South African Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba resigned on Tuesday, the presidency announced, two weeks after a public standards watchdog said he had violated the constitution by lying under oath in court.

Gigaba, a close ally of ousted former president Jacob Zuma, had recently vowed not to step down after also being caught up in a leaked sex tape scandal.

A statement from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office announced that Gigaba said he had resigned “to relieve the President from undue pressure” and to allow Ramaphosa to focus on saving the country from “economic meltdown”.

Gigaba, 47, was once seen as rising star of the ANC ruling party, leading the party’s youth wing and being quickly promoted into the ministerial ranks.

But he became entangled in graft allegations during Zuma’s time in office.

Gigaba’s exit removes a key Zuma loyalist from the government led since February by Ramaphosa, who has vowed to root out the corruption reputed to have flourished under Zuma.

Gigaba was reprimanded last month by the public protector ombudswoman after he testified in a 2017 court case filed by a company controlled by the wealthy Oppenheimer family.

Ombudswoman Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended that Ramaphosa take disciplinary action against the minister for “telling an untruth under oath and before a court of law”.

– Zuma ally –
The allegations were probed after a complaint from the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party.

The court case hinged on whether Gigaba had given the Oppenheimers approval to have a private terminal at Johannesburg airport.

Gigaba has also said he was recently the target of extortion attempts after a private sex video was stolen by hacking.

Gigaba served as finance minister for a year under Zuma, who was ousted as president by the ANC party in February over mounting graft scandals.

When Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma, he moved Gigaba to the home affairs ministry.

Gigaba has been linked to corruption allegations against the wealthy Gupta family, who are suspected of benefitting from unfair and hugely lucrative government contracts under Zuma.

A judicial inquiry, which opened in August, is investigating allegations that Zuma and the Guptas organised a web of corrupt deals at government departments and public enterprises in a scandal known as “state capture”.


All the accused deny any wrongdoing.

South Africa, Africa’s most advanced economy, slipped into recession in the second quarter of this year, and suffers a stubbornly high unemployment of about 28 percent.

The country will hold general elections in May.

Nhlanhla Nene resigned as finance minister last month over undisclosed meetings with the Guptas.

Nollywood Actress, Moyo Lawal who is currently in Malaysia was spotted  with comedian, Mark Angel and Emanuella.

Moyo was spotted with Mark Angel and Emanuella while shopping at the Mall In Malaysia.

More photos below...

 

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari was barred from the United States for 15 years due to his religious views.

Atiku was quoted as saying this during an interview with Dele Momodu, which was part of his weekly column titled, ‘Pendulum’, published in The Boss Magazine.

Buhari had, at a seminar organised by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria in August 2001, said, “God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country. I will continue to show openly and inside me, the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria.”

Atiku, who was one of the notable voices that opposed Buhari at the time, said Buhari was actually barred from travelling to the US for 15 years as a result of his position on the Sharia issue.

The former vice-president was responding to a question on why he avoided travelling to the US.

Atiku stated, “It is the sole prerogative of America to determine who they want in their country or not. I’m not running away from America. I applied but wasn’t issued a visa. However, they did not decline me categorically.

“They’ve only said my application is going through an administrative process. This is not peculiar to me. For about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations.

“The current Indian Prime Minister, Modi, suffered the same fate for years. Today, he is being accorded a red carpet treatment in America. I fly to different parts of the world, including Europe. If America wanted me, it would be so easy for them to reach out to their allies…”

I will defeat Buhari in 2019, says Atiku

Also, Atiku, who recently resigned as a member of the All Progressives Congress, boasted that he would defeat Buhari should the latter contest against him in the 2019 presidential election.

He said there currently existed in the country a widespread disenchantment with the Buhari government and that he (Atiku) would defeat him in the election.

 

Controversial Nigerian OAP Daddy Freeze reacts to a twitter user’s post on how his friend’s wife sowed a seed of N300,000 to a pastor as tithe.
Writing on his twitter page;

“My friend is offshore… His wife made a pledge of 300k to church as seed…. Man was having lunch when he saw the debit alert”

“He can’t go back to the plant now as he is begging that they book him out and fly him back to Lagos…”

Reacting to this tweet, The Free the sheeple convener, wrote:

That’s why I love @tastebudzng she even stopped paying tithes looong before me, let alone sowing seeds to pastors.
–
Charity to the poor is the only language she understands and she is teaching me that.
–
Once upon a time @tastebudzng used to give to pastors and churches, in fact she was a sheeple, today she knows better, when she was in trouble NO CHURCH OR PASTOR helped her with a single kobo, despite her sacrificial giving to the church and their causes.
–
In the #FreeNation in Christ we pledge to the poor to make life more comfortable for the representatives of Yeshua.
–
Yesterday night, a lovely lady hit my DM to discuss her predicament and as we were speaking, I asked her why she sent contacted me, she replied: “I was told to talk to Daddy Freeze about it”. That certainly made my day.
–
Although we can’t help everyone, because we are a small online Nation of believers in Yeshua, our creed and religion; oh yes, we have a religion, can be found in:
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◄ James 1:27 ►
New International Version
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

 

Women are sharing pictures of their underwear on social media in protest after a teenage girl’s thong was used as evidence against her in a rape case.

The hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent trended on Twitter after the 27-year-old suspect was acquitted of rape by an Irish court last week.
The 17-year-old girl’s “thong with a lace front” was presented as part of the defence’s closing address.

In her closing address to the jury, Elizabeth O’Connell SC told jurors they should consider the underwear the girl wore on the night of the alleged rape, the Irish Examiner reported.

She told the Central Criminal Court in Cork: “Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?
“You have to look at the way she was dressed.

She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”
Noeline Blackwell, the head of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said she was not surprised that the teenager’s underwear was the focus for the defence.

She told The Independent: “The reference to the girl’s underwear and the assumption and inference that the jury was being invited to draw – that because she was dressed like that she was asking for sex – does not surprise us.
“We accompany people to court and the whole time we see rape stereotypes used to discredit complainants and to enforce elements of the defendant’s case.”

The barrister’s comments sparked a furious backlash on social media.
Under the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent, women shared pictures of their own underwear in support of the girl and protest at ‘victim blaming’.