She made history last month, becoming the first black woman in Britain to earn a Michelin star, but the owner of the West African-inspired Chishuru – currently the hottest table in town – should never have become a restauranteur.

Nigerian chef Adejoké Bakare, 51, founder of the Westminster-based restaurant that has food critics raving, received the prestigious award for dishes such as roasted goat belly and ginger fried rice.

The menu is a snip compared to some of London’s luxury restaurants, with a four-course lunch priced at £40, while a five-course dinner costs £75 per person.

Despite being ‘stunned’ by the culinary body’s recognition, the self-taught chef and her restaurant manager Matt Paice have resisted the ‘fine dining’ label, saying they want to appear ‘homely’ instead.

Speak with Michelin Great Britain, she said: ‘At the core of what we do, we are very homely. When you see our interior, you will see that we are homely and simply welcome you.’

Her journey to excellence has been both remarkable and unique, dating back to her time as a university student in Nigeria, where she found herself adventurously juggling a fish and chips cart alongside her studies.

Born in Port Harcourt, in the southern Rivers State region of Nigeria, but raised in the northern Kaduna region, she studied biology before moving to Britain in the 1990s to pursue a career path that included both healthcare and property management included.

However, her passion for food refused to budge and the industrious chef began organizing supper clubs in London, hoping to raise awareness of West African cuisine in the capital.

Word of her enchanting twist on native dishes quickly spread and in 2019 she won the Brixton Kitchen competition, a competition set up to seek out the best in local culinary innovation and talent.

The following year, she opened a three-month pop in South London titled Chishuru, which means “silent eating” in Hausa, a dialect spoken in the northern parts of Nigeria.

The pop-up became a great success and quickly turned into a permanent fixture, while retaining the Chisuru name.

Although the Brixton branch closed in 2022, Adejoké ran several pop-ups in the capital before finally settling in posh Fitzrovia last year – where she has remained.

There she has dazzled customers with dishes such as fermented rice cake and shiitake mushrooms, charcoal-grilled guinea fowl breast and whole fried quails with uda and uziza – the latest West African spices.

For those expecting Nigerian main dishes, all main courses are served with rice and plantain.

Although Adejoké’s cooking is largely self-taught, she admits that she may have picked up some things from her parents, especially her father, whom she praised as a “great cook.”

To talk with BBC good food in 2022, the chef recalled the inspiration behind her cultured dishes: ‘In Nigeria and West Africa we use many of the same ingredients and spices, such as selim grains (similar to black pepper) or gourd nutmeg. In southern Nigeria, the food is bolder, spicier and uses more pepper.

‘But in the east people use more indigenous ground peppers, such as uziza. At home, the food was a mix of these different zones and cultures, and similarly at Chishuru I cook my take on traditional Nigerian food.”

Adejoke’s fearless embrace of her roots is perhaps aptly seen in a note on the restaurant’s website chishuru.com: ‘If you have no tolerance for spices at all, we recommend you choose another restaurant, sorry’.

CANCER survivor Sebastien Haller completed a fairy tale story by steering Ivory Coast to Africa Cup of Nations glory.

The former West Ham star, 29, staged a remarkable comeback to seal a 2-1 win for the hosts over Nigeria.

1

William Troost-Ekong had headed the Super Eagles ahead just before half-time to silence the home crowd.

But Franck Kessie leveled them just after the hour before Haller's big moment arrived with nine minutes to go.

Full report to follow…

THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT STORY..

The Sun is your destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, stunning pictures and can't-miss videos.Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.

The next step was to prepare a proposal for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the department that oversees Nigeria's significant reserves of fossil fuels. P.&I.D. would build the $500 million facility. Nigeria would supply wet gas for the company free of charge. Then P.&I.D. would process it and transport the poor gas to the country free of charge. But in return, the company would keep the valuable byproducts of the gas extraction process, such as propane and butane, which it could sell at a profit. If Nigeria withdraws at any time before the full term of the 20-year contract, the country could be held liable for damages. Overall, it seemed like a huge liability for Nigeria, one that might be met with skepticism if the ministry's lawyers eventually looked at it.

Around this time, a lawyer named Grace Taiga got a new job at the ministry, as legal director. This was fortunate, because Quinn and Cahill had known Taiga for years, ever since she worked at the Department of Defense, and they were businessmen who occasionally won contracts from them. Approximately one year prior to the submission of P.&I.D's proposal. Quinn and Cahill sent Taiga and one of her daughters just over $25,000 in additional payments. Quinn also took Taiga's colleague, a Ministry employee named Taofiq Tijani, to dinner at Chopsticks, a Chinese restaurant in Abuja. The cost of that dinner was recorded in the books at $2,800. (A Chinese dinner doesn't cost $2,800 in Abuja.) Shortly before the contract was signed, Cahill sent another $5,000 from a bank in Cyprus to Taiga's daughter's account, which was coded as a “commission payment.”

Taiga sent the contract to her boss, Rilwanu Lukman, the minister of petroleum resources. It wasn't much: twenty pages of mostly boilerplate language, drawn up on green-bordered ministry letterhead. It was more of an outline than a fully developed proposal for a multimillion-dollar gas deal. But Taiga assured Lukman in a memo that it would be “a leap forward” for Nigeria. On January 11, 2010, Lukman, Quinn and Taiga signed their signature. The deal was done.

Days later, a man named Neil Hitchcock – the only full-time employee of P.&I.D. – to Cahill, saying he needed $1.5 million to start clearing the land for the facility. But P.&I.D. didn't have $1.5 million. The plan was to raise capital for the project based on the signed twenty-year contract and then bring in engineers and workers. That's how they had always worked in Nigeria.

In June, Quinn opened his morning paper with an unwanted twist. The oil drilling company that Nigeria had promised to supply the wet gas had decided to keep; the gas proved useful in maintaining pressure in the wells. Quinn might have picked up the phone and protested to his friends in the government, but most of them were gone. A new president had recently taken office. Lukman had been replaced. In February 2011, Hitchcock sent a text message suggesting the company was in trouble. “Given the rapidly deteriorating situation here, I see no other option than to liquidate a number of P.&I.D. companies. assets,” he wrote. “With your approval, I propose to sell the Honda Civic.” Quinn emailed the new president, Goodluck Jonathan, but his call yielded no results.

NIGERIA entered the Africa Cup of Nations with the best striker in the competition – perhaps even the world.

Yet Napoli star Victor Osimhen is surpassed at the Super Eagles by another attacker who once belonged to this parish.

4

4

Ademola Lookman was born in Wandsworth, came through at Charlton after being unearthed in the Sunday League, earned a move to Everton and had loans at Fulham and Leicester.

He also won eleven caps for England Under-21s. But in 2022, he switched his allegiance to Nigeria, where his parents are from, and hasn't looked back since.

After scoring both goals in the last 16 win over Cameroon and then the winner against Angola in the quarter-finals, the 26-year-old has become a talisman for his adopted country.

He will be even more important for today's semi-final against South Africa as 25-year-old Osimhen is ruled out due to abdominal complaints.

It's a rise for a player who might never have turned pro had he not been spotted by scouts playing for Waterloo a decade ago.

He quickly worked his way into the Addicks first team, making his senior debut less than a fortnight after his 18th birthday, but could not save the club from relegation from the Championship.

There was a lot of transfer buzz about him that summer, but it wasn't until the following January that he earned a dream move: an £11million move to the Prem from Everton.

Ricky Holmes, 36, battled with Lookman for a spot on the wing in League One for half a season and recalls being an undeniable natural talent, if not modest.

Holmes, who still plays for Farnborough, told SunSport: “He thought he had already made it but he still had a lot to learn.

'But he got through it and has had a great career. I could only dream of achieving what he has.”

Lookman's achievements include scoring within a minute of his Toffees debut in a 4-0 win over Manchester City in 2017, handing Pep Guardiola the worst defeat of Pep Guardiola's Etihad career.

Lookman's story was one of ambition, always looking for an opportunity to get playing time.

This is currently happening for his country and also for his club Atalanta in the Italian Serie A, where he has scored 22 goals in 56 games.

He revealed last week that he still wants to 'play at the highest level' and claimed in an interview that he is a 'different player' to the one the Premier League remembers.

Lookman has certainly come on in leaps and bounds since those early days at Charlton, as has another old teammate of Holmes.

Holmes added: “He could do something unusual, similar to Ivan Toney. I played with Ivan when he was a young boy at Northampton.

“During training they would just do something and you would think: 'Wow, this boy is special'.

“Ade picked up the ball, dribbled past two players and put it in the top corner and you thought, 'How did you just do that?'

“You just knew that with that ability he was going to step up to bigger and better things and in the end he did.

'That also applies to Ivan. You don't often come across those kinds of players.”

One man who is backing Lookman to return to the top is Scott Parker – his boss during his time at Fulham.

Parker told SunSport: Parker told SunSport: “Ade is an incredible human being, grounded and respectful.

“He is someone who is always trying to improve and get better. It goes without saying that he is an enormous talent and has great quality.

“But for me, it's his overall professionalism and his attitude of wanting to continually improve his game that makes him stand out.”

4

4

Hij is nu al de bekendste Apprentice-kandidaat, nadat hij in de jaren negentig bekendheid kreeg als helft van de Britse garageband Architechs.

Maar nu zegt de vrouw van deelnemer Tre Lowe dat hij ook het lef en de vastberadenheid heeft om de nieuwe serie te winnen nadat hij een reeks ontberingen heeft overwonnen die veel zwaarder zijn dan de show hem kan bieden.

Deze week drie jaar geleden leed Tre de pijn van het verlies van zijn broer Ashley Akabah – zijn 'soulmate' en de geliefde bandgenoot met wie hij een reeks hits uitbracht, waaronder de hit Body Groove uit 2000.

Enas, 33, zegt: 'We hebben allebei zoveel verdriet meegemaakt. Een verschil maken in de levens van andere mensen is wat ons beiden drijft.'

Ze gaat kort in op het verlies van Ashley en zegt: ‘Ashley stierf vlak aan het begin van Covid – voordat mensen echt wisten wat het werkelijk was. Het verlies van zijn broer, zijn zielsverwant en een collega-kunstenaar had een diepe impact op Tre. Maar de rest is voor Tre zelf om over te praten.

'Er zijn en gewoon luisteren, dat was wat ik deed. Om samen dat liefdesverdriet te doorstaan, was zoiets groots…

‘Ik verloor mijn vader door een beroerte in 2015 en mijn familie ging terug naar ons land – Libië – terwijl ik in Groot-Brittannië bleef en met niets moest beginnen…

'Ik weet nog dat ik me verlaten en bang voelde. En ik herinner me dat ik voor coaching ging met Tre en dat hij tegen mij zei: 'wat ga je nu creëren? Je kan alles doen'.'

Ondanks dat ze zes jaar lang vrienden waren voordat ze zich in 2022 verloofden, zegt Enas dat een deel van haar familie hun relatie ook afkeurde – vanwege hun verschillende, culturele achtergronden.

De zelfstarter – die in 2011 als Libische vluchteling naar Groot-Brittannië kwam en van een baan als Croydon-kassier bij Sports Direct is uitgegroeid tot het runnen van een succesvol schoonheidssalon en een belangenbehartiger voor vluchtelingen – geeft toe: ‘Alleen al trouwen was iets groots. voor ons omdat het in het begin zo onmogelijk voelde…

'We hebben het jarenlang uitgesloten omdat ik uit Liyba kwam en Tre Brits is, van Nigeriaanse afkomst. Mijn familie was het er helemaal niet mee eens…

'Mensen uit mijn land trouwen met andere mensen uit mijn land. Toen we voor het eerst naar Groot-Brittannië kwamen, moest ik vechten voor het recht om hier te wonen…

'Toen ik mijn beroep won, keerde de rest van mijn familie terug naar Libië en sloot de verbinding met mij af. Ik voelde me totaal verlaten, maar toen ik Tre ontmoette, liet hij me zien wat mogelijk was…

'Ik ging van het verdienen van £750 per maand en het wonen in een tweekamerflat met een vriend in Thornton Heath naar het opbouwen van mijn mode- en schoonheidsbureau, Arabella, en het maken van ongelooflijke verbindingen en vriendschappen…

'Ik heb geleerd dat als je op het dieptepunt zit, je niets te verliezen hebt.'

Vooruitlopend op de nieuwe serie van vanavond – waarin Tre en zeventien andere kandidaten naar de Schotse Hooglanden gaan om een ​​bedrijfsuitje te organiseren, zegt Enas: ‘Bijdragen en een erfenis creëren vanwege de pijn die we hebben ervaren – door het verliezen van mensen, van dat mensen niet in ons geloven, omdat we dingen vanaf nul hebben gecreëerd, dat is wat ons op de been houdt.'

Enas en Tre, die nu in het welvarende Notting Hill in Londen wonen, trouwden afgelopen juli.

Maar de aanloop naar de bruiloft verliep niet zonder drama – nadat ze hem ervan overtuigde zich aan te melden voor de show.

Sommige vrienden van Enas waren ervan overtuigd dat de 49-jarige Tre in de gevangenis was beland, nadat hij in de aanloop naar hun huwelijk verdween om in het geheim de langlopende BBC-serie te filmen.

Ze grapt: ‘We hadden het coververhaal dat Tre familie bezocht in Nigeria en dat hij geen toegang had tot zijn telefoon en niet kon bellen, maar natuurlijk geloofden veel mensen me niet …

'Toen was ik bij een van mijn beste vrienden toen ik een brief van hem ontving – die hij mocht sturen. Ze zag een grote glimlach op mijn gezicht…

'Maar ze keek me alleen maar aan en zei: 'Enas, hij is niet in Nigeria! Hij zou je vanaf daar geen brief sturen. Hij zit in de gevangenis!…

'Ik weet niet wat ze dacht dat hij had gedaan, maar ze geloofde ons verhaal gewoon niet, dus ik was echt opgelucht toen ik mensen kon vertellen dat hij net een tv-programma aan het filmen was!'.

Het paar ontmoette elkaar voor het eerst in 2016 via wederzijdse vrienden in een boekenclub in het Londense Soho House.

Ze geeft toe: 'Toen we elkaar voor het eerst ontmoetten, praatte hij niet anders tegen mij dan de mannen in de kamer. Sterker nog, hij was het meest geïnteresseerd om met mijn neef over onroerend goed te praten. Ik voelde me buitengesloten!' ze lacht.

'Maar toen wist ik zeker dat ik hem aantrekkelijk vond, omdat hij motiverende coaching aanbood en ik herinner me dat ik elk excuus vond om door hem gecoacht te worden. We waren zes jaar lang vrienden en toen klikte het gewoon, en we dachten: 'zullen we het gewoon eens proberen?'.

'Ik voelde me vanaf het begin tot hem aangetrokken en hij zegt nu altijd hetzelfde, maar we hebben allebei een afspraak uitgesloten vanwege onze achtergrond en omdat we andere relaties hadden en er dingen aan de hand waren.'

Tre stelde op de 30e verjaardag van Enas voor: ze vroeg een vriendin haar flat met rozen te bedekken voordat ze een aanzoek deed met een diamanten verlovingsring.

Maar het bleek de eerste van twee ringen te zijn die hij vóór de bruiloft moest krijgen.

Enas legt uit: 'Hij heeft mij een prachtige diamanten ring gegeven, maar die ben ik kwijtgeraakt. Tot op de dag van vandaag weet ik niet wat er is gebeurd. Maar hij was er heel kalm over, omdat hij wist hoe boos ik was! Toen kocht hij er nog een voor mij!'

Ze trouwden in juli in The Ned, een exclusieve club voor privéleden in Londen.

Onder de 200 gasten bevond zich een van Tre's oude vrienden, de tv-presentator Sarah-Jane Crawford. Een foto van Tre's overleden broer sierde de muur – als eerbetoon aan hem.

Omdat ze wisten dat Tre weg zou zijn in de weken voorafgaand aan hun grote dag, rekruteerde het paar twee weddingplanners en Tre deed veel aan de organisatie.

Maar Enas geeft toe: 'Mijn familie was oorspronkelijk niet aan boord. Mijn moeder was er tegen dat ik buiten mijn land zou trouwen.

'Die gesprekken met mijn familie voeren terwijl hij weg was, was heel moeilijk en ik miste echt dat Tre er op dat moment niet was. Ik ga niet doen alsof het geen impact op mij heeft gehad.'

Pas de dag voor hun huwelijk kreeg de moeder van Enas haar visum voor Groot-Brittannië en kon ze vanuit Libië naar de bruiloft vliegen.

Ze veranderde snel haar mening over Tre toen ze hem leerde kennen.

Enas legt uit: 'Ik hou van mijn moeder en familie, maar ik sta voor de dingen waarin ik geloof en ik geloof in Tre. Ik wist dat ze langs zouden komen en dat deden ze ook. Mama houdt nu van hem omdat ze na de bruiloft is gebleven en hem echt heeft leren kennen.

'Ze komt uit een achtergrond waar het beangstigend is om iets te doen waarvan je niet verwacht wordt dat je het doet, dus ik heb medelijden met haar…

'Maar zodra ze de angst heeft overwonnen, houdt ze van wie Tre is. Nu praat ze liever met hem dan met mij en ze hebben een geweldige band…

'Dat ze met mij door het gangpad liep, was voor iedereen een verrassing en het was een magische dag waarop we onze culturen konden vieren.'

Ondanks dat Tre al beroemd is geworden, geeft Enas toe: 'Hoe succesvol Tre ook is, hij is lang niet zo succesvol als Lord Sugar…

'Niemand kan de kracht van een investering van hem ontkennen en de impact die dit kan hebben op hun merk en bedrijf. En hoewel roem goed kan zijn, kan het ook moeilijk zijn.'

Enas moedigde Tre aan om zich aan te melden en zei tegen hem: 'Wees gewoon jezelf.'

Ze zegt: 'Hij werd niet benaderd. Hij solliciteerde net als iedereen.

'Ik was geobsedeerd door het programma. Ik keek de hele tijd naar seizoen 17 en dus kwam hij er samen met mij naar kijken. En Tre had het boek van Lord Sugar gekocht, dus ik zei: 'Tre, waarom doe je het niet?'. En daar stond hij eigenlijk heel open voor.'

Nu denkt Enas dat hij alles in zich heeft om de investering van £250.000 van Lord Sugar binnen te halen en met hem samen te werken.

Ze zegt: 'Hij heeft eerder roem geproefd, maar daarmee heeft hij uitdagingen gehad. Mensen zullen ideeën vormen en er is niet zo veel privacy…

'Maar zijn liefde voor mensen is heel sterk. Ik hoop dat mensen zich met hem zullen identificeren. Hij is erg liefdevol, zacht en genereus en hij geeft echt om mensen, dus ik hoop dat het publiek, en Lord Sugar, dat in hem zien.'

The Apprentice, donderdag 21.00 uur op BBC One en iPlayer

The suspect was arrested upon arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dehi airport: Customs officials at Delhi International Airport have arrested a Nigerian woman for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs 82 crore into the country, according to an official statement issued in New Delhi on Thursday.

The suspect was arrested on Tuesday upon arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A thorough search of the luggage revealed material hidden in two blue-coloured trolley bags carried by the passenger, adding that the detailed examination of the bags yielded a total of 5.8kg of white powdery substance, suspected to be narcotics.

When it was subjected to a diagnostic test, it prima facie appeared to contain a commercial quantity of cocaine, with an international value of Rs 82,446 crore, the statement said.

The passenger was arrested and the narcotic was seized, it added.

A bride has reflected on her ‘over the top’ decision to wear four wedding dresses when she married her husband this year.

Londoner Monique Amaka, 30, married her husband Bunmi, 31, in July and wanted to up the style stakes on her big day.

To add maximum glamor to the affair, the TikToker chose the four dresses for the wedding and then asked her partner to pick four of her own outfits to match each dress.

Throughout the day they made the outfit changes, taking about 30 minutes at a time.

Her first dress, which she wore for their Western ceremony and cost £1,600, was a white wedding dress in Mikado silk, and the couple’s three-year-old daughter Aaliyah wore a bridesmaid dress in the same material.

Her second was a white and gold beaded dress, a nod to her Igbo heritage, handmade in Nigeria and donated by her family.

Monique, who works as a content creator, chose a cornflower blue number for her third outfit, traditional for Bunmi’s tribe, Yoruba.

This was also gifted to Monique – who admits she is an ‘extra’ person, which is slang for someone who can be over-the-top – as a wedding gift and was also made for her in Nigeria.

Both traditional outfits were worn for their Nigerian wedding which followed their western ceremony.

The custom dresses took eight months to create and Monique didn’t see them until the week of the wedding.

Her final change of clothing was a form-fitting, white, beaded garment, which was also custom-made for her in Nigeria.

Monique from London said: ‘I’m quite an extra person, so our wedding day would be no exception.

“I knew I wanted to celebrate our Nigerian culture and having multiple dresses is part of that – and it was a lot of fun too.

‘We didn’t have any rehearsals for the dress changes, but they went surprisingly smoothly.

‘I only saw my second and third dresses during the wedding shoot, five days before the big day, because they were custom-made in Nigeria.

‘The dress I had made as a symbol of my husband’s tribe was still on the plane on the morning of our wedding shoot, but fortunately it arrived in London on time.

“I think my favorites were my classic white wedding dress or my blue Yoruba wedding dress with the matching headband.

‘It was so special to see our little Aaliyah in matching material: she looked like an angel.

“Bunmi went along with it, as if he really had a choice!”

The couple, who met while studying at the University of Bedfordshire in 2011, welcomed their daughter Aaliyah in May 2020.

Bunmi, who works in property management, proposed in Dubai in March 2022 while the family was on holiday.

Deciding they didn’t want a “long engagement,” the couple immediately got to planning their wedding, including shopping for clothes.

Monique needed the help of family members who arranged for her traditional dresses to be made in Lagos, Nigeria, and given as bridal gifts.

“Bunmi and I come from different tribes, so it was important that we had traditional outfits to represent that,” Monique said.

‘I had a lot of confidence in the process because all we gave the Nigerian seamstress were my measurements and preferences via WhatsApp, and I didn’t see the dresses in person until the month of the wedding.

‘I was nervous that they wouldn’t get there on time or wouldn’t fit, but all worries melted away when I was able to try them on.

‘I was able to go shopping for my white wedding dress with my mother, sister, grandmother and aunt and I tried on more than 20 of them, which was great fun.’

On July 20, 2023, the couple had 450 guests at their wedding venue, Meridian Grand, North London, starting with their Western wedding ceremony in the morning and their traditional Nigerian ceremony immediately afterwards at the same venue.

Monique said: ‘Don’t get me wrong, it was manic behind the scenes but I had such an amazing bridal crew helping me.

‘I would definitely advise brides considering multiple outfit changes to make sure they have pragmatic and calm people around them.

‘Any bride will tell you; the whole day goes by in a flash, but the outfit changes helped break up the day.

“I was able to take 30 minutes to step away and put on a different dress.

‘But I was happy when I wore my fourth and final dress because it was the sparkliest thing I’ve ever worn and it meant celebration!’