AS the nation groans under hunger, hardship and inflation, the governor of the Central Bank, CBN, Yemi Cardoso, and his four deputies are lavishing in abundance, purchasing ulta-modern armored vehicles and smiling home with jumbo allowances. The CBN governor and his deputies were nominated and confirmed by the Senate in September 2023. This newspaper gathered that Mr Cardoso recently procured six armored Lexus LX 600 2023 models for himself and four deputies at the cost of over N10 billion. Insiders said each of the apex bank’s deputy governors — Emem Usoro, Philip Ikeazor, Bala Bello and Sani Abdullahi — has…
Author: Editor
Read More
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin on Thursday honoured Cristiano Ronaldo with a special award in recognition of his remarkable legacy in the world’s most prestigious competition. Cristiano Ronaldo the all-time leading goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo’s achievements in Europe’s premier club competition – over the course of more than 18 years – were recognised during the inaugural 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 36-team league phase draw ceremony on Thursday 29 August at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The former Sporting Clube de Portugal, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus forward has scored 140 Champions League goals in 183 appearances. He…
ISRAEL’s military and Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the first round of vaccination of 640,000 children against polio, a senior WHO official said on Thursday. The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, with the pauses scheduled to take place between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. (0300-1200 GMT), said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s senior official for the Palestinian territories. He said the campaign would start in central Gaza with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting, then move to southern Gaza, where there would…
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron has defended a decision to grant fast-track citizenship to indicted Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Serbia, Macron said that granting nationality to high-profile figures who learn French and contribute to the nation is “good for our country”. “It’s part of a strategy to allow women and men, whether artists, athletes or entrepreneurs, when they make the effort to learn the French language and that they develop wealth, innovation … to be given French nationality,” Macron said. Macron said he had no prior knowledge that Durov was travelling to…
LIBERIA’s former justice minister and chief justice Gloria Maya Musu-Scott has been acquitted of the murder of her niece by the country’s Supreme Court. The 70-year-old and three female relatives had been sentenced to life in prison for the brutal killing in February 2023 of 29-year-old Charlotte Musu. The case gripped the nation as Ms Musu-Scott had been one of Liberia’s most famous judges and politicians, a champion of women rights and at the time of her conviction had just won a significant case against the electoral commission as part of the then-opposition party’s legal team. A jubilant crowd greeted…
ONE of the worst droughts in living memory is sweeping across southern Africa, leaving close to 70 million people without enough food and water. In Mudzi district in northern Zimbabwe, a community and their livestock are gathered on a bone-dry riverbed. The Vombozi normally flows throughout the year but right now, it is just beige sand as far as the eye can see. Armed with shovels and buckets, the men are digging into the river floor, desperately trying to extract the last drops of water from it. Rivers and dams have dried up in other parts of the district and…
SOUTHAMPTON have agreed a fee with Arsenal to sign England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in a deal worth up to £25m. Ramsdale, 26, is expected to make the move before Friday’s transfer deadline, with Saints paying £18m upfront with the potential of £7m in add-ons. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent after Southampton’s 5-3 Carabao Cup second round win at Cardiff, Saints boss Russell Martin said: “If it happens it’s very, very exciting. “But we’ll have to wait and see. I’m sure we’ll talk about it at some point if and when it happens.” Wolverhampton Wanderers had been in talks with Arsenal…
THE United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli settler group and a civilian security guard in the occupied West Bank amid intensifying violence against Palestinians in the territory. The sanctions on Wednesday targeted Hashomer Yosh, which describes itself as a volunteer organisation that aims to “protect” Israeli farmers in the West Bank, and Yitzhak Levi Filant, the civilian security coordinator of the Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus. “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” the US Department of State said in…
AN AMERICAN politician has been jailed for life for killing an investigative journalist who wrote critical articles detailing wrongdoing in the department he headed. Robert Telles, a former Democratic public administrator, lay in wait outside the suburban home of 69-year-old reporter Jeff German and then stabbed him to death on September 2, 2022. “Justice has been served,” Clark County prosecutor Steve Wolfson told reporters. “Today’s verdict should send a message, and that message is a clear message that any attempts to silence the media or to silence or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated.” Telles, 47, bowed his head…
A VESSEL suspected by the Namibian authorities to be carrying military cargo intended for Israeli use in the ongoing war in Gaza has been blocked from docking in the southern African country. Namibian Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab told state media the ship was stopped because it had “explosive material destined for Israel”. The MV Kathrin, which set off from Vietnam, had requested permission to dock in the port of Walvis Bay – before sailing north, on a suspected route towards the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar. Rights groups had warned that Namibia could have been implicated in potential human…
A UGANDAN man allegedly found with 24 human skulls may have been using them for human sacrifice and could face life in prison, the police have told the BBC. Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said the suspect, Ddamulira Godfrey, would be charged under the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act. Animal remains and skins were also found in Mr Godfrey’s shrine in the suburbs of the capital, Kampala. Police are still searching Mr Godfrey’s shrine in the hopes of recovering more human remains. “We are charging him first under the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act, which [prohibits] one…
MANCHESTER United have held exploratory talks over a deal to sign Raheem Sterling from Chelsea. The 29-year-old forward has been training away from the first-team squad after being told by Blues manager Enzo Maresca he will struggle for minutes at the club. While it is being stressed there is no guarantee of an agreement being reached, it underlines United sporting director Dan Ashworth’s desire to see if he can use the situation at Stamford Bridge to his club’s advantage. United sources stress any deal will be on their terms, although winger Jadon Sancho is also available and is known to…
AT least nine people have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials and media, after Israel launched a large-scale ground and air attack on the northern part of the occupied West Bank. The director of the ambulance department at the Palestine Red Crescent Society told Al Jazeera that four people were killed in an Israeli attack early on Wednesday on the Far’a refugee camp in Tubas. Several other people were injured, but the Red Crescent said their teams were having trouble reaching them because Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from entering the area. Two people were also killed in an…
POLICE in the Maldives are investigating an alleged attempt to topple President Mohamed Muizzu by stirring anger over the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worsening financial woes. Last week, the main commercial bank in the upmarket tourist destination drastically reduced the foreign exchange spending allowed for Maldivians, sparking widespread anger. Muizzu has slammed the move as an “illegal attempt” to overthrow his government, by making him unpopular and encouraging street protests. “An investigation has been launched into the alleged coup attempt,” the police said in a statement late Monday. There have been no demonstrations in the capital Male, but scathing criticism of…
SPAIN will donate 500,000 Mpox vaccine doses to countries in central Africa suffering from a surge in cases, the government said Tuesday. The doses amount to 20 percent of Spain’s total mpox vaccine reserves, the health ministry said in a statement without specifying which nations in the region will receive the vaccines or when they will arrive. Spain also urged its European Union peers to follow suit and also donate 20 percent of their mbox vaccine stockpile, saying it” makes no sense to stockpile vaccines where there is no problem,” the statement added. France and Germany have both announced they…
ARMED separatist rebels in Mali said Tuesday that an army drone strike had killed seven of their members a day earlier in the north of the country, an area rocked by violent unrest. The Monday strike targeted two of the separatists’ vehicles, according to a statement published Tuesday by the mainly Tuareg-led separatist coalition CSP-DPA. The Malian army had said it destroyed on Monday “two vehicles, loaded with war material belonging to armed terrorist groups, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the town of Anefis”. Drone strikes on Sunday in Tinzaouatene, near the Algerian border, killed around 20 civilians,…
MANCHESTER City have agreed a £21.2m deal with Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal to sell defender Joao Cancelo. Personal terms are not thought to be a problem, although Cancelo is yet to agree to the move. If he does, the 30-year-old is expected to sign a three-year contract, ending his five-year stay at Etihad Stadium. City manager Pep Guardiola said this month Cancelo could play for the club again. However, the disagreement which led to Cancelo spending time on loan with Bayern Munich and Barcelona over the past 18 months was always likely to prove a major stumbling block. Cancelo…
SOME 60 media and rights organisations on Monday urged the European Union to suspend a co-operation accord with Israel and impose sanctions, accusing it of “massacring journalists” in Gaza. “In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible”, the groups said in a joint statement. The call came ahead of a meeting by…
JAPAN has said the violation of its airspace by a Chinese military spy plane was “utterly unacceptable”, a day after the country scrambled jets and summoned a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo in protest. Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the airspace breach – the first by a military aircraft – was “not only a serious violation of Japan’s sovereignty but it also threatens our security”. Japan’s military said on Monday that a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane had been detected at 11.29am (02:29 GMT) circling above the Danjo Islands off the southwestern coast…
AT least 60 people have been killed after a dam burst because of heavy rainfall in war-torn Sudan. Search operations are currently underway, but there are fears that the death toll could be even higher. The Arbat dam has a capacity of 25 million cubic metres, and is the main source of drinking water for the coastal city of Port Sudan, where the military government is based. After being ravaged by 16 months of civil war, Sudan is now experiencing torrential rains and floods that have killed dozens and forced tens of thousands from their homes. The collapse of the…