Author: Editor

RELIGIOUS leaders on Wednesday evening converged on Abuja for a special prayer session for the success of the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The event coincided with the 71st birthday of the President-elect. Asiwaju Tinubu had in a statement on Monday announced cancellation of his traditional birthday colloquium this year and, instead, called for prayers for himself and the country. In deference to the admonishment of the president-elect the Directorate of Stakeholder Relations of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC) held a special breaking of fast (iftar) reception and prayers for his success. The event was…

A CHINESE national, Frank Geng-Quangrong, 47 on Thursday told a Kano High Court that he stabbed his Nigerian girlfriend, Ummukulsum Sani, popularly known as Ummita, with a knife. The defendant, who lives in Railway Quarters Kano is standing trial for culpable homicide. Mr Frank under cross-examination by the Prosecution Counsel, Kano State Director Public Prosecution, DPP, Aisha Mahmoud, told the court that on that fateful day a lot of things happened. He told the court that he arrived Nigeria in 2019 to work as a Marketing and Sales Manager in BBY Textile Company, Kano. “I was paid N1.5 million monthly and…

FORMER Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and ex-Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. Ferguson, 81, is the most successful manager in Premier League history with a record 13 titles. Wenger won three league titles during his 22-year spell in charge of the Gunners. The Frenchman led Arsenal’s “Invincibles” to an unbeaten league-winning season in 2003-04. Ferguson and Wenger are the first two managers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame launched in 2021 with David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard,…

ARGENTINA captain Lionel Messi passed 100 international goals as he scored his seventh international hat-trick in a friendly win at home to Curacao. The 35-year-old forward reached the landmark when he opened the scoring on 20 minutes in Santiago del Estero. He added two more before the break to complete a quickfire treble. Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez also scored, before Argentina paraded the World Cup trophy in front of more than 42,000 supporters. It was Argentina’s second match on home soil since beating France in Qatar on penalties in December to win the World Cup. Messi scored his 800th career…

MEXICAN prosecutors say they have identified eight suspects thought responsible for 38 deaths in a fire at a migrant detention centre. Monday’s blaze is now being investigated as a possible homicide. Five of the suspects are reported to be security guards at the facility in Ciudad Juarez, a city on the US border. Authorities are facing mounting pressure to explain why the victims, who came from Central and Southern America, were not freed. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said those responsible would be punished “in conformity with the law”. Speaking at a press briefing, he insisted there would be…

THE Russian authorities may have shut down his newspaper, but journalist Dmitry Muratov refuses to be silenced. When we meet in Moscow, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and Russia’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate is worried how far the Kremlin will go in its confrontation with the West. “Two generations have lived without the threat of nuclear war,” Mr Muratov tells me. “But this period is over. Will Putin press the nuclear button, or won’t he? Who knows? No one knows this. There isn’t a single person who can say for sure.” Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in…

US Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to arrive in Tanzania shortly for a three-day official visit – the second stop on her three-nation tour of Africa. She will first meet President Samia Suluhu Hassan, before going to the Tanzania Start-up Association (TAS) to speak to upcoming entrepreneurs. Expectations are very high among Tanzanians, especially within the business community, as they expect her visit to improve bilateral relations across the board. The US and Tanzania enjoy a trading relationship that is valued at $424m (£344m) a yaer, while US investment in Tanzania amounts to $1bn. Ms Harris is the first high-ranking…

POLICE in Senegal fired tear gas and stun grenades at people demonstrating in the capital, Dakar, ahead of the libel trial of an opposition leader. Authorities have banned protests relating to the resumption of Ousmane Sonko’s court case, but the main opposition coalition says it will defy the restrictions. Mr Sonko is accused of defaming the tourism minister Mame Mbaye Niang with allegations of embezzlement. He denies the charges. If found guilty, Sonko would be barred from running in next year’s presidential election. There has been violence in several cities since Mr Sonko’s defamation trial opened on 16 March. Last…

THE House of Representatives, on Tuesday, approved the request by the Federal Government to borrow $973,474,971.38 from China Development Bank. This followed the decision by the China-Exim Bank to reject Nigeria’s $22,798,446,773 loan request earlier approved by the National Assembly. The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Abubakar Fulata, moved a motion for the legislative chamber to amend its resolution granting approval for the failed loan deal. The motion was titled ‘Rescission of the 2016–2018 Federal Government External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan.’ Moving the motion, Fulata said, “The House notes that the 2016–2018 Federal Government External Borrowing (Rolling)…

THE Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control and Prevention (NCDC) says in less than three months, the country has registered 784 confirmed cases of Lassa fever with 142 deaths across 23 states. The NCDC, via its official website yesterday, said the infections were recorded from January 1 till date. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. The NCDC said in Epidemiological Week 11, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 70 in Week 10 of 2023 to 38 cases. It said the cases were reported from…

SOME retired personnel of the Nigerian Navy have expressed their displeasure over the nonpayment of their allowances after they left service. They lamented that despite paying others, the Nigerian Navy was yet to pay their terminal leave and terminal packing allowances. The retired officers claimed they had written letters to the Chief of Naval Staff to notify him of the owed allowances. However, the director of Information Naval Headquarters Commodore Adedotun Olukayode Ayo-Vaughan who appealed for calm explained that the said personnel retired between 2019 and 2020 were not captured in the budget for 2021,2022 for such payments. He, however,…

SCOTLAND took a seismic leap in their bid to reach consecutive European Championships by stunning Spain in a heroic triumph. Scott McTominay crashed in a deflected opener after just seven minutes, triggering an explosion of noise inside a charged Hampden Park. Steve Clarke’s team rode their luck to stay ahead at the break, only for McTominay to repeat his earlier feat just after the restart to cause chaos in the stands as well as in the bamboozled Spanish defence. Scotland, in their first competitive victory over Spain for 39 years, now top Group A – three points above the humbled…

BELGIUM made it two wins from two under new coach Domenico Tedesco as they beat Euro 2024 hosts Germany in a friendly. The visitors outclassed their opponents in the first half and took the lead when Yannick Carrasco fired in. Romelu Lukaku then converted from Kevin de Bruyne’s pass to make it 2-0 before Niclas Fullkrug reduced the deficit from the penalty spot. However, De Bruyne made it 3-1 after a swift Belgium attack before Serge Gnabry added a late consolation. The victory was Belgium’s second in four days after a Lukaku hat-trick beat Sweden in their opening Euro 2024…

A US judge has ordered former vice president Mike Pence to testify about his conversations with Donald Trump leading up to the 2021 assault on the Capitol, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday. Washington’s Chief Judge James Boasberg reportedly ruled that Pence should have to provide answers to a federal grand jury on any questions probing potential criminality by the then-president. But Pence can decline to discuss his actions on the day of the insurrection itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the election, the reports said. The ruling, which remains under seal,…

PRINCE Harry has accused his family of withholding information about phone hacking from him to avoid sitting in the witness box and opening “a can of worms”, a witness statement released Tuesday said. The Duke of Sussex made the claim in submissions for a privacy claim he and other celebrities have filed against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers (ANL). Lawyers for the group, which also includes pop superstar Elton John, claim ANL commissioned the breaking and entry into private property, illegally intercepted voicemail messages and obtained medical records. The alleged wrongdoing dates from 1993-2011, but some went…

BOTSWANA government has dismissed claims that it plans to arrest and kill exiled former president Ian Khama if he returned home. In an interview last week, Mr Khama told AFP news agency that he had information on plans to arrest and poison him upon arriving home from South Africa, where has been exiled since 2021. He claimed the Botswana government fears his influence ahead of next year’s general elections. But in a statement on Tuesday, communication permanent secretary William Sentshebeng dismissed Mr Khama’s claims as “outrageous and unfortunate”. “We regard the claims as politically motivated and with sole intention to…

CHADIAN President President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Monday pardoned 259 people out of the 262 jailed in December during deadly confrontations between police and protesters in the capital, N’Djamena. They had been convicted for offences including unauthorised assembly, destruction of property, arson, violence and assault during the clashes in which 73 people died. It comes days after 380 rebels sentenced to life for the death of former ruler Idriss Deby Itno, the current president’s father, were also pardoned in an apparent peace gesture. The late Idriss Deby died during an operation against rebels in 2021. He had ruled the…

THE Nigerian Army has undergone a major structural shake-up, following the redeployment of no fewer than 75 of its senior officers. According to a report by PRNigeria, the redeployment will take effect from April 3, 2023. Among those affected is Maj. Gen. Abdul Khalifa Ibrahim of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJTF in Lake Chad and the General Officer Commanding, GOC, of 1 Division, Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja. Mr Khalifa will be departing MNJTF on secondment to National Center for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW, at the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.…

OUR attention have been drawn to a publication recently circulated by some CSOs condenming the report of the recently concluded Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections as observed by seasoned and duly accredited INEC Domestic Observer Groups in Kano State that took place on 18 March 2023. As a coalition of duly accredited INEC Domestic Observer Groups, it has been a tradition that at the end of every election excercise we compile, compare, report obtained from various field officers deployed to all the 44 Local Government Areas in Kano State. To this end, every data collated by our field officers have…

FIFA has increased its payments to clubs for the release of players for each of the next two men’s World Cups to £298.74m ($355m). For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, clubs received a combined £170.58m ($209m). The move is the central component of a new Memorandum of Understanding between Fifa and the European Clubs’ Association, which will run to 2030. The next men’s World Cup, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, takes place in June and July 2026. Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Uefa counterpart Aleksander Ceferin were present at the ECA general assembly in Budapest for…