SOME residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were on Sunday thrown into darkness as sabouteurs vandalised the Shiroro-Katampe 330kV transmission line. According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the vandalism of the transmission line makes it the fifth of such incident within February and March this. The incident happened at 9am on Sunday. “Following initial investigations, TCN engineers attempted to restore operation but were unsuccessful,” said a spokesperson for the TCN, Ndidi Mbah. Mbah, in a statement, said efforts were made to identify the fault location, while linesmen were dispatched to physically patrol the suspected area. “During the…
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CAPTAIN Ahmed Musa has been left out of the Super Eagles’ squad for the March friendly games against Ghana and Mali with Luton’s Gabriel Osho handed his first Nigeria’s call up. Musa was part of the Nigerian side that reached the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) but did not play a single minute in the competition. Osho, who was born to Nigerian parents in England, will have the opportunity to play for the Super Eagles after agreeing to feature for the three-time African champions. Ihefu SC of Tanzanian star Benjamin Tanimu also got his maiden call-up…
KAI Havertz spared Aaron Ramsdale’s blushes as Arsenal earned a statement win over Brentford which puts them top of the Premier League before title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City meet on Sunday. Arsenal, looking to lead the table for the first time since December, went in front through Declan Rice’s flicked header. The home side continued to dominate possession and Havertz skewed wide their best opportunity to go further ahead. But, out of nowhere, the good work in an assured first-half performance was undone by Ramsdale’s error. The England keeper, playing because David Raya was ineligible against his parent club,…
AN international effort is gathering pace to get desperately needed humanitarian relief into Gaza by sea in a bid to counter overland access restrictions blamed on Israel as it battles Hamas militants. The dire conditions more than five months into the war have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance over the besieged Gaza Strip, but a parachute malfunction turned the latest operation lethal on Friday. Five Palestinians were killed and 10 wounded north of the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp, said Mohammed al-Sheikh, emergency room head nurse at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital. A witness told AFP he and…
A STUDENT has been sentenced to 10 days in jail in Moscow after renaming his wi-fi network with a pro-Kyiv slogan. The Moscow State University student had titled the network “Slava Ukraini!” which means “Glory to Ukraine!”. A Moscow court found him guilty of displaying “symbols of extremist organisations” on Thursday. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, thousands have been handed prison terms or fines for criticising the invasion or supporting Ukraine. The student was arrested on Wednesday morning in Moscow, after a police officer had reported the network name to authorities. According to court documents, officers inspected…
RWANDA’s ruling party on Saturday picked President Paul Kagame as its candidate for the July election, teeing up a contest widely expected to return the longtime leader to office for a fourth seven-year term. The 66-year-old has ruled over the landlocked African nation for decades, winning the presidency in elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017 — with more than 90 percent of the vote. Kagame’s candidacy was unopposed during the Rwandan Patriotic Front congress, which ended Saturday, the party said. Kagame said he had accepted the nomination but urged the ruling party to prepare for transition beyond him. “The burden…
THE US has accused Zimbabwe of harassing, detaining and deporting several of its nationals who were in the country as aid workers. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said government officials and contractors had been “verbally and physically” intimidated. They were there to “support civic participation, democratic institutions and human rights”, the agency added. But Zimbabwe’s commitment to democratic reform was “hollow”, it said. The Zimbabwean government has not yet commented on USAID’s allegations. On Monday, the US announced fresh sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other senior government officials, whom it accuses of corruption and human rights…
TWICE in one week, gangs of motorcycle-riding armed men, operating from forests in two different places in the north of the country, kidnapped hundreds of people. First on Wednesday we got news from a remote town in Borno state in the north-east that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized women and children from a displaced persons camp who were searching for firewood. It took several days for the news to emerge because the local mobile phone masts had been destroyed. Then the following day, more than 280 children, aged between eight and 15, and some teachers, were taken away by…
ANTHONY Joshua and Francis Ngannou headlined the Knockout Chaos card on Friday night. Former two-time world heavyweight champion, Joshua, battled the Cameroonian, who knocked down Fury last October. The card had it all, a sublime KO, a title win and a hard-fought draw. Joshua came out fighting and despite Ngannou’s brave efforts, he could barely touch the former heavyweight champion. Joshua knocked Ngannou down three times in the bout with the first coming with 40 seconds left in round one as the British-Nigerian landed a solid right punch on the Cameroonian’s chin and he went down. Ngannou let the referee…
JURGEN Klopp on Friday hailed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as the best manager of his lifetime as he prepares his Liverpool team for what could be the final chapter in their captivating rivalry. City have won five of the past six Premier League titles but Liverpool have been their main rivals, snatching the crown in 2020. The two teams are once again locked in a tussle at the top of the table, with leaders Liverpool ahead of the champions by a single point before Sunday’s clash at Anfield. The Liverpool boss said Guardiola, whose team are chasing a second…
A SHIP carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid is expected to set sail this weekend, bound for Gaza. The Spanish vessel, Open Arms, is scheduled to depart from Cyprus – the closest EU country to Gaza – and hope to use a newly opened shipping route. With no functioning port and shallow waters, it is still unclear where the ship will dock when it reaches Gaza. The UN says a quarter of the Strip’s population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death. The ship, expected to reach Gaza in the next few days, belongs to the…
A FRENCH court on Friday sentenced a man to 30 years in jail for burning his partner alive for trying to leave him. Jonathan Boillet, 36, has been on trial since Tuesday at a criminal court in northern France for murdering 33-year-old Sandy Cucheval in November 2020. He burnt the mother of four alive in a car they were travelling in. She was admitted to the burn unit at a hospital in the northern city of Lille where she died a week later. The regional criminal court in the city of Saint-Omer sentenced him to 30 years in prison with…
CONCRETE barriers are being built along a stretch of the South Africa-Mozambique border to prevent people crossing over to steal and smuggle vehicles. South African authorities have budgeted close to $2.7m (£2.1m) to build the wall. It’s made up of three sections: An 8km (5 mile) barrier near Tembe Elephant Park An 8km-long stretch near iSimangaliso Wetland Park A 9km wall from the western boundary of Tembe Elephant Park towards Pongolo River Building works on the Tembe Elephant Park section “are currently underway,” according to a joint briefing by the South African government and KwaZulu-Natal province. “The impact of the…
THE trial of a prominent journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed in the capital Kinshasa, with the prosecution calling for a prison sentence of 20 years. Stanis Bujakera was arrested in September after writing an article in the magazine Jeune Afrique, alleging that an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende, was assassinated by intelligence officers. In July, Okende’s body had been found in a car riddled with bullets. The prosecutor’s office maintained he had killed himself. Human Rights Watch described Mr Bujakera’s case as politically motivated and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi suggested he’d been the victim of what he…
SUPER Eagles’ Striker, Ademola Lookman, has been in impressive form since his move to Italian outfit Atalanta, leaving his boss Gian Pero Gasperini very impressed with the Nigerian, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. The 26-year-old completed a €9m plus performance-related bonuses transfer from RB Leipzig to join the Nerazzurri in 2022, having spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Leicester City. Before joining Atalanta, Lookman’s nine-goal contributions (five goals and four assists) in the 2017/18 season was his best return in front of goal but in his debut season with the Italian outfits, he scored a remarkable 13 goals with eight…
LIVERPOOL surged towards the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-1 win away to Sparta Prague on Thursday, as Roma thrashed Brighton 4-0 in the Italian capital. Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen had to come from 2-0 down to preserve their unbeaten season in a 2-2 draw against Qarabag in Azerbaijan. Liverpool remain on course to send Jurgen Klopp off with a quadruple of trophies as the Reds were not distracted by Sunday’s mammoth Premier League showdown against Manchester City. Klopp named a strong side and got what he wanted by killing off the tie in the first leg, even if there…
THE US military will construct a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the territory by sea, President Joe Biden has announced. The temporary port will increase the amount of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians by “hundreds of additional truckloads” per day, officials say. However, Mr Biden said the initiative will not include US troops on the ground in Gaza. The UN warns that a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine. He said the port, which will be built by the US military, will involve a temporary pier to transport supplies from ships at sea…
MEDIA tycoon Robert Murdoch has become engaged to his girlfriend, his team has confirmed. The 92-year-old has reportedly been dating retired Russian molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67 for several months. The marriage, which is expected to take place at his Moraga vineyard and estate in California this year, will be Mr Murdoch’s fifth, but sixth engagement. He stepped down as chairman of Fox and News Corp last year. According to the New York Times, which broke the story, the nuptials are set for June and invitations have already been sent out. Australian-born Mr Murdoch was rumoured to be dating Ms…
YOUNGSTERS in Burkina Faso are joining the state in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) as population displacement caused by jihadist violence threatens significant progress made over the last decade. New cases of FGM have been recorded in areas where people affected by the violence have fled. Since 2015, almost 20,000 people have died in the unrest and more than two million have been displaced in the Sahel nation of 23 million inhabitants, the majority of whom are women. “Today, in areas where we have made gains, we are in the process of moving backwards because there are community practices…
FRANCE will keep troops in junta-run Chad as it retreats elsewhere in Africa following crises with other military regimes, an envoy for French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. French influence in its former West African colonies has waned as military rulers battling jihadist rebellions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger expelled its troops and strengthened ties with Russia. Around 1,000 French troops are stationed in Chad, one of a dwindling number of French allies in the region and ruled by General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno since 2021. “Of course we will stay” in Chad, said Jean-Marie Bockel, Macron’s envoy…