Author: Chief Editor

Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo says the club will do “everything” in its power to extend Kylian Mbappe’s contract as Real Madrid threaten to prise him away on a free transfer. The France star has long been linked with a move to Madrid, who reportedly tabled an unsuccessful offer worth up to 180 million euros ($200 million) for Mbappe in August. Despite the feted arrival of seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, Mbappe has underlined his status as the key to PSG’s pursuit of European success. His 24 goals this season easily outnumber those of the team’s second-leading scorer, Messi,…

*NDLEA to arraign suspended ‘super cop,’ four IRT members on eight counts of drug trafficking The federal government has commenced moves to extradite the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to the United States of America to face fraud allegations. Few hours after the extradition process commenced, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which currently has Kyari in its custody following his arrest for alleged illicit drug dealing, also initiated a court process against him. By this development, Kyari, four of his colleagues in the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), and two others…

*EU observer mission meets parties, stakeholders ahead of next year’s polls The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, dashed the hope and plans of many people, when it declared it would not register any new political parties, because they would not be able to participate in the 2023 general election by law. INEC, which claimed that the reason was because the new Electoral Act barred the registration of new political parties to participate in any general election twelve months before, added also that the same new electoral law, allowed for the merger of political parties, only nine months to the…

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said Nigeria was programmed for greater heights due to the resilience of its citizens as well as their great potential. He also stressed that the federal government understands the critical role the private sector plays in delivering value to the Nigerian economy and was focused on leveraging collaboration opportunities to usher the nation into a more prosperous new decade. The vice president who spoke at the official inauguration of the Bankers House of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja, emphasised that Nigeria was set for great heights, not only…

• Provision is unconstitutional, says Sagay • There is nothing wrong with it, Adegboruwa insists • Melaye, Kadiri, others urge NASS to ignore President Eight days after President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Electoral Act 2022, the National Assembly has begun the process of amending the legislation, which has divided Nigerians. President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the Senate to amend the newly signed act. The President, in a letter addressed to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, and read at plenary yesterday, demanded the federal lawmakers delete Section 84 (12) outright. The letter reads: “I write to draw your kind attention…

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the Federal Government and regulatory authorities are making efforts to address fuel scarcity by ensuring that supply disruption is overcome. The minister made this known to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja after a meeting with some key leaders in the petroleum industry. Sylva spoke shortly after meeting with Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director, NNPC Ltd. and Mr Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), among others. “This kind of supply disruptions are like accidents, they are not desirable, we do not expect them…

FG defends his extradition to U.S. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), yesterday, in Abuja slammed eight-count charges bothering on trafficking in hard drugs against the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari. Kyari was charged with the criminal offences alongside four other senior police officers and two civilians in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/57/2022 filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja and signed by NDLEA Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Joseph Sunday. Those charged along with Abba Kyari are, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sunday Ubua, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bawa James, inspectors Simon Agirigba…

Nigeria’s leading airline, Air Peace, has deployed its aircraft to evacuate Nigerians who are stranded in Europe as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This is the first batch of Nigerians to be evacuated since the war broke out. The aircraft departed Nigeria at 2:20am today (Thursday) for Warsaw, Poland. It would be recalled that the Federal Government engaged Air Peace and another airline to evacuate over 2000 Nigerian nationals from neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. [ThisDay]

By Olusegun Adeniyi Regardless of where one stands on the animosity between Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), leading to the invasion of Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin, reports of the human tragedies are heartbreaking. Sadly, many of our nationals are also caught in the middle of this disaster. Ukraine and Russia have in recent years become destinations of choice for many young Nigerians seeking affordable quality education in medicine and the sciences. The distress of war and the racism that is now blatant in the treatment of refugees fleeing Kyiv for neighbouring countries, have combined to worsen the…

The federal government has commenced move that would pave the way for the extradition of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to answer to fraud allegations in the United States of America. Kyari, a once celebrated officer of the Nigerian Police, is currently enmeshed in various criminal allegations for which he has previously won many accolades for fighting. Following the arrest and imprisonment of Abass Ramon aka hushpuppi over a $1.1milion wire fraud and Ramon’s alleged implication of Kyari, who was then Commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), the United States had requested for the…