Author: Chief Editor

The English Premiership will have its first female referee on Saturday when Sara Cox takes charge of reigning champions Harlequins’ clash with Worcester at London’s Twickenham Stoop stadium. “Huge congratulations to @SaraCoxRef,” Premiership Rugby tweeted on Monday. “She’ll become the first woman to referee a #GallagherPrem league game on Saturday. Continually making history.” Cox became the world’s first professional female rugby referee in 2016 after receiving a central contract from England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU). She became the first female assistant referee in Premiership history in August 2020 when she officiated a fixture between Bath and Wasps. Cox was also…

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has described the death of former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, as sad even as he said Mailafia was a true patriot who stood for the people of the middle belt Mailafia passed away on September 19, 2021, after a brief illness at the Gwagwalada General Hospital, Abuja. The Governor, who mourned his passing, described the sudden demise of the renowned banker and comrade for the emancipation of the minority groups in Nigeria as shocking and unfortunate. He said Nigeria would greatly miss the in-depth contributions of Mailafia in…

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the House of Representatives, seeking some amendments in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which he recently assented to. The three-page letter was read by the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila at the plenary on Tuesday. [ThisDay]

South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, recently granted medical parole, on Tuesday failed to appear in court for the resumption of a graft trial, as prosecutors argued ill health did not justify his absence. Zuma, 79, was two weeks ago released on medical parole two months into a 15-month prison sentence for refusing to answer questions in a separate corruption probe into his 2009-18 presidency. He was due in court on Tuesday for the resumption of the trial involving an arms purchase in 1999, when he was deputy president. But the ex-leader was nowhere to be seen when proceedings kicked off at…

• CSOs Seek Speedy Harmonisation of Disparities Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working to improve democratic governance in Nigeria have labelled the Senate version of the Electoral Amendment Bill that empowers the National Communication Commission (NCC) to make decisions over the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) as problematic and undemocratic. According to them, empowering the NCC to make decisions over the procedures of INEC is unconstitutional because the electoral body of any country is an executive body established by law independently and whose decisions cannot be subjected to any other authority. They made the observations yesterday in Abuja during a stakeholders’ roundtable on…

Fifteen projects, spread across the country’s six geo-political zones, are to be financed with more than $4b from multilateral institutions, under the 2018-2021 Medium Term (rolling) External Borrowing Plan, the Presidency said, yesterday. President Muhammadu Buhari had requested the Senate to approve sovereign loans of $4.054b and €710m, as well as grant components of $125m for the proposed projects. According to the letter by the President, the sovereign loans will be sourced from the World Bank, French Development Agency (AFD), China-Exim Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Credit Suisse Group and Standard Chartered/China Export and Credit (SINOSURE). The President’s…

Leading Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have condemned the continued ban on Twitter by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The organisations that included Media Right Agenda (MRA), Paradigm Initiative (PIN), and Enough Is Enough (EiE), in the conference to mark 100 days of the ban, maintained that the FG disregarded rule-of-law in the ban and the citizens are feeling its negative consequences. The Executive Director, EiE, Nigeria, Yemi Adamolekun, described the ban as a disservice, as the government in a bid to stifle its citizens, had also destroyed the positive impact of agencies as the Nigeria Centre for Disease…

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, civil society groups under the Coalition of Civil Society for Good Governance have said Nigeria needs a president with sufficient nationalistic credentials to successfully lead the country out of its present challenges. One of the group’s promoters, Abdulmajeed Dahiru, speaking during a roundtable on “Correcting Mistakes of Leadership Gap and Expectations of Next President”, organised by the NextPresident Project in Abuja, argued that the Presidency should be rotated between the North and South, especially at a time the country was going through existential challenges. In his view, the criteria for who should be Nigeria’s…

•Crucial Issues In APC, PDP’s Pending Rematch The coast may not yet be clear, but the stage is gradually getting set for the race to Aso Rock Villa in 2023, just as names of those that are showing practical interest in it have started making the rounds. Indeed, if the election holds this month, two broad categories of contenders would be discernible – veterans and newcomers. For now, the familiar faces on the turf with covert and overt interest in the contest include, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, former Lagos, Imo, Kano, Kwara…

Liverpool remains unbeaten in the Premier League this season after Sadio Mane scored his 100th goal for the club in a victory against Crystal Palace. Jurgen Klopp’s side created numerous chances against a resilient Palace before Mane pounced on a rebound at the back post in the first half. Mohamed Salah doubled their lead with just over 10 minutes remaining when he smashed home a flick-on from a corner before Naby Keita’s late curling strike made it 3-0. Liverpool was wasteful in the first half as Diogo Jota fired over the bar from a few yards out in a glorious…