Author: Chief Editor

Whatever happens in Saturday’s Champions League final against Manchester City, Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel can already claim a small bit of history by becoming the first coach to make it to the showpiece game in European club football in successive seasons with different clubs. Tuchel’s impact on Chelsea, at least up until the last few matches, has been little short of remarkable and, it can be argued, hardly reflects well on his old side Paris Saint-Germain. The French giants’ gratitude towards Tuchel for leading them to the Champions League final for the first time in their history last season was not…

Nigeria’s minister for information and culture Lai Mohammed has assured Nigerians that despite the security challenges facing facing the country presently, Nigeria is in safe hands. Mohammed, who stated this when he received in his office, the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adeola Adeniyi Ajakaiye, stressed the need for leaders at all levels to give the people message of hope instead of making comments tcanhat  only aggravate tension. The minister observed that traditional rulers are indispensable to the maintenance of peace and security in their domain and must not be ignored. He appealed to the monarch to work…

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major-General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff. This is according to a statement signed and released on Thursday by military spokesperson Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu. Prior to his appointment Major-General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counterterrorism, Counter-Insurgency military outfit in the North East code named Operation HADIN KAI, the statement said. His appointment comes days after the immediate past army chief, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru died in a Kaduna air-crash along with 10 other military officials.

In the past week, one would have counted, easily, more than a dozen articles that have fiercely denounced the rascally comments by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, while on a TV programme. While on air, Malami made a series of ill-thought pronouncements on the ban of open grazing by the southern governors. To sink more into his self-made quandary, Malami made the unfortunate analogy about northern governors banning “spare parts trading in the North.” A sizeable number of commentators have already dissected the illogic in Malami’s response and I am not about to litigate…

•Akeredolu seeks return to 1963 constitution •Okowa demands new document, not amendment •Lagos wants special status •NLC, NULGE seek retention of minimum wage, LG autonomy The process for reviewing the 1999 Constitution as altered gathered momentum yesterday with clamours for creation of state police, devolution of powers to the states, creation of more states, restructuring and fiscal federalism featuring prominently in presentations made by stakeholders at zonal public hearings in 12 venues nationwide. The two-day public hearings are being organised by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review. However, while the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, advocated a return to…

The Shepherd Superintendent of the Household of God church, Rev. Chris Okotie has warned that Nigeria is at the threshold of a major crisis. In his second public statement in the last three weeks, the reverend said that the forces holding Nigeria hostage would be defeated in the impending explosion, after which the nation would experience a rebirth. His latest statement came as a reaction to an earlier one by a cleric, Bosun Emmanuel concerning the present crisis. “The message from Bosun Emmanuel is arrant heterodoxy deriving from abysmal ignorance of sound biblical interpretation of visions and revelations,” Okotie said.…

Villarreal defeated Manchester United 11-10 on penalties to win their first major trophy after a 1-1 draw in the Europa League final as goalkeeper David de Gea missed the decisive spot-kick in a remarkable shootout. Gerard Moreno gave Villarreal the lead 29 minutes into the Spanish club’s first European final, but Edinson Cavani equalised early in the second half before Unai Emery’s team prevailed on spot-kicks, extending United’s four-year trophy drought. Eric Bailly replaced the injured Harry Maguire in central defence, with the United captain surprisingly named among the substitutes despite suffering ankle ligament damage two weeks ago. De Gea…

Ahead of the May 30 Biafra Day celebration, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has urged Biafra agitators to avoid engaging in any form of clash with security operatives. The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, yesterday, urged the pro-Biafra groups to avoid “any form of parade, display of Biafra flags/rallies and solidarity protests on May 30 and 31, 2021 Biafra Day.” While calling for a six-month ceasefire deal on the side of the agitators and the government, he demanded unconditional release of all detainees. “IPOB of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Biafra National Council of…

The Prosecutor, Special Presidential Panel on Asset Recovery (SPPAR), Tosin Ojaomo, yesterday, made stunning revelations of how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) allegedly stashed $60 billion of public funds in the United States. He lamented that efforts by the panel to recover the funds were reportedly frustrated by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, whom he claimed retrieved the case file from the body. Ojaomo, who appeared before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Probe of Recovered Looted Funds and Assets of Government, said the panel discovered N2.2 billion…

The recent push by some stakeholders for legalisation of cannabis in Nigeria will rob the country of the gains so far made in the renewed war against drug abuse and trafficking, Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has warned. He gave the warning in Abuja, yesterday, at a national security summit organised by the House of Representatives. Director, Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, quoted Marwa as saying the present figure of 10.6million Nigerians abusing cannabis is frightening and enough to sound the alarm…