Author: Chief Editor

Manchester City took another step towards the Premier League title with a 3-0 win at Fulham, while victories for Manchester United and Leicester on Sunday strengthened their position in the top four. Chelsea’s 0-0 draw at Leeds opened the door to the chasing pack for fourth, but West Ham, Everton, Tottenham and Aston Villa all faltered to do their challenge for next season’s Champions League no favours. AFP Sports looks at three talking points from the Premier League weekend. Kelechi comes good for Leicester When Brendan Rodgers surveyed the packed treatment room at Leicester’s plush new Seagrave training base this…

Bandits have abducted students and teachers from UBE Primary School in Rama, a village in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Daily Trust reports that the incident occurred while pupils were trooping into the school around 9:am on Monday. A resident Abdulsalam Adam confirmed the attack. He said the gunmen came on about 12 motorcycles. “I have been told that three teachers and some pupils have been abducted but we are trying to ascertain the true situation. Right now, our vigilante boys and other volunteers have gone after the bandits,” Adam told Daily Trust. “We are in the…

Manchester United tightened their grip on a return to the Champions League next season as Craig Dawson’s own goal earned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men a 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday. Victory moved United back above Leicester into second in the Premier League and closed the gap to runaway leaders Manchester City to 14 points. Despite also having a game in hand on their local rivals, the Red Devils are unlikely to haul in Pep Guardiola’s men but do now enjoy a nine-point cushion over the fifth-placed Hammers in the battle for Champions League places. Former United boss David…

Decry slow pace of cleanup exercise Experts have canvassed sustainable means of livelihoods for Ogoni People in Rivers State, insisting that failure to do so five years after the commencement of the cleanup exercise, might worsen the plight of Ogoni people. They also argued that a population of over one million people, whose major means of livelihood remain largely farming and fishing have lost their means of sustenance to pollution of the sea and land due to oil exploration for several decades. Speaking at a virtual conference, Dr. Sam Kabari of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, said…

Too often, President Muhammadu Buhari has appeared – to citizens, commentators, and even his supporters – as too silent on burning national issues. The perception is not misplaced, going by his relative lack of reaction to multifarious incidents, including rabid insecurity plaguing the country, charges of ethnic cleansing and domination, as well as the recent #EndSARS protest. The president has tended to keep mute and relatively aloof of the occurrences, until very late, when too much damage has occurred. Being the head of a representative democracy that requires regular engagement with the electorate, the leader is reasonably expected to talk…

Cristiano Ronaldo hit back at his critics with a quick-fire hat-trick as Juventus brushed aside Cagliari 3-1 on Sunday, five days after their Champions League elimination, while Inter Milan moved nine points clear at the Serie A summit. Portuguese star Ronaldo bore the brunt of the criticism for Juve’s latest European flop after failing to score in either leg of the last-16 defeat by Porto, while also being partly at fault for what proved to be the winning goal. But the 36-year-old scored a header after less than nine minutes at the Sardegna Arena, added a second from the penalty…

Sergio Ramos returned for Real Madrid on Saturday but the bigger question is whether he is back for good. After two months out with a knee injury, Ramos played an hour in Madrid’s win over Elche, with the plan to blow away the cobwebs ready for a start against Atalanta in the second leg of the Champions League on Tuesday. His availability should be a significant boost for Madrid, who have a 1-0 advantage from last month’s first leg in Italy and will be confident of being Spain’s first, and perhaps only, survivor in the tournament’s quarter-finals. And yet Ramos’s…

Ireland’s vaccine taskforce on Sunday recommended temporarily suspending the rollout of the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab, following reports of blood clots in adults who received the shot. “The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that the administration of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca be temporarily deferred from this morning,” Ireland’s deputy chief medical officer Ronan Glynn said in a statement. He said the recommendation has been made “on the precautionary principal” after “a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood clotting events in adults after vaccination”. [GuardianNG]

A diplomat and chieftain of the PDP, Dr Orefo Onochie, has told the Federal Government to consider the option of negotiating with the insurgents, currently terrorizing Nigeria, if that would make the bandits to embrace lasting peace. Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Onochie said that negotiating with the bandits would prove a wiser option in the long run. According to him, there is nothing wrong in negotiating with bandits if that can end banditry, insurgency and kidnappings in parts of the country. The former Nigerian envoy to the Philippines and…

Clear Principles, Policies Crucial To Douse Tension, Says Tinubu • Charts bold, Strategic Steps The national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has urged for caution in the handling of the explosive issue of herders versus farmers conflict. Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, maintained that as Nigerians, “we must move in unison, but decisively to end the spiral of death and destruction,” which ensue from the crisis. Tracing the root of the imbroglio, Tinubu noted that although there have been sporadic disputes in the past, this one is more severe, adding: “The reasons for the greater…