Author: Chief Editor

Jose Mourinho has played down talk of a crisis at struggling Tottenham but is scratching his head as he seeks a way to pull the club out of their spiral of decline. Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham was Spurs’ fifth in their past six Premier League games and they now trail the fourth-placed Hammers by nine points. Tottenham appear a shadow of the side that topped the table in December and Mourinho is in one of the worst spells of his long managerial career. The Portuguese has earned 81 points after 50 league matches in charge of the London…

A coalition of 68 civil society organisations (CSOs) has declared that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians in its primary duty of ensuring the security and welfare of citizens. In a joint statement released yesterday, the CSOs said Nigeria is in dire straits as a result of criminal attacks and extra-judicial killings by state actors and called on Buhari to tackle the security challenges or resign. They said the federal government, through the Minister of Defence, has “callously abdicated its responsibility and called Nigerian citizens ‘cowards’ and urged Nigerians to defend themselves.” The group said kidnapping for…

The federal government has maintained that there is nothing wrong in dialoguing with bandits. Bandits had stormed the Government Science College (GSC) Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, and kidnapped several students, members of staff, and some members of their families. Governor Sani Bello of Niger State, had noted that his government was doing everything to rescue the victims, including facilitating negotiations with the bandits. While speaking during a radio programme monitored by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, responded to Nigerians who had spoken against the strategy of dialoguing with…

Paris Saint-Germain suffered a Champions League hangover as a 2-0 home defeat against Kylian Mbappe’s old side Monaco on Sunday damaged their Ligue 1 title hopes after Lille earlier reclaimed top spot. Sofiane Diop and Guillermo Maripan scored to give Monaco the points as they stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games and moved to within two points of their opponents, who sit in third place. While Monaco remains in contention for a return to the Champions League, PSG finds themselves a point behind Lyon in second and four points adrift of Lille, who retook top spot earlier on Sunday…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that failure to create additional polling units before the 2023 general elections may affect credibility of the poll. Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this during a meeting with the National Executive Council (NEC) in Abuja. According to him, the current 119,973 polling units in the country would disenfranchise millions of citizens on the day of voting. Yakubu explained that voter access to polling units in Nigeria was in a state of crisis because existing polling units could no longer guarantee the citizens the right to vote. He said the existing…

Donates N60m to support take-off of new institution The Ikere-Ekiti Community in Ikere Local Council of Ekiti State has lamented over the destructive activities of Fulani herdsmen at the newly-established Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti (BOUESTI) and the entire community. The paramount ruler of the community, the Ogoga of Ikere, Oba Adejimi Adu, stated this, at the weekend, while presenting a cheque of N60 million raised by the community to support the take-off of the university. Oba Adu, therefore, appealed to the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to help tackle the Fulani herdsmen and ‘local…

The South-East Governors Forum has waded into the impasse between the Imo government and the state’s former governor, Sen. Rochas Okorocha. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that a squabble ensued between both sides’ supporters on Feb. 21 when Okorocha allegedly broke into the Royal Spring Palm Apartment, Owerri, sealed by the Imo government on Feb. 19. The situation was brought under control by the Imo Police Command, which later arrested the senator. Chairman of the forum, Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Francis Nwaze on Monday…

Barcelona compounded their Champions League misery at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain by drawing on Sunday at home to Cadiz, who scored an 87th-minute penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou. Lionel Messi broke a Barcelona record by making his 506th La Liga appearance for the club and marked the milestone with a goal, his own spot-kick looking likely to secure a narrow win for his side. But Barca failed to score a second despite a hatful of chances and Cadiz punished them with a late equaliser, Alex Fernandez converting from the spot after a wild swing from…

Professor Ibrahim Gambari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, international relations guru and bureaucrat does not think we should wait for historians to do the assessment of the Buhari administration in the international arena given limitations of the focus of many of them. “Now is the time to do it,” he insists. We agree with many of the historians that the pursuit of closer foreign economic relations is no longer an option and the important need for an upward trajectory in bilateral relationship, first in our own neighbourhood and then in the world are key. This is what necessitated a…

The Federal Government has insisted that it would not pay any ransom to secure the release of abductees at Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this while speaking on a radio programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos. He said insinuations in some quarters that the government had paid ransom to secure the release of the abductees were wrong, saying government would not do anything that would reward any act against the law. Mohammed also denied that the government paid ransom to secure the…