Author: Chief Editor

Real Madrid fought back on Saturday as Raphael Varane scored twice to complete a gutsy 2-1 win against bottom club Huesca and ease the pressure on coach Zinedine Zidane. An angry Zidane told reporters on Friday to show more “respect” after a poor run of results prompted many to suggest Madrid need wholesale changes this summer. His players responded by digging deep against Huesca, with Varane the unlikely hero, the defender twice finishing in the second half to seal victory after Javier Galan’s stunning strike had put Huesca in front. Madrid were without a number of injured players including Eden…

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Saturday called on Nigerians to resist any agenda designed to cause division and instability in the country. The minister made the call while speaking on a radio programme, monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. He urged them not to allow anyone or group play on the security challenges in the country to pit them against one another. Mohammed said the country’s security challenges were surmountable, urging the citizens to refrain from statements and rhetorics that could exacerbate the situation. “We are calling on all Nigerians to…

The Independent National Electoral Commission has reassured Nigerians that it plans to create new Polling Units in the country ahead of 2023 general elections. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said this at a stakeholders meeting with political parties’ leaders in Abuja, saying that expanding voters access to polling units in Nigeria was crucial to voters turnout in elections. Yakubu said experience had shown that enhancing voters access to polling units usually increase turnout in elections. He said that many countries expanded access to polling units with every fresh registration of voters while others do so routinely or before every general…

Dele Momodu        dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com Fellow Nigerians, here we go again. Let me say right away that the ways of our politicians are not the ways of ordinary mortals. At a time our leaders at all levels should be visibly worried and vociferously concerned about our myriad of problems and humongous challenges, they are busy gallivanting and getting ready for the next elections. Never since the last civil war has Nigeria been this divided and dangerously close to another civil war. At the same time, the whole world is in the grip of a rampaging pandemic, called the COVID-19 virus, which is…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has backed Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard to push on and earn back his place in the England squad after his goalscoring start to life at West Ham. Lingard had not played a single minute in the Premier League for the Red Devils this season but showed his class with a debut brace for David Moyes’s side in a 3-1 win over Aston Villa. The 28-year-old tumbled down the pecking order at Old Trafford but Solskjaer says his attitude and value to the squad were never in doubt. “I’m so happy for Jesse,” Solskjaer told reporters. “When…

Global health body says the 4 African countries have capacity to store, distribute doses at minus 70 degrees celsius The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had allocated about 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tunisia. Nigeria and other African countries are not included in this batch of vaccine allocation to fight the ravaging coronavirus on the continent. WHO said that the 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which had already received its Emergency Use authorization, had been allocated to the four African countries that had the capacity to…

Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama says with Nigeria’s Amb. Bankole Adeoye as the African Union’s (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, the fight against terror in the ECOWAS sub-region will be strengthened. Onyeama said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that he was optimistic that the Nigerian ambassador, who the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government has endorsed, would win the election to the AU position coming up on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7. “Nigeria has a lot to benefit because we can leverage more easily on the African…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Friday Manchester United have immediately refocused after their 9-0 midweek mauling of Southampton, refusing to get “carried away” by the record-equalling Premier League scoreline. United gave their goal difference a huge boost as they put Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side to the sword at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Seven United players found the net as they matched their 9-0 win against Ipswich in 1995 and Leicester’s humbling of the Saints last season. The result lifted United level with Manchester City at the top of the table but Pep Guardiola’s men won the following day to restore their…

Atletico Madrid striker Luis Suarez said Friday he does not understand how “people could be so evil” to leak the contract of his friend and former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi. Spanish newspaper El Mundo controversially published details of Barcelona’s contract with Messi, showing the Argentinian will be paid up to 555 million euros ($674 million) over four years. Barcelona, who were in a bitter standoff with Messi in the summer, have denied they leaked the contract. Suarez, who won a Champions League and four La Liga titles playing alongside Messi at the Camp Nou, said: “I don’t understand why people…

Talks are reportedly underway to hold Liverpool’s Champions League last 16 first leg tie at RB Leipzig in Budapest although the German club said no decision had yet been made. The English club have been barred from entering Germany for the fixture on February 16 because of entry rules imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic. UEFA’s regulations say the home side must find a way of hosting the match or risk forfeiting it as a 3-0 defeat. Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp said he believed an exemption should have been made for his side to travel. All Premier League sides…