Author: Chief Editor

A second national lockdown will be imposed across England from midnight on Thursday with all nonessential shops, restaurants, pubs and leisure facilities to close for at least four weeks, Boris Johnson has said. The prime minister dramatically escalated the country’s response to the pandemic in a press conference on Saturday evening, telling the public that “we must act now to contain this autumn surge”, with measures due to remain in place until 2 December. People have been told to “stay at home” where possible, but will be allowed to leave their homes for education, medical appointments, to shop for essential…

SEYI MAKINDE Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, recently engaged some newsmen on a number of issues in the wake of the #ENDSARS protest and its attendant violence, specifically addressing the need for a concerted effort to grow back the economy, productively engage the youths and redress the trust deficit between the police and the people. Excerpts: You are seeking a second term in office, therefore, it’s legitimate to ask: on what record are you asking the people to vote for you again? Well, I have a lot to show people that we have done in our first term. I can…

As the selection process for a new Director General of the World Trade Orgainsation (WTO) gradually heading for the official announcement, one thing is certain. No matter who picks the plum job, it’s a win-win situation for the women-folk. For the fist time in the history of the organisation, a woman will be calling the shots. The last four months has made a huge impact to the women folk globally. Seven candidates actually started the journey, including Dr Jesús Seade Kuri (Mexico); Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria); Mr Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt); Mr. Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova); Ms Yoo Myung-hee (Republic of Korea);…

• Experts Canvass Restructuring Of Entire Security Architecture • Adamu Insists Police Handled Protest Crises Professionally • ‘Protesters Provoked Police To Use Force To Justify Alleged Brutality’ • Faults Amnesty’s Report On Shooting Of Youth • 1,596 Suspects Arrested Over Violence, ‘Looting’ In the aftermath of the EndSARS protest nationwide, which turned violent and led to loss of lives, including that of a number of police personnel, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, yesterday, directed men of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to, henceforth, protect themselves against any attack by hoodlums. Speaking while on an on-the-spot assessment of…

Ronaldo, who tested positive while on international duty with Portugal, is free to come out of self-isolation making him available for Juventus’ Serie A match at Spezia on Sunday; Portugal international missed Wednesday’s Champions League Group G defeat to Lionel Messi’s Barcelona Cristiano Ronaldo has fully recovered from coronavirus, 19 days after initially testing positive for the disease. The Juventus forward, 35, initially returned a positive test while on international duty with Portugal earlier this month. Juventus were without the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for their previous four matches, including Wednesday’s Champions League Group G defeat to Barcelona, winning just…

Nigeria has become the cynosure of all eyes globally. Not for the positive contributions or inventions by its citizens that would move mankind a tad forward in positive progress, such as when man first visited the moon on July 20, 1969-all hail the pair of American Louis Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin; or when penicillin was discovered for the cure of small pox in 1928-thanks to Alexander Fleming of Scotland. But Nigeria is in the eyes of the storm for a negative reason globally, because our country’s soldiers allegedly turned their guns on innocent youths who dared to protest police brutality. The…

•Nigeria reaches out to US, others to clear bottlenecks The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, yesterday reiterated Europe’s support for the bid of Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to become the next Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). On the same day, the Nigerian government announced that it was reaching out to the United States and other members of the WTO to clear all bottlenecks to the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as DG. The President of the European Council gave the re-assurance to ensure that the Nigerian candidate emerges DG during a video conference with…

The govenorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 10, 2020 Election in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede, has filed a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the reelection of Govenor Rotimi Akeredolu as the governor of the State. Jegede in the petition, joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Deputy Govenor- elect, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as respondents. The INEC, had declared the APC candidate, Akeredolu as the winner of the election, having scored 292,830 as against 195, 791 scored by Jegede. The results released by INEC, also showed that…

Former Presidents of the country have expressed concern on the quality of intelligence available to the security agencies in a recent virtual meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. They were of the opinion that with adequate intelligence, some of the recent happenings in the country, especially the recent #EndSARS protests would have been nipped in the bud. For about two weeks, the country witnessed violent unrest, ignited by what began as legitimate protests against police brutality, code-named #EndSARS. The former Presidents including General Yakubu Gowon, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,…

Barcelona are keen to give Pedri as much first team opportunity as possible As a result, Philippe Coutinho’s long-term future may lie away from the club Barcelona may be willing to offload Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho in January, according to a report by Calciomercato. Coutinho, 28, has re-acclimatized well to life at Nou Camp this season, having been loaned out to Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 campaign. He has contributed 2 goals and 2 assists in 6 appearances under Ronald Koeman. However, the report states that the emergence of youngster Pedri could mean that Coutinho’s long-term future lies away from the club. Pedri,…