Author: Chief Editor

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to salvage a point for 10-man Juventus in a 2-2 draw at Roma as Napoli hammered Genoa 6-0 in Serie A on Sunday. Champions Juventus were trailing 2-1 and a man down after an hour at the Stadio Olimpico after a Jordan Veretout brace for the hosts and Adrien Rabiot’s sending off. But a towering Ronaldo header grabbed the equaliser in the 69th minute to avoid handing new Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo a first defeat. Edin Dzeko was back on the Roma front line after his move to Juventus fell through, the Bosnian having missed last…

Lionel Messi scored in his first game since trying to leave Barcelona as Ronald Koeman began his tenure as coach by overseeing a 4-0 Liga demolition of Villarreal on Sunday. Messi converted from the spot 10 minutes before half-time and then the Argentine’s cross forced Pau Torres into an own-goal after an early double from the 17-year-old Ansu Fati had already put Barca in charge. It meant Barcelona’s past, present and future were all among the goals on the same afternoon as Luis Suarez, whose departure was confirmed on Thursday, marked his Atletico Madrid debut by scoring twice in a…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced two deaths and 126 new cases of COVID-19 infections in the country. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Sunday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 502, 545 samples have been tested by the agency since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in February. It also said that the 126 new cases were recorded in 12 states, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 58,324. The NCDC stated that 72 patients had recovered and had been discharged in the last…

• Labour may go for deal, agree on deregulation, resist electricity tariff hike • Banks, airports, seaports to be shut • Strike against court order illegal, lawyers insist • Police vow to enforce injunctions The success or otherwise of today’s strike action as planned by Nigerian workers, will depend largely on who finally wins the game of wits between the Organised Labour and the Federal Government, who took a last-minute decision to reconvene a reconciliation meeting with the workers for 7pm on Sunday (yesterday). The labour movement had, at the weekend, embarked on massive street mobilisation to ensure success of…

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the recently conducted Edo State governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and the other candidates that lost in the election have continued to weigh their options as they have 14 days left to challenge the victory of Governor Godwin Obaseki at the poll, according to Section 285 (5) of the constitution as amended, THISDAY has learnt. The election was a straight fight between Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu, who was defeated by the Edo State governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The election was adjudged to be free and fair…

•Sanwo-Olu rallies support for APC candidate Ondo State Governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and his predecessor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, have accused one another of performing poorly in office. While Mimiko described Akeredolu’s administration as a disappointment and anti-people based on its policies in education and health sectors, Akeredolu said some actions taken by Mimiko while in office actually negated the welfarism his government preached. Mimiko spoke at Ile-Oluji, headquarters of Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area during the campaign tour of the governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Mr. Agboola Ajayi. The former governor described his successor’s government as anti-people because of…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday appealed to Nigerians to pray for the unity of Nigeria, saying the cracks of the country’s wall could still be mended if properly addressed. The vice president spoke through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, who represented him at the inter-denominational service at National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja held to commemorate the 60th independence anniversary of the country. “Fortunately for us, our walls are not yet broken but there are obvious cracks that could lead to break if not properly addressed,” he said. Quoting copiously from the Bible, he told…

The discordant tunes over a proposed controversial railway line from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic clearly exposed the lack of synergy in governance. It is amazing how officials of the same government that should speak with one voice are feeding members of the public with divergent information, thereby creating confusion. The penchant for government functionaries to disagree on what should normally be a common ground should stop for progress to be made in the public interest. The disclosure, the other day, by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved about $1.96 billion…

As Nigeria gets set to mark her diamond jubilee as a political entity, the fact is not lost on anyone that at no time has the nation been this divided along ethnic and religious lines, reports Shola Oyeyipo The sideshow is the seeming controversy on whether or not the logo designed to mark the 60th independence anniversary of the nation was plagiarised. The main act is the message the logo was meant to portray and convey to a beleaguered people, who have had to face a constant exploitation of their fault lines by a rapacious political elite. The message in…

The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2019 election, Mr. Peter Obi yesterday dissociated himself from 2023 campaign posters that featured his photograph with that of a former governor Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwakwanso. In a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem yesterday, Obi noted that he had no knowledge about the Obi/ Kwakwanso posters being shared on various social media platforms. Obi said: “I am not part of the poster being circulated. I was not even contacted and I do not know the group that made the poster.” Obi had earlier tweeted:…