Author: Chief Editor

Lionel Messi can play in Argentina’s opening World Cup qualifier next month because the statute of limitations has run out on the ban he was given during last year’s Copa America, the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) said on Thursday. Messi was banned for one game after being sent off in the Copa America third-place playoff against Chile and for levelling accusations of “corruption” at South American soccer chiefs. Messi had been expected to serve the ban by missing Argentina’s qualifier against Ecuador that is scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires on Oct. 8. However, Claudio Tapia…

The Presidency on Friday says the prices of food items in the country are dropping as a result of the agricultural reforms of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, made this known while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme. Shehu was reacting to the President’s directive Thursday that the Central Bank of Nigeria should not release money for food and fertiliser importation henceforth. The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in their reactions, warned…

Jurgen Klopp has warned Liverpool’s title rivals that splashing out on new signings is no guarantee of success as the Premier League champions start their new campaign against Leeds on Saturday. Klopp’s side are back in action just seven weeks after Jordan Henderson lifted the trophy to mark the culmination of Liverpool’s first title-winning campaign for 30 years. As they powered to the title in record-setting style, Liverpool looked so untouchable that an era of sustained dominance seems eminently possible. They won 32 of their 38 games to finish 18 points clear of second-placed Manchester City and 33 ahead of…

INEC to deploy five RECs, 13,000 others for Edo Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, yesterday, swore in 85 judges who will adjudicate on election petition tribunals in the Edo and Ondo states’ governorship polls. The CJN, however, urged the members to be firm and not to be swayed by sentiments and blackmail in the course of discharging their duties after the main elections and by-elections. He said: “There is no doubt that temptations, tribulations, intimidations and even sheer blackmails may be unleashed on you. But as thoroughbred judicial officers, you must gird your loins to rise above…

The Senate Thursday has officially extended the submission of memoranda by interested members of the public for the review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria till Friday, September 25. This is just as the total number of memo sent by individuals and groups to the Senate committee on constitution review rose from 68 on Wednesday to 95 yesterday. The upper legislative chamber had on Wednesday unofficially extended the submission of Memoranda by one week due to some pressure mounted on the Deputy President of the Senate, Senate Ovie Omo-Agege, who also doubles as Chairman of the…

Who is afraid of Amotekun? Who wants to kill the Amotekun dream? Who is plotting to misalign the organic Amotekun lofty vision with a curious community policing in a convoluted federation that the nation wants to be restructured from the rubble of an odious unitary system? These questions have become germane from a recent extrapolation of a presidential spokesperson on the nexus that doesn’t exist between the state authorities that created the southwest states’ security outfit and the office of the Inspector-General of Police that is setting up a curious community policing mechanism without adding community value. The origin of the present controversy: a…

Victor Osimhen turned down a potential move to Manchester United before joining Napoli for £54 million, his brother has revealed. The 21-year-old moved to the Italian club from Lille in a big-money deal earlier this summer, but Andrew Osimhen has explained that United was also in for him. But the fact that fellow Nigerian Odion Ighalo already played at Old Trafford meant Victor did not contemplate the move out of respect. “It is very true that Manchester United wanted Victor but he told me something like he had too much respect for Odion Ighalo to be competing for shirts with…

Plans to lift 100m out of poverty • Inaugurates steering committee Realising its inability to meet Vision 20:2020 goals years after the country embarked on an ambitious agenda to be among the top 20 economies in terms of GDP size, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday in Abuja, inaugurated National Steering Committee to oversee and actualise Nigeria Agenda 2050 and Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP). Evidence before the COVID-19 pandemic showed Vision 20:2020 was far from being a reality; the health crisis only compounded the situation. Birthed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 focuses on two broad objectives that…

Super Eagles Head Coach, Gernot Rohr, have asked Nigerian football fans to refrain from comparing new Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen with Chelsea and Côte d’Ivoire legend, Didier Drogba. The Franco-German gaffer insisted the former Lille of France top scorer is not yet on the same pedestal as the former football icon who is aspiring to lead Ivorian football as President. Statistics of the achievements of the 2015 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets in Chile available Rohr’s claim as Osimhen scored just one headed goal over the course of last season. That goal was against Chelsea in the UEFA…

United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, Priti Patel, has come under scrutiny over her comments on the $9.6 billion arbitration fine case between Nigeria and the Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited. Following last week’s UK court ruling in favour of Nigeria, Private Eye, a British current affairs news magazine, published an article on the involvement of Patel in the case. P&ID had sued Nigeria for allegedly breaching the terms of a gas supply and processing agreement contract it reportedly signed in 2010. In January 2017, a UK tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay P&ID $6.6 billion as…