Author: Chief Editor

Toni Freixa plans to stand in next year’s presidential elections at Barcelona, by which time he thinks Lionel Messi will have left the club. Lionel Messi’s exit from Barcelona is “irrevocable” according to prospective Camp Nou presidential candidate Toni Freixa, who expects the superstar forward to join Manchester City. Messi shook world football last week by handing in his notice to leave Barcelona, who he joined as a 13-year-old. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner’s future could now become the subject of legal wrangling, with the Messi camp believing he is entitled to walk away from the final year of his…

Eze Onyekpere Nigerian leaders across the tiers of government, especially at the federal level, have reduced fiscal governance to a crude and barbaric joke. A joke carried out at the expense of the people and which produces direct results in poverty, suffering, disease and death for a good part of the population. There are unequivocal provisions in laws, regulations and policies directing on how public resources should be managed, spent and accounted for. But that is the law in the books which our leaders hold in great disdain and contempt. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as…

Thank you, Mr Charles Eyo, Daily Trust correspondent in Cross River State, for seeking to know who’s bankrolling my tour of projects in Peoples Democratic Party-led states across the country. “Well, I come from a bloodline of fearless forebears who set sail in life using the four compass points of integrity, service, scholarship and justice. I don’t know if you witnessed the era of my progenitor, the great Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode (SAN), who was born in Chelsea, England, in 1921, and studied at Cambridge. My father was the third Senior Advocate of Nigeria. His robust politics earned him the popular sobriquet,…

Mikel Arteta claimed Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is close to signing a new contract after the Gunners beat Liverpool 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the Community Shield on Saturday. Aubameyang put Arteta’s side ahead in the first half at Wembley with a typically eye-catching strike. Japan’s Takumi Minamino equalised with his first goal for Liverpool late in the second half of the annual pre-season friendly between the Premier League champions and FA Cup winners. In the shoot-out, Liverpool’s young striker Rhian Brewster was the only player to miss, hitting the bar with their third penalty before Aubameyang…

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mallam Isa Ali Pantami in a statement said the approval for the transfer was based on the President’s consideration for the critical role of NIMC towards the realisation of the objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (NDEPS). Pantami said that this was in line with the effort to ensure that synergy and effective ministry supervisory mechanism is put in place to coordinate, monitor and…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 138 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the nation’s confirmed cases to 53,865. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Sunday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 138 fresh cases were the lowest COVID-19 number in months in the country. Till date, 53,865 cases have been confirmed with 41,513 cases discharged and 1,013 deaths recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The public health agency said that two new fatalities were recorded, pushing the total to 1,013. NCDC noted that the…

•Directs police commissioners to beef up security •APC, PDP trade blame over allegations The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, has raised the alarm that politicians in Edo and Ondo States are arming thugs ahead of the governorship polls scheduled for September 19 and October 10 respectively. He has, therefore, ordered the commissioners of police in both states to rejig their security system to forestall a possible breach of the peace during the elections. The directive, according to a statement yesterday by Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, a deputy commissioner of police, came against the backdrop of security…

•Party denounces increasing rate of attacks The Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Mike Igini, has denied any plot with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state to rig the forthcoming governorship election. Igini was reacting to a statement by the Chairman All Progressives Congress (APC) Media Campaign Council, Mr. John Mayaki, and Col. David Imuse to the effect that he received a bribe from the PDP to swing the polls in its favour. Mayaki had asked Igini to explain his presence at Protea Hotel in Benin City where…

Thousands of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State led by Chief Ambrose Igbokwe Nwuzi, the Ogbugaa 1 of Etche Nation, yesterday defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Addressing the defectors, the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, urged PDP leaders in the area to work together for the overall interest of their people. Wike said he made a promise to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party during his second term inauguration, and would not allow further divisions in the party. He called on the leader of the party in…

One of the Co-conveners of the National Consultative Front (NCFront), Prof. Pat Utomi, yesterday listed the core objectives of the group to include checking the slide and restore popular trust in a democratic way. Utomi, in a statement he issued, said: “Our goal is to check the slide and restore popular trust in a democratic way as well as in our institutions, currently being suffocated by the politics of state capture and power erosion with attendant consequences, which include violence in Nigeria at large, which begs the question of the traditional definition of the state as the sovereign with a…