Author: Chief Editor

The Ballon d’Or will not be awarded this year due to the extraordinary conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic, organisers France Football announced on Monday. It will be the first time the trophy given for the world’s best men’s footballer has not been awarded since Englishman Stanley Matthews won the inaugural edition in 1956. “There will be no edition in 2020, because it turns out, after thoughtful consideration, that all the conditions are not met,” said Pascal Ferre, the editor of the magazine. The COVID-19 outbreak saw all major football leagues shut down in March, with the German Bundesliga the…

Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC, Professor Daniel Keme Pondei, fainted during a public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee probing allegations of financial recklessness in NDDC Monday. Pondei collapsed while he was being asked by lawmakers to explain why the commission under his leadership made huge payments to companies  without appropriation. Offiicals of the commission present at the hearing made  efforts to revive him and later moved him out of the venue of the public hearing. Earlier, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee onNDDC, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had recused himself from the…

There seems to be imminent crisis within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, as the ruling party conducts its primary election today to unveil its flagbearer in the upcoming October 10, 2020 governorship election. Sequel to the political wrangling among the aspirants, several readers of events predicted that the outcome of the election today may cause some of the party’s leaders and chieftains to pit their strength against the ruling party. To some political analysts, the season is propitious to the governor, whose wife, Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, adds another year today, with her husband’s birthday also coming up tomorrow.…

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea endured a Wembley nightmare last night as Chelsea strolled to a 3-1 victory and set up an FA Cup final date with Arsenal on August 1. United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ditched his usual FA Cup keeper Sergio Romero to keep faith with De Gea – but the experienced Spain international produced two horrendous errors either side of half-time to gift Chelsea two goals. De Gea made a flimsy attempt to deal with Olivier Giroud’s flick in first-half stoppage time then weakly fumbled Mason Mount’s tame 20-yard shot into the net moments after the…

Finally, after weeks of going back and forth on the deal, Nigeria and Lille forward, Victor Osimhen, 21, has moved a big step to completing a record-breaking transfer to Italian Serie A side Napoli after passing his medical at the Naples based club at the weekend. Napoli that paraded Argentine super star, Diego Maradona in the 1990s, are now set to make a formal announcement of the transfer of the 2015 Under-17 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets in Chile as the prized jewel they snatched from the French side in a reported deal said to be around 80…

Tottenham boosted their chances of Europa League football next season and inflicted a huge blow on Leicester’s Champions League ambitions with a superb performance. Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester side have been in the Premier League’s top four for much of the season but this devastating away defeat leaves them with a difficult task going into their final league game next Sunday. The Foxes finish the season against fifth-placed Manchester United, but should the Red Devils beat West Ham on Wednesday and claim a draw at the King Power, they will be assured of a top-four finish at the expense of Leicester.…

•Says attacks on Buhari unwarranted The presidency yesterday pushed back criticisms that the anti-corruption war was flagging due to the recent allegations of graft against some top government officials. It said contrary to the belief of critics, the anti-graft war was at historic crossroads and called on all Nigerians to join hands together to collectively remedy the trend. Reacting to a range of editorial comments at the weekend that President Muhammadu Buhari was not in charge of his government in view of recent events involving allegations and counter allegations of corruption by some government officials without any seeming decisive expression…

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, yesterday hailed the move by the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, stopping the police from arresting a former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh. Falana also demanded that the Department of State Services (DSS) obey three separate court orders for the release of an Aba, Abia State-based lawyer, Mr. Emperor Ogbonna, who was arrested in March this year for criticising Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in a Facebook post. On Wike’s intervention preventing Nunieh’s arrested, Falana noted in his statement yesterday that the…

•Zamfara bandits surrender 50 guns in barter deal The Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, has attributed the prevailing cases of banditry and Boko Haram insurgency bedeviling the North to the activities of some politicians who want to contest the 2023 general election. This is coming as bandits in Zamfara State have surrendered 50 guns within the past one week, in acceptance of the state government’s offer of two cows for every gun returned. The governor said such politicians believed that by sponsoring violence and other acts of criminality, they would be blackmailing the Buhari administration to contest in…

•No regrets for not being stooge, says governor •INEC predicts low voters’ turnout in Edo, Ondo gov elections •Akeredolu frustrated by inability to remove me, says Ajayi A former National Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, has apologised to the people of Edo State for supporting Governor GodwinObaseki to emerge as the state governor in 2016. He, however, said his mission for now would be to ensure the governor’s defeat in the governorship election scheduled for September 19. But in a swift response, Obaseki said he had no regrets for not being a stooge of Oshiomhole. Both politicians had…