Author: Chief Editor

Gareth Bale’s stand-off with Real Madrid continued on Wednesday after the forward was left out of Zinedine Zidane’s squad to face Red Bull Salzburg in a friendly. Bale has only played in two of Real Madrid’s five pre-season games so far, coming on as a substitute against Arsenal and Atletico Madrid, and has now been left out completely for the third fixture in a row. James Rodriguez and Mariano Diaz, who are both expected to be sold, were also not included for the match in Austria. Zidane has made clear that Bale is not in his plans as he looks…

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court Abuja, on Monday, granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s prayer to freeze the First City Monument Bank (FCMB)’s Operational Account number: 0998552074 of the Bauchi State government. The EFCC, through his Counsel, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, in an Exparte Order with file number: FHC/ABJ/CS/858/2019, sought the order of the court to freeze the account pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation by the commission. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government presently has about N11 billion (N11,500,000 000 00) in the bank account. The judge ordered the EFCC…

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament is meeting on Tuesday over the status of implementation of the protocol on the fight against corruption in the sub-region. The meeting of the Joint Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and Gender, Women Empowerment, Social Protection, Legal and Judicial Affairs will  hold from Tuesday to Saturday in Ouagadougou. The theme of the meeting is “Status of Implementation of ECOWAS Protocol A/P3/12/01 on the Fight Against Corruption: ECOWAS Parliament’s contribution thereto”. The protocol on the fight against corruption was signed in Dakar on Dec. 21, 2001, and adopted by the Authority of…

BY REUBEN ABATI “So, did you join the #RevolutionNow protests yesterday?” “Which Revolution?” “The #RevolutionNow protest led by Omoyele Sowore. The security people grabbed him ahead of the August 5 protests, but the Grand Coalition for Security and Democracy still came out in full force in Lagos and Abuja.” “Yes. Yes. We did. But it rained in Abuja.” “And were you part of it? The Coalition for Revolution in Nigeria” “I am part and parcel of it. This country cannot continue like this. We need a revolution. Nobody can tell us that the change they promised in 2015, we now…

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of former West Ham goalkeeper Adrian on a free transfer. The 32-year-old has joined the European champions as a replacement for Simon Mignolet, who has left for Club Brugge in a reported £6.4million deal. “I’m feeling really happy; really happy to be here and to work in this great club and start doing my stuff on the pitch as soon as possible,” Adrian, who spent six seasons with West Ham before leaving at the end of last term, told Liverpool’s website. “I’m very ambitious, I come here to try to win everything, to try to…

Harry Maguire’s long-anticipated move to Manchester United has finally gone through for a reported £80million. The England man developed into a fully fledged top-flight star at Leicester City and their reward was a world-record fee for a defender. But have United found someone capable of making the step up from a mid-table club and helping them return as a dominant force in English football? With the help of Opta, we take a look at how his numbers stack up against his new United team-mates and the rest of the Premier League. STRONGER THAN UNITED TEAM-MATES United struggled to establish…

By Omoshola Deji Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election has ended, but the contest is ongoing at the tribunal. Politics is a mean game – and politicians devise every means to win. That ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar is challenging the result doesn’t mean he won. He may have indeed lose and still be imploring the tribunal to return him elected. In the same vein, President Muhammadu Buhari’s insistence that he won doesn’t mean he actually did. He may have robbed Atiku and still be persuading the tribunal to pronounce him validly elected. Aside determining who really won, two major issues are before…

Tunde Odesola Twin giants, futility and hope, kick in the womb of life. Inseparable, they perpetually lock in contest with Man and time. Contemplating the futility of life, the greatest English playwright of all time, William Shakespeare, says in King Lear, “As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods, They kill us for their sport.” Reinforcing the primacy of hope in life, however, the Igbo say, “Anu laa taa, echi bu nta,” meaning: If ‘bushmeat’ escapes today, tomorrow is another hunting day. Today, much more than poverty, hunger and diseases, insecurity poses the greatest agony to Nigerians from all…

Ola Awoniyi The screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate has come and gone but the dust it raised may take some time to settle. The announcement of ministerial nominations is always greeted with public excitement. And the case was not different this time round too, for obvious reasons. The President needs ministers to help him in running the affairs of the country. When the ministers are in place, it is generally believed the full complement of the Executive is formed for the business of governance to begin in earnest. This is why the nation was eager about the composition…

Henry Boyo The news of the Federal Government’s plans to establish Ruga, or cattle colonies throughout the federation started filtering out after President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected as President, and his party, the All Progressives Congress also won a majority of seats in the National Assembly after the conclusion of the February 2019 elections. Further confirmation of government’s Ruga plans was made on May 21, 2019, by former Minister for Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, who revealed that land had been selected for Ruga programme in all the states of the federation. The project, according to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of…