HOPE
Neymar: I am happy and proud to remain at PSG
Neymar has signed a contract extension with Paris St-Germain, keeping Brazil forward at the French giants until 30 June 2025. The 29-year-old said “happiness” was the main factor in signing a new deal. Neymar, who joined PSG in a world-record £200m deal in 2017, had been linked with a move away, including a return to Barcelona. “I have grown as a person here, as a human being and as a player, too,” he told the PSG website. Neymar was in the final year of his contract, having signed a five-year deal on his initial arrival. He has scored 85 goals and registered 51 assists in 112 games for PSG. However, he has had a difficult relationship with the club’s fans at times and was booed after expressing a desire to move back to Barcelona in 2019. Neymar said he had undergone a “very positive evolu...
Ondo governor commiserates with Pastor Adeboye over son’s demise
Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has commiserated with the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, over the death of his son, Pastor Dare Adeboye. Governor Akeredolu described the sudden death of the late Dare as tragic and a huge loss to Christendom, Adeboye’s dynasty and the youths considering the roles of the deceased in youth mentorship as a Regional Youth Evangelist. In a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Richard Olatunde, the governor said: ‘If Christ tarries, no one is excused from the tragic end of death. What is most desirable is that we all come of ripe age and live our lives well in the hope that we bury our parents and not the other way round. ‘It becomes devastating when a father experie...
CP Yaro: How I will end insecurity in Imo
The newly posted Imo state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, on Thursday, said that he would introduce visibility policing as well as reinvigorate community policing in the state to restore fully the security of lives and properties in Imo. Yaro started this to newsmen in Owerri, while taking over from Nasiru Mohammed, the outgoing commissioner of police. To achieve it, he said it would be a community participatory process where everybody will be involved. According to him, “Within the period the Imo State Police Command will be under my watch, we will do our best to revive our visibility policing. Visibility policing by way of ensuring that police asset and personnel are seen in the public domain and in ungoverned places because visibility policing has the potentials of reducing crimina...
Jose Mourinho: Why I accepted to coach Roma
Jose Mourinho has said he desires to ‘create a winning project’ at Roma and chose the Gialloross for ‘the incredible passion of the fans’. The 58-year-old returns to Serie A ahead of 2021-22 with 25 major trophies in his luggage so far. The former FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur coach has accepted a three-year contract and will succeed Paulo Fonseca after the season. “Thank you to the Friedkin family for choosing me to lead this great club and to be part of their vision,” Mourinho told the club’s official website. “After meetings with the ownership and Tiago Pinto, I immediately understood the full extent of their ambitions for AS Roma. It is the same ambition and drive that has always motivated me and together we want to build a winning proje...
Taraba governor advises Nigerian government on state police
Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba has advised the Federal Government to try state police in addressing the security challenges in the country. Ishaku gave the advice in his remarks at a world news conference organised by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the party national secretariat in Abuja, on Monday. The conference also featured Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Enyinaya Abaribe, and former president of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki. According to Gov. Darius, the primary responsibility of any democratic government was to secure the people and their property. He said the state governors were going through challenges and were helpless in managing the insecurity as they have no power over security. “No matter how bad the state police, let us experiment it. After all, we have the State Electora...
Somalia invites state leaders to crucial election talks
Somalia’s prime minister on Sunday invited regional leaders to a fresh round of negotiations in the hope of resolving a protracted feud over elections that sparked violence in the capital. The troubled Horn of Africa country is experiencing its worst political crisis in years, with fighting erupting in Mogadishu last week after the president extended his mandate by two years without going to elections. Opposition fighters remain in the capital even after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed backed away from the mandate extension at the weekend and agreed to hold a fresh vote. The president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, tasked his prime minister with reaching out to rivals and overseeing the negotiations, a key opposition demand. A government spokesman said Prime Minister Mohamed Hu...
APC taunts PDP over ‘connivance’ with terrorists
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has disclosed ongoing high-level investigations to unravel those behind the growing wave of terrorism and other violent crimes across the country, expressing hope that at the end of the probe, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP would not be found to be sponsoring destabilizing elements ahead of the 2023 general elections. The APC stated this on Sunday in Abuja in a statement issued by the National Secretary of its Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe. APC was reacting to a statement by the PDP after its national caucus at the weekend to the effect that the country was fast descending into anarchy and that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has no solutions having been o...
Norwich City seal Championship title finally at Carrow Road
Norwich City have clinched the Championship title on Saturday after coming from behind to defeat Reading 4-1 at Carrow Road. Daniel Farke’s dominant side had already sealed an immediate return to the Premier League with five matches to spare on April 17 and are now celebrating winning the second division for the second time in only three seasons. The trophy was guaranteed on Saturday as Kieran Dowell’s brace, a Xavi Quintilla free-kick and Teemu Pukki’s 26th goal of the campaign saw Norwich fight back from Josh Laurent’s early header to thump out-of-form Reading. The Canaries would have actually wrapped up the title on Saturday regardless of their own result after fellow promoted side Watford were beaten 2-0 at play-off hopefuls Brentford. At the other end of the table, the relegation batt...
Oyo governor unveils agriculture electronic centre in Ibadan
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has inaugurated Africa’s first agricultural electronic centre, an innovation provided by Farm Konnect Agribusiness Nigeria Plc in Ibadan. A lot of dignitaries in and outside the state were in attendance at the epoch event, which took place at the Basorun area of Ibadan. Amongst the dignitaries include the Oyo State Chief of Staff, Chief Bisi Ilaka, the Director-General Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, Dr Debo Akande, Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture, and his Osun State counterpart, the representatives of the federal government, bank officials, investors and others. Speaking at the event, Governor Makinde commended FarmKonnect for bringing such an innovation that will change the face of agriculture in the country and Africa as a whole to ...
Kano governor: Nigeria can’t progress with current level of corruption
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has said Nigeria cannot progress with the level of corruption in the country. Speaking on Thursday at the inauguration of an eight-man Anti-Corruption Strategy Steering Committee, Ganduje stressed that all stakeholders must do all that is necessary to ensure a corruption-free state with limitless opportunities. Ganduje, who was represented at the occasion by Alhaji Usman Alhaji, the Secretary to the State Government, noted that there is no sacred lamb in the fight against corruption in the state. “Believe me, we don’t need to say that corruption in this country is killing all of us. The truth of the matter is that we will never develop or progress with this level of corruption in this country,” the governor cautioned. The governor said the miss...
President Buhari nominates Kolawole Alabi as FCCPC commissioner
President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Mr Kolawole Alabi for appointment as Executive Commissioner, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). This is contained in a letter dated April 26 and read by President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, at the plenary on Wednesday. “In accordance with the provision of Section 5(1) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act, 2018. “I write to forward, for confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the appointment of Mr Kolawole Oladipupo Alabi as Executive Commissioner, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. “The nominee’s CV is attached herewith. “It is my hope that the Distinguished Senate will consider and confirm the appointment in the usual expeditious manner.”(NAN) Get...
Ex-President Obasanjo: If Nigeria breaks up, minority groups will be exterminated
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday described calls for the disintegration of Nigeria as unmindful and insensitive to the plight of the minority groups in the country. Obasanjo made the observation when he received the Tiv Professional Group (TPG) from Benue State, who paid him a courtesy visit in Abeokuta. The former president recalled a discussion between him and “a military friend” who, according to him, has described major tribes in the country as selfish and not sufficiently caring for the minority groups. Obasanjo, who aligned with his friend’s opinion, expressed worry over what would become of the minority groups if the major tribes decided to secede and begin to operate as separate countries. “If the Yoruba can stand as a country, if the Igbos and the Hausa/Fulani can s...