John
Mikel Obi leaves Stoke City, joins Kuwaiti club
Former Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel has joined Al Kuwait SC, the Kuwaiti Premier League side on a year’s deal. The announcement was made by the club on Thursday, after Mikel and Stoke City cancelled their contract by mutual consent. Mikel’s new club finished third in the division last season behind Al-Qadsia and champions Al-Arabi. The Nigerian spent 11 years and made 372 appearances across all competitions for Chelsea. After Chelsea he played for Trabzonspor and Middlesbrough, before heading to China to spend two years with Tianjin Teda in the Chinese Super League. Mikel returned to UK in August 2020 to play Stoke City. Stoke boss Michael O’Neill told the club’s official website: ‘Although John triggered the second year of his contract, we always had an agreement in place whereby we wou...
French far right irked by election results, southern region in play
France’s far right performed worse than predicted in Sunday’s regional elections, exit polls showed, leaving victory in the southern battleground of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur and a platform for the 2022 presidential election in the balance. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National expressed frustration at a record low turnout,as the centre right made its first comeback at the ballot box since a disastrous showing in the 2017 presidential election and President Emmanuel Macron’s party finished fifth. The high abstention rate in Sunday’s first-round vote, projected at 68.5% by pollster Elabe, coincided with a sunny Sunday and emergence from months of tough COVID-19 curbs. “This evening the government won because for the last few weeks it has been in search of a massive abstention rate,” said ...
Ogun governor suspends aide arrested for ‘fraud’ in US
The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has suspended his aide, Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested in the United States for an alleged $350,000 (about N140 million) COVID-19 unemployment fraud. Kunle Somorin, Abiodun’s chief press secretary, confirmed the suspension to newsmen on Tuesday. This was also confirmed to newsmen by the chief press secretary to Abiodun, Kunle Somorin. “Our position is that the law should take its course,” Somorin said in a WhatsApp interview. “Meanwhile, the governor has ordered his immediate suspension from office to answer charges against him.” Sources within the government told newsmen that the governor took the action immediately he was briefed about Rufai’s arrest. This newspaper earlier reported that Rufai, Senior Special Assistant to Abiodun, was arrested l...
FSG rejects £3 billion offer to sell Liverpool
Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group has rejected a £3bn offer from the Middle East to sell. The offer was made to FSG prior to the announcement on Sunday night that principal owner John W. Henry had been involved in talks to take Liverpool into the ill-fated European Super League, reports the Mirror. Following anger aimed at FSG in the wake of the failed Super League plot there are other potential bidders waiting in the wings to see if the stance of Henry and Liverpool chairman Tom Werner changes as a result of the enormous criticism they face. FSG took charge of Liverpool in 2010, buying the club for around £300m to end the reign of the deeply unpopular Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Anfield, the American duo having left the Reds on a financial cliff edge by the time their exit arrived....
CAN accuses Anambra governor of religious bigotry
File Photo Chairman, Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Anambra State, Rev. Ndubuisi John, has accused Governor Willie Obiano of marginalising the Christian body in the state. He said the marginalisation was informed by his non-Catholic disposition, describing it as religious bigotry. John who was honoured yesterday in Onitsha by the United Nations Peace and Positive Living Awareness Centre as an ‘Ambassador for World Peace’, lamented that several efforts made by the body to meet with the Governor since he assumed office as the CAN chairman had been unsuccessful. He said, “One should imagine it is religious bigotry, it depends on one’s perception, if I were to be an Anglican or Roman Catholic Bishop, he would not have treated me that way. “I think that the government should not abe...
France to tighten legislation on incest – president
France will tighten its laws on incest, President Emmanuel Macron said in a series of tweets on Saturday, after publication of a book accusing a top French political commentator of abusing his stepson sparked outrage across the country. Macron said on his Twitter account that France needs to adapt its laws to better protect children from sexual violence and he had asked the justice minister to chair a consultation aimed at quickly making legislative proposals. “We will go after the aggressors,” Macron said. Macron said France had already increased the statute of limitations on incest to 30 years, counted from the legal age of majority of the victim, and had tightened controls on people working with children, but he said much more needed to be done. He said that as part of current routine m...