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David Moyes lashes out at Premier League chiefs over Manchester United decision
David Moyes fears West Ham’s slim hopes of Champions League football could be affected further by Manchester United forced to field weakened teams. The Hammers boss – whose men were beaten by Everton – has called on the Premier League to explain the questions surrounding the integrity of the competition being affected with United’s 3-1 win at Aston Villa their first of three games in five games. Reds boss Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is set to dip into his squad to face the Hammers’ top-four rivals Leicester on Tuesday after sealing a top four place. Moyes said: “The Premier League should be answering these questions and tell us why this is the case. “There was an awful lot of integrity needed to get the Premier League back up and running during the pandemic. ‘Ole can do what he likes. Its his tea...
Nollywood actress: Why I changed my name
Nollywood actress, Belinda Effah, has revealed that she will now be officially addressed as Grace-Charis Bassey. The actress recently announced this development on her Instagram page. Speaking at a press conference which held on the set of “Nollywood Queens” reality show during the week, Effah disclosed that she changed her name from Belinda Effah to Grace-Charis Bassey. According to the actress, her divine encounter with God prompted the name change. Her words; “I had to change my name and the only thing that can make me change my name will be the most supreme being which is God. A lot of people will not understand that. So I don’t bother to explain to people when they ask me why. On the 15th of August last year. I had a divine encounter with God to change my name to Grace. Nobody changed...
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...
Afenifere: We’ll not support military takeover
Pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, has said it is against military takeover of any kind. In a statement, National Publicity Secretary of the group, Comrade Jare Ajayi, described military intervention in government as a curse. He said the recent clamour for change in the country was borne out of frustration over the state of the nation. Ajayi said, “Going by what the nation went through under the military, we will certainly not support another military rule in Nigeria under any guise. “It is on record for example that apart from the general abridgement of the rights of Nigerians under the military, members of the the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) masterminded by Afenifere suffered greatly. “It is on record that we lost a lot of patriotic Nigerians all because they were prot...
Akwa Ibom first lady leads women’s protest on raped, murdered job seeker
Wife of Akwa Ibom State’s Governor Udom Emmanuel, Dr. Martha Emmanuel, on Wednesday led over 3,000 women from different walks of life on a solidarity march to protest the gruesome murder of Miss Iniubong Umoren. The women took over Uyo metropolis, singing dirges and carrying placards with different inscriptions like: “We want justice for Iniubong,” “Justice for one is justice for all,” “No more rape, no more gender-based violence.” Other inscriptions said: “#Stand in Solidarity with Akwa Ibom State women and demand justiceforIniubongUmoren,” “#Rape is a crime punishable by law,” among others. The women marched from Ibom Connection down to Nuwana Iba and then moved to Wellington Bassey Way leading to the state’s Government House. Other dignitaries who accompanied the wife of the Governor on...
Segun Adeniyi: Devolution of power alone can’t solve Nigeria’s problems
Nigerian Monitor The chairman of THISDAY editorial board, Olusegun Adeniyi, says devolution of power is not the only solution to Nigeria’s problems. Adeniyi said for it to be effective, devolution of power must come with accountability at all levels especially at the local government where administration “has been castrated”. He was speaking at ‘The Platform’, an annual programme organised by Covenant Christian Centre, which was held in Lagos on Saturday. The seasoned journalist added that from past experience, closer government does not necessarily translate to better governance. “Today, there is hardly anybody in our country who is not angry about the situation in which we find ourselves. But nobody is accepting responsibility because the other person or the other ethnic group is to blam...
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 ...
Report: Nigerian politicians own 800 assets worth $400 million in London, Dubai
File Photo An Associate Fellow of Chatham House, London, Mr. Matthew Page, said yesterday that 800 property worth $400 million and owned by Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) in Nigeria were located in London and Dubai. The revelation is coming as the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanonye, said it dragged about 2,000 corporate entities into the country’s tax net. A statement issued by ICPC said Page made the disclosure in his paper presentation titled: “IFFs through the Real Estate and Education Sectors: Implications for Investigators,” at an event organised by the agency in Abuja. He urged the investigators of the ICPC to pay attention to real estate and education sectors-linked illicit financial flows. He noted ...
Zimbabwe street vendors reel under virus curbs
For years, Zimbabwean single mother Spiwe Tembo would sell buns on the streets of central Harare, earning enough to feed her three children. But her fortunes have dived. Since authorities banned street hawkers a year ago as part of a raft of measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, she plays cat-and-mouse with the police who comb the streets to rid them of vendors. “Things are tough,” the 34-year-old said, waving a packet of large buns to potential customers on a busy street in a part of Harare that locals call “Third World” because it is always teeming. She said: “We get arrested by municipal and national police. Almost daily I pay bribes to police officers to avoid getting arrested.” On the days she doesn’t have any cash, the inevitable happens and she is arrested and her wares seized. ...
Rafael Nadal beats Stefanos Tsitsipas to win 12th Barcelona title
Rafael Nadal saved a championship point to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-5 on Sunday and claim a 12th Barcelona Open title in the ATP’s longest match of 2021. The Spaniard secured his first title of the year and 87th of his career, denying Tsitsipas back-to-back triumphs following his maiden Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo last week. Nadal avenged his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Tsitsipas and will return to second in the ATP rankings on Monday by climbing back above Daniil Medvedev after his marathon 3-hour 38-minute win. “It means a lot for me to play the final here and win,” said Nadal. “I improved my level during the week and this trophy means a lot.” Nadal redeemed himself after a surprise quarter-final exit in Monte Carlo, but the three sets dropped en route to...
Official: Dennis Amachree not speaking for DSS on Isa Pantami
Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Service (DSS) has disowned reasons adduced for its alleged failure to reveal alleged link of Malam Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to terrorism before his confirmation as minister in 2019 adduced by one of its former officer, Dennis Amachree. Amaechree, a former Assistant Director of DSS had in an online interview on Wednesday said the secret police was aware of alleged link of Pantami to terrorism. But he said the DSS decided not to make the reasons public, thus enabling Pantami to sail through senate screening due to a lot of factors including federal character balancing. Amachree had said, ”There is no information that escapes the DSS, we have all of it, all. When I was working there, we keep a catalogue of...
Red Cross condemns ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The Red Cross voiced alarm Thursday over “horrific” accounts of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, amid fears that rape was being used as a weapon of war. Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organisation’s staff in hospitals and clinics in the region were hearing first-hand of extreme sexual violence. “Those reports are extremely horrific, very shocking,” he told AFP in an interview, adding that this was a “matter of grave concern”. “I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector,” said Mardini, who among other things closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018. “Many of my humani...
