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Anambra election: APGA in marathon race to beat INEC deadline
The deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for all registered political parties interested in participating in the November 2021 Anambra State governorship election elapses in less than 24 hours. The development, newsmen has gathered, has heightened last minute scheming and jostling within the ranks of the Jude Okeke-led leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and its candidate in the election, Chuma Umeoji. Recall that according to the election timetable released by INEC, political parties are required to submit the personal particulars and names/list of nominated candidates between July 2 and July 9, 2021. With the development, APGA leadership and Umeoji, who is a current member of the House of Representatives has come under intense pressu...
Dennis Bergkamp named Premier League Hall of Fame inductee
Dennis Bergkamp is the latest former player to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. The Dutchman joins ex-Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry as well as Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Frank Lampard in receiving the League’s highest individual honour. “It feels special to be part of a small group of players who got the recognition of playing in the strongest league in the world,” said Bergkamp. “I’m honoured.” His arrival at Arsenal in 1995 from Inter Milan was the catalyst for a transformation of the Premier League, the playmaker adding a new level of technical ability and skill that elevated the competition and attracted other stars from overseas. ‘THE PL MADE ME A BETTER PLAYER’ “I’m extremely proud if people say that I was one of the first foreign players who added s...
Ex-President Obasanjo: Why Peter Odili didn’t emerge Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed the behind-the-scene details of how former Rivers Governor Peter Odili lost out in the race to emerge late President Musa Yar’Adua’s running mate in 2007. Odili was a leading contender for the vice presidential slot but lost out in dramatic manners at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention in Abuja. Obasanjo, who was handing over after a two-term rule, said Odili was favoured for the slot but was dropped because of corruption cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Speaking on Sunday in a virtual interview with historian and academic Toyin Falola, Obasanjo said: “Now, we needed a running mate for Yar’adua. There were two possibilities – the first possibility was Peter Odili. “Peter Odili was a much str...
Edo APC to appeal Abuja high court judgement
The chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Col David Imuse (rtd), has said that the party would appeal Saturday’s judgement by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed the alleged certificate forgery suit filed against Governor Godwin Obaseki by the party. The presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, had on Saturday dismissed the suit filed by the APC and a chieftain of the party, Williams Edobor, on the conclusion that the plaintiffs failed to prove their allegations of forgery against Governor Obaseki as it is expected in every criminal matter. “Allegation of forgery borders on crime which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the instant case, no iota of evidence talk-less of a proof beyond reasonable doubt was bro...
Edo election: Court annuls Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Gani Audu’s APC candidacy
An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has nullified the candidacy of the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in the State, Mr. Gani Audu. The court presided over by Justice Courage Ogbebor, by extension, also nullified the candidacy of the party’s governorship candidate for the election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Audu is a former member of the State House of Assembly. The Plaintiff, Sunday Kadiri, from Ogbona ward, in Etsako West Local Government Area of the State, had asked the court to disqualify Audu from participating in the election on account of having given false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to aid his qualification for the election. Kadiri further prayed the ...
Diego Simeone welcomes back Kieran Trippier after FA explains betting ban
Kieran Trippier’s 10-week ban for betting offences is on hold as FIFA considers an appeal, although the FA has explained its decision. Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone welcomed Kieran Trippier back to training after his 10-week suspension for betting offences was put on hold by FIFA. The 30-year-old defender was issued with the ban and a fine of £70,000 on December 23 after the Football Association (FA) found him guilty of four of seven alleged breaches of rule E8(1)(b). Atletico appealed against the punishment to FIFA, and world football’s governing body has cleared Trippier to play while its appeal committee considers the matter. In the written reasons explaining its independent regulatory commission’s decision, which the FA published on Tuesday, it was revealed Trippier told a friend,...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris jointly named TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were jointly named Time magazine’s 2020 “Person of the Year” on Thursday, chosen from a list of finalists that included the man Biden vanquished at the polls – President Donald Trump. The Democratic former vice president and his running mate, a California senator whose election broke gender and racial barriers, together “offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket,” Time said in a profile of the pair, published online with its announcement. Following the most tumultuous U.S. presidential campaign in modern times, waged in the throes of a deadly pandemic, economic devastation and a strife-torn national reckoning with racism, Biden and Harris prevailed in an election that drew the highest voter turnout in a century....
Mike Pompeo: Donald Trump will get ‘second term’
The U.S Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, perhaps, shocked Americans and the world on Tuesday, when he predicted that President Donald Trump “would win a second term in office” despite the victory of his opponent, Joe Biden, at the recently held presidential polls. The New York Post reported that Mr Pompeo, during a briefing at the State Department’s headquarters, Pompeo was asked by a reporter whether government officials were “preparing to engage” with Mr Biden’s transition team. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Mr Pompeo said with a smile. “The world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the State Department is functional today, successful today and successful with the president who’s in office on Jan. 20 a minut...
