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Pep Guardiola reacts as Leeds defeat Manchester City at Etihad
Pep Guardiola has said that City’s 2-1 Premier League defeat to Leeds should not detract from the incredible achievements his side has accomplished this season. The Premier League leaders suffered a last-gasp defeat to Leeds at the Etihad Stadium, falling to Stuart Dallas’ injury-time strike. However, the defeat marked only City’s second loss in their last 36 games (with City winning 27 of our last 29) a feat Guardiola says should not be diminished by one result. “What happens when you lose games is that you realise how difficult what we have done so far is,” he said. “You realise how difficult it is to win 27 in 29 games. “We need points still because our opponents can win more points – but we have three finals. “I have incredible confidence with the guys. Defeat sometimes is necessary to...
South-West PDP congress: Seyi Makinde, Ayo Fayose’s groups fight over 756 delegates
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, are to test their popularity with 756 delegates that will elect officials of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West on Monday. While Makinde is backing a former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Taofeek Arapaja, for the position of chairman, Fayose is mobilising for Dr Eddy Olafeso. Olafeso, who is from Ondo State, is a former occupant of the office. He resigned to contest the party’s governorship ticket in the last Ondo State election, which he lost to Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). Makinde had wanted the congress to hold in Ibadan, but the Fayose faction wanted it in another venue, saying the Oyo State capital was not safe for it and its supporters. However, two days ago, the National Working Committee of...
PDP governors: Restructuring necessary to avert civil war
File Photo Amidst rising tension across the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, yesterday, said an urgent devolution of power and restructuring of the polity has become imperative, as the country cannot afford another civil war. The Forum raised the alarm that the country is fast becoming a failed state, under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government. The PDP governors expressed worries that all fault lines and differences in the country has been stretched to the limit by the present administration, because it allegedly lacks the capacity to governors. The opposition governors stated this, in a communique, issued at the end of their meeting, in the Benue State capital, Makurdi. The meeting was attended by Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Sokoto St...
NSF: We’ve surpassed our expectations in swimming – Bayelsa coach
The coach of Bayelsa’s swimming team, Gentle Offoin, says the team has surpassed its expectations at the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF), Edo 2020. Offoin told newsmen in Edo on Friday, that nobody could stop Bayelsa in any swimming event after this NSF. The coach said the team’s success so far at the ongoing Edo 2020 was not magic, but due to hard work and the support of the state government. “Our success here is not magic, it is the training. We spent a lot of time training and training, even when the festival was postponed. “We kept training and at the end we got the result. “Our expectation for the festival was to win 10 gold medals, so far, we have nine and this is just the fifth day of the NSF and we hope to surpass our expectation,” he said. He added that the team hoped ...
Kano NLC suspends planned strike
The organised labour has suspended the three-day warning strike it planned to commence today (Thursday) in Kano over the deduction of workers salary for the month of March by the state government. The NLC Deputy National President, Najeem Yasin, announced the suspension of the strike on Wednesday night at a joint news conference with other labour movement and affiliates in Kano after a meeting with the State government team led by the Head of Civil Service, Hajia Binta Lawan Ahmed. The NLC had last week given a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to refund and stop what it described as “illegal deduction” from civil servant salaries or face industrial action. Similarly, the labour leaders insisted that failure of the government to stop the “unexplained” deduction before the end of ...
Azman Air apologises to NCAA chief over false accusations
After series of accusations and counter-accusations generated by the suspension of Azman from flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) over violation of safety rules, the management of the airline has finally apologised to the regulatory agency for the rash actions it took over the suspension. The suspension of Azman by the NCAA was negatively reacted to by the airline with the management issuing a scandalous statement which accused the director-general of the NCAA, Captain Nuhu Musa, of suspending the airline to punish it for a previous disagreement between him and the airline. Azman had in the statement accused the NCAA DG of embarking on a vengeance mission which elicited reactions from key players across the sector. However, the latest statement issued and sig...
Ukraine denies killing of child in attack on separatists
Ukraine on Monday denied reports that its forces had killed a five-year-old child in an attack on pro-Moscow eastern separatists, after Russia said it would launch an investigation. “This is a gross, cynical, nasty and godless manipulation,” Ukraine’s defence ministry told AFP in a written comment on the claim, denouncing it as “fake news”. Separatist authorities had at the weekend accused Ukrainian forces of killing the child and injuring a woman in a drone attack. On Monday, the Russian Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said the Ukrainian army had attacked civilian infrastructure on Friday in the separatist-held Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) using heavy armament and drones. As a result of an explosion, a five-year-old child was killed while his 66-year-old grandmother...
Anambra governor: I will not abandon families of slain policemen
Governor of Anambra state, Willie Obiano, has assured the families of the policemen killed during an attack on Prof Charles Soludo that government would not abandon them. Obiano gave the assurance on Easter Sunday at a statewide broadcast to address the violent attacks in the state. “To the families of the slain Police officers, my heart once again, goes out to you. I share in your grief and mourn with you. While I pray for the repose of the souls of the deceased, please be assured that the State Government will not abandon you” he said . He prayed that the spirit of the season would permeate their hearts and engender love, peace and tranquility in their daily lives, now and in the future. The yet to be identified gunmen had on 31st of March 2021 invaded a town hall meeting at Isuofia with...
Manchester City close in on Premier League title with Leicester win
Manchester City took another significant step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 victory at Leicester City. The visitors dominated from the off and thought they were ahead on five minutes. Fernandinho rifled a 35-yard strike into the bottom corner, but Sergio Aguero – who was appearing for the first time since his impending summer departure from City was announced – was deemed to be offside. Kevin de Bruyne then hit the crossbar with a stunning free kick before Leicester’s best moment saw Jamie Vardy’s strike ruled out for offside on the stroke of half time. The pattern of Man City dominance continued after the break and they deservedly took the lead on 58 minutes when Benjamin Mendy showed great composure to cut inside and place a low shot into the far corner. Gabriel Jesus made ...
Ibadan polytechnic students threaten public protest over extortion, mass failure
File Photo Students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, have threatened to publicly protest continuous extortions by lecturers as well as the recurrent mass failures typifying their examinations, saying their future was hanging in the balance. A source told newsmen that the students are from the Urban and Regional Planning Department. Through their association, the aggrieved students this week raised a petition to the school management to look into the anomalies of their lecturers and take action, otherwise they would lead a public protest. In a copy of their petition titled, “Lamentations of the Urban and Regional Planning Students,” the students decried the harsh learning conditions in the department and the resultant mass failure and extra academic years that students suffered They s...
Easter: Abuja airport records high traffic
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday witnessed increased traffic due to huge number of passengers travelling to different parts of the country to celebrate Easter. According to NAN reports, flights from Abuja to other routes were fully booked before Thursday. Also, booking and check-in counters of many airlines were crowded with travelers rushing to board their flights. Many of the airline officials who spoke with NAN in separate interviews said there was upsurge in traffic, but ticket fare still remained same. The Max Air Station Manager, Kehinde Ogunyale, said that more people had chosen to fly home for the Easter celebration than the previous years. Ogunyele further said that Max Air also possibly experienced unique increase in passengers due to reduction in flight...
Senate faults PTF conversion to PSC, laments doctors strike
The Senate Committee on Health said on Thursday that the Presidency should have consulted the National Assembly before converting the the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to the Presidential Steering Committee. The panel also expressed surprise that the National Association of Resident Doctors embarked on strike despite the fact that their demands had been met by the Federal Government. Chairman of the Senate panel, Yahaya Oloriegbe, stated these during a public hearing on a bill seeking to establish a Federal Medical Centre in Mubi, Adamawa State. Oloriegbe said, “I was listening to the radio yesterday (Wednesday) and I heard that the PTF (on COVID-19) has been converted to a steering committee. “We were not consulted in terms of what will be the operational mechanism and so on. “I am ...