The chairman of Juventus, Italy’s most successful soccer team, denied on Thursday that the club was knowingly involved in a ticket touting scheme allegedly operated by the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia. Andre Angelli told parliament’s antimafia commission that although he had met an alleged mobster on up to four occasions, it had always been as part of regular meetings with supporters’ associations and never one-on-one encounters. “I never met Rocco Dominello on his own,” Agnelli told the commission, referring to a man standing trial alongside his father Saverio on charges of mafia association and attempted murder. Saverio told a court in…
Author: David Folami
Premier League champions Chelsea will challenge for all four major trophies next season, midfielder N’Golo Kante said after picking up the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Player of the Year award. Chelsea sealed the title with a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion last Friday and can add to their Premier League glory when they play the FA Cup final against Arsenal on 27 May. Chelsea failed to qualify for this season’s Champions League and were knocked out early in the League Cup, but Kante believes that his team can do better next season. “Next season will be a new challenge…
Treble-chasing Juventus will try for the second time to wrap up the Serie A title at the weekend, this time against a Crotone team attempting to pull off one of the greatest escapes in the competition’s recent history. Playing in the top flight for the first time, the team from the southern region of Calabria looked odds on to go straight back down in mid-March when they found themselves eight points adrift of safety. However, run of five wins and two draws in their last seven games have left Crotone just one point behind Empoli and two behind Genoa, the…
Mauricio Pochettino insists there is no chance Harry Kane will be allowed to leave Tottenham after his “special” striker’s four-goal blitz in the 6-1 rout of Leicester. Kane is odds on to finish as the Premier League’s top scorer for the second successive season thanks to his lethal display at the King Power Stadium on Thursday. The England international now has 26 goals, putting him two ahead of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku with one game remaining in the race for the golden boot. It was the kind of predatory performance that Pochettino believes further enhances Kane’s reputation as one of the…
Arsenal must respect the Europa League next season and take the tournament seriously if they fail to qualify for the Champions League, goalkeeper Peter Cech has said. Arsenal’s 2-0 win over relegated Sunderland on Tuesday moved them within a point of fourth-placed Liverpool and gave the London side an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League if results go their way on the final day of the season. English clubs have become more prominent in the Europa League in recent years with Chelsea winning the competition in 2013, Liverpool finishing runner-up last year and Manchester United set to play…
Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson is happy at the Premier League club and is not looking to leave unless the Welsh side want to sell him. Sigurdsson’s nine goals and 13 assists have been crucial for Swansea’s survival in the top-flight this season, and the Iceland international won the club’s Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season on Wednesday. The 27-year-old signed a new contract in August to keep him at Swansea until 2020, but media reports have linked him with league rivals Everton and West Ham United in recent weeks. “I signed a new contract in the…
Monaco will get 50 Cent as reward for their “excellent” season, with the American rap star giving a concert to the club who could be crowned Ligue 1 champions on Wednesday. The free concert on Sunday is reserved for players and staff and Monaco residents, the club said on Wednesday. Monaco lead reigning champions Paris Saint Germain by three points and will wrap up the French championship if they win or draw against Saint Etienne. Monaco said 50 Cent had been booked “to celebrate the excellent results by (captain Radamel) Falcao’s teammates”.
A counter-affidavit submitted by Augustine Alegeh (SAN) for Omoni Oboli had claimed that the actress registered the controversial “Okafor’s Law” with NFVCB in September 24, 2014. However, on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, during the hearing of the copyright case between Raconteur Productions vs Oboli, Dioni Visions and Filmone Distribution, a witness from the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) denied that the corporation registered the movie in 2014. The witness, Mrs Obasi, stated that the movie was registered/censored on March 21, 2017, by Filmone Distribution, after a public viewing at Ozone cinemas, Yaba, Lagos. She further explained that if…
Following the death of Moji Olaiya, her first daughter, Adunola is not only beside herself with grief, but insisting on seeing her mother’s body. The Playground reports that the Nollywood actress’ burial arrangements are causing a bit of a rift within the family. The late actress converted to Islam from Christianity as an adult and was a practicing Muslim at the time of her death. Some members of her family have been suggesting that her remains be interred today according to Muslim rites. However, the 20-year-old daughter of the actress is insisting that her mother’s corpse should be brought back…
Nollywood actress, Moji Olaiya, who was born in February 27, 1975, passed away in Canada on May 17, 2017. Reacting to her unexpected demise, chairman of Okiki films and popular music marketer, Sunday Esan, expressed shock, saying he would miss Olaiya’s humility. I’m currently in a state of grief and shock. It’s true, Moji Olaiya is gone, my good friend is no more, I will miss her personality, talent and humility,” Esan said. “I’m sorry I can’t say more,” he added. Actors who have responded to her death include Toyin Aimakhu, who posted “RIP” with sad emojis. Actor and comedian…
Ilorin -based contractors that supplied materials for the construction of the Cargo Terminal and Metropolitan Square in Ilorin have appealed to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to prevail on Stabilini Visioni to pay the outstanding money owed to them. The contractors, under the auspices of ‘Association of suppliers to Stabilini Visioni Nig. Ltd, Ilorin’ made the appeal on Thursday in a statement signed by Alhaji Lawal Jato, on their behalf. Jato said the contractors supplied sand, granite, stone dust, sharp sand, hard core and gravel to Stabilini Visioni for the construction of the two edifices in Ilorin during the Sen.…
The nurse who treated the late senator Isiaka Adeleke has denied administering a drug overdose on the deceased. Adeleke, senator who represented Osun west in the 8th assembly, was declared dead on Sunday, April 23, 2017. The nurse, Alfred Aderibigbe, was accused of giving the late politician an overdose of banned drugs. But speaking when he appeared before a coroner inquest on Thursday, May 18, Aderibigbe said all the drugs he administered to Adeleke were in normal dosage. He told the chief magistrate, Olusegun Ayilara, that he had been treating Adeleke in the last 15 years. He added that the…
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday, May 18, signed three executive orders. The orders are to ease business, fast-track budget submissions and to promote Made in Nigeria products. A statement issued by the spokesman for the Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said the move will “significantly change some of the ways government business and operations are conducted in the country forthwith.” Before the signing, Osinbajo was said to have held an interactive session at the old Banquet Hall of Presidential Villa with all relevant government officials. The officials included ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of departments and agencies…
Harry Kane staked his claim to finish as the Premier League’s top scorer with a scintillating four-goal blast in Tottenham’s 6-1 demolition of Leicester on Thursday. Although Tottenham were unable to overhaul champions Chelsea in the title race, Mauricio Pochettino’s vibrant young side look certain to make a renewed challenge next term and Kane is the figurehead of that bright future. Kane is hunting the league’s golden boot and the England striker was at his predatory best as he plundered the Leicester defence four times to move to the top of the scoring charts with 26 goals. Everton’s Romelu Lukaku…
Arsene Wenger’s record of delivering Champions League football every year since 1998 hangs by a thread as Arsenal prepare for Sunday’s final game of the season against Everton. The last time Arsenal’s place in Europe’s elite championship rested on the final league match was in 2006, when London-rivals Tottenham Hotspur needed only to match Arsenal’s result to snap the sequence. Spurs lost to West Ham United and Wenger’s run remained intact. This year Arsenal must again rely on an upset to finish in the top four. They lie fifth in the Premier League, one point behind Liverpool who hold the…
Real Madrid can almost touch the La Liga title after a five year wait, needing only to avoid defeat to Malaga on Sunday to grab the trophy from the hands of arch rivals Barcelona. Real lead the standings on 90 points, three above Barcelona. Standing in the way of a first title since 2012 is a Malaga side with little at stake and who are coached by Michel, who spent 14 trophy laden seasons at the Bernabeu. Madrid famously squandered two consecutive titles in 1992 and 1993 away to Tenerife, then coached by another Real great, Jorge Valdano, handing the…
Toyin Aimakhu’s third movie in the Alakada series titled “Alakada Reloaded” will make its debut this May. Speaking to Pulse Nigeria at the private screening of the movie on May 18, 2017, at Filmhouse Cinemas Surulere, the actress said she hopes to break office record. “God help me, we are hitting 600 million naira – 1 billion,” the actress said about her box office expectations. Speaking about the demise of her senior colleague Moji Olaiya, Aimakhu said, “I’m sorry I look like this. We just lost a senior colleague, that’s why most people are not here [at the private screening].”…
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode says President Muhammadu Buhari is not coming back to rule Nigeria. Buhari left the country on Sunday, May 7 for an indefinite medical vacation in London after months of ill health. Fani-Kayode also said some Northern forces are waiting for Buhari to die so they can force acting president, Yemi Osinbajo to resign. He made the comments via an article titled: “The ringing of coup bells and cause for deep concern.” Read the article below: I am very worried now. Ever since 1966 the northern ruling class has ALWAYS effected a coup d’etat whenever they…
England’s governing Football Association has voted in favour of bringing in retrospective bans for players who dive or feign injury from next season. Thursday’s annual general meeting at Wembley saw the FA create a new offence of “successful deception of a match official”, which is based on a regulation already used in Scottish football. Incidents will be reviewed by a panel made up of a former player, a former referee and a former manager. The trio will all look at footage independently and if they all agree a player has deceived a match official then a two-game ban will be…
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has vowed to never abandon former president, Goodluck Jonathan. Wike made the promise on Thursday, May 18, during the commissioning of some projects in the state by Jonathan. “We are not politicians that when anything is wrong, they sing different song. Rivers State is a different place. When we believe in you, we believe in you. We are different from other Niger Delta states. We can say it with all authority,” Wike said according to Punch. “We cannot come out in the public and begin to castigate our own. Those of them who do that…