The Leader of Qadiriyya Sect in Africa, Sheikh Qaribullah Nasir-Kabara has called President Muhammadu Buhari an honest leader that listens. Nasiru-Kabara said President Buhari also wants the best for Nigeria and should be seen as a role model to those that want the same thing. He recalled that during a recent visit to the presidential villa by leaders of the sect, their plea for some projects from the government were attented to quickly. “This could only be possible when you have a leader with determination and commitment to uplift the living standard of the people.” He asked for support for…
Author: David Folami
The Badagry-Seme Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said it has started an exercise tagged: “Beyond the Road” to ensure the prevention accidents on the highways during Christmas. The Unit Commander, Mr Fatai Bakare said that many road accidents were already caused before the driver starts the vehicle. “For example, a driver who is supposed to drive from Badagry to Kano the following day, drank for a whole day; the hangover will disturb him the following morning. “With this exercise, we will go to motor parks in Badagry and test drivers who are set for a journey.…
Unai Emery has said Mesut Ozil’s salary doesn’t mean anything to him when he decides whether to play the German or not and refused to say whether he is open to selling his star player in January. Emery made the eyebrow-raising decision of leaving Ozil — by far the highest-paid player in the history of the club — out of his squad for “tactical reasons” in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game against Tottenham. While Ozil will be back in the team for Saturday’s Premier League game against Burnley, Emery made it clear that he won’t give the German any special treatment…
Jamie Vardy’s well-taken breakaway goal earned Leicester a 1-0 win at Chelsea on Saturday to ease the pressure on coach Claude Puel and inflict the hosts’ first home Premier League defeat of the season. The English striker’s goal in the 51st minute earned the visitors only their second win in six league matches, while a determined defensive display kept Chelsea forward Eden Hazard at bay. The Belgian winger, deployed in a false nine role by Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri, came closest in a first half dominated by Chelsea, striking the crossbar with a fierce drive. Vardy made Chelsea pay shortly…
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have been fined a total of £95,000 for failing to control their players during this month’s Premier League derby, the English Football Association said on Thursday. Spurs midfielder Eric Dier’s goal celebration in his side’s 4-2 defeat on Dec. 2 sparked angry scenes on the touchline, with Arsenal’s substitutes unhappy with the England international. “Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have been fined £45,000 and £50,000 respectively after both clubs admitted an FA charge of failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion,” the FA said in a statement. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s brace and strikes from…
Jurgen Klopp dampened the significance of his Liverpool side sitting atop of the Premier League at Christmas due to the strength of competition this season. “Somebody said the last four times, the team who was first in the table at Christmas won the league, but was it ever such a tight race?” Klopp said at a news conference. “If all the other teams win tomorrow, then I think three or four teams have more than 40 points, which is really exceptional. “If you want to do the headline ‘Klopp says you need 105 points to become champion’ then do it,…
Jamie Vardy was the hero as Leicester City ended a four-game winless run in all competitions to hand Maurizio Sarri his first home defeat as Chelsea head coach, dealing a blow to their Premier League top four hopes. Chelsea did not drop their intensity or abandon Sarri’s “idea of football” even when chasing this game, and it took a combination of some unfriendly bounces off the goal frame and some inspired goalkeeping from Kasper Schmeichel to see Leicester escape from Stamford Bridge with three points. The home side struggled mightily for long spells to break down Leicester with Hazard operating…
Tottenham moved to within two points of second place Manchester City after coming from behind to earn a 6-2 victory at Everton. The build-up to this clash was dominated by talk of Manchester United’s interest in Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino following the decision to part ways with Jose Mourinho. However, he showed he was fully focused on the job at hand as his side put in a breathtaking performance which brought them back in the title picture. Rivals Manchester City and Chelsea suffered shock home defeats on Saturday, and Tottenham took full advantage. However, despite creating the majority of the…
Peter Schmeichel has said he will consider applying if the club appoint a director of football in the coming months. After the sacking of Jose Mourinho and hiring of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as caretaker boss last week, the structure in place at Old Trafford is set to change. Reports have suggested that a new director of football position is on the cards to work with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Schmeichel believes he has what it takes to fill the role. “I’m actually thinking about putting my name in there,” Schmeichel told BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek. “It’s a tough…
Mauricio Pochettino says his in-form team could be title contenders this season if they can find the consistency that has eluded them in the past. Spurs, who are third, delivered a sensational performance as they romped to a 6-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday to move just two points behind second-placed Manchester City and six behind leaders Liverpool. The emphatic way in which Spurs won, with an outstanding exhibition of passing and movement, raised the inevitable question of whether the title race is simply between Juergen Klopp and Pep Guardiola’s teams or if Pocchetino’s side are now…
As it turns out, Manchester United do have some good footballers. It’s always a dangerous game to impose the overarching narrative around a football team after a single performance, and thus you’d hesitate before ascribing Manchester United’s convincing 5-1 win over Cardiff City to their manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, being a man everyone likes, rather than one whom few did, Jose Mourinho. But after being told for the past couple of years that United’s players aren’t good enough and watching them being patronised by a manager praising them for doing their best against Liverpool, it was pleasing at least to…
Juventus maintained their record-breaking start to the Serie A season with a 1-0 win over Roma that ensured they will go into the winter break on top of the table. Mario Mandzukic struck a first-half winner to hand Juve their 16th win in 17 games, restoring their eight-point advantage over second-placed Napoli with two rounds to go before the halfway point of the season. A 1-1 draw with Genoa in October is the only blot on Juventus’s otherwise perfect record, which is the best start that has ever been made to a Serie A season and one that has only…
The wave of optimism that has swept through Manchester United this week will carry on a little longer after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign began with a 5-1 win over Cardiff City. The last United manager to start with a comprehensive win in south Wales was David Moyes, after he oversaw a 4-1 win at Swansea in August 2013. Solskjaer will hope his spell is remembered more fondly after he replaced Jose Mourinho in the hot seat on Wednesday. His tenure got off to the perfect start for the Norwegian famous for late goals when Marcus Rashford got an early one…
Real Madrid lifted the FIFA Club World Cup for a record fourth time on Saturday after thrashing local side Al Ain 4-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi with the help of impressive distance strikes in either half from midfielders Luka Modric and Marcos Llorente. Recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner Modric took one touch before thumping the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box to break the deadlock in the 14th minute after Al Ain had missed two early chances to take a shock lead. Madrid’s homegrown midfielder Marcos Llorente doubled the European champions lead on the hour…
Maurizio Sarri has said “mental confusion” affected his Chelsea players as Leicester City inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Blues. Jamie Vardy applied a clinical finish to a lightning counter-attack to run out 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge, with Eden Hazard striking the crossbar in the first half and Marcos Alonso clipping the inside of the post in the final minutes. The result left Chelsea 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and level with Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification, but after the game Sarri was more concerned with his team’s reaction to…
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says the top four is not out of reach after beginning his reign with a 5-1 win over Cardiff City. United are eight points adrift of the Champions League places but Solskjaer has not ruled out a charge up the table in the second half of the season. “We’ll take one game at a time but we’re eight points behind and we’ve caught up teams before at this club,” Solskjaer said. “Now, though, we’ve got to catch up a couple [of teams], but our job is to take one game at a time. “Don’t look too far…
Arsenal returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates on Saturday, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring two goals for the Gunners. Aubameyang gave Arsenal a seemingly safe 2-0 lead with his fifth double of the season in all competitions, before Ashley Barnes gave the visitors hope by pulling one back in the 63rd minute. But substitute Alex Iwobi made the game safe for the Gunners in injury time. This was exactly the kind of result Arsenal needed to kick off the festive period as they put back-to-back losses behind them. Mesut Ozil also showed that he…
Burnley manager Sean Dyche accused Arsenal players of diving during the Gunners’ 3-1 win on Saturday in a long rant about decisions that went against his side — drawing a rebuke from Unai Emery who said coaches must show more respect toward the referee Dyche was fuming after the Premier League defeat at the Emirates, and also complained that Burnley have not been awarded a penalty in 61 league games but should have been given one when Kevin Long was pushed in the box. He also claimed Ashley Barnes should not have been booked for putting Sokratis Papastathopoulos in a…
Pep Guardiola has refused to blame his players or team selection after Manchester City’s shock 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace. City were surprisingly beaten for the first time at home in the Premier League this season and will spend Christmas four points behind leaders Liverpool in the table. Guardiola insisted his side were unfortunate to find themselves 2-1 down at half-time when the visitors scored twice in two minutes — the second a stunning 30-yard volley from Andros Townsend — although he was disappointed with the way they conceded a penalty at the start of the second half. Guardiola insisted…
Barcelona ensured they will end the year sitting top of the table by strolling to a comfortable 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, inspired by another superb display from Lionel Messi. Messi played a pivotal role in Ousmane Dembele opening the scoring against the Galicians in the 10th minute, firing a shot at goal which Celta’s Ruben Blanco could only parry at the feet of the French forward, who squeezed the rebound through the goalkeeper’s legs. The Argentine then scored a sixth goal in three La Liga games to stretch his side’s advantage on the stroke of half-time, latching…