Prince Tonye Princewill, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, said recently that Gov. Nyesom Wike would no longer fool Rivers people with mere budget speech. “Gov. Wike presenting a budget speech is nothing new; what will differ this time is, we will no longer be satisfied by hearing a budget speech. “I will not even talk about the importance of why a budget needs to be made public because it is the equivalent of saying why we need to breathe air to survive. “If Rivers people do not know, why Wike, cannot hide our budget, then…
Author: David Folami
Muhammadu Buhari has hailed top industrialist and Chairman of the Eleganza Group of companies, Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya on his 78th birthday. Buhari felicitated with all business associates, family and friends of the astute businessman. Buhari also noted that through vision, hard work and entrepreneurship, Okoya had completely altered the business landscape of Nigeria, and West Africa, by starting a cottage industry in the early 70’s that blossomed into a multi-billion naira empire, with a strong household name. He commended the Aare of Lagos for his generosity in providing for the less privileged, especially scholarships for people to further their…
Ayo Fayose has blasted the his Kaduna state fellow governor, Nasir El-Rufai for leading six other Governorsto beg President Buhari to run in 2019. He said “No fuel, killings in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Rivers, etc. But some people’s response to all these is to endorse President Buhari for second term. What a way to treat Nigerians with contempt.” He also said that the campaign by the Governors for Buhari to run in 2019, in the wake of killings by herdsmen, is unfair to Nigerians. We wait Nasir’s reply.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised the media to be mindful of its reportage of electoral events during the 2019 general elections. Mr Sam Olumekun, a rep, said that this would have “a great effect on facilitating credible elections and corresponding social order’’. “Some reports on the process were not properly investigated, and some basics facts were glossed over,’’ INEC chief said. “We expect the media, being a veritable tool for information disseminating, to ensure that they apply a professional acumen to their reports so as not to leave prospective voters helpless and confused due to distorted information.…
Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has issued a serious warning to all officers and soldiers in the Nigerian Army to steer clear of politics. “Leave politics to the politicians and concentrate on your chosen career” he noted. Buratai said ” it is pertinent to state that the recent gains of the Nigeria Army in the North-East and other internal security operations all over the country is expected to present the challenges of a growing rank of criminal elements and criminal activities”. “Such challenges were characterised by kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, armed robbery and other act of terrorism, he noted while urging them…
Senator Shehu Sani has blasted the killing of 10 people allegedly by herdsmen in Birnin Gwari Local Government of Kaduna state. Sani said “There’s a fresh attack by Gunmen in my constituency, Birnin Gwari LG, Kaduna state today, killing scores of people. “My condolences to the families of the deceased. I will surely raise this on the floor of the senate on our resumption, Insha Allah.” Senator Shehu Sani had earlier called on President Buhari to forget about calls for him to run in 2019, and fix the herdsmen problem.
The Presidency has warned the public on the existence of a fake Twitter handle purportedly belonging to President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Femi Adesina said already a fake message was being circulated on the fake twitter handle. The statement read: “The spurious message seeks to justify attacks by herdsmen, saying they were only defending themselves. “Evil doers and enemies of our country are obviously at work, seeking ways to further advance their pernicious acts. “The message is denounced in its entirety, and President Buhari stands by his earlier condemnation of the killings in Benue and other parts of the country as…
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has urged Nigerians to ignore religious and political differences to promote harmonious and peaceful coexistence. The governor also called for peace, harmony and sustainable development at the state and national levels. “Peaceful coexistence and religious harmony will be enhanced, if clerics, leaders and ordinary citizens can live by example in their day to day activities. ”Peace is a necessary requirement for development. He asked Islamic and Christian clerics to enlighten their followers on the importance of peaceful coexistence.
Tunde Bakare has released a letter written by a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher, informing him of impending attacks by Fulani herdsmen, 18 months ago. He said that the President and his team have failed in the area of security. Bakare also said “By not advancing and vigorously executing policies aimed at pre-empting or preventing these killings even with sufficient warnings: I am reminded of the open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari by a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada and Second Republic senator, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher. Permit me to quote excerpts from that letter: “Your…
Samuel Ortom of Benue state has said that they had knowledge before the plans by Fulani herdsmen to attack several villages in the statewas made known. The Governor also said “We wrote to the Vice President on the planned attack on parts of Benue by Fulani herdsmen, because the word was everywhere on the street, but he refused to reply. “When there was no response, and upon the return of Mr. President, I personally went and intimated him, and also wrote. The documents are here, I will hand them over to you. I wrote to him on the planned attack…
Jose Mourinho has said he only has “contempt” for his war of words with Antonio Conte after two weeks of trading insults with the Chelsea boss. “I think when a person insults another, you can expect a response. “Or you can expect contempt, silence. “The first time he insulted me I had a response, a response that I know that touched the point where he really feels hurt. “Then he insulted me for a second time, but now I change, and now contempt and for me, contempt means end of the story.” Mourinho added: “Zlatan is injured or is not…
Georginio Wijnaldum has refused to praise himself for luring Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool, admitting that his only advice to his Netherlands international teammate was to “follow his heart.” “We spoke a few times. I told him how the club was and everything,” Wijnaldum told the Liverpool Echo ahead of Sunday’s clash with Manchester City. “I told him whatever decision you make just follow your heart. “You have to deal with that. You do what you want to do. Liverpool is a great club.” Wijnaldum says Van Dijk has slotted seamlessly into Jurgen Klopp’s setup, hailing his calming effect on…
Jose Mourinho has left the door open for Henrikh Mkhitaryan to exit Manchester United this month but insists the midfielder is still part of his plans at Old Trafford. Mourinho said: “My approach to players is that every player has a price, doesn’t matter who he is, doesn’t matter the level, doesn’t matter the prestige, the status, I think every player has a price. “I’m not the kind of blind manager, blind in the sense of this player is untouchable, this player we can never sell, I think every player has a price. “So when the transfer window is open…
Mauricio Pochettino praised the way his Tottenham team has responded to last month’s one-sided defeat at Manchester City after they thrashed Everton 4-0 on Saturday. “Manchester City was a tough defeat,” Pochettino said. “They were so clinical. The game wasn’t bad [for us], only that they were and are in an amazing moment. It was so important to work hard, try to keep going and show we can win games and fight for big things. “Always the character is so important when you receive this type of defeat — you have to stand up and start to win games. I’m…
Ernesto Valverde wants Barcelona to overcome the disadvantage of having played on Thursday to win at Real Sociedad in La Liga for the first time since 2007. It makes an already difficult task even more difficult, with Barca having failed to win in each of their last seven visits to Anoeta in the league, losing five of them. “Not playing in midweek is an advantage for La Real,” Valverde said in a news conference on Saturday. “It’s the same story with our game against [Real] Betis, who we play in the league next weekend after our midweek game [against Espanyol…
Thibaut Courtois has blasted Chelsea supporters for “booing and whistling” during Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with Leicester City. “I know we as a team didn’t have a good game, it was our third goalless draw, but we need the fans here at Stamford Bridge to get behind the team and not, when a player has a bad pass or a bad shot, start booing and whistling,” Courtois told Chelsea TV. “I don’t think we’re playing a bad season.” “It’s important that the fans must know that we want to play out from the back,” he added. “And they don’t have…
Manchester United are increasingly confident of winning the race to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal, with sources saying that Jose Mourinho first raised the prospect of using Henrikh Mkhitaryan as leverage for a deal last summer. Speaking before the match, Arsene Wenger said: “He is being vague at the moment. His situation is not completely decided one way or the other. “Yes, don’t read too much into it because I don’t know what way it’ll go. You want to focus on the players who are on the pitch.” Manchester City had been regarded as the favourites to sign the 29-year-old…
Liverpool have not made an offer to move up their acquisition of Naby Keita to this month, RB Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick has said. Leipzig do not want to lose Keita this month as they still remain in a battle to secure Champions League qualification for next campaign and find themselves in the round-of-32 of this season’s Europa League. Keita scored for Leipzig on Saturday as the home side defeated Schalke 3-1 to move to second in the Bundesliga. Director Rangnick has said there had been no contact from Liverpool about changing the existing agreement, reported to worth some…
Everton’s squad can expect a rough up on the training pitch this week after Sam Allardyce promised to remove any unprofessionalism in their ranks following Saturday’s heavy 4-0 defeat at Tottenham. “It’s out of order,” Allardyce said. “[You have to] play your way back into the game and be professional about it. It shocked me. I haven’t seen it since I got here. I’ve got to cut it out, starting tomorrow. “Tottenham can beat anybody by a lot of goals but they should have had to work a lot harder than they did. “When you go two goals down after…
Diego Simeone refused to say whether Atletico Madrid deserved to win a tight game on Saturday after his side held on to beat Eibar 1-0. Simeone said that it was a tactical decision to “take refuge” upon going ahead, and shrugged off questions about Atletico’s merit in taking all three points. “I will never speak about justice, whether I win a match or lose a match,” Simeone said after the game. “The result is what it is. “The situations in front of goal are important for us to know that the team is in good shape.” But Simeone was careful…