Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says it his “duty” to defend the club after he criticised the officiating in last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle. He said the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s winner at St James’ Park was “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”. Arsenal backed Arteta’s comments in a club statement, which was called “dangerous” by pundit Gary Neville. “It is my duty to stand in front of you and give a clear and honest assessment,” Arteta said on Tuesday. “My duty is to defend my players and my club in best possible way. It is what I intend to do time after time. “I always…

Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) has said that the destruction of vessels apprehended for carrying illegal goods and stolen crude oil by the military is to conceal or destroy evidence. Nwoko stated this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja. He argued that destroying what should serve as evidence for a crime committed makes no sense except the military was compromised. “What is the point? It does not make any sense. “You know, if somebody is found in possession of stolen goods, do you say, oh, the way to deal with this is to destroy…

Abia state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has appointed mayors for the 17 council areas. Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzo Nwachukwu, disclosed that the list of the nominees has been sent to the House of Assembly for screening and confirmation as required by law. The nominees include; Isiala Ngwa South LGA– Chairman- Dr. Elelenta Nwabuisi Elele; Deputy- Mr. Eberechukwu Ahuruonye ; Ukwa West LGA: Chairman- Mr. Newman Azu , Deputy- Mr. Anele Michael Arochukwu LGA: Chairman- Chief Joe Ezearu, Deputy- Mr. Okezie Azuma Umuahia South LGA: Chairman- Mr. Obike Ejike Nnochiri Deputy- Mr. Olendingwa Nwabueze. Isiala Ngwa…

An Irish restaurant owner, Alan Fisher, has dethroned Nigerian chef Hilda Baci as the record holder of the longest cooking marathon record. Fisher broke the longest cooking marathon for an individual after clocking in a time of 119 hours 57 minutes. His feat was more than 24 hours longer than the previous record set by Hilda Baci. Fisher, a chef who operates his restaurant in Japan also claimed the longest baking marathon for an individual, with a time of 47 hours 21 minutes. The previous record holder was Wendy Sandner (USA) with a time of 31 hours 16 minutes. Guinness…

The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar in the first trading session of the week, its first major decline across the foreign exchange (FX) market segments since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced the clearance of forex backlogs last week. In the official market, which is the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency lost 4.2 per cent or N32.88 against the greenback to settle at N809.02/$1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N776.14/$1. The domestic currency suffered the loss as the supply of FX to the spot market went down by 11.3 per cent or…

A 37-year-old auxiliary nurse, Fisayo Ogedengbe arrested by the police in connection with the death of popular singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, also known as Mohbad, has been sent to custody by the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba. There are claims that the nurse gave the late singer some injections that resulted in his death. The magistrate, Adeola Olatunbosun, also ordered that Mohbad’s friend, Ayobani Sadiq, also being held as a suspect in the case, should be returned to police custody. The magistrate, however, granted bail in the sum of N20m to each of Mohbad’s ex-boss, Azeez Fashola, also known as Naira…

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said Nigerians will soon be able to monitor and track the implementation of Federal Government projects. The Minister stated this during a parley with senior media editors and executives on Monday, November 6, 2023, in Abuja. While speaking on the recently concluded retreat for Ministers and other senior government officials, he said it was aimed at showcasing and fine-tuning strategies for achieving the overall objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. “The President directed that cutting-edge digital technology be deployed to empower Nigerians to monitor and…

The Senate on Monday convened an emergency plenary session to gazette the N2 trillion 2023 Supplementary Budget passed last Thursday. Also, the Red Chamber gazetted the screening and confirmation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) nominees. Without approving the votes and proceedings of last week Thursday, the passed supplementary budget and confirmed RECs are of no effect. The usual plenary days of the Red Chamber are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which align with its standing rules. With the approval of the votes and proceedings of Thursday, a clean copy of the budget can be transmitted to…

Federal government has begun implementation of a 40 percent automatic deduction from internally generated revenues of federal universities and other partially-funded institutions. The policy of 40 percent auto-deduction of gross IGR is in line with the Finance Circular with reference number FMFBNP/OTHERS/IGR/CRF/12/2021 dated December 20, 2021. The circular limits the annual budgetary expenditure from IGR of the partially funded federal government. The information was contained in a letter that was issued by the accountant-general of the federation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, to the universities titled ‘Implementation of 40% automatic deduction from internally generated revenue of partially funded federal government institutions.’ The…

Federal Government, on Monday, revealed that more than N4.3tn worth of crude oil was stolen in 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases within a period of five years. It disclosed this at the Nigeria International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference in Abuja, with the theme, ‘Bolstering Regulations, Technology and Security for Growth.’ The conference was organised by the Pipeline Professionals Association of Nigeria. The Executive Secretary, NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, said oil theft was an emergency that posed serious threat to oil exploration and exploitation with huge negative consequences on economic growth, business prospects and profit earnings by oil companies. Providing data from…

Chelsea came from behind to beat nine-man Spurs 4-1 in a frenzied game on Mauricio Pochettino’s return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nicolas Jackson fired a hat-trick in a final crazy 20 minutes to cap a breath-taking game that will go down as one of the most eventful to be played in the Premier League, with five goals disallowed, multiple VAR checks and two red cards shown. The drama arrived just six minutes into this thrilling encounter when Dejan Kulusevski’s deflected effort gave the hosts the lead. On a busy night for technology, Son Heung-min’s goal was chalked off for…

President Bola Tinubu has mourned the victims of the fire incident which occurred at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja on Monday, November 6, 2023. Tinubu’s sympathy was conveyed in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity. Earlier on Monday, a fire incident occurred at the High Commission of Canada to Nigeria in the Central Business District of Abuja. In the statement, Ngelale said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sympathises with the Canadian government, the diplomatic community, and all persons affected by a fire incident which occurred on Monday at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja.…