ONE WORD

Emiliano Sala’s ex-girlfriend, Berenice Schkair, has claimed she doesn’t believe the disappearance of the Cardiff striker’s plane is an accident as she blamed a “soccer mafia” for the incident. Sala was travelling from Nantes to the Welsh capital to join his team-mates following his £15million move. His plane was lost from the radar as it crossed the English Channel and the player is now feared dead. His former partner, Berenice Schkair, a French model, posted a cryptic tweet which she later deleted before expanding on her message on Instagram. She initially said: “Investigate the soccer mafia because I do not believe this accident.” Later, she wrote: “I want to wake up and this is all a lie. Please investigate because I do not believe this was an accident or suspend a search for bad weather when they hardly find objects floating in [the sea]. “I need to read that you showed up I can not believe they stop the search until tomorrow , that they lose ti...

The funeral of late Chief Marshall Alex Badeh is in session at the Pentecostal church Air Force base Abuja. In attendance is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha as well as the governors of the Plateau and Adamawa state, Simon Bako Lalong and Bindo Jibrilla. Also in attendance is the Cheif of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin, however, the chief of naval staff, the chief of air staff and the chief of army staff are represented. In a homily by group Captain Dogo Gani titled the lost axe head, he extolls the selfless qualities of the late Chief of Defence staff noting his dedication to service to his nation.  The Defence Headquarters had earlier announced the date for the burial of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd). Acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General John Agim, made the announcement in a statement on Friday. According to him, activities lined-up for the interment of the f...

Paris Saint-Germain have been fined 100,000 euros ($114,000), after a collective negligence led to racial profiling at youth-team level inside Ligue 1 champions, French league authorities said Tuesday. The matter began when French investigative website, Mediapart, revealed racial profiling by talent scouts since 2013, where potential youth signings were identified by their ethnicity. The Qatari-owned club also face an upcoming hearing from the Paris prosecutors on the same matter. The football league said the use of these forms had no part in a general racial profiling culture. “From what we can see PSG did not use the information on ethnicity for discriminatory ends. There is no case of discrimination that can be proved. “It is more a case of individual clumsiness and collective negligence,” LFP disciplinary commissioner Sebastien Deneux said at a press conference. The youth candidates were categorised as French, North African, West Indian or African. Such profiling i...

Arsenal have made contact with Real Madrid, over the possibility of signing James Rodriguez. The 27-year-old is currently on loan at Bayern Munich, but has struggled to win a regular role under Niko Kovac. On Monday, Bild reported that Rodriguez was “frustrated” after he was brought on as a late substitute in Friday’s 3-1 win over Hoffenheim, while Kovac has challenged the Colombia international to prove his worth to the team. Bayern have the option to sign Rodriguez at the end of his loan for €42million (£36.8m), but the midfielder is set to return to Real Madrid. Intermediaries acting on Arsenal’s behalf, have made an approach to Madrid to discuss the prospect of signing Rodriguez on an initial loan deal. Madrid, however, are keen to sell Rodriguez, while Bayern are open to the prospect of letting the playmaker leave this much as he is not making much of an impact. This comes amid speculations that Arsenal’s deal to sign Denis Suarez from Barcelona has collapsed. Sou...

Serena Williams will not win her 24th grand slam title at the Australian Open this year. Williams crashed out of the Australian Open at the quarter-final stage in dramatic circumstances on Wednesday. A left ankle injury surely contributed to her squandering of a massive 5-1 advantage and four match points to Karolina Pliskova, although the 37-year-old played down the problem and its effect on the outcome. “I don’t think it had anything to do with my ankle per se. “I just think she was just nailing and hitting shots. Obviously I made some mistakes but she played really well after that,” Williams said afterwards. The Czech, who also beat Williams at the 2016 US Open, prevailed 6-4 4-6 7-5 in a shade past two hours in Melbourne. Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/01/serena-williams-crashes-out-of.html

No one has been in contact with us - Sala's father Police on the British island of Guernsey resumed the search Wednesday for a missing plane carrying Premier League player Emiliano Sala, who is presumed dead after debris was found in the water. The light aircraft carrying the Argentine striker, who signed for Cardiff City at the weekend, disappeared from radar around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on Monday night. "We have resumed searching," the police said. "Two planes are taking off and will search a targeted area we believe has the highest likelihood of finding anything, based on review of the tides and weather since it (the plane) went missing. "Coastal areas around (the nearby island of) Alderney and off-lying rocks and islands will also be searched from the air." Sala, who signed on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million), was flying to Cardiff on a single-engine Piper PA-46...

Emiliano Sala complained about a plane that looked like it was “about to fall apart”, in a chilling final message before his disappearance. The Cardiff City striker, signed for a club record £15million fee from Nantes, is feared dead after his plane went missing whilst travelling to the Welsh capital. Guernsey Police have confirmed they have called off the search for the night and said the chances of survival for Sala or the pilot are “unfortunately slim”. Argentinian media outlet, Ole, have now released haunting verified audio sent from Sala to close friends on WhatsApp, in the final moments before the plane vanished over the English Channel. Sala says: “Hello, little brothers, how are you crazy people? “Brother, I’m dead, I was here in Nantes doing things, things, things, things and things, and it never stops, it never stops, it never stops. “I’m here on a plane that looks like it’s about to fall apart, and I’m going to Cardiff, crazy, tomorrow we already start, and in...

IT has often been said that Nigerians, the political elite in particular, suffer from acute amnesia and a tendency to re-write history to suit the political exigencies of the day. It’s important to note the real reason behind this penchant for “repackaging” the past which is the defence of the status quo. corruption It’s cliché to say “corruption fights back”, yet how else could one describe the desperate attempts to excuse or ignore allegations of wrongdoing using religion and ethnicity? The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen once again shunned the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, encouraged by governors from the South-South. Letter writing season The architects and enablers of corruption in Nigeria have been hard at work, from time immemorial, attempting to convince Nigerians that corruption is neither much of a problem nor a national priority. It is letter writing season again, and Nigerians are being encouraged to forget the past so it can be conveniently re-wri...

Detectives may have found more “suspicious” funds in Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen’s accounts, The Nation has learnt. There are also “suspicious” transactions, including an $800,000 Standard Chartered Bank investment subscription, sources said. Also found is $630,000 lodged in some of the accounts through what is described as “structured payments” in tranches of $10,000 each. Most of the lodgments, effected between 2012 and 2016, were undeclared in Justice Onnoghen’s assets declaration form, the sources claimed, pleading not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the investigation. The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has restricted the operation of five accounts with about $3million The accounts in the Standard Chartered Bank are USD No. 870001062650; Euro account No. 93001062686; Pound Sterling A/CNo. 285001062679; e-Saver Savings (Naira) account No. 5001062693; and a Naira A/C No. 0001062667. Detectives believe that most of the lod...

Telecommunication mast • MNOs added 25.5 million new subscribers to networks • Globacom bags Telecoms Company of the Year award Despite dip in customer satisfaction occasioned by poor quality of service, telecommunications operators ended year 2018 on a good note. Unlike the previous quarter, where the quartet of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile recorded a very slow growth, falling by -0.38 per cent, the fourth quarter showed an impressive performance, finishing the year with 6.68 per cent. Relying on statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), The Guardian checks showed that Globacom had the best performance, finishing with 10.77 per cent as against 1.87 per cent in the Q3. Airtel was second with 6.94 per cent against 3.55 per cent in the previous quarter. MTN finished third with 4.63 per cent growth against -3.50 per cent three months back, while 9Mobile, which saw -2.89 per cent growth, finished 2018 better with 3.66 per cent growth. Further analys...

The Naira yesterday depreciated to N362.42 per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window due to an 11 percent decline in the volume of dollars traded. Naira-Dollar Naira loses marginally against dollar, now N361 to $1 Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window rose to N362.42 per dollar yesterday from N362.39 per dollar on Monday, translating to three kobo depreciation of the naira. The volume of dollars traded in the window dropped by 11 percent to $334.34 million from $375.36 million traded on Monday. However, the naira, yesterday, stood at N361 per dollar in the parallel market. Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/01/naira-down-at-n36242-in-i-window.html

Data breaches in Nigeria and other part of Africa fell by 0.02 per cent in 2018 as the world recorded 4.4 billion infractions. The Asian continent ranked top ahead of other regions. In the report titled: “World’s Biggest Data Breaches and Hacks”, 4,433,164,446 data records were globally compromised in 2018, with the Asians becoming the most vulnerable. The continent had 50.01 per cent breaches on 2,217, 183,889 data. North America at 49.44 per cent saw 2,159,743,546 breaches; Europe had 0.39 per cent with 17,249,000 records; South America at 0.14 per cent with 6,000,000; and the African continent at 0.02 per cent with 988,011 records data lost. From the report, the sector with the highest data breaches occurred in the government at 47.4 per cent from 2,101,500,000 compromised data with sample cases like Aadhar, SingHealth; the technology sector was next with 20.1 per cent from 891,900,000 which included cases like Facebook, Twitter; the WebSpace was next with 17.8 per cent from ...

Everything you need to live well From “Fortnite” to “Pokemon Go,” play in the US drove video-game industry revenue to a record-setting $43.4 billion (N5,714,706,000,000) last year, according to data released Tuesday. Spending on games in the US in 2018 climbed 18 percent from the previous year, according to figures from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and market tracker NPD Group. “Whether it was playing on the go on a mobile device or at home on a PC or console, consumers of all ages and interests found compelling content that delighted in 2018,” NPD video games analyst Mat Piscatella said in a statement. Play on all types of devices grew significantly last year, while momentum in subscription and streaming services “gave us a peek into a future full of possibilities for the industry and gamers,” he added. US spending on video game hardware, including peripherals, climbed to $7.5 billion last year from $6.5 billion the previous year, according to the ...

By Greg Nwadike Imo, like every other state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has just three senatorial districts of unequal delimitations namely; Imo West (Orlu Senatorial zone), Imo East (Owerri senatorial zone) and Imo North (Okigwe Senatorial zone). Orlu zone has 12 Local Government Areas, Owerri zone has 9 while Okigwe zone has only six 6 bringing the total number of Local Government Areas to 27. Okorocha On June 9, 1991, at the Iwuanyanwu Glass House, Ugwuorji,  Owerri, elders of the State recommended that for equity, fairness and justice, democratic processes regarding to the office of the Executive Governor of Imo State shall be by rotation. Some notable elders from Owerri zone who appended their signatures to the agreement included Chief Engr. E.C Iwuanyanwu, Chief Evan Enwerem, Dr. J.C Odunna, Barr. B.S.C Nzenwa, Chief Onyenso Nwachukwu, Chief R.O Onyenobi, Chief B.A Nwanne, Prof. Roland Anyanwu, Dr. F.U Ukoha, Barr. R.C Azuatalam, Chief Engr. R.O Ugorji...

our comments on Obasanjo reckless, improper, PDP replies Tinubu By Dapo Akinrefon & Ola Ajayi NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday, took a swipe at  the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo accusing him of being responsible for the flaws in Nigeria’s political economy since 1999. All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo Obasanjo, in his  state of the nation address,  tagged Points for Concern and Action, had expressed concern over the impartiality and competence of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a credible election. Reacting to the former President’s criticisms, Tinubu described Obasanjo as an “election rigger without peer.” In a letter titled Chief Obasanjo – At war against his own deeds, Tinubu said the former president is shameless and has a wicked sense of humour. The statement reads: “Former President ...

The Nigerian man arrested in Philippines A Nigerian man accused of swindling thousands of pesos from a Filipina woman he met on a mobile dating app has been arrested in Las Piñas City, Philippines.  Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested the suspect, Innocent Uchenna Nkwoka, with aliases Steve Edward and Agulu Prince, and his supposed female accomplice, Irene Lee Okoro, with alias Jackie Pascual, last January 17, the bureau announced today, Tuesday, January 22. Photos: Nigerian man arrested in Philippines for swindling Filipina woman and threatening to leak her nude photos Another accomplice, a certain Ana Fe Sandoval, remains at large. The NBI said it acted on a complaint of a woman who alleged she was blackmailed by one Agulu Prince, whom she met on Tinder in February 2018 and with whom she was supposedly engaged to by August. The complainant, who was not named in the NBI's statement, alleged that with encouragement from Agulu Pr...

The organised labour on Tuesday, warned that nothing will deny Nigerian workers any kobo from the N30,000 agreed by the constitutionally empowered National Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee, as contained, in its report already submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari. To this end, the United Labour Congress (ULC) called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to unfailingly transmit a bill containing N30,000 minimum wage, which is the product of collective bargaining in the Tripartite Committee report to the National Assembly. Following the approval of N27,000 by the National Council of State as the new national minimum wage on Tuesday, the ULC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), swiftly rejected the figure, saying that the Council of State lacks the constitutional power to approve or recommend minimum wage. ULC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, says the Council of State might have been playing their advisory role, thus only advising President Buhari and not recommending a minimum wa...

Marvel Studios film “Black Panther” made Oscars history on Tuesday, landing the first best picture nomination for a superhero movie, as crowd-pleasing blockbusters muscled into a contest recently  Other box-office hits among the eight nominees for the movie industry’s top prize included musical remake “A Star is Born” and rock biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The inclusion of popular films contrasted with the past few years when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences favored independent dramas with small audiences and snubbed commercial successes such as “Wonder Woman.” Stop buying items displaying my picture, Pastor Adeboye warns members The academy attempted to address the issue in August by proposing a new popular film category. But the idea was quickly scrapped after criticism that it would create a two-tier system of popular and less mainstream films. Tuesday’s nominations showed popular films had broken into the best picture race. The field reflected “the...

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said those in the present administration will not only go to jail, they will go to hell if their corrupt acts are exposed. He also explained why he forgave an ex-Vice-President and Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in an interview with the BBC Yoruba monitored by our correspondents. Comparing Atiku with President Muhammadu Buhari, Obasanjo said his former deputy, though not a messiah, was far better than the incumbent President. He said, “What I am saying is that where we are today; our present situation, if you look at those who are there today and our boss (Buhari), I insist that Atiku will do better than them. “This is not a prophecy. Those in government today, if we expose them, all of them will enter hell; they will not only go to jail. They will go to hell. Whoever that God does not expose his sins to the public is the person whose secret is kept.” Obasanjo, however, said he was not privy to the p...