ONE WORD

In preparing for the deal day ‘May 29’, President Muhammadu Buhari has promised once again not to let Nigerians down, saying he is conscious of the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Buhari who made the remarks at the daily Tafsir (Quranic interpretations) marking the month of Ramadan fast at the State House Mosque, promised to provide effective and result-oriented leadership, which safeguards and ensures a better life for citizens. In preparing for the deal day ‘May 29’, President Muhammadu Buhari has promised once again not to let Nigerians down, saying he is conscious of the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Buhari who made the remarks at the daily Tafsir (Quranic interpretations) marking the month of Ramadan fast at the State House Mosque, promised to provide effective and result-oriented leadership, which safeguards and ensures a better life for citizens. In a statement, presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said Buhari stated that the reality of h...

Divock Origi scored twice, either side of goals by halftime substitute Georginio Wijnaldum early in the second half, to send Liverpool into its second straight final and set up a meeting with either Ajax or Tottenham on June Divock Origi of Liverpool (27) celebrates as he scores his team's fourth goal with team mates during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final second leg match between Liverpool and Barcelona at Anfield on May 07, 2019 in Liverpool, England.  Photo Credit: Getty Images/Clive Brunskill LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool delivered the greatest in a long line of famous comebacks to reach the Champions League final on Tuesday, beating Lionel Messi's Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield to overturn a three-goal deficit from the first leg. Divock Origi scored twice, either side of goals by halftime substitute Georginio Wijnaldum early in the second half, to send Liverpool into its second straight final and set up a meeting with either Ajax or Tottenham on June 1. It was onl...

Barcelona striker, Luis Suarez, has called on his team-mates to accept responsibility, for their 4-0 hammering against Liverpool on Tuesday night. Suarez, who received a hostile reception from the Anfield crowd after his first-half antics, was left scratching his head after his side were dumped out of the Champions League 4-3 on aggregate. After the game, the Uruguay international questioned the attitude of their side, when speaking to Spanish reporters after the game. “I think we have to do a lot of self-criticisms, we are adults, we have many years in this category. “We must reproach ourselves for things that we have done wrong, like thinking that everything was liquidated. “We should not blame the coach, we are the players who play. “I do not know if it’s a matter of attitude, but we’re in Barcelona, we can not get two goals in a row. “The fourth is a goal by kids,” Suarez said.

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says Nigeria’s major problem is lack of leadership. He said Nigerian leaders have mastered “the art of political witchcraft” that sustains them in politics. Dogara was speaking at a conference of young lawmakers organised by the “Not Too Young To Run” movement, in Abuja. “Our so-called leaders have mastered the art of political witchcraft so much so that if you are independent minded, you are automatically disqualified,” he said. “If for any reason you are picked, then you have to surrender your soul for them to eat in small bites until you become their worshiper.” The speaker said apart from being ranked the third most dangerous country of the world, Nigeria is also plagued by a lot of challenges including insecurity, unemployment, and inadequate healthcare. He said the country’s challenges are hinged on poor leadership and not corruption as is believed. “Nigeria’s real disease is lack of leadership; I disagree w...

Liverpool players celebrate their victory Liverpool have pulled the greatest come back in history as they mauled Barcelona 4-0 to reach Champions League final. Liverpool came from 3-0 deficit in the first leg to score four goals at Anfield. Details later…

Stella Gilbert, being carried out of an Ikeja High Court on Tuesday after being sentenced to death for murder An Ikeja high court on Tuesday sentenced a 36-year-old woman, Stella Gilbert, to death for stabbing her neighbour, Mrs Stella Godwin, to death during a fight at their residence in Ajegunle, Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fight was over a bench in the premises of their single room apartments also known as ‘face’me-I-face you’. The fight was caused by an argument over who should be using the bench belonging to their former neighbour. Justice Raliatu Adebiyi sentenced Gilbert after dismissing her claim of self defence. The judge held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. “The defendant in this case used a knife on the deceased; by any standard, a knife is a lethal weapon. ”The evidence of PW2 (Prosecution Witness 2), the cousin of PW1 (the deceased’s husband), and that of PW3, the female police officer, was that the...

IGP arrives Senate By Kazeem Ugbodaga The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has arrived the Senate to brief the upper chamber on what the police is doing to arrest the spate of insecurity in the country. Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan moved that the Senate do receive the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu to brief the Senate on the State of Insecurity across the nation. Senate President, Bukola Saraki welcomed the IGP and his entourage to the chamber. Earlier, Adamu had a closed door session with Saraki and the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

FC Barcelona’s Luis Suarez during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith Barcelona striker Luis Suarez thanked former club Liverpool for raising the standard of his game during a three-and-a-half-year spell at Merseyside, but the Uruguayan is focused on knocking them out of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday. Suarez was crowned PFA player of the year in the 2013/14 campaign for leading Liverpool’s Premier League title challenge, before they were edged out by Manchester City. The 32-year-old, who joined Barcelona in 2014, said before the second leg at Anfield that he only had fond memories of his time in England. “The reason I’m playing at Barcelona, at the elite level, is because of Liverpool,” Suarez, who scored in Barcelona’s 3-0 first leg victory last week, told reporters on Monday. “Being at Liverpool helped me in so many ways, it made me more professional, it helped me mature. Having players here with great experience allowed me to be even b...

Silo In spite of the massive investment of the Federal Government in building silos to boost food security, many of the facilities which are in decrepit condition have become drain pipes. A survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) across some South West states and Kwara revealed that the poor state of the facilities and lack of synergy between farmers and management of the silos had been impeding the cause of food security. In Ogun, the 45 silos, most of which were built during the old Western Regional Government, have become moribund. The Special Assistant to Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun on Agriculture, Mr Tosin Ademuyiwa, confirmed to NAN that “none of the silos is functioning’’. He disclosed that two new silos were constructed at Ikenne during the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, adding that both had, however, been concessioned. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) planned to concession 20 Grain Silos across the country out of the 33. The...

NNPC The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured host communities to its Gas marketing Subsidiary, Nigerian Gas Marketing Company Limited (NGMC) that the report trending in the social media purporting planned relocation of the company’s office from Warri to Abuja is fake news. NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, assured members of the host communities who are said to lay siege on the company premises to return to their normal daily activities, saying NGC office remains in Warri. The NNPC spokesperson affirmed that the purported plans to spend N120million as yearly rent and another N294million to relocate NGMC to Abuja is false and should be discountenanced by the host communities as well as the general public. Mr. Ndu Ughamadu said the clarification became necessary in view of reports of the barricade of NGMC Office in Warri by some members of the company’s host communities, stressing that they should not allow the m...

MTN Nigeria MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN) on Tuesday announced that it had successfully completed the registration of 20,354,513,050 ordinary shares of N0.02 each with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The MTN Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ferdie Moolman, made this known in a statement in Lagos. According to him, the completion of this process sets in motion the next steps in MTN’s intended listing by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). “I am excited we have achieved another milestone in our listing process and want to thank the SEC and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for supporting us through the process. “We have now begun to engage with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to complete the listing process,’’ he said. Moolman said that MTN was guided by a vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world, saying that MTN Nigeria’s leadership position in coverage, capacity and innovation had remained constant, since its launch in...

Wildfire No fewer than 54 people were killed while 18 others were injured when a wildfire raged through a village in Northern South Sudan. “The fire broke out in the village of Korok in Lol State on Sunday,’’ the state’s deputy governor, Mawein Akook, told dpa on Tuesday via telephone. According to Akook, most residents were asleep when the fire burned down most huts in the village, and most victims were women, children and elderly people. “No fewer than 14 people sustained first-degree burns,’’ the deputy governor added. Farms and livestock were also destroyed in fire, while dozens of residents fled the area to neighbouring villages. The cause of the fire remained unknown.

Emilia Clarke poses at the premiere of the final season of “Game of Thrones” at Radio City Music Hall in New York, U.S., April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs “Game of Thrones” may be a medieval fantasy but Sunday’s episode had a distinctly modern touch when a stray Starbucks cup made an unexpected cameo in the fictional Westeros kingdom of dragons and zombies, sending fans into a frenzy. The distinctive paper cup with plastic cover was spotted on a table at a feast in Winterfell within reach of characters Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen during episode 4 of the final season, “The Last of the Starks.” Bernie Caulfield, one of the executive producers of HBO’s global hit television series, apologized to fans. “I can’t believe (it),” she said in an interview with New York’s WNYC radio on Monday. “Our onset prop people and decorators are so on it a 1,000 percent. “We’re sorry! Westeros was the first place to actually have Starbucks,” Caulfield quipped. In a tongue-in-cheek comme...

Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final, second leg against Barcelona. Jürgen Klopp confirmed on Monday that the duo would be forced to miss the Anfield affair through injury. Salah - who is expected to be fit for the final Premier League game of the season on Sunday - suffered a concussion during the Reds' 3-2 win at Newcastle United at the weekend, while Firmino remains sidelined with a muscular issue. “Both are not available for tomorrow," Klopp, who reported no other injury concerns, said. “It’s a concussion [for Salah], so that means he would not even be allowed to play. That’s it, that’s all. “He feels OK, but it is not good enough from a medical point of view, that’s all. He is desperate and everything, but we cannot do it. That’s it.” Melwood photos: Reds train ahead of Barca clas Barcelona, meanwhile, have named a 23-man squad for the second leg. Ousmane Dembele has not travelled d...

Mohamed Salah has been ruled out of Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final, second-leg tie with FC Barcelona on Tuesday, Jürgen Klopp has confirmed. The Egyptian was forced from the pitch with a head injury during Saturday evening’s 3-2 victory at Newcastle United and will not be available for the meeting with the La Liga champions. The Reds are also without the services of Roberto Firmino, who is continuing to recover from a muscle injury. “Both are not available for tomorrow," Klopp told his pre-match press conference at Anfield on Monday. “It’s a concussion [for Salah], so that means he would not even be allowed to play. That’s it, that’s all. “He feels OK, but it is not good enough from a medical point of view, that’s all. He is desperate and everything, but we cannot do it. That’s it.” Klopp confirmed he expects Salah to be available for Sunday’s final Premier League game of the season at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, with two of his forwards sid...

Vincet Komany Vincent Kompany was hauled off for tests by doping control just moments after Manchester City had secured all three points against Leicester City. The Manchester City captain smashed in an astonishing 30-yard winner to send the Blues back to the top of the table, leapfrogging Liverpool by a point to take the Premier League title race down to the final day on Sunday. But with the world’s media queuing up to interview the Belgian star, he was one of two City players selected by doping control for their regulation post-match checks. It meant he had to leave his wife and family – who had joined him for the traditional salute to the fans on the pitch after the final home game of the season – and be accompanied to a small room set aside for the tests. Kompany was hailed by his manager Pep Guardiola as an “outstanding player” after his heroics – which came seven years and seven days after his winner against Manchester United had also put City top of the league in a ...

Leicester manager, Brendan Rodgers, has said Kelechi Iheanacho should have scored a late goal, to dent Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes. Iheanacho came off the bench with 10 minutes to go at the Etihad Stadium on Monday, with Leicester trailing 1-0. The Super Eagles forward, who was sold by Pep Guardiola, wasted a glorious opportunity to earn the Foxes a draw, which would have left Liverpool in top spot in the table. Iheanacho has scored a single Premier League goal this season and Rodgers feels he should have done better with the chance. “He should score, I said that to him afterwards, in the big games there are not many moments. “It was tight, we were very, very good in our defensive organisations. They didn’t have many chances and we didn’t have many. But the one that came, you have to score that. He knows. “It’s moments when you can come into the game and make an impact, he’s a great boy, works very, very hard in training. “He’s got in front of him a top-cla...

Throughout her pregnancy, it was clear that Meghan Markle intends to try and have as private of a life as possible for Baby Sussex. The family will always be in the spotlight, of course, but she and Prince Harry took a big step to avoid the noise by moving out of London to live at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. "I think one of the real reasons they're moving to Windsor is to get out of the goldfish bowl that is Kensington Palace," royals expert Katie Nicholl told Glamour at the time. "They're escaping to the country to have more privacy." Now that the baby is here, Meghan and Harry seem to be sticking with the plan. After the palace announced the child's birth on Monday, May 6 through a standard Instagram, the Duke of Sussex gave a short update to the press. Alone. In the interview, he revealed that the couple won't debut their baby or the name until two days from now. And they'll notably do so from their home in Windsor, not as soon as th...

By Reuben Abati “Thank God President Buhari is back in the country. I feel some kind of relief.” “What is your own? Are you his son? And what is wrong in a man taking some time off work and returning 10 days later.” “But you will agree with me that private visit to the United Kingdom more or less heated up the polity and generated considerable anxiety. Too many people became lawyers. When some people quote the Constitution like this, you will think that they know it all. And then those ones who call themselves Constitutional lawyers…” “I think I have told you this before. There is nothing called Constitutional lawyer. There is no such special category. No lawyer has special rights over the Constitution than other lawyers. Every lawyer uses the Constitution. It is the basic law upon which every other law rests. It is like a work tool, like a mason’s square. It is even like you saying there are stethoscope doctors. Every doctor uses the stethoscope. It is like saying someone i...