Author: Abimbola Ogunnaike

It’s another promise fulfilled as President Bola Tinubu Football Intervention Project begins with IMG, the project’s strategic partner, meeting with top executives of the NTA at their Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 19 November, 2024. IMG team and Afro Sport, the Nigeria strategic partner, will also during the week meet with top executives of NPFL, the NFF, the NSC and corporate bodies that have shown interest in the project that promises to change the fortunes of our football and make it one of the best in the world. The NTA Headquarters will house the Production Hub so it’s important for…

Defending champions of the Nigeria Basketball Federation’s Men’s Premier Basketball League, Rivers Hoopers on Monday, 18 November, 2024, in Port Harcourt, defeated Read & Hoops in the final. To get to the final, The Kingsmen finished top of their group and had a straight victory in the semifinal before filling out against another impressive side of the campaign, Read & Hoops, and it would have gone either way throughout the four quarters. Despite winning the four quarters to emerge winners, Rivers Hoopers didn’t get it on a platter as their opponents continue to fight throughout the encounter. It was a…

It was total excitement within parents and management of the swimming section of the Ikoyi Club 1938 at the weekend as the maiden edition of the NNPC/SNEPCo Swimming competition took centre stage across five age grades of primary and secondary school categories at Ikoyi Club. The competition witnessed athletes from different schools including the IC Marlins Gang (Ikoyi Club Marlins Gang) competing in the 50m Fly girls and boys, Backstroke girls and boys, Breaststroke girls and boys, Freestyle boys and girls and Individual Medley for both boys and girls. Speaking during the event, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream…

Ademola Lookman is still on course to be crowned as the African Footballer of the Year which ceremony will hold in Rabat next month. The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has officially unveiled the Top Five Nominees in each of the Men’s Categories of the upcoming CAF Awards 2024. The 2024 edition of the CAF Awards is set to take place in Rabat, Morocco on 16 December 2024. Lookman makes the top five shortlist alongside with Simon Adingra, Cote d’Ivoire, Brighton & Hove Albion; Serhou Guirassy, Guinea, Borussia Dortmund; Achraf Hakimi, Morocco, Paris Saint-Germain; and Ronwen Williams, South Africa, Mamelodi…

The Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, has revealed that a staggering sum of N135,540,905,308.92 billion in matching grants has not been accessed by states between 2020 and 2024. Bobboyi made this disclosure during his presentation of the 2023 and 2024 budget implementation report to the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on Monday, 18 November, 2024 in Abuja. Bobboyi clarified that the current year’s budget (2024) would be disbursed in the following year, which means that the allocated funds did not usually lapse, unlike funds allocated to other organisations. He, however, expressed concern that many…

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, November 18, 2024, convicted and sentenced Fatuyi Yemi Philips, Chairman, Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA), to 21 years imprisonment for N43.5 million fraud. The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on April 5, 2022, arraigned Philips alongside his firm, Oceanview Oil and Gas Limited, on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N43. 502 million. Count one reads: “Fatuyi Yemi Philips and Oceanview Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited, on or…

President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday, 18 November, 2024 that he plans to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants. Immigration was a top issue in the election campaign, and Trump has promised to deport millions and stabilize the border with Mexico after record numbers of migrants crossed illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration. On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump amplified a recent post by a conservative activist that said the president-elect was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to…

The Upper Shari’a Court in Kano, presided over by Ibrahim Sarki Yola, has cleared Jigawa State’s Commissioner for Special Duties, Auwal Danladi Sankara, of allegations of committing adultery with a married woman. Recall that the case was filed by Nasiru Buba, who accused Sankara of having an illicit affair with his wife, Tasleem Baba Nabegu. While delivering his ruling, Sarki Yola stressed the need for holistic and cautious investigations by law enforcement and regulatory bodies like the Hisbah Commission, noting that allegations against prominent individuals must be handled with care to avoid unnecessary tarnishing of reputations. The court also observed…

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Wale Edun, has declared that the road is now clear for private investors to invest the Nigerian economy. According to the minister, President Bola Tinubu is charting the way to move a lot of Nigerians out of poverty. Edun also said the President is leaving no stone unturned in order to ensure that life is made easy for Nigerians by coming up with policies and programmes that would be beneficial to all. The minister said key policies of the Tinubu-led administration have helped to stabilize the economy and created…

The Edo State House of Assembly on Monday, 18 November, 2024 passed a revised supplementary budget of N485 billion for the Governor Monday Okpebholo-led state government. The House at the plenary also screened and confirmed Dr Cyril Oshiomhole as the state’s Commissioner for Health. While passing the revised Appropriation Bill, the Speaker of the House, Blessing Agbebaku, said the budget would enable the newly sworn-in governor to continue developmental projects in the state. In the bill, the sum of N283.087 billion is allocated to capital expenditure while the sum of N202.54 billion goes for recurrent expenditures. Recall that the State…

Micmary Hall in Alapere, Ketu Lagos State was fill to the brim on Friday, 15 November, 2024, as Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area held its Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on 2025 Budget, reports TheGazelleNews.com. Speaking at the well attended Forum with the theme ‘Budget of Advancement’, the LCDA Chairman Mayor Oshinowo spoke on the importance of community involvement in budget process. He said in all aspects, in all sectors, “we need to advance it. That is the reason why we target budget of advancement. We need to make sure that we continue from where we are coming from, where we stop,…

The free medical outreach initiated by Rt Honourable James Abiodun Faleke had commenced at the Kabba Specialist Hospital, Kabba, Kogi State, reports thegazellenews.com. It would run between Monday, 18 November, to Thursday, 21 November, 2024 The outreach is organized in conjunction with Doctors on the Move Africa and facilitated by the Rt. Hon.(Dr) James Abiodun Faleke, Chairman of the Federal House of Assembly Committee on Finance. The outreach programme aims to provide comprehensive medical services at no cost to all residents of Kabba in the Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area. The event also seeks to offer essential healthcare services to vulnerable…

A 60-year-old man, Sabi’u Yusha’u Unguwa Uku, has died after falling into an abandoned well located at CBN Quarters Hadejia Road, in Kano State. The spokesperson for the Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Yusif Abdullahi, who disclosed this in a statement at the weekend said the deceased was the driver of the Minister of Defence’s first wife. According to the Abdullahi, the deceased came to drop some guests at a house after which he came out to urinate. Unknown to him, there was an abandoned well in the area. “On Friday 15th November, 2024, at about 22:35 hrs, State Fire…

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, has pledged to focus on serving the people of the Niger Delta region as mandated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Speaking during a radio programme on Rhythm 94.7 in Yenagoa, Ogbuku dismissed insinuations that he was planning to contest for the governorship election in Bayelsa State in 2027. He declared: “I don’t have any ticket to contest the governorship of Bayelsa State in 2027. I want all those people who are forming groups and causing confusion through unsolicited solidarity to desist from that because the only ambition…

In a recent display of his characteristic self-importance, former President Olusegun Obasanjo once again took to the public stage to bestow his unsolicited wisdom on leadership and governance in Nigeria. From his lofty perch, he blamed those who served after his tenure for the nation’s myriad challenges. Unfortunately, the former leader’s habit of casting aspersions on every subsequent administration has devolved into a recurring pastime, overshadowing the expectation of an elder statesman to join a constructive dialogue on attaining national progress. In his latest critique of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he pejoratively called ‘Baba Go Slow’ and…

The Ogun State Government, on Monday, 18 November, 2024 described as tissues of lies, the allegation made by the defeated governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Ladi Adebutu, against Governor Dapo Abiodun. Adebutu, at a press conference, had alleged that Governor Dapo Abiodun moved around during Saturday’s local government election with armed military personnel and the police to unleash violence on the people. But the state government, through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, described Adebutu as a drowning man who is finding someone to drag with him into the…

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has pledged to end all forms of tyranny and hooliganism in the state. He assured that anyone found culpable in the recent disturbances at Iperu-Remo during the just-concluded local government elections would face the full weight of the law, irrespective of their status. Governor Abiodun made this declaration at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta on the night of Sunday, 18 November, 2024 while hosting the newly elected local government chairmen and their deputies. He emphasized that the era of hooliganism and thuggery must come to an end in Ogun State, reaffirming his commitment…

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has delivered a judgment in the case of Chukwuemeka Edeh v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, dismissing the Applicant’s request for a default judgment. The Applicant, Chukwuemeka Edeh, a Nigerian citizen from Enugu State, filed his application against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, alleging unlawful detention and torture by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The Applicant claimed that SARS operatives subjected him to acts of physical abuse, including spraying of tear gas into his eyes, beatings, and forced confession, in violation of his human rights as guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights…

By Yusuf Maitama Tuggar A liminal moment is a time of realization that the way things are is no longer sustainable, yet the way thing will become is yet to happen. In other words, a liminal moment is a period of transition. The quest of Palestinians for statehood and the right to exist is going through a transition period in which the world is awakening to the fact that Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the institutionalised system of segregation used to administer the territories is neither tenable nor sustainable. Although the violence and carnage being meted…

Troops of the Nigerian Army’s 6 Division, in collaboration with other security agencies, have intensified anti-oil theft and illegal refining operations across the Niger Delta. In a statement Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations 6 Division Lieut. Col. Danjuma Jonah Danjuma said between November 11 and 17, 2024, the forces recorded significant successes, including the deactivation of 46 illegal refining sites, the seizure of 47 boats used for transporting stolen oil, and the recovery of over 95,000 litres of stolen petroleum products. Twenty-eight suspected oil thieves were also apprehended. He said in Rivers State, troops acted on intelligence regarding vandalism…