Wenger fears Arsenal’s top four chances are in peril

Admin

Arsene Wenger conceded Arsenal’s hopes of ending their Champions League exile are in severe danger after Harry Kane condemned them to a damaging 1-0 defeat against bitter rivals Tottenham. Kane’s second half header at Wembley on Saturday left Wenger’s sixth placed side languishing six points adrift of the Premier League’s top four. Worryingly for Wenger, that gap could grow even bigger on Sunday when fourth placed Liverpool play their game in hand at Southampton. Failing to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top four finish would be another…

Read More

Britain to add Nigeria’s naira to list of accepted trade currencies

Admin

The naira will become one of three West African currencies that UK Export Finance has pre-approved for its programme of funding transactions that promote trade with Britain, it said. Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, which has forced London to rethink its trade ties with the rest of the world. The United Kingdom and the EU struck an agreement in December that opened the way for talks on future trade ties. “This is a clear indication of how much value the UK places on its relationship with…

Read More

Guardiola hails ‘legend’ Aguero after four-goal show

Admin

Pep Guardiola hailed Sergio Aguero as an “authentic legend” of Manchester City after his four second-half goals continued the club’s emphatic march towards the Premier League title with a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester. Raheem Sterling had given City an early lead on Saturday but Leicester went into the break on level terms thanks to Jamie Vardy’s equaliser. However, Aguero took centre stage with a finishing masterclass to take his tally in City’s last seven home games to 14 goals as Guardiola’s side moved 16 points clear. “An authentic legend of…

Read More

Boko Haram releases university lecturers, policewomen

Admin

The Department of State Services, DSS, on Saturday told President Muhammadu Buhari that three University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, lecturers abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in Magumeri, Borno State, have been released. Also released are 10 women, kidnapped in a raid by the militant group on a military/police convoy on Damboa road, near Maiduguri. The university lecturers were abducted by the group while conducting oil prospective in the Lake Chad area on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Some of their colleagues were killed during the abduction in 2017.…

Read More

Banji Akintoye: Beware of growing Fulani settlements in Southwest, Southeast

Admin

Second Republic Senator, Professor Banji Akintoye and Major-General Collins Ihekire (retd), who is a former chairman of the National Task Force to combat illegal importation and smuggling of goods, small arms, ammunition and light weapons (NATFORCE), have raised the alarm that between 175 and 250 Hausa/Fulani settlements are currently scattered in the South-West and South-East regions. The duo, who spoke on Saturday in Lagos during a National Colloquium entitled: Herdsmen as a threat to National Security, organised by The Ife 12, said this was aside from the persistent demand by…

Read More

Governance as a relay race

Admin

I first met Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode early May 2014 somewhere in Victoria Island, Lagos. We had just launched TheCable online newspaper. We ran a story — “The man who would be next Lagos governor” — which surprised him, for it was not yet public knowledge that he was going to throw his hat in the ring. I saw him briefly. We chatted, exchanged numbers and I wished him all the best. Ironically, nearly four years after, I have not met him again. We’ve spoken only once on the phone. That…

Read More

32 in trouble over open grazing in Benue

Admin

Thirty-two persons are being prosecuted for alleged violation of Benue state’s Open Grazing Prohibition Law. The law took effect from Nov. 1, 2017, the state commissioner of police,, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said. He said measures were being taken, including visibility policing, to stem the ceaseless killings in the state. “In order to strengthen our visibility in the state, we have established Tactical Operation Points in 22 locations within Makurdi metropolis. “This gives a holistic security coverage to the metro. Ortom “This was started last Thursday and the 22 points will…

Read More

Northern elders seek consensus presidential candidate

Admin

Taking measures to produce a consensus presidential candidate for the 2019 elections, some elders of the north have also constituted some committees to find solutions to the challenges facing the region. A committee is to be set up to search and present a consensus candidate for the 2019 presidential election. The meeting was president over by leader of the Northern Elders Forum, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, on Saturday in Abuja. The select elders discussed other strategies for reaching an accord and the adoption of the consensus candidate. According to Punch, others at…

Read More

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai stocks down again

Admin

Asian stocks, from Tokyo to Hong Kong and Shanghai took another battering on Friday as the global rout returned with a vengeance on intensifying fears about tighter US interest rates. The trading floor in Sydney was also not spared as investors piled into safe haven assets such as gold and the yen. The sell-off followed another battering for Wall Street, where the Dow suffered its second-heaviest daily points fall on record — the worst coming on Monday — after key US Treasury bond yields spiked fuelling the likelihood of higher…

Read More

Governor Ikpeazu wins Vanguard 2017 Governor of the Year

Admin

The Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has been nominated as Vanguard Newspaper Governor of the Year 2017. Speaking while delivering the letter of nomination to the Governor at the Abia State Governor’s Lodge in Aba, a team of Vanguard editors, led by the Editor-in-Chief, Gbenga Adefaye, described Governor Ikpeazu as an “exceptional leader with futurists ideas”. Adefaye noted that the award was in recognition of the Governor’s novel contributions to good governance and purposeful leadership in Abia State. He said: “Since assumption of office, your Excellency has made…

Read More