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Nigeria international, John Obi Mikel is now aware that he faces a battle for a starting place at Chelsea. Mikel’s acknowledgment stems from the conversion of centre-back David Luiz to a defensive midfielder by Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez in r...
Super Eagles right full back, Chibuzor Okonkwo is positive his side will have a good game against the Catalonian selected side in Wednesday’s friendly in Spain. Okonkwo missed the friendly tie no thanks to non-possession of valid Shengen Visa. Th...
Victor Obinna Nsofor has explained that moving to Eastern Europe may have hurt his chance of making Nigeria’s Afcon provisional squad. The Nigerian striker joined Russian Premier League club, Lokomotiv Moscow from Inter Milan in June 2011 but now...
Warri Wolves’ goalkeeper, Chigozie Agbim, will be between the sticks for Nigeria in Tuesday’s pre-AFCON game against Catalonia. Reports in the local media this week had suggested that overseas goalkeepers, Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, ...
Dolphins female basketball of Lagos has won the 12th edition of the Mark D’ Ball Basketball Tournament in Otukpo. The team defeated defending champions, Pearls in an all Lagos derby 33- 24 to emerged champion. The final match which held at the Ot...
Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Amb Bainca Olivia Odimegwu Ojukwu has charged the Super Eagles of Nigeria to go all out for victory against Catalonia in today friendly match. Coach Stephen Keshi led squad is using the game to fine-tune their preparation ...
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has denied a report claiming that 15 worshipers were killed in an outskirt town of Chibok Local Government Areal of Borno State on Sunday. The agency, through it spokesperson, Yushau A. Shuaib, said thoug...
Musa Amadu, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Association said the inability of the Super Falcons to defend the African Women Championship (AWC) was a major regret of 2012.
Amadu made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
He described the team’s poor performance at the championship hosted by Equatorial Guinea as an embarrassment to the FA.
He said the entire team would be overhauled soon following the ``disgrace it brought to the country's football''.
``A rebuilding process has begun. We are going to overhaul the team and we are going to overhaul the technical crew.
``By the first quarter of 2013, we will see the result of the rebuilding process. ``This will enable us put together a good team and expose them to friendly matches before the qualifiers for the Women World Cup in Canada in 2015 begins in earnest,” Amadu said.
The NFA scribe said that the inability of the FA to unite the football family was also part of their regrets for the out gone year.
``I would want to say that we have not been able to really unite the football family. The process has begun and it has not been completed.
``We still have some groups that are still not moving in the same direction with the FA as far as football development is concerned in Nigeria.
``I will be praying that in the year 2013 onwards, the football family becomes stronger, so that we can have the same objective in this project which is to move Nigeria football forward.”
NAN recalls that Anyim Pius Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Sports Minister, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, had in 2012 brokered peace on the crisis marring Nigerian football.
Some of the parties involved in the crisis, including the National Association of Nigeria Footballers (NANF), were persuaded to withdraw the court cases.
NAN also recalls that various committees had been set up in the past to make peace in the country's football. One of such committees’ was the Gen. Dominic Oneya’s nine-man committee.
The committee was set up by the former Sports Minister, Yusuf Suleiman, in August 2011, to seek pragmatic ways of solving the incessant recurrence of crisis in Nigeria’s football.
A New Year's Eve fireworks display in Ivory Coast turned from celebration to tragedy early Tuesday when 60 people - most of them women and children - were crushed to death in a stampede, officials said.
Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said another 40 people were injured, two of them seriously.
Earlier, state media reports suggested that between 100 and 200 people had been hurt in the incident in Abidjan, the country's largest city and former capital.
The 60 dead included 26 children, 28 women and six men, said Minister of Youth Alain Lobognon, via his official Twitter feed, after visiting the hospital morgue where the bodies were taken.
The official AIP news agency earlier said the victims were all children, ranging in age from eight to 15.
Bakayoko said the tragedy happened as hundreds of people were trying to go back home after the fireworks display ended in Plateau, the city's central business district.
The crush was near a stadium, Bakayoko said, adding that the proper security measures were in place during the fireworks show.
It's still not clear exactly what triggered the stampede at about 1 a.m.
Many of the victims were trampled on or suffocated by the surging crowd, a senior fire official said on national television.
Rescue workers were at the scene two hours later but could not save the victims, the AIP news agency said.
A police official in Abidjan told CNN that most of the victims were young people who wanted to join in the celebration while their elders stayed at home.
The stampede occurred in an area of narrow streets, according to the official, who did not want to be named as he is not authorized to talk to the media.
He said the parents of those involved are at the hospitals and are being assisted by state authorities.
Before the night's events took a deadly turn, AIP reported that thousands of people had poured into the streets to join the celebration, seen by some as symbolizing the nation's return to peace.
Nearly 5,000 extra personnel were deployed to ensure people's security, the news agency said, most of them in the Plateau area.
Ivory Coast suffered months of violence following disputed presidential elections in November 2010. Laurent Gbagbo, then the incumbent president, refused to step down after Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner.
Gbagbo was arrested five months later and is now awaiting trial at The Hague, in the Netherlands, accused of crimes against humanity for the civil unrest and deaths.
The International Criminal Court also wants Ivory Coast to hand over his wife, Simone Gbagbo, to face allegations of crimes against humanity.
The West African nation is home to around 22 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook.
- CNN
Fire on New Year day destroyed five houses near the Ikoku spare parts market in Port Harcourt. An eye witness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the fire started about 10.00 a.m. on Tuesday at the dump site of the market in Gam...
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said on Tuesday that the long traffic delays experienced on airports roads due to security checks was in overall interest of the public. Mr Yakubu Dati, the General Manager, Corporate Communication...
President Goodluck Jonathan announced on Tuesday that most members of the Islamic extremist group have been arrested by security forces in the country, saying with more prayers, the country shall overcome terrorism, kidnapping and armed robbery.
"Most of the terror suspects have been arrested. Most people will not know what the security agencies have been doing. The people who bombed police HQ, UN House and St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madalla have been arrested. We will continue to improve security architecture", the president said.
Speaking at a church service in All Saints Anglican Church in Abuja to mark the new year celebration, Jonathan who noted that prayers by the church have been helping his government to stabilise the country at a time of challenge, added that "there was time the country was drifting and everyone thought the country will not endure but the prayers rescued us.
"We shall overcome terrorism, kidnapping and armed robbery with more prayers from the Church. The new year will be better for the country. We have a huge population and we will continue to provide employment for our people and encourage entrepreneurship", the president stated.
Rev. Nicolas Okoh who delivered a sermon noted that the Anglican Church all over the world was celebrating the naming and circumcision of Jesus Christ as well as the new year.
In his sermon with the theme, "circumsize your heart", Okoh urged Nigerians, including the church, businessmen, civil servants and politicians at all levels to circumsise their hearts.
He chided teachers and academicians as well as students who dress indecently on campuses, asking them to circumsize their hearts, even as he told market women who sell fake products, petrol dollars and transporters who hike prices in festive periods, kidnappers, armed robbers and members of the Boko Haram sect.
Read more later...
Fellow Nigerians, I greet and rejoice with you all as we celebrate the advent of a new year.
I join you all in giving thanks to God Almighty for bringing us and our beloved nation safely through the past year to the beginning of 2013 which, by His Grace, will be a much better year for us and our country.
In keeping with tradition, it is usual for individuals, institutions and organisations to make resolutions and set agenda as a new year begins, to guide their actions in the coming months.
I have already given a clear indication of the Federal Government's agenda for 2013 in recent pronouncements.
Our objective for the year is to ensure by all possible means that more of the programmes and projects envisioned by this administration, and which are already being embarked upon are further brought on stream within the next 12 months to meet the yearnings of our people, and raise the quality of life.
We have in the last year achieved a lot in terms of the positive transformation of vital sectors of our national life, such as public infrastructure, power supply, oil and gas, transportation, education, health and agricultural development.
We will continue to work diligently in 2013 to ensure that our efforts in these areas are carried forward to full fruition in fulfillment of our promise of better public services and improved living conditions for all Nigerians.
We will give priority attention in the coming year to flood and erosion control, the rehabilitation and expansion of existing federal roads, improved power supply, as well as the continued rehabilitation, upgrading and reactivation of the national rail network.
Employment generation and wealth creation will also remain a primary objective of our socio-economic agenda for 2013.
Creating more employment opportunities for our youth and graduates of our universities is an imperative that will continue to underpin our drive for massive economic growth, the rapid expansion of our manufacturing and industrial base, and the productive diversification of our national economy.
In this regard, we will continue to provide the necessary enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
As peace and security remain pre-requisite conditions for the full realisation of our objectives, we will also do more in 2013 to further empower our security agencies who are working in collaborative partnerships with our friends in the international community to stem the scourge of terrorism in our country and enhance the security of lives and property in all parts of Nigeria.
I also want to assure Nigerians that we will refuse to be discouraged by those who have taken it upon themselves to pick on every initiative and effort of this administration.
We remain resolutely committed to the rule of law, due process and fair play in all circumstances.
Our democracy continues to grow, and the scope for human freedom continues to expand.
It is an achievement that we will continue to build upon.
I say it again, we are determined to continue to push forward.
We will do more, not less. We will remain focused.
For your part, dear compatriots, I urge that you all include in your New Year resolutions a commitment to do more this year to support the implementation of the Federal Government's Agenda for National Transformation in every possible way.
That is all I ask for.
The task of making our dear nation a much better place for present and future generations cannot be left to government alone.
Leaders and followers alike have critical roles to play in our march towards the fulfillment of our great national potentials.
Let us all therefore resolve as we celebrate the new year to place the higher interests of national unity, peace, stability and progress above all other considerations and work harder in our particular fields of human endeavour to contribute more significantly to the attainment of our collective aspirations.
I wish you all a happy and rewarding 2013. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR President Federal Republic of Nigeria January 01, 2013
Sen. Jubril Aminu, on Tuesday described the Nigerian Governors' Forum as strange and an instrument of oppressing the Federal Government and the people.
Aminu made the remark at a media briefing, organised by the Adamawa Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Yola.
"It is very strange. I worked in many countries and have not seen anything like such a forum.
"The Governors’ Forum is what is used to oppress everybody, including the president", Aminu said.
He said the forum always ensured that state governors had their way in everything, including nominating who became an ambassador or member of the National Assembly.
"I don’t know how the forum came about in this country. And if it is not checked, it will put the country in serious trouble, as the state chief executives unite to challenge the Federal Government," Aminu said.
He called for the application of internal democracy in the running of the political parties.
He cautioned against the politics of sentiments and stressed that the introduction of sentiments in the nomination of candidates would bring about tyrants in public office.
Aminu protested against the intervention of Gov. Sule Lamido committee in the crisis in Adamawa PDP and said he had no confidence in the choice of Lamido, because of his relationship with Gov. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta has arrested a vessel suspected to be carrying 1, 000 tonnes of crude oil off the coast of Bonny Island in Rivers. Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai, the Commander of the 2 Brigade and Sector Two of J...