Barcelona star, Lionel Messi, could return to action as soon as Tuesday, coach Ernesto Valverde said after their 3-2 victory at Rayo Vallecano.

The win was Barca’s third straight without Messi, who is currently out with a broken bone in his right arm.

However, Valverde told reporters after the match, that Messi could be back for the LaLiga leaders’ midweek trip to Inter Milan in the Champions League.

“I think we all play better with Messi in the side,” Valverde said.

“We will see how he is in training [on Sunday] with regards to the Inter game this week.”

Luis Suarez scored twice in Vallecas, as Barcelona had to come from behind to edge past Rayo Vallecano.

Police in Bayelsa State have arrested two suspected teenage armed robbers in the state.

The suspects, Zibasiri David, male, 16, and Loveday Pius, male, 17, were apprehended in Biogbolo, Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, confirmed the arrest.

Butswat said David and Pius were arrested in the course of operation at Biogbolo.

The police spokesman said, “Policemen responded to a distress call that armed robbers were operating on Custom Road in Biogbolo, Yenagoa.

“On sighting the police, the suspected armed robbers ran away. They were trailed to Ebis Road Biogbolo, where David and Pius were arrested.

“Two locally-made pistol and three live cartridges were recovered from the suspects.”

Butswat said the suspects confessed to being members of Greenland cult group.

He said an investigation was ongoing, adding that the suspects would soon be charged to court, and urged members of the public to continue to assist the Police with useful information to ensure a safer Bayelsa.

Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in Bauchi State, Engineer Mohammad Barde has confirmed that his party has so far received about 15,000 defectors from the All Progressives Congress, APC, ahead of the 2019 elections.

He however advised the PDP to be careful while receiving APC defectors to its fold, alleging that some of the decampees were being sponsored to destroy the opposition party.

Barde stated this in an interview with DAILY POST on Saturday in Bauchi.

He said the crisis rocking APC in the state was an advantage and an opportunity for the NNPP to floor the ruling party during the 2019 elections.

“We have so far received about 15,000 APC members to the NNPP fold with the crisis rocking the party in Bauchi state,” he said.

The chairman stated that it has since discovered an alleged plot by the APC to destroy opposition political parties by contracting mobs to cause friction, stressing that those who recently left NNPP for other political parties were the type of people sent by APC

“Some of them left because they were sponsored by APC to destroy NNPP but we have discovered it and mend fences,” he said.

The chairman then warned PDP to be careful while receiving decampees from the APC to its fold, saying they were sponsored to infiltrate the opposition ahead of the 2019 election

“Failure of the ruling party to provide effective development to the citizens of Bauchi state has forced APC to mobilize mobs to join the opposition” he said.

Arsenal boss, Unai Emery has said that his side were able to draw 1-1 with Liverpool because they worked really hard.
Emery said their aim was to win the match, adding thay he is only ‘half happy’ about the result.

Arsenal battled back to draw with Liverpool at the Emirates on Saturday.

Emery’s side recovered from going behind courtesy of James Milner’s goal after Alexandre Lacazette equalized for the home side.

Lacazette latched on to Alex Iwobi’s precise through ball and blasted home from a tight angle

And Emery told BT Sport, “We wanted to win but the performance is good, we push and we work the match, doing our tactics and with our supporters pushing us with energy.

“For the supporters it is a great match and a good spectacle but I am only 50% happy because we wanted to win.

“Today the balance was good in our speed and intensity.

“We worked very well for the 90 minutes and the two goals is the difference in the match. This is a point and a draw, maybe we deserve a little more.

“Every match is a good test for us, it is very important we continue our process and not to lose, our test is Thursday against Sporting Lisbon and Sunday against Wolves, to be in a good position in the table.

“I think today the supporters pushed a lot for us and the players feel it on the pitch to help us and that is a good combination.

Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, has been sentenced to two years in prison as part of a mafia trial, according to Sky Sports.

The former Juventus striker was indicted in December 2015 for illegal possession of firearms, as well as intention to aid the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia group.

On Wednesday morning, Iaquinta was handed a two-year jail sentence having found guilty of illegal possession of firearms - two revolvers and 126 bullets found in his Reggio Emilia home in February 2015 - although cleared of links to the mafia group.

Meanwhile, his father, Giuseppe was found guilty of affiliation to the 'Ndrangheta' group and will serve 19 years in prison.

The two vented their frustration at the end of the process, shouting "It's ridiculous, shame on you" at the jury.



"In our family, we don't even know what 'Ndrangheta is," Iaquinta said after the verdict. "It can't be possible.



"They ruined my life out of nothing, because I'm from Calabria. I'm suffering for my family and my kids, and I haven't done anything."

Iaquinta, a former Juventus, Udinese and Cesena player, won the World Cup with his country in 2006, netting in a 2-0 debut win against Ghana, while he can also count a Serie A title to his name won with Juventus in 2013.

At a hearing in May, Iaquinta explained that he bought the guns "for the future more than anything else," as when he stopped playing he was used to spend time at the shooting range.

The former player will not be imprisoned immediately as under Italian law, defendants are not considered guilty until all levels of appeal are satisfied.

Over 140 people were put on trial in one of northern Italy's most high-profile mafia trials, suspected of helping the 'Ndrangheta to infiltrate the north of the country.

Mercy Johnson

Veteran Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson Okojie has cried out after being made to pay ridiculous fees by her bank.

She took to her social media page to lament as she called for help from relevant agencies.

The mother of three listed all the charges she is usually billed and forced to pay as she asks if we have to resolve to traditional ways of saving money.

The charges included notification, card use, cash handling charge and lots more.

Sharing the above photo of the list of charges, she wrote: "Which bank is worse? What's the next means of saving money? At least I am certain we cant resort to burying it"

Of two evils, choose neither
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(English Baptist preacher) 1834-1892

Now, it is certain that of the nearly 100 political parties asking Nigerians to vote for them in 2019, two are in the forefront: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governing at the centre and in some states, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in opposition at the national level but in administration in a couple of states.

We are glued to these two, courtesy of what our media gives us and the tin gods we have made of the candidates thrown up by the two political groups. So regardless of who they are, what they stand for, what they have said, their background and the implications of the sum and weight of all these on them when they become elected public office holders, we deem them worthy of our vote solely on account of their party and endorsement by a godfather or a cabal.

It is impossible to arrive at a salutary outcome through a process flawed from Day One. But in Nigeria, we appear to be guided by the thinking that the result is more to be celebrated than how the event came about. The end can’t justify the means. A show, let it be the utmost in flamboyance, would always owe its success to its process and planning.

We have again begun to ignore these apparent platitudes as we head for a classic poll in 2019. The two warriors of the major parties incumbent Muhammadu Buhari (APC) and Abubakar Atiku (PDP) have said so much about each other as to trigger grave concerns about our destiny being in the hands of either of them. Their handlers haven’t fared better. They’ve fed us pitiful and painful portraiture of their personae which are pulling the mind apart.

Of Buhari, we have the picture of a colourless, clueless and clannish character. This is not my position. Atiku and his army of supporters critical of the president clothe him in that garment, hoisting him as one unfit to rule, not to talk of deserving of a second term. When they speak of Buhari, they reach for expletives dug from hell, home of all what is despicable to man, beast and nature. They question his ‘integrity’, wondering if the word is different from the meaning reasonable everyday men and women attach to it. With regard to Buhari’s current travails over his inability to produce his secondary school certificate, the president’s political foes say his ‘integrity’ ought to come to the fore to persuade him to throw in the towel now or refuse to pursue a second term bid. They believe Buhari’s government has battered the economy and rendered it worse than what was on the ground in 2015. The conclusion of Atiku and his camp: the president is a ‘smoke without fire.’

The president’s friends and sympathisers have been busier than bees in hitting back at Atiku. They see the former vice-president as a corrupt person who isn’t satisfied with the loot he allegedly took when he served under Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. They’ve asked Nigerians to be wary not to turn over our enormous resources to Atiku’s presidency as he would skin us dry and leave nothing for the generations to come. A skit mocking Atiku’s alleged thieving propensities is reported to have been produced by the Presidency and delivered to many homes to warn the electorate not to trust the man. Buhari’s handlers have repeatedly referred us to the judiciary of the United States of America, where they claim Atiku can’t visit because of corruption charges. They’ve retrieved old slanderous stuff to suggest that Nigeria would cease to exist the day we witness the ex-VP’s coronation as the president. Buhari’s verdict: Atiku is a consummate thief not suitable to oversee oil-rich Nigeria.

Of course, both are naysayers on these charges against each other. But observers say it’s neither here nor there to merely contemplate the accusations and denials as normal in a do-or-die election where the winner takes all. They declare that both sides present themselves as two evils the electorate must pick from. It’s a case of choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Or is it a question of, better the devil you know? By their statements, they inadvertently admit they are two evils.

Many don’t accept it’s fair to offer Nigerians who look forward to a promising time in the 2019 presidential poll this anticlimax in the form of two devils. The relief is that there are other candidates asking to be given a chance to govern us. The electors can break the jinx of a perennial two-horse contest in Nigeria’s politics. After all, democracy isn’t a turgid tale or narrative. It has sweet twists and turns seasoned by surprise and revolt of language.

Ask the ancient Greeks who gave the world democracy and taught man great dramatic literature.

Source:

Former Presidential spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, has been named as the running mate of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Leke Shittu, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Former Governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has been equally named as the candidate for Ogun East Senatorial district.

This followed acceptance of the candidates’ list of the PDP faction backed by the Senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Abati and Daniel’s choice was contained in a statement personally signed by Kashamu, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Abeokuta on Wednesday, by his media aide, Austin Oniyokor.

He asked the public to disregard the statement credited to the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan that INEC acted against the rule that only the national leadership of a party can submit candidates’ list to INEC.

He vowed that “this resolve to act with unchecked impunity shall be fully resisted in a fight to finish battle to strengthen our party’s internal democracy.”

The statement read: “Ignorantly, the National Chairman is unaware that where there is dispute resulting into a judicial resolution as in Ogun state matter, the State Chairman and Secretary could sign in place of National Chairman and Secretary when backed by validly subsisting court judgements. Whatever makes our National Chairman to be this resolute at challenging the constituted electoral regulatory body, INEC and also dwelling in nauseating impunity against Nigerian court judgements out of unexplainable desperation to install Ladi Adebutu as PDP Ogun governorship candidate should as well have forced him to create his own INEC and conduct elections inside his office.

“The PDP as a Nigerian creation by law is for all Nigerians by established regulations and national statue; nobody can as such intimidate us in our democracy.”

—Says Nigeria won’t go back to PDP’s illusion

—Backs Oshiomhole’s leadership

—I won’t mortgage my conscience—Oshiomhole

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—NATIONAL leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Wednesday said that his party was not jittery over the alleged meeting held by the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu and Oshiomhole
This is as the APC national leader has thrown his support to the party’s Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s style of leadership, saying that the party surrendered all rights to the National Working Committee headed by Oshiomhole

Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Tinubu said the meeting was about the nation, the country, Nigerian people, peace, stability and economic progress.

Asked if he was jittery over Atiku’s meeting in Dubai whaich was aimed at defeating President Buhari in 2019, he said that the PDP’s presidential standard bearer can have meeting anywhere in the world even in the jungle, but that Nigerians cannot go back to the illusion of the party.

He said, “We don’t fear, whether it is in the jungle, or is in Dubai or is in Abu Dhabi, people are free to meet and strategies in any way they form but we are not going back to the illusion of the PDP. It is not possible, Nigerians will not do that.

“They say slow and steady wins the race , we inherited that from our forefathers and knowledgeable people. We can’t go back to the pit that we inherited for 16 years. They can strategies from anywhere but a leopard cannot change it skin.”

Also asked whether he was in support of the alleged planned removal of the APC national Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole by some aggrieved party members, he emphatically said, “No.”

Mixed reactions greet NASS list in Ogun

He further added, “We all have to respect the party supremacy. You were all here when we had the Congress, we elected the new executives, the convention we had it, the NEC was formed and we surrendered to avoid conflict, to avoid domination, to avoid abuses of power, we surrendered our rights, all rights to the National Working Committee headed by Adams Oshiomohole that the National Working Committee should set up electoral bodies to supervise various state congresses and elections.

“We signed off for it. So, if it is not in our individual favour, so be it. We gave three options, consensus, where there is no consensus because if you are more than two or three and you cannot agree to one candidate, you go to the next level. The next level is the stakeholders delegate and it has to be supervised by the National Working Committee of the party, national election committee of the party.

“That shows party supremacy or the freest option, the less cumbersome is to open direct primary, line up and count the number, one, two three. If you win, you win and if you fail, go home. Then appeal committee was set up to listen to all appeals, internal mechanism for conflict resolution.

“It was there, you cannot turn round against that, you cannot turn against all of that. No. Party is supreme, party must be respected, abuses will not do it and anger will not do it. It is party politics, somebody will win and somebody will lose, too bad.”

Also speaking to State House correspondents after meeting the President, Oshiomhole said he has no illusions on his position as the APC national Chairman, adding, “this job I am doing is not a pensionable job; but I did promise myself that I am going to be on this job for one day, I will do according to the rules and according to my conscience; I will be fair and just to all and God will give me the courage and the wisdom to do His will.”

3 Governors not pleased with primaries

Continuing, he said, “The truth is, we have 36 states and FCT and we do have 36 state organs and FCT and as far as I know, we have 23 governors; to be exact, I believe three governors are not particularly pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states and you cannot grudge anyone for not being happy if a particular outcome does not coincide with his expectations.

Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency: Mutu plotting to stop me, Tuodolo alleges

“I don’t have power to appoint and I don’t have power to change particularly when things have been properly done. Now if this makes one, two or three people unhappy, it is unfortunate but they are my friends; If things are to be reduced to who is my friend, who I can do favour to, obviously having been a governor for eight years, I have more friends and more governors than any other group within the party whether they are Senators, House of Reps members or other aspirants within the party.

“If there was any temptation in Nigeria, it is temptation towards power not temptation towards the powerless. So, all I have tried is to find some courage to enforce the rules and I think an overwhelming majority of the governors appreciate that I have done best because change is not easy.

“We all want change but the process of change can be quite traumatizing, because it is not painless. People have been used to a particular way of doing things; to encourage them to do them differently can be a challenge.”

Former Nigerian vice-President Atiku Abubakar
He said that the country has a political system that tries to make people more powerful.

He said, “So, here I am as national chairman conducting primaries, the outcome of which some very powerful people did not see their preferred candidate emerging. Let me say that if there is a choice between my conscience-what I believe is right and mortgaging that conscience in order to keep the job, I will have no difficulty resolving it in favour of my conscience .And those who know, know that at my age I cannot learn new tricks.

“I am absolutely committed to justice, fairness, I a stickler to enforcement of rules; because the source of relevance is derived from rules. I have lived my life fighting for justice and fairness.”

Stressing that three governors were not particularly pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states, he said, “Change is not easy. We all want change but the process of change can be traumatizing.”

S’South APC Chairmen pass vote of confidence on Oshiomhole

“So, it is not surprising that there is some disquiet but I remain a friend to this governors, I respect them; I appreciate them for the fact that but for their support, I will not be chairman and you don’t go stepping on toes of those who helped you to get into position..

“But however, I thought I was clear and I remain clear that helping me to get to the position, it was to help APC to return to its core values of progressive politics, of fairness, of justice, of adherence to rule of law and total submission to the extant provisions of our party constitution.

In doing that, you don’t look at power; you look at what is; what is just.

“I think that with time, we will reconcile all these; (Ibikunle) Amosun is my good friend; we have known each other for a very long time; we exchange personal visits in addition to official visits; Zamfara governor has been the Chairman of NGF and I was an active member of that forum; we have wonderful time together and I believe in the future, we are still going to have wonderful time together.

“Governor Rochas Okorocha was one of those who had issues with my predecessor and I did my best to try and resolve those issues in a way that has been given him a new platform. And I am happy that God used us to do that not by cheating in his favour but by doing what is right.

“It is just that once you stick to the goal, sometimes, you either get caught on the right side or the wrong side. I will say it is the tree that bears fruits that attracts stones; the tree that doesn’t bear fruits doesn’t attract any stones.

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“It is only in Nigeria that you can have ten aspirants competing for one seat and one person emerges and the remaining nine wonder why they didn’t win. In other climes, once you file out and there is another person, the more the number, the more the number of losers.

“I have for example (Osita) Okechukwu; I heard he was particularly hard on Channels TV. He is one of the beneficiaries of Mr. Presidents goodwill, DG of VON and I thought he will remain the Voice of Nigeria but he went through an election and he was defeated by a Lady who is also working for this government.”

Following a full scale investigation order by the Benue State Commissioner of Police on the report of a missing child Bemdoo Ajekwe Aged 2yrs 6 months on 10/10/18 at North Bank area of Makurdi, one Joy Onyeabor 32yrs and Lucy Doosur 29yrs were arrested during investigation.

The suspects both confessed that the said child was on that fateful day in company of his older brother who is about 7yrs old when they lured the older child with the sum of #50 to help them buy bread across the road leaving the younger child in their care before they whisked him to faraway Aba in Abia State.

They stated that they sold the child to one Unwa Chibueze and Elizabeth whose surname is unknown at the cost of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (#500,000).

Further investigation led to the arrest of other members of the syndicate namely; Sunday Udoh 26yrs and Friday Orinya 33yrs all of North Bank, Makurdi who actively participated in the crime.
Police detectives extended investigation to Aba in Abia state and recovered/rescued the child Bemdoo Ajekwe on the 23/10/2018.

The child has since been reunited to the family while investigation continues with a view to arrest other fleeing members of the syndicate.

The Media Officer of the Super Eagles, Toyin Ibitoye, has insisted that John Mikel Obi has not retired from international football.

Mikel Obi, who is the captain of the Nigerian national team, has not featured since the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

He was not named in Gernot Rohr’s 23-man squad to take on South Africa next month.

“Mikel has not retired from international football.

“He remains the captain of the national team.

“But the reality of it is that he is not getting any younger. And the positive (from this) is that other players now have a chance to step up in his absence,” Ibitoye told Greetings FM Abuja.

UNITED Labour Congress of Nigeria, ULC, has decried the protracted issue of unpaid benefits to former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, by the federal government five years after the privatization of the assets of PHCN.

At a meeting of its Central Working Committee, CWC, in Lagos, leaders of ULC called on government to pay the affected people their entitlements to save them from the untold hardship they had been going through since.

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In a communique signed by President of ULC, Joe Ajaero, at the end of the meeting said “Nigerian workers insist that all arrears of pensions and gratuities owed Nigerian workers be settled immediately. We believe that it is mindless and wicked to deny Nigerian men and women who have given their lives in the service of this nation to be denied livelihood when they have retired.

“While we thank the federal government for commencing the payment of arrears of gratuities owed former PHCN workers, we do not take kindly to the half-truth and outright misinformation by the government on the number of people covered by the payment.

We know that what the government is paying for now after much pressure is just for about 400 workers out of the over 2,000 workers who are suffering under this insensitive action of the government. We urge Government to commence payment on the remaining workers.”

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Recall that Ajaero who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employee, NUEE, in a statement on behalf of NUEE earlier in May, contended that “cases of staff who have been duly verified but not yet paid their severance benefits include cases of under-payment of severance benefits, Unpaid severance entitlements and pension deductions of all PHCN staff covering 16 months – July, 2012 – October, 2013.

Cases of staff who statutorily retired from service but yet to be paid their respective gratuities preceding the privatisation exercise. Cases of staff yet to receive the pension components of their entitlement, death cases still awaiting payment to the Next of Kin.”

The union added that also pending was the “refusal to conduct pre-retirement training for PHCN workers as required by the negotiated agreement.”