About five persons were reportedly killed and eight injured in a clash between Kabawa and the Jukun tribes, at Abinsi town of Guma Local Government Area of Benue state. This was even as several houses were allegedly burnt and three vehicles smash...
She kicks against the resort to military actions to douse the spate of bombings, killing and maiming of innocent souls and destruction of property by suspected Boko Haram sect and other forms of insurgency in the country, saying the action is expensive...
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard says his side can still win the Premier League title, and defender Gary Cahill has urged the team to put pressure on Manchester City and Manchester United. The west London side are four points behind Roberto Mancini&rsq...
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...