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An apprentice nurse, Miss Kelechi Nwawaka, 20, has been murdered at Ndiechi Eketube community in Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, with her head, private part and fingers cut off ostensibly for ritual purposes. The headless body was disc...
Rabiu Ibrahim and three other players have been dropped by Super Eagles handler, Stephen Keshi ahead of the AFCON this month in South Africa. The other players axed are Kano Pillars defender Papa Idris, Henry Uche of Enyimba and Turkey-based striker Uc...
World No 1s Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka were named the top seeds on Monday for next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne. Djokovic, who beat Rafael Nadal in five sets in last year’s final, will be bidding for his third successive Au...
Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah has dropped midfielder Andre Ayew from his squad for this month’s Africa Cup of Nations. The French-based star got a hamstring injury in training last week and failed to meet Saturday’s deadline for players to repor...
Reigning African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure is currently receiving treatment for cough and fever at a clinic in Abu Dhabi where Ivory Coast are fine tuning for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. The Ivorian delegation arrived in the United Arab...
Team Nigeria at the West and Central Africa junior tennis tournament holing in Togo, Benin Republic have started in bright note. Ten out of the eleven starlets slugging it out at the tournament won their opening matches with Rotimi Adetunji the only pl...
Argentina’s Lionel Messi has again won the world best player award. Messi made history last night when he collected the fourth consecutive title of best player in the world. The FIFA Ballon d’Or award took place in Zurich. United States player Abby Wambach claimed her first FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala held at the Zurich Kongresshaus this evening.
Vicente del Bosque, the Spanish national team coach, and Sweden’s new women’s national team coach Pia Sundhage (former USA coach) were the winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year awards for men’s and women’s football, respectively.
Aged 25, Messi concluded 2012 by scoring over 90 goals. He also finished top scorer in the UEFA Champions League 2011-2012 season with 14 goals. Meanwhile, Vicente del Bosque added the European title to his 2010 FIFA World Cup crown when leading Spain to victory at EURO 2012.
In women’s football, 2012 was the US national team’s year. Sundhage and Wambach led the US to its second Olympic gold medal in London after defeating the Japanese team in the final and thus exacting revenge for the FIFA Women’s World Cup final the previous year, which Japan won for the first time in their history.
These awards were decided after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s awards) and women’s (for the two women’s awards) national teams, as well as international media representatives selected by French football magazine France Football, voted for candidates in each of the four categories. Each group’s votes represented one third of the final result.
It was an unforgettable night, with many former and current football stars on stage and on the red carpet. The international audience was entertained with a flavour of Brazil as we look to the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013, as well as by Scottish singer Amy MacDonald.
The FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the third time following the amalgamation of the FIFA World Player of the Year award with the France Football Ballon d’Or in 2010. Lionel Messi won the FIFA Ballon d’Or after polling 41.60% of the votes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo on 23.68% and Andrés Iniesta on 10.91%.
Eagles captain Joseph Yobo will equal a six-AFCON finals appearance record held by Nwankwo Kanu at the tournament in South Africa. Yobo has already eclipsed Kanu’s record as the most capped Nigeria star with 89 caps and he could add to this tally...
Baby brains grow at an astonishing rate—they more than double in size by the time a newborn turns one year old and reach their full adult size just four years later, by kindergarten. To help with all this growth and learning, babies’ brains...
A clamour by some interest groups in the maritime sector advocating the rejection of amended Customs & Excise Management Act (CEMA) by the Senate has been described as self-serving. The National President, National Association of Government Approve...
A member of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, Dr Chris Uwaje, says Nigeria needs a national database to be able to successfully fight cybercrime. Uwaje, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Connect Technologies, made this kno...
The judicial panel of inquiry set up to investigate activities of the Abia Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development Fund (ASPPIDF) has uncovered N24 billion fraud between 1999 and 2012.
The Chairman of the panel, Justice Okey Nwosu, gave the figure when he presented the panel’s five-volume report to Gov. Theodore Orji, at the Government House in Umuahia on Monday.
Nwosu said the amount was part of the internally-generated revenue by ASPPIDF since its inception in 1999.
It urged the government to direct a comprehensive audit of the agency to determine the exact amount and those involved in the fraud.
Receiving the report, Orji said the panel was set up ``not to witch-hunt but to find out why the fund could not live up to people's expectation’’.
Orji expressed regrets over ``the colossal revenue loss’’ in the agency, saying that the money could have been used in the development of the state.
He commended the panel for the effort in carrying out its assignment and assured that the recommendations would be implemented.
The Police Command in Delta on Monday said that no fewer than 91 kidnappers and armed robbery suspects were killed by the police between January 2012 to Jan. 5, 2013. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ikechukwu Aduba, gave the figure to newsmen in A...
Vice President Namadi Sambo on Monday stressed the need for the production of a national demographic data (NDD) of all Nigerians for rapid economic planning, healthcare delivery, security and educational development. Sambo made the call in Abuja ...
The police in Lagos on Monday arraigned two brothers, Onyekachi Okoro and Michael Okoro, over an alleged involvement in the abduction of a lady.
Onyekachi, 25, a barber and Michael, 48, a trader, are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and abduction before an Oshodi Magistrates' Court in Lagos.
The prosecutor, Cpl. Kehinde Olatunde, told the court that the accused and others at large committed the offence on Dec. 9, 2012, at No. 38, Aremu Olatunbosun St., Oshodi.
He said that the accused and others conspired to abduct one Eberechi Ogoke, 20, daughter of Ndubisi Ogoke.
"Onyekachi and others had visited the complainants, Ndubisi Ogoke and wife, with three bottles of wine, asking them to release their daughter, Eberechi, his girlfriend, to him in marriage.
"Ndubisi told them that he could not release his daughter just like that, that there were other things they needed to do before he could release his daughter to them.
Olatunde said that the complainant asked the accused to repeat their visit the following day, which they did.
"When the accused and others called back, the complainant called a photographer to take a group picture but this was rebuffed by the visitors.
"The accused told the complainant that they were not there to snap pictures, and to the dismay of the complainant, they all stood up and one of them grabbed his daughter and fled the scene.
"All efforts made to trace or find Eberechi since then has proved abortive,’’ the prosecutor said.
He said that when Onyekachi was arrested, the accused denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the lady.
Olatunde said that the offences committed contravened Sections 409 and 411 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused, who reside at No. 14, Omilade St., Mafoluku, Oshodi, however, each pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Magistrate, Mrs M.R. Osho-Adebiyi, granted each accused bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties each in like sum and adjourned the case to Jan. 17 for mention.