Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano has announced his retirement from international football. His decision to quit the Argentina national team is coming on the heels of his side’s 4-3 loss to France in the round of 16 of the World Cup on Saturday.
“This story has ended. We gave it our everything until the end,” the former Barcelona and Liverpool man told reporters after the match.
“It was a crazy match, in which we didn’t start well but we recovered and we turned it around. But their tying goal did so much damage to us.
“It cost us so much to lift ourselves up again. From this point on I will be just another fan of the Argentina national team. It is over. The illusion is shattered.”
He added: “It’s time to say goodbye and for the younger players to step in.”
Mascherano had previously said the 2018 World Cup would be his final tournament with Argentina.
The 34-year-old played the full 90 minutes in the match against France which marked his 147th appearance for his country, which is an Argentina record.
Mascherano, who has played at four World Cups, made his debut for Argentina in 2003 when he still hadn’t played professionally for River Plate.
Sadly, Mascherano is ending his illustrious time with Argentina without winning a major tournament.
His closest shot at silverware was when he helped Argentina reach the final of the 2014 World Cup and the 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas.
Argentina reserve midfielder Lucas Biglia also announced his retirement in the postmatch news conference, telling reporters: “I am going to step aside. I’ve realised there’s no place for me any longer.”
Biglia made 57 appearances for Argentina, scoring one goal, since making his debut in a 2011 friendly against Portugal.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has said that insecurity in Nigeria, especially the current crisis in Plateau, Benue, Taraba and Zamfara States are both internally and externally induced. He said that so many forces were against Nigeria.
Buratai,who spoke today, Friday when he addressed the press during the Army Day Celebration in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, said: “the target is the corporate existence of Nigeria as a country. The blame game along ethnic and religious fault lines is not the solution. Nigerians must unite to solve this serious challenge.
“The Nigerian Army is not sleeping. We are continuously exploiting all the linkages and leads towards addressing the security challenges we shall get to the roots of all the crisis militarily. Therefore, we must be tolerant of one another and give peace a chance.
“Let us also remember that no nation can develop or be economically vibrant without peace. I therefore want to use this medium to solicit with us all to be our brothers’ keepers.
“We assure all Nigerians that the Nigerian Army is for you and will continue to work for the common good of the country while professionally carrying out its constitutional responsibilities.” [myad]
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that one of the ways to eliminate corruption and promote business integrity is for the government to review the public procurement policies.
Obasanjo, at the 6th Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity, entitled: “The Role of Business Integrity in National Transformation,” in Lagos identified procurement process as the largest source of leakage.
According to him, awards of contracts, supply, service contracts and others are usually loaded with provisions for bribes and kickbacks.
Obasanjo identified poor investment, poverty, infrastructure decay, institutional inefficiency and wide range of socio-economic crisis as some of the negative consequences of corrupt practices and lack of integrity in public and private businesses.
“As Africans, we need to look inward, we need value and reorientation that is anchored on our virtues of truthfulness, hospitality, respect, honesty, obedience and patriotism.
“And as a matter of urgent national emergency, Nigeria must re-invigorate efforts to reform public procurement policies, especially the Public Procurement Act which regulates public procurement and aim to minimise the abuse of processes, rules and standards in the awards and execution of public sector contracts.
“I will also recommend that we adopt a code of ethics in doing business in Nigeria and ensure a framework to make it work,” he said.
“Integrity is the foundation of leadership as there are no moral shortcuts in the game of business and life.
“We need integrity in the public and private business and it must start at the top. Organisations and public institutions must run their businesses in a forthright manner.
“Make integrity the heart and soul of your business culture.
“If the entrepreneur does not have integrity, others who walk with him or her will definitely falter and the society will also suffer for his self-centredness and misconduct.”
He said that if the operating structure of the government is transparent, accountable and operate against the backdrop of genuine transformation, economic ventures and investments would sprout and the national reserve will swell, good planning will see public infrastructure booming and becoming reliable.
“When justice rules a nation, everyone is glad; when injustice rules everyone groans. Show me a righteous ruler and I will show you a happy people and a wholesome society,” noted.
Obasanjo said that Kolade had distinguished himself as an icon of integrity and transparency throughout his career in the corporate world as well as national and international assignments.
He urged Nigerians to adopt the lifestyle of Kolade to transform and rebuild the country.
Also, Dr Christopher Kolade, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to the U.K., urged Nigerians to uphold the virtue of integrity in their dealings to make Nigeria a better country.
“This kind of gathering gives us the encouragement to believe that no matter the difficulties, there is hope that things can be better.
“God has created in us the capacity to practice integrity — to know right from wrong and to chose right over wrong.
“Although there is a cost or a price to pay for that moral courage to do what is right and stand for what is right, even when you are standing alone.
“But there is a rebuilding of the spirit in you that makes you feel stronger to face whatever is coming.
“I encourage us to always uphold integrity, doing what is right because if you do what is wrong, someone is going to pay a price they do not need to pay.
”And if many of us are not very pleased with where we are now as a nation and we want to see genuine national transformation, we need to persevere in doing what is right.
“Upholding integrity is a life long race because in the end, not only does it do you some good personally but that is the best contribution to the building of the nation,” Kolade said.
In her address, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Chairperson, Governing Board of Integrity, said that lack of integrity had a grave human and future cost.
“Lack of integrity which is driving corruption in our country is an issue we must overcome, not just for our businesses but also for our nation.
“We cannot give up, we have a country to build and a future to secure for our children. This is why we are having this lecture.
“As organisers of this event, we are committed to carrying on the legacies of Prof. Kolade who has helped to build many credible institutions in the country,” she said. (NAN)
The lecture was organized by the Convention on Business Integrity Ltd., an anti-corruption, research and advocacy organisation concerned with issues of accountability and transparency in public and private sector.
Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians, one in his early teens, in border clashes today, Friday in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry said.
Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP that a Palestinian youth aged about 13, was shot in the head near the town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, without giving his name or exact age.
He added that 24-year-old Mohammed al-Hamayda was fatally wounded in the stomach by Israeli fire in a separate incident east of Rafah.
The Israeli army said that throughout the afternoon, “thousands of Palestinians participated in extremely violent riots and committed various acts of terror in several locations along the Gaza Strip security fence.”
An English-language statement said a hand-grenade and rocks were thrown at soldiers.
Israeli forces responded with “large amounts of riot dispersal means and in specific cases where these means did not succeed in negating the threat, resorted to live fire in accordance with the standard operating procedures,” it said.
The army said the reported death of the boy would be examined.
Since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30, at least 137 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
The majority were involved in protests but others were seeking to breach or damage the border fence.
No Israelis have been killed.
On Thursday, Abdel Fattah Abu Azoum, 17, was hit in the head by fire from an Israeli tank near Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Israeli army said he and a companion were trying to break through the border fence.
An Islamic religious leader (Imam) was said to have shielded over 200 people, including Christians from danger by hiding them inside a mosque during last weekend’s brutal clash in parts of Plateau state.
According to BBC pidgin, the brave Imam, whose identity was hidden, swung into action on spotting people fleeing from the Birkin Ladi local government area where the killings occurred. He hid them in a mosque in Nghar Yelwa, his village.
The Islamic leader was quoted as saying: “I first took the women to my personal house to hide them there, then, I took the men to the mosque to hide.”
He said that after hiding them, some armed men approached him, asking him to identify the Christians among the people.
He was said to have lied that they were all Muslims.
According to the report, he laid on the floor, begging the armed men to leave.
Customers in the retail segment of the Nigerian inter-bank foreign exchange market received a $318.73 million boost from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) today, Friday.
A statement from the apex bank said that the deals in the retail window represent requests from the various sectors in the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
The Acting Director in the Corporate Communications department of the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the forex sales and explained that $318.73 million sold was for companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industries.
It will be recalled that last Tuesday, the CBN had intervened to the tune of $210 million to cater for requests in the wholesale segment of the forex market.
Okorafor said that the CBN remained committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for their business concerns.
This was even as the naira, today, Friday, exchanged at an average of N360/$1 in the Bureau de Change segment (BDCs) across major trading points in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Kano.
The immediate past Chief of Staff, Bauchi State Government House, Architect Audu Sule Katagum has become the State Deputy Governor after his appointment was confirmed today, Friday, by the State House of Assembly.
The lawmakers confirmed Katagum during its plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Honourable Kawuwa Shehu Damina
He was nominated by Governor Mohammed Abubakar early in June after wide consultation with stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The new deputy governor replaced the former one, Engineer Nuhu Gidado who had earlier resigned his appointment without giving any reason other than that his spirit to served the state had dampened.
An Osun State High Court, sitting in Ikirun, today, Friday, granted an order of interim injunction restraining the former Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore and his group within the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from conducting proposed congresses.
The presiding judge, Justice Jide Falola, while ruling on the experte-motion said: “in the spirit of reconciliation among parties, I hereby make the following preservative orders:
“Both the Applicants and the Respondents shall uphold the supremacy of the constitution of the party –Social Democratic Party, SDP as contained in S. 2(1) of the constitution.
former Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore | photo by Chennelstv
“Parties, especially the respondents shall maintain status quo ante bellum inter duos, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for injection.
“Also, the rights of the applicants, as part of the State Executive Council inaugurated on 16th February 2016 to discharge the duties, privileges and responsibilities assigned to them by section 12, 6, and 10 of the constitution of the party are hereby preserved in order not to cripple the operations of the party, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
An ally of the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Mr Idowu Afolami had on Wednesday issued a statement saying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has instructed its officers in Osun State to monitor the proposed congresses of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Osun State.
The purported congresses were slated between Saturday, June 30 and Monday, July 2 at different wards across the state and Local governments respectively.
Afolami, who is the former Secretary of the party however went further on Thursday, alongside few of Omisore’s supporters to pronounce the suspension of the State Chairman, Ademola Ishola for daring to denounce Omisore ‘s membership of the party at a press conference in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
In a suite number HIK/M.23/2018, instituted by four member of the party against Dr Iyiola Omisore, Alhaji Shehu Musa, who is the National Secretary of the party, and Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) among two others prayed the court to stop action pending the hearing of the motion on notice.
Justice Garba Salisu of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja has discharged and acquitted a former Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Alkali Mamu on a four count charge of gratification. Alkali Mamu was was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on June 21, 2016 in a four-count charge of allegedly collecting a cash gift of $300,000 and N5.9 million for the purchase of a Range Rover Evoque.
He was also alleged to have received two vehicles, Ford Expedition SUV and Jaguar XF Saloon valued at N15million and N12million respectively from Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux (SEI) Nigeria Limited while facilitating a covert assignment of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) during the tenure of Sambo Dasuki in the war against terrorism. Delivering judgment, Justice Garba Salisu held that with the preponderance of evidence before the court, the prosecution failed to establish a case of gratification against the defendant. He added that they also failed to prove that Himma Abubakar of SEI gave the alleged gratification. The judge held that the fourth prosecution witness confirmed that Abubakar’s statement was not taken by the anti-graft commission and that the witness confirmed that EFCC knew that Abubakar was in Niger Republic as at the time of interrogation but failed to provide him or his statement as a vital witness. Justice Salisu held that the failure of the prosecution to call Abubakar as a witness put a huge dent on some of the evidence of the prosecution. Also, the court held that while the prosecution told the court that Mamu received the bribe while supervising a contract of NAF, the evidence of the first prosecution witness distanced NAF from any contract with the said contractor. The judge further held that the prosecution did not comply with the provisions of Sections 15 and 17(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) as regards the extrajudicial statement of Mamu which was tendered as evidence. “This lack of compliance is fatal to the case of the prosecution. It is thus the view of the court that the purported statements of the defendant tendered by the prosecution are invalid,” the judge held. “The defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted on the four-count charge.” In the course of the trial, Mamu, in his evidence in chief reported told the court how foreign mercenary pilots brought in from Ukraine were engaged to combat Boko Haram terrorists in disguised as instructors and how the cause of death of one of the mercenaries was covered from the Ukrainian embassy. He had told the court that his evidence involved matters that would expose Nigeria’s contravention of the United Nation’s Charter of armed conflicts especially Resolution 44/34. He told the court that the money EFCC alleged he received as bribe were money refunded to him by Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux Nigeria Limited who was contracted by the Office of the National Security Adviser to bring in the mercenaries. He said the refund was necessary because the contractor was not mobilized on time and he (Mamu) had to use his personal money to finance the contract. Alkali Mamu was one of the West-Africa intelligence fighter-pilots trained to engage in air-to-air combat while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Apart from flying Presidential Jets for two decades, he was directly involved in intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) for military operations at the peak of Boko Haram insurgency.
He guided Military Technical Advisers in covert aerial warfare in the recovery of many towns from Boko Haram, especially in 2015 during the previous administration.
Former Vice President of Ghana, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur is dead, local media reported in the early hours of today, Friday. He was the country’s number two-man during the administration of ex-President, John Mahama.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Amissah-Arthur died today, Friday morning at the Air Force Base, where he had gone to do exercise. He was subsequently rushed to a Military hospital where he died shortly after.
The 67-year old had served as Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana between 2009 and 2012 during which time Ghana enjoyed about 30-month-long single digit inflation and a stable foreign exchange environment.
Amissah-Arthur was a lecturer at the Economic Department at the University of Ghana, Legon from 1980 to 1988. Alongside that he became a Special Assistant to the Former Secretary (Minister) for Finance, Kwesi Botchway from 1983 to 1986.
He subsequently rose to become a Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning from 1986 to 1997.
Prior to becoming a politician, Amissah-Arthur had lectured at the Department of Economics, Anambra State College of Education, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria between 1981 and 1983.
He is survived by his wife, Matilda and two children.
Ghana’s current President, Addo Akufo-Addo, in a post on his Facebook page, wrote: “I have learnt with shock and great sadness the sudden death of the former Vice President of the Republic, His Excellency Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.”
The president described the former vice president as a longstanding public servant, who discharged his duties with dignity.
“The news of his death is unfortunate since he appeared to have a lot to contribute to the public life of our country,” he added.
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Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians, one in his early teens, in border clashes today, Friday in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry said.
