Iran Vs. Morocco MatchAnother African country, Morocco just went down with a lone goal by Iran, barely one minute to the end of the injury time after 90 minutes of play.
It was devastating moment for Morocco as substitute Aziz Bouhaddouz headed in to his own net.
The goal proved to be one of the most valuable goals in Iranian football history, as they get their first win at the World Cup finals since 21 June 1998.
It’s Iran’s second win in World Cup history.
RonaldoA Spanish court has sentenced Real Madrid FC Super Star, Cristiano Ronaldo to a suspended prison.
The Portugal-born star was accused by Spanish prosecutors in June last year, of defrauding tax authorities of €14.8 million.
Less than twenty four hours to their first match with Croatia in their Group D match on Saturday in Kaliningrad, the captain of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, John Mikel Obi has said that his team has been enjoying the hospitality of the citizens of Russia, who have welcomed them with open arms.
“Russian people have been very nice to us. A lot of Russian supporters seem to support the Nigerian team. I don’t know why; maybe because my girlfriend is Russian.”
Mikel Obi, who was reacting to racist charge against Russians, said that such warm welcome may help in its campaign to bring World Cup to Nigeria and Africa for the first time in history.
This was even as the Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr said: “we have a little sympathy perhaps because we have also a Russian player in our team. He’s Russian and Nigerian; he’s Bryan Idowu, and we have Ahmed Musa who’s playing at CSKA Moscow.”
Nigeria players have good memories of Russia after beating Poland 1-0 in Krasnodar in a March friendly, thanks to a goal by forward Victor Moses.
“We all are sure there will not be any problem for the Nigerian players, because the atmosphere we have felt already on arriving in Russia was very good,” Rohr said.
Idowu, who was born and raised in St. Petersburg, told The Associated Press last month that some fans in the country viewed racist abuse as a tactic to distract opposing players, rather than as a statement of ideology.
“I think most of them do that to put pressure on a player psychologically, maybe so he doesn’t want to keep playing. It could just be because someone finds it funny.”
Source: AP
Sen. Bala Ibn Na Allah“No administration since 1999 had received more cooperation from the legislature like President Buhari.”
This was the view of the Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who stood in for the Senate President, Bukola Saraki when residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) paid the President Sallah homage today, Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Senator Na’Allah promised that the National Assembly will keep supporting the vision of President Buhari administration for a greater Nigeria.
This was even as President Buhari called on all Nigerians to work towards salvaging the nation from the shackles of past wrongs by sharing in the collective vision for a greater Nigeria and contributing individually to realize the goal.
He called on all the citizens to embrace the reality that Nigeria must exist and continue as one nation and that the country needs all its human and material resources to succeed.
“We have no other country than Nigeria. We may as well stay and salvage it together.”
President Buhari told the gathering of religious leaders, traditional rulers, security chiefs and top government officials to start expanding the frontiers for development by sensitizing their “constituencies’’ to work harder for the collective good of the country.
“Please try to persuade your constituencies to work harder for the greatness of this nation.”
President Buhari said that Nigeria has a peculiar advantage of being blessed with enormous human and material resources, noting that the potentials could be turned around for the greater good of everyone.
The President commended former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, for the efforts at discovering and repositioning Nigeria’s mineral potentials.
“I hope Fayemi will succeed in the elections and lead Ekiti State. He is hardworking and patriotic, but Nigerian politics can be unpredictable.”
The President, who disclosed that he could not fast last year due to ill health, said he was able to fully participate in the spiritual exercise this year, as the benefits were not optional for any healthy Muslim.
In his remarks, the Minister of FCT, Muhammad Musa Bello, said that the Ramadan Fasting provided an auspicious opportunity to pray for the nation, and the wellbeing of the President and his family.
President Buhari also received women groups led by his wife, Aisha Buhari, President of the National Council of Women Societies, Dr. Laraba Shoda and former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Pauline Tallen.
Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu-jnrEmeka Jr. the first son of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, has accused his fellow Igbo people of playing what he called ‘emotional politics’ that would not get them anywhere.
“Real champions are never afraid of the big league. That could be why the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo asserted that if you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind. The Nd’Igbo are not better off with emotional politics.”
Emeka Jnr., who addressed reporters yesterday in Awka, the state capital, said that since the Nd’Igbo supported former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, there is no reason why they cannot accord President Muhammadu Buhari the same support.
Giving reason why he decided to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), against the plea by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State that he should return to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Emeka Jr. said that he is only following the footsteps of his late father by ensuring that the best interest of Nd’Igbo is taken care of.
He realled how, shortly after his father’s return from exile in 1982, he joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), rather than the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), which was headed by an Igbo man, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
“I can afford to stay back (in APGA) and wallow in sentimental politics of nkea bu nkeanyi (this is our own). But in the long run, what becomes of our tomorrow and place in the great Nigeria project, for which our forefathers laboured, invested their time, talent and even their blood?
“Which is preferable: to be a big fish in a small pond or a big fish in the ocean?
“So, while they seek to crucify me for joining APC, they express support and solidarity for the APC leader. Which is worse: to walk the talk or pander to politics of deceit and duplicity? What is the essence of being in a party that would rather support the presidential candidate of another party than choose its own?”
Many media outfits, including over 50-member Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) have endorsed the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage (Revised edition 2018), which underlines a common chord in the industry for self regulation and checking of excesses.
According to information reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters, the Code will be launched in Abuja, Nigeria on June 22, as part of the activities of the World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI).
A statement by the Director of International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, said that about 80 media outfits have so far endorsed the Code, including professional groups and associations, the broadcast media, newspapers, online news mediums and support groups.
The Code, a revised edition of the 2014/2015 Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage, was recently validated by media stakeholders.
Arogundade said that the Code has been okayed by the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Radio Television And Theatre Arts Workers Union and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers.
He said that it is encouraging that prominent media establishments that have so far endorsed the Code include Channels Television, AIT, RAYPOWER Radio, the News Agency of Nigeria and the following newspapers: Vanguard, ThisDay, Daily Trust, The Guardian, The Sun, Leadership, The Nation, Premium Times, The Cable, The Eagle Online, Business Eye magazine and The News Magazine.
Arogundade said that fifty-five members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, who publish online, have endorsed the Code as well as the Nigerian Institute of Journalism and the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria.
Media support groups promoting media development, independence and professionalism that have endorsed the Code have also been impressive.
They include: the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, Media Rights Agenda, Institute for Media and Society, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalists, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalists, Centre for Information Technology and Development, Journalists for Democratic Rights, Network for Media Excellence, Journalism Clinic, Media Career Development Centre, Diamond Media Awards for Excellence, the Journalism Clinic and Media Law Centre.
Arogundade expressed the hope that the number of organizations endorsing the Code would increase before the public launch and presentation next week.
“We are particularly elated at the kind of responses we are getting from many media organizations that have either endorsed or expressed interest in endorsing the Code,” he said.
Essentially, the Code provides guidelines for the ethical conduct of journalists and their respective organizations in the coverage of elections.
This obligation, according to the Code, “entails the performance of oversight, public education, open forum and conflict management roles by the media during elections”.
The Code also says in its preamble that the “effective performance of these important roles requires the observance of the highest standards of professionalism, maximum compliance with regulatory frameworks and deference to the public good and interest”.
It therefore says that “it is desirable to have a set of guidelines that regulates the professional and ethical conduct of the media and journalists during elections” and enjoins practitioners that “compliance with the guidelines will contribute to the conduct of credible elections and corresponding social order”.
Among others, the Code provides for a section to regulate Hate Speech and other forms of incitement, which according to it, “could lead to violence and threaten the democratic fabric of a society”.
It added: “The social obligations of the media during elections therefore include the prevention of hate speech.”
Arogundade stated that the revision, publication and dissemination of the Code is one of the activities being undertaken by IPC under Component 4b: Support to the media of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria project, which seeks to build a professional media as catalysts of democratic accountability, credible elections and good governance.
Twenty thousand copies of the updated code shall be produced and disseminated to journalists for use ahead of the 2019 general elections. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari receives children who were at the Aso rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, to pay him Sallah homage today, Friday, June 15. Photo by Sunday Aghaeze. [myad]
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has pleaded to Nigerian Muslims not to distort the good virtue of Islamic religion.
Atiku, in his message to Muslims as they prepare to observe Eid-el-Fitr which marked the end of 30-day Fasting, advised them to continue to show good examples of love, tolerance and peaceful disposition at all times.
Such attitudinal disposition, he added, would prevent the religion being perceived in bad light and distortion.
The former Vice President condemned religious extremists for giving Islam a bad name, even as he advised Muslim parents to protect their children from the negative influences of those who preach hate and intolerance.
He said that the virtues of the sacrifice should be sustained beyond the Ramadan by Muslims, adding that Fasting period makes believers appreciate the impact of hunger.
Atiku said that the spirit of the Ramadan creates a bond of empathy between the haves and have-nots, explaining that compassion “is an important ingredient of our common humanity.”
He called on Muslims to show greater commitment to peace, unity and tolerance in order to create harmony and understanding in the country. He said unity is a condition for building a formidable nation, adding that without unity, a country is politically vulnerable.
Atiku called on political leaders at all levels and of all persuasion to have the fear of God and the love for the people in their activities.
He advised leaders to use power fairly and justly, even as he stressed the need for politicians to be accessible to the people instead of living in fortresses of power that detaches them from the reality of the people. [myad]
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos has granted a 25-year-old unemployed man, Kabiru Saka N100,000 bail for allegedly fumbling with the breasts of a married woman in front of her husband.
Saka, a resident of Alagbado, Lagos, is arraigned on a three-count charge of assault, indecent act, and stealing.
Police prosecutor, Sgt. Dada Wasiu told the court that the accused committed the offence on Monday at Moshalasi Alagbado, Lagos. He said that the accused unlawfully and indecently assaulted Mrs. Faith Ijiogbe by, “repeatedly” touching her breasts.
The prosecuting police officer said that on the day, the accused had begged the woman to give him a carton of canned drinks which accidentally fell off a motorcycle when she was conveying them to her shop.
“The accused ran to the woman, demanded the drink that fell, claiming he wanted to use it as a sacrifice to the gods. The woman put the drink that fell down back inside the carton and gave the carton to her husband.
“The accused, then, started touching her breasts and when her husband asked him to stop, the accused hit him with a weapon which caused him grievous harm.”
According to the prosecutor, the complainant’s phone valued at N35, 000 was also stolen in the process.
The prosecutor added that the offences violated Section 134, 173 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the offences and was granted bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
Magistrate Mrs. A.K Dosunmi, ordered that the sureties should be gainfully employed and show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
The case was then adjourned to July 23 for mention.
Isaac Okorafor, CBN spokesmanThe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) a boost of $343.06 million.
According to the Acting Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, got various allocations were given to the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
He said that the continued interventions of the apex bank are in line with the assurances made by the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade as well as maintain stability in the forex market.
Okorafor assured that the CBN remained committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for the business concerns.
It will be recalled that on Tuesday, June 12, the Bank injected the sum of $210 million into the Wholesale segment of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.
Meanwhile, the naira exchanged at N362/$1 in the BDC segment of the market today, Thursday.
