Author: Chronicle Editor

The Army will conduct more exercises in 2018 to assist civil authorities to deal with internal security challenges in parts of the country, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said. Speaking with newsmen on Friday after leading troops on a 15km Route March, Buratai said Exercises Harbin Kunama III, Crocodile Smile III and Egwu Eke Dance III would also be conducted in 2018. Exercise Harbin Kunama I and II were conducted in 2016 and 2017, respectively, to deal with the menace of cattle rustling and herdsmen/farmers clashes in parts of North-West and North-Central. While Crocodile Smile and…

The Federal Government has renamed Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) in Ebonyi State after late former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme. Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo conveyed the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari while delivering a speech at the funeral service held for the late statesman in Oko, Anambra state. The University would know be known as Dr. Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State. According to Osinbajo, the decision to rename the school was a way of immortalizing the late architect who has been describes by many as humility personified. Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) in Ebonyi State of…

Olivier Giroud was “massively popular” at Arsenal but the club “opened the door” on a sale to Chelsea because the striker wanted regular football before the World Cup, says boss Arsene Wenger. Frenchman Giroud, 31, joined the Blues in an £18m deal on the closing day of the winter transfer window, the same day Arsenal completed the club record signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He scored 105 goals in 253 games after signing from Montpellier in June 2012. “We owe him a lot,” Wenger said. “It was linked with the Aubameyang deal and he has just had a third baby so…

Leicester City forward Riyad Mahrez has missed training for a fourth day running, after a potential deadline day move to Manchester City fell through. It is not clear whether the Algerian had permission to be absent. City pulled out of talks for the 26-year-old on Wednesday, after he made a transfer request the day before. They thought Leicester were asking for an overall package of £95m, which is said to have included striker Patrick Roberts, who is on loan at Celtic. READ: CHAN Final: DStv, GOtv to broadcast Nigeria against Morocco live However, Leicester would have accepted a straight £80m…

A Daura Road Upper Sharia Court in Kaduna, on Friday, ordered that a 19-year-old labourer, Anas Umar, be given 20 strokes of cane for stealing a Nokia phone valued N4,000. Umar, a resident of No 7, Magajin Aska Kabala Costain, Kaduna State, was convicted after pleading guilty to a one-count charge of theft. The judge, Alhaji Aminu Jumare, gave the order after the convict pleaded guilty and begged the court to temper justice with mercy. He said that the court might not be lenient with him next time he appeared before it. Jumare also ordered the convict to pay N4,…

A man who shot and killed his two daughters in 2001 has been executed in Texas. John Battaglia, 62, called the girls’ mother before murdering his six and nine-year-old daughters in his Dallas apartment. The mother recounts hearing gunshots and screams. A last-minute appeal to save Battaglia’s life by his lawyers, who argued he suffered from severe mental illness, was unsuccessful. They had asked the US Supreme Court to spare Battaglia from execution and review his case because his “perception of reality may be so distorted that he is incompetent to be executed”. READ: BREAKING: 90 migrants feared drowned off…

Ninety migrants are feared drowned after a boat capsized off the Libyan coast, says the UN’s migration agency. Three survivors said most of those who drowned were Pakistani nationals. Libya has for years been a major transit route for migrants trying to reach southern Europe by sea. But last year the EU reached a controversial deal to provide help to the Libyan coastguard to stop the flow of boats carrying migrants and refugees to Italy. Aid agencies and the UN accused European governments of taking an inhuman approach. READ: BREAKING: Helicopters collide in France, five dead EU governments complicit in…

The Senate is adamant that Ibrahim Magu must be removed as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and have called for his replacement to be nominated. The upper chamber yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to nominate a replacement for Magu in line with the verdict of an Abuja Federal High Court which affirmed its powers to confirm or reject the President’s appointments. The upper chamber vowed not to consider the President’s confirmation requests until its resolution rejecting the appointment of Magu is complied with. Justice J.I. Tsoho on January 15th said that the Senate has statutory duty…

Two army helicopters have crashed in southern France, killing at least five people, French media report. The crash happened at Carcès lake, just north of St Tropez. Rescuers are at the scene, in the Var region, searching for a sixth person who was aboard one of the helicopters. It is not clear what caused the crash. Both helicopters belonged to a military flying school called Ealat, Var officials said. It trains pilots for the army and other military services. READ: Edward Adamu: Presidency on collision course with Senate More to follow…

Edward Lamatek Adamu, director of human resources, whose elevation as a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was announced today, faces uncertain weeks or months to get cleared by the Nigerian Senate. He joins at the Senate roadblock 41 year-old Aisha Ahmad, who was named last year by President Muhammadu Buhari. She is yet to be screened, more than three months after, as the Senate embargo on clearance of nominees has not been reversed. Others caught in the standoff are four members of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee. They were also named last year, but are yet to be…