Author: Chronicle Editor

Non availability of crude oil has forced the closure of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC). The Executive Director, Services (EDS), of KRPC, Dr. Abdullahi Idris, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Sunday. He said the refinery, whose Fuel Plant was commissioned in 1980, was functioning at 60 per cent capacity “but shut down on January 15 due to unavailability of crude oil”. Idris responded to an e-mail NAN sent to him to provide details of the company’s operations as part of a national survey on the state of the country’s refineries operated by…

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad has died at the age of 91, the Swedish company has announced. Mr Kamprad, who founded the firm in 1943 at the age of just 17, passed away following a “brief illness”. “His legacy will be admired for many years to come and his vision – to create a better everyday life for the many people – will continue to guide and inspire us,” said IKEA Group CEO and president Jesper Brodin. From its inception on Mr Kamprad’s family farm, IKEA grew into a global furniture empire and one of the world’s most recognisable brands after…

Roger Federer won his sixth Australian Open and 20th Grand Slam title with a five-set victory over Marin Cilic. The Swiss lost five games in a row as he dropped the fourth set but recovered to win 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 3-6 6-1. Federer, 36, becomes only the fourth player after Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf to win 20 or more major singles titles. “It’s a dream come true and the fairytale continues,” said Federer, who has won three of the last five majors. The final was played under the Rod Laver Arena roof as the tournament’s extreme…

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has decried the widespread coercion of the press, civil society, the judiciary, and parliaments by some African leaders. The leaders, he said, had no regard for their oaths of office and constitutional limits of their powers. Mr. Uche Anichukwu, Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate, said on Saturday that Ekweremadu made his position known in a lecture, “African Politics: The Dynamics and Lesson”, which he delivered at the House of Commons, Parliament of the United Kingdom (UK). Ekweremadu warned that democracy would be imperilled and transmute to civilian dictatorship without respect for…

Debutant striker Fousseni Diabate and Kelechi Iheanacho both scored twice as Leicester outclassed League One Peterborough to reach the FA Cup fifth round. Diabate – signed from French side Gazelec Ajaccio – toe-poked in and Iheanacho guided the ball into the corner to put the visitors in control. Ex-Manchester City forward Iheanacho volleyed home Christian Fuchs’ cross for a 3-0 half-time lead. Posh improved after the break, pulling one back through Andrew Hughes, but Malian Diabate and substitute Wilfred Ndidi struck late on for the Foxes. READ: #AusOpen: Caroline Wozniacki beats Simona Halep to win first Australian Open Kelechi…

Two of Nigeria’s leading pop singers, Kiss Daniel and Mayorkun, have been announced as performing artistes for this season’s Big Brother Naija launch show. The highly anticipated reality show returns for a third season on Sunday, 28 January 2018 at 7pm WAT and will be available to viewers on DStv channel 198 and GOtv channel 29. Multiple Headies Award winner and FLYBOI I.N.C label owner, Kiss Daniel shot into fame with his single ‘Woju’ in 2015. Since then, he has continued to dominate the airwaves with different chart topping songs including crowd favorite ‘Yeba’. READ: Osun LG polls marred by…

Osun Local Government Election witnessed a low turnout on Saturday, as there were pockets of voters in some of the polling units visited by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). NAN correspondents who monitored the election in Osogbo, Ayedade, Irewole and Ile-Ife Local Government Areas report that the State Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff arrived at polling units on time but with just a few voters to attend to. At St. Peter Primary School, Unit 1, Otun Balogun Ward, Gbongan in Ikire Local Government, the turnout of electorate was low. Speaking with NAN, Mr Olasiyan Sikiru, All Progressives Congress…

Caroline Wozniacki burst into tears after winning the Australian Open for the first time on Saturday, edging out Romania’s Simona Halep, 7-6(7-2), 3-6 6-4. It was also the first time that Wozniacki was joining the league of winners of tennis greatest event after 43 attempts. She had been in the finals of Grand slam events twice before, but the trophy has been elusive. Both players needed medical attention on court before the Dane prevailed in 2hr 49min in energy-sapping hot and humid conditions on Rod Laver Arena. Victory on Saturday was even sweeter. She will now become world number one,…

Having stolen N20 million of bank customers’ money, a staff of a new generation bank and his accomplices have been arrested. Christian Amechi, who worked at the bank’s ATM customers service unit, has confessed to the Police that he perpetrated the fraud by using a string of impersonators. He works at the bank headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos, TheSun reports on Saturday. His accomplices are Oyozoje Joseph, Nelson Matthew Eugari, Henry Omogbemi and Ene Mona Gabriel who are being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State Police Command. The arrest of a notorious pickpocket, Mr. Akeem Apejoye in…

A Nigerien court jailed nine soldiers for between five and 15 years on Friday for an attempted coup against President Mahamadou Issoufou in 2015, a court document showed. In December 2015, the government said it had foiled a coup and arrested people planning to use aerial firepower to seize control of Niger, a largely desert West African nation, a major uranium producer and Western ally against Saharan jihadists. In the judgment read out by Judge Ibrahim Daoudika, the suspected ringleader, General Salou Souleymane, got 15 years, as did two others. Six co-conspirators received sentences ranging from five to 10 years,…