Author: Chronicle Editor

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an application by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, seeking to compel the Chief of Army staff to produce the missing leader of the group, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. Justice Binta Nyako also over-ruled the appeal for lack of merit and proof, that the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai was indeed the last person seen with Kanu. Counsel to IPOB, Ifeanyi Ejiofor had prayed the court to order the Chief of Army staff to produce his client claiming that no member of Kanu’s family had seen or heard from him…

Real Madrid want Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager and have made an approach for the Tottenham boss. (Mail) Spurs are close to completing a £21.9m deal to sign Paris St-Germain’s 25-year-old Brazil winger Lucas Moura. (RMC Sport – in French) Manchester City have agreed a club-record £57m deal to sign Athletic Bilbao’s 23-year-old French centre-back Aymeric Laporte. (Guardian) Real Madrid are planning to buy Chelsea’s 27-year-old Belgium forward Eden Hazard, Tottenham’s 24-year-old England striker Harry Kane and Manchester United’s 27-year-old Spain goalkeeper David de Gea this summer. (Mail) Arsenal have made a part-exchange bid of £10m plus 32-year-old France…

President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 30th summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). The President arrived at the Ethiopian capital a few hours after he left Abuja on Friday evening. Part of his engagement at the summit is the flag off of a continent-wide campaign against corruption. On the sidelines of the event, President Buhari is expected to hold bilateral meetings with some of his colleagues on issues of common interests. The President, who was engaged by AU at the last session to present a road-map…

Nigerians troops have killed seven Boko Haram fighters in the Sambisa forest in Northern Borno in an operation carried out by the Nigeria Army and Air Force. According to Brigadier General Sani Usman, the Director of Army Public Relations, late Friday, the troops also destroy 11 gun trucks and 12 Hilux vehicles. Usman said that other terrorists’ equipment destroyed were make-shift accommodation around Camp Zairo, Improvised Explosives Device (IEDs), booby traps and other delaying obstacles and devices. “In addition, the gallant troops recovered one gun truck, one anti-aircraft gun, one machine gun, a pistol, large quantity of anti-aircraft gun ammunition,…

adeos Officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) will soon be smiling to the bank following the assurance of the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, that their salaries will be increased. Adeosun made the promise at the celebration of International Customs Day at the Customs Command and Staff College Gwagwalada, FCT on Friday in Abuja. The theme of the event was “A secure business environment for economic development”. The minister was represented by the Ministry’s Director of Finance, Mrs Oladudumi Bisola. Adeosun urged officers of the NCS to put in more efforts to rise above target in revenue…

Alexis Sanchez was named Man of the Match after having a hand in two goals as his Manchester United debut ended in a comfortable 4-0 FA Cup fourth-round victory at League Two strugglers Yeovil Town. Chile forward Sanchez, who joined United from Arsenal in a swap deal for Armenia’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Monday, started wide on the left at a packed Huish Park. The 29-year-old was frequently involved for United and his passes found Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera for their goals either side of half-time, before he was substituted on 72 minutes. The Somerset side had started brightly as…

Babachir Lawal, the former Secretary to the Federal Government, SGF, who is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for corruption, has been released on bail. EFCC sources confirmed that he has been allowed to go home on administrative bail. He was invited for interrogation on Wednesday by the EFCC, over alleged N223million contract scams awarded at some IDP camps in Yobe State. Mr Samin Amaddin, acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, said the former SGF was cooperating with investigators and had made useful statements. Lawal arrived at the Abuja office of the EFCC at 11:00…

The South African business leader who called for a boycott of Donald Trump’s closing World Economic Forum speech on Friday afternoon has explained why Africans were angry with the US president and why some of them did not attend his Davos speech. Bonang Mohale, CEO of the lobby group Business Leadership South Africa, wrote an open letter to President Trump before the WEF meeting in which he condemned the discourse of the US leader, the website of the national broadcaster Swissinfo reported on Friday. “We have read with consternation reports of your derisive comments characterizing African nations and others as…

A former Nigerian footballer and six men have been jailed for an operation which made fake identity documents including counterfeit British passports. From late 2015 to June 2017, officers unravelled the wide-scale manufacture and distribution of counterfeit documents by a London and Midlands gang who created the fake IDs to help immigration offenders live illegally in the UK. Gang leader Steven Kanaventi, 39, was jailed for 40 months and two weeks at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday after an undercover police officer placed orders with him in June 2016. Prosecutor Lisa Hancox told the court: “Steven Kanaventi is the person…

obas The Youth Lead Nigeria, a mass movement, says it will moblise youths across Nigeria to join the Coalition for Nigeria movement proposed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Pelumi Olajengbesi, the group’s National Coordinator, who briefed newsmen on Friday in Abuja, said that Obasanjo was credibly qualified to advise President Muhammadu Buhari on national issues. Obasanjo in an open letter to President Buhari on Tuesday urged Nigerians to seek an alternative away from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. “I, therefore, will gladly join such a Movement when one is…