Author: Chronicle Editor

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Nigeria government over its “failure to stop former governors and now serving senators and ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions, and failure to seek recovery of over N40bn of public funds unduly received by these public officers.” The suit number FHC/L/CS/1497/17 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court Ikoyi followed the organization’s request to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, urging him to use his “position as a defender of public interest to institute legal actions to stop former governors from enjoying…

Over 2,300 suspected members of the jihadist group Boko Haram are expected to appear in court in Nigeria from Monday in unprecedented mass trials to be held behind closed doors. The defendants have all been picked up and held in detention since the start of the conflict eight years ago, which has left at least 20,000 dead in the country’s remote northeast. To date, just 13 people have been put on trial and only nine convicted for their links to the Islamist insurgency, according to official figures. The most high-profile current case is that of Khalid Al-Barnawi, a leader of…

Nigeria booked their ticket to the 2018 World Cup with victory over Zambia on Saturday thanks to Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi strike in the 73rd minute. Iwobi who came off the bench to score at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state sent the fans into a rapturous jubilation. Nigeria began the day knowing victory would be enough to secure passage from Group B and they duly delivered with a 1-0 win. READ: Harry Kane’s late strike fires England into 2018 World Cup The goal came in the 73rd minute when Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Abdullahi Shehu linked…

Russian police in St Petersburg detained more than 60 people protesting against President Vladimir Putin on his birthday, a monitoring group said. Artyom Platov, spokesman for OVD-Info, a group that monitors politically motivated arrests, said at least 66 had been arrested in Russia’s second city and Putin’s hometown. “These are the people we have confirmed data on,” he told AFP on Saturday. Witnesses said police violently broke up the rally in which some 3,000 people took part, throwing protesters into police vans, injuring several demonstrators and forcing some to run for cover. READ: Senator Uchendu says Wike’s publication false, irresponsible…

Senator Andrew Uchendu has rejected a publication shared on social media by Mr Oraye St. Franklin, the social media aide to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state. In a statement issued to refute the publication he labelled ‘false’, Uchendu described the online report titled: “No Going Back On APC’s Solidarity March For SARS; And The Call For Declaration Of A State Of Emergency In Rivers State – Sen. Andrew Uchendu”, as infantile, poorly-written, and a completely false. Uchendu who is representing Rivers East Senatorial District, added that, “This ignoble concotion of utter insanity, supposedly authored by one Victoria Mieadonye Jumbo…

Danish police said Saturday divers had recovered the decapitated head and two legs of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who vanished in August while interviewing a Danish inventor aboard his homemade submarine. In a grisly case worthy of a Nordic noir thriller, Copenhagen police inspector Jens Moller Jensen told reporters divers had found bags containing her missing clothes, her head and legs in Koge Bay, south of the Danish capital. “Last night our forensic dentist confirmed that it was Kim Wall’s head,” he said.Her headless torso was found floating in waters off Copenhagen on August 21, 11 days after she went…

The Director General on Media and Publicity to the Governor of Kogi State, Kingsley Fanwo, has taken a dig at the opposition party in the state, calling it “confused and pitiable.” Reacting to attacks on the APC-led government in the state by leaders of the PDP, Fanwo said PDP is “largely responsible for the rot the present administration in the state is correcting.” His words: “We do not want the PDP to distract the present administration from continuing to deliver democracy dividends to the people through the New Direction Agenda. “Politics has not started. It is time to serve the…

…ISPO approved to guarantee Agric Integrated Africa Services Limited loan to build 50 tons capacity rice mill in Omi As part of the desire of the New Direction administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello towards the attainment of food sufficiency in Nigeria, Kogi State is partnering with Agric Integrated Africa Services Limited to build a 50 ton capacity Rice Processing Mill in Omi, Yagba West Local Government Area. To achieve this, the Kogi State House of Assembly at plenary on 5 October, 2017, approved an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to guarantee Agric Integrated Africa Services Limited, a private company, a…

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) thursday declared as ridiculous the recently announced cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian Universities by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board JAMB . NUT National President, Michael Olukoya Alogba, who made the remarks in an address to mark this year’s World Teachers Day, said the policy was capable of further lowering the standard of education in the country. “ We are not unaware of the public debate concerning the reduction of the cut-off marks of the UTME for admission into universities to a ridiculous 120 instead of the 180 minimum standard earlier used. The…

Barcelona tied down captain Andres Iniesta for the rest of his career as the club announced on Friday the 33-year-old midfielder has agreed the first “lifetime contract” in Barca’s history. “It is a way of rewarding an exceptional player,” said Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Iniesta insisted, though, that he has not planned any future role with the club beyond his playing career. “The lifetime title doesn’t mean that I will remain here just for the sake of it. It isn’t my way of doing things,” said Iniesta. “When I don’t have the same force or importance I have always…