Author: Chronicle Editor

Liverpool supporters have voted in favour of safe standing, in an online poll run by a leading fans’ group. Spirit of Shankly had an “emotive and sensitive” debate on the issue before holding an open vote, and 88 per cent of the 17,910 people who voted were in favour. There were 5 per cent against, while the rest were undecided or wanted to know more. Liverpool have said their supporters’ position on safe standing is “uniquely complex” because 96 fans died during the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The requirement for all-seater stadiums in England’s top flight was a response to…

Foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, marks its listing on the London Stock Exchange whereby the Bank became the first Nigerian bank to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the first to dual list on an international exchange and the first Nigerian company to raise international capital using listed Global Depositary Receipts. To mark the 10th anniversary of this pioneering feat, the MD/ CEO of GTBank, Mr Segun Agbaje led the Market Open Ceremony at the LSE on Friday, July 28, 2017, accompanied by senior representatives of the Bank and other institutional partners including JP Morgan, Morgan…

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is due to appear in a Spanish court later today after being accused of evading millions in tax. Prosecutors allege Ronaldo, reported to be the world’s highest paid athlete, has evaded €14.7m ($17.3m; £13.1m) in tax since 2010. BBC reports that the Real Madrid star has previously denied the allegation, saying his “conscience is clear”. READ: Sanchez hands in transfer request, Fellaini joins Galatasaray Ronaldo, 32, is the latest in a string of footballers to be pursued by the Spanish tax authorities. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona, was handed a 21-month prison sentence…

The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has announced that Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has finally suspended work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It sad the development was not unconnected with delays in the payment of agreed contract fees for work already done. Checks have shown that the contractor handling the reconstruction and expansion works on the Section II from the Sagamu interchange to Ibadan, Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria Limited, with Contract No. 6205, had suspended further work on the project due to an outstanding debt of N8.94bn. The RCC had in a letter addressed to the Minister of Power,…

Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, one of the militant groups that asked the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, led by Chief Edwin Clark, to stop all engagements with the Federal Government, has announced that it will commence fresh attacks on oil facilities on September 31. “Our grievance with government is that after the consolatory statement of the government by Prof. Osinbajo, nothing is on ground to show sincerity by government”, NDRC said in a statement on Sunday by its spokesperson, Izon Ebi. “Our grievance is borne out of the insincerity of Nigeria’s past and current leaders who after using out wealth…

Police are investigating the student head of Cambridge’s equality group after he claimed that ‘all white people are racist’ and praised rioters in Dalston who lit bonfires and hurled petrol bombs at police. Jason Osamede Okundaye, who runs the Black and Minority Ethnic society at the elite institution, posted the shocking tweets amid violent protests in east London last night over the death of Rashan Charles. He said that white people had ‘colonised’ Dalston and ordered them to ‘go back’ to areas such as Exeter and ‘Solihurst’ (sic). Okundaye, 20, wrote to his thousands of Twitter followers: ‘ALL white people…

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has given a 21-day ultimatum to some oil and gas employers over anti-labour practices. Mr Fortune Obi, PENGASSAN’s Public Relation Officer (PRO) said this in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday. Obi said that PENGASSAN would shut down activities of the companies nationwide if they failed to resolve the industrial issues with the workers. He said that the companies include, Fugro, Sterling Global, Indorama Petrochemical Company, Baker Hughes and General Electric. Others are Universal Energy, Frontier Energy, Vam Onne, Neconde Energy and ObiJackson Group, SDF, Ciscon, Tecon, Obax,…

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is due to appear in a Spanish court later today, accused of evading millions in tax. Prosecutors allege Ronaldo, reported to be the world’s highest paid athlete, has evaded €14.7m ($17.3m; £13.1m) in tax since 2010. The Real Madrid star has previously denied the allegation, saying his “conscience is clear”. Ronaldo, 32, is the latest in a string of footballers to be pursued by the Spanish tax authorities. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona, was handed a 21-month prison sentence after being found guilty of the same charge last year. Earlier this month, the court ruled…

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has announced that 755 US diplomats must leave US diplomatic missions, in retaliation for new US sanctions against Moscow. The decision to expel staff was made on Friday, but Mr Putin has now confirmed the number who must go by 1 September. It brings staff levels to 455, the same as Russia’s complement in Washington. This is thought to be the largest expulsion of diplomats from any country in modern history, says the BBC’s Laura Bicker in Washington. The number includes Russian employees of the US diplomatic missions across Russia, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in…

American Cable News Network, CNN, has mocked Nigeria, asking where is President Muhammadu Buhari. The Nigerian president has not been in the country for over two months and the news television in a query on its website on Sunday asked which “head of state from which country has not set foot in his homeland in over two months?” The mockery came in the latest edition of CNN’s “The Global Public Square (GPS)” show anchored by Fareed Zakaria. In an apparent mockery of Nigeria and her President Muhammadu Buhari, CNN, on its programme displayed at 4:59pm local time on Sunday, asked,“The…