Author: Chronicle Editor

A week after Jose Mourinho criticised their pitch, the Russian Premier League has “banned” FC Rostov from hosting league games due to “shortfalls” in the playing surface. Manchester United drew 1-1 at the Olimp-2 Stadium in their Europa League last-16 first-leg tie last Thursday. “It’s hard for me to believe we are going to play on that field, if you can call it a field,” Mourinho had said. Rostov now have until 24 March to bring their pitch up to standard. The pitch was dry and bobbly, and after the match Mourinho said the conditions made it “impossible to play…

Four teenage suicide bombers killed two people and injured 16 others in a residential area in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a disaster agency spokesman said on Wednesday. The girls knocked on the door of a house and then detonated their devices, a representative of the state-run emergency service in Borno State said. The focus on individual homes is a new tactic. The blasts in the Muna Garage area, on the edge of the city worst hit by jihadist group Boko Haram’s eight year insurgency, occurred around 1:15 a.m (0015 GMT), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Abdulkadir Ibrahim…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday presided over the Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja This was the first time Buhari is presiding over the meeting since he went on medical vacation on January 19. The President’s arrival at the Council Chamber by 10:00 a.m. was announced by one of the aides shouting “Kindly rise for Mr. President.” Buhari stepped into the chamber, dressed in White Babanringa and cap to match. After the rendition of the National anthem, the President called on the Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi for the opening Christian prayer. After…

National and West African light welterweight champion, Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi, has expressed delight over the chance to fight in Ibadan, his hometown and host city to GOtv Boxing Night 11, scheduled to hold at the Indoor Sports Hall of Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium) on 26 March. Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday, Fijabi, who will be fighting Kazeem “Iberu” Ariyo, the replacement for Sadiq “Police” Machine Ahmed, said he is happy to get an opportunity to fight in the place of his birth. Ahmed, dethroned as national champion by Fijabi in 2015, pulled out of the fight for personal…

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has suspended the implementation of its policy for duty payments on old vehicles, in order to resolve issues with the Senate Committee on Customs. The Acting Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr Joseph Attah, said this on Wednesday in Abuja. Attah said in a statement, that the Management of Customs had directed that the exercise be put on hold and expressed its readiness to engage the Senate Committee on further discussions. He said that the essence was to bring the Senate on board to understand the importance of the exercise to national security and…

With an Internet speed put at 4.13Mbps, Nigeria is ranked 82nd out of the 87th leading telecoms country surveyed by Open Signal, a platform, which beams search light into the coverage and performance of mobile operators worldwide. Open Signal in its Global State of Mobile Networks report, noted that operators in South Africa offers the fastest Internet speed across Africa at 9.93Mbps, while South Korea’s speed is the fastest globally at 37.54Mbps. Open Signal explained that overall speed measurements vary considerably from country to country depending on their particular stage of generation – 3G and 4G development. For instance, a…

Paulo Dybala scored a first-half penalty to give Juventus a 1-0 win over 10-man Porto, and a 3-0 victory on aggregate. Juventus reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for only the second time in four years after a 1-0 win over 10-man Porto gave them a 3-0 aggregate victory. The Italian champions’ 2-0 win in Portugal three weeks earlier ensured they went into the second leg in a comfortable position, and there was to be no miraculous fightback from Porto when Maxi Pereira was sent-off for deliberate handball after 40 minutes. His indiscretion allowed Paulo Dybala to score from…

Kasper Schmeichel’s penalty save sent Leicester City into the Champions League quarter-finals courtesy of a 2-0 win over Sevilla. Leicester City’s remarkable renaissance under Craig Shakespeare continued as Kasper Schmeichel’s late penalty save preserved a 2-0 win over 10-man Sevilla and a place in the Champions League quarter-finals. After Schmeichel had kept the Foxes alive with a string of saves, Jamie Vardy’s goal in the 2-1 first-leg defeat – which proved to be Claudio Ranieri’s last game in charge – provided hope coming into Tuesday’s meeting at the King Power Stadium and the momentum from subsequent back-to-back domestic wins was…

Antonio Conte screamed ‘play the ball’ at Jose Mourinho during their touchline row in Chelsea’s win over Manchester United on Monday evening. In the first half at Stamford Bridge, Antonio Valencia’s robust challenge from behind on Marcos Alonso sparked anger from the Chelsea manager, who immediately turned to confront Mourinho in the technical area. Conte was shouting ‘again, again, again, again’ to the United manager in reference to the number of heavy tackles on his players and then followed up with ‘play the ball’, according to the Daily Mail. In his post-match press conference, Conte admitted he was unhappy with…

President Muhamamdu Buhari has approved an additional N4500/monthly to all the 200,000 N-Power beneficiaries to purchase a computer tablet or i-Pad which would be loaded with different applications that would further enhance their skills. The payment for the device would be stretched for 20 months, with the subsidy by government covering the repayment in some months. Bank of Industry, BoI is financing the acquisition of the tablets. According to Mr. Laolu Akande, the SSA media in the Vice President’s office, each N-Power graduate, after being verified would select his choice of device amongst nine different BOI pre-approved vendors. Mr. Akande…