Author: Chronicle Editor

Chelsea moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League as Cesc Fabregas’ first-half goal beat a stubborn Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Fabregas steered into the far corner from the edge of the box as the Blues recorded a 10th consecutive league victory. Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford saved from former Black Cat Marcos Alonso and Willian to prevent the visitors from winning by a bigger margin. The hosts, who had set up to try and nullify their opponent’s attacking strength, had few chances although they could have snatched a point in injury time but Thibaut Courtois…

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari proposed Wednesday a multi-billion dollar jump in spending designed to lift the nation out of the “most challenging economic situation” in its history. He pitched his NGN 7.3 trillion budget ($23 billion) proposal for 2017 — a 20 percent boost over this year’s spending — as a way to “pull the economy out of recession as quickly as possible.” Following the global crash in commodity prices, oil-dependent Nigeria is experiencing one of its worst economic crises ever, with the International Monetary Fund predicting the economy will shrink by 1.7 in 2016, the country’s slowest growth in…

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of “forum shopping and a wilful and brazen abuse of court process by obtaining a de-freezing order from the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, a court of coordinate jurisdiction with the Federal High Court, Lagos, instead of going on appeal before a higher court in the hierarchy of courts.” On Tuesday, SERAP executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, stated that the “what Mr Fayose has done is not only playing politics with judicial power but also squandering scarce judicial resources.” The statement reads in part: “Mr Fayose can’t dangle the…

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola could recall defender Nicolas Otamendi, who served a one game-ban at Leicester. However, top scorer Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho are still suspended, while Vincent Kompany remains injured. Watford defender Younes Kaboul could be involved after returning to training following a calf injury. Midfielder Roberto Pereyra is available again following his one-match ban. However, Valon Behrami is doubtful because of illness. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head Manchester City are unbeaten in their last six league meetings with Watford (W4, D2), and won both fixtures against them last season. The Hornets’ last league victory over City came in the…

Eden Hazard has reportedly not travelled with the squad after suffering a knock against West Brom. Oscar remains a doubt for Chelsea because of a virus. Sunderland midfielder Didier Ndong serves a one-match suspension on Wednesday as a result of accumulating five bookings this season. Jan Kirchhoff could be given his first start for two and a half months, having made two substitute appearances since returning from a hamstring injury. Hazard along with Diego Costa have been Chelsea’s star players under Antonio Conte. Hazard has scored eight goals in 15 appearances this season. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head Sunderland beat Chelsea 3-2…

Pope Francis on Wednesday quipped that people should not send him early birthday wishes because, in his native Argentina, doing so brings bad luck. Francis turns 80 on Saturday for the occasion; the Vatican has opened seven email accounts that can receive birthday messages in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, German and Polish. “I thank you all for the wishes for my upcoming birthday, thanks a lot. “But let me tell you something that will make you laugh: In my country early birthday wishes bring bad luck,” the pontiff said during his weekly audience. Meeting the faithful in the…

ECOWAS leaders will continue their mediation in the political impasse in Gambia at the weekend in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, chairperson of the sub-regional grouping said discussions on The Gambian impasse would continue this Saturday. The Joint ECOWAS-AU-UN team, made of President Buhari, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia (current Chairperson of ECOWAS), President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, outgoing President John Mahama of Ghana, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, (UN Special Representative for West Africa), met with President Yahya Jammeh and president-elect, Adama Barrow in Banjul on Tuesday. The leaders encouraged Jammeh to reconsider his rejection of…

Nigeria’s victorious women’s football team have protested outside the national assembly in Abuja over unpaid win bonuses. Their protest coincided with President Muhammadu Buhari’s arrival at the National Assembly to present next year’s budget. The African champions then marched to President Buhari’s villa, where an aide said they would be paid in two days. They have refused to leave a nearby hotel until they receive win bonuses of $17,150 each (£13,500). At the president’s villa Mr Buhari’s Chief of Staff Malam Abba Kyari told them the government was aware of their situation and promised it would be resolved within two…

•90% of IT professionals are concerned about employees using their personal credentials for work purposes •62% of enterprises feel increasing pressure to match consumer authentication methods in the workplace •The use of two-factor authentication is on the rise, with 40% of organizations’ employees using it Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today released the findings of its Authentication and Identity Management Index, which revealed that 90% of enterprise IT professionals are concerned that employee reuse of personal credentials for work purposes could compromise security. However, with two thirds (68%) saying they would be comfortable allowing employees to use their…

The Kogi State Government has reaffirmed commitment to clear the backlog salaries of all the genuine workers and pensioners in the state by 20 December. The Director General, Research and Development, Kogi State, Mr Moses Okafor, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Wednesday. Moses, who is also the Official Speech-Writer of the Governor told NAN that the screening exercise which hitherto had been causing delay in the timely payment of salaries was completed last month. “Though the screening exercise was painful for a while but it has finally been completed. I…