Author: David Great

Premier League clubs smashed the summer spending record with £2.36bn splashed out on players from across the world with Chelsea leading the pack. Financial services company, Deloitte says the combined spend of the 20 clubs during the window smashes the previous spending record of £1.92bn set last summer by £440m. Premier League clubs spent £255m on deadline day alone, which is more than double the £120m spent on deadline day during last summer’s window. That already makes the 2023-24 season have the second-highest transfer spend ever after last season’s record £2.73bn, with the January window still to come. Other records…

Justice Opeloye A. Ogunbowale of the Lagos division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has restrained Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State and 14 others from appointing a rector for Osun State Polytechnic, Iree. The judge gave the order while granting an ex parte motion filed by the suspended rector of Iree Poly, Dr Tajudeen Odetayo over his alleged illegal suspension, as the rector of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree (OSPOLY), Osun State. Justice Ogunbowale also ordered Governor Adeleke and other respondents to take further action on the institution, pending a hearing of the motion on notice. The judge,…

Liverpool received a favourable draw on Friday for this season’s Europa League group stage, although Premier League opponent Brighton & Hove Albion may anticipate playing European powerhouses Ajax and Marseille in their inaugural venture into continental competition.The Reds under Jurgen Klopp will compete in Group E against Toulouse, Union Saint-Gilloise, and LASK of Austria. The Liverpool team, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, is participating in the Europa League for the first time since losing to Sevilla in the championship match in 2015/16. In the 2007 Champions League qualifying rounds, Liverpool defeated Toulouse in a previous encounter…

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has urged all Imo women, young and old, to vote en masse for Governor Hope Uzodimma in the governorship race on November 11. The state capital of Owerri hosted the grand finale of the 2023 Women’s August gathering on Friday at Ndubuisi Kanu Square. Mrs. Tinubu made this appeal. She claims that Uzodimma’s All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has done a lot for women in the state, particularly by choosing a female as his running mate. The President’s wife, who was the special guest of honour, reaffirmed the Tinubu administration’s commitment to make Nigeria a more…

Nigeria is currently pumping 1.67 million of oil and condensates per day, the head of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Friday. Large-scale oil theft from pipelines and wells has hobbled the country’s output and crimped exports in recent years, crippling Nigeria’s finances and leaving President Bola Tinubu with one of his biggest challenges. “This is substantial – if you look at the situation where we are almost going below a million barrels a year some months ago,” Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive said. Tinubu, who has embarked on Nigeria’s boldest reforms in decades, scrapped a costly but…

Cristiano Ronaldo was named in Portugal’s squad on Friday for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Slovakia and Luxembourg. Former European champions Portugal sit top of Group J in qualifying for next year’s finals in Germany. They face Slovakia in Bratislava next Friday before hosting Luxembourg three days later. “A player with 200 appearances, that’s something unique,” said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez of Ronaldo, who has scored five goals in four qualifying games so far. “I can tell you I’m very happy to have Cristiano Ronaldo in my team.” The 38-year-old Ronaldo, who now plies his trade in Saudi Arabia, celebrated…

From the N5 billion set aside for palliative measures in light of the termination of petroleum subsidies, Mr. Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, reports that N2 billion has so far been distributed to each state government. Edun made this statement on Friday at a briefing in Abuja that was attended by important members of the government, including the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, and the Minister of Budget, Mr. Abubakar Bagudu. The Senior Assistant to the President on Tax Reforms, Mr. Zacch Adedeji, the…

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced a two-day warning strike, starting on Tuesday, September 5, in retaliation against the Federal Government’s failure to solve the problems brought on by the elimination of fuel subsidies. As he discussed the decisions made at the NLC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting the day before, Joe Ajaero, president of the NLC, made the statement on Friday at a news conference at the Labour House in Abuja. The labour union accuses the Federal Government of giving up on the negotiations and neglecting to put into action some of the decisions made during earlier sessions…

Liverpool have rejected a £150m offer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad for Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah. The bid for the 31-year-old was for in excess of £100m, with add-ons taking it up to £150m. Liverpool insist the Egypt international is not for sale, and that is final as far as they are concerned. Salah, who joined the Reds from Italian side Roma in 2017, signed a new three-year contract last summer. Al-Ittihad up Salah bid to £150m, Bayern’s bid for Palhinha rejected The player’s agent has previously dismissed talk of a move to Saudi Arabia but has not responded following…

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced former far-right Proud Boys leaders Joseph Biggs to 17 years in prison and his co-defendant Zachary Rehl to 15 years, after a jury convicted them of seditious conspiracy for storming the US Capitol in a failed bid to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat. The prison terms handed down by US District Judge Timothy Kelly for Biggs and Rehl, the first Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy to be sentenced for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, were below US sentencing guidelines and far lower than the 33-year and 30-year terms sought…