Author: David Great

Sevilla have no intention of accepting less than 65m euros (£55m) for 23-year-old French defender Jules Kounde, with Chelsea expected to make their opening bid soon. (Fabrizio Romano) However, Chelsea are hopeful that a bid in the region of £42 million with the possibility of add-ons will be enough to land the Frenchman. (Telegraph – subscription required) Manchester United are on the verge of making a final push to sign Wolves’ Portuguese forward Ruben Neves, 25, although they face competition from Barcelona. (Sun) The Red Devils fear being priced out of a move for Darwin Nunez with Benfica having told United it will cost them about £100m to sign the 22-year-old Uruguay international. (Star)…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday evening postponed its presidential primaries to June 6. The decision by the ruling party to postpone its presidential primaries comes after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one week extension. Chronicle NG reports that the APC had earlier scheduled its primaries for May 29 to 30 but has now rescheduled to allow aspirants undergo their screening. In a terse statement, the APC said, “Following INEC extension of deadline for the submission of candidate’s list by political parties, APC hereby postpones its Special Convention for Presidential Primary from 29th-30th May, 2022 to…

Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has denied defecting from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Labour Party. In a terse statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, on Friday, he urged Nigerians to disregard the information making the rounds. “Our attention has been drawn to an online misinformation to the effect that former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has joined the Labour Party. “This is false and should be disregarded,” the statement said. Chronicle NG reports that on Wednesday the former Deputy Senate President pulled out of the Enugu governorship race and has been courted by several…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the party primary election deadline by six days between 4th and 9th June 2022. In a statement issued after a meeting with political parties, INEC said that it has considered their request for an extension. “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met with the leadership of political parties today Friday 27 May 2022. Once again, the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of the 2023 general election released on Saturday 26 Friday 2022. “Earlier,…

Former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, has formally joined the Labour Party two days after he resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Obi who was the PDP vice presidential aspirant in 2019 said he has joined the Labour Party to unite Nigeria. In a series of tweets on Friday, Peter Obi said he resigned from the PDP because of issues that are at variance with his persona and principles. “I thank all Nigerians, especially our youths who have joined me in the mission of taking back and reuniting Nigeria. “This project is yours and for the future of your children.…

By Bright Okuta I have been following, with keen interest, the various consultations and meetings of political aspirants at the local, state, and national levels and I found something really interesting. In the past weeks, Nigeria’s social media space has been awash with news, photos and videos, of political aspirants’ consultations, engagements and meetings. Politicians are traveling all over the country consulting and meeting party delegates, community leaders, and other political bigwigs about their different ambitions, expecting an endorsement. At the presidential level, one thing that differentiates the incumbent Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo’s style of visits from other presidential aspirants’…

Lagos operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) have arrested four suspects for extorting motorists while posing as officials of the disbanded Lagos State Committee on the Removal of Abandoned Vehicles (RAVC). The arrested suspects are: Taiwo Falodun, aka Biggy (48), Adedire Olaniyi (42), Femi Osunkoya (53) and Olalekan Edu (51). Two of the suspects, Adedire and Osunkoya, were apprehended yesterday after impounding the vehicle of a motorist for changing lanes at Alausa. The motorist stated that the suspects took her vehicle to a park in front of Elephant Cement House, where she was asked to pay N50,000 as fine.…

A Federal High Court in Yenagoa has ruled that former President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible and qualified to contest the 2023 presidential elections. The presiding judge, Justice Isa Dashen gave the judgement on Friday. He ruled that the former President’s right to contest for the office of president again cannot be stopped by any retroactive law. The suit was filed by Andy Solomon and Idibiye Abraham as first and second plaintiffs and listed Jonathan, the All Progressives Congress, and the Independent National Electoral Commission as first, second, and third defendants respectively. But the APC and the INEC did not have…

Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, seeking to halt an alleged N96 billion fraud against him by the Rivers State Government. In a lead judgment prepared by Justice Emmanuel Augie but read by Justice Adamu Jairo, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by Ameachi on grounds that the issue of not been given fair hearing does not arise as no one is on trial. The move by Rivers State is a panel of enquiry into the alleged fraud. Amaechi had prayed the apex court to prohibit Governor Nyesom Wike from investigating…

Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) says it has established 13 extra mobile courts for mass trial of defaulters in the FCT. Mr Braimah Osilama, Director of the board, said this in a statement signed by the Deputy Director of the AEPB, Mrs Janet Peni, on Thursday in Abuja. Osilama said that the mobile courts were initially eight in number but has been increased to 13, adding that the essence of the establishment of the courts was to enhance the trail of any defaulter as another round of mass trial of defaulters of waste service charges commenced in the various mobile…