Author: Opalim Lifted

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said four of its towers along the Owerri-Ahoada 132 kilo volt (kV) double circuit line have been destroyed by vandals, causing a total collapse. Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s general manager of public affairs, spoke in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. Mbah said the affected towers, T171 to T174, were compromised, leading to their collapses at approximately 6:23 pm on Tuesday. She added that the towers were discovered after a “failed trial reclosure” that prompted a subsequent patrol. A reclosure refers to the automatic re-energisation of a power line after a fault has been detected…

Man United skipper Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick to lead his side to victory against 10-man Real Sociedad at Old Trafford and book a Europa League quarter-final encounter with French club Lyon. Needing a victory to keep alive their hopes of marking Ruben Amorim’s first year in charge with silverware and knowing the tournament is their only realistic chance of securing European football next season, Man United got off to the worst possible start as Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the spot after being brought down by Matthijs de Ligt. Thankfully for the hosts, the were level within six minutes as…

Wilson Odobert scored twice to save Tottenham Hotspur’s season as they overcame a first-leg deficit to beat AZ Alkmaar and reach the Europa League quarter-finals. Sitting 13th in the Premier League and out of both domestic cups, this competition is Tottenham’s only remaining chance of success. They were poor in the first leg last week in the Netherlands, losing 1-0, but much improved at home on Thursday. Odobert opened the scoring with his first goal for the club when Dominic Solanke picked him out in space to fire into the top corner. Tottenham took the lead in the tie early…

The Kwara State High Court has fixed April 10 and 11 for the continuation of the trial of former governor AbdulFatah Ahmed and his finance commissioner, Demola Banu, over the alleged diversion of 5.78 billion naira from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) fund. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the two officials, who have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Testifying in court, Engineer Abdulsalam Olanrewaju, a former project manager at the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), revealed that despite the state paying counterpart funds in 2014 and 2015, no contracts were awarded. He…

Jack Butland’s penalty shootout heroics earned Rangers a place in the Europa League quarter-finals after Fenerbahce overturned a 3-1 first-leg deficit at Ibrox. The home goalkeeper saved from Dusan Tadic and Fred before Mert Hakan Yandas skied his effort over the bar, sparking jubilant scenes both on the pitch and in the stands. Barry Ferguson’s side brought a two-goal lead back to Glasgow after a magnificent performance last week in Istanbul, but they were unable to replicate those levels as their recent struggles in front of their own fans continued. Goals from Poland midfielder Sebastian Szymanski either side of half-time…

Bala Mohammed, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, has expressed his willingness to work with Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections. Speaking after a ”consultation visit” at the state’s presidential lodge in Bauchi state on Thursday, Mohammed said collaborating with Obi will bring good governance to the country. The Bauchi governor said that Obi’s visit focused on addressing poverty and criminality, adding that the latter is now the leader of the opposition in the country. “We discussed state by state challenges and I feel highly appreciative of what he…

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, opening a new front in a global trade war that has roiled financial markets and raised recession fears. Stocks fell on the news, as investors worried that the US president would enact stiffer trade barriers around the world’s largest consumer market. Trump’s threat came in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products next month — which itself is a response to Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that took…

The trial of 20 former leaders of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) was stalled on Wednesday due to the absence of one defendant in court. The defendants, including Lucky Osesua, former PTD national chairman, are facing trial before a high court of the federal capital territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja. They are charged with attempted murder, breach of peace, and assault in a case marked FCT/HC/CR/042/2023. The prosecution alleges that the defendants attacked Williams Akporeha, the NUPENG national president; the union’s secretary-general Olawale Afolabi; and the new PTD…

A leadership crisis has erupted in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State following a factional congress that produced a new state executive. A faction of the party conducted a congress on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, which declared Ahmed Atta as Chairman and Abdulrahaman Idris as Secretary. In a swift reaction, the incumbent Chairman, Mouktar Atim Oricha, dismissed the congress as an “effort in futility,” stating that his tenure remains valid until April 2026. Oricha described those behind the congress as “faceless political criminals”, insisting that their actions were a violation of due process. Speaking to journalists in Lokoja,…

Germany’s foreign intelligence service in 2020 put at 80%-90% the likelihood that the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic was accidentally released from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, two German newspapers reported on Wednesday. In a joint report by publications Die Zeit and Sueddeutscher Zeitung, Germany’s spying agency BND had indications that the institute had conducted gain-of-function experiments, whereby viruses are modified to become more transmissible to humans for research purposes. It also had indications that numerous violations of safety regulations had occurred at the lab, the papers said. The spy agency assessment’s was based on an unspecified intelligence operation code-named…