Author: Vincent Osuwo

Gabon has announced the suspension of experienced players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga, the suspension of the entire national team, and the dismissal of the coaching staff following the Panthers’ terrible performance in the Africa Cup of Nations. Gabon lost 3-2 to reigning champions Ivory Coast at the AFCON on Wednesday, thanks to an injury-time goal by Bazoumana Toure. A third successive defeat in as many games ensured they ended at the bottom of Group F, behind heavyweights Ivory Coast and Cameroon, but also Mozambique. “Given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the AFCON, the government has decided to dissolve…

Russia stated on Thursday that Kyiv was responsible for a deadly drone hit on a hotel in the Moscow-controlled section of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which killed at least 20 people celebrating the New Year. The claims come at a critical time, following weeks of diplomacy aimed at bringing an end to the almost four-year war, and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that his country was “10 percent” away from a peace settlement. According to Vladimir Saldo, Russia’s appointed governor of the Kherson region, “the enemy” fired three drones that “struck a cafe and hotel on the Black Sea…

Terrorists have kidnapped Oba Simeon Olaonipekun, the Aniwo 1 of Aafin village, Ile-Ire District, Ifelodun Local Government Area, Kwara State, and one of his sons, Olaolu, who is now serving in the National Youth Service Corps. According to reports, the terrorists’ attack occurred late on Wednesday night, New Year’s Eve, when a group of about eight shooters allegedly stormed the palace about 8 p.m., shooting intermittently and demanding to meet the monarch and his wife. A family member who was inside the palace when the attack occurred told The PUNCH by phone on Thursday that pandemonium erupted when the perpetrators…

The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has instructed his lawyers to withdraw all ongoing defamation lawsuits against several individuals, saying he was moved by counsel during a New Year Mass. Speaking at the Sacred Heart Parish in Uyo on Thursday, Akpabio stated that he had filed nearly nine lawsuits against individuals he accused of defaming him. He said, “I had almost nine cases in court against some individuals who defamed me, who lied against me, who slandered my name. “But I listened to the priest and suddenly realized he was talking to me, so I hereby direct my solicitor to…

A faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by its National Chairman, Nafiu Gombe, distanced itself on Thursday from the reported defection and registration of former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi at its Enugu zone office. The section, which described itself as the ADC’s legitimate national leadership, said that the exercise violated the party’s constitution and membership procedures. Chronicle NG reports that Obi announced his defection to the ADC at a function organized at the Nike Lake Resort in Enugu State. During the event, the former Anambra State governor urged Nigerians and opposition groups to establish a wide…

Equatorial Guinea captain Carlos Akapo and teammate Josete Miranda have been suspended for four games for insulting the referee following their 1-0 loss to Sudan at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). A Confederation of African Football (CAF) disciplinary panel made the decision after reviewing the referee’s report from Sunday’s Group E match, which resulted in the National Thunder’s departure from the competition. Messie Jessie Nkounkou Mvoutou, the referee, alleged that the two players “repeatedly uttered insulting and obscene remarks” against him and his assistants after the final whistle. “These remarks were made in a context of intense anger…

The Labour Party’s National Working Committee, chaired by Julius Abure, has hailed the defection of its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the African Democratic Congress as a “liberation” for the party, expressing remorse over nominating him as its flagbearer in the last general election. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh confirmed this in a statement made in Abuja on Wednesday, only hours after Obi formally declared his defection in Enugu. According to the LP leadership, Obi’s departure only confirmed a political split that had already occurred months earlier during the party’s long-running leadership crisis. “The leadership of the…

Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has accused Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara of breaking an agreement mediated by President Bola Tinubu to end the state’s political crisis. Wike made the claim on Wednesday during a thank-you visit to the people of Tai Local Government Area in Rivers State, where he promised to make public the contents of the agreement reached with the President. The agreement came after a closed-door meeting convened by Tinubu at the State House in Abuja in June 2025, which included Wike and Fubara, as part of efforts to end the prolonged power…

A part of a private rice mill in the Birnin Kebbi metropolis collapsed, killing one employee and trapping five others under the facility’s metal wreckage. After receiving the information, the Kebbi State Deputy Governor visited the scene and ordered immediate rescue attempts, which are still underway, to free the five trapped people. The Kebbi State Government has sent its heartfelt condolences to the management and employees of NIA-AGRI following the partial collapse of a piece of its rice mill in the state capital. Deputy Governor Senator Umar Abubakar Tafida, who led a high-level team on an on-the-spot assessment visit to…

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, has officially joined the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC). Obi announced his defection from the Labour Party in Enugu on Wednesday, December 31. The former governor of Anambra stated that his defection ahead of the 2027 election is aimed at transforming and rescuing Nigeria. “We are ending this year with the hope that in 2026 we will begin a rescue journey,” he declared. “We will resist rigging of the election by every lawful means in 2027,” he added. Obi also asked opposition leaders to work together…