Author: straightnewsng.com

Zinedine Zidane said he is “very happy to be home” after returning as Real Madrid manager just 10 months after leaving the Spanish giants. The Frenchman replaces Santiago Solari, who was sacked after less than five months in charge. Former Real midfielder Zidane, 46, who left in May after leading the club to a third straight Champions League trophy, has agreed to take over until 2022. Real are currently third in La Liga, 12 points behind leaders Barcelona. “The best manager in the world has rejoined the club,” Real president Florentino Perez said. “Our destinies are once again united.” Solari’s…

Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has lamented the attempts made by desperate politicians to militarise and rig the just concluded Governorship and State Assembly polls, saying bad elections cannot lead to good governance. Onaiyekan spoke Monday at the opening of 2019’s first plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, ongoing in Abuja. He said the clamour for the revision or outright rewrite of the electoral laws was not misplaced, if the nation must make any progress. According to him, the voter apathy that dogged Saturday’s elections in some parts of the country is a form of…

Ahead of litigation that will arise from the 2019 general elections, Justice Tanko Muhammad, the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Monday urged judges across the federation to protect the interest of the citizens. Justice Muhammad warned that democracy could only thrive in the country when fundamental rights of the citizens, epitomised by free and fair elections, was respected. He noted that the judiciary was the only arm of the government constitutionally vested with powers to reconcile the interest of “the powerful” with those of “the voiceless poor”. The Acting CJN spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2019 refresher…

The Federal Government, Monday, explained why it would pursue the six-count charge initiated against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, to its logical conclusion. The government, through its lawyer, Mr. Aliyu Umar, SAN, insisted that Justice Onnoghen, who was suspended from office by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 25, acted in breach of the oath he took as a public officer. It maintained that contrary to Onnoghen’s contention, he was not charged for misconducting himself as a judicial officer, but for violating the code of conduct for public officers enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended.…

The Nigerian Army has warned foreign governments against interfering in Nigeria’s domestic issues, describing a statement credited to the United Kingdom which accused the military of undue involvement in the governorship election in Rivers State as baseless, untrue and capable of misleading unsuspected members of the public. The Army in a statement signed Monday by its spokesman, Col. Sagir Musa, advised that any allegation against the army must be confirmed from appropriate quarters before jumping to conclusions. In the statement, tagged: “Re: UK Expresses Concern over Military involvement in Rivers Poll”, the Army insisted that the statement by the UK…

In continuation of Operation Yancin Tafki which was launched last month, troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force, comprising air and land components, from Chad, Cameroon, Niger Republic and Nigeria have for the second time in about 10 days, dealt a devastating blow on Boko Haram terrorists. Spokesman of Col Timothy Antigha, spokesman of MNJTF, Col. Timothy Antigha, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, said: “On Saturday night, Boko Haram terrorists operating along the Kamadougou River, between Niger and Nigeria, attacked troops location in Gueskerou, about 30 kilometers from Diffa in Niger Republic. “However, troops showed valour and gallantry…

The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has called on parties in the February 23 Presidential election in Nigeria to respect the outcome of the polls, in line with its protocol on democracy and good governance. President of ECOWAS Parliament, Mustapha Cisse Lo, made the call at the opening of the Extra Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Dakar, Senegal, while congratulating Nigeria and Senegal for conducting successful elections. It would be recalled that the Election Observation Mission of ECOWAS, led by former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, had said that despite challenges of violence,…

Granit Xhaka’s goal and a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty saw Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 at the Emirates and inflict a first Premier League defeat on United caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Xhaka opened the scoring after 12 minutes when David De Gea appeared to be deceived by his swerving long-range shot, with Aubameyang sealing the points from the spot after the break. “We are going to play some difficult matches and being consistent is very important,” Arsenal manager Unai Emery told Arsenal.com. “At the moment I think we are playing consistent in each match and [Sunday] we showed everybody that.…

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Akwa Ibom state, has declared Mr. Udom Emmanuel, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, winner of the governorship election held on Saturday March 10, 2019 in the country. Emmanuel won in 30 out of 31 local government areas of the state to return to Hilltop Mansion, Uyo for a second term in office. He scored a total of 519,712 votes to emerge winner, while Obong Nsima Ekere, his closest Challenger, of the APC polled a total of 171,978 votes. Declaring Emmanuel winner of the governorship election in Akwa Ibom state, Professor Faraday Osarere…

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has called for more women inclusion in the nation’s extractive industry. She made the call at the weekend on the heels of the 2019 International Women’s Day with the theme: ‘#BalanceforBetter’, Mrs. Ahmed said in a statement by her Special Adviser (Media and Communications), Mr Paul Abechi, that women possessed great potentials which could transform the extractive industry value chain but largely unutilized. According to her government needed to develop policies, regulatory frameworks and programmes that target women, so as to remove the socio-economic and cultural barriers that prevented them from participating fully…