Author: straightnewsng.com

By: Sampson Sampson In the season of politics/elections, many things are possible and dubiously considered as fair. But there are still areas that should not be broached in order not to threaten the foundation of peaceful co-existence of a society. Such areas are usually called “no go areas”. Apologies to Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd) who introduced the phrase during one of his administration’s organized Constitutional Conference. At a PDP rally in Ikot Abasi on Friday, January 18, 2019, Governor Udom Emmanuel threw caution to the wind, crossed that borderline of sanity and betrayed himself as an unrepentant tribal bigot when…

Major upsets occurred Sunday in the Australian open as great and known players crashed out and could not make Round 16 of the game. The 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas ended the chances of Roger Federer winning a third consecutive Australian Open title on the Rod Laver Arena. Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych in straight sets to progress to the quarter-finals. Petra Kvitova defeated the American Amanda Anisimova in straight set on Rod Laver in the first match of the day, while Maria Sharapova was knocked out by Australian Ashleigh Barty. American Sloane Stephens closes proceedings on the court, while Marin Cillic and Roberto Bautista Agut entertain the Margaret Court Arena crowd. Tsitsipas, the…

The Super Falcons of Nigeria, Sunday, January 20, bounced back from a heavy defeat to China to crush Romania 4-1 in the third place match Four-nation Invitational tournament. The Super Falcons suffered a shock 3-0 defeat to host China in their first game of the competition. Nigeria’s national women’s team finally recorded their first win of the year. The Super Falcons had to be patient to take the lead in the 44th minute through Chiwendu Ihezuo after relentless pressure to take a one goal advantage to the half-time break. The Romanians equalised in the 55th minute before captain Onome Ebi…

President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate and  Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate were absent at the 2019 NEDG/BON Presidential debate held on Saturday at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The two presidential heavyweights later gave reasons for their absence at the debate. Meanwhile, Oby Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of theAlliance for New Democracy (ANN) and Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) were at the debate. On his part, President Buhari of APC has given reasons for his absence at the presidential debate. Speaking through Festus Keyamo, SAN,…

A major upset. A big shock as Caroline Wozniacki’s reign as Australian Open champion ended with a three-set defeat by Maria Sharapova in the third round. The battle of two of the biggest names in the game did not disappoint but in the end Sharapova’s fierce hitting won the day as she surged to a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory on Rod Laver Arena. The Russian said: “I thought the level was quite high. I knew I was going to get a really tough match. I haven’t played a lot of matches in the last year, especially against top players. These…

Access Bank and Diamond Bank Plc have obtained approval in principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on proposed merger plans. Mr Victor Etuokwu, Access Bank Executive Director, Personal Banking, said in Lagos that CBN and SEC had granted both banks approval in principle for the merger process. Etuokwu said that the banks were awaiting the final approval which would be granted after convening shareholders meeting. “So far, we have gotten approvals up to approval in principle. There are three approvals that we need for this process. “The first one is the…

Tekno, popular Nigerian music maestro, has dropped `Woman’ his first single for this year which eulogises women. The Made Men Music Group artist took to his Instagram handle @teknoofficial on Friday to announce the release of the song. #WOMAN link in my bio, enjoy and share, produced by @wisdombeat’’ The 26-year-old Bauchi born songwriter and dancer from Ebonyi State glorifies women in the four minutes and 18 seconds song. Known also as Augustine Kelechi, the `Jogodo’ crooner in the lyrics of the song explains that women were not just meant to be in the kitchen or excluded from important meetings.…

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja has granted bail to Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West in the Senate. Melaye is currently being held in Department State Security Health facility in Abuja. Ruling on an application brought by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Justice Yusuf Halilu granted Melaye bail on health ground. Justice Halilu was of the view that the Senator must be healthy to stand trial. Ozekhome said since the Senator cannot be arraigned on the stretcher or ‎on his hospital bed, he should be allowed on bail to attend to his health.…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Thursday, presided over the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting convened to discuss the new national minimum wage and other issues. In attendance at the meeting which started by 11:26 a.m. at the council chamber of the Presidential Villa,  Abuja were governors of Zamfara,  Lagos,  Jigawa, Ekiti, Kebbi, Bauchi, Niger, Plateau and Adamawa states. Our correspondents reports that some Deputy Governors and ministers including that of Labour, Chris Ngige were also in attendance, though decision of the meeting was not made available to the press. Daily Trust gathered that neither Akwa Ibom governor Udom Emmanuel nor his…

The Super Falcons of Nigeria bowed 3-0 to host, China women football team in the on-going Four-Nation tournament in China on Thursday afternoon. The four-nation tournament is meant to be a pre-world Cup preparation tourney ahead of the FIFA World Cup coming up in France later in the year during the summer. Zhang Rui scored one goal in the first half. Li Ying netted a brace in the 60th minute and completed her brace in the second minute of time added on to end the match at 3-0. The Nigerian side will face Romania in their third placed match after…