Friday, 17 June 2016

Marcus Rashford breaks England record

The Manchester United striker replaced Adam Lallana after 73 minutes in the Three Lions' clash with Wales, breaking the record Wayne Rooney had held since 2004 Marcus Rashford has become England's youngest ever player at a European Championship finals at 18 years and 228 days old.


The Manchester United striker was brought on with 17 minutes of ordinary time remaining, replacing Liverpool's Adam Lallana, as the Three Lions chased a winner against Group B opponents Wales. 18y 228d - Marcus Rashford is the youngest player to play at the EUROs for #ENG, 4 days younger than Rooney in 2004 Wayne Rooney has held the record since Euro 2004 when he appeared in England's 2-1 defeat to France, with Rashford registering four days younger. The United forward scored twice on his United debut, and then scored another double on his Premier League debut. Then, keeping up the trend, the teenager scored on his England debut.
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Thursday, 16 June 2016

OFFICIAL: Atletico Madrid sign Gaitan from Benfica

The Argentine, who is currently playing for his country at the Copa America, is set to swap Benfica for the Champions League finalists once formalities are completed Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement with Benfica to sign midfielder Nicolas Gaitan.


Gaitan made 37 appearances this season as Benfica claimed a league and cup double for the third year in a row.


The 28-year-old, who joined from Boca Juniors in 2010, is part of Argentina's squad competing the Copa America Centenario. Agreement with Gaitan will travel to Madrid to "complete all the formalities" once his participation in the tournament in the United States is over. He has made 15 appearances for his country, scoring twice. No fee was disclosed when Atletico announced the news on Thursday.
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Lawmakers In Abuja Fight Over Jeeps, Constituency Projects

Members of the House of Representatives are still sharply divided over which car to purchase for official use. According to Daily Sun sources at the Executive Session of the House, lawmakers deliberated on different issues. Top on their "selfish agenda" was questions arising on why the leadership of the House settled for the Nigerian made Peugeot 508, rather than the more prestigious Toyota Prado Landcruiser SUV.


Senators bought Prado, Nigerians shouted and nothing happened. So, Reps too want to follow. It was also gathered that lawmakers, many of whom are now in possession of the 2016 budget details, took turns to express grievances over the spread of constituency and zonal projects. Some lawmakers raised objections to Abdulmumin Jibrin’s position as Chairman, Appropriations Committee, demanding that he be removed to salvage the reputation of the House which, they insisted, had been severally damaged by the controversies that surrounded the 2016 budget.


Jibrin, who was not at Wednesday’s plenary, has been accused of allocating projects worth N4 billion to his Bibeji/Kiru Federal Constituency. Only few minutes into the commencement of plenary, Speaker Yakubu Dogara called on the House Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila to move the motion for the House to go to an executive session. An hour and half later, when the House reverted to plenary, Dogara did not speak on what was discussed even as lawmakers displayed conviviality, most of them chatting in clusters and back slapping.


But Daily Sun learnt that the executive session was characterised by complaints as lawmakers took turns to say that they have been shortchanged with regard to the spread of constituency projects. Many lawmakers pointed fingers at principal officers who they said cornered projects that should have been shared to other constituencies in their states and zones. A lawmaker, told Daily Sun that majority of lawmakers weren’t disposed to the purchase of SUVs owing to the reduction of the allocation to the National Assembly from N150 billion in 2014, N120 billion in 2015 and to N115 billion, this year.


“If you look at what has happened in the last three years, I don’t think lawmakers should still be talking about what kind of car we should be given. This year we have only N115 billion as allocation, where do they expect the leadership of the House to get money to buy SUVs?" He said that members were disappointed that the tradition of principal officers influencing allocation of more money for projects in their constituencies and zones to the detriment of others was still the practice. “People are really disappointed that the culture of principal officers taking a lion share of constituency projects, leaving those in their states and even their geo-political zones with almost nothing is still the order of the day." Speaker Dogara and Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin are former PDP men who joined APC. Some lawmakers are said to have insisted that they stop that practice in this era of change.
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Photos: Bauchi State Govt explains viral photos of stacks of cash found in a Commissioner's office

Bauchi State Government has explained photos of large stacks of cash said to be about N20million seen in the office of a state Commissioner, that has been trending on social media. According to Shamsuddeen Lukman Abubakar, SA Communications to the Governor of Bauchi State, the money was earmarked for feeding during the Ramadan. The money was presented to the people by Commissioner Abdullah Mohammed Idris on behalf of the state governor Mohammed Abdullahi on Wednesday June 15. See the statement below: "Good evening to the good people of Bauchi state. It has come to my attention, the circulation of certain photographs online of money found on the table of a serving Commissioner of Bauchi state. I wish to assure you all that, the said picture is no implication of corruption or illegal money transactions.This period of Ramadan teaches us to extend love to the poor, less privileged and the non buoyant. In line with this, and as has always been done, the Bauchi State Government releases funds to mosques in Bauchi state for the provision of iftar to faithfuls. These funds are disbursed through the Office of the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, to assist faithfuls who are not buoyant enough to afford iftar. Once again, we understand the insensitivity of the image, surfacing at a time like this when we as a Government are working hard to achieve a corruption-free and transparent administration. We want to assure the good people of Bauchi state that all and sundry is being done to make the best use of resources, fight corruption within the State and ensure that all our promises to the people are fully delivered. May Allah crown our efforts with success. Shamsuddeen Lukman Abubakar SA Communications to His Excellency the Governor of Bauchi State 16th June, 2016 More photos...
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Photos: Ibe Kachikwu visits site of Maritime University in Delta state

Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, today June 16th visited the site for the Maritime University in Okerenkeko, Delta State. The intrigues surrounding the establishment of the school caused a disagreement between himself and the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, during the Federal government townhall meeting in Akwa Ibom on Tuesday June 13th. See more photos after the cut...
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Photo: Saraki receives amended Gender Equality Opportunity (GEO) Bill

The Gender Equality Opportunity (GEO) Bill which suffered major setback in March this year, has been amended and was passed to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, by the sponsor of the bill, Senator Abiodun Olujimi today.


The bill which among other things was designed to address women's freedom of movement, female economic activity, girls' access to education, equal rights for women in marriage, divorce, property/land ownership and inheritance, appropriate measures against gender discrimination in political and public life and prohibitions of violence to women, was rejected by majority of the male senators as they felt the bill if passed will give women more power and this according to them was against the African culture.


Some of the senators even alleged that the bill if passed will turn some women into prostitutes and lesbians. Anyway the bill has been amended. It passed its first reading today and hopefully it would get accelerated hearing and will be passed into law.
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Tuesday, 14 June 2016

AIT Shuts Down, Sacks All Staff at the Benin Station (Details)

The management of the African Independent Television (AIT) has relieved all the workers of its station in Benin City of their appointments with immediate effect.


This is coming after the workers protested over the in-human non payment of their salaries running into months about three weeks ago.


The management’s decision was made known in a letter signed by Mr Victor Okasoga, Senior Manager in charge of Human Resources. In the letter to the affected staff, Okasoga said their appointments have been terminated with effect from June 13 2016.


The letter directed those affected to handover all company properties, "your possession especially your identity cards to the Head of Center. Failure to surrender company properties in your possession may delay the processing of your entitlements,” Some of the workers say they couldn't believe that a media house would treat them in such manner.
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Designed by Jide Ogunsanya.