Mega Mode Media

          Fifa president, Gianni Infantino Copyright-The Punch Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has congratulated former Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo for his service to the game of football, ahead of Yobo’s testimonial game coming up on Friday in Port Harcourt. FIFA was reacting to a letter from the NFF informing the world body about the coming event. The letter personally signed by the President, Gianni Infantino, and addressed to NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, stated, “Many thanks for your letter dated May 17, 2016 and informing us of the testimonial match in honour of former international player and Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo.  “On this occasion, allow me to congratulate and send my best wishes to Joseph Yobo for his future activities.” The Nigeria Football Federation has released Super Eagles’ skipper Mikel Obi and his assistant, Ahmed Musa to honour Yobo in the testimonial game, leaving them out of the friendly with Mali in France ...

van Gaal Louis van Gaal left Manchester United’s team hotel in London on Sunday telling   Sky Sports   “it’s over.” Sky  sources understand Jose Mourinho is set to succeed Van Gaal as United manager, with his agent Jorge Mendes due to fly into the UK on Tuesday for talks. Van Gaal’s United side won the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday after beating Crystal Palace 2-1 after extra time – which may have been the Dutchman’s final game in charge. United insist, however, Van Gaal’s comments on Sunday were referring purely to the season being “over” – not his reign as United boss. The victorious United squad boarded their bus just before midday on Sunday with Van Gaal posing for photographs with fans. Sky Sports  James Cooper wished Van Gaal good luck to which he replied, “No, no – it’s over.” United have no plans for a victory parade in Manchester, and the club is believed to be angry that news of Mourinho’s potential appointment has overshadowed the club’s...

A murder suspect, identified as Gift Edosomwan, who was arrested for allegedly killing a mother and her three-year-old daughter, has reportedly escaped from a juvenile welfare home, where he was being detained in Benin, the Edo State capital. It was learnt that Edosomwan escaped last Saturday morning from the welfare home at Upper Sakponba. The 15-year-old suspect and others at large were alleged to have gruesomely murdered the 28-year-old victim, Itohan Enagbare, and her daughter, Iwinosa, at about 1pm on December 9, 2015. The murdered ictims Southern City News had reported that the deceased mother and child were allegedly stabbed to death at their residence on Osaze Street, off Dumez Road, in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. The little girl’s loud cry when she saw that her mother was in danger had also caused the killers to stab her in the back and chest before they fled the scene. The landlady of the house where the incident occurred had earlier been ...

Investors in the country’s capital market are likely going to exhibit negative sentiments following the drop in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2016 and fears over the possible outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, analysts have said. The National Bureau of Statistics had, on Friday, released the 2016 first quarter real GDP report, which showed a 0.36 per cent year-on-year contraction in output. The result came on the back of a 0.81 per cent slowdown in the non-oil sector (previous: +5.59 per cent) following declines in manufacturing, financial institutions and real estate activities. The upcoming MPC meeting, scheduled to hold on Monday and Tuesday in Abuja, is coming ahead of the downbeat economic data and the recent news flows of the spiraling April inflation rate of 13.7 per cent (versus 9.6 per cent in January 2016), and the 67.63 per cent increase in fuel prices to N145. In the GDP report, the oil and gas sector recorded a 1.89 per ...

I mmediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to account for the N30tn which a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, claimed went missing under her watch. Justice Ibrahim Buba said ordering Okonjo-Iweala to offer explanation on the allegedly missing money was the only thing to do since she had failed to put in a valid defence against a suit seeking an order, mandating her to account for the allegedly missing money. Soludo had, sometime ago, alleged that “at least, N30tn was either stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged” over the years that Okonjo-Iweala was in office as the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance. Following the allegation, a group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, had demanded an explanation from Okonjo-Iweala under the Freedom of Information Act and later filed a suit be...

Tunde Bakare  copyright: The Punch    The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, says the Federal Government did not consult widely before increasing the price of fuel. He also said the Save Nigeria Group was not against the economic arguments behind fuel subsidy removal in 2012. Bakare said he and other pro-democracy groups protested against the fuel subsidy removal in 2012 because they wanted former President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the subsidy regime and recover stolen funds before commencing the discourse on subsidy removal. The cleric addressed journalists in Lagos on Sunday over the fuel price hike. Bakare, in his address, entitled, “The courage to do the right things,” said those who alleged that he kept quiet on the fuel price hike were not sincere. He said he was not politically motivated to join the protest in 2012 but to seek a better Nigeria. According to him, the current situation differs significantly fro...

NLC President Ayuba Wabba     copyright: The Punch The Nigeria Labour Congress has suspended the indefinite strike it called to protest the increase in the pump price of petrol from N86 and N86.50k to N145. The decision to suspend the strike was taken at an emergency meeting of the NLC National Executive Committee in Abuja on Sunday. The NEC also resolved to resume negotiation with the government on the issue of the increase in electricity tariff and the 45 per cent increase in the pump price of petrol. The President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, who read the communique of the meeting to the newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, did not give a specific date for the expected talks with the government on the two contentious issues. The communique he jointly signed with the General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, was silent on the date for the commencement of the negotiation. Wabba said the NLC had to suspend the strike because of the intervention of prominent Nigerians, espec...

Sealed PDP Headquarters Photo: Olatunji Obasa Heavily armed policemen have taken over the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja. This step, which was noticed on Sunday, was said to have been carried out by the police to prevent the breakdown of law and order at the secretariat. A former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was reportedly removed as the PDP national chairman at the party’s convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday. Sheriff, however, described his removal and the sacking of the members of the National Working Committee as a nullity. Constitutionally, the ex-Borno State governor’s tenure expires on Saturday. But some officers of the party, like the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, and the National Auditor, Adewole Adeyanju, including Sheriff, are in court, contesting their tenure. They had secured a court order, restraining the party from filling their offices at the Port Harcourt convention. ...

Tsai Ing-wen , Taiwan's first female president, was sworn into office Friday, facing two very different sets of expectations -- from those who voted for her and a Chinese leadership that wants the island on a tight leash. Although she was given a strong mandate in the January elections, with her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gaining control of the executive and legislative branches of government, a souring relationship with Beijing could undermine her ability to accomplish what she has set out to do at home. Who is Tsai Ing-wen? In April, Taiwan  accused China  of carrying out "gross violation of basic human rights" after 45 Taiwanese were deported from Kenya to mainland China. They were then  paraded on Chinese state TV confessing to crimes they had been acquitted for in Kenya. "It seems clear that China is pressuring the Tsai administration even before it has formally come to office," says Bruce Jacobs, a Taiwan specialist at Monash University ...

One of Osama bin Laden's sons could be expanding his role as a terrorist spokesman, with al Qaeda this week releasing another video that features his voice. On Monday, an audio recording surfaced in which Hamza bin Laden calls for unity among jihadi militants in Syria, who currently fight under competing banners ranging from ISIS to al Qaeda. He also calls for jihad against Israel and its American backers to "liberate" Palestine, according to a  translation by the SITE Intelligence Group . It is his second such recording in less than a year, and could represent an effort by al Qaeda to capitalize on the impact of the bin Laden name. "Obviously, he has the family name," said CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen. "He's now playing a propaganda role, and he's a lot younger than some of the other leaders of al Qaeda, in their 50s or their 60s." Hamza bin Laden is believed to be in his early or mid-20s, and could represent al Qaeda...

The search for  EgyptAir  Flight 804 entered a second day Friday after the jetliner vanished over the Mediterranean with 66 people aboard. The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members when it left Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport for Cairo on Wednesday night. The  Airbus A320  disappeared early Thursday as it flew to Cairo -- what should have been about a 3½-hour flight. Authorities said it likely crashed into the ocean, but the reason why remains unclear. Weather conditions were clear at the time. The airplane "swerved and then plunged" before descending into the Mediterranean, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said. The airline's Vice Chairman Ahmed Adel said Thursday that the plane's wreckage had been found at sea, but those reports turned out to be false. When searchers got close to the debris bobbing in the sea, they realized it was not from the missing airliner, he said Thursday. "We stand corrected on finding the...