Everton boss Frank Lampard has heaped plaudits on Alex Iwobi after the Nigerian stoppage time strike gave the Toffees a hard-fought 1-0 win against Newcastle United on Thursday night.
Iwobi exchanged passes with substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin before slotting a low left-footed shot into the net.
The win ended a four-game losing streak in the Premier League for Everton and boosted the club’s hopes of avoiding a relegation scrap.
The 25-year-old has featured regularly for the Merseyside club since Lampard took over from Rafa Benitez.
Thursday night’s goal was his second in 17 league appearances for Everton this season and the manager expects him to deliver more on a regular basis.
“He trains so well. You see how hard he works. I’m delighted he’s the man that gets the goal to win it for us,” Lampard said after the game.
“He needs to believe in himself more because we know the quality he has.”
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has provided injury news update on Nigeria midfielder Wilfred Ndidi. Ndidi limped off on the hour mark in Leicester City’s 2-1 defeat to Ligue 1 side Stade Rennes on Thursday night.
“Ndidi has a blocked tackle, so it is his medial ligament and his knee, so we will see how that is,” Rodgers told BT Sports after the game.
The 25-year-old is now a major doubt for Nigeria’s 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs against Ghana next week. His absence will be a big blow to Nigeria’s chances of securing a spot in Qatar 2022.
Everton’s Alex Iwobi is already ruled out of the game due to suspension, while another midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo recently returned to action for Watford after spending around five months on the sidelines as result of injury.
Nigeria will face perennial rivals Ghana at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi on March 25, and host same opponent at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja four days later.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has declared his intention to run for the office of the President in 2023.
Addressing journalists after meeting with State Chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja, Governor Tambuwal said he considered the State Chairmen as grassroot mobilisers.
While calling for unity among party members ahead of the general elections, Governor Tambuwal noted that the PDP remains the hope of Nigerians.
He said the PDP is ready to take over power from the ruling All Progressives Congress.
A suspected female ritualist was on Thursday nabbed by residents of Kulende community, Zango area, Ilorin, Kwara State.
A resident, Mr Kudus, said the suspect was currently being held at the state Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
According to him, the woman, who pretended to have mental health issues, had been living in a shanty on the roadside for years.
He alleged that members of the community became suspicious of her activities when she was sighted giving some items suspected to be human parts to a motorist in a jeep parked near her abode in the middle of the night.
Mr Kudus explained that before members of the vigilante in the community got near enough to find out what she was giving to the jeep driver, the occupants zoomed off.
He noted that when the community leaders ransacked the shanty as well as her luggage, a large sum of money, a knife, a bottle of water, as well as a complete set of children’s school uniform, bag, shoes and books were found.
Mr Kudus maintained that when queried, the woman could not explain how she got the items in her possession.
The Kwara State Police Command confirmed the incident.
Its spokesman, Ajayi Okasanmi, said efforts are on to arrest the fleeing driver, adding that the money found with her in different denominations totalled N166,700.
“The suspect stated that the man with jeep came to have sex with her and to give her water.
“The Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayamo, has ordered a discreet investigation into the matter and also directed the suspect be taken to the hospital to ascertain her mental health,” he added.
Police operatives have arrested two persons at Enerhen, Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State, in connection with the alleged murder of an army officer, LT M.M Musa.
The State Commissioner of Police, Ari Mohammed Ali, disclosed this at Asaba, the state capital while parading some suspected cultists.
He said: “On 12/3/2022 at about 0310 hours, while police patrol team of emerhen division were on night patrol, they discovered a Toyota 4 runner Jeep with reg no Augh 116AJ, and another Camry with reg no DKA 99TJ abandoned, on a close look, they saw a man later identified as lt M.M Musa in pool of his own blood.
“The team rushed the victim to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.”
He said the DPO of Emerhen division immediately swang into action and upon intelligence and investigation, arrested two suspects.
The police commissioner added: “It will be recalled that on 14/3/2022, a cult clash ensued between Eiye and Arobaga confraternities in Jesse community, Ethiope West local government area where four suspected cultists were killed.
“I immediately directed the Command State Anti-Cultism Unit, Dragon Patrol, Eagle-net special squad, and Safe Delta Patrol teams to Jesse town with a view to ensuring that sanity is immediately restored in the Community.
“Consequently, three members of Arobaga confraternity namely: Victor John ‘m’, Nelson Friday ‘m’ and Festus Friday ‘m’ who were alleged to have killed the four members of Eiye confraternity were arrested and today I am glad to say that they are here with us.
“Investigation is ongoing, meanwhile, sanity has been restored in the community.
“As part of measures to forestall any further break down of law and order in any part of the State, I ordered that intensive raiding be carried out on suspected cultists hideouts by DPOs in their areas of responsibilities.
“In compliance with these directives, the DPO ‘A’ Division Warri led a combined team of Police/Vigilante Patrol teams and carried out intensive raid at Ogedengbe and Hausa quarters respectively. During the raid, twenty-one suspected cultists were arrested.
“The State Anti-Cultism unit and the Command raiders squad also carried out raids in different parts of the state and arrested Nineteen suspected Cultists.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday arrested former Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport Lagos.
Willie Obiano
This is coming hours after he handed over to his successor, Prof. Charles Soludo.
Obiano, who has been on the Commission’s watchlist, was arrested at about 8.30pm.
He was reportedly on his way out of the country to Houston, Texas in the United States after handing over to his successor, Governor Charles Soludo.
The EFCC had placed Mr Obiano on a watch list last November, Channels TV report says.
The EFCC had requested the Nigeria Immigration Service to inform it anytime the Governor is travelling out of the country from any of the international airports, as well as other points of entry and exit.
It is, however, not yet clear why the anti-graft agency placed the governor on a watchlist.
he move was an indication that the agency may have been discreetly investigating the governor and possibly have intelligence that he was planning to escape after handing over power to his successor, Professor Charles Soludo, on March 16, 2022, sources told Channels Television.
Former Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Don Adinuba, had, at the time, condemned the EFCC watchlist reports, claiming that they were politically motivated.
“Governor Obiano has a whole four months to remain in office as the Anambra State chief executive,” Adinuba said. “Nobody in Nigeria can circumscribe his constitutionally conferred immunity which shields him from both criminal and civil prosecution.
“The EFCC went too far to announce in November that it is observing him. We are not aware of any state governor who had up to four months to be in office and the EFCC went on to sponsor media reports that he was being investigated.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday arrested former Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport Lagos.
Willie Obiano
Obiano, who has been on the Commission’s watchlist, was arrested at about 8.30pm.
He was reportedly on his way out of the country to Houston, Texas in the United States.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG in charge of Zone 9 Umuahia, Isaac Akinmoyede has said the Nigeria Police under the leadership IGP Usman Alkali Baba has done a lot to improve the welfare of officers and men of the Force, saying the rumoured strike by policemen is false.
Isaac Akinmoyede
Speaking in Umuahia at a lecture organised by Abia State Police command, the AIG said so much has been put on ground and in full implementation to ensure the welfare of policemen across the country.
He enumerated insurance policy for all officers of the Force in line of duty, cooperative societies which has slashed the deposit for policemen to own a house as well as medical services available to them as some of the efforts being put in place by the IGP to ensure they are motivated.
AIG Zone 9, Mr Isaac Akinmoyede Signing Visitor’s Register At CP Janet Agbede’s Office
He said, “The cooperative societies have helped the policemen in owning their own houses. There is effort in place which has made it possible for their housing contributions to be slashed down. This has helped them to acquire their homes.
“Policemen will not continue to live in barracks for ever. There is a time when they have to retire. If they retire and look back, and see the kind of houses they are living in, they will be happy and it will form the basis for them to even encourage others to join the police.
“Talk of the medical services. It has improved tremendously. We now have our own reference hospital equipped with 150 beds and drugs.
“Even in terms of enabling policemen perform their duties, just few weeks ago, vehicles were made available to the commands through Police Trust Fund. These are all efforts to motivate them and improve their working environment.”
AIG Akinmoyede insists that there is no reasons for the policemen to risk their jobs to embark on strike, adding that the renovation of Police colleges in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Ikeja, Oji River as well as renovation of barracks and remodeling of Police stations are all efforts to enhance their welfare.
He applauded policemen in Zone 9 for their bravery, commitment, and loyalty to the Nigeria Police, stating that men and officer in Zone 9 have no intention of going on strike, maintaining the effect will be dangerous to the society.
He also announced that the 20 percent increment in salaries of the policemen across the country is a demonstration of Federal government’s commitment to improve the well-being of men of the Force.
In his comment, the PPRO of Abia State Command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna expressed gratitude to the AIG for the lecture, reiterating that men of the command are not mulling any strike.
He pledged the readiness of Abia command to remain loyal and supportive to the Force in dealing with insecurity and ensuring that Abians sleep with their eyes closed, adding that the officers are motivated now than ever to discharge their functions.
Early on Thursday, a report emerged that notorious Fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abass alias Hushpuppi committed a $400k Fraud from a Jail Cell in the US.
Hushpuppi
The Report went viral across social media with major news websites rehashing the story.
However, in a drive for accountability, ABN TV decided to further investigate the report knowing fully well how US inmates are not allowed much access to the internet.
CLAIM: A report from NEWSWIRENGR, published on Thursday morning with the headline; “Hushpuppi commits $400k fraud from inside US prison”, appeared on social media. The story was quickly syndicated across several media platforms and social media handles on Twitter and Facebook.
The report claimed that Abass, who is incarcerated, had laundered over $400k using credit cards.
“US prosecutors presented documents before the United States District Court of California on Wed 16th March 2022 with fresh evidence indicting HushPuppi of committing fraud and money laundering in U.S Federal correctional facility.”
“Between 28th Jan and 4th Mar 2022, security officers at the US Federal correctional facility, observed more usage of the internet by Hushpuppi. Knowing that Hushpuppi was arrested for internet related crimes, they obtained a warrant to record Hushpuppi activities. A dedicated system was setup for him and his activities were recorded for 7 days.”
“It was found that Hushpuppi was actively buying EIP debit cards from an underground cyber criminal marketplace called StimulusCard (“https://stimuluscard.com/”). While being recorded, Hushpuppi bought a total of 58 EIP debit cards with a total value of $429,800 on the site and laundered the money through one AJ.”
FACT: Speaking to the BBC,Director of Media Relations, United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, Mrozek Thom said that the report was FALSE.
“After took a look at the document inside recent media accounts, The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, that filed the case against Mr. Abbas, filed no such document.
“We have checked with the FBI agent who supposedly authored the document, and it was confirmed to be fake”.
Also a cyber security expert; Gary Warner, has revealed that the document was ‘Fake’. Warner is a Director of Research in Computer Forensics at the University of Alabama. He tweeted on Thursday; “People are asking me if it is true that #Hushpuppi laundered $400k in #Stimulus cards from in prison.”
“The document they show is an edit of a June 2020 Affidavit. The new version is fake, intended to get people to visit a scammer EIP website.”
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said he is open to “harmonious resolution” with Peoples Democratic Party leaders, including his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike.
This is coming following days of verbal war between both governors. While Wike said he was not in the same class as his Edo counterpart when it comes to party politics, Obaseki warned Wike not to cause disruption in PDP, adding that the party is not (Wike) personal property.
In his effort to quell the feud, the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, urged members of the party not to attack one another, but to unite ahead of the 2023 general election.
The national chairman also advised members not to lose focus of where the party was coming from.
“I call on every member of this party to forget their differences. If there are differences, we must settle them in-house.
“No party member should attack another party member. If there are any issues, we have different organs of the party to resolve different issues,” Ayu said this in his remarks at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party in Abuja on Wednesday.
In an apparent alignment with Ayu’s counsel, Obaseki, through a statement by his spokesman, Crusoe Osagie, on Thursday, faulted those he described as mischief-makers trying to disrupt the ongoing peace process initiated by the party leadership.
In the statement titled, ‘Obaseki disclaims social media statements by mischief makers’, the governor noted that some unnamed persons are trying to exploit the “ongoing conversation between PDP leaders” to “stir crisis and cause disaffection.”
He said, “There has been a flurry of statements and comments on social media by mischief makers who are hiding under the pretext of the ongoing conversation between leaders within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stir crisis and cause disaffection.
“These statements and irresponsible behaviour are outrightly condemned. We hereby distance ourselves from the actions of these detractors.
“The National leadership of the party is already dealing with the issues and we are open to the harmonious resolution of whatever concerns that may arise.”
Abia State 2027 governorship aspirant, Chief Mascot Uzor-Kalu (MUK), has reaffirmed his commitment to people-oriented governance, stressing that true leadership must be anchored on...
