September 2024 | Page 10 of 26

Ex-Eagles, Haruna Lookman, Ramon Azeez resurface at Dosu Joseph FC

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago01 mins

Former Super Eagles duo, Haruna Lookman and Ramon Azeez have resurfaced at Dosu Joseph FC. Both players have since gone into oblivion but were seen in a photograph posted on social media by Dosu Joseph’s younger brother John on Sunday. “Ex-Super Eagles players Haruna Lookman and Azeez Ramon chilling after training with Dosu Joseph FC,” the photograph was captioned. Haruna, 33, was part of the Nigerian team that won the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in South Korea. In 2010, he was part of the Nigerian 23-man squad in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Azeez, 31, was also named in the provisional 30-man squad ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He was included in Stephen Keshi’s final list for the tournament, and made his debut on 16 June by starting in a 0–0 draw against Iran. In September 2019, Azeez was recalled to the national team after five years.

KSA celebrates 78th birthday

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago01 mins

African music icon Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye (MFR) popularly known as King Sunny Ade on Sunday celebrated his 78th birthday. The master guitarist announce his new year on his Instagram field. An elated KSA wrote; “Another year. “Another grace. “Another reason to be grateful to God… “Birthday blessings. “The life we have is the blessing itself.” King Sunny Ade, born on 22 September 1946, is regarded as one of the first African pop musicians to gain international success and has been called one of the most influential musicians of all time. KSA formed his backing band in 1967, eventually known as his African Beats. He signed to Island Records in 1982 and achieved international success with the albums Juju Music (1982) and Synchro System (1983); the latter garnered him a Grammy nomination, a first for a Nigerian artist. His 1998 album Odu also garnered a Grammy nomination.

Iwobi charges Fulham on consistency

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago05 mins

Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi has urged Fulham find the consistency to deliver impressive victories like Saturday’s win over Newcastle United regularly. Iwobi shone as Marco Silva’s side inflicted the Magpies’ first defeat of the campaign in an outstanding 3-1 win. Iwobi revealed to FFCTV after the final whistle that the squad were desperate to respond to the midweek League Cup exit at Preston in a positive fashion. “We wanted to bounce back from the Cup defeat that we had and we thought let’s start on the front foot against a team that’s been unbeaten before this match. “We aimed to do that and I thought we did, especially in the first half. We work on our link up play in training all the time; me, Antonee Robinson and Emile [Smith Rowe]. “We try to make that triangle all the time, so when it’s coming off in games, it’s a plus for us. A big shout out to Antonee Robinson – even though he didn’t get on the ball, he took a couple of defenders [away] and made it easy for me to spot Emile, who made the run in behind.” The midfielder felt Fulham let their standards slip at the start of the second half as Harvey Barnes reduced Newcastle’s arrears within thirty seconds of the restart, but praised the squad’s resilience as they ground out a big victory. “We knew that they were going to come out fast in the second half, but we have to deal with it better. There was probably a touch of offside [about the goal] but we have to defend better and deal with it ourselves. “We were able to bounce back and get another goal. We weren’t able to keep a clean sheet, but we’ll take the three points regardless. “We knew how hard we worked [in the] previous games. Staying mentally focused for the 95 minutes was the aim and we were able to do that for the rest of the game. We had people like Reiss, Reedy and Sander Berge came on and gave us that extra focus and energy that we needed. “We were able to defend, but also able to get another goal that killed them game off. We talked about staying focused before the game and we made sure we did that today. Remaining consistent is the aim.” Iwobi identified the psychological message behind the importance of beating Newcastle at the Cottage – as Fulham hope to continue the fine form that has underpinned their successful return to the top flight over the past two seasons. “Our performances have been very good – I’d say apart from Ipswich – but it’s getting the results is the most important thing. It was a great performance and a great result. If we remain consistent, we’ll definitely finish better than we did last season. “It sends a message to any other team that we can compete with anyone, teams who are going for the top four or the Champions’ League, that no one can come to our fortress and take any points from us.”

Edo 2024: APC takes early lead, wins 10 LGAs out of 16

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago04 mins

The All Progressives Congress has short in the lead in Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State. Before the announcement of a break at the collation centre in Benin City, the Edo State capital, at about 2:10pm, APC was in the lead. It had won in 10 out of the 16 local government areas where the results had been announced. Edo State has 18 local government areas. The Peoples Democratic Party took the remaining six local government areas. The results from two local government areas were still being expected. The collation of result will resume at 5pm. Meanwhile, the accredited civil society organisations have expressed concerns on the transparency of the results collation process in the 2024 Edo Governorship election. The Group, in a joint-signed statement, opined that reports of disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate result ls contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process. “We acknowledge INEC’s recent statement recognising reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate and after any proven violations. “In light of this, we urge INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and return where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the electoral act and INEC regulations, and guidelines. “We further call on security agencies to refrain from interference in the collation process and to ensure that accredited party agents, the media, and the election observers are granted full access to collation centres. “We wish to emphasise that the role of security agencies in the election is to safeguard the process and not to create a situation that will undermine the transparency of the process and this impact negatively on the credibility of the outcome of the election,” statement read. Results so far: Etsako West LG APC: 32,107 LP: 2,116 PDP: 17,483 Etsako Central LG APC: 11,906 LP: 381 PDP: 8,455 Etsako East LG APC: 20,167 LP: 604 PDP: 9,683 Owan West LG APC: 19,380 LP: 446 PDP: 14,189 Orhionmwon LG APC: 16,059 LP: 556 PDP: 14,614 Ovia South-West LG APC:10,150 LP: 849 PDP: 10,260 Esan North-East LG APC: 10,648 LP: 194 PDP: 12,522 Esan Central LG APC: 10,990 LP: 418 PDP: 8,618 Akoko Edo LG APC: 34,847 LP: 2,239 PDP: 15,865 Egor LG APC: 16,760 LP: 1,966 PDP: 14,658 Esan South-East LG APC: 8,398 LP: 98 PDP: 14,199

NDLEA intercepts N14.9bn opioids, arrests octogenarian, community leader’s wives, son

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago04 mins

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted a total of Twenty- Fivr Million (25,000,000.00) pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand (350,000) bottles of codeine- based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos. The seizure were made on Tuesday 17th and Friday 20th September 2024 from three containers which had been on the watchlist of the Agency following processed intelligence. As a result, the NDLEA had requested for 100% joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies. The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of Thirteen Billion Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N13,725,000, 000.00) while the codeine consignment us an estimated street value of Two Billion Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2,450,000,000.00), bringing the total value of the seizures to Fourteen Billion Nine Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N14,950,000,000.00). The tapentadol consignment packed in 500cartons was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday 17th September while another container examined same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875cartons. The third container containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine was examined on Friday 20th September. Meanwhile, operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the Agency on Friday 29th September arrested an 89-year old grandfather, Oba Aremu Shojobi with 14 kilograms of cannabis at his home in Iyana Ioaja area of the state. In his statement, the Octogenarian claimed he has been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years. He further claimed he get his supplies from Benin Republic, and sells to his customers from his residence between 7am and 10pm every day. In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday, 18th September raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yama of Badagry Weat LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Taobalinga, where a total of 226kg of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son. Though Alhaji Talba is currently at Lege, a search of his house in Ashoka area of Seme Badagry led to recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis saliva weighing 57.6kg from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, 22, while ano the search of his house at Aketegbi area of Seme Badagry led to the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 168.6kg from his second wife Hausa Bashiru, 42.

Anthony Joshua plans to activate rematch clause against Dubois

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago03 mins

Eddie Hearn has revealed the identity of Anthony Joshua’s next opponent in the wake of his shock knockout by Daniel Dubois. Joshua was knocked out in the fifth round at Wembley in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley by the 27-year-old Brit. Dubois retained his IBF heavyweight title with an impressive victory, knocking down his challenger four times. Despite the disappointing outcome on Saturday and suggestions in some quarters that he should retire, Joshua is already looking ahead to his next fight. After the fight Hearn was asked about what the next steps are for Joshua, 34. Hearn disclosed that there is a rematch clause for Joshua to face Dubois again and added that it is likely to be activated. Speaking to DAZN, Hearn said: ‘I’m sure he’ll exercise that rematch clause, I think that’s a given. He’ll need a rest and it’s a dangerous fight. This guy’s growing in confidence all the time. ‘He’ll believe he can hurt Dubois. He’ll believe he can beat him, but full credit to Daniel Dubois, he deserves all the credit tonight. It was a great performance from Daniel.’ Following his defeat, Joshua admitted that he wanted to ‘kick off’ in the ring. He said: ‘Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice of success, but we came up short. ‘You know I’m ready to kick off in the ring, but I’m going to keep my cool, keep very professional, and give respect to my opponent. ‘I’m always saying to myself I’m a fighter for life… We keep rolling the dice. ‘I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.’

Dubois demolishes Joshua in ‘Battle of Britain’ to retain title

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago02 mins

Britain’s Daniel Dubois demolished compatriot and two-times world champion Anthony Joshua with a fifth-round knockout to retain his IBF world heavyweight boxing title at a packed Wembley Stadium. Dubois sent his fellow Briton to the canvas in the opening round with a stinging right, the referee delivering a standing eight count, and the 27-year-old proceeded to tear up the pre-fight predictions as swiftly as he ripped into his opponent. Joshua was on the ropes again in round two but managed to ride out the storm before round three came crashing down around him again. With Dubois landing more banging right-handers, Joshua’s defence failed to protect him and he was literally on the ropes as he took another count. Joshua could barely stand at the end of the fourth, after going down again with two minutes remaining, and he lasted just 59 seconds of the fifth with the rebuilding of his career suddenly in ruins. “I’ve only got a few words to say: Are you not entertained?,” declared Dubois after the biggest win of his career. “I’m a gladiator, I’m a warrior to the bitter end. I want to get to the top level of this game and reach my full potential. “I’ve been on a rollercoaster ride. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.” Organisers said a British post-World War II record of 96,000 spectators attended the fight at London’s Wembley Stadium.

UK-based boxer Arenyeka tips Joshua to beat Dubois

Prince Odutola3 months ago3 months ago02 mins

United Kingdom-based Nigerian boxer Eworitse Ezra Arenyeka has tipped Anthony Joshua to stream roll Daniel Dubois in their face off for the IBF World title today. Arenyeka, whose fought Ben Whittaker in June believed Joshua has what it takes to triumph over his opponent. “Yeah, AJ versus Daniel Dubois, it is going to be a tough fight. “Daniel Dubois in the last two fights was really looking great, same with AJ. He’s really found new form. “Dan Dubois got the dynamite and same as AJ, so let’s see how it plays out. “For me, I’ve got my home boy, AJ. So I think AJ is going to do the business. It’s going to be a great night of boxing. “It’s not going to be easy but I believe AJ wins in the late rounds. May be eight or the ninth round,” Arenyeka opined. Arenyeka currently competes in the light-heavyweight division. In 2019, he won the ABA’s Elite Cruiserweight Eastern Counties Championships and in 2022, he won the Nigerian Super Middleweight Title.