Belgian star Eden Hazard looking for a way out at Real Madrid this summer and a return to Chelsea is his preference, according to Spanish TV.
Hazard has struggled since his £130m switch to Madrid from Chelsea in the summer of 2019.
Things have not worked out for the 30-year-old with injuries and a loss of form limiting him to just 21 starts in two seasons.
Hazard was part of the Madrid side that lost to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final recently. And he angered one half of the Spanish capital when he was seen laughing with former team-mate Kurt Zouma on the final whistle at Stamford Bridge.
That led to Zidane defending Hazard and an apology from the Belgian to the Real squad.
“Eden has apologised and he did it well. It was not his intention to hurt anyone, that is the most important thing.”
“He knows what he has to do on the pitch and he’s going to do it. We spoke the other day, after the match, but to say that. He was apologising for his reaction – to me, to the club, to the players – and that’s it.
“All the players have their hearts in the club but for now it hasn’t been possible to see the Eden Hazard we want to see.
“But I believe he is going to get there. It’s a difficult moment with everything that’s happened but he has a contract and what he wants is to succeed here.”
However, according to Spanish station El Chiringuito de Jugones (via Metro), Hazard is keen on leaving Madrid.
And he has his heart set on a return to Chelsea, where he notched 110 goals and 92 assists, winning the Premier League and Europa League twice, as well as the FA Cup and League Cup.
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom on Sunday urged the people of the state to obtain dane gun licences from local government areas for self-defence.
He spoke at an interdenominational church service this evening at the Chapel of Grace in Government House, Makurdi to round up a seven-day prayer and fasting programme for peace in the state.
“I’ll no longer announce the deaths of those killed by Fulani herdsmen, rise up and defend yourselves with weapons not prohibited by law, bows and arrows, spears and knives. Get licence for dane guns from local government Chairmen and use them to defend yourselves,” he said.
He added that as long as he remained within God’s circle no weapon fashioned against him would prosper.
“God assured me some time back that as long as I lived within the circle of his presence, no weapon fashioned against me shall prosper,” he said.
The State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Akpen Leva, assured the governor of the support of the Church to secure the lives of the people and for always rising up in their defence.
The CAN chairman commended the Southern governors on their decision to prohibit open grazing in their states stressing that it was the right thing to do.
Intercessory prayers were offered against all social vices in Benue, peace and prosperity of the state as well as for God to protect leaders at all levels in the state.
The Senate has queried the National Examination Council (NECO) over an alleged award of contracts worth N6.5 billion without due process.
It also mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to probe the reported illegal contract awards.
The contracts were for the printing of security and non-security documents by the examination body.
The committee was guided by the 2017 report the Office of Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF) submitted to the parliament for consideration in issuing two queries to the NECO.
According to the auditor general’s report showed that the examination body could not present any record to show that approval was given for the contract by the ministerial tenders board in the first contract that cost about N451 million.
The committee also alleged that due process was not followed in the second contract, which was worth N6.1 billion.
It further alleged that quotations were not collected from three bidders as required by Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2017 while taxes were not deducted from some of the contract payment.
Taxes were not deducted from some of the contract payments and there was no Technical and Financial evaluation.
The query reads: “Examination of records and documents revealed that the commission’s tenders board approved the award of contract for printing of security materials in the sum of ₦451 million to a company in March 2017 in contravention of provisions of Federal Government Circular No.SGF/OP/I/S.3/XI/849 of January 16, 2016, which reiterated the approved revised thresholds for service wide application, for which the Parastatal Tender Board can only exercise authority on works whose value is less than ₦250 million while any sum above this, is to be referred to the Ministerial Tenders Board for approval.
“We sought for the authority for the above approval including the ministerial approval but none was provided.
“The above unilateral award of contracts without following due process may lead to awarding contracts to unqualified contractors. Recommendation: The Registrar/CEO should be sanctioned in line with provisions of Financial Regulation 3117. “
However, in his response, the Registrar of the NECO, Professor Godswill Obioma, explained to the committee that the said N461 million “were payments to Data Science Nigeria Limited for the supply of Optical Mark Readers for objectives questions paper for various examinations conducted by the council.”
However, Obioma’s explanation could not dissuade the committee, which sustained the query on the ground that the council could not provide evidence of approval from the Ministerial Tenders Board before awarding contracts beyond its threshold.
The second query reads: “Examination of contracts awarded for the printing of Security and Non- Security Documents valued at ₦6,166,405,407.42 revealed that the contracts were awarded without compliance with the provisions of Part VI, Section 24 (I) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2017 as amended, which states that except as provided by this Act, all procurements of goods and works by all procuring entities shall be conducted by open competitive bidding.
“The following irregularities were also noted, quotations were not collected from three bidders as required by PPA 2007 but the taxes were not deducted from some of the contract payments.
“There was no technical and financial evaluation, Evidence of placement of advertisement was not attached to either payment vouchers or contract files. The amount expended was above the threshold of the Council, The contracts were split as some contracts were awarded to the same contractor with LPO and work order issued on the same date.”
Obioma said in his response to the second query that “the contracts for the printing of our questions were awarded through selective tendering. This is the case to avoid leakages of our examinations and award of contract to printers of doubted integrity.”
But, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Urhoghide, sustained the query because the registrar was unable to defend the query.
Residents at Tarfa Local Government of Niger state, are currently protesting after 15 young people were kidnapped by suspected unknown bandits. According to a source, the operation lasted for 1 hour and 30 minutes, despite the fact that police station and Army barracks are close to area.
According to the source, police and army officers weren’t seen at the scene of the operation from the unknown bandits.
Angry youths have blocked Gauraka Abuja-Kaduna highway along Tarfa Local Government with bonfires, stones and long sticks to protest constant kidnaps of people. According to the eyewitness, a Hilux belonging to Army has been blocked from getting into the protesting zone.
Bunmi Oladuntoye, fiancée To Late NAF Pilot, Lt Taiwo Olufemi Asaniyi, who died when a Beachcraft 350 aircraft crashed at the Kaduna International Airport on Friday, 21st May has penned down an emotional tribute to him.
According to Bunmi, via the microblogging platform, Femi was the most kind and humble person, she’d never know.
Read her tribute below;
”Femi, I have not regretted walking this journey with you; you asked me to be your wife last year in August, and I gave you a resounding yes. One of the last things to said to me was to keep on being humble and continue to give. You were a giver, oh you were such a giver. Femi mi,
Femi mi, Olowo ori mi, who will hype me now when I make a new hair, who will call me fine girl, who will call me the most beautiful woman in the world. I have cried and cried and cried. People have spoken to me, James and Kamal have told me you wouldn’t want me to be sad and I and I know that for sure because whenever I am sad, and I cry, you will be like “what’s the meaning of this now” . The world deserves to know how great you are. To Nigerians and the world at large, my fiance, FLIGHT LIEUTENANT TO ASANIYI was a great man who dedicated his life to serving this country. Pls, pray for him, pray for his family and pray for me. Adigun miiiiii, Femi miiiiii, Hot choco miiii sun re o!!!! I want your blue diary so bad because you had lots of intelligent things written in there. You treated me already like we were married.
You treated me already like we were married. You would always say, “babe, don’t worry, everything will be fine, don’t worry” Hot choco miii, jo ma fimisile OLUFEMI TAIWO ASANIYI I love you now and forever. To Nigerians and the world at large, my fiance FLIGHT LIEUTENANT TO ASANIYI was a great man who dedicated his life to serving this country. Pls pray for him , pray for his family and pray for me. Adigun miiiiii, Femi miiiiii, Hot choco miiii sun re o!!!!”
The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it on Monday to explain the status of looted funds and public assets recovered in the last 18 years.
Also invited to appear before the House Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loot, Movable and Immovable Assets, are Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government as well as top officials, the private sector and civil society organisations.
A statement from the Committee signed by its chairman, Adejoro Adeogun on Sunday, mandated the ministers and all other invitees to appear before it on Monday, “being the day the panel is holding an investigative hearing on the recovered assets.”
According to the statement, the investigation will cover the period between 2002 to 2020.
“The Committee is calling for memoranda from stakeholders and the general public pursuant to Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)”, the statement added.
The essence of the hearing, according to Adeogun, was to ensure effective and efficient management and utilization of the recovered assets.
Stakeholders invited by the Committee to make inputs include the
Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption; Commercial Banks; Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria; Chairman of the Disbanded Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property and
Chairman of the Disbanded Pension Reform Task Team.
Others are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Navy, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority; Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption; and commercial banks.
The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has stated that both Governor Hope Uzodinma and his predecessor, Rochas Okorocha, lack the financial capacity to sponsor the group.
The group in a statement on Sunday signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, asked the duo to leave them out of their political war.
IPOB also debunked reports that Senator Rochas Okorocha (APC-Imo West) gave the pro-Biafra group a donation of N500m.
While describing their wealth as ill-gotten and bloodstained, IPOB insisted that they would pay for their sins.
The statement read, “They better fight their battle and leave IPOB out of their mess. None of them is good enough to receive our attention.
“They imprisoned and tortured our youths, mothers, fathers and other agitators to please their slave masters. Other politicians that may have sabotaged IPOB and ESN may be forgiven, but OkoroAwusa, Hope Uzodinma, and the wannabe Hitler of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, will never be forgiven. They must pay for their sins sooner or later!”
Society gazette reports that Uzodinma and Okorocha have been at loggerheads over the running of Imo State despite both being from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Uzodinma had recently stated that he will not allow the APC registration and revalidation process to be hijacked by selfish individuals.
He alleged that Okorocha attempted to hijack the party registration and revalidation process in the state.
The governor claimed that Okorocha refused to be registered as an APC member in the state, adding that he has promoted an all-inclusive process in the state, irrespective of affiliations.
Uzodimma added that attempts to get Okorocha to participate in the registration process failed.
Reacting, Senator Okorocha said that without him and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, the APC would have existed in Imo state.
The Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District noted that he and Araraume were the ones making APC thick in the state.
He said: “The media had reported what the Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Chief Hope Uzodinma told the APC’s appeal Committee, on the Party’s Registration and Revalidation exercise. That, Senator Okorocha refused to be registered as an APC member in Imo during the exercise.
“This Claim could only be laughable to most Nigerians who still remember how APC came to Imo and indeed, to the South-East. Okorocha needed to revalidate his membership of APC and not to register as an APC member. Governor Uzodinma has always delighted in propaganda that does not fly again.
“The registration and revalidation exercise didn’t take place anywhere in Imo. It was done at the Nick Banquet Hall in Government House, Owerri. The governor’s appointees were generating fictitious names at the Local Government level and take them to the Government House, to be enrolled.
“We Challenge the governor to tell the public how the exercise was carried out in Imo. Whether it was by Polling unit by Polling unit, like Okorocha did when APC anchored. Or, Ward by Ward or by Local Government by Local Government. And let’s take off from there.
“If Okorocha had refused to be registered like our governor had claimed, what happened to Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and his Destiny Political family, who produced Six House of Assembly members, that joined others to give Governor Uzodinma the Majority in the House?”
Two Nigerian men have drowned in Malta in a tragic incident that involved one of the men trying to rescue the other.
Naija News learnt that the incident happened at Dawret il-G?ejjer in St Paul’s Bay around 12.15am on Saturday, May 22.
Police said that investigations had so far shown that one of the men fell into the sea and began experiencing difficulties.
The other man began shouting for help and jumped into the sea to help his friend and found himself in difficulties while swimming.
Both the Armed Forces of Malta and the Civil Protection Department hurried to the scene to rescue the men, but unfortunately, both were declared dead on site.
Magistrate Claire Strafrace Zammit is leading an inquiry into the case.
In an interview with a Malta news portal, the brother of the Nigerian who tried to save his friend described him as a nice person.
“He was a very nice person and he always put family and friends first and a very nice and good giver. Always joking all the time.” he said
Armed men in the early hours of Sunday attacked a police division in Ebonyi, killing one mobile police officer, an official has said.
The gunmen were, however, repelled by the police officers who suceeded in killing one of the attackers, the Ebonyi police spokesperson, Loveth Odah, said in a Sunday morning statement.
“At 1200hrs of Sunday, hoodlums, numbering about 20 in a Mitsubishi L300 Bus, and some others on foot, came in through the back fence and attacked one of our divisions at Ugbuodo Divisional Headquarters in Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state,” Ms Odah said.
“The attackers entered and immediately opened fire, shooting sporadically at policemen on duty but were swiftly challenged and repelled in a gun battle that ensued. One of the attackers was killed.
“His AK47 rifle, GSM Phone and Jackknife were recovered while others escaped with bullet wounds. However, one Mobile Police Personnel paid the supreme price.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi Command, Aliyu Garba, has visited the division for an on the spot assessment of the situation.
“He has also ordered a manhunt for the fleeing hoodlums with a view to arresting them for prosecution,” she said.
The Ebonyi incident is the latest in a series of attacks on police officers and facilities in the South-east and South-south states.
PREMIUM TIMES has reported how dozens of police officers have been killed in the past two months in the two regions.
The police have blamed the attacks on an outlawed group, IPOB, which seeks an independent Biafra country from the two regions.
Many IPOB members have also been killed or arrested for their alleged roles in the attacks.
The group has, however, denied any responsibility for the attacks.
The Police Command in Ekiti State has launched an investigation into alleged attack by five police personnel on the principal and teachers of Mary Immaculate Girls’ Grammar School in Ado-Ekiti.
The police officer, Sgt. Agenoise Elijah, allegedly stormed the school with his colleagues on Friday to protest the audacity of the authorities for reprimanding and discipling his daughter for wearing a different hairstyle from the prescribed one.
The police personnel allegedly harassed the principal, tore the dress of a female tutor and seized the mobile of another.
The incident reportedly caused confusion in the school as both teachers and students took to their heels.
Confirming the incident, ASP Sunday Abutu, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, said “the command is not unaware of the reported case of indiscipline at Mary Imaculate Girls’ School, Ado-Ekiti.
“They were said to have harassed the teachers simply because his daughter, who is one of the students, was questioned about the style of her hair-cut which was not inline with the school directive.
“The command wishes to confirm that the Police sergeant and his colleagues, who went to the School to cause chaos, have been identified and discreet investigation has commenced as ordered by the Commissioner of Police and the officers shall not be spared if found guilty.
“The command is also working tenaciously with the state Ministry of Education to ensure that no stone is left unturned concerning the case.
“ The CP in the state is appealing to those who were victims of the officers’ misbehavior to be calm and patient as we shall ensure that the investigation process is not compromised,” the police spokesman said.
