ACP Gideon Akinsola, Super Eagles CSO

It was another time for backslapping in the Super Eagles camp during the week when the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, announced the appointment of national team’s Chief Security Officer and FIFA Security Officer in Nigeria, ACP Gideon Akinsola as the Chairman of a five-man committee to reform police sports.

Other members of the committee are CSP Peter Nwagbara, SP Tunde Shodimu, DSP Abass Abdulahi and ASP Togun Michael.

Announcing the appointments on Tuesday, IGP Abubakar, who himself is a former board member of the Nigeria Football Association, said he has watched the steady decline of sports in the police and feels there was a need for urgent reforms, hence the setting up of the committee.

The police is known to have produced such international stars as Olympic gold medallist Chioma Ajunwa, late quarter miler Sunday Bada, also an Olympic gold medallists and former WBC world heavyweight champion, Samuel Peter among others.

ACP Akinsola, who has already broken the news to Head Coach, Stephen Keshi has been congratulated and wished a splendid job under the one-month duration that his committee has been asked to fulfil its mandate.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated ACP, Gideon Olusegun Akinsola for his appointment by the Inspector General of Police as the Chairman of the Sports Committee of Nigeria Police Force.

“We are delighted by the appointment because ACP Akinsola has been around for some time now and has worked very hard each time in coordinating security arrangements for all football-related programmes in the country,” said NFF President Aminu Maigari.

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Super Eagles

The Nigeria Football Federation is not letting anything to chance as the national team prepares for its SA 2013 Nations Cup qualifier opener against the Wasps of Rwanda next week in Kigali.

On Wednesday, the football house released new CAF balls used at the recent Equatorial Guinea-Gabon 2012 Nations Cup to the team for its training ahead of the Kigali battle.

The crisp balls, yellow in colour with a sprinkle of black are manufactured by world famous sports wear giants Adidas and are expected to be the ones to be used for the match proper next Wednesday.

Team curator, Chidi Ngoka and Secretary, Dayo Achor Enebi arrived at about 12 noon with the new balls to the delight of the technical crew headed by Stephen Keshi. The balls were immediately put to use during Wednesday’s training at the FIFA Goal Project site, which was again held under the biting Abuja sunlight.

The only time players of the national team had a feel of the balls was when they played a friendly against the Angolan national team last December in Abuja. The Angolans brought the balls specifically for preparation for the Nations Cup championship, which was eventually won by the Zambian national side.

Meanwhile, vastly improved striker, Izu Azuka, has said he was sure that with the level of preparation of the national team, victory will surely be theirs when they confront the Amavubvi in Rwanda on Wednesday, February 29.

“What we need from Nigerians is support and prayers, we have trained hard enough and we are certain that victory will surely come when we take on our opponents next week.

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HOUSTON (AP) – A British man has been sentenced to probation for helping a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary steer massive bribes to Nigerian officials to win more than $6 billion in construction contracts.

Wojciech Chodan (VOY’chehk choh-DAN’) was sentenced Wednesday in Houston federal court to one year of unsupervised probation and fined $20,000.

In a plea agreement, the 74-year-old admitted that from 1994 through 2004 he helped Houston-based KBR bribe the Nigerian government to obtain contracts for liquefied natural gas facilities.

Chodan faced up to five years in prison for one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He pleaded guilty in December 2010.

Two others who also pleaded guilty in the bribery scheme – ex-KBR CEO Albert “Jack” Stanley and a British lawyer – are to be sentenced Thursday.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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by Ani Brooker

Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 11:12 GMT

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The Federal Government is to spend more than N336 million on the proposed new secretariat of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) in Abuja.

The supervising Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja while unveiling the NFA Building Structure at the National Stadium.

“This unveiling ought to have been done a long time ago, but we have been waiting to ensure that all Due Processes are met and the construction sum fixed.

“The Presidential Task Force (PTF) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will ensure that all the amount due in the project will be promptly settled,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project is inside the Package B of the National Stadium Complex and it is very close to the FIFA Technical Centre, also known as the FIFA Goal Project.

The then President Umaru Yar’Adua had in 2009 set up the PTF to assist in ensuring that Nigeria’s Super Eagles qualified for the World Cup billed for South Africa.

The Task Force, headed by Rivers State governor Chibuike Amaechi had then promised to utilise the unspent funds from the money gathered to prosecute its assignment in building a secretariat for the NFA.

Abdullahi who is also chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) said the project was expected to be completed and commissioned after 52 weeks of commencing construction.

The minister said the NFA deserved a better office to enable it discharge its duties effectively, and said this was why the PTF thought of the building named “Nigerian Football House’’.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr Enidom Paul, the Chairman of the project contractor, Paul-B Nigeria (Ltd), assured that the contract would be executed according to specifications.(NAN)

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Lavezzi sends Napoli close to dreamland

The Azzurri have half-a-foot in the quarter-finals after claiming their latest San Paolo scalp, but the Londoners will be thanking their lucky stars the defeat wasn’t heavier

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Entertainment of Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com

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Even though Hiplife duo Wutah (Fire) made up of Daniel Morris (Wutah Kobby) and Frank Osei (Wutah Virus) have gone their separate ways musically, they have reunited to demand an amount of $60,000 and more, from new comer telecommunication network in Ghana, ‘Globacom’.

The group who were signed on as Glo Ambassadors with sixteen others in 2009, claim the green and white branded company has only paid them for one year, out of the three year annual renewable contract.

Speaking on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review”, one half of the group i.e. Wutah Virus aka P. V. (now known as Afriyie) disclosed that Globacom Limited has refused to fulfill its part of a three year contract they signed with them as brand ambassadors.

“We signed a contract with them for a period of three years which was renewable every year, and it took effect from 1st April 2009 till date. They paid for the first one year which was between 1st April 2009 and 1st April 2010 but as we speak now, from 2010 to 2011 no money has been paid to Wutah as a group”, he stated.

Afriyie said, per the contract, Glo had the first right of refusal so at the tail end of the second year, getting into the third year, they (Wutah) had information by word of mouth by a source from Glo, that they (Glo) have information that they had split as a group, and that they didn’t sign the contract with individuals but they did so with the group. For that reason, Glo is disengaging them as a group and they no more qualify to be ambassadors of Glo.

Afriyie stressed that Wutah as a group does not have any problem with the fact that they have been disengaged because of the split, but all they are demanding is to be paid for the period they have worked as Glo Ambassadors while they were still together as Wutah. He explained that their separation did not affect the contract in the second year, because as at the second year 2010, they were still together, recalling that they won two awards in that particular year, 2010 Ghana Music Awards.

He lamented that the most painful part of the story was that the contract forbids them from performing on any platform or any events sponsored by competitive companies, “In Ghana the only way we get to make money is from the shows we play. So if a contract forbids you from performing on shows sponsored by any competitor, it tells you how much we lost within that one year period in the name of an amount that would be paid you for one year”.

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Beauty, Brains And Talent  

Published on February 22, 2012 by pmnews   ·   2 Comments

Stella Damasus

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 5pm and I still had one more homework to finish with my 9-year-old daughter. My phone rang a few times and as I saw the name of the caller, I didn’t pick it up.

My daughter noticed my constant glances at the clock and said to me “mummy you can go you know. It’s Friday and I don’t have to submit this in school till Monday”.

I really didn’t want to leave the house but she went into my room and brought the invitation card to me. “Mummy you have to go because this person has been calling for this event for the past one month.” I took the invitation card from her and looked at it again; it was for a movie premiere and a lot of hype had been done about this movie. It was the rave of the moment and everyone who mattered in showbiz was going to be at this movie premiere. Well, everyone but me.

“Mummy I know that look. You have to be there”. So I jumped in the shower, looked through my wardrobe and got the first thing that my hands could grab. A simple but beautiful dress…comfortable for the evening.

As I arrived at the Silverbird Galleria on Victoria Island, the car park was jam-packed and my driver had issues with parking. “This movie must be amazing,” I thought to myself. As I stepped into the atrium at the galleria, I was greeted by a swarm of pressmen. Flashing cameras, microphones and more questions than my brain could process were coming at me like bullets. The red carpet was packed as I saw colleagues, good friends, not-so-good friends, producers and ‘everybody’ looking like a million dollars. “I must have stumbled onto the red carpet at the Oscars,” I thought.

In my normal tradition, I tried to avoid the red carpet because my mission was to come and see a good film. I didn’t come for paparazzi drama. I tried to make my way upstairs to the cinema hall but the producer grabbed me by the hand, and informed me that the movie wouldn’t start showing for another two hours!

“Two hours?!”, I exclaimed. What was I going to be doing standing around for another two hours? Quietly, I walked into an adjoining door that led to a store. I chose to rest my legs there till the event would start. From where I was seated I could see the entire red carpet and the activities happening.

I saw movie stars all ‘glammed up’. Those who were not noticed by the paparazzi did everything they could to get the attention of the press. Someone even caused a scene as she was upset she was ignored by a photographer from Ovation

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By SALISU RABIU
Associated Press

KANO, Nigeria (AP) – Multiple explosions rocked a highway checkpoint in Nigeria’s second-largest city, witnesses said Wednesday, just over a month after a radical Islamist sect claimed an attack there that left at least 185 people dead.

The attacks raise fears that the radical Islamist sect is taking root in the northern city of Kano.

Resident Ali Garba, a 32-year-old bus driver, said he heard at least six explosions just as he was preparing to head to the mosque for dawn prayers in a densely populated Kano neighborhood.

After that, he said, he heard gunfire for about two hours. By the time he left his house, the military had cordoned his neighborhood to prepare for searches, forcing him back into his home.

The attack occurred during curfew hours, he said, likely reducing its impact.

There were no casualties and four suspects were arrested during searches, said military spokesman Lt. Ikedichi Iweha who declined to comment further.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the local Hausa language, is carrying out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge Muslim killings in Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

This year, the feared sect is blamed for killing at least 303 people, according to an Associated Press count. At least 185 people died in Kano last month in the group’s deadliest assault yet.

The northern-based group has carried out attacks across Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north but its attacks have been most persistent in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the sect’s spiritual home, where people live in constant fear of bombings and drive-by killings.

However, a series of attacks over the last month targeting military and police institutions – typical Boko Haram targets – in the much bigger city of Kano, about 380 miles (610 kilometers) away from Maiduguri, are raising fears that the group may be taking root there too.

Authorities have vowed to stop the sect, but the frequency, boldness and scale of its attacks have subdued many citizens’ faith in the security forces’ ability to suppress Boko Haram.

____

Associated Press writer Yinka Ibukun contributed to this report from Lagos, Nigeria.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is in Senegal to observe and help mediate a solution to this weekend’s contentious election, is meeting opposition candidates on Wednesday.

The retired leader, who has helped mediate conflicts elsewhere in Africa, told reporters upon his arrival Tuesday that Senegal “is a very beautiful country and nothing should be done to destroy it.”

Senegal is tense and an air of uncertainty blankets the capital with just five days to go before Sunday’s presidential election. Businesses on the main commercial avenues surrounding the presidential palace are boarded up and pieces of plywood cover shop windows as if a hurricane is about to pass through town.

The country has been rocked by daily protests after the opposition vowed to render the country ungovernable if 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade runs for a third term on Sunday. Wade has been dismissive, characterizing the protests as nothing more than a “light breeze which rustles the leaves of a tree, but never becomes a hurricane.”

He has insisted that he still has a strong following and on Wednesday, and to prove his point he was planning to hold a campaign rally in Pikine, a downtrodden suburb of Dakar that is an opposition stronghold. Many are worried because the pace of the protests are unlike anything Senegal has experienced in years. The country is considered the most stable in the region. Its democratic traditions run deep, with historians dating Senegal’s democracy to at least the mid-1800s, when France allowed citizens of this former colony to elect a deputy to the French parliament.

Obasanjo is officially in Senegal as the head of an election observation mission sent by the African Union and a regional bloc representing states in West Africa. But since leaving office in 2007, he has become one of Africa’s high-powered mediators. At the airport Tuesday he told reporters that he would not hesitate to help mediate a solution in order to “prevent the preventable.”

Among the opposition leaders that he is meeting on Wednesday is Wade’s former protege, ex-Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, who is now running against the leader. Earlier this week, Wade’s spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye called a press conference to disclose that authorities had discovered that one of the 13 opposition candidates had recruited a personal militia with the aim of sowing unrest ahead of the vote.

Senegalese newspapers identified the candidate as Seck, even though Seck called the accusations absurd. Unlike the other candidates, Seck’s bodyguards wear ski masks over their faces with cutout holes for their eyes and mouth. They wear a black uniform, giving them a paramilitary look.

Some opposition candidates are calling for Sunday’s vote to be postponed in light of the unrest, and anti-government demonstrators could try to disrupt the vote in polling stations to stop Wade from running. From there it would be a slippery slope, as the recent election in Congo indicates, where election day violence last December resulted in ballots being burned and poll workers being attacked. The violence

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