Jay Jay Okocha is unimpressed with the Super Eagles' efforts
Nigeria runs the risk of missing out on back-to-back FIFA World Cups after a slow start in the 2026 tournament qualifiers which saw them record two consecutive draws.
The Super Eagles lie third in Group C behind Rwanda and South Africa with two points from their opening two games, after consecutive 1-1 draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and they run the risk of missing out of the 2026 edition. Photo by Carlos Rodrigues.
Source: Getty Images
According to Soccernet, former Super Eagles captain, Jay Jay Okocha has slammed the team, claiming they have been focused on rivalry and underrating other teams in their group.
He acknowledged the Nigerian national team did not get off to a good start and said they were ultimately fortunate that Bafana Bafana lost their second qualifier, per Sunday World.
"I think we are focusing more on the rivalry between South Africa and Nigeria instead of focusing on qualifying. It’s a big surprise that Rwanda is topping the group."
Nigeria, who failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after being knocked out by Ghana, will face Bafana Bafana on June 3, 2024, when the qualifiers resume after the Africa Cup of Nations.
Former Chelsea and Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, in an interview with ObiOne Podcast has revealed why he turned a fine attacking midfielder Mikel Obi into a defensive midfielder.
Known for his long-range pass and silkiness on the ball during the early stage of his career, the former Super Eagles captain saw his role reversed under the Portuguese manager at Stamford Bridge.
Only bettered by Lionel Messi at the 2005 U-20 World Cup in Holland, Mikel finished as the second-best player of the tournament following a fine performance where he helped Nigeria to a second-place finish with his two-goal contributions.
Mikel became one of the most sought-after players immediately after the tournament with the player said to have already signed a deal with Manchester United, who were looking for a midfielder to replace the aging legendary Paul Scholes.
But after some drama, the Nigerian made a switch to the Stamford Bridge in what till today remained one of the most bizarre transfers in the English Premier League.
After his transfer to Chelsea, Mourinho surprisingly converted Mikel to a defensive midfielder.
Unperturbed by the 36-year-old goal contributions, Mourinho revealed his admiration for the Nigerian.
“I liked everything about Mikel. If you go through all the positional [defensive] midfield players that I have had during my career, there are lots of similar things,” Mourinho said on the ObiOne Podcast.
A Nigerian woman is currently embarking on a 100-hour marathon television talk show to break Guinness World Records for longest marathon television talk show.
The woman, identified as Amuda Mariam, aka Mary Gold, started the 100-hour show on Saturday, December 16, and will conclude on Wednesday, December 20.
The exercise is being held in Lagos at Tunde Odekunle Street, off Coker Street, off College Road, Ogba.
Mariam, who hopes to invite over 100 guests over the course of the quests, revealed that she has received approval from Guinness World Records and intends to put Nigerian media on the map.
During the ongoing 100-hour marathon, Mary Gold has already welcomed a diverse array of guests, including notable persons such as Nigerian comic star Mr. Macaroni, Lanre Adediwura, Actor Hussein Azeez Omotayo, Damola Olatunji, and BBN star, Adeoluwa Okusaga, among others.
The current record for the longest marathon television talk show is held by NOVA24TV, hosted by Boris Tomai from September 24 to 27, 2023, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The short video platform owned by Bytedance, TikTok, has reported that during the third quarter of this year, it deleted 1.4 million videos uploaded by Nigerian users.
According to The Times, Nigeria was one of the top 50 nations from which videos abusing the site’s policies originated in Q3, the platform claims. During the evaluation period, 136.5 million videos were taken down from the internet worldwide.
The business noted in its recently published Community Guidelines Enforcement Report that 90% of all content removals for the quarter occurred in the top 50 markets where policy violations were documented.
One or more of TikTok’s policies, which cover topics like Integrity and Authenticity, Privacy and Security, Mental and Behavioural Health, Safety, and Civility, among others, were allegedly broken by the removed content.
TikTok reported that it deleted 73.6 million accounts that were found to be fraudulent or spam during the period under investigation.
“As always, we’re keeping an eye out for outside threats and taking precautions to protect the platform from fraudulent accounts and activity. There are periodic variations in the reported metrics in these regions as a result of these attackers’ continual probing and attacking of our systems.
“In spite of this, we’re unwavering in our resolve to swiftly detect and delete any accounts, materials, or actions that aim to manipulate users’ popularity on our platform.
According to the corporation, 348.7 million likes on videos were also deleted. In addition, 7.2 billion fake follow requests and 211.3 million fake followers were deleted.
It was found that the deleted likes, followers, and follow requests were the result of “automated or inauthentic mechanisms,” according to TikTok.
In 2023, TikTok reported a rise in the number of ads deleted for breaking its advertising regulations and a fall in the number of ads removed as a result of account-level measures during the third quarter. According to the research, the number of ads removed in Q3 2023 for breaking the platform’s policies increased to 1.3 million from 962,574 in Q2.
Even with the removals, TikTok’s user-generated revenue continues to climb, making it one of the most popular social media sites worldwide.
In 2023, TikTok made $3.8 billion in customer spending through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, bringing its total income to $10 billion, according to a recent estimate from data.ai.
According to Data.ai, in Q1 2023, TikTok became the first mobile app to generate over $1 billion in global consumer spending in a single quarter. With over $6.2 billion in customer spending at the beginning of 2023, the social video app has managed to add $3.8 billion to that number over the course of the year.
Popular Nigeria singer, Tobechukwu Victor Okoh, better known as Peruzzi, has disclosed that juju fell from his jacket while dressing up Davido’s house.
He disclosed this in a recent interview with Afrotodayy.
Peruzzi explained that after taking a shower while relaxing in Davido’s house, he was trying to wear a jacket he just brought from the laundry and noticed that charms fell from the clothes.
The singer and songwriter stated further that he had actually wore shirt and trouser but something was telling him to wear the jacket, adding that immediately he wore the clothes he saw the strange occurrence.
He said, “One day I was in Davido’s house, after taking my shower around 6pm I wanted to dress up and go downstairs. I wore my shirt and trousers and one jacket was telling me wear me…as I was trying to wear the jacket correct juju fell from the clothes.
“Imagine the jacket I just brought from the laundry!.”
Peruzzi came to the limelight with his unique sound that portrays elements of Afrobeat, hip hop and R&B.
Grammy-nominated singer, Seun Kuti has said he was stigmatized while growing up.
According to him, he suffered stigma for being the son of the late renegade Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti.
Speaking in a recent interview with actress Iyabo Ojo, Kuti said his paternity also affected his relationship, stressing that he couldn’t go to his girlfriend’s father’s house.
He said the stigmatisation was appalling because his late father didn’t do anything to warrant it.
Kuti said, “Growing up, I was stigmatized for being Fela’s son. I couldn’t even enter my girlfriend’s father’s house. Even the street, people would always point at me and say, ‘See Fela pikin.’ It was annoying because my father didn’t do anything.
“Now, these killers, murderers, corrupt thieves that their actions are killing millions of Nigerians everyday, you are willing to be in party with them and hailing them. We need to check ourselves.”
He also disclosed during the interview that his joined his late father’s band, Egypt 80, at the age of 8.
The immediate past Director-General of the Nigerians Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Engr. Akin Olateru on Monday said he lost his marriage in the course of doing his job.
He said the job was a very tough one, saying he did not envy the new person taking over from him.
Olateru spoke during a short hand-over ceremony to the new DG, Mr. Alex Badeh, jnr.
Recall that Olateru was appointed in January 2017 as Commissioner of the then Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) which has metamorphosed into NSIB with an expanded mandate to investigate air, rail, maritime and land transport accidents.
He was sacked last week by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who immediately appointed Badeh as his replacement.
Speaking at the hand-over note, Olateru who said he was leaving NSIB far, far better than he met it.
However, he said this did not come without making enormous sacrifices which cost him his marriage
Olateru said, “This is a journey we started January 17, 2017, it’s been a long walk but one thing I can say is to give Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, all the glory. It was a tough one. We went through so much. I personally went through so much because this job is not an easy one so I don’t envy him. To people that don’t know I lost my marriage in the course of work. I received death threats many times because I was trying to do the right thing. That is why it is very important to thank God for this journey.”
He apologised to members of staff who he might have offended in the course of doing his work, saying sometimes he might be a bit bullish as “a result-driven” individual.
He said, “I am sorry. It is just because of work, nothing personal, we are still going to be friends, family. I don’t believe anything is not possible and that was the spirit when the ICAO team came recently.
“Money was an issue and everybody thought we were going to fail but we did so well, we scored 89 per cent and we made Nigeria proud.
“From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank you all for the support you have given me and I am appealing to you to give the new DG the same support.
“We need to work as a team to succeed. You need all that cooperation to work as a team, as a family. Nobody is perfect, I am not perfect. Please work with him with the same spirit you have worked with me and I believe he would prioritise all staff issues.”
Olateru stated that he is leaving NSIB better than he met it and he is leaving as a happy man.
“Some people got government’s job, they ended up in jail. Some people got government’s job, they ended up in a mortuary. I am here standing and I am happy I am leaving NSIB far, far better than I met it. I used the position to grow people, to build the institution, to give Nigeria a better name.”
Badeh promised to carry on from where the former DG stopped to deepen safety in the aviation sector in line with the five-point agenda of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo.
Victor Osimhen and his Napoli teammates have a tough Champions League round of 16 draw as they will take on Barcelona.
The draw for the round of 16 took place on Monday, 18 December 2023.
Barcelona have had the upper hand against Napoli having never lost to the reigning Serie A champions.
In the six encounters between the two teams, Barcelona have won four and drawn two against Napoli.
The last time the two teams clashed was in the Europa League in February 2022 in Italy with Barcelona winning 4-2.
Napoli will host the first leg before traveling to Spain for the second leg.
Another Super Eagles player Umar Sadiq and his Real Sociedad teammates will have their hands full in the round of 16.
The LaLiga club will take on French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain in the first knockout round.
Meanwhile, Zaidu Sanusi’s FC Porto will take on Premier League heavyweight Arsenal.
Other draws will last season’s finalist Inter Milan take on Atletico Madrid, PSV will battle Borussia Dortmund, Lazio will face Bayern Munich, reigning champions Manchester City will tackle Copenhagen and Leipzig will slug it out with Real Madrid.
The first legs of the round of 16 will be played on 13, 14, 20 and 21 February, and the second legs will be played on 5, 6, 12 and 13 March 2024.
The final of this season’s UEFA Champions League will be played at the Wembley Stadium in London, England.
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 draw:
Porto v Arsenal
Napoli v Barcelona
PSG v Real Sociedad
Inter v Atletico Madrid
PSV v Borussia Dortmund
Lazio v Bayern Munich
Copenhagen v Manchester City
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
The Akwa Ibom Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a lawyer identified as Ekere Ebong, who was captured in a viral video brutalising his wife in Uyo, the state capital.
Ebong was seen in the video which went viral on social media beating up his wife at their Uyo residence with blood stains on the woman’s shirt while she was half-naked.
She was seen begging her husband to stop beating her before she was eventually rescued by neighbours who challenged her husband.
The unpleasant scene drew angry reactions on social media, even as most Nigerians, including the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Uju Ohanenye, called on the police to arrest the lawyer.
The Akwa Ibom police spokesperson, Odiko Macdon, said in a statement on Monday that the lawyer is “a known habitual perpetrator of violent acts against his wife over the years.”
According to Macdon, Ebong will be arraigned in court after the conclusion of the police investigation.
“As an agency saddled with the protection of lives and property and maintenance of law and order, we cannot allow Barrister Ebong to continue this flagrant abuse of human rights,” Macdon said.
“Hence, the Commissioner of Police in Akwa-Ibom, CP Olatoye Durosinmi, has ordered the arrest of the suspect to prevent murder and breakdown of law and order.”
He added that CP Durosinmi has warned perpetrators of violent crimes in the state to desist forthwith.
The CP has also urged family members to endeavour to resolve disputes amicably rather than resorting to violent attacks.
No fewer than two persons were injured in an early morning fire incident that occurred on Monday at the residence of late former Gov. Adebayo Alao-Akala in Ogbomosho, Oyo State.
The Director of Operations, Oyo State Fire Service, Mr Ismail Adeleke, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Monday.
Adeleke said the service got a distress call about 8.30 a.m. from one Tolu Ikusagba, Managing Director of Parrot101.1FM, Ogbomoso.
He said that the cause of the fire incident could not be immediately ascertained, but that the fire had been put out to prevent further spread.
Adeleke said from the two persons that sustained the injury, one was severe, adding that further update would be provided about the incident.
However, an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity told NAN that the fire incident was caused by gas explosion.
The eyewitness said that the incident led to the death of one person which was yet to be confirmed by the appropriate authority.
The eyewitness also said that the two people that sustained injury had been taken to hospital for treatment.
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Thousands of teachers in Nigeria have failed the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), a mandatory test for teachers organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
The TRCN Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, announced the results during an interactive session with journalists on Monday.
Ajiboye said more than 3,963 teachers failed the November 2023 Professional Qualifying Examination.
He also revealed that out of the 15,753 teachers who sat for the November 2023 PQE, only 10,636 passed, representing a success rate of just 72.9%.
“A total of 15,753 sat the examination in 38 centres across the country; out of this, we have 10,636 that passed, which is about 72.9 per cent and those that failed are 3,963,” Ajiboye said.
Ajiboye did not provide specific reasons for the high failure rate, but he did acknowledge the need for improvement in the teaching profession.
He, however, confirmed that some candidates were absent from the exam, while others had their results cancelled due to suspected malpractices.
…IGR Drops Below 10% Of Federation Accounts Receipts
A report released by Economic Confidential has released has shown that six States are insolvent as their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) in 2022 were below 10 per cent of their receipts from the Federation Account Allocations in the same year.
The index carefully and painstakingly computed proved that without the monthly disbursement from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), many states remain unviable, and cannot survive without the federally collected revenue, mostly from the oil sector.
The IGR are generated by states through Pay-As-You-Earn Tax (PAYE), Direct Assessment, Road Taxes and revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA)s.
The IGR of the 36 states of the federation totaled N1.8trn in 2022 was above that of 2021 which was N1.76tr. The report indicates that the IGR of Lagos State of N651bn is higher than that of 30 other States put together whose Internally Generated Revenues are extremely low, and poor compared to their allocations from the Federation Account.
Lagos remained steadfast in its number one position in IGR among the states with a total revenue generation of N651bn compared to federation account allocation of N370bn which translate to 176 per cent in the twelve months of 2022.
Ogun State which generated IGR of N120bn compared to its FAAC allocation of N113bn representing 106 per cent, followed by Rivers which generated N172bn IGR compared to FAAC Allocation of N363bn representing 48 per cent.
Kaduna State generated N58bn compared to FAAC of N155bn representing 37 per cent; Kwara had IGR of N35bn compared to FAAC receipts of N99bn representing 36 per cent and Oyo generated N62bn compared to FAAC allocation of N181bn representing 34 per cent and Edo generated N47bn IGR compared to N147bn FAAC representing 32 per cent.
The total internally generated revenues of N1.15trn from the seven most viable states in 2022 was almost twice the total IGR of 29 remaining states put together that merely generated about N650bn.
The six states with impressive IGR generated N225bn in total, while the remaining 23 states generated a total of N426bn in 2022.
In the report, while some states have improved their IGR compared to previous years, others performed poorly. In 2022, six states generated less than 10 per cent IGR compared to two states in 2021.
Adamawa narrowly escaped as it generated N13.1bn compared to FAAC of N116 representing 11.29 per cent in 2022.
The six states that may not survive without the Federation Account due to their extremely poor internal revenue generation of less than 10% compared to their federal allocations are Bayelsa, Katsina and Akwa Ibom the home states of former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and the current Senate President Godswill Akpabio respectively.
Others are Taraba, Yobe and Kebbi states.
The Economic Confidential ASVI further showed that only three states in the entire Northern region have IGR above 20 per cent in comparison to their respective allocations from the Federation Account.
They are Kaduna, Kwara and Nasarawa States in that order.
Meanwhile, eight states in the South recorded over 20 per cent IGR in 2022. They are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Oyo, Edo, Anambra, Enugu and Ondo.
The report stated that the IGR of the respective states can improve through aggressive diversification of the economy to productive sectors rather than relying on the monthly Federation Account revenues that largely come from the oil sector.
“The poor states with lower IGR may not stay afloat outside the monthly allocations from the Federation Account due to lack of initiatives for revenue generation drive coupled with arm-chair governance.
“Some of the states cannot attract investors due to socio-political and economic crises including insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry, and herdsmen-farmers clashes,” the report added.
Rivers Crisis: Court Bars INEC From Conducting Bye-Elections To Fill Vacant State Assembly Seats
AdminThe Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) from conducting fresh elections to fill the seats of the deposed Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Martins Amaewhule, and 24 others.
Justice Donatus Okorowo of the said court gave the order pending the determination of the hearing and determination of a motion on notice filed by the affected lawmakers.
The court also granted an order of interim injunction restraining INEC, the People’s Democratic Party and the state assembly or their agents from declaring vacant or taking any steps whatsoever to declare vacant the seats of the plaintiffs at the Rivers State House of Assembly.
They were also barred from withdrawing the plaintiff/applicants’ respective certificates of return and conducting fresh elections to fill in the seats of the plaintiffs pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The orders were contained in a certified true copy of the ruling of the court dated December 15 made available to THE WHISTLER on Sunday.
Amaewhule and 24 other lawmakers who are said to be loyalists of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, filed the exparte motion dated December 15.
The lawmakers defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, hence the new Speaker, Hon. Edison Ehie, declare their seats vacant.
The Amaewhule-faction of the state assembly via its motion sought the court’s protection barring the state assembly and security agencies from stopping them from performing their legislative functions, enjoying their rights and privileges as lawmakers and removing their security attachments.
But the state assembly in its motion on notice dated December 15 and seen by THE WHISTLER asked the court to dismiss the case of the applicants and decline jurisdiction on the matter.
The state assembly’s lawyer, Lukman Fagbemi, contended that the court in Abuja “is not imbued with territorial jurisdiction to entertain this suit”.
Fagbemi argued that the purported dispute between the lawmakers arose from Portharcourt, insisting it is outside the jurisdiction of the FHC Abuja.
In its ruling on the applicant’s exparte motion , Justice Okorowo granted an interim injunction against INEC, PDP, the State House of Assembly and Inspector General of Police and the State Security Service.
In line with the prayers of Amaewhule and other lawmakers, the court temporarily held that the applicants should not be stopped from performing their legislative functions.
The matter was then adjourned to December 28 for hearing.
This is coming days after the Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt restrained Amaewhule, and his deputy, Hon. Dumle Maol, from using thugs to gain access into the assembly complex.
The restraining order also applied to the new Speaker, Hon. Edison Ehie, who alongside the House of Assembly, instituted a suit against Amaewhule and Maol.
The feud between Governor Simi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now the Minister of FCT, is believed to be the cause of the disagreements between the lawmakers.
Recall that part of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, was burnt on October 29, 2023.
The lawmakers subsequently moved their sitting to another venue.
The applicants sought an order from the court blocking the factions from entering the facility at Moscow Road as well as disrupting the assembly.
Upon hearing the submissions of counsel to the parties, Justice M.W. Danagogo restrained them pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The judge held, “An order of interim injunction restraining the Defendants and the 2nd Claimant/Applicant either acting by themselves or through their agents, servants, privies, assigns or any person(s) acting in whatsoever manner and
howsoever called or described, from further use of armed thugs accompanied by police personnel in riot gear to gain
access to the Rivers State House of Assembly complex at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State which was burnt,
destroyed, damaged and rendered uninhabitable as a result of the fire that engulfed the Assembly Complex on 29th day of October, 2023, contrary to the order of the executive Governor of Rivers State relocating the sitting of the 1st Claimant to a secure and more conducive venue to ensure that the activities and meetings of the House are not disrupted during the period of the renovation of the burnt
building, pending the determination of the motion on notice already filed.”
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy Ohanenye has ordered the arrest of an Uyo-based lawyer who was caught on camera brutalizing his wife.
The lawyer, identified as Mr. Ebong was seen in a viral social media video assaulting his wife. [SEE VIDEO HERE]
Despite the intervention of several people, the man could not be stopped from beating his wife as he was seen in the video standing over the bloodied figure of the woman who was in her underwear.
Reacting to the video which has attracted public outrage, Ohanenye revealed that her Ministry has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the lawyer, adding that the matter won’t be swept under the carpet.
She added that the lawyer would face prosecution even if the wife refuses to press charges because his action is gender-based violence.
Taking to her account on the X platform, the Minister wrote: “This remains one of the most insane and unbelievable scenes one has seen in the brutalization of women. As I have always emphasised, this is a ‘Renewed Hope’ government and such an act can not be allowed in our country.
“On that note, the federal Ministry of Women Affairs @FMWA_ng has ordered the arrest of this demonized lawyer Mr Ebong, who must face the law squally and I promise this act can not be swept under the carpet. Even if the woman decides she doesn’t want her husband to be sued, due to family pressure. the man must face the law as justice will have its way.”