Real Madrid fans have returned 1,000 tickets for Saturdays Champions League final against Liverpool as spiralling accommodation and travel costs deter supporters from travelling to Kiev.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the tickets could not be resold to Liverpool fans for security reasons but they would instead be put on sale for local fans in the Ukrainian capital.

As anger mounts over the rocketing prices and cancelled bookings with some hotels charging up to 100 times their standard rates Liverpool said they had complained to the highest levels of European footballs governing body.

Ukrainian UEFA vice-president Grigoriy Surkis criticised the behaviour of hotel owners looking to make a quick buck for the clash between the two European giants, who have won the competition 17 times between them.

I am not disappointed, I am furious, he told AFP. I think it is a disgrace for the capital, where individual hotel owners did not give everyone a chance to come here by raising the prices not ten-fold, the way it happens in other cities, but nearly a hundredfold.

Around 1,000 Liverpool fans also face the prospect of being stranded in England after a number of charter flights were cancelled due to a disagreement between a travel company and aviation authorities in Kiev over the size of the aircraft.

Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore said he was still hopeful a favourable solution can be reached to help those left behind.

However, Moore criticised the infrastructure in Kiev, which hosted the Euro 2012 final, as not fit for purpose.

They just dont have the airport infrastructure and the hotel capacity to cope with an event of this size and there isnt another major city within real hitting distance of it, he told the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

Its not only affected Liverpool fans but Real Madrid fans too. There will be lessons learned from this. Rest assured, Ive raised this at the highest levels of UEFA.

The decision to award the final to Kiev was made before Ceferins election as president in 2016 and the Slovenian has already reintroduced a tender process with evaluation reports on cities bidding for finals.

Istanbuls 76,000-capacity Ataturk Olympic Stadium was named as the host for the 2020 final on Thursday, while next seasons final will take place at Atletico Madrids Wanda Metropolitano.

Source: NAN

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday scolded the House of Representatives for unlawfully suspending former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin for 180 legislative days.

Jibrin was suspended in 2016 for alleging that the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other principal officers of the House padded the 2016 budget with about N40 billion.

He then dragged the House, the speaker and the clerk of the House to court to challenge the suspension.

Justice John Tsoho, in his judgement, declared that the action of the House was unconstitutional. It was the second time, a judicial review of a National Assembly action was being thrown overboard as unconstitutional. Another Federal High Court in Abuja had overruled the suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, by the Senate.

Justice Tsoho said it was necessary to admonish the House to perform its duties with the constitution in mind and avoid arbitrariness, bias and impartiality.

At this juncture, a general admonition is deemed necessary.

The House of Representatives should be the bastion of representative democracy in Nigeria and should thus hold as very dear, the tenets of democracy and stick tenaciously to same.

Democracy thrives on and is fuelled by the rule of law and not by the rule of force, arbitrariness or impunity.

The House should not desecrate itself by openly exhibiting lack of faith in the constitution and the rule of law to which it owes its very existence.

Drawing from a traditional adage, it is apt to state that any entity that challenges its soul to a fight is doomed and will fail, the judge said.

The judge nullified the suspension of the lawmaker and ordered the House of Representatives to pay all outstanding salaries and allowances that accrued to him while he was on suspension.

The suspension is null and void, and of no effect whatsoever.

According to Tsoho, the defendants by suspending Jibrin, violated his rights as enshrined in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He added that the defendants were biased when the principal officers who raised the allegation against Jibrin were part of the committee that investigated the matter.

The court maintained that it was wrong for the defendants to be judge in their own case.

The court further held that the House erred when it went ahead to suspend Jibrin, not minding the pendency of an action against it.

The court also held that according to the House standing rules, the House could not suspend Jibrin for more than 14 legislative days or 30 legislative days in more serious matters.

Source: NAN

The Federal High Court in Benin has ordered that the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, Chief Dan Orbih, be remanded in prison custody if he failed to perfect his bail.

The court had on Thursday granted the Orbih and Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the 2016 governorship candidate, bail in the sum of N10 million for alleged N700 million fraud.

Also granted bail in the same condition, were the former deputy governor, Mr Lucky Imasuen, a former member of the House of Representatives, Tony Azegnemi and Efe Anthony.

Justice P. Adjokwu ordered the defendants to produce a surety each in like sum.

The judge ordered that the sureties, who must not be below salary grade level 16, must also be house owners, with Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) that should be deposited with the courts deputy registrar.

Adjokwu, who rejected the plea by defendants counsel, Mr Charles Edosomwan, ordered them to be remanded in prison until they met the bail conditions.

The Judge adjourned the case till July 4.

EFCC had arraigned the defendants on an eight-count charge of laundering the sum of N700 million.

The EFCC alleged that the defendants were arraigned for receiving N700 million prior to the 2015 general elections, from former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The money was part of the $115 million that Diezani pilfered from the treasury.

He said the offence contravened Section 15(2)(d)of the Money Laundering (Prohibited) Act 2011(as amended by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) punishable under section 15(3) of same Act. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has praised Governor Nasir El-Rufai APCs panel on restructuring for doing a good job.

Dickson stressed that Nigeria was in dire need of devolution or restructuring in order to guarantee stability.

He stressed the need to expand the scope of consultation on the restructuring, saying that all parts of Nigeria needed to be carried along, especially the leadership of Northern Nigeria.

Dickson told journalists on Thursday after he updated President Muhammadu Buhari on security and socio-economic developments in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta region.

Dickson, who held a closed door meeting with the President, said he stressed the need for change in approach to security management in the Niger Delta during the meeting.

The governor, who described his interaction with the president as fruitful, said the meeting also deliberated on the issue of devolution of power.

So, I thank the President for availing me the opportunity to share perspectives on very serious issues on security, stability and development of Bayelsa and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

We talked about the need to revisit the Brass energy; we talked about the need for change in approach to security management in the Niger Delta; we talked about the challenges of stabilizing the Niger Delta and the need for federal support.

We talked about a whole range of other issues including what we think should be the final response to the ongoing debate about devolution and I believe that we had a very fruitful interaction, he said.

The governor reiterated the determination of his administration to continue to partner with the Federal Government and security agencies to advance and consolidate security of life and property in the region.

He said: Governors of the Niger Delta region are doing a lot and as governors we will continue to do our best, working with the security agencies, we should be apolitical in supporting constituted authorities in the states.

We expect that this interaction will yield positive results. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has rescheduled its National Convention for Saturday, June 23, 2018.

The party gave the new date via its official twitter handle, @OfficialAPCNg on Thursday night.

The National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi added that inauguration of new Party executives will subsequently hold on Monday, June 25, 2018.

The decision followed the Partys approval of a request by the National Convention Committee chaired by the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar.

Before now, the APC had settled for June 2 for its National Convention as contained in a notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but many stakeholders pushed for the new date in view of the ongoing Ramadan which will be concluded before June 23.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday alerted Vice President (VP) Yemi Osinbajo that his position as VP was being threatened by Nigerian women in politics.

The president stated this while reacting to a request by Nigerian women who asked for the slot of Vice President of Nigeria in subsequent elections in the country.

The women under the auspices of the Nigerian Female Parliamentarians made the request when they paid a courtesy call on Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The chairperson of organisation, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie, who spoke on behalf the delegation, lamented that Nigerian women were being marginalised by their male counterparts in the nations body politics.

Since 1999 we only have one principal officer each in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

And in the State Houses of Assembly we have only just five per cent, women are five per cent of the total population of elected members of the State Houses of Assembly and we feel that this is not good enough for all the efforts we women had put in the development of this country particularly in politics.

We feel the trend now needs to be reversed and we feel you are the only one who can do it now.

The implementation strategy is simple. Any statement you make today is a policy statement and is a law.

Now your Excellency is twinning. Many African countries have imbibed that culture of twinning and is working in Rwanda, in South Africa is working and we believe it will work in Nigeria.

Where a man is a president we expect that the vice president should be a woman; where a man is speaker, we expect that the deputy speaker should be a woman and vice versa, she said.

Besides, Ativie called on the Buhari administration to invest more in womens participation in politics by creating an enabling environment for women to thrive and tackle perceived systematic and cultural hindrances to womens inclusion.

She commended the president for the recent approval given to the Inspector-General of Police to employ youths into the Nigeria Police Force and expressed the optimism that at least 35 per cent of the those to be recruited would be female police.

She also called on the president to urgently intervene in the protracted industrial action embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU).

She said: Indeed, this strike action bites harder on women and children who are the most vulnerable in our society.

We humbly appeal to Your Excellency to graciously look into the issues as the father of the nation in order for the health sector to bounce back and ameliorate the plight of the citizens.

Responding, Buhari noted the efforts of women in ensuring political stability in the country and for the support given to him during the 2015 presidential elections.

On their demands including the VP slot in future elections in the country, Buhari regretted that he was not as powerful as you think Im.

It is a pity the Vice President is not here. But I believe the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will tell him that his position is threatened, he jokingly told the visiting female parliamentarians.

Source: NAN

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), FCT command says it is poised to curb drug abuse and trafficking among youths in the territory through Surprise Raiding Strategy (SRS).

Mr Peter Adegbe, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

He explained that the SRS as the name implies involves surprise raids on the traffickers black spots and hideouts in the territory such as Zone 4, Bannex, Jabi and other areas in the outskirts of the FCT.

According to Adegbe, the strategy is part of the agencys efforts in tackling drug vendors and traffickers in the territory and environs.

He said the command would achieve the goal by ensuring that the demand and supply of both cocaine and cannabis sativa are reduced to the barest minimum.

Once people, especially the youths, are well informed about the dangers of drug abuse, the demand will drastically reduce and this will affect the supply.

The command has chosen to tackle the menace of drug abuse and ridding the territory with this new strategy, he said.

The spokesman said that the menace of drug abuse had become a global concern as citizens particularly young people in several countries were engaged in the act.

It is disheartening that children at tender age already have problem using drugs.

There should be deliberate and sustained efforts at educating the younger generation on drug prevention, Adegbe said.

The spokesman said the command would not relent in its efforts to rid the FCT of hard drugs, adding that several campaigns had been held in this regard.

He urged Nigerians especially parents and guardians to give listening ears to their children and youths who were the vulnerable groups against drug abuse.

Adegbe also appealed to residents of the FCT to join hands with the NDLEA in ensuring a responsible society void of social vices.

The public needs to understand that they should also support the NDLEA in tackling this drug menace, he said.

Source: NAN

(Reuters/NAN) Iran wants European powers to present it with measures by the end of May to compensate it for the U.S. decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, a senior official said on Friday.

The official said Tehran would decide within weeks whether to quit the accord.

The 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers lifted international sanctions on Tehran.

In return, the middle east country agreed to curb its nuclear programme.

Since President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out on May 8, European states have been trying to find a way to ensure Iran still gets the economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal.

But that has proven difficult, with European companies frightened away by U.S. sanctions.

Nations that remain in the agreement Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia began meetings on Friday for the first time since Trump left the pact, but diplomats see limited scope for salvaging it.

Their officials will try to flesh out with Irans deputy foreign minister a strategy to save the deal by keeping oil and investment flowing.

To be honest with you, we are not confident, a senior Iranian official told reporters on Friday before the talks.

EU leaders have united behind the accord, with Brussels working on measures, including banning EU-based companies from complying with re-imposed U.S. sanctions and urging governments to make money transfers to Irans central bank to avoid fines.

We expect the (economic) package to be given to us by the end of May, the Iranian official said. Im sorry to say that we havent (seen) the Plan B yet.

The Plan B has just started to be figured out.

He said European measures would need to ensure that oil exports did not halt, and that Iran would still have access to the SWIFT international bank payments messaging system.

Washington has not only re-imposed sanctions but started to make them even tighter. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday threatened Iran with the strongest sanctions in history if it did not change its behavior in the Middle East.

Pompeo was like taking a cold shower, said a European diplomat. Well try to cling to the deal, but were under no illusions.

Irans supreme leader set out conditions on Wednesday for Iran to stay in the deal: unless Europe guarantees Irans oil sales will not be hurt, Tehran would resume enrichment of nuclear material.

He also rejected any new negotiations over Irans missile program, which was not covered in the nuclear deal.

The official said time was running out and that if Iran was not satisfied by European efforts, Iran would seek a ministerial meeting before making its decision.

Iran has struggled to benefit from the accord so far, partly because of remaining unilateral U.S. sanctions that have deterred major Western investors from doing business with Tehran.

Some Western companies have already quit the country or said they may have to leave because of the new U.S. sanctions.

Trump denounced the accord, completed under his predecessor, Barack Obama, because it did not cover Irans ballistic missile program, its role in Middle East conflicts or what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to complement the nuclear deal with negotiations between all sides over other issues, an idea cautiously received by Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Our position is very clear: make the JCPOA (Iran deal) a successful story, then come to us and ask for dialogue or discussion or negotiation on other subjects, the Iranian official said.

European nations share U.S. concerns, but they say that torpedoing the nuclear deal makes them far harder, not easier, to address.

They have said that as long as Tehran meets its commitments, they would remain in the deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which polices the pact, said on Thursday that Iran continued to comply with its terms, but could be faster in allowing snap inspections. Its chief, Yukiya Amano, briefed participants before Fridays meeting.

Source: NAN

Australia and the Netherlands have decided to officially hold Russia accountable for its role in downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, paving the way for the two countries to possibly take legal action against Moscow.

MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board. In a report from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) issued Thursday, international investigators said the Buk anti-aircraft system used to bring down the jet belonged to the Russian military.

The Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok said in a statement on Friday.

The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable, Blok said.

Australia and the Netherlands have informed the Russian Federation that we hold it responsible under international law for its role in the downing of MH17, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.

Bishop and Blok said their governments asked Russia on Friday to enter talks about its role in the disaster in order to find a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing.

The case could next be presented to an international court or organization for judgement, the Dutch and Australian governments said.

The son of an Australian couple killed in the disaster said earlier Friday the international community should pressure Russia to take responsibility after investigators found its military missile brought down the flight.

Its good to see some strong evidence that Russia was involved, Paul Guard, who lost his parents Jill and Roger in the disaster, told Australian broadcaster ABC.

Clearly, Russia has a lot of questions to answer as to what its missile launcher was doing there and why it was involved in this war in the first place.

He said governments have a problem in acknowledging their involvement in these sorts of things.

The US, I think, took over 10 years to acknowledge the shooting down of an Iranian jet. Im not expecting anything anytime soon.(dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN

President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Babatunde Paul Ruwase has lauded the passage of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Act amendment Bill by the Senate.

This is even as he said that CAMA will greatly boost and increase the viability of small businesses in the country.

Ruwasegave the commendation when he led other executive members of the Chamber on a courtesy visit to the President of the Senate, according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the President of the Senate, Sanni Onogu, in in Abuja.

The LCCI boss noted that the passage of the CAMA amendment Bill is a major step towards enhancing the business environment in the country.

He said that the Bill when signed into law would reduce the burden of reporting obligations for small businesses, reduce time and cost of of setting up a company and also facilitate the transition of many informal sector players to the formal sector of the economy.

He said that the amendment is timely in view of present economic realities as the country cannot afford a static legislation in a dynamic business and economic environment.

Ruwase further stated that the beauty of legislation lies in how well it is aligned with contemporary realities and thanked the President of the Senate for the efforts of the Red Chamber in promoting private sector development and for collaboration.

The fact that your Excellency has a private sector background has brought a lot of value to the content and processes of legislation, he added.

In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, thanked the LCCI and its members for their contributions to the nations economic growth.

He noted that the 8th Senate has been keen on working with the private sector to improve the nations economy and business environment right from its inception in 2015.

He said that the Senate with the collaboration of major players in the private sector had identified a number of critical laws that required urgent review to improve the ease of doing business in the country, most of which have now been passed and signed into law.

This is a Senate that is very pro-business. We believe that our role as a government is to create enabling environment that will allow businesses to thrive.

Even in the area of infrastructure, our focus has been on how we can pass laws to enable private sector participation. With our reforms in railways, ports and road construction and maintenance, we hope that the private sector will play a bigger role with the bills we have passed.

There are some bills that are still pending like the the Investment and Securities bill where there is a major amendment that we hope to pass very soon. We are also looking into the reform of the Stock Exchange to make it more attractive and also in line with global best practice, he said.

Saraki said the aim of the Senate is to strengthen the economy and be able to provide jobs for the youth through legislation.

Source: NAN