Schalke 04 beat 10-man Freiburg 2-0 on Saturday to delay Bayern Munichs title celebrations by at least another week and tighten their grip on second place with six games left of the season.

Daniel Caligiuris controversial 63rd-minute penalty put the hosts ahead and Guido Burgstaller slotted in their second goal 10 minutes later as Schalke earned their sixth win in a row.

Minutes earlier Freiburgs Nils Petersen was sent off after a second booking and coach Christian Streich got his marching orders and a seat in the stands for dissent.

Schalke are now 17 points behind leaders Bayern, who are on 69 after walloping third-placed Borussia Dortmund 6-0 on Saturday.

But even a win would not be enough for them to secure their sixth straight league title this weekend.

RB Leipzig worked their way back into Champions League contention with a nervous 3-2 victory at Hanover 96.

The victory lifted them to 46 points and fourth place, a point ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who managed only a goalless draw against Augsburg.

The top four teams qualify automatically for the Champions League group stage next season.

Source: NAN

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Uche Secondus, has challenged the Minister of Culture and Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed to be ready to proof in court that he collected N200m from the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Secondus made the challenge in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr Ike Abonyi, on Friday in Abuja.

He said he is challenging Mohammed to be ready to establish his allegations in court immediately.

Secondus said that the agenda of the minister was to damage his reputation and distract him from serving PDP, adding that such agenda would fail woefully

For the purposes of some gullible public, Prince Secondus never collected any money from the NSA under any guise.

Also listed at the news conference by Mohammed were former PDP Financial Secretary who allegedly collected N600 million from the same source on the Oct. 24, 2014.

Then National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh, who is on trial for collecting N1.4 billion from the office of then NSA.

Dr Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, on trial for taking N2.1 billion from the office of then NSA.

Former SSA to President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, on trial over N830 million kept in accounts of four different companies.

Former President Jonathans Cousin Robert Azibaol, on Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for collecting $40 million from the office of then NSA.

Mohammed in giving the teasers, was responding to an earlier challenge by the PDP asking the federal government to name the countrys looters.

Also, the PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan described the teasing list released by the Minister of Information as hollow and laughable.

The party described the list as an extension of Federal Governments media trial and challenged it to come up with names of its members against whom the government had secured convictions.

Ologbondiyan stated that the list put forward by the Federal Government as purported looters amounts to a cheap blackmail, saying that none of those listed have been indicted or convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction or any panel of enquiry in the country.

Source: NAN

Buba Jibril, the House of Representatives member, representing Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency has been buried at Kabawa Cemetery in Lokoja, amid tears and prayers from families, friends and colleagues.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jibril, 58, a three time member of the House of Representatives and deputy majority leader, died in the early hours of Friday in Abuja.

The burial, which was concluded at around 3 p.m., was attended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, Kogi Deputy Governor, Mr Simon Achuba, Kogi House of Assembly Speaker, Mr Matthew Kolawole, members of the house, among others.

Reps Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, said: We have lost one of our own, Buba Jibril, of whom if wishes were horses, we wished he would live forever.

But we are mortals and all of us have to answer one day or the other. However, Jibril has answered the call.

He had a dogged spirit. When we recently visited him in London with the leadership of the House; we chatted and laughed together, apparently we didnt know that he would answer this call today.

It is very unfortunate. We have lost a leader and a brother, who was an accomplished legislator par excellence, and for me personally he was my die-hard supporter. We will surely miss him.

It was unfortunate that we have to do this again; our prayer to God is that the death of lawmakers should stop and God should preserve all of us.

I dont think it has happened before, not to my recollection that we have lost about three senators and five members of the House of Representatives.

Our prayer is that God should grant his entire family members, the government and the people of Kogi, and the entirety of NASS the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, Dogara said.

Mr Matthew Kolawole, the Speaker, Kogi House of Assembly, told newsmen that the state Government, the Kogi House of Assembly, would miss him a lot.

Dont forget that he was a former speaker of Kogi House of Assembly. We will miss him a lot.

I pray that God Almighty will give all of us the heart to bear the irreparable lost.

What happened today is a big lesson to all of us who are still living.In any position we are, no matter how rich you are, just remember sometime, someday, you will drop dead, and when you do, you are going to give account of your life and stewardship to God.

It is a debt we will all pay sometimes, someday, Kolawole said.

Source: NAN

Aside the 60 American envoys axed in a retaliatory expulsion by Russia, diplomats from 23 countries have been asked to go in the biggest ever diplomatic row between Russia and the West.

Russia has expelled the envoys from the 23 countries in retaliation against the West in an escalating spy row.

The Russian foreign ministry had summoned the heads of missions from 23 countries to tell them that some of their diplomats had to leave.

France, Germany, Canada and Poland each said that Russia was expelling four of their diplomats.

Other countries including Ukraine, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania and Norway were also told to pull their envoys.

The moves came in retaliation for the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

This is certainly not a surprise, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said through a spokeswoman, referring to Moscows expulsion of two of the countrys diplomats.

Britain has said it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the Skripal attack using the Novichok nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, but Russia has angrily denied any involvement.

After the poisoning, Britain kicked off the global response by announcing it would expel 23 Russian diplomats, suspend high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow and not send any members of its royal family to the 2018 football World Cup hosted by Russia.

Russia then responded by closing a British consulate in Saint Petersburg and the British Council educational and cultural organisation.

In further measures against the UK, the Russian foreign ministry gave Britain a month to cut the number of diplomatic staff in Russia to the same number Russia has in Britain, a move London called regrettable.

This doesnt change the facts of the matter: the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable, a spokeswoman for Britains Foreign Office said.

Two Australian diplomats were expelled, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying it was a disappointing, although not unexpected, reaction by the Russian Government to the decision of the Australian Government to expel two Russian diplomats working as undeclared intelligence officers.

In the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin presided over a meeting of the countrys Security Council which discussed the most recent retaliatory steps against Britain and its allies.

Russia did not unleash any diplomatic war, Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russia never initiated any exchange of sanctions.

Moscow announced Thursday that it would expel 60 US diplomats and close the US consulate in Saint Petersburg after the expulsion of its own diplomats and the closure of one of its US consulates.

In all, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations which are accusing Russia of being involved in the Skripal poisoning.

Read more:

Source: NAN

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to follow the example of one its leaders and former Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu.

Mantu in a recent TV programme confessed the he took part in rigging elections for the PDP.

Now the APC wants the PDP to borrow this example and confess to their sins against the country instead of indulging in name calling.

Apparently burdened by guilty conscience, the PDP National Chairman had last week apologised to the nation for the years of misrule that his party had brought to the country.

The APC noted this apology but asked the PDP to go a step further and confess to their sins before restitution could be considered.

Instead of taking this path to redemption, PDP has engaged in fruitless you too accusations and name calling.

This is further evidence that PDP is not ready for repentance and only offered the apology with the hope that Nigerians will grant them amnesty and a short-cut back to power, said APCs publicity secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi.

However, now that Senator Mantu has belled the cat, by confessing to how he has helped the PDP to rig elections in the past, we hope that PDP will follow the bold example of the former Senator and confess to their other sins against Nigeria, Abdullahi said.

Source: NAN

Chief Olisa Metuh, the former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he has directed his lawyers to review the implications of including his name in Federal Governments list of looters.

Metuh in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja said he had also asked his lawyer to take appropriate steps for redress.

The former National Publicity Secretary of PDP, said he was reacting to the recent release of names of looters by the All Progressives Congress led-Federal Government through the Minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Metuh said that by the publication, the Federal Government had breached Nigerias Constitution by seeking to burden him with two criminal trials on the same charge, one before Justice Okon Abang and the other before the media.

In response to the scandalous publication, I wish to state as follows :

Since my arrest on January 5, 2016 and subsequent arraignment, I have refrained from publicly discussing my persecution and travails by the government.

This is because as a lawyer, trained in the finest traditions of the Bar, I know that it is wrong to discuss a matter that is subjudice.

However the present action of the government leaves me no option than to defend my name and integrity.

I have therefore decided to avail the public of the true state of the contrived case against me.

The charge against me is that I received the sum of N400 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser to carry out duties assigned to me as the then spokesman of the PDP by then President.

Metuh added that the major crux of the prosecution argument was that he ought to have known that the money was a part of an alleged and yet to be proven unlawful activity of Col Sambo Dasuki(rtd), former NSA to President Jonathan.

He said that the charge was brought regardless of the fact that neither Jonathan, who directed the release of the funds, nor Dasuki, who effected the release had ever been interrogated nor even interviewed in this regard.

He added that as a matter of fact, officers of the office of NSA had testified in court that the payment made to him followed all due process usually observed in the establishment.

It is of interest to note that the prosecution has not alleged any collusion on my part other than the suggestion that I ought to have known of an alleged unlawful activity.

Also the alleged illegality of the funds has neither been established in law nor in fact.

I have NEVER held a government office and/or position and could not therefore have had any access to government funds.

Metuh said that in view of the weakness of the case against him, the APC led Federal Government resorted to all kinds of tactics to dehumanise and intimidate him.

He said that the party had done everything humanly possible to ensure complete persecution starting from bringing him to court in handcuffs.

He said that he was also paraded as the capture of Nigerias most wanted to media trials and constant interference with my case.

I have been reliably informed that the Federal Government has ordered a conviction at all cost to ensure that the PDP is tainted before the elections.

The governments determination to achieve this objective is clearly highlighted by the refusal to allow me attend to my deteriorating health notwithstanding several expert medical opinion on the matter.

He condemned the going to the media to name him as a looter without cross-checking the definition and dictionary meaning of the word.

He said that going by that action the Federal Government had not only given a body language but has issued a direct intimidation and threat to the judiciary to get a compulsory conviction.

Source: NAN

By Obinna Unaeze
The Association of Gold Miners (Zone one) in Chanchaga Local Government area of Niger has appealed to the state government to organise the local miners professionally.

Mr Michael Abida, the Chairman of the association, made the call on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.

He said that such gesture would make the miners to protect the environment in the course of their operation and contribute meaningfully to the society.

Abida said that the gesture would also expose the miners to modern techniques in mining and ensure that the artisans paid taxes to government.

The chairman said that the miners would surely pay back if government introduced them to modern mining techniques and provided equipment to them.

We want government to organise us into corporative societies and train us on new methods of mining considering local content and issue licenses to us.

We also appeal to government to provide us with locally fabricated machines so that in the end we will pay revenue to government and service our loans, he said.

Abida said that in the past, the state government was not comfortable with illegal miners as they were arrested, but now there was no such thing.

The government realised that right now many Nigerians are jobless, that is why they allowed us to help ourselves, but with a warning not to destroy the natural environment during our operations.

He said that sometimes he made one to two points of gold per day and when you are lucky you make 10 points.

The miner said that a point of gold was sold for N1,500 or at least N1,200.

Abida said that there were also marbles in Chanchaga River, the mining site, but no market for it yet.
The artisan miner, from Benue State, said he was born in 1949 and had been in the local mining business since 1984.

NAN recalls that the State Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Alhaji Idris Amin, at a recent public function, said that the ministry would collaborate with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for a safer and quality environment.

According to Amin: Since my appointment as the Commissioner of Environment and Forestry, I have been concerned with the way our environment has been degraded by artisanal miners and forest depleted by individuals and groups for fossil fuel in commercial quantity.

Source: NAN

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has rescued crash victims involved in a lone accident on the Lagos /Ibadan Expressway and returned over N2million recovered from the scene to the mother of the owner.

Mr Clement Oladele, the FRSC Sector Commander in Ogun, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta on Saturday.

Oladele said that the accident happened around 10:15am and it involved 11 people, comprising of three men, six female adult and two female children.

The sector commander noted that though, there were no deaths recorded, nine of the passengers who included three male and six female adults sustained serious injuries.

The lone crash involved a Yellow Toyota LiteAce bus with registration number WWD 558 XA travelling from Ibadan to Lagos.

The suspected cause of the crash was tyre burst by the speeding bus, which lost control.

The injured victims were taken to Ifeoluwa Hospital, Ogunmakin for medical treatment and the road obstruction cleared, he said.

The FRSC boss said the victims belongings inside the ill-fated bus were conveyed to FRSC Command at Ogunmakin, where on routine documentation the sum of N2. 096million was recovered.

Upon diligent investigation, a female passenger of the crashed bus, Mrs Asabi Adenike of Kuola Street, Apata, Ibadan, who sustained injuries and undergoing medical attention was identified as the owner of the bag containing the recovered money.

After contacting her relatives, she authorised that the FRSC hands over the recovered money to her Mother, Mrs Bisola Adedeji, he said.

Source: NAN

Ahead of Easter celebrations, patronage of local rice has shot up in Enugu as dealers make brisk business,

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that local rice business had been booming since the beginning of the Holy Week.

Mr Edward Nneji, a local rice seller at Garki Market told NAN that many residents now prefer local rice to foreign rice due to the difference in their prices.

According to Nneji, a 25 kg bag of local rice goes for N7, 500 in the market while the 50kg goes for between N15.000 and N16, 500.

A 25 kg bag of foreign rice goes for N9, 500 and the 50kg for between N18, 500 and N19, 500. A cup of local rice sells for N70 and a cup of foreign for N100.

Mrs Juliana Ubochi, a rice seller at Mayor Market confirmed that many consumers now buy local rice for the price difference.

I am sure that it is because of price difference that has been making people to buy more of local rice, since a cup of local rice is N70, many prefer buying in cups than in bags.

Due to the high cost of foreign rice, many people are now going for the local, especially people with large family, she said.

Mr Reuben Obi, who sells rice at the Kenyatta Market, said he had made a lot of profit since the beginning of the Holy Week from selling local rice.

Obi said that he was sure that the patronage would continue even after the Easter Celebration because the price of the foreign rice would continue to rice due to the ban on importation on the foreign rice.

At Ogbette Market, Mr David Ngwoke, another rice seller said with the high patronage experienced in local rice, there was need for rice farming to increase so as to have enough in future.

Meanwhile, in Benin, traders are worried over low patronage despite stable price of food items at Benin Market.

A NAN check at Ikpoba Hill Market, a major food market in Benin, shows that the price of food items remain the same unlike Christmas and New Year celebrations.

A 50 kg bag of rice on Saturday at the market sold for between N16,800 and N17,500 while a four litre keg of vegetable oil and red oil sold for N2,000 and N1,700 respectively.

A cartoon of frozen fish, turkey and Chicken went for N13,000, N15,000 and N13,500 respectively while a live chicken sold for between N2,000 and N8,000.

NAN also reports that a basket of tomatoes sells for between N10,000 and N15,000, small bag of fresh pepper goes for N8,000 while big bag sells for N18,000.
(NAN)

Source: NAN

Ballot counting has begun in Sierra Leone after official close of voting at 5 pm (GMT) in the rescheduled presidential run-off election.

A statement issued by a member of the ECOWAS Observation Mission, Mr Paul Ejime, said that Prof Amos Sawyer, Head of the Mission and his team watched the counting process at Freetowns Aberdeen polling Centre.

Sawyer according to the statement had, earlier witnessed the commencement of voting at 7 am.

It noted that agents of the two rival political parties and security personnel also witnessed the process.

Counting and tallying in the 16 Administrative Districts with 3,300 polling centres and 11,122 polling stations nationwide.

This will be followed with tallying at the Regional Centres and then moved to the National Office for the announcement of the final results.

The ruling APC has Dr Samura Kamara as its candidate, running against the main opposition SLPPs Julius Maada Bio, a former head of state, in this second election.

Both emerged front runners from the inconclusive March 7 first round that had 16 candidates.

The run-off was originally scheduled for March 27, but had to be postponed due to a petition filed by a private lawyer. A lower court gave an interim injunction halting the poll.

The vacation of the court order by the Supreme Court and the preventive diplomacy initiate by heads of international observation missions helped to douse the political tension and paved the way for Saturdays run-off, which was generally peaceful.

Source: NAN