Author: Olukayode Oke

Aruna Quadri won Nigeria its second gold medal at the ongoing ITTF Africa Championship as he claimed the win in the final of the men’s singles event. After a drab tournament for the Nigerians, Funke Oshonaike and Fatimo Bello won the gold medal in the women’s doubles event, the nation’s first this year. Quadri defeated fellow Nigerian Olajide Omotayo 4-0 to reach the final of the men’s singles event, where he was due to face Egyptian star Ahmed Saleh, who defeated Idowu Saheed 4-2 in their semifinal meeting. Aruna Quadri was ruthless as he defeated Saleh 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) in…

Roma manager Jose Mourinho said Romelu Lukaku thrives when he feels loved after the striker scored his first Roma goal in Sunday’s 7-0 win over Empoli. The Belgian joined the club from the Italian capital on a season-long loan from Chelsea in the summer. Lukaku, 30, re-joined Chelsea for £97.5m in 2021 but his return proved unsuccessful and he was not part of new manager Mauricio Pochettino’s plans. “Romelu needs to feel loved and wanted,” said Mourinho. The Portuguese, who worked with Lukaku at Chelsea and Manchester United, added: “When he came here, he could sense the team needed a player…

The police in Katsina State have urged Nigerians to ignore a video on social media alleging diversion of palliatives by its officers. This is contained in a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Katsina, ASP Aliyu Abubakar-Sadiq. The police said that the video was not only misleading but aimed at tarnishing the good image of the police. ”After a thorough investigation, it was revealed that the bags of rice seen in the video in the police motor vehicle were intercepted and recovered from some unscrupulous entity. “The unscrupulous entities fraudulently obtained more than the necessary share of…

The Federal Government has again invited the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for another meeting over its planned indefinite strike. This is contained in a statement issued by Simon Lalong, the Minister of Labour and Employment. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lalong had on Sept. 4, invited NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for a meeting to avert the earlier two-day nationwide warning strike. NAN also reports that only the TUC showed up for the meeting. Lalong said that he had directed the Department of Trade Unions Services and Industrial Relations to convene the meeting with the leadership of…

Investments in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has grown to over $75bn which is now more than the GDP of many African countries. The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta revealed this in Kano while unveiled achievements between 2015 to 2023. He said, “From 8 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015, telecommunications sector now contributes 16 per cent quarterly to the Nigerian economy as of the second quarter of 2023. “Following the authorization of more telecommunications companies to operate in the Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the investments profile has increased tremendously from $38 billion…

Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan on Sunday, September 17 clinched her third consecutive Diamond League women’s 100m hurdles title. Amusan, on Sunday night in Oregon, United States of America, finished first with her season’s best time of 12.33s to emerge winner of the women’s 100m hurdles event. Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quin ran 12.38 seconds to finish in second place while Kendra Harrison came third in the race. Amusan made history in 2021 with her first Diamond League Trophy, clocking 12.42 seconds before defending it in a time of 12.29 seconds in Zurich last year. Few months the Nigerian was suspended for…

Arsenal dug deep to secure a narrow but well-deserved win over struggling Everton at Goodison Park. The Gunners – who replaced England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with David Raya – have suffered away at Everton in recent years, losing on four of their last five visits. But the Toffees, still without a Premier League win this season, were desperately short of quality and Arsenal substitute Leandro Trossard broke the deadlock with a classy side-foot finish after 69 minutes. Arsenal had Gabriel Martinelli’s sweeping first half finish narrowly ruled out for offside by Eddie Nketiah in the build up, but the home…

Chelsea’s were held to a 0-0 draw by Bournemouth on Saturday as their rotten start to life under Mauricio Pochettino continued. The Blues were wasteful at the Vitality Stadium and have now taken only five points from their opening five games. The Cherries are still looking for their first win under Andoni Iraola but are at least now unbeaten in their last two games. Chelsea nearly took the lead with little over two minutes on the clock. Nicolas Jackson’s clever back-heel allowed Mykhailo Mudryk to burst with the ball beyond Lloyd Kelly and cross for Conor Gallagher, but his improvised…

A Marcus Thuram thunderbolt helped Inter Milan beat AC Milan 5-1 to maintain their perfect start to the Serie A season and earn an unprecedented fifth consecutive victory over their rivals. Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened the scoring in the fifth minute, diverting a Federico Dimarco shot into the net, and really should have scored again shortly after but headed wide from a pinpoint Dimarco cross. Thuram doubled the lead in style on 38 minutes, picking up a loose cross in a wide area, beating his marker and then unleashing a fierce shot which flew into the top corner and gave Mike…

Richarlison scored one goal and set up another as Tottenham struck twice in stoppage time to come from behind to beat shell-shocked Sheffield United. The Brazil striker, who said this week he would “seek psychological help” for off-the-field issues he has been struggling with, came off the bench to head Spurs level eight minutes into the 16 that were added on. He then turned provider by picking out an unmarked Dejan Kulusevski in the box for the Sweden midfielder to fire home the winner. Until Richarlison’s intervention, Spurs’ unbeaten Premier League start under new boss Ange Postecoglou had looked to be…

Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey scored in stoppage time as Aston Villa came from behind to beat Crystal Palace. Substitute Jhon Duran equalised for Villa in the 87th minute after Odsonne Edouard had put Palace ahead two minutes into the second half. But Villa then completed the turnaround during more than a quarter of an hour of added time. Luiz converted from the penalty spot after a lengthy video assistant referee review when Ollie Watkins was brought down by Chris Richards, and Bailey turned in from close range as Palace threw bodies forward in pursuit of an equaliser of their…

Manchester United were beaten 3-1 by Brighton at Old Trafford as the home crowd turned on manager Erik ten Hag. Manchester United fell behind thanks to a first-half goal from one-time home favourite Danny Welbeck, which was followed up after the interval by efforts from Pascal Gross and substitute Joao Pedro, who were both given far too much space around the United penalty box. Hannibal Mejbri’s first United goal gave the hosts some hope, but in a frenetic finish it was the visitors who came closest to finding the net again as Andre Onana made four excellent saves, the best…