ubamobile

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Wed, Jul

The Federal Government's delegation to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is expected to arrive at Sao-Paulo, Brazil for the opening ceremony of the tournament billed for 12th June.

Headed by Senate President David Mark, the Delegation is expected to arrive at the Guarulhos International Airport, Sao Paulo, Brazil, at about 5pm local time on Wednesday.

Other members of the delegation are Sen. Liyel Imoke, governor of Cross River State; Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema, governor of Katsina State; Sen. Adamu Ibrahim Gumba, Chairman Senate committee on Sports; Hon. Godfrey Ali Gaiya, Chairman House Committee on Sports; Alhaji Bala Mohammed, minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT); Chief Nyesome Wike, minister of state education; Mr. Edem Duke, minister of culture and tourism and Mrs. Viola Nnwuleri, minister of state 1 foreign affairs.

The delegation is expected to visit the team in Campinas, on Thursday morning before Nigeria's first group match against Iran, on 12th June in Curitiba.

The minister of sports Dr. Tamuno Danagogo, the Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil H. E. Vincent A. Okoedion, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials and other embassy officials will be on ground to receive the delegation.

 

Stephen Keshi, coach of the Nigerian national soccer team, Monday, released the list of the 23 players to represent the country at Brazil 2014 World Cup.

The list includes three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and ten strikers.

Full List:

Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide, Chigozie Agbim

Defenders: Joseph Yobo, Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Kenneth Omeruo, Efe Ambrose, Kunle Odunlami

Midfielders: John Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Ramon Azeez, Michael Uchebo, Reuben Gabriel

Strikers: Osaze Odemwingie, Ahmed Musa, Shola Ameobi, Emmanuel Emenike, Babatunde Michael, Victor Moses, Uche Nwofor.

Just four days to the 10th May deadline for the submission of final list of players selected to represent their countries at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi, has released his 30-man list.

Keshi released the list on Tuesday, after a three-hour meeting with the Nigeria Football Federation Technical Committee at the Glass House in Abuja.

Names on the list are:

Ahmed Musa, Shola Ameobi, Victor Moses, Emanuel Emenike, Victor Nsofor, Osaze Odemwingie, Michael Babatunde, Nnamdi Oduamadi and Nwofor Uche in the attack.

John Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Ramon Azeez, Ejike Uzoenyi (Rangers Int’l), Sunday Mba, Gabriel Rueben, Nosa Igiebor, Joel Obi, and Michael Uchebo in the midfield.

Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Efe Ambrose, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves), Kenneth Omeruo, Joseph Yobo and  Kunle Odunlami (Sunshine Stars) in defence.

Vincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide, Chigozie Agbim (Gombe Utd), Daniel Akpeyi (Warri Wolves) in goal.

Keshi disclosed that all the players on the list would resume in camp by 26th May where the final 23 will be selected and made public by 2nd June. 

Let a sleeping dog ‘lie’ without disturbance is a metaphor that sometimes show how weak an individual is in terms of confronting issues that are personal to him. Is NSC a sleeping dog? Should we let NSC lay motionless because of a Giant (really puppet) at the helm? I was informed of new Sports Minister or Chairman of NSC that was recently appointed without any commissioner named to the commission he is to lead. I will say again that this appointment of Chairman and lack of appointment of commission members simply suggests that the country missed road again. The country got the chance to right the wrong but choose mediocrity once again and at that one could only expect garbage and lots of scandals based on ineptitude and deliberate affront to common sense.

Recent Scandal

Such garbage and scandalous action occurred within days of Danagogo’s appointment by the former Sports Minister favorite pal heading the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), with biggest blunder that vibrated locally and internationally. This loud uproar is AFN creation of its own Gestapo Empire where AFN is the prosecutor, judge and the enforcer of its own rule. Imagine this, AFN created a panel made up individuals lacking legal skills, medical skills, IAAF rules skills and formerly fired Saudi Arabia ineffective Coach to rule on issues concerning doping violations without any verifiable evidence. Without going in further details as this writer is aware of multi-billion Naira lawsuit pending, but it is safe to say:

1. The constituted panel is not independent of the accuser (AFN) and in fact have grudges that can be alleged as pay back to the accused individuals;

2. Eric Campbell and Dr. Ken Anugweje dissociated themselves from the panel resolve stating that they were pressured;

3. An individual was banned because the kangaroo panel said “it was not impossible for food supplement to be laced with banned substance”;

4. Femi Ayorinde does not have legal training or lab skills to identify banned agents, as this is medical law specialty not bachelor of surgery credential.

Clearly, AFN showed lack of leadership. Certain people are being finger-pointed and others been hidden from public scrutiny from doping offences. Panelists are afraid of lawsuits and now dissociating themselves from the panel conclusions and of course Eric Campbell can be sued in Georgia, USA for defaming his fellow citizen abroad. Mr. Campbell, there will not be jungle justice in Georgia rather your pockets and future earnings will pay for damages especially your cool $200,000 salary in Nigeria and any property you owned.

Furthermore, liberty or right to earn a living comes with unflinching exercise of such rights and only the judicial branch can rely on rules that may violate such rights but with one proviso and that is that it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that such person committed an offence. Can it be said that a parent feeding a child food purchased in supermarket can be banned because its’ not impossible for the food to be laced with banned substance. Well, only in AFN world of ineptitude and mediocrity can that happen.

Moving on, Commonwelth Games will be CommonWaste from all indications and it seems too late now to re-engineer the country’s preparation but this is not to take away our athletes’ efforts toward excellent performances. To do well will be a tall order that is so tall, but not impossible because miracle does happen, however.

Looking forward

Come 2015 there will be new people in charge of sports but its’ clear those imposed on athletes now are on path of destruction to pave way for the same mediocrity to continue.

NSC tampered with legislative creation of a Doping Centre by converting such federally Gazette property into High performance Centre without a legislative mandate to do so. Predecessor Minister brought in two individuals from abroad without satisfying Nigeria’s Procurement Act that Mr. Lamido Sanusi was accused of and this illegally hired individual sat on a panel that acted contrary to Nigeria’s constitution.

Now, AFN is destroying personalities that are relevant to the country’s success in the past and years to come because of its alleged likely hidden agenda to destroy athletics in the future and must be stopped immediately. Danagogo take note, take action or you must go. God help, Nigeria.

I rest

Dr. Rashid A. Balogun, CPA, LLB(Hons.), LLM(London)

I am Aisha Falode, Mother of 19 year old Toba Falode. I’m giving the following statement as fact in the unfortunate death of my son. Oluwadamilola Oloruntoba Falode, who was a student of SAE Institute, Dubai in the UAE admitted to study Audio Production in October, 2013 and resided on the 17th floor of Manchester Towers, Dubai Marina. In the early hours of the 15thof February, 2014, I received a call from the security guard at my son’s apartment block informing me that something serious had just happened to my son, Toba. I then immediately called his close friend, Nick Allison, a South African, who then informed me that my Toba had passed on from falling from the balcony of his 17th floor apartment.

Upon hearing this, I made various frantic calls to Toba’s pastor (his guardian in Dubai), to go to the scene. After which I was informed that the police had arrested all those at the scene and also taken the body of my son away. Four family members then proceeded to retrieve my son’s body and also met with the Deputy Director of the Jebel Ali police station, who read out the preliminary report to the family and mentioned Faisal’s name which was mysteriously missing in the report that was later given to the family.

 The summary of the police report is as follows:

a. That they confirmed that Toba died in the morning of the 15th of February 2014 at approximately 4am.

 b.That they indicated that this occurred around the premises of Toba’s apartment, the Manchester Tower, Dubai Marina.

 c.That they confirmed that there were 5 other people with him at the time of his death - (4) four boys and 1 girl - a Nigerian, a French Canadian national, a South African and  a Saudi national. The girl is British.

 d. That close to the time of the accident, Toba was on the balcony of his flat with his alleged girlfriend.

 e.That Toba was sitting on the railing of his balcony with his feet off the floor and that he was swinging in this position backward and forward.

 f.That his girlfriend was still there with him, and was warning him to be careful.

 g.That she later went inside the flat and shortly after, they all noticed that Toba was no longer sitting on the railings or on the balcony, and must have fallen down from the balcony railings.

 h.That his friends all rushed down and found him lying dead in front of the apartment block.

 i.That they then called the Police who took charge of things.

j.That all statements of the witnesses as described above were similar and that they were all interviewed separately.

k.That forensic evidence including the examination of Toba’s body at autopsy did not reveal anything to contradict this version of events.

l.That there were no injuries on Toba’s body inconsistent with a fall from a great height as the cause of his death.

m.That there was no evidence of bruising or other injury to indicate anything else could be blamed as the cause of his death.

n.That based on their findings, they decided therefore not to conduct a full internal autopsy.

o.That if from their investigations they had even the slightest indication of anything other than this version of events they would definitely have conducted an autopsy.

However, because of the various inconsistencies in the Police Report given to my family, and because I know the apartment layout very well and my motherly intuition I knew something was not right. So I decided to investigate further by myself accompanied by a family member and my family lawyer Mr. Festus Keyamo.

We travelled to Dubai in April and met with some of my son’s friends who were present in the apartment on that fateful day.

The summary of the accounts of these friends were totally different from what the police report indicated and revealed a weak attempt by the authorities in Dubai to hide facts that pointed to the fact that my poor son was murdered.

This account, the friends (witnesses) in question volunteered to give as written statements to me.

Summary of account as follows:

a.That sometime in December, 2013, the said Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser stormed the apartment of my deceased son Oloruntoba Falode and ordered Miss Olivia Melanie Richards Evans (his supposed girlfriend) out of Toba’s apartment, accusing her of having an affair with Toba.

b.That a fight was to have ensued from this confrontation, but for the intervention of other mutual friends. Since then, there was no love lost between Toba and Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser.

c.That in the evening of the 14th of February, 2014, Toba, together with his friends, namely, Ebele Oladeji Onwugbufor,

Nick Allison and Joachim Senteni went to a club in Dubai known as M Deck, Media 1 Hotel, Media City.

d.That at the club, they met the said Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser and Miss Olivia Melanie Richards Evans who were also at the club.

e.That again an argument started at the Club concerning Olivia, and shortly after this, Faisal and Olivia left the Club.

f.That shortly after the two left the club, Toba and his friends also left the club.

g.On their return to Toba’s apartment, Toba, Nick and Deji were shocked and surprised to find Faisal and Olivia outside Toba’s Apartment door, waiting and Olivia was crying hysterically and appeared frightened while Faisal, however appeared calm, with a determined look on his face.

h.That after they all went into the apartment,  after which Toba, Faisal and Miss Olivia Melanie Richards Evans entered his room “to sort things out”.

i.That shortly after, the three of them exited the room and moved on to the balcony of the apartment on the 17th floor.

j.That there were signs of serious argument coming from the balcony with raised voices and flaying hands by faisal visible through the glass door of the balcony.

k.That after about twenty seconds Faisal and Olivia came back into the room and announced that Toba had fallen off the railings. However, Faisal had blood splattered all over his shirt and he had bloody knuckles. There was also a noticeable cut on his finger.

l.That at this point they all rushed downstairs to see Toba’s dead body lying meters away from the building (approximately 12 to 15 meters).

m.That the position of my Toba’s body (which can still be verified today) was not consistent with someone falling from the balcony (in which case the body would be much closer to the building) but was consistent with someone that was violently pushed from the balcony.

n.That the police arrived thereafter and arrested all of them to the station.

o.That before and during the journey to the station, Faisal kept repeating to the hearing of everyone that the maximum punishment for him would be twenty-five (25) years in jail and that the other boys should not worry. Meanwhile, Olivia remained hysterical.

p.That at the station, Faisal and Olivia were kept away from the rest and were interviewed separately, whereas the other three were kept in a separate room and interviewed separately.

q.The witnesses were clear that the above account was what was narrated and written as statements at the police station, A vital piece of information deliberately omitted in the Police Report which did not make any reference to the presence of Faisal or Miss Olivia Melanie Richards Evans on the balcony when Toba allegedly fell.

r.That Faisal was released without taking the blood stained T-shirt from him as should have been done in any investigative matter.

I am appealing to my Government that I have done much more than I should do as a grieving mother who was left with no option but to start investigating my own son’s murder by myself. I implore the Nigerian Government to prevail on the authorities in Dubai to re-open the investigation into the murder of my son Toba Falode and to bring to book Mr. Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser and Miss Olivia Melanie Richards Evans both of whom murdered him in cold blood.

The loss of a son is not what any parent should have to suffer, let alone a brutal murder. I do not wish this on any one because the pain is not only excruciating but almost unbearable.

JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL NOT ONLY FOR MY DEAR TOBA, BUT ALSO IN HONOUR OF THE MEMORY OF ALL THE OTHER YOUNG LIVES THAT HAVE BEEN CUT SHORT BRUTALLY. IF NO ONE ACTS EVERYONE IS AT RISK OF THIS UNFATHOMABLE PAIN.

I am asking for justice for my son and prayers from everyone that God in his infinite mercy gives my family and I the strength to bear this great loss.

THANK YOU.

AISHA FALODE.

Moving up two spots from the last ranking of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), Nigeria is now 45th in the world with 620 points against its previous 616 points.

Released on FIFA’s website on Thursday, the ranking placed Nigeria 6th in Africa, displacing Tunisia to the 7th position it earlier occupied.

Ahead of Nigeria in the African countries’ ranking are Ivory Coast, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana and Cape Verde with 830, 798, 795, 713 and 665 points respectively.

Meanwhile Ivory Coast, ranked first in Africa, was ranked 21st in the world, Egypt ranked 24th, Algeria maintained the 25th position, while Ghana and Cape Verde dropped to 38th and 42nd position in the world respectively.

Spain retained its first position in the world with 1,460 points, followed by Germany with 1,340, Portugal with 1,245, Colombia with 1,186 and Uruguay with 1,181 points pushing Argentina from3rd to 6th.

Next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 8th May.

The leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has expressed disappointment over a statement of Super Eagles Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi that the wives of the players would be allowed to go with their husbands to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup competition.

According to a representative of the NFF who spoke anonymously to journalists, the issue had earlier been discussed and agreed upon, that wives accompanying the players would only mean distraction to them.

“There was a meeting of which Keshi was part where it was stated that having the wives with the players will be a distraction, hence it should not be approved”, the NFF official said.

He further stated other issues discussed earlier with Keshi, saying that because NFF agreed with him, not to bring in a foreign physical trainer, he should also respect NFF’s no-wife-in-Brazil stand.

“That particular meeting was when the issue of a foreign fitness trainer was mooted, which Keshi rejected. Mind you, we did not impose the foreigner, we actually asked for his opinion. So, we cannot understand why Keshi would go ahead to say what he said”, the NFF bos added.

Keshi had told the press that allowing the players to take their wives along to the competition would be a big psychological boost to them. He had applauded the idea at a media parley organised by Tom Tom, an official partner of the NFF, last week in Lagos.

But the NFF official argued that Keshi is aware of the financial situation of the federation, that it does not have adequate financial muscle to sponsor players and their spouses, so he should not have flaunted the idea again. It is unclear, though, if the N2 billion approved for the team’s World Cup campaign covers the players’ partners.

In 1994, when Keshi captained the team to the World Cup in United States of America (USA), the spouses of married players were sponsored to the competition by the government. This may be the reason why Keshi, having experienced the benefits of having the players’ wives with them during the competition, is advocating strongly for it again.  

However, the NFF boss revealed that the issue would be resolved at the next meeting with Keshi in Abuja on Monday. 

 

 

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