The General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has said the COVID-19 pandemic is not politically motivated but real. Kumuyi spoke on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists during a briefing to mark the commencement of the church’s six-day global crusade. The crusade, tagged, ‘The Great Miracle Explosion,’ would be held at the Deeper Life Conference Centre, Km 42, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State. The revered cleric, who spoke at the crusade venue, said from his observation, the pandemic was real and not politically arranged as speculated in some quarters. He said, “Concerning COVID-19, I want to say that from my observations, from looking at things, I know that COVID-19 is real; it is not fake, it is not a politically arranged thing to do whatever. It’s real. “We’ve had people who had real COVID-19 situations and they were in isolation. In fact, one of our men, one of our pastors was about to pass away. According to him, he had

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has said he looks forward to 2023 when he will hand over power to a new president and return to tending to his farm. He however promised to give his best in his remaining time in office. Buhari spoke on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey, after a surprise birthday event was held in his honour before his official duties began. These were contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled, ‘Here is how President Buhari marked his 79th birthday in Turkey’. The President, hosted by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is currently attending the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, which has the theme, ‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity’. The summit is expected to review the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014. The statement noted that in marking his 79th birthday in Istanbul, the President cut a birthday c

  Biden administration has released   a tranche of secret documents   that some historians -- and conspiracy theorists -- hope might shed light on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. You can  read the documents  here. The release of almost 1,500 documents still leaves more than 10,000 either partially redacted or withheld entirely. It is expected to prolong the bitter debate between the federal government and JFK researchers, who have argued that the CIA, the FBI and other national security agencies have continually stonewalled a congressionally mandated release. Longtime JFK researchers say the release likely does not include a smoking gun that would substantively change the public understanding of the circumstances surrounding Kennedy's death -- nor, historians argue, does one likely exist elsewhere. But for many lawmakers and transparency advocates, releasing all of the remaining documents, as mandated by Congress in 1992, is about restoring faith in the functio

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo     Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says the incumbent President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has done his best to proffer solutions to the security challenges confronting the nation, adding that Nigerians should not expect more from the Katsina-born retired major general. Obasanjo made this known this week when leaders of socio-cultural organisations met in Abuja at a retreat on inclusive security organised by the Global Peace Foundation in collaboration with Vision Africa. The elder statesmen including Obasanjo; Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, amongst others, lamented the incessant kidnappings, killings in the country, calling for collective actions to halt the worsening insecurity ubiquitous in the country. Speaking at the event, Obasanjo said Nigerians should stop wasting time asking for the 78-year-old President to proffer more security solutions but should focus on the

  The United Kingdom has said Nigeria and 10 other countries will be removed from its travel red list from 4am on Wednesday. The move follows anger from Nigeria and other African countries, with the United Nations describing the ban on non-UK residents entering England as “travel apartheid.” The British government had on December 4 placed Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe on its travel ban following the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. It said the red list was reintroduced as a precaution after the emergence of the Omicron variant. The government had said the ban would be reviewed on December 20 but announcing the new development on Tuesday, the UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Omicron had spread so widely that the rules are now less effective. “Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effe

UEFA, the governing board of Champions League has cancelled the knock out round playoffs. A message from the board on Twitter rescheduled the selection due to technical errors Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. — UEFA (@UEFA) December 13, 2021

  The   Nigeria Football Federation on Sunday terminated the contract of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, and appointed Augustine Eguavoen, to take charge as the team’s Technical Adviser on an interim basis. “This is with immediate effect, and follows the termination of the relationship with Franco-German Gernot Rohr, who has been in charge of the three-time African champions for the past 64 months, and is Nigeria’s longest-serving manager,” the NFF said in a statement signed by its spokesman Ademola Olajire.  General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said, “The relationship between the Nigeria Football Federation and Mr Rohr has come to an end. We thank him for his services to the Super Eagles and Nigeria. “We also want to thank the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports for their collaboration and guidance all through.” The federation added that following a virtual meeting of the NFF Executive Committee on Sunday, it was decided that Eguavoen would work with Salisu Yusuf (Chief C

  William Troost-Ekong   may lose his spot in Watford’s defence after he conceded a late penalty in Hornet’s 2-1 away loss at Brentford on Friday,  WEXERES Sports  Extra  reports. A clumsy Troost-Ekong challenge on Saman Ghoddos handed the Bees a penalty in the final minute of added time which was coolly slotted home by Bryan Mbeumo – an error that cost Watford a point and saw them lose a fourth straight league game. And Ranieri who was left frustrated by Troost-Ekong’s error revealed he will meet with the defender ahead of the Hornets clash against Burnley. The Nigerian had also made a mistake in Watford’s recent 4-2 loss at Leicester. “I have to see if there are some players ready to play. Because my defensive line is not ready to play, because Christian Kabasele wasn’t ready. Francisco Sierralta isn’t ready. I have to see,” Ranieri said. “We missed a short pass. So then put the ball out of the stadium. Then the penalty – if Willie (Troost-Ekong) had just stayed calm and followed him