Benchmark Naija

Following the ruling of the Federal High Court in Jos, Giwa resumed today at the Glass House and immediately reinstated Stephen Keshi as the Coach of the Super Eagles. It will be recalled that Amaju Pinnick was elected NFF President in Warri but that Election and Congress has since been nullify by the Court sitting in Jos. this will definitely bring FIFA hammer on Nigeria as it frowns on taking football matters to courts

The Supreme Court on Friday sacked a member of the Delta State House of Assembly representing Ugelli North Constituency II, Mr. Edoja Akpodiete. The apex court ordered him to refund to the state coffers all the salaries and allowances he had collected since he had been occupying the seat since 2011. It was the first time the Supreme Court would be ordering any person to refund the money earned from office that he or she illegally occupied. In its lead judgement delivered by Justice Walther Onnoghen, the Supreme Court ordered that Mr. Jenkins Gwede of the Democratic Peoples Party to take over the seat from Akpodiete. The court held that the Independent National Electoral Commission had wrongfully issued the certificate of return to Akpodiete even when it was aware that he had ceased to be the sponsored candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party over 45 days before the state House of Assembly election was conducted on April 26, 2011. The apex court described INEC’s action as w...

Self acclaimed secretary General of Boko Haram, Mallam Danladi Ahmadu have said that the group’s cases fire agreement with the Federal Government is very much on course. Ahmadu disclosed that the final meeting between the group and the Federal Government to finally seal the ceasefire agreement has been scheduled for Monday in Ndjamana, Chad and to be supervised by the Chadian leader, Idris Derby. Danladi Ahmadu, who spoke in the Hausa service of the Voice of America VoA on Friday and monitored in Yola affirmed that the Chibok Girls would surely be released on Monday to the Chadian President, Idriss Derby for onward presentation to the Nigerian government. He added that an enlarged meeting of the group has been fixed for the weekend to prepare ground for the Monday meeting with the Federal government, affirming that the final ceasefire and the release of the Chibok girls are promises that will surely be fulfilled by the group. Ahmadu also disclosed to VoA that the group and the ...

Shock and disbelief could best describe the expression on the faces of residents of Omitola street in Agege area of Lagos, when Saturday Vanguard visited Thursday , to ascertain the circumstance that led to the death of a 12-year-old boy. The guardians of the boy allegedly beat him to death just as a man in Oregun, Ikeja, was also alleged to have beaten the son to death for stealing N1,000. The 12-year old boy who was identified as Onyedikachi Mbanozo, was reportedly brought from the village by Mr and Mrs Paul Obiefule, last year, with a promise to send him to school. Ironically , he died on a day children all over the world were being celebrated. He was hungry and sought to eat at about 1pm. It was to be his first meal of the day. His guardians allegedly pounced on him in the process of which he slumped and died. Residents told Saturday Vanguard during the visit that when the couple discovered that Mbanozo was dead, they hid his corpse under the bed. Sens...

A Lecturer at the Taraba College of Education (COE) Zing,named  Alhaji Kassimu Umar was on Friday burnt to death in a mob action after he allegedly hit and killed five primary school pupils with a vehicle he was driving. Mr Joseph Kwaji, the Police Public Relations officer (PPRO), of the Taraba Police Command confirmed the incident in Jalingo. He said that the mob forcefully removed Umar from the Pupule Police Outpost, where he went to report the incident, and the mob burnt him to death. “In the early hours of today, one Kassimu Umar, who is believed to be a lecturer with COE, Zing had knocked down five primary school pupils in Zing, who all died on the spot. “After he reported the incident to the Pupule Police Outstation, irate youths in their hundreds, stormed the station, dragged him out and lynched him. “Our investigation revealed that the lecturer was trying to dodge a trailer, when he ran over the pupils whose ages ranged between eight and 11 years

In less than two months after he accused Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, former governor of Borno State and former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika of being sponsors of the Boko Haram sect. Stephen Davis this time has accused the opposition party of hindering the release of the Chibok schoolgirls. Further to the delayed release of the girls and the reasons for it, he warned that if the girls are set free without the leaders of Boko Haram either reined in or their sponsors stopped, Nigeria should expect an endless orgy of abductions by the same group in future. In an interview Davis granted a UK news network, Channel 4 few days ago, he stated that: “The Nigerian opposition politicians sponsor­ing Boko Haram have to be stopped if hundreds of local girls are to be saved.” The credibility of the plat­form given to Davis was an indication that international support for his allegations is rapidly gaining acceptance. He claimed to have been frus­trated by a number of unsuc­ces...

Nigeria’s senior national team, Super Eagles, dropped five places to 42nd in the latest Fifa world ranking released on Thursday. The African champions were adjudged the 38th best football playing team in the world according to the ranking released earlier in September. The Eagles are now the ninth-ranked African side behind Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Ghana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt and Senegal following their poor run in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers earlier this month. Their drop comes after losing 1-0 to Sudan in Khartoum after playing out a 0-0 draw in South Africa. Meanwhile Algeria remain at the summit of African football with 989 points which put them in the 15th position in the world while Cote d’Ivoire are second in Africa and ranked 25th in the world. Tunisia stay third on the continent after amassing 780 points which places them in the 31st spot in the world. Germany, Argentina and Colombia hold the first, second and third spots in the world...