Ex Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and 10 others have been told they are no longer part of the new Lille coach, Marcelo Bielsa’s plans and are thus no longer required in the squad. The development was revealed in a text message to the players who include Stoppila Sunzu, Naim Sliti, Junior Tallo, Rio Mavuba, Eder, Julian Palmieri, Marko Basa, Éric Bauthéac, Lenny Nangis and Marvin Martin.
Enyeama, who joined the club in June 2011 made 164 appearances. He and others have been asked ti stay away from the rest of the squad as pre-season started on 3 July.
John Terry joins Aston Villa
Aston Villa have completed the signing of Chelsea legend, John Terry on a one year free transfer.
The 36 year-old who quit Chelsea at the end of last season following two decades at the club claimed the idea of playing against Chelsea in the Premier League was partly behind his decision to join the club.
Speaking at his unveiling at Villa Park today, the player who has been handed the no 26 jersey at the club said, “The mental side of playing against Chelsea was too much to kind of get over for me. It was 22 years and I am very proud of that, I wish Chelsea well next season but now my thoughts are 100% here. I am delighted to be here as a player. It is obviously a huge club, I had a few conversations with Steve over the summer. I am very hungry to still play at the top with a club and a manager who still has the same ambition as me. I think the club speaks for itself, from being out there in the stadium in the past. They have got great support here, I think it is a club that deserves to be in the Premier League. Steve being Steve has persuaded me to come, and I am delighted because I still wanted to keep my playing, my hunger is still there at 36. The ambition for me to continue playing some people will understand and some people will not. I am in good physical condition. I am ready to play and give it everything this year. I am here, I am ready to fight for the Villa shirt and for this football club.”
Aston Villa manager stated that “He is worth every penny because we know what he brings, It is not often that you get a natural leader of men these days. I have watched him from afar for a long, long time and to get him here is a great coup for all of us.”
The former England international made his senior debut 19 years ago against Aston Villa in a League Cup third round tie on 28th October 1998.
Photos and Videos from Lionel Messi’s lavish wedding ceremony in Argentina
The city of Rosario in Argentina went agog yesterday as prominent footballer, Lionel Messi exchanged vows with Antonella Roccuzzo, his sweetheart and mother of his children. The wedding which was held at the City Center Rosario complex attracted some of the biggest names in football.
Messi looked dapper in a crisp black suit and grey tie, his 29 year-old Roccuzzo, was regal in a dress by Rosa Clara — a Spanish designer who has styled Eva Longoria and Spain’s Queen Letizia. Messi told the guests to make a donation to Techo (a charity organization) instead of giving him gifts.
https://twitter.com/messi10stats/status/880975435068321794
https://twitter.com/messi10stats/status/880944053818404864
Leo Messi has asked the guests to donate to his foundation instead of giving a gift for his marriage..
https://twitter.com/messi10stats/status/880783646743044096
Credit: https://twitter.com/messi10stats
Inside Lionel Messi’s wedding ceremony venue (Photos)
Barcelona/Argentine football star, Lionel Messi will wed his girlfriend of 10 years Antonella Roccuzzo today 30th June, 2017. The couple who are parents to two children, 5 year-old, Thiago and Mateo who was born in 2015 will tie the knot in one of Argentina’s grand venues, the City Center Rosario complex.
The star-studded ceremony is expected to attract 260 guests. Already, football stars have arrived the South American country for the football legend’s big day. Roll call of his colleagues and friends present at the venue include Suarez, Xavi, Samuel Eto’o, Fabregas and others.
29 year-old Roccuzzo will dazzle in a dress by Rosa Clara — a Spanish designer who has styled Eva Longoria and Spain’s Queen Letizia.
“We will always remember Antonella as being around this neighborhood and as being Messi’s girl,” said another friend, Franco Lentini, who grew up in the same modest neighbourhood as the player. They are the love of each other’s lives,” said Vallejos.
Messi moved to Spain aged 13 to join FC Barcelona, but he kept speaking to her through telephone and writing her letters.
She opened a luxury shoe shop there this year along with her friend Sofia Balbi – wife of Messi’s Barcelona strike partner, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez.
Uruguayan pop bands Rombai and Marama plus singer Karina, wife of Argentina footballer Sergio Aguero, will perform at the ceremony.
AITEO group now NFF Federation Cup title sponsor.
Energy solution company, AITEO Group yesterday acquired the naming rights for Nigeria’s oldest football competition, the Nigeria Football Federation Cup for 5 years. The competition is now to be known as Aiteo Cup.
Speaking at the press conference for signing of Aiteo Cup agreement, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick said, “We want to celebrate and thank Aiteo. I promise you, we will not only qualify for AFCON but we will beat SA in SA”.
Ace sports broadcaster and Independent Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), Aisha Falode chipped in, “I am very excited that the women (women’s FA Cup) have been taken care of”
With the new deal, men’s winners will now get N25m prize money while runners-up will receive N10m. Women’s winners will be paid N10m and their runners-up N5m.
Movie Review: Isoken | By: Jerry Chiemeke
Movie Title: ISOKEN
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Year of Release: 2017
Cast: Dakore Akande, Joseph Benjamin, Tina Mba, Funke Akindele, Lydia Forson, Patrick Doyle, Marc Rhys, Damilola Adegbite
Director: Jadesola Osiberu
“Isoken” is about a independent, 35-year-old lady (played by Dakore) who is being pressurised by her mother (played by Tina Mba) to get married. She has three friends; Agnes (Funke), Kukua (Lydia) and Joke (Damilola), the latter going through a marriage bedeviled by miscarriages. She gets acquainted with a man named Osaze (Benjamin), and later on, an Englishman named Kevin (Rhys), who works at her office on a contract basis, and keeps bumping into her in awkward situations, from panties forgotten in washing machines to faces smeared with flour. Osaze seems like the perfect guy, but Kevin with his dry British humour, Afrophilia and love for the arts begins to get through to Isoken, and things get complicated.
.
For one, the script and the plot are non-cliche, the plot is well acted out, and the dialogue is pretty top notch. There are no excessively long scenes, Dakore shows us what we have missed for so long, Marc Rhys makes British humour really appealing, Joseph Benjamin sticks to his lines, Funke does not try too hard to be funny, and Tina Mba plays the classic Benin mother to perfection, drama and all, down to the accent. All in all, it makes for a great movie.
There are, however, a few observations. Isoken’s character is artsy and feminist in nature. That appears to be a major theme in the movie, and that is fine, but in about four scenes, the cameras seemed to focus a little too much on Isoken’s pile of books. We get it. she is an independent woman, can we move to other parts of the room? Again, the plot seemed a bit too “obvious” in trying to paint Kevin (Rhys) as a better fit for Isoken. The point is clear to see, but Osaze’s character could have used a little more flesh and personality, the shallowness seemed a tad too deliberate.
At the end of the movie, Kevin feels defeated and intends to leave Nigeria, seeing that his contract is up, but Isoken professes her love, and he agrees to stay. That is as improbable an ending as we can get! Yea yea, Love makes us do things, but ditch England for Nigeria? Oh well. I don’t know. There is also the wedding choreography at the end, similar to that overly hyped you-know-which-movie, but ultimately, the movie is watchable.
Rating: 6.5/10
Jerry Chiemeke is a lawyer and freelance writer who lives in Lagos. An amateur photographer and sports enthusiast as well, Jerry’s works have appeared on Blanck Digital, Elsieisy, Oshodi.tv, The Kalahari Review and Brittle Paper. He is the author of ‘The Colours In These Leaves’. Get the book Here
You can follow him on Twitter @J_Chiemeke, and also check out his craft on his blog at pensofchi.com
Opinion: Let’s Break-up Nigeria! | By: Tony Ogunlowo
So everybody wants to go their own separate way? Some Igbos want to re-create the nation of Biafra while others want a Niger-Delta country; Northern youths are calling for the expulsion of all Igbos (- and Southerners) from the North and quietly the Yorubas are calling for the creation of an Oduduwa Republic.
And then what?
As Great Britain is finding out from its preliminary BREXIT talks with Europe it’s not easy to break up a union that has been around for a very long time. It’s a lot of wahala!
As anybody who has been through a divorce will know, no break-up is easy: who gets to keep the dog? (- or cat?) How will assets be divided and what about access to the kids?
For intended break-aways a lot of things need to be considered; creating your own flag and drawing up your geographical borders is just the tip of the iceberg for there’s lots of things to consider.
A new country will need to be self-sufficient, generate its own income, make its own laws and be able to defend itself for instance.
As we can see from the break-up of the old Soviet Union 25 years ago this can prove to be problematic. Some of the old Soviet bloc countries have all the resources whilst others have nothing – reduced to having cabbage and potato economies.
Even the powerful Great Britain will have problems when they finally break with Europe. There will be problems with trade, defence and immigration amongst other things.
If the North wants to go it alone can they survive on an income derived from groundnuts and rice? Will yams and cocoa fund an Oduduwa Republic? Can the oil-rich delta region survive on oil alone?
And how do you divide up the Federal installations and other assets scattered around the country?
People, of all tribes, are scattered around the country and have made these places their homes. So what immigration policy will be put in place? Will there be free movement between the new countries? Will they be allowed to live and work where they are or do they have to return back to their origins? Will I, a Nigerian require a visa to live and work in Biafra?
Those old enough will remember the trouble caused by the expulsion of illegal aliens order signed by then President Shagari that resulted in the infamous ‘Ghana must Go’ in 1983 when people who were not of Nigerian descent were forced to leave.
Fast forward to the present day; there are more than 500,000 British citizens living and working in Europe and have done so for a very long time with a majority of them in Spain. After Britain voted to leave the European Union they have been left in limbo; they don’t know if they will have to leave everything they’ve spent years building up behind and return back to England. Likewise, European nationals in Britain don’t know if they’ll be sent home.
Currently Nigeria is not stable: the economy is a mess, corruption and crime is still rife and there is mass unemployment to mention but a few of the problems.
Forcing people to uproot and return back to their hometowns will lead to mass civilian unrest. Will they be compensated for their assets such as houses and businesses that they will be forced to leave behind? Who will compensate Dangote for all his investments in the South? And what about the people he employs? Who is going to employ them when he closes his businesses and moves everything up North? (- and again who’s going to work for him in the North? Fulani cattle herders? Boko haram?)
International investors will be very wary of where they invest with so much uncertainty. Again where they invest will be determined by such things as minimum wage, taxes and tariffs imposed by the new nations.
More than twenty years after the creation of the new states in Nigeria, some are still struggling to stand on their own two feet! Can any of them even be financially independent? What can they do without continual financial support from the Federal Government? Nothing! So how will a new country survive with no funds from a Federal Government?
And what about sports? When it comes to the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics some of the ‘new nations’ won’t have any competitors to send because all their women will be at home cooking, making babies clad head-to-toe in hijabs!
Splitting up the country is the equivalent of opening up a Pandora’s Box : you’ll be letting out untold problems that will cause untold misery for many years to come – probably leading to civil wars.
So to all those who are thinking of breaking away its time to go back to the drawing board and think of other ways to help your people to remain part of the country. Helping your people, doing the best for your people and getting the best for them will result in everyone helping everyone to resolve the real problems affecting the nation.
Unification is a lot better than seceding.
Follow me on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641. blogspot.co.uk
"He paid too much tax to Spanish authorities – not too little" – Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyers claim
Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers have come up with a surprising claim as regards the tax evasion allegations levelled against him. His lawyers, according to Spanish media outlet, Cadena Cope have claimed that the Real Madrid striker paid too much tax to Spanish authorities rather than too little.
The player who has been accused by the Public Prosecutor of defrauding the Spanish Purse of £12.9m by paying insufficient tax over a four-year period has been summoned to court in Madrid on July 31 and he is not likely to feature in the he first ever Clasico in the USA coming up on July 29th.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid are reportedly ready to pay his tax bill to keep him at the club.
After hearing evidence from both sides the Madrid judge will decide if the case would be in court.
The D'banj vs Don Jazzy debate resurfaces on social media. See our top reactions.
The D’banj Vs Don Jazzy debate has been revisited.
Fans of both artistes are beginning to pull their hair out over who has become more successful since their shocking split in 2012. It all started with a fan advising the award-winning artiste to seek Don Jazzy’s help; a counsel which the Kokomaster who is presently promoting his new album, Kingdoncome didn’t take lightly. And his reply below sparked up the never-ending debate.
Are you also on d Payroll? Even @donjazzy knows in his heart he is begging me.. You madt bruh? Lol.. Jazzy Come carry ur people o https://t.co/XRD53k0jwS
— D'banj D Kokomaster (@iamdbanj) June 25, 2017
While some argued that D’banj is more successful than all the artistes on Mavin record label , others opined that Don Jazzy’s artistes are not on the same pedestal as D’banj and that the latter hasn’t don well for himself since their break up.
Dear DBanj,
You've been a great businessman.
But since 2012 till now, your music sucks & still sucks.
Fix it.Yours Faithfully,
Nigerians.— Wallpapers & Chandeliers (@EandAInterior) June 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/OsasCruz/status/878994060123484160
https://twitter.com/KvngBen_/status/878974516768243712
Dbanj broke up with Don Jazzy, maligned him afterwards in different interviews, man didn't say pim, but somehow Dapo can't stop being Dapo.
— Unbothered (@Oriadday) June 25, 2017
Any small thing dbanj shouldn't have left don jazzy.., yEn YeN yEn YeN yEn YeN yEn YeN yEn
Can you people leave the man alone. pic.twitter.com/kaO6heVDZK
— Hybrid (@Mesut_NG) June 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/ani_nomso/status/878986236316327936
Dbanj is successful, and no, no artist under jazzy currently will ever get to Dbanjs level.
— • (@N0tHuman_) June 25, 2017
You keep saying Dbanj shouldn't have left DonJazzy, but always asking God to take you to the next level.
Mind your business.— Umeh (@UmehWrites) June 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/ebuka_akara/status/878998703796781056
I like how Dbanj has been dragging these fools online lately… celebrities have feelings too.
— Tanímọ̀la (@iTameLions) June 24, 2017
Nigerians are disrespectful sha. See People talking about Dbanj and Donjazzy like they had shares in Mohits so they owe them explanations
— Joshua #socialmediamanager (@29lucidthoughts) June 25, 2017
Shebi DONJAZZY has the midas touch, quick ask, what's happening to IYANYA? And you come to make dumb comparisons. DBANJ is GOAT
— WakaWakaPhotography (@RosheedAkinyele) June 26, 2017
What we know is, they are great artistes and are successful in their rights.
“How can Nigeria continue to dance on the graves of our children”, Oby Ezekwesili debuts in first episode of Forbes Woman Africa
In the first episode, Oby Ezekwesili, creator of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign talks about her harrowing experience in fighting corruption in Nigeria from her early days as the co founder of Transparency International to the shock and horror of finding out about the abduction of over 270 girls in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria.
Watch the promo: http://APO.af/FsLa7x.