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  A church in Ghana's capital, Accra, has held a thanksgiving service for Chelsea following its recent success in the Premier League. Long-time Chelsea fan Pastor Azigiza encouraged people to come wearing football tops of their favourite team. Standing behind a Chelsea cake on a stage made to look like a football pitch he said: "Chelsea, by the grace of God, came first." He told the BBC he wanted to use the power of football to talk about God. Azigiza also led the congregation in a verse of the Chelsea anthem Blue is the Colour. The pastor, who at one time was a radio DJ, was also teasing his immediate boss at the Living Streams International Church, Reverend Dr Ebenezer Markwei, who is an Arsenal fan. In his sermon, Pastor Markwei talked about "the good, the bad and the ugly of rivalry" suggesting that football fans should engage in friendly rivalry. He said there was fellowship in rejoicing in others' successes, so when it is your tur...

Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the Commissioner of Police (CP) in Kaduna State to investigate and arrest members of the Coalition of Northern Youths for issuing an ultimatum to South Easterners living in the North. The Coalition of Northern Youths on June 6, at a news conference in Kaduna, gave a three-month ultimatum to South Easterners living in the North to leave. It had also ordered Northerners living in the southeastern part of the country to return to the North. The group attributed the ultimatum to the constant agitation by the Igbo ethnic group to have their own independent country. The IG gave the order at a meeting with Commissioners of Police and other high ranking officers on Thursday in Abuja. He warned that no individual or group of persons had the right to ask any individual to leave his or her place of residence in any part of the country. He ordered other state comm...

The Federal Government, which disclosed this through its Power Sector Recovery Programme document obtained by The Guardian, said that the World Bank Group had expressed willingness to assist the power sector with $2.6 billion to settle some of its financial challenges. • Power sector’s cash deficit hits N931b • World Bank pledges $2.6b aid to industry Nigeria is losing $25 billion (N7.5 trillion at the current exchange rate of N305 per dollar) yearly due to irregular electricity supply.Besides, accumulated power sector cash deficits from January 2015 to December 2016 amounted to N931billion ($2.9 billion). This is the total amount underpaid by all the distribution companies (Discos) to Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) for invoices submitted to each Disco for electricity delivered to their distribution networks. It includes losses incurred by the companies due to lack of a cost-reflective end user tariff. Operators in the power sector believe that...

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 2, 2016 shows opposition United Party for National Development president Hakainde Hichilema (C) talking to journalists before being dispersed with supporters athe Woodlands Police Station in Lusaka. Zambia’s defeated election candidate Hakainde Hichilema on October 10, 2016 vowed to step up his battle to prove that the vote was rigged, after he was released on bail following his arrest. Hichilema, head of the United Party for National Development (UPND), dismissed Edgar Lungu’s victory in August elections and said Zambia was enduring an unprecedented bout of political repression./ AFP PHOTO / Dawood SALIM Zambia’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema will face a High Court trial over treason charges and remain in police custody, a magistrate ruled on Thursday. Hichilema was arrested in April for allegedly failing to give way to President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade and has so far been held in detention for nearly two months...

• ‘We can’t recognise factional leaders’ • Ladipo, others hold emergency congress today The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) came down hard on the two warring factions of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club yesterday, ordering them to stay away from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, venue of the Super Eagles versus Bafana Bafana AFCON qualifier on Saturday. The NFF has equally asked the two warring leaders, Vincent Okumagba and Rev. Samuel Ikpea to step down with immediate effect to pave way for fresh elections, just as it called on the President General of the body, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo to also quit honourably. But in a reaction yesterday, Ladipo, who is the chairman of the Board of Trustees, said the Supporters Club was not a government property, adding that it was wrong for the NFF to dictate how it should run its affairs. NFF President, Amaju Pinnick said yesterday in Lagos that there seemed to be irreconcilable differences between the two groups, adding...

Argentina’s Lionel Messi gestures during their Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier football match against Uruguay in Mendoza, Argentina, on September 1, 2016. New manager Jorge Sampaoli says he is looking to superstar Lionel Messi to revive Argentina’s World Cup fortunes starting with Friday’s friendly with Brazil in Melbourne. Sampaoli has been installed to kick-start the two-time world champions’ ailing South American campaign where they lag outside the automatic qualifying positions in fifth spot with four games left. Argentina will square off with Brazil before a capacity 100,000 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ahead of their crucial next qualifier in Uruguay on August 31. Sampaoli, who is Argentina’s third coach during the current World Cup campaign after Gerardo Martino and Edgardo Bauza, said he valued Messi’s commitment to get his country to next year’s World Cup finals in Russia. “I’m very thankful that the best player in the world cut short ...

In this photo taken on September 15, 2016 women and children queue to enter one of the Unicef nutrition clinics at the Muna makeshift camp which houses more than 16,000 IDPs (internaly displaced people) on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. Nigeria said it will feed 1.8 million people in the country’s northeast where a militant insurgency has wrecked the local economy and pushed the population to the brink of famine. The federal government will distribute 40,000 metric tonnes of food including rice, maize, sorghum and soya beans to displaced persons, the office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is acting leader while President Muhammadu Buhari is on sick leave in the U.K., said in a statement on Wednesday. Officials want to give each family about 50 kilogrammes of grains every month and estimate that the operation will cost about N8 billion ($25 million). “The new plan is expected to correct many of the lapses observed in ...

Afghan protesters shout anti-government slogans during a protest against the government following a catastrophic truck bomb attack near Zanbaq Square in Kabul on June 2, 2017. Afghan police June 2 fired live rounds to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing protesters seeking to march on the presidential palace to demand the government’s resignation following a catastrophic truck bombing that killed 90 people and wounded hundreds. Afghan authorities warned anti-government protesters of legal action Thursday as demonstrators set up new sit-in camps around Kabul, raising security alarms after a week of deadly bombings and street clashes. Tensions have been high in Kabul since a truck bomb last Wednesday killed more than 150 people and wounded hundreds in the fortified diplomatic quarter, the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since 2001. Protesters enraged by spiralling insecurity have established sit-in camps in at least six locations around Kabul, including...

Waves of foam and seawater crash into Three Anchor Bay in Cape Town on June 7, 2017, as an intense storm hits South Africa’s west coast. The ferocious storm killed eight people as it pummelled South Africa’s west coast on Wednesday, forcing the closure of Cape Town harbour, triggering flash floods and causing extensive damage, authorities said. The weather system which struck on June 6 has damaged buildings, felled trees, left 46,000 homes without electricity and caused travel chaos as flights and rail services were hit by gale-force winds and flooding. Up to ten thousand people were evacuated from their homes as fires continued to ravage South Africa’s Western Cape region on Thursday, fanned by a ferocious winter storm. Knysna, a town of 77,000 people 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s famed Garden Route, was worst hit as firefighters battled to quell 26 fires along the tourist trail. High winds from a storm that claimed eight l...

  The Nasarawa State Government has invoked the `no work no pay’ policy on striking public sector workers, the state Head of Service, Mr Thomas Ogiri, announced on Thursday. Ogiri said in a statement issued in Lafia that the action was in line with the labour law which stipulated that worker on strike would not be entitled to wages or remuneration throughout the period of the strike. The official, however, assured that civil servants not participating in the ongoing strike would be paid their salaries. The government directed all Permanent Secretaries and Accounting Officers of Ministries, Departments and Agencies to undertake table payment for May 2017 salaries to “deserving staff.” Reacting to the order, Ahmed Naibi, Secretary of the state chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the government had no right to take the action. According to him, the no work no pay policy applies only if workers abscond from duty for no good reason. The NLC scribe st...

No fewer than eight districts in Jema’a Local Government, Kaduna State, on Thursday signed peace deals to end hostilities and ensure permanent peace in their locality. The agreement followed months of interaction and negotiation spearheaded by Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Nigeria, an NGO. The districts include Dangoma, Goska, Ambam, Bakin Kogi, Unguwar Fari, Unguwar Baki and Gerti. After deliberations, the eight districts unanimously agreed to forgive each other and directed all farmers and herdsmen to go about their normal activities. “They also agreed to form very close collaborations to attain pre-conflict relationship while encouraging all their critical stakeholders resident outside the chiefdom to honour the development.” The Country Director, Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, Mr John Oko said the organisation was happy with the outcome. “GPF is happy with thi...

Ederson will officially become Manchester City’s player on July 1: MANCHESTER CITY Manchester City have completed the signing of Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson from Benfica, the Premier League club announced on Thursday. The announcement came a week after Benfica said they had agreed to sell the 23-year-old to City for 40 million euros ($45 million, £34.7 million), making him the second most expensive goalkeeper ever. Ederson will officially become a City player on July 1. City did not disclose the length of his contract. “I like everything about Manchester City,” Ederson said in quotes published on the City website. “This is a great club, they have amazing fans and they play splendid football. I have always had the dream to play in English football and now I’m going to make it true. “With Pep Guardiola, City are growing more and more. He is putting in place a young team for the future. Those were imp...

Arsenal have joined the race to sign Real Madrid star James Rodriguez, media reports in Spain suggested Thursday. Rodriguez has been linked with a few Premier League clubs including Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs. But Arsenal is understood to be interested in signing the talented Colombian international. Spanish television show El Chiringuito said Arsenal have made an official bid for the player. But journalist Jose Luis Sanchez said Real have rejected the bid with it falling just short of Real’s £69.8million valuation. Arsenal are also rumoured to have made a failed £95 million bid for AS Monaco’s youngster Kylian Mbappe. Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger’s first activity in the transfer market since signing a new contract last week was to secure the services of Bosnian international defender Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer. But it is believed that the Frenchman is interested i...

Eleven people were killed when Boko Haram gunmen and suicide bombers launched a rare combined attack inside the strategic northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, police said on Thursday. Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu said one civilian was killed as locals in the Jiddari Polo area of the city fled the insurgents, while 10 were killed nearby in three separate suicide blasts. More details soon