FG knows where our girls are – Chibok community

The Chibok Community in Borno State has said the Federal Government and the military  know where the girls are being kept by Boko Haram.

The community dismissed claims by the government that there was no credible intelligence on the location of the girls, stressing that the government had seen three videos, as well as information on the girls’ whereabouts.

The spokesperson for the Kibaku Area Development Association, (Chibok community), Dr. Manasseh Allen, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Monday.

He stated that the parents of the abducted girls would continue to demand the release of the girls from the government.

 He said, “As far as we are concerned, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian military know where the girls are long before today because the first video was released, the second video was released and the third video was released. Amina Ali escaped and she told them where she had been all these years and since she escaped, she was debriefed that same day.

 “After escaping from her abductors, she had provided enough information for the Nigerian government to know where the girls were being held all these while. Even if not all of them, at least the people she had been with over the past few years, she knew them.”

 Allen, whose nieces were among the abducted girls, said the government had frustrated several moves to negotiate with the sect for the release of the girls.

 He said, “We are not after where the girls are or whether the government knows where the girls are or not. Our demand has been one: the insurgents have been reaching out to Nigeria on the issue of swap and it is the same government that has been thwarting the swap move. So, what I can conclude is that the government knows where the girls are and what we are saying is, we want our girls back.”

 Asked if the government or the military was benefiting from the insurgency, Allen declined to respond to this.

 Attempts to speak with Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone rang out. A text enquiry sent to his mobile phone was yet to be replied as of the time of going to press.

 But the  Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, had in an interview last month said the military had   no intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were  in Sambisa Forest or not.

 Abubakar  said  the Nigeria Air Force was working round the clock to rescue the girls and other Nigerians abducted by Boko Haram.

Responding to a  question on if the NAF had any intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were in the Sambisa Forest or not, Abubakar said, “Honestly, we don’t. That is the truth of the matter. Even if you see women that are dressed in hijab, how are you sure they are women, that they are not men?”

BBOG to protest today

Meanwhile, the #BringBackOurGirls coalition will on Tuesday (today) hold a protest in Abuja.

 The group, in an interview on Friday said it was concerned by what it  perceived as ‘benumbing apathy’ to the cause of rescuing Chibok girls.

 The group, will also for the fourth time march  to the Presidential Villa, as part of measures to compel the Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

 The group had on three occasions taken their protests to Aso Villa, but were prevented from reaching the seat of power by armed policemen who blocked the access road.

 Undeterred, the BBOG members had held their sit-outs on the road where they reeled out their demands to the government, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to swap the girls for Boko Haram fighters in detention, use military operation or both.

 The coalition had said it would continue to stage its protest every 72 hours until the government took definite decisions that could lead to the rescue of the girls who had spent 876 days in Boko Haram captivity.

 The protest that was planned for last Friday was postponed to today.

Don’t protest without permit, police tell BBOG

But the Federal Capital Territory Police Command has warned  the BringBackOurGirls coalition against staging a street protest without police approval.

It said that any group who wished to embark on a demonstration must apply to the FCT Commissioner of Police in writing and secure approval.

A statement by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Anjuguri Manzah, last night, said protest carried out in recent time in Abuja had obstructed traffic and created tension.

The statement read, “These indiscriminate actions which are carried out in disorderly and sometimes riotous manner create unwarranted tension and apprehension among law abiding citizens and in the process obstruct legitimate business activities.

“It is on this note that the command is making it clear that it will continue to be professional in discharging its constitutionally assigned roles in accordance with international best practices especially as it relates to the fundamental rights of citizens.

 “However, the Command will not fold its arms and watch some individuals or group of persons tamper with the existing peaceful atmosphere in the Federal Capital Territory.

“The command hereby advises any person or group of persons who wish to embark on any demonstration to notify the Commissioner of Police FCT in writing and secure approval.”

Punch

How, Emmanuel Emeka, Chemist, Almost Got Lynched By Hausa Youths For Alleged Blasphemy In Lagos

On Sunday, the 4th day of September, 2016 witnessed Hausa youths in the Ketu area of Lagos attacked and almost lynched a Lagos-based businessman and local chemist identified as Emmanuel Emeka for alleged blasphemy.

As reported, the victim had written a blasphemous word on a magazine, which had triggered the anger of the youths.

According to an eyewitness who disclosed that the Hausa youths mobilised to destroy the victim’s shop, but were prevented by the policemen, who were deployed in the area.

He also added that the police had already taken custody of the victim to save his life.

He said “It happened around 9pm on Sunday. The issue could have led to a bloody fight between Christians and Muslims in Ketu, but for the police.

“What happened was that the man wrote something on a magazine which the Hausa youths said was blasphemous. When other Hausa men saw it, they became angry and seized him.

“Some of his friends tried to rescue him and that almost started a fight. The police were alerted and they responded quickly and doused the rising tension,” he said.

 The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the situation was under control, and that Emeka was in police custody.

 “The Lagos State Police Command averted what could have been a religious  crisis between the Igbo community and the Hausa  Muslim community due to the timely intervention of its operatives.

“At about 9.05pm, the Ketu division received a distress call that a boy was  about to be lynched by some youths because he wrote blasphemous words on their magazine.

“The boy was rescued and kept in protective custody. His chemist shop was secured from destruction. Everywhere is calm as the police have intensified patrol in the area after successfully calming frayed nerves,”

#BringBackOurGirls group, Buhari’s supporters clash in Abuja - PHOTOS

#BringBackOurGirls group and Buhari’s supporters clash in Abuja today

Some supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday clashed with members of the #BringBackOurGirls group during a protest march to the presidential villa

OUR POLITICIAN KING BEWARE, THE HAMMER OF OUR ANCESTORS WILL SOON CATCH UP WITH YOU

"I knew the late Oba of Benin since his days as Perm Secretary. He was a man of integrity whom I can always vouch for"

- Muhammadu Buhari.

You are right Mr. President, Oba Erediauwa was a class of integrity. Yakubu Gowon said it before.

Another aspect he showed maturity and leadership quality, are his neutrality when it comes to politics.

But today, will have those who called themselves paramount rulers and High Chiefs in Edo State, after collecting Prado Jeep and brown envelopes from politicians, they will come on television to pour out curses on their subjects. Swearing in the names of the ancestors, themselves betrayed.

Why will a king curse his subjects because they support different politicians or party???????

It's obvious, these politician kings, doesn't know the meaning of their throne. In the nearest future, some of these disgraceful kings will be mob by the people. The time is fast approaching.

Any king who collect bribe from the politicians, and betrayed his subjects has placed the curse of his ancestors on his own head. The gods of the land will not hear the useless and meaningless prayers. In fact, the curse is swear, will be upon him.

MY PEOPLE YOUR VOTE IS YOUR POWER, USE IT WISELY ON ELECTION DAY. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED BY YOUR HUNGRY KING.

We overthrew Buhari because of too much frustration in the society - IBB

Former Military President, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, said that Buhari's government was overthrown in 1985 because there was frustration in the society under his regime.

Babangida stated this in an interview he granted to a team from Zero Tolerance (ZT), a quarterly magazine published by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Excerpt:

The circumstances surrounding your emergence as military president in 1985, some people believe that it was more of self-preservation than national interest. Can you tell us what happened?

First of all, we planned a coup towards the end of 1983 that truncated the democratically elected government and the military government came in January 1984. Then that government also suffered the same fate as the democratic government when the military staged one of the finest coup in this country, because there was no blood, nothing was lost, smooth and everybody was treated with the most civility and our administration came. When we came in August of 1985 there was a plan to kick us out in December 1985, it didn’t work, they went into operation again in 1990. I think the country was going through a phase at that time, it’s a developing country and we always had one reason or the other for doing what we did at that time.

But the talk at that time was that there was a rift between you and Buhari and he wanted to dismiss you from the Army.

No, let me give you a lesson today. A coup or change comes about if there is frustration in the society. Just get that right. There was frustration in the society between 1984 to 1985. The ground was fertile for a coup. It wasn’t fertile, thanks be to God, in December, 1985 when the first attempt on me was made. Neither was it fertile in April 1990 when the second attempt was made and we had the support of all of you sitting down here. You write, you analyze, you talk, and you demonstrated. It was not unusual then to hear, in the case of the democratically elected government in1983, a common phrase was ‘the worst military regime is better than this government’. So you were giving us the impetus to stage a coup. We are not dummies. If we didn’t have the support of all of you, we wouldn’t venture into it

NAPTIP condemns Amnesty’s call to repeal prostitution law

Rights group alleges interference in Nigeria’s affairs

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has condemned the call by Amnesty International (AI) to decriminalise adult sex work and repeal most of the laws controlling prostitution.

In a related development, the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia and the President of Caritas Nigeria, Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji yesterday called for a workable roadmap to eliminate the scourge of human trafficking, organ harvesting and sexual exploitation.

Amnesty International had last week called for a repeal of most laws around the world controlling prostitution to protect human rights of sex workers

However, NAPTIP’s Acting Director General, Abdulrazak Zangiri, said at the International Conference on Human Trafficking Within and From Africa in Abuja yesterday, that this approach to prostitution is not only irresponsible but also rubbishes the huge investment that the EU has expended in combating sex trafficking.

Zangiri stated that about two million women and children are trafficked every year around the world in various ways, either for sexual or labour exploitation.

He maintained that human trafficking constitutes a ridicule of humanity and a threat to public health of the population of any nation as it plunders the social fabric of families.

Zangiri, represented by the Director, Public Enlightenment, Orakwue Arinze, queried: Why are we then looking for linkages between deregulated prostitution and human trafficking? What human rights of persons, exercise of liberty and freedom warrants the commodification and objectification of the body of a woman?

Also speaking at the International Conference on Human Trafficking within and from Africa in Abuja, Ugorji stated that poverty, unemployment, quest for further education, skills accusation and means of better livelihood constitute the engine that drives this despicable trade.

Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, ‎Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) also berated Amnesty International on what it alleged to be a campaign of calumny against the Federal Government

Executive Secretary of CESJET, Comrade Ikpa Isaac said during a protest march to the United Nations House yesterday, the group said they were aware of efforts by Amnesty International to rubbish and undermine the ongoing struggle to maintain the nation’s unity.

Edo 2016: Mr. Godwin Obaseki, grasped for breath, knocked down At Best Western Auditorium!

In every civilized society, candidates of political parties lock horns at least once in a debate prior to the election for the electorates to ascertain the level of their preparedness to govern when any eventually emerges.  It is more or less like an election before the election.  The citizens pay serious attention either to assess the level of their choice candidate or on the other hand to find reasons to condemn the candidates of  other parties. It is indeed a serious matter both to the candidates and the voters. 

Questions that throw candidates off-balance are asked and they are closely watched - not only their responses but their body languages, comportment, composure and the manner they react to hecklers in the venue 

In Edo state, the long-awaited open debate by the party flag bearers in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo state came and gone but not without hitches. 

Mr. Godwin Obaseki of the APC who appeared to be less concerned when debates are organized,  managed to be in attendance. In the previous debates,  it was rumored that he deliberately refused to attend so as not to wash the dirty linen of his principal in the public.  But, on social media, and news fora, the story was different. Many political analysts believe that  he has a crass knowledge of governance and on this note, the party stalwarts try to cover up his political debility. 

The yesterday's debate was organized by channels Tv and news in the grapevine indicates that Mr. Godwin Obaseki probably had a foreknowledge of the questions, else he would not have attended following his track records of not being apt in dialogue and debate. 

According to the debate moderator, the candidates that participated were selected based on the magnitude of their campaign and followership.  This clearly explains that the successor to Mr. Adams Oshiomhole will surely come from the Labour Party, APGA, APC or PDP. 

Nevertheless, if the debate organized by Channels TV is anything to by, then it is abundantly clear that the PDP candidate in all ramification soars above others.  He was articulate in giving answers to serious questions. His level of  equanimity was tested yesterday as the APC supporters in their usual show of wit, heckled repeatedly as he was responding to questions. 

That notwithstanding, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu did not leave any stone unturned in exposing the shoddy and naughty ways of  the present administration's governance.  The jabs from POI left Mr. Godwin Obaseki  repeatedly kissing the canvas until the moderators threw in the towel. His apologists and supporters  could not hide their misgivings about his ineptitude 

As the election  is just some few days away, the citizens are becoming exposed to the extent of damage the present administration caused the state. It was made worse when  Mr. Godwin Obaseki goofed  by saying that the local governments work in autonomy and as such the payments of salaries were not the duty of the state government. 

Consequent upon this obvious lie, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu roared like a lion and pummeled  Mr. Godwin Obaseki by further exposing his level of involvement in the state's economic recession, unemployment, the Idisi palaver and his company, to say the least. This again sent GO helpless - and left him incoherent even in issues he ought to be knowledgeable in. 

The candidates from APGA and Labour Party also made  statements that explain the height of wastage and ruination of the economic prosperity of the state by the APC-led government in the state. 

Edo state needs improvement and on the 10th of September should be the pivotal point. Vote wisely, vote Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

Iredia Osakue ,  a political analyst, social commentator on national and global issues wrote from Benin City, Nigeria.

NIGERIA MUST REVIVE COTTON, TEXTILE AND GARMENT SECTOR

FG led by President Buhari must not forget their campaign promise to resuscitate the country’s ailing cotton textile and garment sectors. 

Ministry of agriculture and rural development in 2015, inaugurated a committee to formulate policies on how the cotton textile and garment sectors would be revived.

A year after, no updates from the set up committee.🤔🤔🤔

Nigerians are lamenting that cotton, textile and garments industries across the country have become “shadows of themselves” due to influx of new and 2nd hand textile materials, inconsistent government policies and dumping of sub-standard textile materials in the country.

In the 80s and 90s, the textile and garments industries in Nigeria had over 650,000 employees now employs only about 15,000 people due to the deplorable state of the industry.

The textile industries in Kaduna, Ado Ekiti, Lagos, Aba and Kano, these industries employed over 650,000 Nigerians but today, if you go there, they are ghosts of themselves.

Millions of Nigerians remain jobless, thus, there is an urgent need to create jobs and add value, because Nigerians keep spending so much of the scares forex in importing new and 2nd hand garments from china and from south east Asia.

The Nigerian textile industry has the potential to compete with the best in the world if Nigeria is serious to take the sector revival very seriously by investing in massive cotton wool plantation farming through government support Agric input scheme and single digit interest rate loan from CBN.

Both Federal and State government must be irrevocably committed to ensuring substantial growth in high quality cotton production to feed textile and garment industry, and bring back a thriving textile and garments industry not by lip service.

OPINON by Mayowa Michael Adeleye

Ekiti to decentralise state, LG workers’ payments

Ekiti State Government has hinted that it may stop the central payment of state and local government workers’ salaries, saying local governments will be encouraged to pay their workers.

Governor Ayodele Fayose spoke in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, during a meeting with directors of finance and accounts, directors of administration, chief internal auditors and others from across ministries, departments and agencies in the state.

Fayose, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, also warned public servants against signing documents without thoroughly going through them.

According to him, any negative fallout from a signed document would be blamed on any officer that signed it.

The meeting was convened to find solutions to the problems associated with generating wholesome nominal and pay rolls by MDAs in the state, the statement added.

The governor frowned on a situation where people, who had left the service or died, still had their names on the nominal roll.

“Why should we be spending our scarce resources wastefully? We are no longer going to tolerate the issue of buck passing, where someone will claim he is not the one that generates the nominal roll and so does not properly go through it before preparing the pay roll.

“Henceforth, the nominal and pay rolls must be properly scrutinised by the internal auditors before being signed. The system has adequate checks and balances already in place and if not for collusion by concerned public servants, no sharp practices could take place.

“It is advisable that every officer properly goes through any document before signing such, as the person who endorses any document is going to be held responsible in case of any issue,” he said.

The governor, after listening to complaints by internal auditors that they did not have computers to be able to verify the soft copies of pay rolls sent to them from the Accountant-General Office, directed that all the officers should by next week be sent on computer training and afterwards be provided with personal computers.

Earlier, the Deputy Governor, Dr Kolapo Olusola, said in the course of staff verification conducted last year, a lot of anomalies were discovered in the system.

He listed the sharp practices to include over-payment, under-payment, paying dead or retired officers, over-deductions, illegal promotion, among others.

OPINION: Recession not depression - Abdullahi Haruna Haruspice

Recession is a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters. Technically, Nigeria is having a down turn in her economic fortunes. Why are we in this state in the first instance? Our combined actions and inactions brought us to this state of economic comatose.

Beyond all the cacophony of blames, what is the way out? Aren't you tired of repeating what we know is the obvious? We are in economic recession yes- does being in recession means the end of nationhood? Economic recession is a slide in the fortune of a country's income and not necessarily a doom's end. Just like nations ravaged by war, earthquake and other natural resources is economic recession.

Recession is when the tools of indices doesn't support your current realities. No economic team would increase the price of crude oil - that is a reality. No government can survive on import economy. We are in recession because of our age long laziness in all fronts.

How many states are into Mechanized farming before now? You want to be above recession yet you have no food to feed yourself? Banks are not creating wealth but usurping the functions of the central bank by serving as vault for government agencies. In other climes, banks create small businesses, in Nigeria, banks survive on government patronage. The introduction of the TSA has exposed the inffectual dexterity of our banks as lazy institutions. Show me a business that was created by any Bank and I will drop this post.

How can Nigeria's economy not suffer recession when a lawmaker is using N678m as running cost?
Narrowing the debate to inactions of the present government is akin to regurgitating same problems and no solutions.

You don't produce and you want to sell, you want to eat yet you refused to farm. You want to be amongst top world economies yet you produce nothing. Because oil money was at your dips, you puff and pontificate that you are Africa's largest economy. How did you arrived at being a large economy when even your toothpick is imported? We are a buying economy as almost all our essentials and consumables are imported.

We want to be a buoyant economy yet indulge in financial recklessness. How can a lawmaker be entitled to N678m as mere running cost in an economy that is on her knees? Multiply the number of lawmakers who are exposed to these monies and tell me how you expect to be a buoyant economy?

That airlines are packing up is a good omen for us to invest in our roads. Because we had access to free money, we abandoned the roads and fly on chattered flights. Necessity they say is the mother of all inventions, where we are today would afford us the opportunity to look inward for solutions of our problems.

Bailouts were given to states twice yet the states refused to pay salaries. What did we do? We stay put to blame the President for hunger in the land when twice he has come to the rescue of our states . We enrich our governors because we don't ask for accountability.

We are even the problems of ourselves. Charcoal fuel used for cooking is more expensive than kerosene because dollars has gone up. What is the relationship between firewood and dollars?

Nothing will change until we are ready to address our fundamental flaws. We need overhaul of our laws where things can be done differently. Until then we are a revolving people in a journey to nowhere.

Economically musing

With what will President Buhari campaign today in Benin?-Ojo Owodunni Femi

The road he has constructed? The one he has repaired? The jobs he has provided? Or the million jobs Nigerians have lost due to his brainless policies? The Harliburton scandal he has probed? The Amaechi he has arrested? The Timipre Silva he jailed for corruption?

The one meal per day he has given to our pupils? The electricity that has dwindled to all time low? The resurgence of Polio? The unprecedented hunger in town? The hard life he has led us? The #145/litre fuel? The #200/litre kerosene?

Just tell me what he will campaign with because I don't seem to know!

It is obvious the 'Go and Die' Governor and his boy will fail on Saturday, APC will fail on Saturday and the Edo People will win! Edo People will be the better for it, they will bring money, your money they kept all this while, collect, spend and vote your conscience!

Economic recession: Dino Melaye says Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun is incompetent

Dino Melaye was a guest on Channels TV yesterday where he said that the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, was incompetent to manage an economy like Nigeria

"She has appeared before the senate on two occasions and from my own personal assessment, she does not have the competence, the wherewithal. You begin to ask yourself how many million dollars portfolio has she handled or managed before becoming a Minister of Finance.

A Minister of Finance, especially for an economy like Nigeria needs one who has grabbed knowledge of our situation, who can take us out of the woods, and there is no way you would continue to apply a particular medicine to a particular ailment and you are not getting solutions and you continue to take that drug. The drug becomes injurious to the system" he said

Dino says although he is a member of APC, he needs to speak up as there is intense hunger in the land. He called for the sack or voluntary resignation of members of President Buhari's economic team.

"The reason why I am calling for the sack of these individuals is because the magnitude and intensity of Hunger in the land is enormous. I am a member fo APC and a very proud one at that but Hunger has no political party. Poverty has no political party. You need to understand the intensity of hunger that is in the land".


Source: Channels TV

President Sacks Finance Minister, Makes Shocking Replacement

President of Angola,José Eduardo dos Santos has fired the country’s Finance Minister, following a slump in the country’s economic situation.

The sack, which was announced on Monday, September 5, is coming two months after the Angolan government pulled out of talks with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, over emergency funding.

A statement quoted by Reuters, said Manuel, who was appointed in 2013, and whose term had been due to run till 2017, would be replaced by Archer Mangueira, an expert in capital market.

Over the last two years, Manuel had presided over an economic slump, caused by a sharp drop in oil prices.

The Angolan currency, Kwanza, has slid more than 30 percent against the dollar in 2015, and in January, the Central Bank allowed for another 15 percent, weakening to 155 against the dollar.

Angola’s inflation had soared from 11 percent in August, 2015, to 35 percent in July, 2016, while Nigeria’s is from 9.3 to 17.1 percent, within the same period.

Like Angola, Nigeria has also been hit by the plunge in crude oil prices, and a rapid depreciation of the local currency.

We have failed in the process of marketing Buhari's government - Garba Shehu confess

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, says officials hired to communicate government policies have lived below expectation.

Speaking on the efforts of the current administration to address the current economic crisis, Shehu suggested that there were loopholes in the process of marketing the Buhari government.

He explained that the federal government had not limited its economic and financial reform programmes to the centre alone, saying the current administration forced state governments to reform their spending in order to build savings and investments.

Shehu said the reform would include blockage of leakages that allowed government’s revenues to be siphoned into private hands.

“I will make the confession that we, the officials hired to communicate government policies, that includes myself, have not done as well as we should have,” he said in a statement.

“The truth is that more than any other time before, there is a clear direction and strategy for achieving growth and development.

“Revisionists may not agree, but the truth of the matter is that the previous administration only had one issue, which was how to spend money (oil revenues and borrowed money).”

He identified the ongoing probe into the finances of the military authorities as part of the reform aimed at checking corrupt practices in the military establishment.

“Look at what a civilian administration is today doing to the military, investigating their finance and accounts that the military could not do to themselves,” he said.

“See what the current administration is doing to sanitise the huge salary bill by eliminating payroll fraud. So far, the federal payroll has been rid of about 40,000 ghost workers. More than N8 billion stolen monthly has been saved. We are also saving on wasteful expenses like first class travel and private jets for official trips.

“Currently, there is focus on key sectors (apart from oil) that can create jobs and or generate revenue such as agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing.”

He said that if these things had been done when the oil price was as high as $140 dper barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current predicament.

“We would not be suffering now if we had cash reserves, but we had regular supply of power, a good rail system, good roads and good housing,” he said.

“Now that the oil has fallen as low as $28 per barrel, it is very difficult to do what is needed but they must be done to save Nigeria. There is no other way if we want to be honest.

“If PDP were still in power, they would have continued deceiving people, by borrowing to fund stealing and wastage and the problem would have simply been postponed for future generations to face.

“There are many who say that this government’s economic strategy is unclear whereas the previous government seemed well coordinated.”

FOOTBALL: We have quality players to face Nigeria – Zambia coach, Lwandamina

Coach of Zambia’s national team, George Lwandamina, has insisted that there is enough quality players within his squad, despite their failure to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The Chipolopolo were held to a 1-1 draw by Kenya, at the Levy Nwanawasa Stadium on Sunday.

The result saw them finish third in Group E, behind Guinea Bissau and Congo.

Zambia’s next game, will be a 2018 World Cup qualifier against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

“We have so many players and we have previously cast the net wide. But many are called, few are chosen,” Lwandamina toldfazfootball.com.

“This is the international scenario we are talking about. It is totally different from the local league.

“Some players may shine in the local league but for reasons best known to themselves they tend to be overshadowed when called to the national team.

“This is down to lack of exposure. Until we start exposing players to the international scenario we will keep facing the same challenge.

“This was close also the case with former coach Renard. He called almost 200 players but none of them played for the national team except for Mbola. The rest were players who were built way back, those are the players he used.”

FOOTBALL: Wenger ‘warns’ Wilshere over Arsenal future

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has reportedly warned Jack Wilshere, that his loan move to Bournemouth, will either make or mar his career at the Emirates.

The England midfielder joined the Cherries on transfer deadline day, after failing to force his way back into Wenger’s team.

According to the UK Sun, Wenger “told Wilshere he is playing for his Arsenal future in a tense phone call” after sanctioning his Bournemouth switch.

It said Wilshere was left “in no doubt that his move must work out if he is to revive his career at the Emirates.”

At the end of his loan spell at the Vitality Stadium, Wilshere will have one year left on his Gunners deal.

SPORTS: US Open 2016: Serena Williams set new Grand Slam record

World women tennis number one Serena Williams set a new Grand Slam record of 308 victories with a win over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at the US Open on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 34-year-old American won 6-2 6-3 to pass Roger Federer in the all-time list of matches won at the tennis majors.

Her sister Venus however went out in dramatic fashion, losing 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to Czech 10th seed Karolina Pliskova.

In the men’s draw, both Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka and Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro progressed.

Former French and Australian Open champion Wawrinka saw off Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-4 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash against 2009 champion Del Potro.

Del Potro had led Dominic Thiem 6-3 3-2 when the Austrian retired with a knee injury.

Wawrinka, who smashed a racquet after failing to serve out his match in the third set, will get the chance to make up for defeat by Del Potro at Wimbledon.

Pliskova, 24, was broken when serving for the match at 40-0 but recovered to convert a fifth match point and reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5 to set up a meeting with top seed Serena Williams.

In the men’s doubles, Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares beat Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell 6-3 7-6 (9-7) to reach the last eight.