England boss, Southgate hints at Man Utd snub

Gareth Southgate has suggested Manchester United may be one of a number of Premier League clubs that have stopped sharing sports science data with England due to fears the information could be leaked.

A deal had been struck between the Football Association and Premier League clubs for the sharing of data prior to Euro 2016 in order to help England build-up to the finals in France.

But the agreement was not binding beyond the competition and has prompted Southgate to reveal the difficulty he faced when attempting to name his squad for England's forthcoming matches against Scotland and France.

"To clarify. We share our data. We don't always receive data," the England manager said.
"So that's where we would like to head towards, because it helps more around working out a training schedule when they first come into camp.
"Particularly with what's gone on in the last few weeks that can be a big help. But we can't enforce it.
"That's got to be an agreement, sharing, and at the moment some clubs are more comfortable with it than others."

Asked specifically if United were among the clubs to have stopped sharing data, Southgate said: "Possibly so. As I say, it helps us in terms of preparing our training. One of the dangers I guess is the perception of it being leaked.

"But look, it's very rare the data throws up something you haven't clocked as a coach. But it can back up some of your thinking. The coach's eye is the main thing - how a player is performing."

Okorocha sacks cabinet, 27 LG transition committees

Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo on Tuesday sacked the state executive council and 27 local government transition committees with immediate effect.

A statement by the Principal Secretary to the governor, Mr Pascal Obi, in Owerri directed all former members of the executive to hand over to permanent secretaries or the most senior director in their ministries.

Obi quoted the governor as appreciating the invaluable contributions of the affected appointees to the success recorded by his rescue mission administration and wishes them well in their future endeavours.

According to him, the secretary to the government, the chief of staff, chairmen and members of statutory commissions such as ISEC, Civil Service Commission, local government service commission are not affected.

“Also not affected in the cabinet shake off are the state universal basic education board, the judicial service commission, and the House of Assembly Service Commission.

“The governor also dissolved the 27 transition committees (TC) of the 27 local government areas in the state.

“The Transition Committee (TC) chairmen are advised to hand over to the directors of administration and general services of their respective council areas.

“The governor appreciates the contributions of the TC chairmen to the success of the rescue mission and wishes them well in their future endeavours,” Obi said in the statement.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor, however, did not state any reason for the action.

Adultery Scandal : Former House of Reps Member Loses Marriage After Wife Allegedly Slept with Her Pastor

A Jos High Court on Tuesday dissolved the marriage between Mr Leonard Dilkon, a former member of the House of Representatives, and his wife, Joy.

 

Justice David Mann of High Court III, dissolved the marriage in his judgment on the petition filed by Joy, seeking an end to the union.

 

“The marriage between these two people has broken down irretrievably. It is hereby dissolved,” Mann declared.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Joy, through her Counsel, Mrs. Juliet Esoro, had filed a petition on Aug. 5, 2016 asking the court to dissolve the marriage because she was no more in love with her husband.

 

She also prayed the court to grant her access to the three children the marriage was blessed with. The children had been with their father since the marital crisis began in 2011.

 

She claimed that since July 3, 2011, when the crises started, she had lived separately with her husband “without any conjugal relationship between them”.

 

But Dilkon, who did not oppose her plea for divorce, accused Joy of committing adultery with her Pastor, Damjuma Fwenji.

 

The former lawmaker, through his counsel, Mr Francis Okafor, accused the wife of being unfaithful to him “for à very long time”.

 

In his cross petition to the court, Dilkon claimed Joy once took in for Fwenji, but alleged that the pregnancy was aborted.

 

Fwenji, however, denied the allegation, and filed a motion seeking N10 million as compensation for the damage to his image and reputation.,

 

Mann, in his judgement, declared that from all indications, especially from the evidences of the prosecution and defence witnesses, the marriage could not stand since all attempts to reconcile the couple had failed.

 

“From all indications, the marriage between Mr and Mrs. Dilkon has broken down irretrievable and I hereby declared it dissolved.

 

“As for the prayer for access to the children, the court hereby grants the mother of the three children equal access as their father, both at home and at school,’’ he declared.

 

On the issue of Dilkon’s claim of adultery against the wife and the clergy, the judge declared that that petition had failed as the “petitioner could not substantiate his claim before this honourable court.’’

“I hereby declare that Dilkon’s claim of adultery has failed and therefore is struck out.

“Fwenji’s demand for N10 million as damage can also not stand since he did not follow due process in filing his appeal. It is therefore discarded,’’ Mann further declared.

Obey court orders on Dasuki, El-Zakzaky, Sagay tells FG

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has asked the Federal Government to obey court orders regarding the detention of embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); and the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

Sagay said this during an interview with The PUNCH while reacting to calls by the Nigerian Bar Association for the release of Dasuki and El-Zakzaky.

The senior advocate advised the Federal Government to either obey the court order by immediately releasing them or to appeal the orders.

“The court orders should be obeyed and I don’t know what reason the government has for not releasing them. If they have good reasons, they should canvass the reasons before the court and leave the court to decide.

“If the court rules against them, then they should appeal against the ruling and then apply for stay of the ruling pending the appeal. That is what the government should do rather than detaining them perpetually,” Sagay added.

The PACAC chairman also agreed with the NBA regarding the prolonged probe of judges without trial.
The NBA had, on Monday, asked the Federal Government to immediately stop the investigation of the judges so that they could return to work.
Sagay, however, called on the government to wrap up the probe by prosecuting the judges immediately or by dropping the cases.

He added, “The Federal Government should hurry up and if they cannot file the adequate charges, then they should inform the people involved and allow them to continue with their careers on the bench.”

The PACAC chairman, however, disagreed with the NBA regarding the non-confirmation of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
The association had called on the legislature and the executive to work out their differences, adding that Magu’s issue had made Nigeria a laughing stock among the comity of nations.

Sagay argued that the NBA’s concern was misplaced as the President was empowered by the constitution to make some appointments without recourse to the Senate.

He stated, “What makes Nigeria a laughing stock in the face of the world?

“It is clear that the President can appoint an acting head of any of the agencies and that has been done. It is also clear from the terms of Section 176 of the Constitution that the President can appoint a person outright head, not even acting, without consulting anybody.” - Punch

Three police officers confirmed dead as Navy, Police officers clash in Cross Rivers

A clash between police officers and Naval officers in Calabar, Cross Rivers state Tuesday night, has resulted in the death of three police officers and a police station set ablaze by rampaging Naval officers‎. 

According to reports, trouble started when a police traffic warden stopped a group of Naval officers that reportedly tried to beat the traffic light at a check point opposite the Navy barracks in the Akim area of the town in the afternoon of that particular day.
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The Naval officers took offence at the police warden stopping them from breaking the law. This led to a faceoff which resulted in both parties calling for reinforcement. The Naval officers took their grievance to the Akim police station where they shot sporadically and set the station ablaze. They reportedly stopped fire fighters from stopping the fire at the station.

Three police officers reportedly died in the wake of the clash.

Meanwhile the Naval authorities are yet to comment on the unfortunate incident.

Residents Hear "Mad Amount Of Screaming" After Man Murders Mom & Two Kids

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman and two children were found dead in their home. Police were called to an address on Falkner Street in Toxteth, Merseyside, at around 7.30pm on Tuesday after concerns were raised for those inside.

One witness reported hearing a "mad amount of screaming". Police found the bodies of a woman and two children and arrested a 30-year-old man.

It is believed the victims were a mother and her two children. Officers said the investigation was in its early stages, but believe it is "domestic related". They added police were not looking for anyone else at this stage. Families in nearby properties were forced to flee their homes amid fears there was also a gas leak related to the tragic incident.


At least seven police vehicles, six ambulances and three fire engines responded to the scene, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Witnesses said a man was led out of a house in handcuffs.A man called Dan H appeared to give an account of the dramatic incident on Twitter.

He wrote: "Fire crews attempting to force the door of 34 Falker st. - next door to the house they've been in and out of.

"2 fire officers just forced into 34. Saw a woman outside being given oxygen about an hour ago"Called police after hearing 'mad amount of screaming' coming from 34.

"Then saw man running out the house in distress."Later saw man being carried from house followed by woman receiving oxygen.

"Rescue teams are still in and out 36 & continuing to evacuate residents."Forensic detectives were at the scene wearing protective clothing and gas masks.

Residents living nearby were asked to remain indoors and keep their windows closed as a precaution.
The arrested man has been taken to hospital after falling ill and police said a post mortem will be carried out to establish the cause of death of the deceased.

23 Banks Got N28.7bn Inflows From Dubious MMM Transactions

No fewer than 23 Nigerian banks received inflows amounting to N28.7 billion executed in 460,000 transactions through the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) Ponzi scheme within six months, the 2016 annual report of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) has revealed.

The amount, which was moved between June and December 2016, is 61 per cent higher than the budget of the Federal Ministry of Education and almost six times over the budget of the Nigerian Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in the 2017 budget, the report erroneously stated.

A quick fact-check by THISDAY of the 2017 budget, as passed by the National Assembly, showed that N139.3 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Defence for its capital spending programme for the year, while N330.54 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditure.

In the case of the budget of the education ministry, the National Assembly passed a provision of N398.70 billion for recurrent spending and N56.72 billion for capital expenditure for the year.

The report disclosed that by the time the scheme “crashed” on December 13, 2016, over N11.9 billion had been lost by gullible subscribers.
The NeFF report, which was unveiled in Abuja Tuesday at a stakeholders workshop on cybercrime, organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), disclosed that since the MMM scheme had a 30-day cycle before return-on-investment (RoI) was realised, everyone who put money into it after November 12, 2016 did not get their money out.

“No fewer than 23 banks received inflows amounting to N28.7 billion executed in 460,000 transactions through the MMM Ponzi scheme. The amount put into the scheme between November 13th and December 15th, 2016 (through interbank transactions) totals over NGN11.9bn. This amount was largely not recovered.

“To put this amount into perspective, the 2017 budget for Defence Headquarters is N4.7 billion. This implies that the amount transferred by Nigerians under the MMM Ponzi scheme would have funded the Nigerian Defence HQ almost six times over.

“Majority of the transfers made by customers of banks that participated in the MMM Ponzi scheme were made through the account-to-account transfer platform.
“This was followed by the mobile channel, and lastly, through the web channels of other transfer platforms in the industry,” the report said.

It added that 34 financial institutions paid out money for investments into the MMM Nigeria Ponzi scheme, adding that the customers included those of commercial banks, mobile payment operators as well as mortgage banks.

“By the side are the amounts, in terms of volume and value for each financial institution that money was paid out from. Fewer banks received inflows of MMM transactions than the number of banks from which outflows occurred,” the NeFF report stressed.

It also stated that MMM followed the usual pattern of Ponzi schemes, pointing out that “they continue to build momentum and crash when the maximum amounts are already invested in the scheme”.

The NeFF report added that the peak of the MMM investment was in November 2016, when over N13 billion was transferred among the participants, pointing out that the CBN had in the middle of 2016 warned about the dangers of the scheme.

In a related development, the volume of fraud reported in 2016 indicated an 82 per cent increase in reported cases, with an estimated N2.19 billion losses.

The NeFF 2016 annual report titled, “A Changing Payments Ecosystem: The Security,” said the financial industry recorded an 82 per cent rise when compared to 2015 and over 1,200 per cent rise when juxtaposed with the situation in 2014.

According to the report, despite the 82 per cent increase in reported fraud cases, the industry was able to reduce fraud by 2.7 per cent when compared to the 2015 figure.

“Comparing the attempted fraud against the actual losses, the industry was able to salvage 49.7 per cent of the total amount attempted by these fraudsters within the year.

“These figures informed us that there are more attempts on a yearly basis with different innovation tricks or modus operandi to take advantage of the system,” the NeFF report said.
The report also noted that 2016 witnessed a significant transaction increase across all payment channels in both volume and value in spite of the economic recession.

“In contrast with 2015, there was a 71.43 per cent spike in the volume of transactions processed through the NCS (Nigeria Central Switch),” it said.

In his address at the unveiling of the NeFF 2016 annual report, CBN’s Director, Banking and Payments System and NeFF Chairman, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, stated that the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) report of the Nigeria fraud landscape for 2016 indicated that fraud cases grew by 82 per cent over the 2015 figures, attributing the trend to the increased usage of new payment platforms.

Meanwhile, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has called on stakeholders to ensure that the Cybercrime Act is effectively enforced, to serve as a deterrent and constant reminder to those who may wish to engage in illicit activities targeting the financial technology infrastructure.
“It is now about two years into the commencement of the Act, and so it is not too early to conduct a holistic review of its implementation, hence the theme of this workshop: ‘Tackling Enforcement Challenges under the Cybercrime Act’,” Emefiele said.

He noted that as the regulator of the financial sector, the CBN is constantly confronted with issues raised by operators who occupy the unenviable position of first line of defence against cyber attacks on the systems, networks and infrastructure through which financial services are carried out in the country.

“While the issue about cyber security is not wholly legal in nature, and while considerable efforts have been made by the CBN and banking operators, especially through the Bankers’ Committee and other bodies, leading to reduced incidents of fraud on the one hand, and very high consumer confidence in our payment system on the other, we are nevertheless desirous that the Cybercrime Act is effectively enforced, to serve as a deterrent and constant reminder to those who may wish to engage in illicit activities targeting our financial technology infrastructures,” he said. - Thisday