₦airaland Forum

what a world.

this regime is even worse that what i can imagine

and so what

Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez


Every four years, a handful of players come out of nowhere, play well at the World Cup, and end up transferring to big clubs for a ton of money. Some of these guys pan out, while others fail. In other words, some end up making mega bucks while some end up depreciating in dollar value.
Here are the candidates this year.

James Rodriguez (Colombia)
James was already on the map after getting sold to AS Monaco along with Joao Moutinho for a combined $102 million last summer. At the World Cup, though, he looked like one of the best players on earth. He outplayed Ronaldo and Messi, scoring six goals in five games for a Colombia team that was the most exciting squad in the entire tournament.
According to the Spanish newspaper AS, he will be sold to Real Madrid for $107 million.

Toni Kroos (Germany)
The 24-year-old finished the World Cup with two goals and four assists. In a team filled with star players — where the likes of Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle, and Sami Kheidra came off the bench at times — Kroos stood out.
Three days after the final, Bayern Munich sold him to Real Madrid for $34 million.

DeAndre Yedlin (U.S.)
Yedlin makes $92,000 for the Seattle Sounders, 72-times less than teammate Clint Dempsey. He might be the most underpaid player in the world. At age 21, he came into three World Cup games and was one of the USMNT's most threatening players. He still has to learn to defend, but he looked like he belonged against Belgium.
The Sounders have reportedly set their price for Yedlin at $6.5 million. Italian giants AS Roma are interested.

Matt Besler (U.S.)
The Sporting Kansas City player was the best defender on a U.S. team that did a ton of defending in Brazil. At 27 years old, it might be now-or-never for him making a move to Europe.


Besler told a radio station this week that he has two offers on the table from English teams, believed to be Fulham and Sunderland. If he stayed with Sporting Kansas City, they'd have to use a designated player slot to give him a raise from his current $200,000 salary.

Enner Valencia (Ecuador)
There was a strange lack of standout strikers at the World Cup. Of the top-five goalscorers in Brazil (James, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller, Robin Van Persie), only Van Persie is a true centre forward. Enner Valencia was one of the only No. 9's to break out. He scored three goals in three games.
He's moving to West Ham in the Premier League from the Mexican club Pachuca for $20 million.

Divock Origi (Belgium)
Origi played so well that he took Romelu Lukaku's starting spot after just two games. He scored a game-winning goal against Russia, and could have had multiple goals against the U.S. if it wasn't for the heroics of Tim Howard.
The 19-year-old played for Lille in France last year. Now there are rumours that Liverpool wants him to replace Luis Saurez.

Keylor Navas (Costa Rica)
It was truly the World Cup of CONCACAF Goalkeepers. Mexico's Memo Ochoa, the U.S.'s Tim Howard, and Costa Rica's Navas all played great. Navas may have been the best of the bunch. He helped the Ticos to their best World Cup ever, letting up just two goals in the process.
Like some other World Cup standouts, he's now heading to Real Madrid from Levante for a $13-million fee.

Memphis Depay (Netherlands)
The Netherlands wasn't supposed to do anything in Brazil. Most people had them going out in the group stage. Yet they made it all the way to the semifinals, mostly because unproven players like Depay turned out to be better than expected.
A handful of Premier League teams are now interested in snatching him away from PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie.

Paul Pogba (France)
The 21-year-old looked like the best box-to-box midfielder in the world in Brazil. His game is drawing comparisons to that of Yaya Toure, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he's being linked to Manchester City should Toure leave.
He won't come cheap, though. Reports in the English media put his price at $102 million.
•Culled from the Insider Magazine

This is nigeria,the land where all things are possible

Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu Obanikoro, has said that the Military is progressively succeeding in the fight against terrorism in the country despite paucity of funds.

“The single fact that the military was able to take over Jigawa and Bauchi axis in the northeast showed the progress in the fight against terrorism in the country”, he said, stressing that the
investment so far made by the present government is yielding fruit.

The Minister maintained that thought paucity of funds was largely responsible for the ineffective of military operations in the country, the spirit of the personnel was very high, saying, “all that is needed is to give them the necessary support to take them to the next level”.

The Minister spoke shortly after a familiarization tour to Forward Operational Base, Ibaka in Mbo and NNS Jubilee, Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State.

President Goodluck Jonathan has been advised to tarry a little, before attempting to declare his second term ambition.

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, stated this at a meeting they had with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday night.

Though the governors were in support of the President’s bid for re-election, they said the nation’s mood was not ripe for such a declaration.

Investigations by our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday showed that the meeting considered the plight of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls and security challenges facing the country.

It was learnt that based on these two major issues, the governors asked the President to study the mood of the nation more before considering an open declaration for re-election.

Two of the governors, who were at the meeting and spoke with our correspondent separately, said that the President was advised to either visit Chibok or in the alternative, allow the parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls visit him at the Presidential Villa.

One of them said, “The meeting was a painstaking one. We considered so many things. We talked about so many issues. While it was true we spoke about how to reposition the party and the gains we are making across the country ahead of the 2015 general elections, we also considered the probability of when the President could make his open declaration.

“Some of my colleagues argued that the time was ripe, but others felt that the mood of the country and even the international community are not favourable.

“We argued that if the President declares now, it will be seen as being politically bad and not in the best interest of the nation and that it could be termed as being against the spirit of fatherhood.”

He said based on this, the President was “advised to meet with the parents of the girls, even if some are going to see it as coming a bit late. It is better done now instead of allowing it go into history that the President did not visit or invite them for a meeting.”

Apart from this, another governor said that the meeting also noticed that the Independent National Electoral Commission had yet to release the guidelines for the election.

“We know that the campaigns are for him and part of efforts to strengthen the image of the government and that of the President. The position does not have this opportunity,” he added.

Contact: editor@punchng.com

Jeremiah Useni
A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, on Wednesday escaped an attempt on his life when some unknown gunmen attacked his Langtang home, in Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Our correspondent gathered that no fewer than 48 bullet holes were inflicted on the walls of the house as the gunmen tried to gain entrance into the house.

Fortunately Useni, who is a delegate to the National Conference, was not at home at the time of the attack.

While one version said the attack was carried out by some gunmen, another said that it was caused by some rival youths who engaged themselves in a duel in front of the house.

It was further gathered that the heavy armed men suspected to be assassins came into the compound between 2am and 3am surrounded the building and started shooting sporadically.

The timely arrival of security men in the area was said to have prevented the gunmen from razing the house to the ground.

One eyewitness in Langtang said that the youths on hearing the gunshots rushed to the scene but were dispersed by the Task Force commander in charge of Langtang .

The witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that some of the youths who rushed to the scene were manhandled by security men.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Abu Emmanuel, who confirmed the incident, said that nobody was killed in the attack. He also said that no arrest had been made.

Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura


• Assembly members deny N40m bribery allegation to remove governor
By George Okoh and Adebiyi Adedapo

The embattled Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has prevailed on President Goodluck Jonathan to save him from the threat to impeach him from office.

The state House of Assembly dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had on Monday issued a notice of impeachment on Al-Makura.

This came as members of the state House of Assembly yesterday denied that the impeachment notice to the governor was orchestrated by some Abuja politicians.

The lawmakers also denied that each assembly member who signed the impeachment notice was paid N40 million each to support the impeachment.

THISDAY yesterday gathered that the governor had hurriedly left Lafia, the state capital for Abuja to plead with the president for intervention on the matter.

It learnt that before Al-Makura left the state capital on Tuesday, he held series of meetings with his aides and party officials’ intent upon seeing how the impeachment impasse can be surmounted.

Addressing the press at the assembly complex however, the Clerk of the assembly, Mr. Ego Maikeffi, disclosed that after several attempts to serve the impeachment notice on the governor, he was denied access into the Government House.

Ego stated further that in line with the directive of the Speaker, he was set to serve the notice through the media today.

The House Committee Chairman on Information and Security, Hon. Mohammed Baba Ibaku, confirmed the development, saying other options of serving the notice would be explored.

In a swift reaction however, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, Hon. Abdulhamid Kwarra, denied the report, insisting that the assembly was yet to serve the notice as a 6p.m. yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the assembly Committee on Information and Security, Hon. Baba Ibaku, stated this during a chat with journalists yesterday in Abuja.

He also said the assembly members were not aware of President Jonathan’s visit to the state where he inaugurated the largest rice mill in Africa.

He said issuing an impeachment notice to Governor Al-Makura the same day President Jonathan visited the state was a mere coincidence.
Ibaku who was in the company of the House Majority Leader Hon. Godia Akwashiki, and some other lawmakers from the state, expressed disappointment over the conduct of the governor who had refused to receive the impeachment notice.

The lawmakers also accused the governor of sponsoring hoodlums to disrupt law and order in the state, alleging that Al-Makura paid N1 million each to the restless youths in each local government to create crisis.
Ibaku however, said the assembly members were united in impeaching the governor, adding that all the 16 allegations against the governor were backed-up with sufficient proofs.

He said 20 out of the 24 state lawmakers had already signed the impeachment notice and would not renege on it.

“We have equipped with allegations and proofs, our vehicle is overloaded and we are united. This explains why nobody was aware of the impeachment notice until it was signed and issued,” he said.

Ibaku said the allegations against the governor border on financial misappropriation, spending of unbudgeted funds and gross misconduct which could only be explained by assembly members.

“How can a governor spend funds that were not budgeted for and expect us to keep quiet, it is our job to ask questions on where he gets the money. We will serve him the impeachment notice, if he refused to respond to it, we shall direct the Chief Judge of the state to set-up a committee and if he refused to appear before the committee like the ex-Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, he will also become an ex-governor soon,” he said.

Ibaku stated further: “We did this singlehandedly, we are not being sponsored, if we were being sponsored, you would have seen police around us. We issued the notice without the presence of a single security personnel,” he added.

However, thousands of protesters yesterday block major road as they staged a peacefulprotest against the impeachment plot.
The protesters marched from Keffi to Mararaba axis of the state chanting and calling on the assembly to stop their action.

The protesters expressed their grievances over “frequent interference and impeachment threat on the governor” which is “distracting him from delivering more dividends of democracy to the people of the state.”
They called on the aggrieved legislators to embrace peace and rescind their decision.

About 27 persons were feared killed in Sabon Gari village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, following the invasion of the village by members of the Boko Haram sect.
Sources said the latest attack, which took place at about 6p.m. on Tuesday, left about 20 innocent civilians dead, while seven others were killed while trying to bury their dead yesterday.

This happened as the terrorist group murdered another nine civilians in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of the state, when the terrorist group launched an attack on Huyim village yesterday.

Two days ago, some suspected members of the terrorists group had attacked the neighbouring Mandafuma village in Biu Local Government Area of the state, injuring one person, while property worth millions of naira were destroyed.
In what seemed like a serial attack on the southern part of the troubled state, the terrorists also blew off the main bridge linking Maiduguri-Damboa-Madafuma- Biu Road at the weekend.

It was gathered that the terrorists, who had retreated on Tuesday, regrouped and launched another attack on Sabon Gari, killing those that had gone to the cemetery to bury the dead.

Fleeing residents disclosed that many people were seriously injured during the attack, while property worth millions of naira were equally destroyed.
Sabon Gari is about 40 kilometres drive from Biu in southern Borno, and 145 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.

The attack, which was the second in two days, occurred barely 12 days after the deadly attack on Damboa town where a Commanding Officer of 195 Battalion and the Divisional Police Officer, 16 soldiers and six policemen alongside several terrorists lost their lives, a situation that led to the withdrawal of military troops from Sabon Gari village.

A relative of one of those killed in the attack, Mallam Iliyasu Ibrahim, told THISDAY that his cousin, (name withheld) was among those killed by the terrorists on Tuesday.

Ibrahim also revealed that two of his sisters were still missing after the attack, but however prayed to God for them to be rescued.

He added that already, the village was deserted as people had fled for safety of their lives, and no security operatives were deployed to restore normalcy.
Effort to get confirmation from the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin, yesterday yield no result, but a top security source who was not allowed to speak to the press confirmed the incident, saying ” more than 20 people were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday twin attacks on Sabon Gari village by suspected terrorists”.

A local vigilante told journalists yesterday that, “The Boko Haram members attacked Dille and killed 45 persons.

“ Another nine villagers were killed in Huyim Village yesterday after the Boko Haram terrorists killed the village head of Dille, burnt many houses, Churches and left many others seriously injured.



The terrorists had invaded the mainly Christian community shooting at any possible target.

source, Thisdaylive

Beginnings matter. Questions about culpability and responsibility, about the narrow cynicism that defines so much of life in the Gaza Strip, sequence and motive - they all go to beginnings. Why are Israeli men and women battering and gnashing lives and livelihoods in that prison camp? How did it start? Why are they killing? What are they after? How will it end? The answers are embedded in our crusty beginnings.

How it started

In the beginning, Zionists invaded Palestine. They expelled the Palestinians and Gaza, an ancient place that hosted Ramses II, Alexander the Great, and Salahuddin, became a tent city. A wasteland for the dejected and destitute.

It didn't take long for Palestinians in Gaza to begin to fight to reclaim their homes from the Ashkenazis that displaced them. The Fedayeen - refugee militiamen - commenced with overnight raids as soon as the shock of their ignominious defeat began to wear.

The first Israeli massacre in Gaza occurred in 1956. My father was a small boy at the time, but he remembers how the men were rounded up and shot. Today, his grand-nephews and -nieces, also refugees, also born in camps, cower in terror as the third generation of Ashkenazis in Palestine shows them their place. Life in the shadows, balanced precariously on obsidian with fire on either side - that's their inheritance.

The latest round

Among Israeli elites, Gaza is everything to everyone. Israeli politicians attack Gaza to enhance their electoral appeal. They use it to muzzle the opposition, to preserve a coalition or to distract from a domestic scandal. Israeli generals like to invade to provide troops with "battle" training or to test new wares, and to debut new formations and tactics; Hamas is not Hezbollah, after all.

Jewish-Israeli scientists, meanwhile, coordinate with the army to use the territory as a convenient testing ground for advanced, experimental technologies. Corporate Israel later repackages those technologies for global export. Those are the relationships - the status quo.

The recent move towards Palestinian reconciliation undertaken by the Hamas and PLO leaderships, threatened to end the political - if not material - isolation of Gaza. It posed a risk to the current state of things by providing Hamas, a political movement which came to power through elections, with a means for re-entering the realm of international legitimacy.

Once the Americans and Europeans agreed to recognise the new caretaker government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to seek a way out of his new, uncomfortable isolation. He could not attack the Palestinians solely for their political reconciliation - the Americans would admonish him for that. Nor, to his great consternation, could he convince world powers to repeal their endorsement of the new government. Desperately, he sought a way out.

Restoring Netanyahu's balance

It came in the form of tragedy. When the three Jewish-Israeli settler teenagers disappeared in the West Bank, the Israeli leadership claimed that they were still alive. Through its prerogative as the enforcement vehicle of Israeli apartheid, the army spent three weeks smashing into hundreds of homes and terrorising their occupants in the search for the three youths.

More than 500 Palestinian men were rounded up and imprisoned as Netanyahu clamoured for the teenagers' return and inveighed against Hamas, the group he claimed kidnapped the youths. No evidence was offered. Only bluster, bombast, and fatalistic conviction delivered in a sonorous tone of voice.


As Max Blumenthal has documented, it was all a shameful and cynical political show. The Israeli leadership knew within the first day of their disappearance that the youths were dead; bullet holes, blood samples and a telephone recording provided evidence of what happened. But the ever-receptive Jewish-Israeli public demanded revenge and by the time the extent of the sham was revealed, the Israelis had killed nine people in the West Bank and three more in the Gaza Strip through missiles they fired in "retaliation" for the West Bank murders.

Naturally, the Palestinians availed themselves of their right to self-defence. They used crude, unguided workshop missiles to reclaim the balance of fear that existed - thereby providing the Israeli leadership with more material for international consumption. It is now claimed that the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza ghetto had nothing to do with the murders of the three Jewish-Israeli youths. Instead, Israel is merely "responding" to Hamas' nihilistic provocations.

More than a month after the reconciliation, it appears that Netanyahu has succeeded - his balance has been restored. Israelis are free to indulge in a grand delusion of self-righteousness. "No normal country could tolerate terrorists firing missiles into its urban centres," they say.

"No normal country practises the crime of apartheid."

"No normal country demolishes the homes of suspects…

or punishes millions of people…

or seeks vengeance and vengeance and vengeance in a fit of bloody wrath," we might wearily reply

I wish I knew where those girls (Chibok) are; if I knew I would go there and pick them up and bring them back. But it’s out of my hands but we will keep praying and keep hoping that they are all safe and they will be returned to their families.”

this comment of mikel just made me laugh in french

that guy need to see a doctor

i cant see it nah

ok space boooked in case it makes front page

ask her when last she was screeming when banged

you will not unless he chops you like food everyday.


try and hold yourself.


some ladies self i just tire for una case

abeg no carry english break our head.

how many times will they warn you to stop facebook relationship.

go and marry her nah.

ok spaced booked

A friend once told me that Nigeria "may not be easy in 2015", now am beginning to see why... Controversy has greeted the said watch list of President Goodluck Jonathan with a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, identifying himself and others as some of those on the list. El-Rufai’s tweet on Thursday evening triggered another controversy when he wrote that he's number seven on the alleged Jonathan’s secret snipers’ watch list. El-Rurai also went ahead to identified others on the list as: Former military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu; Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and former Osun State Governor and Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande. Recall that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo had, in a letter dated December 2nd, 2013, accused Jonathan of training snipers and putting 1,000 people on a watch list. Obasanjo had also accused Jonathan of having a killer-squad and later said he had facts before making the issue public. President Jonathan denied the allegations in his reply letter to Obasanjo, but more is coming out now. May God save Nigeria and Nigerians!

This is really sad. Doctors in Edo State, especially the ones in Irrua, have cried out for help. According to them, they have been asking the Government to come to their aid and stop the way kidnappers have been kidnapping them and their family members and even killing some of them, but they have only received little assistance from the Government. Here are some of what happened to them in 2013. Really sad.

*On May 1, a Specialist Physician was kidnapped at about 7 p.m. on his way home from working. Following a scuffle, he was shot in the abdomen and abandoned for dead. Emergency surgery was what saved his life. Continue after the cut.

*On August 12, a trainee physician was kidnapped abducted at about 6 p.m. at the gate of his house, while returning from work. He was later released after seven days in the kidnappers den.

*August 20 was the turn of the wife of an obstetrician and her six-month old baby. They were picked in front of the gate of their house in broad day light. Both mother and child were kept in the bush without a cover for four days.

*On August 25, a House Officer was kidnapped. His ordeal lasted six days. On November 7, a Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon received a threatening letter to either deposit N3 million or risk his children being kidnapped. He had to shut down every activity and took his family out of his residence. These included withdrawing his children from school and staying away from work. This lasted for four weeks till today he still move with fears.

*On November 29, at about 8 p.m., an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist was kidnapped along with his pregnant wife, one-year-old baby and a house help while driving home. After a short drive in his car, he received a gunshot to his chest. He died before help could reach him. His name was Sunday Eruzegbua (37).

*On December 23, a private medical practitioner and gospel minister was taken at about 7.30 p.m. while driving home from work. His ordeal ended four days later,when he was released by his captors.

congrat

Patience Jonathan and Mbu.jpg Nigerians are beginning to see that we are now living in desperate times. Everybody, stay alert... As you read this, a credible source has revealed that Rivers State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, has been ordered to release the detained armed thugs of George Sekibo, a Senator; and Evans Bipi, a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who were caught with arms by JTF on their way to Rivers State. The release order, according to findings, is coming from President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience. Sekibo and Bipi are both close political allies of the First Lady. The six suspected thugs were arrested by the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) on their way to Ogu (hometown of the two politicians) in Rivers State. The JTF later handed them over to the police for prosecution. But Mrs Jonathan was said to have ordered Mbu, the CP, to release the suspects and return to them the arms and ammunition found in their possession. Meanwhile, a crisis of confidence seems to be brewing between the JTF/Army and the police in Rivers State on how the story of the arrest of the armed thugs leaked to the media. Mbu was said to have complained loudly that the story must have been leaked to the media by the Army. It was further gathered that Mbu equally lamented that the other security agencies, namely Army, Navy, Air Force and SSS, in the state are not helping him and the police in the fight against Governor Rotimi Amaechi. According to a Daily Independent report, Mbu allegedly cited the arrest and the subsequent leakage of it to the media as an example, adding that if it was the Rivers State Police Command that made the arrest, the media won’t have heard about it. But a source within the JTF dismissed Mbu’s claims and described them as “ridiculous and preposterous”. The source maintained that the Army do not get involved in politics and can not take sides in political fights. The source, an Army personnel, said the Army is for all Nigerians, and added that “Mbu must be a joker, if he expects the Army to do otherwise.” You may wish to know that all those arrested are from the same Okrika tribe with Patience Jonathan

where is the source of this lie

ANODA JOBLESS FOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is that all you got

will cross dancing etigi and galala

AND how many game did kompany played in 2013 that made you include him.



error

stop spreading lies and give us the source of this rubbish.


source before i belive this crap.

And for ur information that your olufamous is not a source.

thunder fire ur smelling mouth

see error.


hammer head of horror