Venue: St. James Park

lalasticlala
mukina2

TEAM NEWS
Christian Pulisic will be absent for Chelsea with a hamstring injury sustained in the warm-up against Burnley last weekend.

Midfielder Kai Havertz is self-isolating after a positive test for Covid-19.

Injured Sheffield United pair John Fleck and Lys Mousset have stepped up their rehabilitation but won't feature.

The Blades will also be without loanee Ethan Ampadu, who is ineligible to face his parent club.

LAWRO'S PREDICTION
Sheffield United just can't score goals. Since beating Chelsea 3-0 in July, they have only managed four in 10 league games - and two of those were penalties.

They have picked up only one point in that spell, when their performances haven't actually been that bad - so it is obvious where their problems lie.

In contrast, Chelsea have scored 10 goals in their past three games and have not conceded in any of their past five. That is all very impressive, but I am still not wholly convinced.

They should win on Saturday but I am waiting for them to crack again.

Prediction: 2-0

MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head

Sheffield United could keep consecutive league clean sheets against Chelsea for the first time.
With four wins from eight meetings, the Blades are one of four clubs to have won more Premier League matches against Chelsea than they have lost (D1, L3).
Chelsea

Chelsea are on a 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions, winning five and drawing five.
They have kept five consecutive clean sheets for the first time since September-October 2010. It is 12 years since they went six competitive games without conceding.
Edouard Mendy is only the third goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in each of his first three Chelsea Premier League appearances.
Timo Werner has been involved in four goals in his last three Premier League games, scoring three and setting up one.
Sheffield United

Sheffield United are on an 11-match winless run in all competitions since a 3-0 home win over Chelsea on 11 July.
The Blades could remain winless in their first eight league games for the first time since 1990-91.
Only four clubs have had two points or fewer after eight matches of a Premier League season and gone on to avoid relegation.
Billy Sharp is one shy of 100 league goals for Sheffield United.
Manager Chris Wilder is one win away from his 100th in all competitions for the Blades.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/54758066

There are indications that a similar political gambit that upstaged Nigeria’s First and Second Republics in 1966 and 1983, as well as, aborted the Third Republic in 1993, is playing out also in the current Fourth Republic.
It seems one of the national leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is in the middle of the raging storm. Pundits are waiting to see how the scenario pans out ultimately from now till 2023, when Nigeria conducts another general elections. In a fashion typical of Yoruba hew and cut brand of politics, the intrigues surrounding the former governor of Lagos State’s exploits in politics reached a crescendo last Tuesday, when an angry mob set ablaze businesses and investments they think were owned by the national leader.



While some analysts held that his (Tinubu) ambition to contest the 2023 presidency is behind attempts by his political rivals to wreck him financially, others think the arsonists that attacked TVC, The Nation Newspaper, Oriental Hotels and other establishments owned or affiliated to him was to demonise him before the electorate before the next general election.
Although, the current Fourth Republic is the longest stretch of democratic dispensation in Nigeria so far, most of the factors that destroyed the preceding experiments are threatening the democratic dispensation.

Recall that similar claim of ‘state of anarchy’, which was touted as basis for military intrusion has played out fully in the last 17 days, when Nigerian youths trooped out on street protests across the nation demanding an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (#EndSARS) a unit of the Nigeria Police Force.

Blast From The Past

AND as in previous instances, the chaos started from the Southern region, especially Southwest zone otherwise known as Western Region in those days.



During the regional government, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, founder of the defunct Action Group (AG) and his lieutenant, Chief Ladoke Akintola were at the centre of the crises in that eventually collapsed first civilian administration in the country.



The military struck in January 1966, wiped off most of the civilian rulers including the first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa. Nigeria did not smell civil rule again till another 13 years.
The 1976 military coup, which toppled the then Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) brought in Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who hurriedly put in place a transition programme and handed over power to a democratically elected president, the late Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979.



Again, Awolowo, the founder of major opposition Unity Party (UPN) was at the centre of political turbulence with some prominent Yoruba politicians who either out of party jealousy of political existence worked against him. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari terminated the civilian administration in 1983.

Another synonymy that blew up first two civilian governments was the high rate of corruption among public elected officers to the extent that between 1979 and 1983, Nigeria’s economy had been seriously bastardised by ‘corruption’ the Shagari administration was forced to declare what was then known as ‘Austerity Measure’.



But, beyond election malpractices and corruption is the bad blood among Yoruba politicians, who deliberately distanced themselves from Awolowo’s progressive political philosophy. His opponents chose to align with the north.

Critical to the collapse of the republics were also the challenges of nepotism and tribalism. With the return of military rule in 1983, Nigeria did not taste civilian government again until 1999 but at a severe cost to life, property and civil unrest under the military leadership of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar respectively.



The short lived Third Republic in which governors were elected, National Assembly was in place and the various states Assembly intact, it did not last the test of time when Babaginda in collaboration with some fifth columnists in Southwest annulled the 1993 Presidential Election claimed to have been won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.
By November 1993, Abacha, who succeeded Babangida brought back full military regime by suspending the constitution, disbanded the National Assembly and chose military administrators in place of elected governors. It took the country another six years to return to democratic rule.
While the rivalry between Awolowo and Akintola was noted as one of the factors that triggered the Western Region crisis, when property belonging to the opposition were set ablaze in Southwest, the unresolved political differences and hatred among Yoruba political stakeholders was part of the issues that hastened the downfall of the Second Republic.



When Nigeria eventually returned to democracy, which was named the Fourth Republic, Chief Obasanjo was to benefit the sacrifice made by Abiola and all those that died during the June 12 1993 debacle. Tinubu was elected governor of Lagos State on the platform of defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) that later transformed to Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and APC.

No sooner the Fourth Republic commenced, Tinubu, Obasanjo and some prominent Yoruba including leaders of socio-cultural groups started the typical Southwest politics of hatred.



In 2003, Obasanjo used discontent among the Yoruba leaders andAfenifere to introduce a garrison politics of ‘Operation Capture Southwest’. He (Obasanjo) allegedly applied the federal might to oust AD governors in Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun and Ogun except in Lagos.


By the time Tinubu completed his second term in 2007, he has emerged the strongman of Lagos politics with the political power to determine his successor, former Governor Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works and Housing. In 2015, he also facilitated the emergence of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who secceeded Fashola.
Apart from his dominance of Lagos politics in spite of bitter oppositions within and outside his platform, Tinubu also joined forces with other politicians across the length and breath of Nigeria to merge and form a mega party APC in 2014.



In 2013, the parties that made up APC were Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and some disgruntled members of PDP led by Chairman of the splinter group, Kawu Baraje.

In 2015, APC, at its presidential primary held in Lagos allegedly at the instance of Tinubu, President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the party presidential candidate with the support of the national leader.



The choice of Buhari’s mate also degenerated into subtle crisis within the party as Tinubu was said to have shown interest in running a joint ticket with Buhari, but his opposition in the party refused. He was however given the privilege to appoint his choice candidate as Buhari’s running mate, which brought in the incumbent Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

The politics that also surrounded the 2014 presidential primary of APC did not go down well with Atiku and other PDP members arm of the merger. The development did not only pit Tinubu against Atiku, other PDP apologists in the merger, bear him grudge but the climax of the intrigues was the election of the principal officers of the National Assembly, especially Senate where former Senate President, Bukola Saraki emerged against the ruling party’s preference.

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Baraje, who led splinter group in PDP to the APC and the likes of Saraki, Atiku and others were not so comfortable with the kind of political power Tinubu wielded in the ruling party, at different point in time, majority of them returned to their former platform, PDP.

Tinubu and some stakeholders in the party also clashed over the appointment of ministers, but at the end of the day, President Buhari chose his cabinet members allegedly with less input from the national leader.

His involvement in the 2016 governorship elections in Ondo State and the one of 2018 in Osun and Ekiti also created misgivings between Tinubu, APC Governors and Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

Tinubu’s desire to ensure one of his cronies, James Faleke inherited the governorship ticket when the party’s candidate, Alhaji Abubaka Audu slumped and passed on few hours before the announcement of the result of the 2015 guber poll in Kogi did not materialise as a result of intrigues with the APC.



From 2015 when Buhari assumed power to 2018, Mr. President refused to pay official visit to Lagos such that at a point, his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the wife of the President, Aisha raised the alarm that unknown forces had hijacked power in the Presidency at the expenses of those who made invaluable contributions to Buhari’s emergence as president.

Tinubu was also caught in the political intrigues of who should succeed the pioneer National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun when the position became vacant in 2018.

Tinubu later backed former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole to succeed Odigie-Oyegun. Some aggrieved members of the party later pointed accusing fingers at Tinubu that his plan was to use Oshiomhole to take over the machinery of the party.

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Ambode saga

The congresses of APC in 2018 during which the party leadership under Oshiomhole adopted direct primaries to select its candidates for the last 2019 general elections further strained the bond between the national leader and his opponents in the party.



As at early 2018, Ambode was regarded as the governor general among the 36 governors based on his record of performance in three years. It was however shocking to many party members including the presidency, when direct primary was used on October 2, 2018 to deny Ambode return ticket for the 2019 election. This paved way for the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to emerge as the APC governorship candidate and eventually won the election.



This is in addition to the breakaway of the Fouad Oki-led factional executive in Lagos State who also staged a parallel Congress in Lagos where he (Oki) emerged as Lagos APC chairman. But Oshiomhole led National Working Committee recognised the Tunde Balogun led executive.



As at the end of 2018, almost all the political beneficiaries of the national leader have separated camp with him. For instance, when President Buhari appointed Tinubu to led a reconciliation committee to resolve all the crises that came due to the fray nerves in the party congresses, the likes of former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, Fayemi, erstwhile National Legal Adviser of the party, Muiz Banire, Akeredolu among others have severed relationship with Tinubu.



While Amosun saw himself as the leader of the party in Ogun State and would therefore not succumb to the dictate of any Lagos godfather, Akeredolu and Fayemi had grouse with Tinubu as they suspected he was plotting against their governorship ambition. Just like Banire felt that the national leader sacrificed him to bring in Babatunde Ogala.


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By the time the 2019 elections were concluded, APC had been factionalised into different camps, a development that subsequently led to the suspension and later removal of Oshiomhole.



During a programme organised by Banire in Lagos State, Governor Nasir el-Rufai told the audience he had a clue how to deal with political godfather in Lagos. He was interpreted to be referring to Tinubu as the godfather that must be dealt with.
2023 Politics

No sooner Buhari was re-elected for second term in 2019 than preparations for 2023 election started when some sycophants began the move that Tinubu is nursing ambition to succeed Buhari. Political permutations became obvious and Tinubu again surfaced in the midst of the controversy. Although, he has not officially declared interest to run in 2023, some stakeholders however see him as a threat to be dealt with as soon as possible before it is too late.



Perhaps, that must have been part of the reasons some governors on the platform of the party insisted on the exit of Oshiomhole as national chairman.


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At Oshiomhole’s exit, calculations for his successor came up and Tinubu was accused of plotting to impose another stooge in the person of former Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi. This development caused disaffection between Tinubu and Ekiti State APC, which argued that the position of deputy national chairman earlier occupied by Otunba Niyi Adebayo, current Minister of Trade and Investment, should not be ceded to Oyo State’s Ajimobi. Ekiti APC refused to budge as it threatened court action if Gbenga Aluko was sidetracked to favour Ajimobi. The aftermath was the emergence of the Mai Mala Buni caretaker committee.
#EndSARS Confusion

When youths trooped to the streets about 17 days ago, protesting against police brutality and codenamed #EndSARS, not too many gave them the chance to go as far as they went until about last week when the protests had rapidly spread across the country and nearly paralysed the nation.



The Lekki Toll Gate, a significant route in Lagos was completely shutdown by the protesters who occupied the axis 24 hours every day. Similar thing was happening simultaneously at the various government houses in the Southwest and by last weekend, movement and businesses were brought to a standstill by the youths.

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At a point, a source said one of the former governors in Southwest led a delegation to Buhari alleging that Tinubu was the one behind the protests.

Shortly thereafter, the northern group Miyetti Allah issued a threat to Tinubu alleging the national leader was the brain behind the protests, while, at the same time, some admirers of the protesting youths also pointed accusing finger that Tinubu tried to engage hoodlums to thwart the peaceful protests.



The situation degenerated last Tuesday, when shooting at the prostesters was recorded at the Lekki Toll Gate and in spontaneous actions, hoodlums, who must have been waiting to strike took advantage of the situation to take over the streets and one of their mission was to attack all the businesses associated with Tinubu.



Before the mayhem, Tinubu himself had issued a statement to clear his position on the protests where he acknowledged the fact that the country had witnessed massive protests by youths in different cities, which were ignited by widespread disenchantment with the gross human rights abuses including torture, extortion, harassment, intimidation, and even extra-judicial killings of Nigerians by members of the disbanded Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS).


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He aligned with the protesters demanding fundamental police reforms. This, according to Tinubu, is in sync with national aspiration in our national anthem, “to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.”



But then he admonished the protesters must admit that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has acted with commendable dispatch by not only scrapping SARS but also accepting the five-point demand that triggered the protests, which according to him, shows a laudable sensitivity to the grievances of the youths.



He said it was only fair that the government must be given the chance to implement the reforms demanded by the protesters. Tinubu’s argument was that all the demands could not be done instantaneously by the waving of a magic wand. He had said, “If the government had not implemented promised reforms in the past, the swiftness with which it has responded to the demands of the protesters this time around shows that there is a positive change by the government both in attitude and of a new sense of urgency.”



He strongly appealed to the protesters, saying they had made their point and government had also shown commitment to grant all the demands.
For Tinubu to have now become the central figure in the crisis and being accused from both ends is a puzzle that must be unraveled.

https://guardian.ng/politics/tinubus-travails-and-aftershock-of-endsars-protests

How is this not a penalty?

1

Someone should please drop the starting lineup.
No images please just type it

Xixtie:

Your own problem is phone?
What business do you have with social media in SS1 that is turning you to a beggar?

And note, I am not begging.
That's the reason why I said IF YOU HAVE

Xixtie:

Your own problem is phone?
What business do you have with social media in SS1 that is turning you to a beggar?

The minimum age for joining Facebook is 13 right? and I also use WhatsApp

Who gat some few cash to spare and would like to give me out of it.
I won't lie.
I am a student currently in SS1.
I need a smartphone because the one I was using got spoilt.
If you gat the spare cash, kindly send some bucks to my UBA teenager's account.
No: 2158305916
I am currently using a feature phone.

• ‘Prof. Akintoye Leading Us Nowhere’

• He Remains Our Leader – Chief Ayorinde

• Politicians Greatest Problem Of Yoruba Nation – Tola Adeniyi
The leadership crisis rocking the Yoruba World Congress (YWC), an umbrella body of all Yoruba socio-cultural, self-determination, and advocacy groups in Nigeria and the Diaspora, deepened at the weekend as the group insisted that the removal of their protem leader, Prof Banji Akintoye, was final and irreversible.

Akintoye was elected sometime last year to chair the Assembly of all Yoruba Groups Worldwide by about 70 pan Yoruba groups. The seat had been vacant for years following the demise of the late Chief Abraham Adesanya.

One of the founding fathers of the group, Akogun Tola Adeniyi, while explaining the reason for Akintoye’s removal in an exclusive interview with The Guardian, alleged that Akintoye’s recent actions violate the constitution of the YWC, adding: “We removed him because we found out he will not lead us anywhere with his leadership style.”

But the Baale Ekotedo, Chief Taye Ayorinde said Akintoye remains the Yoruba leader as agreed by over 70 groups that elected him in Ibadan in August last year.

In a telephone conversation with The Guardian, the embattled leader, Akintoye, however, said four people do not have the capacity to remove him, saying he knows why they were angry.

He said, “In a family, there can be disagreement. But it must be resolved. I know why they are angry. But only four people cannot remove a leader. The crisis will soon be over because people will come together after the storm.

“The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the first leader of Yoruba, followed by Chief Adekunle Ajasin, then Chief Abraham Adesanya and Akintoye are now the fourth in that succession. Nobody can undo whatever we have done.”

But Adeniyi said the misunderstanding and miscommunication came with equating the 70 groups of Yoruba leadership, which did not go beyond Ketu in the Benin Republic to that of global leadership for the race, of which Akintoye was the protem chairman before his removal.

He said, “There is no crack. If there is any misunderstanding that appears like a crack, it is that some people in Ibadan that appointed or elected Akintoye as their leader were desperate to hijack the leadership of the Yoruba World Congress. That may be the thing, and that we in the leadership of the YWC, unfortunately, did not make it clear enough that the Yoruba World Congress did not appoint Akintoye. Like I keep saying, Akintoye was elected as Yoruba leader in the homeland and it does not extend to Cuba or any other parts outside Nigeria.”

Akogun Adeniyi noted that “When the late Chief Richard Akinjide suggested or nominated Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Yoruba Leader in the 60s, immediately after Major Adekunle Fajuyi was assassinated, it was just for that purpose. It did not extend to the political era.

“To some of us who founded the YWC as far back as late 2018 and early 2019, and have been meeting regularly in Professor Akintoye’s house and in other places, we did not envisage that a time would come that a collection of organisations in Ibadan would want to see itself as a rival to YWC. And because we said that YWC was open to every Yoruba person, and it was going to be absolutely nonpolitical and non-partisan, every Yoruba person in the Benin Republic, in Cuba and other parts of the world was qualified to be a member.”

Reacting to the allegation that the politicians have hijacked the YWC, Adeniyi said, “If any group was hijacked by the politicians, it would certainly be Prof. Akintoye. Certainly, the YWC, has not, cannot, and will not be hijacked by politicians because we are above politicians. We believe politicians are the greatest problem in Nigeria. Politicians are the greatest problem of the Yoruba nation because many bad things have been happening to the Yoruba nation and our politicians, who we believe are mercenaries and commercials, have kept mute.

He stressed that strong or sane members of the YWC will not touch politicians with the longest poll.

He said, “While we recognise their existence, while we recognise that any Yoruba who has political ambition has a right to his soul and to pursue his life the way he likes, the stand of YWC is that it will never be associated with anything political. As a matter of fact, our leadership has a goal that even if your son or relative is in active politics, you cannot be in the leadership of the Yoruba World Congress.

“When you see people in a video, dancing, singing and jumping up like people in a political rally, then that may be a pointer to the kind of people who are in politics and can be hijacked by politicians, especially the multi-crowd that elected Akintoye as a leader in Ibadan.”

Speaking on what made YWC different from Afenifere and other groups, the ex-Daily Times Managing Director, said, “All these organisations, especially Afenifere, which is peopled by most respected Yoruba leaders, would sometimes say they are also political. They will say they are the fathers of AD or they will say they are supporting a presidential candidate.

“But Yoruba World Congress is not interested in all of these. Our focus is Yoruba. When we say Yoruba leader in Yoruba World Congress, we are talking of the likes of Mike Adenuga, he is a leader in the corporate world; and when we mention Jide Kosoko, he is a leader in the entertainment business in Nigeria. Yoruba leadership in our own culture is not limited to politicians. The Eleganza boss, Chief Rasaq Okoya, Otunba Subomi Balogun, late Emeritus Prof. Akinkugbe, Prof. Mrs. Ogunseye, the first woman Professor in Africa… these are leaders and that’s our orientation.”

Adeniyi added that members of the YWC respect and adore the likes of the Late Pa Fasanmi, Papa Fasoranti, and the never-say-die Papa Adebanjo because they see the limitation of their vision to Yoruba homeland. “That is the difference. They are critical to the emancipation of the Yoruba people. They have been leading us for generations,” he said.

When asked to mention the face and voice of Yoruba today, he said, “Who is the face of the Fulani? Who is the face of the Igbos? Who is the face of the English people in the European Union? You see, this is the thing. We tend to be living in old times. We believe there must be a Mr. so so who is the leader of so so so. In liberation struggle, in proper leadership, it is collective. Who was the leader of the Jews that built them to be one of the most powerful people on earth? It was collective.”

For Adeniyi, the approach to solving Nigeria’s problems should not be rooted in the past. He said, “Like I say to the people, now, because of the brainpower in the Northern establishment, they did not wait to do the Jihad the way Dan Fodio led all of them up to Osogbo. What they did is that they already planted all who are going to fight all over the place. So, if the Yoruba also want to free themselves, they shouldn’t be talking of Fabunmi in Ekiti, or Ogedengbe or Ogunmola or Lisabi of Egba, because the world has advanced beyond that kind of tradition and approach. The world has become digital and this is what we keep telling the Yoruba elites; they should stop thinking in the past. They should stop going about and singing, ‘Baba o, Baba o, Baba o, Oluwa da Baba si funwa…’ Those are pedestrian approaches to leadership. Ideas drive the world.”

https://guardian.ng/news/yoruba-elders-tango-as-leadership-crisis-deepens/

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Hustle o so your children will not ask you why you gave birth to them

GodWrites:
I don't think you can get a new smartphone for 8k. I understand the pressure to own a phone now, especially if your mates already have. But I would advice you to exercise some patience.

Save some more and buy a better phone. A good phone will expose you to lots of opportunities, compared to one that will give you a headache.

Thanks so much for advice. I'm not about buying a new phone with the 8000. I said the 8000 is the money i have currently. I know I still have to save more.
Just tell me what you know about the Tecno spark 2( any of the series)

Good day Nairalanders.
I'm a 13-year old boy currently in Jss3.
I created a topic about need of advice about which phone I can buy as a student with low- budget some months ago and some good-minded niggas commented-- most of them talking about Tecno Pop.
After reading reviews on smartphones by surfing the internet, I decided to try the Tecno Spark series most especially the Spark 2.
I just want to ask Nairalanders;
how good is the Tecno KA7(1gb RAM variant) and the Tecno KA9 (2gb RAM variant)?
For phone sellers in the forum, what is the current price of the Tecno KA9 and KA7(Spark 2)?
Do you guys have any suggestions as to which other phone I can buy?

N.B:
I have just 8,000 naira in my savings box so any phones suggestions now is under LATER when I have saved enough.
My parents have warned me against used phones cause of the high risks associated with them so any comments about used phones are completely useless.

And last question, who can tell me which highly profitable business I can do with the 8000 naira?

Thanks to you all in advance for your time.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Good day Nairalanders.
I'm a 13-year old boy currently in Jss3.
I created a topic about need of advice about which phone I can buy as a student with low- budget some months ago and some good-minded niggas commented-- most of them talking about Tecno Pop.
After reading reviews on smartphones by surfing the internet, I decided to try the Tecno Spark series most especially the Spark 2.
I just want to ask Nairalanders;
how good is the Tecno KA7(1gb RAM variant) and the Tecno KA9 (2gb RAM variant)?
For phone sellers in the forum, what is the current price of the Tecno KA9 and KA7(Spark 2)?
Do you guys have any suggestions as to which other phone I can buy?

N.B:
I have just 8,000 naira in my savings box so any phones suggestions now is under LATER when I have saved enough.
My parents have warned me against used phones cause of the high risks associated with them so any comments about used phones are completely useless.

And last question, who can tell me which highly profitable business I can do with the 8000 naira?

Thanks to you all in advance for your time.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Good day Nairalanders.
I'm a 13-year old boy currently in Jss3.
I created a topic about need of advice about which phone I can buy as a student with low- budget some months ago and some good-minded niggas commented-- most of them talking about Tecno Pop.
After reading reviews on smartphones by surfing the internet, I decided to try the Tecno Spark series most especially the Spark 2.
I just want to ask Nairalanders;
how good is the Tecno KA7(1gb RAM variant) and the Tecno KA9 (2gb RAM variant)?
For phone sellers in the forum, what is the current price of the Tecno KA9 and KA7(Spark 2)?
Do you guys have any suggestions as to which other phone I can buy?

N.B:
I have just 8,000 naira in my savings box so any phones suggestions now is under LATER when I have saved enough.
My parents have warned me against used phones cause of the high risks associated with them so any comments about used phones are completely useless.

And last question, who can tell me which highly profitable business I can do with the 8000 naira?

Thanks to you all in advance for your time.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Space for sale.
FTC

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FTC

Which is the most likely geopolitical zone to produce the All Progressives Congress´s (APC) presidential standard-bearer in 2023? The right answer happens to be one, which most APC insiders would rather prefer to be left to blow in the wind. But, try as hard as they may, some telltale signs, including events of the recent weeks; have continued to combine as plausible indicators.

In the light of the foregoing therefore, the following posers would also help to elucidate the foundation of those pointers:

For instance, was the sacking of the party´s National Working Committee (NWC) the only pathway to peace and unity in the party´s leadership following the recriminations and counter-claims to its leadership after Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was suspended from the post of national chairman?

Given that the APC´s constitution expressly provides for two deputy national chairmen, one apiece for the north and south, does commonsense and logic not favour the deputy national chairman north, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, to step into the acting position since his then counterpart from the south, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, was facing some health challenges that eventually e dot his death?


Some stakeholders maintained that that would have been the proper thing to do, but in the face of political calculations and scheming, things that seem proper lose their essential qualities as they are made to look odd and counterproductive.

The general notion among APC stakeholders is that it was the political supremacy contest between Oshiomhole and Governor Godwin Obaseki, which gave rise to the suspension of the former national chairman that stoked the leadership crisis in the NWC.

But the speed with which the National Executive Committee (NEC), led by President Buhari dismantled the NWC, instead of exploring alternative routes, like empowering Senator Shuaibu, or even allowing Victor Giadom to exhaust his two-week ex parte order, shows that a takeover was long contemplated.

Not that alone, although it could be argued that Governor Mai Mala Buni’s experience and stint as APC national secretary placed him in pole position to serve as chairman of the Caretaker Committee and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, his choice betrayed the scheming to give the APC presidential ticket to a particular zone.

Before his sudden death, the former Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari, was allegedly working assiduously alongside other notable northern leaders of the party to recompense the Northeast with a shot at the presidency.

The clever scheme

Kyari and others, particularly the former vice presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ambassador Babagana Kingide, were said to have covert scheme that would throw up a perceived weak candidate from the Southeast, whose preference would trigger opposition from established APC stalwarts from the zone, especially the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator (Dr.) Chris Ngige and former Imo State governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha.

The group could not settle on who, between the Ministers of Science and Technology and Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ogbonnia Onu and Geoffrey Onyeama, to put forward before Kyari passed on last April.

According to those privy to the plot, the game plan was to fly the kite of putting forward either Onu or Onyeama while some APC leaders in Southeast would be tipped off to work for their emergence as running mate to a northern candidate at the expense of their fellow Southeast aspirants.


The plot was so thick that prior to the 2019 presidential poll, Kyari took the message to the Southeast through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

The SGF had enjoined the Southeast electorate to vote en masse for President Buhari, stressing that doing so would pave the way for the emergence of a president in 2023 from the zone.

APC stakeholders from Northeast have been making a case for their zone to produce President Buhari’s successor, a development sources said made states in the zone, especially Bornu, Gombe and Yobe to boost votes for the president in 2019.

Apart from the concentration of prestigious federal appointments in the zone, particularly Bauchi State, most APC stakeholders are in the know of the plan to reward the Northeast with the APC presidential candidate in 2023.

Few days to his emergence as the Senate Deputy President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege parried the issue of zoning the 2023 presidency to Northeast during an interview with The Guardian in such a way that belied the non-verbal cue.

However, if the motivation to postpone APC’s zoning stance is to keep the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) guessing, it appears the gambit is not paying off. This is because feelers from PDP show that the party does is not in a hurry to alter its 2019 zoning format. Immediate past Benue State governor, Senator Gabriel Suswan recently confirmed that position in an interview with a national newspaper.

A highly placed source in PDP also informed The Guardian that the general belief within the major opposition party is that it did not lose the 2019 presidential poll.

Return of APC’s zoning troubles

As if responding to a cue, shortly after the Caretaker and Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CENCPC) was put together, the nagging zoning issue reared its head. A list detailing what the authors called the “APC 2020 extraordinary zoning arrangement for the forthcoming national convention” started making the rounds in traditional and social media platforms.


In the list, which the deputy national publicity secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena repudiated, the positions of national chairman and deputy national publicity secretary were zoned to the Northeast, while the Southeast was allotted the posts of national secretary and deputy national organizing secretary.

For Northwest and Southwest, the major party positions carved out for them are as follows: national organizing secretary and national financial secretary as well as national treasurer and national publicity secretary respectively. While the North Central has national legal adviser and national auditor, the South/South is expected to produce the deputy national chairman (South) and the deputy national organizing secretary.

Caretaker and Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CENCPC) Secretary, Senator John Akpan Udoedehe, told The Guardian over the telephone that the issue of zoning did not arise in the course of their consultations with the leaders, stressing,

“Our guidelines are very clear.”

The Akwa Ibom State-born APC stalwart explained that there are things the caucus can do and those that only the NEC and convention can do also, adding that the zoning of offices falls within the responsibility of the NEC.

“I don’t think that that (zoning) is within our mandate,” Udoedehe. “We have not reached a decision on those things you have said,” adding that all what the committee was doing is “to put our party together.”

Nnamani

While remarking that the CENCPC has only six months to complete its assignment, Udoedehe said there was no quarrel within the party, explaining that the committee’s visit to Tinubu was part of the consultations by the team.

“We just met with our leader as part of the wide consultation to guide us to bring everybody on board,” he said. “If anybody is talking about zoning that could only be done by the caucus, by which I mean the NEC of the party. It is not this committee; we have not that power.

“I talk to you because you are The Guardian. I am not supposed to talk to the press, because I align myself with what my chairman has said. Social media has this knack for knocking heads through speculations and spreading falsehood.”

But despite the official denials, it is becoming obvious that the zoning issue might present the governing party with more problems than the sacking of the NWC solved.


Whether the next national chairman comes from either Northeast or Southeast, the point has been unwittingly made that the two geopolitical zones have been primed for the presidential joint ticket. And knowing that there is no way a candidate from Southeast could trounce his rival from Northeast in a delegate election in APC, ceding the position of national chairman to Southeast would go along way to confirm where the next presidential candidate of the party would emerge.

Could it be that the CENCPC’s visit to Bourdillon Street residence of the APC national leader was to dissuade him from oiling a possible divorce plan or a mere feel good gesture to rub in the displacement of his protégé, Oshiomhole, from the commanding heights of APC?

Like Oshiomhole said, whatever people meet at night to plan would come to light by the day. As such, if the issue of zoning does not present a nagging problem to the party, it would be evident in November, when the convention holds.

A big question that only APC leaders at the level of NEC would answer is whether the convention would be an all-comers affair for aspirants to the positions, particularly those of the national chairman, national secretary and national organizing secretary.

Those are the pillars upon which every political party erects its candidates for election. In a statement, the APC deputy national publicity secretary, Nabena, urged party faithful and the general public to disregard the purported zoning arrangement. Nabena insisted that the inaugural meeting of the CENCPC, which held at the APC National Secretariat last Monday did not discuss or issue the fake zoning arrangement for the forthcoming national convention.

He, however, added that if “and when a zoning arrangement is made for the planned national convention, it would be officially communicated and publicised.”

Nigerians are waiting to see how the next APC national convention could be planned without a word on zoning. That indeed would determine what becomes of the party or its take-off point for the journey to 2023.

@Lalasticlala

Front page

.‘Timing coincidental, nothing to do with IMF, World Bank’

• Economists advocate currency, lifestyle audit

• Moghalu, Sanusi, others disagree on exchange rate unification

The country’s fiscal state faces tougher times as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bowed to pressure, last week, and further devalued the local currency.

The adjustment of the exchange rate at the busiest window is coming three months after the local currency was similarly devalued by 24.6 per cent, a decision that has worsened the inflationary pressure and interest rate.

Bloomberg reported at the weekend that the CBN raised the rate at the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) – a window where importers access foreign currencies – from N360/$1 to N380/$1 with an instruction to bidders to comply accordingly.

The directive came less than two weeks after CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele hinted that the apex bank was moving towards ending the multiple-rate regime.

As at press time, it was not clear whether the latest adjustment would mark the commencement of the planned rate harmonisation. Efforts to confirm this and the validity of the directive, which is yet to be officially announced, failed as the CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, did not pick his call or reply to text messages.

But one of the CBN Governor’s advisers, who didn’t want to be named, told The Guardian: “It is not true that we came under pressure or that it was a condition by the two institutions, though they have been wanting us to unify our exchange rate regimes.

“Remember that in 2017, we needed a loan from them. They insisted and we told them no and we went for Euro bond. We could still have gone elsewhere if we were not desirous of adjusting our rate, which is our core strategic action undertaken from time to time, depending on the economic realities.

“So, we did it at this time and it just merely coincided with the time we are seeking assistance from them. Please, ignore such insinuations. The adjustment here had nothing to do with IMF. After all, IMF has already released its own funds to us. So, it has nothing to do with either the IMF or the World Bank or their assistance.”

The harmonisation, however, is a subject of debate among market operators and economists. Former CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi raised the alarm that its implementation would fuel speculation and worsen the fortune of the naira. But Kingsley Moghalu, a professor of International Business and public policy at the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, United States, said “rate unification” would provide the “level playing field” required for inclusive growth.

Moghalu, who had earlier said the country could not continue to ignore the need to devalue the naira, was Sanusi’s Deputy in charge of Financial Stability. Both led the Central Bank, managing the highly sensitive foreign exchange market for five years.

Moghalu would not comment on how the rate unification would address currency profiteering and black market dealing – the twin troubles dictating the historical woes of the naira since the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the 1980s.

Also, Tope Fasua, Development Economist and Chief Executive of Global Analytics Consulting, said the adjustment was voluntary. He noted: “The market has always asked for the elimination of parallel and discriminatory prices. As utopian as that sounds in our context, it is an ideal position to aspire to. The CBN is methodically pursuing how it can achieve a more streamlined market and escape the usual blame and opprobrium from believers of a perfect market.

“I believe it is an indication of a weaker, less subsidised naira for the immediate and near future, a reality which supports the general weakness of the economy in the face of several buffers such as COVID-19 and general economic slowdown.

“The move will give the naira some stability in the immediate term. But the CBN should be wary of the activity of speculators. The Bank’s strategy must be dynamic, so that the naira does not spiral.”

But, Godwin Owoh, a professor of applied economics, said rate unification and devaluation are rooted in the corrupt practices and market manipulation that have brought the naira to its knees. He said a detailed structural audit of the management of the market is more important than rate harmonisation, just as he raised the alarm that the effect of the current human capital ‘rigging’ in the apex bank would be more noticeable in the coming years.

He also called on the government to embark on a holistic “currency and lifestyle audit” as necessary measures to save the naira from continuous depreciation. According to him, the naira is challenged by external/moral factors than it is by market forces.

“A common trader that is incorrupt and politically independent would give us a better result than we currently get. The problems of the naira are not market triggered; they are manipulated. The market is manipulated,” he said.

Owoh queried: “Where is the pressure on the naira coming from? Who is buying up the dollars? I am not convinced about whatever measures the Central Bank wants to put in place to manage the challenges unless we clean up the books.”

He advised that the way out is to “conduct a census on both local and foreign currencies. Who has what? What are the sources of the money individuals hold? How legitimate are the sources? India, as large as its population is, conducts a currency census every seven years.

“This is a physical audit of the currency in circulation. It helps you to know the distribution. This will help us to establish that the local currencies that are pursuing the dollars are genuine. If the currencies were coming from legitimate business activities, there would be no serious distortion as we have. What is responsible for the high buyback in the few months when the economy has been on hold?

The professor of applied economics added: “We have also come to a stage when a lifestyle audit is necessary. We should audit the lifestyle of individuals with a huge volume of currencies, to be sure of where the distortion is coming from. We can use denomination change to carry out the currency and lifestyle audit. People should be made to declare their cash holdings physically.”

There are fears that the continuous devaluation of the naira would worsen the living standards of Nigerians through a high rate of inflation and unbearable interest rates.

Head of Investment Research at Afrinvest Securities, Abiodun Keripe, said the latest devaluation, which he described as an entry point of the harmonisation, would certainly trigger a higher inflation rate.

The new rate, which Keripe puts at between N400 and N410/$1, is below market expectation. He noted that all commodities, including locally sourced ones, would respond to the exchange adjustment.

Justifying the pressure on the naira, the investment expert said there is currently about $1 billion unmet dollar demand at the capital market just as manufacturers have not stopped the importation of raw materials.

On the unabated demand for dollar via mail exchange with The Guardian, yesterday, a financial expert, Dr. Abiodun Adedipe, said: “I see this more as speculation because the effects of COVID-19 are yet to wear out (demand and supply shocks, and troubled supply chains plus struggling economies). So, what is driving the demand for foreign currencies? To buy what? There is a bubble in the parallel market rate, fueled by an attitudinal deficit.”

Adedipe, who described the call for rate harmonisation as misplaced, said the naira would continue as a troubled currency until the country begins to look “inward”.

“I have said this, repeatedly, in the last 30 years or thereabout that the parallel market will continue to thrive in Nigeria until such a time that we produce, locally, most of what we consume and Nigerians deliberately begin to consume what is made in Nigeria without our penchant for saying, ‘it is better quality if it is imported’.

“The demand for foreign currency is largely derived, except for speculators whose appetite can be quashed when we all look inwards,” he added.




https://www.0.freebasics.com/https/m.guardian.ng/news/cbn-bows-to-pressure-devalues-naira-again/?iorg_service_id_internal=734154523433608%3BAfoy1NohR6g6xlgF

Only God understands this type of government

African leaders are bunch of fools

I doubt it if the APC Federal government is still active

Xiaomi,Huawei,Umidigi etc lovers are coming for the op and we Transsion holdings lovers