Arsene Wenger

Wenger - Scheduling hampers us in Europe

Arsène Wenger would like to see English teams given the weekend off prior to their Champions League knockout fixtures.
The Arsenal manager is bracing himself for a challenging February with Liverpool (a), Manchester United (h), Liverpool (h) and Bayern Munich (h) in the space of 11 days.
Wenger understands that TV companies hold sway over scheduling but he thinks Premier League teams would have a better chance of progressing in Europe if their build-up was not so intense.

PUMA deal announced

PUMA and Arsenal announce partnership

PUMA and Arsenal Football Club have announced a long-term partnership.
Effective from July 1, 2014, PUMA will become the official kit partner of Arsenal. In addition to producing the playing and training kit for all Arsenal teams, PUMA has acquired wide-ranging licensing rights to develop other Arsenal branded merchandise on a global basis. This new commercial partnership represents the biggest deal in PUMA and Arsenal's history.
PUMA and Arsenal will work together to bring further innovation into the sports brand's performance apparel range. Both organisations will work collaboratively on a global strategy to drive mutual growth across all football markets, achieved through PUMA's global sales network, international tours and integrated marketing activities.

Recurrent budget: NLC, others reject Okonjo-Iweala’s defence

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Nigerian Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and the Nigeria Union of Teachers have rejected the linking by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of the high recurrent expenditure in the 2014 budget to the increase in workers’ salaries.

The minister during a public presentation of the 2014 budget on Monday in Abuja had claimed that the salary increase granted to various labour groups in 2009, had doubled the Federal Government’s wage bill from N857bn in that year to N1.72tn in 2013.

This, she said, had reduced the size of funds available for investments in capital projects.

In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and Musa Lawal the President and Secretary General respectively, TUC faulted the claims by Okonjo-Iweala and Director-General of the Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, that the civil service consumes 37 per cent of the recurrent expenditure.

Describing the claim as “overly speculative,” the union challenged the duo to “publish the salaries and other emoluments of all civil servants, giving details of what each Ministry, Department and Agency spends as remuneration each month.

Drama as Bamidele leaves APC for LP

Opeyemi Bamidele

A former Leader of the All Progressives Congress caucus in the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, on Thursday formally informed the House that he was no longer a member of the APC. He has now joined the Labour Party.

He told members that his reason for leaving APC dated back to the start of merger talks among the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Bamidele added that he opposed the merger from the beginning and did not wish that “my party, the ACN,” should be part of the merger.

As he made his explanations, LP members, Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers, among others were seen shaking hands with him and congratulating Bamidele on his decision to join LP.

Reacting to claims that the APC had lost its majority strength due to the defection of Bamidele, the Minority Leader in the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, explained that the Ekiti lawmaker had never been included in the calculation since he had already left the party.

The APC leader added, “Let me state that Bamidele was not in the initial numerical configuration that gave birth to the majority status of the APC about two months ago.

“From the record of the APC House Caucus,  his name had been  deleted long before his official communication of defection today.

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SSS summons El-Rufai, warns against inciting statements

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai
| credits: File copy

The  State Security Service   has  invited a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai,  to appear at its headquarters in Abuja on Friday (today) over a statement attributed to him in the Thursday edition of  a national daily newspaper (not The PUNCH).

El-Rufai,  who is also the Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress,  was said to have been invited to clarify the statement  in which he allegedly said   that “the next election  are  likely to be violent and that  many people are likely going to die.”

He was also quoted as having said  that “the only alternative left to get power is to take it by force.”

His  Media Adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, told   our correspondent through a text message on Thursday,   that El-Rufai   was  willing to meet the SSS   in his home or office or in the alternative, the agency should produce a warrant of arrest.

Adekeye said, “El-Rufai called the Director-General of SSS and told him that he had a pending suit against the service over the   Anambra State  governorship  election, as such he would not go to the SSS office.”

  Before the invitation of El-Rufai was made known to our correspondent, the SSS   had    warned  that  it would deal with  politicians and other individuals  making threatening and provocative statements ahead of the 2015 elections.

NDLEA arrests 490 suspects, seizes 9,163.96kg of drugs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Lagos on Thursday said it arrested 490 drug suspects and seized 9,163.96kg in 2013.

The agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr Ofoyeju Mitchel, who made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the figure was higher than the 321 arrested in 2012.

Mitchel said that 51 women were arrested in 2013 compared to the 16 women arrested in 2012.

He said 79 people were convicted in 2013 and 67 in 2012, adding that 128 cases were pending in court in 2013 compared to the 56 in 2012.

Ofoyeju said the drug seizures in 2013 were mainly cannabis as against 2,451.23kg of narcotic comprising cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamine and ephedrine in 2012.

Sandro Rosell resigns as Barca                                                     president

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Sandro Rosell has confirmed his resignation as Barcelona president, amidst investigation into the signing of Neymar from Santos.

Rosell also said that current vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, will take over until 2016 as agreed by the board of directos.

“I am resigning irrevocably,” Rosell told reporters.

Bartomeu informed the media that a press conference will be held on Friday and details about the future will be made clearer