Rihanna’s blog

Ghana became the first African nation to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, but its success was overshadowed by fan violence. Abuja, Nigeria –  Ghana held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in the Nigerian capital on Tuesday, winning the tie on away goals to become the first African country to book a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But angry reactions from the home fans in and around the stadium blighted the  “Jollof derby” , with a pitch invasion, fighting and other disturbances taking place. Most of the vociferous crowd in Abuja had expected Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup after the first leg of their playoff ended 0-0 in Ghana on Friday. But goalkeeper Francis Uzoho’s error allowed Thomas Partey to open the scoring for Ghana early in the second leg. William Troost-Ekong levelled from the penalty spot, but Nigeria missed several clear chances to win the match at the Moshood Abiola Stadium. There had been signs of trouble before the match as crushes had built up outside the 60,00...

  The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Tuesday, debunked media reports on his declaration of interest in the Kebbi State governorship election. A national newspaper (not  The PUNCH ) had quoted Malami as declaring for the Kebbi governorship position. But in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Jubrilu Gwandu, Malami stated that the clarification became necessary due to what he described as the false reports in some sections of the media. The statement partly read, “A video being circulated as the purported declaration was mischievously translated with fabricated insertions and interpolations that cannot in spirit and context establish the malformation circulated.” He, however, thanked the teeming supporters of the minister and the general public, saying “at the appropriate time they will hear from the horse’s mouth in the full glare of the media, stakeholders, like-minds, party faithful and tee...

One week after terrorists attacked a train in Kaduna State, over 100 of the passengers have yet to be accounted for, an official has said. It was reported that last Monday’s attack on the Kaduna-bound train by terrorists who first used explosives to immobilise the train before shooting at some of the passengers. They killed some and kidnapped many other passengers. The  Nigerian Railway Corporation  has said its manifest showed that there were 362 passengers on board the train. Many Nigerians, however, believe the figures are much higher due to the fraud and manipulations that go on at the train stations. The NRC, on Sunday, provided more updates on its activities since the train attack. The agency said it has confirmed the safety of 14 more passengers on board the train, bringing the total number of safe passengers to 186. Of the remaining 176 passengers, eight have been confirmed dead, while the families of 22 passengers have formally declared them missing. This indicates th...