Arsenal wins Emirate Cup

Arsenal clinched the Emirates Cup after Theo Walcott scored in a 1-0 victory over Wolfsburg.

The Gunners ensured they topped the table in the pre-season competition as Walcott - reportedly close to agreeing a new deal at the club - proved the match-winner at the Emirates Stadium.

On his first Arsenal start, youngster Jeff Reine-Adelaide marked an impressive display with an expert assist for Walcott's opener shortly after the interval.

Arsene Wenger's side hammered Ligue 1 opponents Lyon 6-0 on Saturday but there was to be no such rout against Dieter Hecking's well-drilled DFB-Pokal champions.

Making his home debut, Petr Cech was made to work for a clean sheet as Arsenal made it two wins from two ahead of Sunday's Community Shield clash with Chelsea at Wembley.

Kevin De Bruyne - named German player of the year on Sunday - threatened down the left early on but Cech was on hand to collect the Belgian's delivery.

Close-season signing Cech will have been concerned as former Arsenal man Nicklas Bendtner just failed to make contact with a dangerous De Bruyne delivery from the right.

The Czech's opposite number Diego Benaglio was called on to deny Walcott soon after but it was the Bundesliga side who continued to threaten more frequently - De Bruyne showing why he is a reported target for Manchester City.

With chances largely at a premium in a goalless first half, Timm Klose shanked an effort over the crossbar for the visitors while Mesut Ozil's side-footed effort rolled wide of the far post following a slick passing move.

Arsenal had their breakthrough five minutes into the second half when Reine-Adelaide offered a glimpse of his potential - threading a ball for Walcott to calmly finish past Benaglio.

The largely impressive De Bruyne then ballooned an effort over, having skipped inside Mikel Arteta, before Ricardo Rodriguez saw a long-range strike easily saved by Cech.

The former Chelsea man was tested again by a fierce drive from midfielder Josuha Guilavogui as Wolfsburg piled on the pressure.

It was to no avail, however, Wenger's men topping the standings by three points from Villarreal ahead of the all-London curtain-raiser at Wembley in a week's time

Kidnapped female Corpers rescued

Five female Youth Corp members, who were kidnapped on the 16th of September, by unknown armed men at about 9. 30pm at their Corpers Lodge residence at Umuogba Community Secondary school, Omuma Local Government area of Abia state, were on Wednesday rescued in a joint operation carried out by men of the Nigeria Police and the military.
The 5 female Corpers, Monsurat Odemosu, Barbara Obioha, Chinwendu, Obiajulu and Husseini Ali were abducted just as property belonging to them including Generating set, DVD player, Television set, phone and some amount of money were also taken from them.

Confirming their release after the operation, Force Public Relations officer, ACP Emmanuel Ojukwu noted that Police teams from Rivers Police Command and the military responded swiftly on the day the corpers were abducted, leading to the release of Monsurat on the 30th of September.
Following continuous investigations, a combined team of the Rivers state joint military and police patrol team stormed all the kidnappers camps in Ukwa West Local Government area of Abia state releasing all the victims in their detention camp including the corpers.
During the joint operation to rescue them, the corpers were said to have run to the same direction with the fleeing kidnappers who then detained them at another kidnapping base in the same Ukwa West Local government area.
However, further efforts of the military and police from the Rivers State command, yielded result as the four corpers regained their freedom by 9. 30 am Wednesday 6th October while the kidnapping base has been shut down

Moses scores as Chelsea beat PSG

Thibaut Courtois was the hero in Charlotte, scoring the winning penalty and saving two of PSG’s in the shoot-out following an exciting 1-1 draw in normal time.
The goalkeeper kept out spot-kicks from Jean-Christophe Bahebeck and Thiago Silva before blasting the 14th and final penalty into the top corner, handing the English Champions the victory against the French champions.
In normal time it was Victor Moses who cancelled out Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s opener. The Swede fired home a rebound midway through a first half mostly dominated by the Parisians.

Moses celebrates his goal
Chelsea were much improved after the break and deservedly levelled when Cesc Fabregas expertly picked out a fine Moses run, whose subsequent close-range volley was crisp and clinical. Falcao then came on for his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt and impressed. He was also one of six Chelsea players to score their penalty having stepped up first.
The starting line-up included the back four that began so many games together last season, and behind them, as Jose Mourinho had promised, was Begovic. Cesar Azpilicueta completed 90 minutes for the second game running. As in New Jersey, Moses began out wide, while there were first starts of the summer for Nemanja Matic, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.
PSG’s team had plenty of familiar faces, none more so than David Luiz. Ibrahimovic captained.

PSG had two penalty appeals waved away in 30 seconds after Cesar Azpilicueta became the game’s first booking, and with the Blues seemingly still rattled at the back Verratti ghosted in unmarked but scooped an impudent effort wide.
The French side’s good period continued when Augustin stole a march on Ivanovic behind our defence. There he went eye to eye with Begovic, who had shown another important goalkeeping attribute by racing off his line alert to the danger. The Bosnian’s big frame blocked the shot.
He had one more bit of work to do before the interval, stretching low to his left to divert a Moura daisy cutter wide of the post.
Three fresh Chelsea faces came out for the second half, and one, Begovic’s replacement Courtois, was immediately in the action, gathering a shot from PSG sub Thiago Motta at the second attempt. Kurt Zouma and Ramires were the other newcomers.
The occasionally fractious nature of the game continued when Adrien Rabiot and Aurier went into the book for bad tackles on Hazard and Diego Costa respectively. The striker pounced on a loose Paris pass and picked out Fabregas whose shot was blocked; Moses following up fired wide.
Those same two players linked up to perfection moments later, however. It was Fabregas with the cross, perfectly weighted, and Moses with the movement and confident first-time volleyed finish that brought the equaliser. The winger’s celebration was as spectacular as the link-up play that preceded it!
Five minutes later the Chelsea supporters in the Bank of America Stadium had reason to roar almost as loudly as they did for the goal when Falcao was introduced.
The Colombian was immediately involved, impressively winning possession back and finding fellow sub Loic Remy. His shot was low and hard and needed saving. Not long after, with Chelsea now well on top and looking dangerous with every attack, Falcao had an effort of his own blocked. The chance was created thanks to his good movement in the box.
Two other South Americans introduced by Mourinho then linked up to good effect as Oscar from deep picked out Juan Cuadrado’s penetrative run. He opted not to shoot having raced clear and the opportunity passed.
Penalties loomed. The closest either side came to preventing them was in stoppage time when PSG’s Christopher Nkunku stung Courtois’ palms with a long-ranger. But penalties it was.
Falcao and Azpilicueta got Chelsea up and running confidently but with PSG scoring their first three spot-kicks Cuadrado’s subsequent miss could have proved decisive.
Instead Courtois denied Bahebeck and so on the shoot-out went. Five more penalties
including Remy, Oscar and Willian for Chelsea – were scored, before Courtois seized the initiative. First he kept out Thiago Silva’s effort with ease, then smashed his own shot into the roof of the net, as though taking a goal-kick. It was an emphatic end to an enjoyable encounter

Oliseh considers Iheanacho, Musa for Tanzania tie

New Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh is seriously considering capping Flying Eagles stars Musa Mohammed and Kelechi Iheanacho in an AFCON qualifier in Tanzania in September.

A top team official informed AfricanFootball.com that Oliseh is rebuilding with the future in mind and as such he wants to start working immediately with Musa, Iheanacho as well as Moses Simon, who has already been capped by the Eagles.
“The top three Flying Eagles stars under consideration by the Eagles coach are Musa at rightback as well as Iheanacho and Moses Simon in attack,” the team official revealed.
“Oliseh already is very much abreast of the exploits with Moses Simon at Gent as he followed him last season.
“He has also followed Musa and Iheanacho when he was on the FIFA study group for the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup, which Nigeria won in style in Abu Dhabi.”

Breaking news: Big Brother Africa 2015 cancelled

This is not good news for African viewers as the biggest reality TV show in Africa, Big Brother Africa (BBA) may not take place this year as expected.
This is due to lack of sponsorship. The organizers of the show, Africa Magic and Endemol were unable to get sponsorship for this year’s edition of the show.
The Manager of Multichoice Ghana, Anne Sackey confirmed to peganews that they at Multichoice Ghana have received notice from MNET that this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa will not hold.
She explained that MNET did not give them any reasons as to why they will not be doing the Big Brother this year, but then, she personally thinks it’s due to sponsorship constraints.

NASS crisis, normal democratic process – Ahmed

The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has said the leadership crisis in the National Assembly is a normal democratic process.

He says he is hopeful that the crisis will soon end and pave the way for Nigerians to enjoy the programmes of the All Progressives Congress.

Ahmed spoke during an interactive session with journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday.

He said, “The National Assembly is going through the normal process of democracy. It is a process we expect to smoothen out and will take us to the level where we will begin to see the result of ‘change’ that will make Nigeria a better place to live in.”

The governor added that President Muhammadu Buhari was not slow in his programmes and strategies to reposition  and transform Nigeria, explaining that Buhari was laying a solid foundation for better governance and development of the country.

Meanwhile, a former  Vice-Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Alhaji Moshood Mustapha, has said the crisis in the National Assembly escalated because of the alleged inability of the leadership of the APC to properly address it.

He accused the APC leadership of taking sides instead of quickly harmonising the opposing parties, but expressed the hope that  he was hopeful that the crisis would soon be amicably resolved.

According to him, nationalistic quest should override party supremacy for NASS members, warning against external influence in the National Assembly affairs.

Mustapha, who is a former member representing Ilorin West and Asa Federal Constituency, urged Nigerians to be patient with Buhari.

He added that it was better for the President to take his time, select credible  and competent ministers and aides than to rush and appoint people who would not add value to his administration.

Mustapha said, “The National Assembly crisis was unexpected. What do I mean by that? The government that was in power for 16 years had a very vibrant opposition, which has now taken over the rein of power, reversing the former situation.

“And in that kind of situation, you expect all sorts of misunderstanding and crisis in the area of interests. When you have that kind of situation, the best thing for the leadership of the party to do, which of course they did not do and which actually led to the aggravation of the whole problem, was to call the whole House to order.

“But in a situation where the leadership of the party decided to take side with one faction  of the groups, definitely did not augur well for the house. And by and large there is no way we will get peace in the National Assembly except we stop external interference.”

Mustapha said the  National Assembly was not a political party secretariat, stating that  it was an assemblage of people with different political backgrounds, who had  an assignment to perform for the nation.

According to him, the issue of party platform is therefore secondary  when it comes to legislative issues.

Sanitation: Ogun deputy gov arrests 45 offenders

Ogun State Deputy Governor Chief, Yetunde Onanuga, on Saturday arrested no fewer than 45 persons in Sagamu and Ijebu Ode, who violated the state’s environmental sanitation law.

Onanuga, who not only monitored but participated in the clearing of drainage and refuse in some areas in the two towns, arrested 20 motorists and 25 other residents, according to a statement by the Press Officer for the deputy governor, Damilola Koleade.

The statement said, “The deputy governor ordered the environmental officials, who were with her at these locations, to arrest motorists and residents, who disobeyed the restriction of movement on environmental sanitation day.

“Twenty motorists and 25 other erring residents were arrested. They were handed over to environmental officials, who also accompanied her, for necessary sanctions.”

Onanuga, during the exercise, frowned on people’s non-compliance with the environmental sanitation law.

The deputy governor, who mobilised residents in some parts of Ijebu Ode to actively participate in the exercise, also ordered the immediate closure of shops at Oke Aje market in the town.

She said, “Good health will be achieved if we keep our environment clean. Let us ensure we take the exercise seriously as cleanliness is next to godliness.”

She urged them to have a right attitude towards maintaining a clean and hygienic environment, saying it was beneficial to all.

Onanuga also warned residents of the state to desist from putting refuse bags on road median, promising prompt evacuation of refuse from approved dumpsites.