Nigeria’s clubsides will once again be absent from the lucrative group stage of the CAF Champions League, as NPFL champions Enugu Rangers were eliminated in the playoffs by Angola’s Esperança Sagrada today.

Rangers lost the second leg of the second preliminary round 3-1, leading to their exit from the competition with a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.

Earlier, Nigeria’s other representative, Remo Stars, was knocked out in the first round.In recent years, Nigerian clubs have struggled to reach the group stages of the tournament.

Enyimba remains the only Nigerian club still competing on the continental stage.

Manchester City waited until the last minute of added time to score an equalizer, drawing 2-2 with Arsenal.

John Stones netted the late goal for Manchester City, who were under immense pressure to maintain their unbeaten run on Sunday.

Arsenal put up a strong fight against the defending champions, coming from behind to score two goals.

The action-packed match saw Manchester City take the lead in the 9th minute through Erling Haaland.

Arsenal equalized in the 22nd minute with a goal from Riccardo Calafiori and scored their second goal in added time of the first half.

The game was full of drama, with several yellow cards and one red card being issued throughout the intense contest.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased from N5,974.55 recorded in July 2024 to N6,430.02 in August 2024.

This is contained in the Bureau’s “Cooking Gas Price Watch’’ for August 2024 released on Sunday in Abuja.

The report said the August price represented a 7.62 per cent increase, compared to what was obtained in July.

The NBS said the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased on a year-on-year basis by 56.25 per cent from N4,115.32 in August 2023 to N6,430.02 in August 2024.

On state profile analysis, the report showed that Benue recorded the highest average price at N7,000 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by Rivers at N6,954.55, and Borno at N6,914.29.

It said on the other hand, Taraba recorded the lowest price at N5,600.67, followed by Abuja and Kogi at N5,825.00 and N5,857.56, respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price at N6,585.18 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-South at N6,451.34.

“The North-Central recorded the lowest average retail price at N6,344.29,” the NBS said.

Also, the NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 9.05 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N14,261.57 in July 2024 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.

The report said the average retail price for 12.5kg cooking gas rose by 69.15 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N9,194.41 recorded in August 2023 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.

State profile analysis showed that Rivers recorded the highest average retail price of N17,086.36 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by Cross River with N17,050.00 and Abia with N17,012.52.

On the other hand, the report showed that the lowest average price for 12.5kg of cooking gas was recorded in Bauchi at N13,425.00, followed by Nassarawa and Adamawa at N13,640.94 and N13,725.00 respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price of N16,524.00 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-East at N16,495.78

The report said the North-Central recorded the lowest price at N14,767.41.

Similarly, the NBS said the average retail price per litre of kerosene increased to N1,847.59 in August 2024 on a month-on-month basis, showing an increase of 4.39 per cent, compared to the N1,769.86 recorded in July 2024.

According to its National Kerosene Price Watch for August 2024 on a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of kerosene rose by 45.21 per cent from N1,272.40 in August 2023.

On state profile analysis, the report showed that Zamfara recorded the highest average price at N2,566.67 per litre of kerosene in August, followed by Kano with N2,444.44 and Ogun with N2,388.89.

“On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Taraba at N1,181.18, followed by Adamawa at N1,185.74 and Borno at N1,296.95.”

The NBS said the analysis further showed that the North-West recorded the highest average retail price per litre of Kerosene at N2,118.29, followed by the South-South at N2,075.45,

It said the North-East recorded the lowest average retail price per litre of kerosene at N1,454.38.

The report said the average retail price per gallon of Kerosene paid by consumers in August 2024 was N6,441.94, indicating an 11.80 per cent increase from N5,762.10 recorded in July 2024.

“On a year-on-year basis, the average price per gallon of kerosene increased by 48.04 per cent from N4,351.53 recorded in August 2023.

On state profile analysis, it showed that Katsina recorded the highest average retail price at N8,200 per gallon of kerosene, followed by Kebbi at N8,075.00 and Kaduna at N8,038.46.

The report said Nasarawa recorded the lowest price at N5,092.46, followed by Niger and Plateau at N5,104.17 and N5,445.83, respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the North-West recorded the highest average price per gallon of Kerosene at N7,787.64, followed by the South-West at N6,593.22,

“North-Central recorded the lowest average price per gallon of Kerosene at N5,463.69,” the NBS said. 

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has won the entire Three Hundred and Thirty-two contested positions in the Saturday Local Council elections in Imo State.

Announcing the result at the headquarters of the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission, ISEC, yesterday, the Chairman, Chief Charles Ejiogu, disclosed that out of the 19 political parties that registered for the poll, 17 participated.

He said that the elections took place at the entire 4758 polling units, with APC winning the 27 Council Chairmanship seats and the 305 councillorship positions.

He described the elections as being peaceful, fair and credible and applauded the stakeholders, including the security agencies, the media and political actors in the state, for their conduct and corporation during the process.

He said that the figures of the elections and other information regarding the poll would be made available to the public in due time.

He urged all the aggrieved parties and candidates to channel their grievances through lawful means, adding that the commission avoided intervening in the internal affairs of all the participating parties prior to the elections.

“I wish to announce to the Imo people and the general public that after a peaceful, credible elections, the APC emerged winner across board.

All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, is leading in the Edo State governorship election, having secured victories in 10 out of 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as of Sunday.

According to the results, APC is ahead with 244,549 votes, followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 195,954 votes, and Labour Party (LP) with 13,348 votes. INEC has temporarily halted the collation process, set to resume at 5:00 p.m.

Key results include:

Etsako West LGA: APC 32,107, PDP 17,483, LP 2,116

Etsako Central LGA: APC 11,906, PDP 8,455, LP 381

Etsako East LGA: APC 20,167, PDP 9,683, LP 604

Egor LGA: APC 16,760, PDP 14,658, LP 1,966

Ovia North-East LGA: APC 13,225, PDP 15,311, LP 1,675

Uhunmwonde LGA: APC 8,776, PDP 9,339, LP 769

INEC will continue announcing the remaining results once the collation process resumes.

NDLEA intercepts N16.1bn opioids, arrests octogenarian, community leader’s wives, son
. As Iran-bound drug mule excretes 76 wraps of cocaine at KanoOperatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted a total of Twenty-Five Million (25,000,000.00) pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand (350,000) bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.

The seizures were made on Tuesday 17th and Friday 20th September 2024 from three containers which had been on the watchlist of the Agency following processed intelligence. As a result, the NDLEA had requested for 100% joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.

The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of Thirteen Billion Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N13,725,000,000.00) while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of Two Billion Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2,450,000,000.00), bringing the total value of the seizures to Sixteen Billion One Hundred and Seventy Five Million Naira (N16,175,000,000.00).

The tapentadol consignment packed in 500 cartons was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday 17th September while another container examined same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875 cartons.

The third container containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine was examined on Friday 20th September.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the Agency on Friday 20th September arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Pa Aremu Shojobi with 14 kilograms of cannabis at his home in Iyana Ipaja area of the state.

In his statement, the Octogenarian claimed he has been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years.

He further claimed he gets his supplies from Benin republic, and sells to his customers from his residence between 7am and 10pm every day.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday 18th September raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226kg of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son.

Though Alhaji Talba is currently at large, a search of his house in Ashipa area of Seme Badagry led to the recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 57.6kg from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, 22, while another search of his house at Aketegbo area of Seme Badagry led to the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 168.6kg from his second wife Hauwa Bashir, 42.

No less than 720 blocks of Arizona, a strain of cannabis weighing 390kg were also recovered from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH at Ojo area of Lagos on Monday 16th September.

At the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, NDLEA operatives on Sunday 15th September arrested a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach. After three days in excretion observation, Okafor excreted the 76 pellets of the ingested cocaine weighing 1.267kg.

In Kogi state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Tuesday 17th September recovered 700,000 pills of exol-5 coming from Lagos for distribution in Kano and Kaduna, while a suspect Udemefuna Chibuike, 23, was arrested by operatives on Friday 20th September along Mokwa-Jebba road, Niger state, in possession of 49,000 tablets of tramadol, 20,000 tablets of diazepam, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection and 50 bottles of cough syrup with codeine.

A total of 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213kg were intercepted along Azikiwe road, Port Harcourt, Rivers state on Wednesday 18th September, by NDLEA officers who apprehended a suspect Ogochukwu Paul, 33, conveying the consignment to a notorious drug haven in Borikiri.

While operatives in Plateau state on Friday 20th September arrested a wanted suspect Jonathan Ali Abuttur, 46, at Agingi- Rukuba road Bassa LGA in possession of 808kg of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertilizer, their counterparts in Kwara also nabbed Shaibu Musa with 28kg of the same psychoactive substance.
With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.

These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Rayhaan Model Academy, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state; Government Day Secondary School, Danrimi, Malumfashi LGA,Katsina state; Technical College, Ihe-Achi, Oji River LGA, Enugu state; Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti state; fresh students of Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Eleyele Ibadan, Oyo state; traders at Agboju market, Festac town, Lagos and the palace of Oloola of Ilara, Oba Mutiu Adedimeji Lawal Oyede and his chiefs, at Ilara, Ogun state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of Tincan, MAKIA, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Kogi, Edo and Kwara Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.