Uefa Super Cup 2011 : Barcelona Vs Porto Today At 7:45pm (Nig.Time)

Managers Pep Guardiola and Vítor Pereira are predicting an exciting game between Barcelona and Porto in the Uefa Super Cup at Stade Louis II on Friday.

Barça have set a Super Cup record by reaching the Monaco showpiece for an eighth time – and Guardiola has promised an enthralling clash between two of Europe’s most prestigious clubs.

“Finals are meaningful when you play against clubs with a great history – it was an honour to play against Manchester United and it’s an honour to play against one of the strongest teams in the world now in Porto,” said Guardiola on Thursday.

“Mathematically their figures are impeccable and when you watch them play you can see they do things very well. I think it will be an excellent final, just like the Champions League was.”

It will be the eighth occasion the two sides have met in European competition, with Barça holding the superior record after having secured victory over their Portuguese opponents on four previous occasions.

Guardiola will be without defender Gerard Piqué, who tore his calf in training last Tuesday, while Carles Puyol is unavailable after undergoing surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee in June.

Meanwhile, Porto are making their fourth appearance in the Super Cup – they triumphed in 1987 before losing both previous trips to Monaco in 2003 and 2004.

As in 1987 and 2004, the Europa League winners approach the final with a different coach from the one that won their qualifying competition – Pereira replaced André Villas-Boas as Porto manager this summer and his first test in Europe will be for his side to contain the newly-crowned Best Player in Europe, Lionel Messi.

“You can’t stop Messi with any special tactic,” said Pereira. “You stop him with a strong team performance, by concentrating defensively, covering each other and anticipating intentions. You will see our own game plan and identity; you don’t adapt to your opponent.”

Although Pereira admits Barça are the best team he had seen in his lifetime, the Porto boss promised his side would put on a show against the Champions League holders.

“We’re here on our own merit following a great season,” Pereira said. “We know Barcelona are a great team, but we’re not here to see them play. We came here to win this game so we have the ingredients for a great spectacle.”

Porto have faced Spanish opposition in the Super Cup before – the Portuguese side suffered a 2-1 defeat by Valencia in 2004 and it is the only occasion in which a Spanish and a Portuguese team have faced each other in Monaco.


http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2011/08/barcelona-v-porto-uefa-super-cup-2011-preview/

12 Killed In Adamawa State As Boko Haram Strikes Again

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A radical Muslim sect blamed for attacks across northeast Nigeria bombed a police station and robbed two banks Thursday, killing 12 people in an assault highlighting the group's escalating willingness to shed blood, authorities said.

The sect, known locally as Boko Haram, stormed into the city of Gobi in Adamawa state in broad daylight, first attacking the police precinct with bombs and raking the building with gunfire, police commissioner A.T. Shinaba said. The group killed four police officers and a soldier guarding the area, he said.

The sect members then shot their way into two local branches of First Bank PLC and United Bank for Africa PLC, killing seven bank employees before speeding away with an unknown amount of cash, Shinaba said. Four others suffered injuries in the attack.

"Our police station was attacked this morning by a gang of suspected Boko Haram gunmen in vehicles and motorbikes," the shaken police commissioner told journalists. We are "combing the bush for fleeing sect members."

Nigeria, home to 150 million people, suffers from a weak police force more focused on collecting bribes than law enforcement in the oil-rich nation. The force also has been unable to handle the rise of Boko Haram, which many believed had been dismantled after a security crackdown following a sect riot in 2009 left 700 people dead.

The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, seeks the implementation of strict Shariah Islamic law in the country. Nigeria is largely split between a Christian south and Muslim north, where 12 states already have a version of Shariah in place.

Boko Haram has been blamed for a rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders and clerics in the area over the last year. It also has claimed responsibility for a bombing at the nation's police headquarters that killed two people in June.

This would be the first bank robbery attributed to the group, though sophisticated attacks on banks have been carried on banks in north Nigeria in recent weeks.

Brazilian Company Offers To Buy PHCN For $100 Billion

A Brazilian company has offered to buy the Federal Government’s stake in 17 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies for 100 billion dollars (N15 trillion), Prof. Barth Nnaji, the Minister of Power, said.

Nnaji made the fact known in Lagos on Thursday at the 2011 Annual Conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC).

 “A Brazilian company, for instance, has offered to buy the Federal Government’s stake in the 17 PHCN
successor companies for 100 billion dollars  (N15 trillion),” he said.

Nnaji, represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Cydon Adinuba, said that the National Council on Privatisation  (NCP) had approved and shortlisted potential bidders after receiving 331 applications.  

“With the inauguration of the Electricity Bulk Trading Company Board on Tuesday, the investors’ confidence has been further bolstered.

“The Bulk Trader, which enjoys the World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG), exists to give comfort and confidence to generation companies by guaranteeing power generating companies’ payment for all their products.

“It will cease to exist when the distribution companies mature enough by being credit worthy,” he said.

Nnajisaid that 40 firms were shortlisted to bid for the concession of the hydro stations, 87 shortlisted for thermal stations and 80 for the electricity distribution companies.   

“In spite of the global economic crisis and the reported decline in foreign direct investment, there has been a remarkable growth of international investors’ confidence in Nigeria’s power sector in the last one year,’’ he said.

Also, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, said that the challenge facing the industry was for the government to create an enabling environment for it to strive.

Alison-Madueke, represented by Dr Earnest Nwapa, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said that it would allow capital to flow inward and get retained for economic growth and development.

“I want to assure Nigerians and our international partners that the government has taken firm steps to address these concerns in a structured and sustainable manner,” the minister said.

She expressed concern over the huge capital flight in the oil and gas sector ,which had been blamed largely on many years of dependency on foreign products and services.

The minister said that this had cost the nation about 300 billion dollars (N45 trillion).

According to her, the oil industry currently needs to spend about 20 billion dollars (N30 trillion) annually.

She said that the major operators had not helped matters by reliance on the importation of goods and services.

The minister said that they had not made any effort to develop sustainable capabilities that would support life cycle operations in Nigeria.

Collect More Than 6 Months’ Rent, Go To Jail!, Fashola Tells Landlords

Respite has finally come to tenants in Lagos as the state governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has signed into law a bill that will make it unlawful for a landlord or his agent to demand or receive from a sitting tenant rent in excess of six months.

The law, which explicitly harps on the rights and obligations under tenancy agreement and relationship between the landlord and tenant, will go a long way in addressing the problem of housing in the metropolis.

According to the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, a defaulter of the law would be liable to pay a fine of N100,000 with the option of a three-month jail term.

The law also stipulates a six-month quit notice for a tenant who pays the rent yearly, with the clause that a tenant might apply to court for an order to stop unreasonable increase of rent by the landlord.

In a situation where the increase is unreasonable, the law allows the court to order the landlord to reduce the amount.

The law also makes it unlawful for a landlord to eject a tenant from any premises pending the determination of the action by the court.

On offences and penalties, the law says that any person who demolishes, alters or modifies a building in order to eject a tenant without the approval of the court shall be guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of N250,000 or six months imprisonment.

It states further that any landlord who forcibly ejects a tenant, threatens or molests a tenant by action or words will be liable to a fine of N250,000 or six months imprisonment.
Commenting, Fashola said that the law would address the problem of housing as the state continued to explode in population.


http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/27189-collect-more-than-6-months-rent-go-to-jail-fashola-tells-landlords

The 2011/12 Uefa Champions League Draw! 4.45pm Nig. Time

The draw for the Champions League Group Stage takes place on Thursday in Monaco from 4.45pm (UK time).

How the draw works

The 32 clubs who feature in the draw are split into four pots of eight based on their UEFA coefficient scores. These are based on performance in European competitions over the last five years.

A total of eight groups of four teams will be drawn with one side from each seeding pot in each group. No side can be drawn against another from the same pot, nor can they play a team from their home country.

Where two sides from the same country have qualified, they will be paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of countries with three representatives, only two teams have been paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of countries with four representatives, two pairings have been made.

To ensure sides from the same country play on separate days, the eight groups will be distinguished by colour: Groups A-D will be red and Groups E-H blue. When a paired club is drawn, for example, into one of the red groups, the other paired club - once it has been drawn - will automatically be assigned to one of the four blue groups.

The order of home and away matches will be determined after the draw has taken place.

Pot One:
Barcelona
Manchester United
Chelsea
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Real Madrid
FC Porto
Internazionale

Pot Two:
AC Milan
Lyon
Shakhtar Donetsk
Valencia
Benfica
Villarreal
CSKA Moscow
Marseille

Pot Three:
Zenit St. Petersburg
Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen
Olympiakos
Manchester City
Lille
FC Basel
BATE Borisov

Pot Four:
Borussia Dortmund
Napoli
Dinamo Zagreb
Apoel FC
Trabzonspor
Genk
Viktoria Plzen
Otelul Galati


So have your say! What do you think the groupings would be like?

Nigerians Hit Back-Thank God We're Not Ghanaians

This is a song by an unknown Nigerian, in response to the FOKN BOIZ of Ghana who released a track tittled: Thank God We're Not A Nigerians!The artist intends that a dialogue using music, humour, historical and philosophical tones will melt the simmering tension/ envy/ jealousy between Ghanians and Nigerians. Increase the PEACE!  Watch the video below:

                                     

THE LYRICS

Thank God We're Not Ghanaians!

Can you imagine Ghanains abusing Nigeria, the giant of Africa, the sunshine, the mountain, and the golf of oil of Africa? Ghana, let us teach you some English, for there's going to be some diplomatic brouhaha o, if President Atta Mills doesn't call the Foka Sibe Boys to order

Which country in the world calls their friends "Charlie" and names all their men after weekdays and weekends, Kwado (Monday) Kwabena (Tuesday) Kwaku (Wednesday) Yau (Thursday) Kofi (Friday), Kwame (Saturday), Kwesi (Sunday)? Una too much o!


And you are so laid back, you don't even know, look at every bank around you, it is UBA, ECO-Bank and Zenith bank. Your mobile phones are routed through Lagos, MTN, Vodafone, Tigo and whatever! Charlie, Thank God we are not Ghanaians o!

See your president worships in Lagos, pays tithes to Synagogue, even your under-something football team relies on Pastor T.B Joshua to win the world cup because there is no God in Ghana. Charlie, thank God I'm not a Ghanaian o!

When was the last time Ghana had a national team after Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah started hawking spicy Rob and puff-puff. Charlie, thank God we are not Ghanaians o!

Instead of getting down on Amala, Pounded yams and orisirishi, you eat burnt rice three times a day and call it a funky name "Wache" as if we won't understand...Thank God we are not Ghanaians!

Since Fela left Ghana you only knew how to sing old highlife and wedding songs, who marries with a Ghanaian music anymore anyways... Thank God we are not Ghanaians!

Remember Nigerians created Nollywood, but Ghanaians are stuck trying to create something, should we call it "Nannawood?" with the same characters- kofi, nana, kwabena and Elizabeth...you can't even get near any wood, Charlie, thank God I'm not a Ghanaian o!

And why did Obama come here and didn't spend a second night, was it because Accra was too boring??? Thank God we are not Ghanaians.
Please if you can't afford three-piece Nigerian agbada stop wearing the black and white stripe school uniform and call it a national attire, afterall you have discovered oil, please dress better, OK. Charlie, thank God we are not Ghanaians.

Our traditional rulers are cruising around in Bentley, Mercedes Benz, and BMW but yours are still hanging on wooden limos, Charlie, thank God we are not Ghanaians

We know you love to do 419 but tell me who will send you money when you send a dead chicken by FedEx in the name of Sakawa... Thank God we're not Ghanaians o!

Brothers, make una show some respect to the big brother next door, otherwise we will ask Lagosians to move over to Accra and overrun the place...

And as Fela taught, Fefe n'efe ntina obaa tu amirika a, ense na nofona yese, ebete ato ntia, ebete ato ntio, ebeti aton ti, abeti atontia, ebeti atonti, ebeti atonti e, ebeti atonti

Make una warn unaself o, na condition way make crayfish bend!

Pictures of Mikel Obi's father's kidnappers

About 2 weeks ago, the father of the Super Eagle and Chelsea FC star was kidnapped. This kidnappers (who were 6 in number including a lady) were recently nabbed by the Nigerian Police. Two of the kidnappers who are soldiers would be court martialled this week. The kidnappers' photos are shown below. 

Here are their names in full. Nkechi Ossai, Ifeanyi Essien, Jacob Cowen, Ndubusi Friday, Basil Chukwuma and Sule Ibrahim.