Nigerian record-breaking athlete, Tobi Amusan was not included in the list of 26 athletes released by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria for the 2023 World Athletics Championships on Tuesday.

The world champion and record holder in the women’s 100-meter hurdles was conspicuously absent from the list due to the doping scandal surrounding the record-breaking athlete.

The competition, which runs from August 19 to August 27 in Budapest, Hungary, will feature 11 male competitors and 15 female athletes from Nigeria.

Ese Brume, who finished second in the competition the previous year, is expected to go for gold in Budapest this year. She will compete in the long jump event alongside Ruth Usoro. Sade Olatoye (Hammer) and Chioma Onyekwere (Discuss) are two famous ladies on the AFN list.

National champion Usheoritshe Itshekiri, Favour Ashe, Seye Ogunlewe, Alaba Akintola, Fakorede Adekalu, and Anunagba Karlington will be spread across the men’s 100m and 4x100m relay races, just as Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Faith Okwose, Justina Eyakpobeyan, and Success Umukoro will compete in the women’s 100m and 4x100m event.

Nigeria has a large number of medal contenders on the list, although Amusan’s status is yet unknown to the AFN.

Since the hurdler failed three drug tests this year, the Athletics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended her one month before the championships, casting doubt on her eligibility to compete.

The AIU additionally disclosed that there will be a hearing on her case before the World Championships with only 10 days left until this year’s competition. Additionally, she pledged to refute the accusations and prove her innocence, but nothing has come of the procedures yet

Anthony Joshua will fight Robert Helenius in London on Saturday after the Finnish boxer was parachuted in as a late replacement for Dillian Whyte.

The scheduled all-British heavyweight bout was cancelled last weekend when “adverse analytical findings” were detected in a doping test conducted by Whyte, who has vowed to clear his name.

Helenius, 39, fought in his homeland on Saturday but has answered the call to take on the former two-time world heavyweight champion.

“This wasn’t in the script,” said Joshua. “I respect Helenius and, may I say, I respect any male or female who steps into the ring.

“I am laser-focused on the win. I can make steps forward to bigger and better things but the road map has a check point — Saturday night. May the best man win.”

Helenius, who has 32 wins and four defeats from his 36 professional bouts, was knocked out in the first round by Deontay Wilder in October.

“I am a true Viking that is willing to face any challenge at a moment’s notice,” said Helenius.

“This is not an opportunity I was going to let slip away. I plan to make the most of it!”

[AFP/CHANNELSTV]

England star Lauren James has publicly apologised for standing on her opponent during the Lionesses' last-16 World Cup win over Nigeria and vowed to learn from the experience.

The 21-year-old was sent off for standing on the back of Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie with three minutes of normal time remaining in Brisbane.

England survived the dismissal to advance to the quarter-finals, winning 4-2 on penalties after the game finished goalless following extra time.

In response to a tweet from Alozie, James posted: “All my love and respect to you. I am sorry for what happened.

“Also, for our England fans and my team-mates, playing with and for you is my greatest honour and I promise to learn from my experience.”

The incident resulted in an automatic one-match ban for James that could be extended to three games.

Her World Cup fate will now be decided by FIFA’s disciplinary committee - a decision which could see her miss the rest of the tournament even if the Lionesses reach a first-ever final.

Although the Chelsea forward's England stars rallied round her in support, others were more critical of James arguing she could have hampered the team's victory.

Urging others to offer James some grace, Alozie had tweeted: "Abeg, rest. We are playing on the world’s stage.

"This game is one of passion, insurmountable emotions, and moments. All respect for Lauren James."

Earlier, England defender Lucy Bronze revealed she made a post-match beeline to console her “upset” teammate following the incident.

Bronze said: “Obviously she’s going to be disappointed in herself. I went straight off the pitch after the game to make sure she was OK.

“Obviously she was a little bit upset and rightfully so and more than anything she just feels bad for the team. I said to her, ‘We’ve made it through. It’s a team, it’s not just one player.'”

England will now face Colombia in Saturday’s quarter-final after the world number 25 side beat Jamaica 1-0 on Tuesday to reach the last eight for the first time in their history.

Captain Millie Bright insists England have already moved on from learning they would lose James for at least Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final.

The Lionesses were boosted by the return of Keira Walsh against Nigeria – a comeback from a knee injury few imagined possible after she was removed from the pitch on a stretcher in the first half of England’s second group match, a 1-0 triumph over Denmark.

Scans revealed the issue was not as serious as first suspected and Walsh managed 120 minutes against Nigeria, including the nervy 30 minutes of 10-woman extra time to force penalties, the result sealed 4-2 for England by Chloe Kelly’s emphatic spot-kick.

Though boss Sarina Wiegman’s switch to a 3-5-2 formation in Walsh’s absence seemed to spark the Lionesses into life in their 6-1 group-stage victory over China, her side did not play as well against Nigeria with three at the back, and in fact looked more controlled when they were short-handed.

[Itv]

Al-Hilal are desperate to sign Victor Osimhen before the end of the ongoing summer transfer window and has offered the Nigerian striker a lucrative deal worth €200 million.

Transfer News Live on Tuesday quoted Calcio Napoli as saying that Al-Hilal’s latest offer to Osimhen will see the Super Eagles striker earn €40m a year over a five-season deal.

Meanwhile, an earlier report had suggested that Italian club, Napoli rejected Al Hilal’s huge attempt to lure Osimhen to the Saudi Arabia Professional League ahead of the new season.

According to reports in Europe, Al Hilal initially tabled a €140 million (N118.9 billion) offer to Napoli in order to land the services of the 24-year-old attacker.

French media outlet, L’Equipe and UK’s Sky Sports had reported that the extraordinary proposal was put forward by the Saudi Arabian club in July.

The report details how Al Hilal which is one of the four Saudi clubs backed by the sovereign wealth fund PIF are eager to sign Osimhen whom they see as an alternative to Paris Saint-Germain forward, Kylian Mbappe.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis who is known for being a tough negotiator said he has no intention of selling Osimhen this summer.

De Laurentiis and the club’s management have as a result been in close contact with the player’s agent Roberto Calenda in a bid to agree a new contract.

The major sticking point in these talks has been the release clause which implies that the two parties are yet to reach an agreement.

Osimhen is discussing a deal that would be worth €7million per season, plus bonuses at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

He led Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33-years after netting 31 goals for the Partenopei in all competitions last season, 26 of which were in the league, thereby becoming the first African to finish as top-scorer and win the golden boot in the 147-year-old history of the Serie A.

At €120m, he is the fourth most valuable player in the world behind Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Jnr. Osimhen is joint-fourth in value with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Real Madrid ace, Jude Bellingham, according to Transfermarket.

[Guardian]

It seems to me, with due respect, to every party concerned, that while we are all obsessed with the contemporary, topical issues of Ministerial nominations, the likely conflict with Niger and the noted desperation of the Northern Senators and Elders Forum, as well as others across the country, to prevent same, in addition to the concerns about palliatives and the rising cost of living, or the unresolved battle with organized Labour (NLC, TUC), we may be overlooking something that may be relevant to the health and the future of Nigeria. I identify this hereunder as the menace and terror of Prophets – those self-appointed owners of direct telephone access to God and who on a daily, unrelenting basis inflict upon this community, what they claim to have heard from God. They expropriate the claim that God speaks to them alone, and that whatever they hear from God is the gospel truth. There is no mechanism to double-check. They don’t provide any data reports of their telephone conversation with God. They simply tell us this is what “my father told me”, and the rest of us are all expected to obey blindly. We are the multitude of orphans, whose Heavenly fathers, just in case everyone has a father in Heaven, may have been denied telephone access to the earthly realm and hence, the rest of us have to depend on their own God whom they covet with so much proprietorial control. The problem is the lack of accountability and the fact that nobody really knows who speaks to these so-called spiritual fathers.

I am convinced that this is one of those issues that we must begin to interrogate. To prepare the background, we do not deny the fact that Nigeria is one of the most religious countries in the world. Several studies place us amongst the top ten in the world. but compared to these other countries, anyone at all can agree that Nigeria is one country where religion has been most divisive and centrifugal. Over time, we have fought and experienced intra--religious and inter-religious wars. Religion is so ubiquitous in this country, there is hardly any street corner or community where you will not find either a mosque or a church. Many of these places of religious worship may start at a mushroom level, but they may soon grow into big oak, with adherents trooping in and out, claiming to be persons of faith, seeking the grace and eye of God. Religiosity has become so widespread, Nigerian Christians now organize services on Fridays to compete with Muslims, and on Sundays, Muslims reciprocate by holding worship services during church time. The result has been the unending conflict between Christians and Muslims who constitute on the average, on both sides of the equation, between 45 - 59% of the population, and a minority percentage of African traditional worshippers clamouring for space and recognition, as seen in the recent crisis in Osun State whereby Osun traditional worshippers were told pointedly that they could not and would not be allowed to celebrate their Isese festival in Kwara State because it is an Islamic State.

Section 10 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution states clearly that there shall be no state religion in any part of the Federation. The law does not recognize any such thing as an Islamic state, even with the strange mongrel of the adoption of the Sharia in 12 states of the North, operationalized in those states as a criminal orthodoxy, completely against the spirit of the Constitution. Section 38 guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of thought, religion and conscience. Nigeria has Muslims and Christians almost in equal proportion, with animists constituting a small percentage of the remaining balance. If a country’s wealth were to be judged by the religiosity of its people, and their open demonstration of passion for God, Nigeria should be the wealthiest country in the world. Everywhere you turn in this country, there is religious piety on display. There is a church or a mosque in every corner. Every day, there are people proclaiming the call to prayer and the muezzin heralding the beginning of every dawn. And yet the bigger question is: why is Nigeria so religious, so prayerful and yet so poor? Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism had tried to draw a link between capitalism and religion, especially the Protestant ethic. The opposite is the case in our country. The Protestant ethic appears not to be working here. The Weberian concept of religion and prosperity has failed us, because the basic fundamentals have never been allowed to grow. And those fundamentals do not grow by accident. What we are left with is religion without the work ethic that can generate prosperity, nor the righteousness that exalts nations. What we are left with is religion as opium, superstition, a grand game of illusion and mind control, underlying Nigeria’s development crisis.

Over time, Nigerians have been co-opted into this web of delusion, whereby they blame God for everything, rather than locating our woes in the province of the failures of man. Having been failed by themselves, and by their leaders, Nigerians are quick to resolve every situation by declaring that “It is the way God wants it”. Who knows the mind of God? Who knows what God wants? The most recent demonstration of this is the humiliating rejection of Dr Mariam Shetty as the Ministerial nominee from Kano. She had woken up in the morning, dressed up gaily, looking forward to being screened by the Senate like others before her, only to be told upon arrival at the National Assembly, that her name had been replaced. Nobody had the decency, not even the President who nominated her, to make a phone call or send an emissary to stop her from being publicly embarrassed. If she had been given prior notice of the latest development, she would have stayed back. But nobody thought of her feelings as a human being. And how has she responded? She says as a person of faith, she leaves everything in the hands of God, and calls on her supporters not to despair. She is not alone.

When accidents occur, hops are dashed, and lives are lost needlessly, Nigerians are quick to blame God. There are many Nigerians who have trooped into politics, seeking even the highest offices in the land, because their shamanist had seen a vision that they would one day become the President of Nigeria. They borrow money, print posters, hire thugs to steal ballot boxes, and when they fail, they fight tooth and nail, because they are convinced that the God whose voice their spiritualists told them had sealed their fate in Heaven does not fail. While various religious denominations in the country are guilty, the biggest culprits are the Pastors of the Pentecostal variety who preach progress, prosperity and capitalism without the underlying ethics. Many of them are doing more harm than good. I use the word, “many” in order not to generalize. There may well be a few true preachers of the word who speak the truth and are genuinely moved by the spirit but we are indeed genuinely in the season of religious charlatanism, in a country dominated at an alarming rate by the tribe fictionalized by Wole Soyinka in The Trials of Brother Jero (1963), and Requiem for a Futurologist (1983) as cunning liars who hold the country down. The tribe has not reduced, rather it has flourished, in Soyinka’s lifetime, before his every eyes - the agony of those who think for society.

What I find perplexing is the manner in which these prophets expropriate and openly claim the omnipotence and the omniscience of God, who they claim to represent on earth. What stupefies is how they try to run a government of the world with their spiritual pronouncements, something not even the United Nations has been able to do, and which the free range of globalization has not made possible. Every day, I am astounded by the unending deluge of Pastors, Prophets, Prophetesses, men and women of God, some of them with churches small like the Lord’s manger or big like the Wembley stadium who claim to know the future and determine the fate of men. The more annoying part is that they have in their grips, at their fingers, a captive audience of believers who propagate their propaganda, and this sadly, includes a number of local media outlets who seem to base their profit margin on the reportage of prophecies by their favourite Pastors. They not only report the prophecies, they authenticate them subsequently and some of these publications have been turned into the PR wings of prophets and prophetesses. One of my favorite books on journalism is Francis S. Merrill’s Responsible Journalism. The manner in which some media outlets feed and water the propaganda machinery of end-time, Pentecostal churches is nothing short of irresponsible journalism. When a Pastor makes a so-called prediction, how does that amount to a statement of fact? Who verifies it? Which media house has a phone call to God? And yet, daily, we are inundated with reports of how this Prophet or Prophetess made this prediction two months ago and how it had come to pass. Where is the audit or regulatory body to determine that? The propaganda is often based on a press release by an aide to the Prophet.

Many of these Prophets and Prophetesses are taking us for a ride, more so as they are not subjected to any form of integrity test, not even by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In the world of faith, anybody can just claim that he or she has heard the “Word” or has been called by the “Heavenly Father” and in a moment of self-induced epiphany start speaking in “tongues”. People have the freedom to worship their God the way they want, but they have no right to force others to go to Heaven in their own prescribed manner. In fact, there are people in this country, shocking as this may sound, who would rather go to Hell, if Hell exists hereafter and is not just a city in Europe and the US. The temerity of the shamanists/futurologists, hiding under the banner of God is what we deplore. Since the 2023 general election process in Nigeria began, there has been a plethora of predictions by men and women of faith. Many of them have constituted themselves into an alternative electorate. Hence, during the elections, they launched a trade in determining who would win or not. And after the elections, they have created their own spiritual election petition tribunals, from where they dictate to lawyers what to do and what not to do, with jejune, often commonsensical predictions about what the tribunals may come up with. They claim to have embarked on weeks of fasting or gone on a retreat to a Mountain and that “their Father” has spoken to them about everything from Ukraine to the Maghreb and the Ascension Island, and on the basis of their grand imaginings, their media allies ask us to believe, even when clear facts dictate otherwise.

I have seen, for example, cases of some Pastors predicting what would happen to election petition judges in the Presidential election if they do not rule out Tinubu because of a civil forfeiture and certificate issue in the United States. Obviously, some silks may be relying on the shamanists in their moves in this particular case, and thus disregarding basic principles of international civil litigation. It is elementary knowledge that as a general rule, Forum court does not apply foreign criminal law when it is not pleaded or proven directly or indirectly. Whatever conviction was done abroad has no relevance here. Our Constitution does not have a foreign court in mind. Matters that may be relevant would include marriage, divorce, or monetary awards in a foreign land, but even then, such cases must be registered in our laws, that is lex fori. Criminal offences are local offences, except where another country initiates a fresh trial within its own jurisdiction but even that could raise questions of status, subject, characterization, forum, capacity, double jeopardy and/or public policy. Our prophets, sitting down in their ecclesiastical shrines, after a few days of self-imposed fasting and having no firm knowledge of the facts, beaten black and blue by hunger, simply make divine, legal pronouncements based on metaphysical illusions. In their courts, there is no right of appeal once their God has spoken!

They have done enough damage already at private levels misleading many, breaking up homes, destroying lives, fouling up Nigerian politics with their unverifiable visions. On the positive side, they have done almost equal good, giving hope to the hopeless, and the millions of troubled souls in the land. Nonetheless, they must be restrained from taking over the governance process. Their expanding influence in the public space through the abuse of traditional and social media spaces, and unfettered access to the corridors of power, must be curtailed. This is without prejudice to their rights under Sections 38 and 39 of the Constitution, but is it possible to restrict them to the private value of religion, their denominations and the communities they relate with? These merchants of illusion are gradually usurping the functions of state institutions. Many of them give court rulings without regard to either the law or the facts of the case. They say they are moved by the spirit and they have a captive audience. No country should subject itself to being ruled by the capricious movement of unseen spirits and their earthly mouthpieces!

It is all the more disturbing because many of these Pentecostal pastors and prophetesses do not even base their pronouncements on the Scriptures. They sound more like motivational speakers, common sense maestros and closet newspaper editorialists. They have large followings. They must be told to stay within their areas of concern and avoid politics. Quite a surprise, none of them could offer a clear prediction on yesterday’s defeat of the Super Falcons by the Lionesses of England in what could have been a historic and extraordinary upset in the on-going Women’s World Cup. I won’t be surprised though if one of their media allies shows up, before weekend, to report that Prophet XYZ had predicted the outcome of the match since January 2000! When will the Church of Nigeria self-regulate and check the influence of the fortune tellers in cassock? Not even Friedrich Nietzsche’s Zarathustra was this ambitious.

The end for Harry Maguire’s stay at Old Trafford may be near. This is following the latest shock humiliation suffered by the former Red Devils captain.

Maguire lost the ball in the build up to Nico Williams’ goal in United’s pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. The effort had put Bilbao in front in the 29th minute.

Afterwards, the £80 million defender was booed by a section of United’s supporters at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. However, other fans attempted to drown out the jeers with applause.

The Englishman recently lost United captaincy and has been tipped to quit Old Trafford after falling from the pecking order.

Maguire expressed his disappointment after losing the captaincy to Bruno Fernades, but has since vowed to fight for his place at United.

The defender however returned to the starting line-up for the Red Devils in their friendly against Bilbao. The former skipper was paired alongside Victor Lindelof at the heart of United’s defence.  The match had ended in a 1-1 draw after Facundo Pellistri scored a 90th minute late equaliser for Erik ten Hag’s side.

Maguire, who started just eight Premier League games last season, has attracted interest from West Ham this summer.

[NationalDaily]

After England’s dramatic ousting of Nigeria’s Super Falcons today in their Round of 16 matches, six countries have qualified for the quarter-final of the ongoing 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup being played in New Zealand and Australia.

Naija News reported earlier that England defeated the Super Falcons of Nigeria 4-2 by penalty shoot-out following a goalless draw in 90 minutes and extra time played.

Australia, meanwhile, defeated Denmark 2-0, thanks to goals from Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso. The Round of 16 fixtures will continue on Tuesday as Colombia will clash with Jamaica, while France will tackle Morocco.

The six countries that have already qualified for the 2023 WWC are; England, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Japan and Sweden.

England and Australia were the latest countries to book their places in the quarter-final stage after beating Nigeria and Denmark, respectively, today.

BBC's coverage of England's crucial Round of 16 clash with Nigeria at the Women's World Cup has come under heavy fire as the match commentary seems to be out of sync with the on-screen visuals.

Nigeria's Ashleigh Plumptre crashed a wicked shot off the underside of the crossbar just after the quarter-hour mark in England's encounter as the Super Falcons piled early pressure on the European champions.

But if you were watching the BBC coverage live on terrestrial TV, you heard about Plumptre's dangerous strike from commentators Robyn Cowen and Rachel Brown-Finnis before you saw it.

The bizarre and discombobulating moment was not in isolation, and the broadcast experience was only exacerbated as Nigeria's early salvos continued to be reported audibly seconds before their on-screen occurrence.

And viewers of England's knockout round match have been less than impressed with the perceived lag, with one viewer slamming the broadcast as a "mess of an experience to watch" and another branding it as "annoying".

Other unamused viewers have called out the heavy price paid for their TV licence and the subpar live coverage from the BBC.

Some fans, however, have found the humorous side of the strange delay, commending Cowen and Brown-Finnis for their apparent verbal prescience.

Nevertheless, plenty of others have not found similar mirth at having such a critical game spoiled for them in real time.

The BBC share the rights to this summer's Women's World Cup with ITV, with the broadcasters sharing coverage of England's matches throughout the tournament.

The Lionesses welcomed back midfielder Keira Walsh into Monday's starting line-up in what arrived as a delightful surprise for England fans after the Barcelona star had seemed to sustain a serious knee injury during England's second group stage match against Denmark that threatened to put a premature end to her World Cup journey.

[mirror.co.uk]