Author: Chronicle Editor

Former Liverpool and Real Madrid star Xabi Alonso is facing a possible five-year jail term after Spanish authorities accused him of tax fraud. Prosecutors say he owes nearly €2m ($2.4m; £1.7m) in tax related to earnings from his image rights that he failed to declare. The income relates to the period from 2010 to 2012, when the former Spanish international was playing for Real Madrid. Mr Alonso, 36, denies any wrongdoing. The same sentence is being sought for the player’s financial adviser, Ivan Zaldua, as well as the manager of the Portuguese company he allegedly used to avoid tax. READ:…

MultiChoice Nigeria has boosted its service delivery to its customers with the launch of the first DStv Experience Centre located at the Trocadero Mall, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. This state of the art centre will serve as an additional touch point for customers to experience DStv products and services, get first-hand information on content available on the various DStv packages, resolve queries, renew subscriptions, purchase decoders amongst other things. Speaking on the launch of the centre, General Manager, Marketing and Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho, said: “We are taking customer satisfaction to the next level by bringing the DStv experience…

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that negotiation should be carried out for $15 billion loan for the completion of work on the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri rail project. The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Ameachi, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday. According to him, the president has also given the approval for negotiations of funds for the execution of Lagos–Calabar rail project to ensure its speedy completion. “Don’t forget that the Lagos-Calabar project is yet to start because of funds; the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri…

A Federal Government delegation comprising Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Bukar Ibrahim, are on their way to Dapchi, Yobe State to meet with the freed schoolgirls. They will arrive Maiduguri first before going to the Yobe town, said Segun Adeyemi, special adviser to Minister of Information. The ministers had attended a Federal Executive Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, before they left for Maiduguri. Before their departure, Mohammed told media men, that the number of the Dapchi schoolgirls who were…

Pope Francis says the use of the religious symbol the ‘Crucifix’ (cross) as a fashion statement was abuse of the religious object. In a speech at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Pope Francis said that the religious symbol should be “contemplated and understood”, and “not be abused”. Highlighting the religious meaning of the cross, he said: “The crucifix is not an ornamental object or a clothing accessory which is sometimes abused, but a religious sign to be contemplated and understood. “The image of Jesus crucified reveals the mystery of the death of the Son as the supreme act of…

African leaders have signed what is being called the largest free trade agreement since the creation of the World Trade Organization. The deal creates a continental market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of more than $3.4 trillion. A major goal is to boost intra-African trade and rely less on the volatility of commodity prices that affect many exports. It is not immediately clear when the agreement, signed by 44 of the 55 member states, will enter into force. States now must ratify it. READ: Nigeria’s Chinese Loan: The genesis and the bitter truth There are…

Manchester United are concerned that Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, 29, is struggling to settle at the club and fear a repeat of the circumstances around Paris St-Germain and Argentina winger Angel di Maria’s brief spell at Old Trafford. (Mail) England coach Gareth Southgate has banned his players from eating Starbucks food – and having syrup in their cappuccinos – at the team hotel’s cafe. (ESPN) West Ham United are in a fresh legal dispute with London Stadium’s landlords over who should pay for a series of costs including providing draught beer, Sky TV and hospitality staff. (The Times – subscription…

Championship club Reading have parted company with manager Jaap Stam after a run of just one win in 18 league games. Former Manchester United and Netherlands defender Stam, 45, led the club to the Championship play-off final in his first season at the club. But poor results this term have seen Reading slip to 20th, within three points of the relegation zone. Saturday’s 3-2 defeat by Norwich City left the Royals without a win in their past nine Championship matches. Stam did not appear for post-match interviews after that defeat at Carrow Road, instead sending out his assistant manager Andries…

By Nathaniel C. Adoji “….I said in 2015 immediately Buhari came to power that there was nothing he could do without funds. The earnings from crude oil had dropped and Nigeria was not credible to take “vanilla loan” which is a flexible loan. Earnings from crude oil sales had dropped and we just came out from a period when the crude oil price reached an unprecedented peak. We did not borrow then and we did not use the oil windfall to build infrastructure, we squandered it instead.“- Godwin Eohoi (Registrar, CIFCN) The Genesis of the Chinese loan was borne out…

Boko Haram militants said they returned 76 Dapchi girls out of pity, warning their parents not to return them to Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi in Yobe state or give them education. According to reports, Boko Haram fighters issued an ominous warning to the parents of the Nigerian schoolgirls after releasing the girls in the town where they were abducted a month ago. A witness in the town of Dapchi told The Associated Press that the fighters told residents they had returned the girls “out of pity.” “And don’t ever put your daughters in school again,” they warned. Boko Haram…