The Nation Newspaper

Tag: refutes

  • Community refutes crisis ‘rumours’

    Community refutes crisis ‘rumours’

    ‘Let the truth be told, Ibeku is not for sale and the days of imposition are over forever and so anybody pushing for the recognition of any person through the backdoor other than Ukaegbu is trying to cause trouble’

    The stakeholders of Ibeku kingdom in Umuahia North council area of Abia State have denied that there is crisis in their community, urging those spreading the crisis ‘rumours’ to desist.

    Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, the state capital, the spokesman of the group, Chief Joshua Ogbonna said those behind the reports were people ostracised by Ogurube IV, Eze Samuel Onuoha for opposing him.

    Ogbonna said that the Ibeku Egu Asa Development Association (IEADA), on January 26 this year, conducted an election for the executives of the association which produced Chief Princewill Ukaegbu which did not go down well with some people.

    He said such people, 31 in number, were causing problems in the community and saying things against their revered Ogurube which led to their being cursed.

    “They have been told what to bring to appease the gods, which they have started doing,” he said.

    The Ibeku stakeholders spokesman said that what took place last week which was reported in the press, “Is those who have been ostracized after presenting materials to appease the gods which the Ogurube did for them and they are free to join IEADA”.

    Part of a statement which Ogbonna read said, “For the avoidance of doubt, there was no peace settlement meeting ever held in Ibekuland, rather what transpired was that those who were sanctioned and ostracized by the Ogurube-in-council for desecrating the land…had gone to the Ogurube to beg for pardon and appeasement of the gods of the land. Let no one be deceived as the purported peace settlement did not take place, all that transpired was a mere plea for re-admission of those who had despised the stool of Ogurube.

    “Let the truth be told, Ibeku is not for sale and the days of imposition are over forever and so anybody pushing for the recognition of any person through the backdoor other than Ukaegbu is trying to cause trouble”.

  • NFF spokesman refutes Dream Team for CHAN qualifiers

    NFF spokesman refutes Dream Team for CHAN qualifiers

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) spokesperson Ademola Olajire has clarified a statement credited to him in the media that the U-23 team will play the CHAN qualifiers against Burkina Faso next month.

    He said he was misquoted by the media. He insisted the home-based Eagles will play the game, but several members of the U-23 team will be included in the team.

    “What I said was that a good number of U-23 boys are in the team. I never said the U-23 boys would be the team to play against Burkina Faso,” Olajire said.

    Nigeria will welcome Burkina Faso to Port Harcourt on October 18 with the return leg in Ouagadougou a week later.

    The overall winners will qualify for the 2016 CHAN in Rwanda.

  • Oyo State FA refutes Ikhana’s attack claim

    Oyo State FA refutes Ikhana’s attack claim

    The leadership of Oyo State Football Association (OSFA) has refuted the claim of the Coach Kadiri Ikanna that he was assaulted at the premises of Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan, the venue of the week 12 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match between 3SC and Enyimba International.

    The Chairman of Oyo FA, High Chief James Odeniran told newsmen in Ibadan after the meeting of panel of enquiry set up to investigate the matter that the body has thoroughly investigated the allegation and found it baseless.

    He stressed that the FA provided maximum security and logistic for the match, considering its importance and expected volume of spectators.

    Odeniran said the Ibadan supporters were seen applauding the visitors after the match, despite the fact that the match ended in a goalless draw, and even outside the main- bowl, the fans were cheering players and the crew right to their vehicle.

    “We have thoroughly investigated the matter and is quite unfortunate that such allegation cannot be established, we had more than 50 Mopol from Police Mobile Force (PMF) and 30 regular Police. We have gone through the security reports submitted by them.

    “The superior officer that led the Mobile Policemen to the stadium said he personally supervised the departure of the referees, match commissioner and the visitors safely out of the stadium premises, and moreover, Ibadan has always been a friendly ground”, said the retired FIFA referee.

  • Obuh refutes age-cheating charge

    Obuh refutes age-cheating charge

    Nigeria U-20 head coach John Obuh has denied that some of his players at the African Youth Championship are over the age.

    Reports in Algeria suggested that many teams have players at the tournament over the age. Sebastian Migan, the head coach of DR Congo’s U20 team, upped the ante when he said that his team would have played in the semifinal if some teams had respected the rules after his defeat against Nigeria last Saturday.

    Obuh spoke to supersport.com and said: “That is not true , all my players are under twenty and whoever has any information that my players are over the age should prove it.”

    “We have a young team and they can play for many years again without problems.”

    Nigeria will play in the third place match today against Mali that lost their semifinal against Ghana last Friday, while Nigeria lost their match against Egypt.

  • Ikuforiji refutes report on governorship ambition

    Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji has refuted media reports that he was interested in contesting the governorship election in 2015.

    Ikuforiji said during an exclusive interview he granted to senior editors of the News Agency of Nigeria (NANS) at his Ikeja office on Tuesday, that anybody could have the ambition.

    He said: “In answer to a question on whether I intend running for governorship in 2015, I asserted that though everyone had a fundamental right of dreaming to aspire to any political position in the country and can have the ambition, as a Muslim, I know that tomorrow is not mine. I know that only the Almighty knows what tomorrow would be.”

    The speaker urged the public to ignore the “misrepresentation of what he said”, adding that his focus now is to ensure that “our government here in Lagos State continues to deliver the dividends of democracy to our electorate”.

    He said 2015 is still a long way to come, adding that when the time comes, the Almighty God would take absolute control of the situation.