10 things you need to know about new Chelsea coach Antonio Conte

Here are 10 things you need to know about the new first team head coach of Chelsea, 46 year old Antonio Conte who was announced as the club’s new manager on Monday, April 4.

1. He revived the career of Andrea Pirlo: For a while Andrea Pirlo was the best midfielder by many in Europe between 2005 and 2009 but that came to a halt when Massimo Allegri took over at Juventus.
The Italian tactician deemed the midfielder surplus to requirements at Milan and he moved to Juventus in 2011 and he immediately became one of the world’s best.

2. He mentality is defense first: Antonio Conte is known to always improve the defense of any team he coaches. He instantly changed Siena from Serie B powerhouses to stables in Serie A.
In Juventus, he formed arguably the best defensive paring in the world with a three man center defense that consisted of Leandro Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini.

3. He revitalized the three at the back formation: When Conte first arrived Juventus in 2011, he used his tried and trusted 4 – 2 – 4 formation he used at previous clubs. After assessing his squad for a while, he discovered a 3 – 5 – 2 formation was the way forward. With Pirlo in a deeplaying position alongside Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchiso, Juventus boasted arguably the best midfield in Europe.

4. Conte was a former captain of Juventus: Conte was signed by Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni in 1991 and was later made captain of the team before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to the role.

                                                         Conte as Juventus captain in 2004

During the 1998–1999 season, when Del Piero suffered a severe knee injury, Conte returned to the captaincy, a position which he maintained the until the 2001–02 season.

5. He has three top flight league titles to his name: Conte won the Italian Serie A in three consecutive years between 2012 and 2014. He also went the 2012 – 2013 season unbeaten in the league with Juve which a remarkable achievement given the notorious difficulty of the league.

                                Conte won the Italian Serie A in 2012, 2013 and 2014

6. He has a poor record in Europe: As much as Conte is good at managing in the League, the Italian has a very poor record in Europe.
Juventus were knocked out by the eventual winners Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of the Champions League in 2013, losing 4–0 on aggregate.

In the 2013–14 season, the Old Lady were eliminated from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League that season, although they subsequently managed to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League. On 15 July 2014, Conte resigned as manager

7. He was suspended for four months for match fixing: Back in 2012, Conte was banned for 10 months for failing to report an alleged match fixing case when he was in charge of Siena by ex-Siena player Filippo Carobbio. Upon appeal it was reduced to four months.

It was however ruled that he knew matches were supposed to be fixed but rejected the idea. Conte’s offense? he failed to report that he was contacted to fix matches.
8. He loves to talk about tactics with friends: According to rumours, Conte is one of very few managers who love to breathe football. He talks tactics on a daily basis and has been know to always try to tweak formations in games.

                                       Antonio Conte

9. He is a UEFA Champions league and UEFA Cup (now Europa League) winner: Conte won 5 Serie A titles with Juventus, the 1994–95 Coppa Italia, the 1992–93 UEFA Cup, and the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League.
Conte was also one of the best midfielder in the world between 1990 and 2000.

10. He made Paul Pogba, Kwadwo Asamoah household names: How Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson would rue the decision to let Paul Pogba leave the club so early in his career. After arriving Italy in 2012 as a fresh faced 19 year old, Pogba was given time to bed into Juventus three man midfield of Vidal, Pirlo and Marchisio.

Juventus midfielder Pogba celebrates with Conte after scoring in 2013 during a Serie A match

Which such seasoned campaigners ahead of him Pogba bid his time and outshines them.
Ghanian midfielder Asamoah could lay claim to have been the best left-back/left wing back in the world between 2012 and 2014. COnte transformed the Ghanaian to a world star though he has lost his place in the team to Alex Sandro and Patrice Evra after a cruel knee injury in late 2014.

EFCC fixes date for Ex President Goodluck Jonathan’s arrest

Dr Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s immediate past president

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has fixed a date to arrest former president Goodluck Jonathan.
A source within the agency told Reportsafrique.com on April 4 that the ex-president may be arrested before May 29.

The source hinged the revelation on the level of investigations carried out on Jonathan-led admin­istration by officials of the commission, noting that he may be arrested before President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration clocks its first year in office.

According to the source, the arrest of Azibao­la Robert, the managing director of Kakatar engineering and construction company two weeks ago was a clear indication that “we are inching close to making former president Jonathan our guest,” describing Robert as the closest kinsman of the former president.
The official described as careless, the recent remarks made by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who berated the commission and described it as a “tooth­less bulldog.”

The EFCC chief predicted that: “unfolding events in the next few weeks will actually confirm whether the EFCC has indeed become a toothless bulldog,” adding that: “We ar­rested Mr. Azibaola Robert on March 23, 2016 when he came to honour our invitation. We also arrested his wife, but she has since been granted bail. The following day, we arrested Da­koru Atukpa, Executive Direc­tor of his company. As we speak, both men are in our custody and are helping with vital informa­tion needed to nail the former president.”

The official also disclosed that Robert and Atukpa were arrest­ed in connection to the ongoing investi­gations into $40million oil pipeline security contract, which stemmed from the ministry of petroleum, but was paid for by the office of the detained former national security ad­viser, Col. Sam­bo Dasuki (Rtd).

The source said the anti-graft agency is currently following a lead that indicates that One-Plus Nigeria lim­ited, a sister company to Kakatar, which secured the oil pipe­line security contract, may have acted as a front for Jonathan.

“Even though One-Plus appeared to have success­fully executed the contract, we are interested in details of how the company executed the job, including those who got paid from the $40 million sum. Even though we are still in­vestigating, there is sufficient suspicion that both men used One-Plus as front of the former President. The Managing Direc­tor of One-Plus has constantly maintained that the company was incorporated well before Jonathan became Vice Presi­dent, and that it wasn’t a crime to come from Otuoke,” the official said.

The official said the commission is committed to proving Obasanjo wrong by taking on some people
considered to be one of the sacred cows, saying: “You know for­mer President Obasanjo has his unique way of passing his mes­sage. Before Obasanjo even de­scribed our Commission as a toothless bulldog, several per­sons accused us of shielding former President Jonathan. The truth is that we are not shielding anybody. It will not be good for us to rush to court only to be dis­graced, the reason we took this long to make the arrests.
“However, be assured that a very big fish will land in our net before May 29. We intend to make the arrest of this big fish a Democracy Day gift to Nigeri­ans,” the EFCC official said.

The EFCC of­ficial who declined to mention the big fish, however, ruled out the possibility of an early ar­raignment for Jonathan’s kins­men.

The official said: “We will keep them in custody for as long as possible, and for as long as they cooperate and tell us the whole truth about what they know about the trans­actions, and the involvement of the former president. For­tunately, we have secured a court order to keep them (Jonathan’s kinsmen) for another two weeks. If need be, we will apply for an extension. But be assured that we won’t allow this matter go the way of others. With this case, we will prove those who accuse us of being toothless bulldogs wrong.”

When Austin Ekheinde, the head of media of Kakatar company was contacted, he refused to comment. He told journalists to speak with his boss’s lawyer Gordy Uche (SAN), who later confirmed the arrest of the duo by the EFCC.

“Yes, EFCC arrested my clients Messrs Azibaola Robert and Dakoru Atukpa, MD and ED respective­ly of Kakatar CE and One-Plus, on March 23 and 24th respec­tively, when they went to hon­our EFCC invitation,” Uche said.

Uche said his clients were detained in connection with a $40million pipeline security contract as well as the purchase of a N650million house. He frowned that the agency has re­fused to arraign them before a competent court for trial.

The lawyer further disclosed that EFCC operatives conducted several searches on the offices of his clients and carted away several documents, adding that he was reliably informed that his clients were being forced to make statements to implicate Jona­than in an apparently move to satisfy certain interests.

Meanwhile, a top officials of the ruling All Progressives Con­gress (APC) had earlier accused the EFCC for not going after what he termed “sa­cred cows.” The party chieftain has also been pressurizing President Buhari to allow EFCC go after Jonathan.

President Buhari might be absorbing such pressure considering the fact that former president Jonathan in the history of African leaders, is the first incumbent president to concede defeat in a pres­idential election before the electoral umpire officially announced the complete results.

The single act of humility and selflessness saved several lives that may have been lost in the post-election violence that might have trailed the announcement of the winner of the poll.

That same single act has fetched Jonathan several awards and more recognition both at home and abroad.
But, Femi Adesina, presidential media aide in an interview with Vanguard, said President Muhammadu Buhari is not shielding Jonathan from prosecution, saying: “People who say that don’t know this president. He shields nobody. Anybody that needs to be asked question can be asked question.”

Source:Naij

Alimi Gist, entertainment 0 Chris Brown perms his hair…like his new look? (photos) By Don Halogen · On April 4, 2016 He does look good! He stepped out with his new look at the iHeartRadio Music Award last night where he won R & B Artist of the year…

Read more at: http://alimi.ng/chris-brown-perms-hair-like-new-look-photos/

Caroline Danjuma clears the air on her marriage status and billionaire husband’s cheating lifestyle

Caroline’s billionaire husband, Musa Danjuma has been accused, several times of having multiple extra-marital affairs, and fathering a child with a mistress.

On April 2, he was again spotted at Villa Medici restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, with a yet-to-be identified woman, enjoying what appeared to be an intimate dinner for two. Caroline first reacted to the story by having a good laugh. She just came clean of her relationship status and how she’s dealing with her husband’s cheating.

Please read what the actress just shared on her IG page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Billionaire daughter DJ Cuppy, tongue-lashed by fans after she said ‘Money Isn’t Everything (See Tweet Reactions)

Billionaire daughter DJ Cuppy, whose father is Femi Otedola posted this on Twitter

Her followers were quick to laugh at her philosophical post and then tongue-lashed her. They pointed out that as she has lived in the midst of affluence, she cannot possibly know what she is talking about.
See the very hilarious comments below







What's your take on this?

Nigerian Troops Destroy Boko Haram IED Factory In Borno, Kill 9 Sect Members And Rescue 21 Hostages (See Photos)

Troops of 155 Task Force Battalion, 21 Brigade, Nigerian Army on Thursday March 31st during clearance operations, discovered and destroyed Boko Haram’s Improvised Explosive Device (IED) factory and cleared the terrorists hide out in Wulwuta village, ahead of Jere, Bama Local Government Area.
A statement by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, says during the operation, the troops also killed 9 Boko Haram terrorists while one of our soldier was wounded in action.




The troops recovered 1 laptop, 1 solar panel, a pair of Nigerian military desert and woodland camouflage uniform each, as well as bandolier vest and 6 ready IEDs pressure plates.
Other recoveries include a loaded pistol with registration number D557954, 3 rounds of 7.65mm, 13 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunitions and combat boots, amongst others.

The gallant unit also rescued 21 persons held captives by the terrorists, comprising 8 men, 4 women and 9 children.
They have been moved to the Brigade Headquarters for further care, screening and eventual hand over to the appropriate agencies.

It is significant to state that the ever vigilant and professional troops noticed that the terrorists were determined to cause maximum casualty on them by stuffing 2 empty artillery shells and other cartridges with IED and batteries ready to explode.
They were however safely detonated by the Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) team attached to the unit.

West Ham to allow Moses, Emenike leave in summer

West Ham to allow Moses, Emenike leave in summer

                                     Emmanuel Emenike

English club West Ham have opted against making the loan signings of Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike permanent in the summer.

According to SkySports, former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song is another player the London-based club are considering offloading in the summer.

Moses completed a season-long loan move to West Ham and enjoyed a productive start to life at the Boleyn Ground, starting 11 matches and scoring in the 2-1 victory over Manchester City.

A hamstring injury in the goalless draw with Manchester United in December saw Moses miss six weeks of the season and he has not started in the Premier League since.

On his part, Emenike joined West Ham on a six-month loan deal in January after the east London club decided to sell Nikica Jelavic to Chinese second division side Guizhou Renhe.

The 29-year-old forward has scored two goals in nine appearances – both goals coming in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round victory over Blackburn Rovers – and started Saturday’s 2-2 home draw with Crystal Palace.

Inadequate funding bane of Nigeria's public varsities – ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has alleged that inadequate funding and other measures being taken by government are the root causes of the problems bedeviling Nigerian universities.

Zonal coordinator of ASUU, Professor Nanmwa Voncir, explained that successive governments have tried to destroy universities through various ways in the past.

Prof Voncir who stated this while dressing a press conference in Bauchi at the weekend said ASUU has always resisted the moves through its various struggles.

“In years past, the Federal Government of Nigeria has continued to cut down the funding of universities especially the capital and overhead costs leading to dilapidated infrastructures and equipment/facilities,” he said.

He said that the only saving grace for the universities and other

tertiary institutions was the intervention by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

He added that while the universities are bogged down by inadequate

funds, its personnel cost was also reduced which was why most universities could not pay monthly salaries of their staff.

Professor Voncir said that the union viewed the move as an attempt by the federal government to start the privatisation of the universities.

“You are also aware that recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria ordered the closure of all University Staff Primary Schools and the sacking of the staff. This is a direct confrontation with the union because the staff primary school is a product of a negotiated agreement between ASUU and FGN (From 1992 to date),” he added. He called on Nigerians to rise against any plan by the government to undermine the universities.