Liverpool produced a superb display on Saturday at home to demolished calamitous Arsenal 5-1 and move nine points clear at the top of premier league.
Liverpool’s sensation, Roberto Firmimo grabbed a hat-trick in the match while Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scored to give Liverpool a big win.
Despite scoring first, Arsenal’s defence collapsed as Liverpool ran riot with goals, contrary to the expectations of many.
Arsenal took the lead after only 11 minutes when Ainsley Maitland-Niles slid in at the far post to score from Alex Iwobi’s cross – but it was a false dawn for Unai Emery’s side.
Liverpool, lifted after title rivals Tottenham’s home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier, responded with an explosive display that saw them 4-1 up by the interval and on their way to continuing their unbeaten league run to 20 games.
Firmino took advantage of Arsenal’s defensive confusion to quickly equalise then slalom past a posse of defenders to put Liverpool in front after Lucas Torreira lost possession, all in the space of two minutes.
Sadio Mane extended Liverpool’s lead after 32 minutes when Andrew Robertson’s long cross exposed Arsenal after they needlessly conceded a corner, before Mo Salah effectively ended the contest from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time after he had been fouled by Sokratis.
Liverpool then cruised to close out the win, Firmino completing his hat-trick from the spot after 65 minutes following Sead Kolasinac’s push on Dejan Lovren.
BBC reports that Manchester City, ten points adrift, will attempt to close the gap at Southampton on Sunday before they meet Liverpool in a pivotal encounter at Etihad Stadium on 3 January.
World Cup-winner Paul Pogba has been named by Manchester United boss
Jose Mourinho as the man to lead the Reds into the new Premier League
season against Leicester City.
The Frenchman
won the World Cup with his country in Russia less than a month ago,
scoring in the final against Croatia during France’s 4-2 triumph.
Pogba has since been on holiday recuperating following his season
with United and World Cup duty. He has been back in training for just
four days but manager Mourinho has shown great faith in the 25-year-old
as he hands him the skipper’s armband for the opener against the Foxes.
Fred makes his competitive debut for the Reds.
“Last season, he was captain a few times,” Jose told Sky Sports. “The
captain is [Antonio] Valencia. Valencia is not here. Paul is one of the
options. It’s his third season in the club, he was made in the Academy
and understands the club, the culture of the club and the tradition. He
is with the boys in the dressing room and is a good example today of
putting himself available to try to participate.”
Pogba will be
joined in midfield by United’s new recruit Fred, who was bought from
Shakhtar Donetsk earlier in the summer.
Young midfielder Andreas Pereira, who impressed on United’s tour of the
US, is also included in the first starting XI of the new season, while
Romelu Lukaku and Ashley Young are among the substitutes.
“They want [to] but some can’t [play],” added the boss. “Some
of them clearly they couldn’t [play] – for example, [Nemanja] Matic went
directly to hospital, direct to surgery. Jesse doesn’t feel in the
conditions to help us. Paul said: ‘Yes, okay’. Romelu said not to start
but, from the bench, I can give you a hand. This is what we need at this
time. We don’t have our team but we have a team. A team that wants to
compete. All the boys with good spirits to try to help, if not for 90
minutes, then for a few minutes.”
Jesse Lingard is unavailable to feature against his former loan club.
Leicester
selected Harry Maguire at the heart of the defence but fellow England
international Jamie Vardy, who signed a new deal this week, only makes
the bench. Former Red Jonny Evans is also among the visitors'
substitutes
Despite a late Jamie Vardy strike, captain Paul Pogba was instrumental
in helping Manchester United kick off the 2018/19 Premier League season
with a win after his penalty and a late Luke Shaw strike, his first
senior goal, was enough to earn the Reds a 2-1 victory over Leicester
City on Friday night at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho
hinted pre-match that some of the Reds' World Cup stars may play against
the Foxes and that was exactly what occurred with Pogba taking the
armband in midfield and Romelu Lukaku deemed fit enough to take his
place on the bench.
Our summer signing Fred made his competitive Reds debut and the
impressive pre-season showings from Andreas Pereira earned him a start.
Season openers often take a while to reach the tempo of the usual
fierce, fast-paced Premier League encounters, but this one had Reds fans
fired up after just two minutes. Alexis Sanchez's shot rebounded off
Wes Morgan and struck Daniel Amartey on the arm and, after a short
delay, referee Andre Marriner duly pointed to the spot. Just 26 days
after leading France to World Cup glory, Pogba nonchalantly tip-toed his
way to the ball and clinically dispatched the penalty into Kasper
Schmeichel's top corner.
United's no.6 had quickly picked up where he left off in Russia and he
was equally as effective at the other end, being in the right place to
head clear two dangerous Foxes' free-kicks, before the lively Kelechi
Iheanacho's effort narrowly missed David De Gea's far post.
Pogba confidently converts the penalty.
Eric
Bailly, was one of the few Reds who had a summer off and he looked
sharp, denying the Leicester forwards with some all-action defending and
it didn't take long for David De Gea to pick up his seamless,
world-class saving duties, tipping James Maddison's shot round the post
as the away side pressed for the equaliser.
Fred, who covered the most distance out of any United player in the
first half, showed off his array of passes to good effect, one of which
found Luke Shaw in behind, but Schmeichel grasped gratefully as United
went in at the break one up.
Bailly came to United's rescue again as he halted Iheanacho before
the former Manchester City man could pull the trigger. At the other
end, Pogba played in Alexis Sanchez who squared for Juan Mata, but his
effort was deflected wide, via the arm of Wes Morgan, before substitute
Vardy pressured Luke Shaw into a mistake and crossed for Iheanacho, but
De Gea saved down low.
Substitute Lukaku had a chance to wrap the game up when one-on-one,
but his effort was deflected over via the sprawling feet of Schmeichel,
but it didn't matter as fans' favourite Shaw doubled United's lead eight
minutes from time, beating Ricardo Pereira at the far post and poking
the ball past, this time, the helpless Dane.
Vardy did grab a late goal, tapping in at the far post after
Ricardo's cross had rebounded off the post, but it turned out to be a
consolation as the Reds kicked off the new campaign with the three
points.
THE LINE-UPS
United: De Gea; Darmian, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw; Pereira, Fred (McTominay 76), Pogba (c) (Fellaini 83); Mata, Alexis, Rashford (Lukaku 67).
With the World Cup now a distant memory, the 2018/19 season is almost
upon us and we're all excited for the long-awaited return of the Premier
League.
Manchester
United get the campaign under way in Friday night’s eagerly anticipated
opener against Leicester City at Old Trafford. However, since the Reds
last kicked a ball in a competitive game, there have been a number of
changes both inside and outside of the club.
Before another nine months of drama and excitement begin, we bring
you up to speed with everything that’s different ahead of the new term… AN EARLIER TRANSFER DEADLINE As you are probably aware, the summer transfer window will
close much earlier this season compared to previous years. The deadline
for United and fellow top-flight clubs to sign players is 17:00 BST on
Thursday (9 August) – just 27 hours before the Reds kick off the
campaign against the Foxes. This new agreement, which applies only to
the acquisition of players, will be for Premier League clubs only and
has no bearing on other leagues and competitions. Clubs will still be
able to sell or loan players to other leagues whose transfer windows are
open. The winter window will run in January as usual.
This summer's ins and outs article
THREE NEW OPPONENTS FOR UNITED The Reds will come up against three different but familiar
teams this season after Cardiff City, Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers
were promoted from the Championship last term – swapping places with
Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea City, who were relegated.
Wolves ran away with the Championship title in 2017/18, while Cardiff
finished second to give Neil Warnock a fourth crack at the top flight in
his long managerial career. Fulham beat Aston Villa in the play-off
final at Wembley and their head coach Slavisa Jokanovic will be the
first Serbian to manage in the Premier League. A NEW GROUND TO VISIT United’s loyal army of fans who travel to away games will have a
brand new stadium to tick off their list this term as Tottenham Hotspur
are set to move into a new home, built on the site of their old White
Hart Lane ground. With 62,062 seats, it will be the second-largest
stadium in the Premier League, behind our very own Theatre of Dreams.
The ground will also host NFL matches with a special American football
pitch, concerts and other major events every season. United, who were
the last visitors to the old White Hart Lane in May 2017, are scheduled
to travel to north London to face Spurs on 12 January 2019.
FOUR NEW MANAGERS Since the end of last season, four Premier League clubs have
changed their manager. Chelsea replaced one Italian with another as
Antonio Conte made way for ex-Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri, while
Arsenal appointed former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain boss Unai Emery
as their replacement for long-serving Arsene Wenger. Everton finally
landed their man as Marco Silva arrived in place of Sam Allardyce and
former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has replaced David Moyes
at West Ham United. A NEW BALL TO PLAY WITH A new season wouldn’t be complete without a new ball – and this
year United’s stars will be playing with the most advanced ball yet in
the Premier League era. There were once 32 panels on a ball – now, for
the first time ever, the Nike Merlin ball for 2018/19 has just four.
Fewer panels means fewer seams, eliminating hard spots and opening the
ball up to more sweet spots for players to shoot or pass with greater
accuracy. Let’s hope we see it hit the back of the net plenty of times
this season for the Reds!
Unai Emery has the tough task of following
in the footsteps of Arsene Wenger, who was Arsenal's manager for 22
years.
NEW FACES IN THE MIDDLE There will be four new match officials who could take charge of
United’s games in the Premier League this term. Referees Simon Hooper
and David Coote have both been promoted to the Select Group of officials
who oversee top-flight games, while Dan Robathan and Neil Davies could
be running the line at Old Trafford this term after being elevated to
the list of Premier League assistant referees. Incidentally, Friday
night’s season opener against Leicester will be refereed by experienced
whistler Andre Marriner. NO VAR – YET! It may have been in place at the World Cup, where it caused its
fair share of controversy, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will
not be used in the Premier League this season. However, the technology
is still being trialled behind the scenes and will be used in selected
FA Cup and Carabao Cup games. A statement from the Premier League said: “The
clubs agreed that advanced testing will continue to the end of season
2018/19 to make further improvements to the system, especially around
communication inside the stadium and for those following at home and
around the world.”
Juan Mata had a goal contentiously ruled out
by the VAR for offside in last season's FA Cup tie at Huddersfield.
CHANGES TO DISCIPLINARY SANCTIONS A totting-up system similar to player cautions has been
introduced for managers or other members of team staff for breaches of
discipline in the technical area. Every time a referee issues an
official, stage-one warning to a manager or other member of team staff
in the technical area, the caution will be logged and they will be
informed. Sanctions will subsequently be imposed after four, eight, 12
and 16 warnings per individual. In addition, yellow cards picked up by
players in Premier League matches will only be relevant to that
competition. A player who receives five cautions before the 19th
league match will be given a one-match suspension, to be served in the
Premier League. Ten cautions received by the 32-match mark will result in a two-match ban for the offending player. HANDHELD DEVICES CAN BE USED IN DUGOUTS
Although the general rules of the game remain unchanged for the
season ahead, managers and officials now have the option to use small
handheld devices, such as phones and tablets, in the dugout as a means
of communication. This means they could be used to relay tactical
information to players or speak to managers or coaches who may be
watching the game from the directors' box or the stands. However, they
cannot be used to watch or review match footage.
NEW UNDER-18S COACH FOR UNITED There’s a new man in charge of our Under-18s, following Kieran
McKenna’s promotion to Jose Mourinho’s first-team coaching staff. Neil
Ryan has taken over the reins and will be looking to build on the
success of last season, when United won the Under-18 Premier League
North title. The young Reds’ bid to retain their crown begins on Friday
afternoon when Derby County visit the Aon Training Complex for a 13:00
BST kick-off in what will be Ryan’s first competitive match at the helm.
Ryan's a United man to the core article
A NEW WOMEN’S TEAM 2018/19 will mark an historic season for Manchester United
Women as Casey Stoney’s exciting young team embark on their inaugural
campaign since launching earlier this summer. Our women’s team will be
competing in the FA Women’s Championship, with the aim of gaining
promotion to the FA Women’s Super League at the first time of asking.
The season officially gets up and running for Stoney’s side with a tasty
fixture against rivals Liverpool at Tranmere Rovers’ Prenton Park on
Sunday 19 August in the first round of the Continental Tyres League Cup.
A MINI MAKEOVER FOR OLD TRAFFORD And finally, the Theatre of Dreams has something of a new look
heading into the new season. After hosting the Soccer Aid for Unicef
match, as well as Rolling Stones and Billy Joel concerts, the stadium
has had a lick of paint and the pitch has been relaid to ensure
everything is ready for the big kick-off on Friday night, when the eyes
of the football world will be on our home as the 27th Premier League
season commences.
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Mr Akeem Agbaje, speaks with WALE AKINSELURE on his ambition, his agenda tagged ‘Sustaining the legacies of the incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi’ and why money politics won’t determine winner of the next Oyo governorship election.
YOU are a legal luminary, but, in politics, some observers refer to you as a greenhorn. What do you make of this tag?
The definition of greenhorn will not apply to me. This may be my first time of contesting for a political post, but in terms of participation in the electoral process, I have consistently done this as a lawyer representing candidates and being part of a think-tank of elected officials that were successful. There is really no government in this state, both civilian and military, that I have not had a very close relationship with. Also, there is no local government in this state that I have not had significant interaction with. There is no local government that I have not been to for at least five times, since 1999. So, in terms of understanding of this environment, I have reasonably good knowledge and experience. I have also had good physical interactions with several politicians.
How do you intend to achieve your ambition of becoming the governor?
The process was first for me to tell my leader and father which is the governor. After, I informed my ward, which is Ward 3, Ibadan North West Local Government and I visited my local government and then the state executives. I informed the party secretariat last year and it did not have to be a jamboree. Moreover, campaigns have not been officially lifted by INEC and we will still go to the party office to pick nomination forms. It is the new entrants into the game that feel they have to celebrate going to the party office, but it is a long journey and everyone has his or her own approach.
But you are also a new entrant
When I mean new entrant, I mean those that declared their intention in the past two to three months not those of us that did it last year. In the political landscape, we probably have one or two that are not new; majority of us are new. In terms of when we informed the state executives, I am not new.
Your campaign is tagged, Sustaining the Legacy, what are the legacies of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi led administration that you intend to sustain?
One of the key words of our campaign is sustaining the legacy. Hardly will you find a government that has not impacted on governance in one way or the other. The policies of this administration were determined by the challenges of those times, like insecurity. The current administration has brought about a credible level of security; in terms of infrastructure, he has also done significantly well. He has put in place a lot of policies, like in the civil service, and the results will be felt with time. They are not immediate but once he lives office and a competent administrator comes in, the significance of his policies will begin to manifest. That is why you need someone who is very knowledgeable about the state. For me, education is key, agriculture is key, health is key, the judicial system is also very important. We need to focus on infrastructure, in terms of gas and power. We need to develop that and make it manifest in our economic development, we also need to deal with housing.
In the name of sustaining the legacy, what do you make of those arguments that Ajimobi’s successor should rather emerge from within his cabinet and not outside it?
I think that, with due respect to members of the cabinet, for better balancing, fresher ideas that can build on what Ajimobi has achieved, bring additional value to what they have done, it is better a neutral I comes into governance.
The peculiarities of this moment must be different from those when Ajimobi came to power. What should be focus of governance in Oyo State after Ajimobi?
We need to rebase our developmental trajection. We are not Lagos or Ogun State, but we have other values that should drive us like agriculture, education, our judicial system; we can also improve on the level of security that Ajimobi has started. It is only when you have all these in place that you can begin to attract the kind of investment that we need to take us to the next level.
Recent experiences seem to point to an increased practice of money politics, do you have the needed resources to outwit other big spenders for you to emerge the party’s flag bearer?
I have been involved in the politics of Oyo state over the years. Not in one instance has the highest spender won the election. Right from the time of Bola Ige to Kolapo Ishola, Lam Adesina, Rasheed Ladoja, Abiola Ajimobi, it wasn’t the highest spender that won the election. Our politics is different, our people are more politically sophisticated, they are not easily swayed by the immediate benefits they will get. They look at the aspirants, their background, pedigree, the relationship they have had with them. In some places, it is easy to spend money but not in Oyo State. I have not seen the highest spender win election in Oyo State. Politics is local, the drivers of the politics of each state differ. If it worked in Ekiti State, it may not work in Oyo state.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday met with the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, reportedly to perfect the lawmaker’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The former governor of Akwa Ibom State arrived the State House Villa by 3.06pm with the Presidential Aide on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang.
The duo went straight into the Vice President’s wing at the State House Villa. The two Akwa Ibom politicians came an hour after President Muhammadu Buhari departed for Bauchi State on an official engagement.
The meeting, which lasted till around 5.20pm, came on the heels of Akpabio’s defection plot. Akpabio is said to be mulling defection over his rift with the current governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel.
Our correspondent reports that while Akpabio was with the vice president, the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of his party, the PDP, was also going on, with Senate President Bukola Saraki and other defectors from the APC in attendance. A ranking senator told Daily Trust that Akpabio had since perfected his plans to dump the PDP. “If not for the impunity of Saraki, he (Akpabio) would have announced his defection penultimate Tuesday when we proceeded on recess. He was to announce it that day but Saraki stopped him,” the senator, who did not want be named, said.
Our correspondent reports that if Akpabio decamps, he would be the second senator from the oil rich Akwa Ibom to join the APC. In January last year, Senator Nelson Effiong (PDP, Akwa-Ibom South) joined the APC.
A text message sent to Enang to confirm whether the vice president’s meeting with Akpabio was in connection with the defection was not responded to.
Fulani men stand in a group in the village of Luggere in Nigeria's Plateau State on June 29. The area has seen days of violence in which more than 200 people have been killed in clashes between farmers and herders. (Stefan Heunis/AFP)
Since 2009, Boko Haram extremists have killed thousands of people in northeast Nigeria, devastating the Lake Chad region and setting off a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
But since January, another, lesser-known conflict has overtaken the Boko Haram crisis as the deadliest conflict in Nigeria, killing six times more Nigerians than Boko Haram did in the same period.
For years, periodic clashes between farmers and herders have disrupted Nigeria's Middle Belt, the part of the country that divides the north and south and is home to the capital, Abuja. But the conflict has recently intensified, destabilizing the region and leaving 1,300 people dead this year, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group, or ICG.
“What were once spontaneous attacks have become premeditated scorched-earth campaigns in which marauders often take villages by surprise at night,” the report said.
Competition for resources has played a major role in the conflict. For centuries, nomadic herders have traveled through Africa on traditional cattle routes, searching for fertile grazing lands for their cows. But desertification and the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria's northeast, among other factors, have begun to push the herders farther south, where they encounter settled communities that are already struggling with their own population booms.
Incidents that may have once seemed manageable and isolated, such as a herd of cows trampling through a farmer's field, now have the potential to escalate into large-scale disputes. Conflicts between herder and farmer communities have included the burning and razing of entire villages and purposeful destruction of one another's' livelihoods. Herders have at times intentionally damaged farmers' fields, and farmers have slaughtered and stolen cattle.
As the ICG said in its report, the source of the clashes may be the battle for resources, but the conflict also has ethnic and religious undertones: Herders tend to be Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group, while farmers in the region tend to be Christian. Hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced in what the research group calls “Nigeria's gravest security challenge.” The resulting polarization “could affect forthcoming elections and undermine national stability,” the report said.
The situation has worsened this year in part because of laws in two states, Taraba and Benue, that ban open grazing of cattle, according to the ICG. The laws, which in theory were intended to prevent conflict, may have in fact made it worse. Herders see anti-grazing laws as a direct attack on their lifestyle and work; farmers see them as the only way to prevent their fields from being trampled by cows.
When a grazing ban was implemented in Benue state in November 2017, it left herders with few options. Ranches where their cattle could graze were not ready; fearing their cows would die of thirst or starvation, or that they would be arrested and have their cattle seized, many herders moved into other nearby states where they were still competing with farmers for land. The ICG said that the government needs to avoid implementing blanket grazing bans and should instead roll out new policies in phases to allow herders time to adjust.
The growing number of militias, along with the growing number of firearms available to them, have also “enabled the carnage,” the report said. Both sides also complain about a lack of justice for attacks on their communities.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable. Some lose their fathers and husbands to the violence; some are raped when their villages are attacked. Children have died of diarrhea and measles, and some camps set up for displaced people are merely converted schools, with as many as 100 people sharing a single classroom.
None of this bodes well for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 on promises to stabilize the country and prevent future insecurity. At that time, Boko Haram was one of the most pressing concerns. But as the country prepares for presidential elections in early 2019, the farmer-herder conflict is expected to stay at the forefront of political conversations.
“The killings have severely undermined one of President Buhari’s major 2015 campaign pledges — to bring security and stability to the country,” the report said.
Some Christians see Buhari, a Fulani Muslim who keeps cattle himself, as being too sympathetic to the herdsmen. According to Reuters, Buhari's spokesman said this year that it is “disturbing” to suggest that he has failed to crack down on the attacks because of his ethnicity
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has promised N20 million to anyone with useful information that would lead to the arrest of the culprits who murdered the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman of Idea to North Local Government, Chief Sunny Ejiagwu.
The governor, in a press statement, he issued through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, emphatically said that the murder of the APC chieftain was purely a case of assassination following the circumstances surrounding his death.
“Considering the fact that nothing was taken away from the man or removed from his car, it should not have been therefore a Case of armed robbery, and looking too at the fact that there was no sign of resistance or struggling between the killers and the victim and the method of shooting, the issue of kidnapping should also be ruled out,” Governor Okorocha said.
According to Governor Okorocha, “The man’s head and body were shattered with bullets following several gunshots just to make sure that he had no chance of being revived, and that could only be done by wicked assassins.”
Governor Okorocha, who spoke when political and community leaders of Ideato-North came to officially inform him about the gruesome murder of Ejeagwu, at the Government House, Owerri, assured that those behind the act would be brought to book.
He continued, “Last night we received a very disturbing news about the untimely death of one of our Party leaders in Ideato-North by name Sunny Ejeagwu (Ohaneze) who was murdered at about 8.00pm last night.
“We have come to a very painful moment of this our political life, to say that those who are behind the killing must be brought to book”.
“This is painful and Ohaneze(Ejiagwu) has no reason to die now. He has just been elected the Chairman of APC, Idearo-North and he is one that is loved by all, but for someone to have gone to take his life, we condemn it in its entirety and we have requested the Security agencies to fish out the killers.
“We as a government must ensure that these culprits, these wicked souls must be brought to book. We must never allow innocent souls to be destroyed or even people being killed just for nothing.”
He further added, “I’m here placing a price tag that whoever can give any useful information as to the killers of Chief Ejeagwu, this government will release the sum of N20million immediately just to make sure we arrest whoever killed this innocent soul.
“The Security agencies have been directed and mandated within the shortest possible time to produce the killers of this man.
“We are asking all Imolites to go about their businesses without fear, as security arrangements are in top gear to ensure the security of lives and properties in the state”.
The governor also added, “As politics comes up, this is a similar incident that happened many years ago wherein the same Akokwa, a notable politician was killed and it looks like it has become the character of Ideato-North to kill around that area whenever politics comes on.
“I’m yet to classify this killing as politically motivated killing. But even if that is the case, the perpetrators must be brought to book, and we shall use this to show an example that we mean business to fish out the men of the underworld,
“Therefore, I and the State government have sent our collective sympathy and heartfelt sympathy to the wife and children and the family of Chief Ejeagwu for this underserved, unmerited and wicked death that he had to go through in the hands of his murderers.
“But everyone must know that life is sacred and no one has the right to take another’s life, and whoever does that, whether now or later, must pay the prize.
“So, I sympathise with the family and government will be with this family in this their period of trials and pains. Once more, let me assure all Imolites, all members of APC that we must bring to book, the killers of Ohaneze, and not too far from now”, Governor Okorocha stated. (The Sun)
