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Cancer-stricken Vilanova quits as Barcelona coach

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BARCELONA (AFP) Tito Vilanova’s time in charge of Barcelona drew to a close after just 14 months on Friday when the 44-year-old stepped down as coach after suffering a relapse in his brave battle against cancer.

Vilanova first had a tumour removed from his throat in November 2011 whilst still working as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at the Spanish giants, but returned to coaching duties in March the following year.

He then went on to succeed Guardiola as head coach of the Catalans after the latter decided to step down at the end of the 2011/12 season.

Tito Vilanova:quits for  cancer

Tito Vilanova:quits for cancer

However, after an amazing start to his first senior managerial role on the field as Barcelona made the best ever start to a Spanish league campaign, the club was rocked by the news in December last year that the cancer had reappeared.

Vilanova had surgery on a salivary gland and then spent two months in New York receiving chemotherapy treatment before returning to the touchline for Barca’s Champions League quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain in March.

Having amassed a commanding lead in the first-half of the season, Barca comfortably went onto to seal their 22nd Spanish league title in May, but a draining season on and off the pitch seemed to have taken its toll on the squad when they were hammered 7-0 on aggregate by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.

Despite that defeat Vilanova continually stressed that had the energy and determination needed to continue in the role for the upcoming season.

“I feel fine. I have the energy and the desire to continue at the head of the team next season,” he said.

But unfortunately his health once again failed him and he has now agreed to step aside to concentrate on his battle with cancer.

Like many of the world’s best coaches, Vilanova made it to the top despite not having a distinguished playing career himself.

He started off in Barcelona’s ranks as a youth player where he first met Guardiola, but moved on after failing to break into the first team and only very briefly featured in the top flight with Celta Vigo between 1992 and 1995.

After working as a coach and technical director respectively at Catalan sides FC Palafrugell and Terrassa though, Vilanova was called upon by his old friend Guardiola to form part of the coaching staff at Barcelona B after Guardiola had been appointed as manager in 2007.

After a season working with the club’s youngsters, Vilanova followed Guardiola as he graduated to first-team boss the next season and was a key part of the side that won 14 trophies over a remarkably successful four-year period.

“I am not looking to compare myself to anyone; I simply want to do my job,” said Vilanova when he was officially presented as the new Barca coach in July 2012.

Vilanova’s relationship with Guardiola appeared to have cooled since the latter’s decision to leave Barca last year.

The new Bayern Munich boss claimed last week that the current Barca board, led by president Sandro Rosell, had deliberately tried to Vilanova’s illness to damage Guardiola’s reputation by claiming he had not visited his ailing friend despite living in New York where Vilanova was undergoing treatment.

That claim was flatly rebuffed by Vilanova last week, who said he had only seen Guardiola once during his two-month spell in the American city.

Barcelona’s focus throughout Vilanova’s struggles have quite rightly been focused on his health rather than the state of the side on the pitch, however his departure does now leave one of the world’s leading clubs without a permanent manager less than a month before they are due to start the defence of their La Liga title.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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