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Arsene Wenger has labelled Chelsea as ‘super-favourites’ for the Premier League title after watching the leaders close in on Arsenal’s record for consecutive victories. Antonio Conte’s side have opened up a six-point lead at the top of the table thanks to a superb run of 12 successive wins. Chelsea have been perfect in the league since a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on September 24 led to a change in formation from Blues boss Conte The west Londoners can consolidate pole position in this weekend’s clash with Stoke and Gunners manager Wenger conceded on Friday they are firm favourites to take the title. “At the moment Chelsea are the super-favourites because they are quite big and made a big difference,” Wenger said. “But it is theirs to lose as we say here in England. They can still lose it, at the moment they have won it but they can still lose it. “It’s still a long way to go and very difficult for everybody so the head-to-head (matches) will have a vital importance. “They have addr...

World player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo rejected a world record £257million (300m euros, $317m) bid from China, his agent Jorge Mendes has claimed. Mendes told Sky Sports Italia on Thursday that the unnamed Chinese Super League side had offered the 31-year-old Portuguese superstar a record £85m a year as salary. “From China, they’ve offered 300m euros to Real Madrid and more than 100m (euros) per year to the player,” said Mendes. “But money is not everything. Real Madrid is his life. Cristiano is happy at Real Madrid and it is impossible to go to China.” China has through its Super League clubs flexed considerable financial muscle in the international transfer market, most recently buying Brazilian international Oscar from Chelsea and Argentinian veteran Carlos Tevez — with the latter reportedly set to earn 38million euros a year. However, Mendes said the star of his stable was out of reach. “The Chinese market is a new market,” said Mendes. “They can buy a lot of players, b...

Samson Folarin A 61-year-old man, Timothy Onyeukwu, has been arrested by the Abia State Police Command for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl and keeping her as a sex slave in a hotel in Aba. Onyeukwu was alleged to have tricked the victim into the hotel with ice cream and N200 and held her hostage for months. Our correspondent gathered that the suspect was apprehended after the police got a tip-off and swooped on him at the hideout. The victim was said to have been rescued and reunited with her parents. The suspect was among many others paraded at the command headquarters in Umuhaia, the Abia state capital, on Wednesday. Onyeukwu, in his statement blamed the devil for the act, saying he was forced to sleep with the victim after she made series of demand from him. The police said intelligence report gathered by operatives of the Central Police Station, Aba, led to the arrest of the suspect, adding that the victim had been taken to a hospital for treatment. The state Police Pu...

Etim Ekpimah, Uyo Many physically-challenged persons who came for an empowerment programme, sponsored by the Akwa Ibom State Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, sustained varying degrees of injuries in their bid to escape from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps operatives who flogged them during the distribution of food and money. It was learnt that some of the victims who were visually impaired, fell on rough surfaces, while others, who could not run, were marched on by other fleeing persons. Some were also said to have passed out in the melee. A victim, Ime Okon, from Ikot Ntu, in the Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, told our correspondent on Thursday that he could not raise his left arm as it had been broken following the stampede that ensued after the flogging by the NSCDC men. He said, “As we were trying to come out, the NSCDC personnel started flogging people. The fleeing crowd pushed some of us down and stepped on us...

The Abia State Police Command on Thursday confirmed the death of an environmental health officer and his wife in the Aba South Local Government Area. The Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr Nta Ogbonnaya, told the News Agency of Nigeria Aba that the couple died in Bende, their local government area of origin where they had gone to observe the Yuletide. Ogbonnaya said police investigations revealed that Mr. Prince McAnthony, and his wife, Oluchi, who also worked in the same health department of Aba South LGA, inhaled the fumes of a generator which they left close to their apartment. However, a family source told NAN that there was more to the death. The source said the couple had quarreled over the man’s amorous relationship with a woman who also works in the same health department. The source said the man abandoned their rented apartment in Aba to stay in Bende. He said the lover still visited him in Bende. He said, “On December 10, the environmental health officer inv...

Reveals reason for fine form Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel has been speaking on why teammate Victor Moses has become one of the pillars of Chelsea this season. Moses’ career at Chelsea used to be no laughing matter, but opponents don’t seem able to stop him from having fun in a blue shirt now. Crystal Palace, where the Nigeria international was given his professional debut at the age of 16 in 2007, will be the next to try today. Yet like Chelsea in the Premier League, Moses has built a momentum that the Eagles will find hard to halt. It has been some turnaround. Bought from Wigan for £9m in 2012, Moses made his first league start for Chelsea at Hull just two months ago – ending a wait of 1239 days. The 25-year-old’s struggle for first team football and season-long loans to Liverpool, Stoke and West Ham over the previous three years, has been well documented. Chelsea’s lack of faith in his abilities, particularly under former manager Jose Mourinho, had an impact on his personali...

Promises to implement recommendations Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has received the report of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to carry out a whole-some investigation into the killings and destruction of property that occurred in Nimbo, Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, when persons suspected to be herdsmen attacked the community on April 25, this year. Receiving the report of the five-man panel inaugurated on May 12, Governor Ugwuanyi thanked the members for the diligence exhibited in carrying out the task and promised to implement their recommendations. “I wish to assure you all that government will accord this report, the seriousness it deserves and will promptly and firmly, implement any approved recommendation or recommendations in the report to ensure that justice is done to all concerned and in the overall interest of our people,” he said. The governor thanked the people of Enugu State for the discipline and restraint demonstrated in the wake of the killings, ...

Against claims by some partisan interests accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of forcing his political wishes down the throat of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has stated otherwise. Yakubu spoke yesterday at the opening of a two-day workshop organised by the commission for some journalists in Abuja. He said his lifetime ambition was to be a university lecturer and that having achieved that by divine providence, whatever he now does in life is more like a bonus, adding that at his present stage in life, he cannot be goaded into doing what is unlawful. Responding to a question as to whether he was under any pressure from the president, he said; “It is too late to be intimidated by anybody. For what purpose? Directly or indirectly, I have never been approached by anybody to do anything other than what obtains in the law. There is no influence on INEC. The best marker are the elections we have concluded. Which party w...