IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

Tottenham will face holders Real Madrid in the group stage of the Champions League. Spurs have been drawn in Group H alongside Spanish side Real, German giants Borussia Dortmund and Apoel. The draw pits the Premier League runners-up against Wales winger Gareth Bale, who left Spurs for Real in a world record deal in 2013.

Scottish champions Celtic face a tough test in a group with Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain and Anderlecht. Premier League champions Chelsea have been drawn to play Atletico Madrid, Roma and Qarabag in Group C, and Europa League winners Manchester United face Benfica, Basel and CSKA Moscow in Group A.

Manchester City, who finished third in the Premier League last season, are up against Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli and Feyenoord in Group F, while Liverpool, who beat Hoffenheim in a play-off to secure their place in the draw in Monaco, will meet Spartak Moscow, Sevilla and Maribor in Group E.

The group stages begin on 12-13 September. The last time six British teams qualified for the group stages was in 2007-08, when English sides Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal were joined by Scottish clubs Celtic and Rangers. The final saw Sir Alex Ferguson's United defeat Avram Grant's Chelsea on penalties.

Groups at a glance
Group A: Benfica, Manchester United, Basel, CSKA Moscow
Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic
Group C: Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Qarabag
Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiakos, Sporting
Group E: Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Liverpool, Maribor
Group F: Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord
Group G: Monaco, Porto, Besiktas, RB Leipzig
Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, Apoel

Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA Player of the Season for 2016-2017 on Thursday after a campaign which saw the Portuguese superstar help Real Madrid to the La Liga and Champions League double. It was the third time that Ronaldo had won the award which was presented on the sidelines of the Champions League group stage draw.

His great rival Lionel Messi has won the prize on two occasions and could pave the way for him to capture a fifth Ballon d’Or title. “The same [goals] every year, the same challenge – to win everything that’s possible with my club, with my national team. I’m so glad to be here, and honoured to win this trophy again. Thank you to my team-mates and congratulations to them too,” the forward said after receiving the award.

“For the national team, when I go there they always give me motivation to work hard and carry on every time. I’m so blessed – thanks also to the supporters of Real Madrid, everyone who helped me to achieve this trophy. Thank you – I’m so happy.”

A Lagos-based engineer,Mr. Lawrence Ameh Idoko has been reportedly stabbed to death by his wife, an auxiliary nurse, Mrs. Folashade Bashira Idoko.

The incident which happened at about 11pm, August 20 at Kosoko Street in Ayetoro area of Lagos (Oto-Awori Local Government Area), was, according to neighbours, including the landlord of the house, a culmination of several years of violent spousal abuse by the suspect, Mrs. Idoko, against her husband.

The last fatal incident was said to have happened on Sunday night when 32 year -old Mr. Idoko who worked as a pipeline engineer with Greater Inspection and Industrial Services at Sango-Otta, Ogun State, was away for a week on an assignment at Ikorodu for his company. When he returned home, his wife accused him of being involved in an extra-marital affair and stabbed him in the leg with a sharp knife.



When his three-year old son’s cries alerted neighbours, he had bled heavily. He died about an hour after he was rushed to the nearby New Ayetoro Medical Centre, Ijanikin.

According to a neighbour, Mrs. Blessing Olokpobri, the wife’s violence was a well-known fact in the entire neighbourhood. “There was hardly a day they didn’t have a fight whenever he came around, even on January 1st this year.

“Or, was it when he went to drag him and stripped him naked from the beer palour around here where he was hanging out with friends? She even beat up an elderly neighbor who tried to intervene. There was even a time she sliced his ear lobes with a broken bottle and it had to be stitched. There was another day she striped him naked in the public, she narrated.

The landlord, Chief Gani Akanni, the Balogun of Ayetoro-Ijanikin who took the bleeding and dying Idoko to the hospital, recounted how he gave the couple a quit notice early this year due to the incessant fight, but was begged by the other tenants into reconsidering his stance.



“There was a time I also took the woman to the police station because she vandalised my property after I locked up the tenants’ rooms for defaulting in payment of LAWMA (waste collection) bills.

“She went ahead to break the door. It is unfortunate because the husband is such a quiet and peaceful man. Lawrence would never raise his voice against anybody, he would rather apologise if there was any issue involving him.

“There are seven days in a week, this couple would fight three of those seven days. I am a peaceful person and a community leader. People bring matter to me in the neighbourhood and I settle them. I don’t like noise but the deceased’s wife would always cause embarrassment in the compound.



Folashade who is currently in detention at the Ijanikin Police Station, is said to be an auxiliary nurse by training but has been a house wife since. The couple have two children, a three-year old boy, Isaac and an 11-month old girl, Benedicta.

Idoko hailed from Benue while Folashade hails from Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.



Mercy Yusuf is Folashade’s younger sister who joined the Idokos on her holidays. “I came a few days ago to spend part of my holidays with them so I could help out in some domestic chores,” said the 16 years old Mercy.

“I was fast asleep when she woke me up and ordered me to carry her little baby, I carried the baby and saw a pool of blood, I was afraid and that was when neighbours came and rushed her husband to the hospital,” she cried.

In another neighbour’s account, the incidence happened around midnight Sunday August 20th. Mrs. Jovita Akinrun told National Wire that, “Yesterday evening around 12mid night I didn’t go to bed because I was waiting for my husband who went out. He came around midnight and I went to open the gate for him.



“That was when I heard someone groaning and calling ‘mummy Esther!’ I called my husband and we dragged him out. He was soaked in his own blood and looking at the wound and looking at his wife without uttering any word. I met the children also stained with blood.”

When asked if they had had violent encounters before the fateful day, Akinrun answered in the affirmative. “They fought regularly so people in the neighborhood don’t bother about them again. The little boy, Isaac was shouting my daddy my daddy. So unfortunate because the deceased was not the talking type. She had sliced his ear once and he did as if nothing happened. They had lived here for four years,” she said.

- Iwuchukwu Chukwudi

The chief press secretary to the governor, Idowu Adelusi, says Fayose had joined Nigerians to pray for Buhari while he was receiving treatment in London

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state has denied saying he would take his life if President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Nigeria alive.


The governor made the denial on Monday, August 21, in reaction to a statement credited to him by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti state that he swore  to kill himself if the president returns to the country.

The chief press secretary to the governor, Idowu Adelusi, told Premium Times that the statement was a creation of the APC in the state.

He said: “Mr. Fayose never said he would commit suic*de if the President returns to the country.

“It is the handwork of the  APC. It is their style to create such falsehood.

“Instead, the governor had wished the president well and had joined others in praying for him."

Meanwhile, the home coming of President Buhari after 103 days on medical vacation in London has continued to generate reactions from Nigerians as residents of Ekiti state took to the streets to celebrate his return.


The people of the state also took the opportunity to protest against Governor Fayose over his statement that he has 11 photos of Buhari on life support.

The people urged him to resign or produce the 11 photos.

The protesters who marched from Oke Iyinmi to the All People Congress secretariat, chanting various songs to deride Mr Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party include APC supporters, civil society groups, artisans and commercial motorcyclists.