Mikel, 17 others train for Ethiopia

The Super Eagles began  their  training  ahead of Sunday’s  World Cup qualifying playoff  against Ethiopia on Tuesday with  Stephen Keshi putting Chelsea midfielder star Mikel Obi and 17 other invited  players through their paces at  Abuja National Stadium.

Five players: Liverpool’s Victor Moses, Dynomo Kiev’s Brown Ideye, Fenerbhce’s Emmanuel Emenike, Real Betis’ Nosa Igiebor and Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi were absent from training.

But  spokesman  for the Eagles Ben Alaiya told our correspondent on the telephone that Moses, Ideye, Igiebor and Emenike were expected to arrive at the camp late in the evening.

Ogu, Ideye target victory

Portugal-based midfielder John Ogu  and Ukraine-based striker Brown Ideye are  optimistic that the  Super Eagles will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Nigeria face Ethiopia in  the first leg  World Cup qualifying playoff in Addis Ababa on  Sunday with the return match in Calabar   on November 16.

Ogu and Ideye said the Eagles would aim for victory in Addis Ababa in order  not to come under intense  pressure to deliver in  reverse fixture.

Ogu, who was one of the 18 players that trained in Abuja ahead of the encounter on Tuesday, promised that the team would fight throughout the Addis Ababa crash.

“We (the players) have resolved to give  our all to make sure that the country’s flag flies in Brazil come 2014,”   Academica de Coimbra star Ogu was quoted by supersport.com as saying.

“It’s something we have been discussing among ourselves since the draw was made  and we know what is at stake.

“We didn’t come this far to turn back. It’s now or never. All our hard work over the past 10  months will only count if we beat Ethiopia, and that is what we are aiming for.”

LG Unveils Curved Handset Display for November Launch

LG Electronics Inc's display unit said on Monday it will start mass production of curved smartphone displays as the South Korean phone maker plans to launch a smartphone with the new screens next month to catch bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
Samsung said last month it would introduce a smartphone with a curved display in October as the world's top handset maker seeks to set the pace of hardware innovation amid slowing growth in the high-end smartphone market.

Curved displays are in the early stages of development and allow bendable or foldable designs that could eventually allow mobile and wearable gadgets to take new forms that could radically change the high-end smartphone market.

Oyedepo, Dangote, Adenuga to pay N400m luxury tax on private jets

According to a story by Encomium magazine, Bishop David Oyedepo, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Dr. Mike Adenuga are among the top 10 Nigerian billionaires who will pay hundreds of millions of naira annually as luxury tax due to the imposition of a whooping $4,000 luxury tax by Aviation Ministry on private jet owners and operators per departure.

Some of these super rich Nigerians make use of their jets 3/4 times in a week either within or outside Nigeria and for every trip, it's a cool $4, 000 tax.

Senate summons Oduah, others over plane crash

The Senate on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Aviation,  Ms. Stella Oduah, and heads of agencies under her  ministry, to  explain the real state of the nation’s  aviation industry.

The invitation followed Thursday’s Associated Airlines plane crash in which  about 15 out of the 20 passengers and crew on board, had been confirmed dead.

The 23-year-old aircraft  was conveying the body of a former Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, to Akure, when it crashed  barely a minute  after take-off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in  Ikeja, Lagos.

Hours  after the accident, a Saudi Arabia-bound  Kabo Air plane with 400 passengers on board made an  emergency landing in Sokoto on Friday  when it lost its two main body tyres.

The decision to summon Oduah was taken after the Senators exhaustively discussed a motion moved by Senator Hope Uzodima. In the motion, the lawmaker drew the attention of his colleagues to the   Associated Airlines plane crash and  expressed serious concern that the incident  had underscored the need for the country to re-examine its aviation sector.

Jonathan, three PDP govs meet over ministerial nominees

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday entered into a marathon meeting with three Peoples Democratic Party state governors loyal to him.

The governors include Akwa Ibom’s Godswill Akpabio, Cross River’s Lyel Imoke and Bayelsa’s Seriake Dickson.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, also joined them at the meeting.

The meeting, which was held inside the President’s office came about 24 hours after Jonathan and his loyalists met with four rebel governors – Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State; Rabiu Kwakwanso of Kano State;  Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; and Babangida Aliyu of Niger State-in a bid to restore peace to the already factionalised ruling party.

Ex-Corps member rape: Court frees Osun monarch

A High Court sitting in Ikirun, Osun State, on Tuesday discharged and acquitted the Alowa of Ilowa Ijesa, Oba Adebukola Alli of rape allegation leveled against him by a former member of the National Youth Service Corps, Miss. Hellen Okpara.

Justice Oyejide Falola, while delivering the final judgement in the case which was instituted about three years ago, said that the plaintiff failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the monarch raped her as she claimed.

The corps member, who served in Alli’s domain between 2010 and 2011, had told  the court that the monarch took her to his private residence in Osogbo, the state capital where he forcefully had sex with her.

But the monarch denied the claim saying the ex-corps member was  his girl friend.