By Afolabi Adetunji Lagos, Nigeria.

Ivory Coast held to second AFCON draw as Morocco defeated Togo in Group C.

The match between Ivory Coast and DR Congo ended in a 2-2 draw Lastnight,This is the second straight stalemate for Ivory Coast in this competition as one of the teams in Group C.

DR Congo led twice during an impressive first-half performance, but Wilfried Bony and Serey Die respectively scored to bring team back on level terms. Ivory Coast worked the ball round the pitch in the second half of the game and they almost secured a winner late on but had to settle for another draw.

Senegal by some football expert is one of the favorite teams to win the African Cup of Nations

Following the win over Zimbabwe, Cheikhou Kouyate the senegal central midfielder who plays for West Ham in England said he believes Senegal’s impressive displays at the African Nations Cup shown that the team has grown up and stopped “whining like children.”

Senegal had not exceeded beyond the group stage of the tournament since 2006 despite expectations of success sparked by the talent at their disposal.

Liverpool striker Sadio Mane scored his second goal in two group games in the 2-0 win over Zimbabwe on Thursday as Senegal ended their decade-long wait for a place in the knockout stages.

And having opened the competition with a 2-0 win over Tunisia, Senegal National Football team coache Aliou Cisse who was previously an assistant and recently coach of Senegal appears to be living up to their billing as one of the favourites to win the AFCON.

West Ham Midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate said: “We’d been crying like children for 10 years. This year, we’ve decided to come here and show that Senegal has grown, that this generation wants to write the history of Senegalese football.The hardest bit is to come. The start was to try and get out of the group. We’re not going to stop now, and we’ll do everything to make the Senegalese people happy.”

Senegal, who are assured of finishing top of Group B, play a final group game against Algeria on Jan. 23 before heading into their quarterfinal tie five days later.

By Scroll reporter Lagos, Nigeria.

The Oyo state government has constituted stakeholder committees at both state and local government levels to look into the crisis of the Fulani bororo herdsmen and farmers in the state, urging those involved not to take laws into their hands.

The Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Security, Olusegun Abolariwa disclosed this in Ibadan while highlighting the activities of the state government on averting the incessant clashes between the two groups.

In his word, “the state government does not have any policy on grazing zone yet, as the federal government through the federal ministry of Agriculture is yet to make a  pronouncement on nomadic rearing to be domesticated in all states and in the interim, the state government has taken proactive steps to constitute committees at both the state & local levels comprising security agencies, chairmen of local councils, farmers associations, committee of Fulani’s, miyetti  Allah cattle rearers association of Nigeria, Seriki Hausawa,  community leaders and relevant stake holders in the community.”

He disclosed further that the governor has directed the Special Adviser on Community Relations and the Senior Special Assistant on Security, to address the crisis erupting in the religion sector as well as community related crises at the Ibarapa zone of the state with specific instructions to meet with the aggrieved sects of farmers and Fulani Bororo herdsmen.

Abolarinwa explained that the crisis erupted when farmers laced their farms with poison in a bid to retaliate on the Fulani whose cows destroyed their farm lands and trampled on them.

He urged the aggrieved parties not to take laws into their hands, reiterating that the government has put adequate measures in place to strengthen the security of the state with the joint security patrol, procurement of armored personnel carriers (APC) for the state police command, procurement of Hilux vehicle for the security agencies and rendering various forms of assistance to the security agencies in the state.

He therefore urged residents of the state to be security conscious by constituting themselves as watchmen in their neighborhood as it is incumbent on everyone to be responsible to alert on various security threats and challenges around.

By Tayo Joseph Lagos, Nigeria.

The Wife Of the President Mrs Aisha Buhari I has condoled with the families and victims of the Rann in Kala Balge local government area of Borno state, on the erroneous bombing by the NAF fighter jet.

Her Excellencies thoughts are with the victims and families of the victims, and her fervent prayer is that God gives them the fortitude to bear the loss, and that God continues to guide the Nigeria Armed forces and Her citizens in their bid to rid Nigeria of terrorism.

Being deeply involved with the IDP’s and having shared both sad and happy moments with them through her NGO Future Assured, Mrs. Buhari feels really pained by this unfortunate incident.

By Afolabi Adetunji Lagos, Nigeria.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Seventeen years ago to the day, an 18-year-old from Switzerland made his Australian Open debut. Roger Federer knocked Michael Chang, a former Grand Slam champion, off the court in straight sets.

On Wednesday, at age 35, Federer was the overwhelming favorite to defeat a 20-year-old qualifier from New York, Noah Rubin, who is ranked No. 200 in the world. This time there was no upset as Federer prevailed 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

“I wasn’t feeling as good as in the beginning,” Federer said in his on-court interview. “I definitely got lucky to win that third set. A lot of difficult moments out there, but it’s what I need to progress in this tournament.”

John Isner, the highest-seeded U.S. player in the men’s draw at No. 19, lost in five sets to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open.One of several American men to stumble Wednesday in Round 2.

Defending champion Angelique Kerber celebrated birthday with 2nd round win.survived a scare to beat Carina Witthoeft in three sets on Wednesday in a second-round match at the Australian Open.

Venus Williams said she’ll “manage” an elbow injury that forced her to withdraw from doubles at the Australian Open. Earlier, she beat qualifier Stefanie Voegele in singles in the second round.

Continuing his comeback from a knee injury that forced him to miss six months, Federer looked solid in this battle of former Wimbledon champions; Federer is a seven-time champion, and Rubin was the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion.

“I have played out here many, many times. That’s my advantage,” Federer said. “He’s been around a couple of years, plays well, great fighter, great legs. I think he had the upper hand from the baseline. I think my serve kept me in the match today.”

After defeating a pair of qualifiers, the road becomes appreciably more treacherous for Federer, who will face No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych in Friday’s third-round match.

By Scroll reporter Lagos, Nigeria.
Annie Idibia, Grace Amah, Mercy Aigbe among other female celebrities are set to feature in a coming TV series called ‘Single Ladies’. Mercy shared these photos of the beautiful co-stars from set as they are currently filming.

With the involvement of Annie Idibia, the famous singer 2face Idibia her husband stopped by to pay a visit to the actress and actresses during their filming of this TV series coming up.

The TV series is directed by a Nollywood actor Desmond Elliot and produced by Rok Studios.

Entertainment and TV movies lovers are anticipating the release of this Star-studded show. We can only keep our fingers crossed at moment for this anticipated amazing TV series titled “single ladies”.

By Tayo Joseph Lagos, Nigeria.

Her Excellency, Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari has called for more support from Nigerians and friends of Nigeria to Federal Government’s effort in reviving the North East region, which has suffered severe devastation from insurgency, stating that four years without economic activity has subjected the affected people to victimization and extreme poverty. She was speaking during a courtesy call by the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Zhou Pingjian, Tuesday, 17th January, 2017, at the State House, Abuja.

Mrs. Buhari noted that the worst hit by the insurgency are women, many of whom have been widowed and children that have been orphaned; she therefore urged for support from all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in ameliorating the challenges.

Speaking on her flagship programme, Future Assured, Mrs. Buhari said a lot of effort has been made in terms of helping internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as those of them that have returned to their communities; and said the programme has intervened in 15 local governments and 500 families and is doing more, especially in the area of assisting the 150,000 unaccompanied children in the region.

By Scroll reporter, Lagos Nigeria.

Aid workers, soldiers and displaced persons were among over 100 persons killed in error by the Nigerian Airfore fighter jet. The jet fighter was supposed to go to Kala- Balge where Boko Haram were reported to have shifted base to but ended up in Rann where aid workers were distributing food to Internally Displaced Persons. Many of those who collected food did not stay alive to eat it.

Major General  Lucky Irabor the theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole who leads the military operation against the militants, said the Airforce were given information about Boko Haram terrorists in the area. He therefore directed that the air component of the operation should go and address the problem. ” Unfortunately, the strike was conducted but it turned out that the local, somewhere in Rann were affected.

The Nigerian Airforce said investigation had begun into the accidental bombing. The incident occured barely two days after a bomb explosion in Maiduguri which killed a professor and five students.

A security expert Felix Idowu told Scroll Report that “The incidents are very disturbing and are the Airforce men who went on the mission amateurs? How could they have mistaken one place for another. This is very sad. It shows the level of mediocrity in this country.” Ngozi Phillip a nurse said “It is pathetic that those who went to render service to humanity to displaced persons died doing good. The jet fighter was to hasty to detonate bombs.”