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NFF Blames FIFA For Falconets’ Plight In Turkey, Explains Why Players Washed Their Kits

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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the ministry of sports and youth development have reacted to the viral photos of Falconets sleeping on the floor at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

Earlier reports had shown how the team, which crashed out of the 2022 Women’s U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica on Sunday, was stranded in Turkey on their way to Nigeria.

A flight rescheduled led to a four-hour delay in Columbia and a sixty-minute stop in Panama which culminated in the ladies missing their connecting flight back to Abuja from Istanbul.

Without transit visas, the players had no option but to pass the night at the airport.

Reacting in a joint statement on Wednesday, the NFF and sports ministry claimed that the team’s flight was booked by FIFA and not the federation since “the World Cup is a FIFA tournament.”

It added that the players could not be handed transit visas because “Nigeria had been removed from the list of countries granted transit visas at Istanbul Airport.”

“The attention of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has been drawn to viral pictures of our female football team, the Falconets making rounds, portraying them stranded at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey,” the statement reads.

“For the reason of setting the records straight, we thought to lay the facts bare. The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the NFF DID NOT book the tickets. The World Cup is a FIFA tournament. FIFA booked tickets for the team to travel from Bogota to Panama, but for some reason, the flight to Panama was delayed for 3 hours.

“There was another 1-hour delay at the airport in Panama. By the time the team got to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had left.

“The NFF officials pleaded that the team be given transit visas at the airport so they could head to a hotel in the town, but this was not possible as Nigeria had been removed from the list of countries granted transit visas at Istanbul Airport. So, the airline took the team to a sleeping area at the airport and handed them the tickets to have meals after every 5 hours.

“The Minister has reached out to the team via phone and video calls and they will be homebound soon. It is sad, but this has nothing to do with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the NFF, who had made necessary arrangements to receive the team on arrival in Abuja before the flight hitches.”

In a separate statement, the NFF also addressed the logistical problem suffered by the Falconets during the competition.

It was earlier reported that with a limited number of jerseys assigned to players, the Falconets had to wash their kits with their hands.

But in the statement, published on its website, the federation said: “The players were handed three sets of green jerseys and two sets of white jerseys, several house-wear types and training jerseys.

“The players opted to wash only their jersey top (no other stuff) because when the first set of body-wear was sent to the laundry people at the hotel, it returned with some FIFA and NFF badges at the front and names at the back peeled by the machine.”

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Former Senate Spokesperson Ayogu Eze Dies At 66

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Ayogu Eze, a former spokesperson for the Senate, passed away at the age of 66.

Eze, the senator from Enugu North Senatorial District from 2007 to 2015, died on Thursday in a hospital in Abuja following an undisclosed illness.

In May 2023, the Senate confirmed Eze as a federal Commissioner for Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Eze is also among the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In his years at the Senate, he also served as the chairman of the Senate Committee of Works and a member of committees on Constitutional Amendment, Police Affairs, National Planning, Marine Transport and Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs.

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Lagos Workers Now Earn N70,000 As Minimum Wage Since January — Sanwo-Olu

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The executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that workers have been enjoying an additional N35,000 wage allowance since January.

He also disclosed that a new minimum wage programme will shortly be implemented by the state administration.

According to the governor, since the start of the year, people who were previously making the minimum wage of N35,000 or more now receive salaries of N70,000 or more.

“The civil servant and all public officers in Lagos know that since January, we have continued to pay the wage allowance of a minimum of N35,000 over and above what they were earning before.

“What this means is that people that are earning a minimum of N35,000 or more before are now earning over N70,00. That is what they have been enjoying since January.

“So it is important for people to know that we make these things very clear that this government has doubled up to ensure that at this difficult time, it has not left the citizens on their own,” Sanwo-Olu said at a state function on Thursday.

The governor while giving an update on the intervention the state embarked on to ameliorate the current economic hardship,  said his administration will distribute food items to 500,000 households in the state through unions and local governments.

Speaking on the ‘Ounje Eko’ initiative, where food items are sold at discounted prices, the governor said, “We created 59 makeshift markets outside of the regular markets out of our 57 local government and local council development areas and made it Sunday-Sunday market.”

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How Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan Planned Prison Escape, Applied For New US Passport

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Tigran Gambaryan, the detained Binance Holdings Limited executive, has made attempt to escape from Kuje Correctional Facility.

According to The Punch, Mr Gambaryan who is currently remanded in Kuje Correctional Facility, applied for a new United States of America passport, under the pretence that his seized passport was missing.

EFCC sources, on Wednesday, under anonymity said that the Armenian-born Binance executive, Gambaryan who has both American and Armenian passports, told the US Embassy in Abuja that he lost his passport which is currently being held by the anti-graft Agency.

Following the development, the EFCC has urged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to disregard Gambaryan’s bail application, while noting that the Armenian-American could flee from Nigeria like his Kenyan-British colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla who fled to Kenya.

A source, privy to the investigations, revealed that “The second Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, who is currently remanded in Kuje prison, has planned to escape from the facility. He applied to the US embassy in Abuja to issue him a new Visa while lying that he lost his passport which was seized by the EFCC.”

Another source, under anonymity, added that “Gambaryan could have escaped from Kuje if not for the fact that the US embassy flagged his request for a new passport. Fortunately, the US embassy immediately reached out to the EFFC, and the embassy was informed that he’s a criminal suspect whose case is currently in court for alleged money laundering – concealing the source of the $35,400, 000 generated as revenue by Binance in Nigeria knowing that the funds constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.”

Meanwhile, the EFCC had on Tuesday, urged Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja to deny Gambaryan’s bail application.

The anti-graft agency said it was too risky to admit the foreigner to bail, noting the escape of his co-defendant, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from the custody of the National Security Adviser and his escape to Kenya.

Besides, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho, told the court that the anti-graft agency uncovered an alleged plot by Gambaryan to obtain a new passport to facilitate his escape from Nigeria after the EFCC had seized his passport.

Gambaryan, his fleeing colleague, Anjarwalla, and Binance Holdings Limited are being prosecuted by the EFCC on money laundering charges.

The anti-graft agency accused them of concealing the source of the $35,400, 000 generated as revenue by Binance in Nigeria knowing that the funds constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.

Opposing Gambaryan’s bail application on Tuesday, the EFCC prosecutor said, “There was an attempt by this defendant to procure another travelling document even when he was aware that his passport was in the custody of the state. He pretended as if the said passport was stolen.”

Iheanacho told the court that within the same period that Anjarwalla fled the custody, Gambaryan also allegedly made moves to escape from custody and flee the country but was intercepted by the operatives of the commission.

“This court will be taking a grave risk to grant the defendant bail. This is also because he has no attachment to any community in Nigeria.

“The experience we have had with the man who escaped to Kenya while his United Kingdom passport is in Nigeria will certainly repeat itself if this defendant is granted bail.

“The 1st defendant (Binance) is operating virtually. The only thing we have to hold on to is this defendant. So, we pray My Lord to refuse bail to the defendant.”

Iheanacho said with the intelligence information at the EFCC’s disposal it was not safe to release the foreigner on bail.

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