Headlines
FIFA Compensates Injured Eagles’ Keeper, Uzoho with €20,548
Nigeria goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho, is entitled to €20,548 compensation from world football body FIFA, after copping an injury in the international friendly between Nigeria and Brazil in Singapore on Sunday.
Uzoho, who twisted his leg as he went for the ball from a corner kick, will be out for a minimum of six months, according to Super Eagles doctor, Ibrahim Gyaran.
According to FIFA’s protection rule, the football ruling body will be responsible for Uzoho’s wages for the entirety of the time he will be out of action, as part of their compensation scheme to clubs whose players suffered injury during the international break.
The international friendly met the requirements for FIFA’s approval as it was played on a date on the FIFA international match calendar. Also, both teams did not make more than six substitutes each.
Under FIFA’s Club Protection Programme, “Clubs whose players suffer injuries while in action for their country are compensated and the maximum daily compensation has been set at €20,548.”
However, “money will be fixed salary that the club was to pay to the player for that period and the player must be sidelined for more than 28 days before a claim can be processed.”
Meanwhile, Cypriot professional football club side, Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia has promised to stand by Uzoho, who is facing long lay-off while on international duty with Nigeria.
“Francis Uzoho has been diagnosed with a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and external meniscus he got in the international game between Nigeria and Brazil. Speedy recovery and return to action Francis. The Omonia family is by your side!” Omonia Nicosia said in a statement.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
