Manchester United are set to release three of their players this summer transfer window, according to Manchester Evening News.
The three players are Sergio Romero, Joel Pereira and Paul Woolston.
Man United are frittering more than £600,000 a week on the goalkeepers’ salary, but the three players are expected to leave the club in the summer.
The Red Devils have no intention to trigger the one-year extension in Romero and Pereira’s contracts, while Woolston, popular Under-23 goalkeeper, is due to be let go after spending two-and-a-half years with the second string.
Romero has not played all season and is fifth-choice behind David de Gea, Dean Henderson, Lee Grant and Nathan Bishop.
The 33-year-old was unable to engineer a transfer in either of the last two windows and is now deserted at Old Trafford until the end of the season.
Pereira, on the other hand, has played once in the Championship for Huddersfield.
The 24-year-old has not appeared for Man United in more than three years.
Nigeria has never had worse enemies than its own people who refuse to reason beyond geographical, religious or ethnic boundaries. Happenings across the country have never been uglier than now; from the dreaded Boko Haram sect unleashing their terrorism in the Northeast to the marauding bandits in the Northwest kidnapping and killing people in their villages at will, coupled with criminal elements among herdsmen bearing automatic weapons, creating discord with in the Southwest, to secessionists in the East, pushing for their Biafra.
Nigeria is on fire and unfortunately issues like the second EndSARS protest is also coming at this point acting more of a fuel to the on-going crises than a solution.
The truth is we all have no other country than Nigeria, and by virtue of the crises we have on our table at the moment, we already have more than enough to deal with. No one among us can kill another and live in peace; we are at the time to decide either to live in peace or die. We must leverage our commonalities and understand our differences to be able to live in peace.
Martin Luther King has never been more right in our context than today when he said “we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”. This is the time for us to unite and identify our common enemy. Our enemies are not Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa for that matter; we must put aside our primitive thinking and wake up from the long-time slumber that blocked our vision from seeing our true enemies spread across all ethnic extraction and regions. These are predators always ready with their fangs wide open to bite upon any slide opportunities that present itself.
For those people thinking of going into full scale war, I refer them to the Rwandan genocide. It started with empowering some tribes under the pretext of self-defence. The case of South Sudan is no different; they are still fighting and killing themselves even after getting the much desired said freedom.
Current realities in Nigeria question our ability to learn from our history and the mistakes of many countries. The value of human lives is far more than any tribe or religion, talk less of geography. Only the living goes to the mosque or church or even speak Yoruba or Hausa.
There are things in life that are far more than mere coincidence and the formation of Nigeria is one of such. We were brought together by God for a reason, and the best way to move forward and live in harmony is to realise that there are things we cannot change as humans and one of such things is our tribe.
Civil societies and organisations whose membership cut across the boundaries of all tribes and religions must live up to their expectations at this gloomy moment. To live in peace or perish in violence lies in our hands. The government might have failed us in this regard, but we can refuse to fail ourselves as a society. As eloquently said by Professor P.L.O Lumumba: we can still change our dancing steps even if the music refuses to change. I’m afraid; changing our steps in Nigeria is no longer a choice but a necessity.
We must avoid general labelling of particular tribe or region as criminals, scammers or terrorists. We have reached the crossroads to decide for ourselves either peace or violence. I have chosen peace because I have seen what wars can do to people here in Maiduguri, and I still see on daily basis how life in internally displaced persons camps looks like. Not even the whole world can handle an explosion of more than 200 million people.
written by Elizabeth Iwunwa, who has been living, studying and working on Prince Edward Island since 2014. For more information about our commentary section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.
The victims of war are not only the soldiers who lose life and limb, but also the people who suffer pain, the destruction of their life's work and the realization of what fellow human beings are capable of.
My father is one of such. My mother too, but mostly my father, for he was a child conscious of his surroundings when the Nigerian civil war began.
'Let us remember to find peace within ourselves and extend it to all whom we call neighbour
This war, often called the Biafran war was the most fatal perpetration of Black-on-Black killing in Africa before the Rwandan genocide.
It began in July 1967, ended in January 1970 and tainted Nigeria's newborn independence of seven years.
Nigeria began as a British colonial experiment. Following the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914, tensions between the north and the south began to brew. The north was home to a Muslim majority of Hausa and Fulani peoples. The Yoruba and Igbo ethnic groups lived in the southwest and southeast respectively.
I am Igbo and Christian, as were many of those who lived in the southeast.
Government troops on an armoured car during the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran war, in Okitipupa, Nigeria, in 1969. The war was between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist Biafran region. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
This predominantly Muslim north and largely Christian south had enormous differences in religion, language, and culture. At this time, Nigeria had a population of 60 million people with more than 200 ethnic groups. British imperialists gave no heed to these differences as they carved up the continent and allotted themselves portions. Nigeria's self-deliverance from British rule in 1960 had set the country on a new course. The world was watching, but a sense of nationhood was proving difficult to form, and the genuine agitation of different groups were being ignored either due to incompetence or malice.
Nigeria was one nation in word only.
A coup and a counter-coup
One day, the catalyst for the war presented itself.
Revolting soldiers staged a coup that killed more than 20 political leaders.
They cited as their motives corruption, nepotism and an attempt to assert northern political dominance, with all its idiosyncrasies, on the rest of the country. Casualties of the coup included Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Northern Premier Ahmadu Bello and their wives.
Chukwuma Nzeogwu led the coup and handed over power to Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. Both were Igbo and no Igbo person — including the president and the premier of the southeast region — was killed. To many in the Muslim north, this looked like a co-ordinated attempt to strip their region of power.
It did not matter in the end, as a counter-coup bloodier than the first took the lives of many high-ranking Igbo officers as well as up to 30,000 Igbos who lived in the north.
It was Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, the son of a wealthy Igbo businessman, who took the first steps to establish the sovereign state of Biafra, including minting currency and initiating diplomatic relations. Biafra represented the nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people.
My parents' memories
My father's memory of the war is one of starvation. He ate lizards and crickets, as did other children his age.
Death was everywhere.
Fathers lost their children and could not mourn because hunger took their strength. Mothers whose breasts shriveled could not give their malnourished children breast milk. Bombing and shelling destroyed everything.
My mother's family house was set ablaze — a lifetime of memories reduced to ashes. I don't know what she looked like as a baby.
No one knew where they were running to, only the sure death they were running from. People of means became destitute. Mothers abandoned crying babies to keep the cries from revealing their hiding place. Children had their education halted and received lessons while sitting on the ground under trees.
During the war, the Nigerian side reassured its citizens with the slogan "to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done." They forgot to add "by any means necessary."
This included blockades of food and relief materials. Starvation was more powerful than guns. Up to three million people — many of them children — died in the war. Children who cheated death had protruded bellies because of kwashiorkor (a form of severe malnutrition).
Young women traded behind enemy lines. They offered cigarettes, marijuana and themselves to the soldiers for safe passage. There are stories about soldiers brutally raping and killing those who were caught. Those who succeeded brought back salt, fish, oranges, and groundnuts to sell in the market.
How I learned of the war
When my father first told us about this time, I was little. There had been a power cut where we lived, and I was sitting on the floor with my brother. My father carried my little sister.
He showed us the scar on his left arm from a queue for food in a relief camp. The jagged edge of someone's plate cut him. If he left the line to treat the wound, he would lose his chance to eat, he told us. Nobody knew when next food would arrive, so he endured.
Many Igbos still feel sidelined and overlooked, especially in politics. The trauma carried over into a new generation.
No matter their status before the war began, the Nigerian government gave each Igbo family 20 pounds (worth about $35 Cdn now) to rebuild their lives when it ended in 1970.
I grew up in Lagos, in the west of Nigeria, and straddle both identities — Nigerian and Igbo. My schoolmates were from all over the country and although we sang the national anthem every morning at assembly, we did not know what it meant to be a Nigerian.
As an Igbo woman, my sense of who I am is clearer. The values and customs passed down through oral tradition ground me. I cannot say that Nigeria has given me much more than a passport. Corruption reaches high and low and every household is essentially a self-governing entity providing its own shelter, health care, education, and security.
But when history is discussed, even if we are continents apart, there are similarities. I know that people in P.E.I. — especially the Indigenous people — have had similar experiences with colonization.
As the Island becomes home to people of different and sometimes contradictory creeds, the demands on our leaders will only grow in complexity.
Let us remember to first find peace within ourselves and extend it to all whom we call neighbour.
Are you part of the Black community on P.E.I.? Do you want to share your story with us? Send us a short video at compass@cbc.ca or CBC Prince Edward Island on Facebook, or tag @cbcpei on Twitter or Instagram.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has refuted reports of his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Jonathan said he is still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Speaking at the supreme court victory/ thanksgiving service of the Bayelsa State governor, the former president described PDP “as a friend that carries people along.”
According to Jonathan: “PDP has been a very friendly party, I am a member of PDP and I know from the beginning till today, it has been a very friendly party, PDP is a party that carries everybody along and we should extend that to Bayelsa State.
Jonathan has been linked with a possible move to the APC after he played host to some chieftains of the ruling party.
The former president was linked with the APC 2023 presidential ticket.
However, the interim Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC, Mai Mala Buni had denied such claims.
says the world has entered a new epoch with the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Governor Wike, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, said the appointment of Dr Okonjo-Iweala , a onetime Minister of Finance and Chairman of President Goodluck Jonathan Economic Team to lead the WTO, is a beacon of hope for Nigeria.
The Rivers State governor said he is confident that Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who has distinguished herself as a renowned economist and contributed to the economic successes of many nations, will usher in a new era in the WTO.
He stated the new Director General of the WTO throughout her career both at the World Bank and as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, had consistently demonstrated an exceptional taste for transparency, and passion for equity.
“Having served in the Federal Executive Council with Dr Okonjo-Iweala, I am confident that she will remain committed to her principles of transparency, accountability and equity, which the world is yearning for.
“On behalf of the Government and people of Rivers State, I also take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt congratulations to you as a beacon of hope for our dear nation.
had reported that Okonjo-Iweala was on Monday appointed as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, WTO
WTO confirmed her appointment at a special meeting of the General Council, following a selection process that included eight candidates from around the world.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has asked the soldiers in Orlu, Imo State to vacate the area immediately.
Again, the group warns the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to stop unwarranted statements that could endanger the lives of the people.
The acclaimed President General of the splinter group, Onyeachonam Onuorah, in a statement Monday in Awka, called for calm in the area, while appealing to soldiers to vacate the town.
He said the continued presence of soldiers in Orlu and some other communities within Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State was overdue, adding that the people were not in a war situation
According to Onuorah, “It is condemnable for Governor Hope Uzodinma to lock up people in their houses for weeks without making provisions that will cushion the effects of hunger, health challenges and other untold hardship the imposed curfew has caused in the affected communities.
“We hereby caution IPOB and MASSOB to stop making unguarded statements that end up endangering the lives of Ndigbo.
“We are not at war with the Nigerian Government and those instigating actions capable of degenerating the already tensed situations in the country to civil war should desist from such with immediate effect.
“Why are the South East governors dying in silence? The silence of our South-East governors is no longer golden.
“You cannot provide your people with security; you cannot take a decision and stand by it.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide will demand for the resignation of all the South East governors since they have all resolved to die in silence.
“Some are even abroad and imposing curfew from there, this madness must stop,” the splinter group said
