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Paul Pogba’s brothers to be tried in kidnap case

Six Face Trial In Paris For Blackmailing Paul Pogba

French judges on Tuesday ordered six men to stand trial in a kidnap and extortion case involving French footballer Paul Pogba, with the star’s brother Mathias one of the accused, sources close to the case said.

The trial follows a two-year investigation into the alleged extortion and kidnapping of the former Manchester United midfielder in a high-profile case that emerged in 2022.

Five people close to the World Cup winner are suspected of having “meticulously prepared” a meeting in the Paris suburbs on March 19, 2022, which ended with Pogba being kidnapped and held by two unidentified men who demanded he give them 13 million euros ($14 million), according to Paris prosecutors.

Pogba’s brother Mathias — a former striker himself — was not present for that meeting, but is suspected of having put pressure on his younger brother afterwards “with the same determination to get (Paul Pogba) to hand over the money”, according to prosecutors.

All have denied their guilt in the affair, claiming they were “victims” of armed robbers and that they were assaulted after Paul Pogba refused to pay.

But prosecutors called for the three childhood friends and two former acquaintances from the town where Pogba grew up in eastern Paris who were present on the night to be tried for extortion, illegal restraint and criminal conspiracy.

Pogba — who plays for Juventus and the French national team but is currently serving a four-year ban for doping — filed a complaint with Italian prosecutors saying he was the target of a multi-million-euro blackmail plot.

‘Curse on Mbappe’
The 31-year-old told investigators that his blackmailers threatened to discredit him by claiming he asked a “marabout”, or witch doctor, to cast a spell on fellow France star Kylian Mbappe, which Pogba denies.

French prosecutors launched an investigation in September 2022 which was handled jointly by the French police’s anti-gang and central crime units.

During the investigation, Paul Pogba stated that he had “voluntarily” helped members of the group, but then refused to hand seven million euros over to three of them in September 2021. He subsequently kept his distance from the group, he said.

In late September 2022, his brother Mathias — who was born in Guinea — posted a series of videos on social media incriminating Pogba and accusing him of having “abandoned” his family.

The videos came a month after Mathias Pogba had put another video online in French, Italian, English and Spanish promising “great revelations” about his brother.

During the investigation, Mathias said he had been afraid for his safety and that of his family, saying he had been manipulated by the other suspects, and that he hoped he would soon be reconciled with his younger brother.

AFP

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NDDC committed to developing athletes discovered at Niger Delta Sports Festival

A new approach to grassroots sports development will see athletes discovered at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) undergo periodical camping where scientific methods of training would be applied.

Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, the Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the festival, dropped the hint at a media parley with journalists covering the games and said over 60 athletes have already been spotted as at Day 4.

“This festival is not about who came first or who won gold. Our scouts are looking out for hints of potential, quality that can be groomed for future success,” Ikpokpo responded to a question about objectives of the festival.

He said the scouts made up of coaches, former athletes and scouts have so far submitted 64 names and most of them were not those that came first or second.

“We seek to set up camps for the identified athletes with a view to putting them through scientific research-based training supervised by certified coaches,” added Ikpokpo who is the lead consultant for the project.

“The real work is not this festival, it is to design and implement the plan to nurture the talents discovered here to go on and replace those who have been representing Nigeria,” he added.

Sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as part of its mandate to improve living conditions of people of the nine mandate states, the NDSF had about 3,000 athletes and 500 officials competing in 17 sports.

It began on April 1 and will end on April 8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

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Niger Delta Sports Festival holds Golf Kitty as Cultural Expo fever spreads in Uyo

Managing Consultant of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, teed off the Golf Kitty organised in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

This is even as the organisers rev up preparations for the Cultural Expo with the stage being rigged and rehearsals commenced.

Held at the Ibom Golf and Country Club on Saturday (April 5) morning, on the sidelines of the sports competitions, the event is part of the community engagement activities of the festival to foster social networking.

Over 130 golfers were in the kitty with members of the Main and Local Organising Committees of the Niger Delta Sports Festival in attendance.

“The NDSF project sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was designed to achieve multipurpose objectives of discovering and nurturing athletes, foster regional integration and engaging our host community.

“We have also provided opportunity for games demonstration towards bringing them in when the next edition holds. Cricket and Rugby are such games and we will keep redesigning the festival concept to accommodate more sports”, Ikpokpo told journalists at the event.

The festival also incorporated a Cultural Expo that will hold on April 7 and a number of upcoming entertainers from the nine mandate states will be on parade for comedy, music and masters of ceremony.

Edi Lawani, the country’s leading entertainment impresario said the Cultural Expo is a community engagement platform to provide the people of Akwa Ibom State, the festival community and tourists a time to wind down.

“Over 40 artistes will be on parade as we provide music, comedy, dance and food court for everyone in Uyo to feel the sports festival atmosphere outside the competition venues and make new social and business friends”, the thickly Lawani said donning his trademark shorts and backpack.

“Just as the NDSF is poised to discover new talents in sports, the cultural expo of the NDSF is equally designed to give a boost to and uplift young upcoming talents in the creative industry”, Lawani further stated.

Established talents like Comedian Destalker and singer Humblesmith are billed to perform to give inspiration and mentorship to the assembled young talents.

He said emphasis has also been placed on gender inclusiveness as there are female artistes, female Disc Jockeys and a female red-carpet host who are set take their place of pride at the event.

The Expo night which holds at the popular Unity Park also known as the Christmas Village, will enjoy the full complement of exotic show lighting display and large screen format projection.

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Govt Should Give Annual Grants To Nigerian Clubsides – Sanmi Doherty

Stakeholders of Nigerian football opined that governments at all levels should completely hands off sponsorship or ownership of football clubs in Nigeria.

According to some aficionados, the state-owned clubs have not thrived or perform better than privately owned clubs in recent times.

And yet, another strong voice in the fortunes of Nigerian football has joined the fray, albeit from a fresher angle.

Speaking in a recent interview, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ikorodu City Football club, Sanmi Doherty, admonished the federal government to establish a football trust fund that would empower the clubs to operate in line with the global best practices in world football. He added that Nigerian clubs would be able to compete favourably with their counterparts on the continent.

“I think government should only provide the facilities the enabling environment for the clubs. I think we can also have a trust fund fir Nigerian clubs. Tell me, why can’t the federal government earmark certain amounts of money as annual grants to help the clubs playing in the league?

“You know we’re not only promoting football, we’re also empowering the youths and using football to curb restiveness amongst the youths.

” Football is big business and capital intensive. For instance, if I know that I’m going to receive maybe N3billion from the government as my annual allocation, I can conveniently go for the best players, pay them very well, and ensure they get the conducive environment to ply their trades professionally and of course, the desired results will come,” the youthful club owner enthused confidently.