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Osimhen Locked In Hotel For Three Days To Block Transfer
Napoli will be desperate to keep hold of Victor Osimhen this summer after going to extraordinary lengths to sign the striker.
Nigeria’s 24-year-old Osimhen is on the radar of several top clubs in Europe after a sensational season for Napoli.
The Nigeria international has scored 23 goals in just 29 Serie A appearances to help Napoli be crowned champions for the first time in 33 years.
Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea are interested in signing Osimhen this summer, while Manchester United have also been strongly linked with the striker.
United are in the market for a new front man after allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to leave the club in November.
Instead of signing a permanent replacement in January, United opted to bring in Wout Weghorst on loan – a move which has failed to pay off, with the Dutch striker managing only two goals since joining from Burnley.
United have placed Tottenham striker Harry Kane and Osimhen at the top of their transfer list this summer, although a move for either player could be complicated by the uncertainty surrounding Old Trafford amid the ongoing sale of the club.
It is not the first time that an English club has been linked with a move for Osimhen.
Liverpool were reportedly interested in signing the Nigerian in 2020 before he joined Napoli in a club-record €70 million (£61m) move from Lille.
It has now been revealed that Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli ‘locked’ Osimhen inside a hotel to persuade him to join the Serie A side and turn down a move to Anfield.
Giandomenico Costi, who worked with Giuntoli at Napoli, lifted the lid on Osimhen’s move to Naples.
He told Italian outlet Tuttosport (via Liverpool Echo): “The signing of Osimhen is Giuntoli’s biggest masterpiece.
“He [Osimhen] was locked in a hotel for three days.
“Giuntoli knew Liverpool were interested, and Jurgen Klopp had made his move, but Cristiano spoke to Osimhen in the hotel for three days until he convinced him to accept Napoli.
“He was full of energy.
“Giuntoli is a director who would call you 100 times a day.
“He knew Victor very well, he had even followed him at Charleroi.”
Napoli may find it harder to hold on Osimhen this summer but are expected to put up a fight.
talkSPORT claimed the Italian club will demand £150 million for the striker – a figure which could prove to be too much for United, who may have as little as £100 million to spend on new transfers this summer.
The Kogi State chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, has risen in defence of socialite, Dr Aisha Sulaiman Achimugu, OFR.
This came amid the declaration of Achimugu wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In a statement made available to journalists on Monday, the Ohanaeze youths, Kogi State chapter, said Achimugu is a daughter of Igboland by virtue of “a well deserved chieftaincy title bestowed on her in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.”
The statement signed by the Coordinator of the organisation in Kogi State, Mr Chris Ogbonna said the title, which was bestowed on Mrs Achimugu, came after a painstaking observation of her personality and unquantifiable dedication to the service of humanity.
It said, “this is why we were taken aback when we read that she was declared wanted by the EFCC. At first, we had thought it could be a case of mistaken identity, but the commission is yet to withdraw the wanted tag placed on her.
“Based on this, we have considered it most expedient to lend our voice to this development, by urging the EFCC to reconsider its stand on the matter.
“Mrs Achimugu is someone well respected and who has devoted her life to the service of humanity, an act that earned her a chieftaincy title in Igboland, Udi local government area in Enugu State to be precise.
“For her to have been given the title came after thorough checks on her personality and she was not in any way found wanting, rather testimonies abound of her hardwork and dedication to the service of humanity.”
The Igbo group urged the anti-graft commission to re-evaluate what led to its decision.
“This is necessary to avoid mistakenly hurting the image and personality of a global brand, Dr. Mrs Achimugu,” the group declared.
Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for what he described as its complacency in tackling the persistent insecurity in Plateau State.
Dalung expressed his concerns during the Arise TV Morning Show interview on Monday.
His remarks followed the killing of over 50 people in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state over the weekend after gunmen launched fresh attacks on several communities.
Dalung said, “There is nothing like herder-farmer clashes on the Plateau. These are terrorists. They have enclaves. They grab land, wrestle cattle, and displace natives. In the bush, there is a government, and these places are known.”
He argued that the Ministry of Livestock Development, created by the Federal Government, cannot solve the crisis.
“Let us not be hiding about the Ministry of Livestock. Ministry of Livestock cannot even do anything about this problem,” he said.
“If you sum up this, you will come back to this issue of lack of a political will because if the political will to deal with the situation is there, these people will be given their rightful designation.”
He insisted that the attackers were terrorists, saying, “If we must be very honest in dealing with the Plateau situation, first, we will have to stop pretending that it is herder-farmers’ clashes. Not at all. It is terrorism.
“It is genocidal because it has met the international definition of genocide. When a group of people attack another group with the intention of wiping them off the face of the earth, it is genocide. When you employ a policy of starvation and try to use that to wipe out a community or a group of people, it’s genocide. So what is happening is genocidal.
“There was no farm or other animals that were either wrestled by the community or they trespassed into any farmland that resulted in this series of attacks we are hearing.”
He also questioned the readiness of the security agencies to tackle the crisis.
“We couldn’t do anything because there are no access roads. I couldn’t fathom that because in a technologically-driven economy like ours, would the issue be that of access roads? What happened to drones and cameras, other sophisticated gadgets of intelligence gathering?” he said.
“The problem is for the Federal Government to designate these people with their rightful names, consider them criminals, and stop even attaching ethnic identity to them. Yes, predominantly they belong to an ethnic nationality. But I don’t see them as operating in the overall interest of that particular ethnic nationality.
“Rather, they are criminals. And so if we do not treat them as criminals, we will miss the point, and we’ll continue to hold visits to Plateau State by government officials, and they will be on top of the situation while the criminals are on top of the situation.”
Forty persons were killed and about 1,000 displaced in last week’s attack on Hurti, Manguna District of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau.
The Village Head of Hurti, Mr Maren Aradong, said this when the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Samuel Jatau, led other government officials on an assessment visit to the community on Sunday in Jos.
On April 2, gunmen attacked Hurti, Josho, Daffo, and other communities of the locality.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang had described the recent attacks and killings in some parts of the state as a coordinated crime sponsored by conflict merchants, and not farmer-herder clashes.
The Rivers police command has denied firing tear gas at peaceful protesters in the state.
Earlier on Monday, demonstrators converged at the Isaac Boro Park in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital, to protest against the emergency rule in Rivers and the alleged abuse of the cybercrime act by the police.
The demonstrators, who are members of the ‘Take It Back Movement’, arrived at the protest venue as early as 9 am when police officers showed up to send them scampering in different directions with tear gas canisters.
Videos of police firing tear gas at protesters have since gone viral.
But in a statement, Grace Iringe-Koko, police spokesperson in Rivers, claimed that officers did not fire tear gas at the protesters.
Iringe-Koko said the police drove off “criminals and miscreants” from stealing valuables from the public instead.
“The Command wishes to categorically clarify that the report is unfounded. Upon receiving intelligence regarding the protest, our officers were promptly deployed to the specified locations,” the statement reads.
“On arrival, a group of miscreants was observed engaging in criminal acts, including the theft of mobile phones and other valuables from unsuspecting members of the public. Our operatives responded swiftly, dispersing the individuals.”
Iringe-Koko claimed that reports that police shot at protesters were intended to “incite public anxiety and create unnecessary tension within the state”.