Cole agrees new Chelsea contract

Ashley Cole has reached an agreement on a new contract at Chelsea. While the deal has not yet been officially signed, the formalities are expected to be completed early next week, with reports suggesting the contract is a one-year extension. The news ends speculation about the 32-year-old's future. His current deal is set to expire at the end of the season. Frank Lampard is also out of contract at the end of the season, but looks increasingly likely to leave Chelsea. Despite coming towards the end of a glittering career, Cole is still regarded as one of the best left-backs in the world. The defender had been widely expected to leave Stamford Bridge. Shortly after taking over as Chelsea boss, Rafa Benitez was asked whether he thought Cole and Frank Lampard , 34, would be leaving the club when their contracts expired. "I think so, I think that's the case at the moment," he replied. And Paris Saint-Germain - whose boss, Carlo Ancelotti, managed Cole at Chelsea - have been strongly linked with the England player.

Gunmen attack Emir of Kano convoy… kill three

KANO (AFP) – Three people were killed on Saturday when gunmen attacked the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, one of the top Muslim figures in Nigeria, who was unhurt, Kano state governor said. “There was an unfortunate incident today. The Emir’s convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen as he was returning from Koranic graduation ceremony in Kano city. Three people in his convoy were killed but the Emir is unhurt,” Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso told AFP

My wife wrecked my church – Pastor

She fights me at the slightest opportunity,she is a pest in my life”. With these words, Pastor Ope Balogun pleaded with an Orile Agege Grade ‘B’ Customary Court, Lagos, to dissolve his three- year-old marriage to his wife, Taiwo, who he accused of troublesome acts and nagging. The 54-year-old cleric, who lives at 7, Ilupeju Street, Oke- Odo, Agege, testified that he had not known peace since he married his wife. ”My wife, Taiwo, is a troublesome woman. She has driven almost all my church members away”,the petitioner stated ”My children from my previous marriage cannot come to our house because they are afraid of my wife.My family members cannot visit me as well. ”My Bible school students cannot continue their studies because of her incessant troubles and even some pastors working under me left the church. Balogun also alleged that his wife drove him out of his house on Nov. 2012. ”She pursued me from the house and she still came to damage the windows of where I am taking refuge,”he said. Meanwhile, Taiwo, 36, denied the allegations. She said, “I am the ninth wife of Pastor Balogun. Trouble started when I took in and he told me that he did not want a child again but sex. ”He maltreated me during the pregnancy and did not pay my hospital bills when I was delivered of the baby. ”I love and respect everyone around my husband,but what usually causes misunderstanding between us is the issue of money. ”He does not give me and my child money for feeding. ”After the delivery, he told me that I should be eating once a day, so how do you expect the house to be peaceful?” The defendant told the court that she doesn’t want to leave her husband because of her child.

My Brother Was Not Assassinated – Dr Irawo's Sister

Ojia, the only surviving sister of the 27-year-old medical doctor, Irawo Adamolekun, who was shot dead in traffic at the Anthony Village end of Ikorodu Road, Lagos, last Friday said her brother was not assassinated. Ojia spoke to our correspondent outside Our Saviour’s Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos on Thursday where a funeral service was held for the deceased. Ojia, also a medical doctor, said the man who pulled the trigger and killed her younger brother must have been one of the many frustrated young Nigerian youths. She blamed Irawo’s death on the failure of government at all levels to provide enabling opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the country. She said, “My brother was not assassinated, I repeat, my brother was not assassinated. He was murdered because the country failed the individual who held the trigger. He (the gunman) who robbed my brother and killed him wasn’t given the opportunity to go to school, he wasn’t given a job. “Every citizen should be entitled to a kind of job whether he or she is educated or an illiterate and if not, the poor will continue to attack the middle class which my brother fell into. “I appeal to everyone to love one another and help the less privileged in our midst and put an end to all these (robbery attacks) because it might be your brother tomorrow.” She added that her brother might have survived the attack if the emergency response system in the state was quick and effective. She said, “I know the Lagos State Government have some emergency points on some major roads and I hope they are not just there for decoration. I believe that if emergency services were immediately available he might have survived it. “Meanwhile, some policemen fled the scene of the incident when my brother was shot. I wonder why the police want to interview me now and take my statements. Is that not medicine after death? I really have some questions to ask them (police).” Ojia, who wore a customised apparel of her medical consultancy firm, Quick Medical Consults, said Irawo was her next of kin. PUNCH Metro learnt that Ojia founded the medical firm in September 2010 after the death of her immediate brother, Imole, who died in an auto crash in 2004 when he couldn’t get an emergency medical care. It was gathered that both Ojia and the deceased offered free emergency and non-emergency medical services for the poor, through the firm, in honour of Imole, who died as a medical student of Igbinedion University, Okada.