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What You Should Know About The New FIFA President Gianni Infantino

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Yesterday February 26th, 2016, Gianni Infantino was elected the new President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for the remainder of the current term of office (until 2019) by the Extraordinary FIFA Congress held in Zurich.
He was elected as the ninth FIFA President after the second ballot with 115 of 207 total votes. In line with the FIFA Statutes, the mandate of the new FIFA President started after the conclusion of the Congress.
Gianni Infantino born 23 March 1970 in Brig-Glis is a Swiss football administrator of Italian origin. He was the general secretary of UEFA from 2009 to 2016 and holds both Swiss and Italian nationality.
Here are 10 things you should know about the new FIFA President:

1. Gianni Infantino is 34 years younger than his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, who is 79. But while both men share nothing in common in terms of age they are natives of the Valais region in the Swiss Alps. Mr Infantino is from Brig which is barely six miles from Visp, Blatter’s home town.
2. He defeated the favourite in the election, Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, by 27 votes in the second ballot to emerge President. Mr Infantino scored 115 of the 207 eligible votes while Mr. Salman got 88 votes.
3. Mr Infantino is a polyglot who speaks at least six international languages – English Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish and German. He was also not shy to show off his language skills during Friday’s election. According to the ESPN, he spoke five different languages in the first 75 seconds of his speech.
4. He holds Swiss, Italian and Greek nationalities.
5. He was the Secretary General of the European football governing body, UEFA.
6. He was not the favourite to be elected president. In fact, he was believed t have originally acted as replacement candidate for Michel Platini, the UEFA president, who is facing corruption charges. But he started gaining momentum as it became increasingly clear that Mr Platini was not going to clear his name. Mr Platini is currently serving a 6-year ban from all football activities, alongside Mr Blatter.
7. He is a trained lawyer and graduated from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
8. Mr Infantino joined UEFA in August 2000, working on a range of legal, commercial and professional football matters, and was appointed Director of UEFA’s Legal Affairs and Club Licensing Division in January 2004.
9. His first tenure as FIFA president will end in 2009 and can only hold the office for a maximum of 12 years according to the new reforms reached by FIFA delegates on Friday. His predecessor, Mr Blatter, was in office for 18 years and would have been serving a fresh term were it not for his corruption indictment.
10. He is 45, and a regular face in UEFA Champions League draws.

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Okpebholo orders freezing of ALL Edo government accounts

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Monday Okpebholo, governor of Edo, has ordered a freeze of all bank accounts belonging to the state government.

Okpebholo issued the directive on Thursday through Fred Itua, chief press secretary to the governor.

He asked commercial banks, ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to immediately comply with the order or face severe consequences.

“All bank accounts in all the commercial banks have been frozen. Commercial banks must comply with the order and ensure that not a dime is taken out of the coffers of Government until further notice,” the statement reads.

“Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies must comply with this order without further delays.

“After the necessary investigations and reconciliations, the Governor will do the needful and decide on the way forward. For now, this order stands.”

Okpebholo also directed relevant agencies to reverse the naming of the ministry of roads and bridges to the ministry of works — a nomenclature changed during the Godwin Obaseki administration.

“It is funny how you can call a Government institution Ministry of Roads and Bridges,” the statement reads.

“Ironically, no single bridge was built by the same administration. Not even a pedestrian bridge

“In the coming days, we will look at more actions taken by the previous administration and more decisions will be taken that will be done in the best interest of the state.”

The development comes days after Okpebholo took over the reins of power in Edo.

The governor had earlier ordered an indefinite suspension of revenue collection in the state — including at motor parks.

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NESREA seals two facilities in FCT, Kogi for violating environmental regulations

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The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has sealed two facilities in Abuja and Kogi for breaching environmental laws.

The facilities are Geld Construction Limited, located in Abaji, FCT, and Arno Energy, a charcoal production company in Okaba, Kogi.

In a statement on Wednesday, Amaka Ejiofor, NESREA’s spokesperson, said the companies were sealed for failure to conduct their environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Ejiofor noted that the facilities also failed to provide important environmental documents, including an air quality permit, an environmental audit report, and a waste management permit, necessary for maintaining standards in companies.

“The EIA provides guidance on mitigating the negative impact of a facility’s operations on the environment,” the statement reads.

“Their failure to do so led to the closure of the facilities to save human health and the environment.”

The NESREA’s spokesperson added that the facilities were also operating in an environmentally harmful manner, resulting in negative impacts on the host communities and the environment.

She said procedural measures, including the issuance of compliance notices, had been taken to force the facilities to address and rectify their violations.

Innocent Barikor, the director-general of NESREA, urged industry operators to ensure their activities and operations follow the stipulations of the law.

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Federal high court to commence Christmas vacation December 16

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The federal high court says it would go on break from December 16 to mark the Christmas holiday.

In a circular, John Tsoho, the court’s chief judge, said the Abuja, Lagos, and Port-Harcourt judicial divisions would remain open to the litigating public during the break.

Tsoho added that the court would resume proceedings on January 6, 2025.

“The vacation is pursuant to the provisions of order 46, rule 4 (c) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019 (as amended),” the circular reads.

“Only matters relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights, arrest or release of vessels and matters that concern the vacation judges shall entertain dire national interest.”

The notice added that Emeka Nwite and M. S. Liman would be judges at the Abuja division during the vacation, while Akintayo Aluko and Isaac Dipeolu would sit at the Lagos division of the court.

P. M. Ayua and A. T. Mohammed would be the adjudicators at the Port-Harcourt division pending the resumption of complete court activities.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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