F ifa has dismissed its Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Lamour, just days after he publicly challenged President Gianni Infantino over a controversial plan to sell parts of the World Cup to private investors. Lamour’s departure was confirmed on Monday, August 17, 2026, less than two years after he joined Fifa from Uefa. The two men had worked together for years at European football’s governing body. The fallout began on July 31, when details of Infantino’s “FFE” proposal became public. The plan aimed to bring private money into the World Cup. Lamour did not hold back.  He accused Fifa’s leadership of misleading staff and said Infantino was “acting like he owns Fifa, when he’s supposed to serve it.” He also warned that speaking up could cost him his job.   “If that means I lose my job, then so be it,” he said. “At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”   Hours later, Fifa shelved the plan. In the same statement, Lamour said staff “deserve better than intimidation and dis...

W AEC is getting tough questions after putting out the 2026 WASSCE results for secondary school students. School owners and education advocates say the results don’t match what students achieved in class and in other exams. Most of the complaints are about WAEC’s move to Computer-Based Testing and the use of different versions of question papers. Sam Abdulazeez, who runs Impact House Model Schools in Mowe, Ogun State, revealed to Punch Newspaper that his school’s performance dropped in 2025 and 2026, even though the teachers and preparation stayed the same. The school has written WASSCE since 2017 and was known for strong results in Maths and English. In 2024, all 45 students scored A1 in Mathematics. That changed after WAEC brought in serialised papers and pushed CBT. “This year we entered 69 students for JAMB. More than 30 scored above 300. No one had less than 200,” Abdulazeez said. “We did 22 computer practice tests. But in WASSCE, only 3 or 4 got A1 in Maths. For English, most go...

T he Federal Government will welcome 83 Nigerians back home on Tuesday night as worries over attacks on foreigners in South Africa grow again. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the returnees will arrive at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at about 8:45pm on August 19, 2026. They will leave Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo Airport at 3:35pm on South African Airways. This time, private citizens paid for the flight tickets. The ministry thanked them and called their help a good example of Nigerians supporting each other in times of trouble. The new evacuation follows the end of a bigger government programme that brought back nearly 1,490 Nigerians from South Africa. That programme was started after a rise in Afrophobic attacks and hostility toward foreigners. The government said protecting Nigerians abroad remains a top goal under President Bola Tinubu. It added that it will keep working with South Africa to stop discrimination and make sure those behind attacks face justice. ...