By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Liverpool opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah struck in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa.

The Reds took full advantage of Manchester City’s latest defeat at Brighton earlier on Saturday to surge further clear of the champions.

Liverpool failed to hit the heights of their second-half humiliation of German champions Bayer Leverkusen in a 4-0 Champions League win in midweek.

But Arne Slot’s men were again defensively solid to protect a sixth clean sheet in 11 league games and take a firm grip on the title race.

Villa’s fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions sees Unai Emery’s men slip to eighth, but only one point off third-placed Nottingham Forest.

The Anfield crowd was fired up by news of City’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton and inspired a fast start from the home side, but it was Villa who had the better chances in the opening period on the counter-attack.

Ryan Gravenberch produced an excellent last-ditch block to repel Jacob Ramsey’s shot before Leon Bailey headed over when unmarked at the back post.

Set-pieces have been one of Villa’s big threats during their two-year rise under Emery, but it was from their corners that Liverpool looked most dangerous before the break.

The opener arrived when Virgil van Dijk’s long clearance caught the visitors under-manned at the back and Bailey would likely have been sent off for bringing down Salah had Nunez not burst onto the loose ball to net his third goal of the season.

Liverpool were then dealt a blow as Trent Alexander-Arnold hobbled off with a muscle injury that is likely to rule him out of England duty in the coming weeks.

Only wasteful finishing from Nunez saw Villa escape from a carbon copy move to the first goal.

This time Salah played in the Uruguayan on the break from a corner, but he slotted high and wide with only Emi Martinez to beat.

The first half story of Villa’s set-pieces continued as Caoimhin Kelleher was twice forced into fine saves from Amadou Onana and Diego Carlos to preserve Liverpool’s lead at half-time.

Morgan Rogers wasted another huge chance for the visitors to level just seconds into the second half when he sliced wide.

Nunez continued to have the best of Liverpool’s opportunities as he headed wide from Andy Robertson’s cross at the other end.

The home side were set for a nervy finale until Salah gave them breathing space six minutes from time.

Carlos’ header was charged down by the Egyptian who raced through on goal to dink in his 10th goal of the season.

Liverpool’s 15th win in 17 games since Slot took charge moves them into a commanding position in the title race.

Arsenal are 10 points adrift of the leaders ahead of a dauting trip to in-form Chelsea on Sunday.

And an out-of-sorts City are next to visit Anfield on December 1 after Liverpool visit bottom-of-the-table Southampton when Premier League action returns following an international break. Glitters

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A prolific broadcaster, news anchor, reporter, producer, videographer, and film editor, Joy Osiagwu, has passed.

A report by QEDNG said that Mrs Osiagwu died last Friday at Arewa Hospital, Jabi, Abuja, in a brief illness.

She was a former employee of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Her path crossed this reporter’s at the National Assembly, where they both reported the activities of the Senate for their respective media organisations.

She was also a newscaster and would later become a media consultant. She plied the journalism trade for over two decades in full-time capacity in Nigeria and North America.

Osiagwu covered activities of the Nigeria High Commission in Ottawa Canada and the Nigeria Mission to the United Nations in New York for a decade, including the United Nations rotational presidency of the Security Council during the tenure of the former permanent representative of Nigeria to the UN Mission, Professor Joy Ogwu, in July 2010, October 2011 and August 2015 for the NTA.

Apart from covering the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Marrakech, Morocco in 2018, Osiagwu covered the election process and emergence of the 74th president of the United Nations General Assembly, Professor Tijjani Bande, in June 2019 at the UN in New York.

Osiagwu obtained a masters in business administration and media leadership from the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom. She also had a post-graduate diploma in broadcast performing arts from the Columbia Academy, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She obtained a bachelor of arts degree in drama, majoring in theatre for development (TFD) at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Osiagwu was a member of IFLAS (the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability Cumbria Business School).

She worked at the NTA for 23 years and retired voluntarily in September 2019.

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of THE CONCLAVE, Mr Sufuyan Ojeifo described Joy Osiagwu as a brilliant journalist who distinguished herself in the practice as a media professional.

He said the last time he saw Mrs Osiagwu was in June 2013 in Washington DC when she travelled down from Canads to cover an assignment involving the then Director General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Botwev Orhii.

He said she would be sorely missed even as he prayed that the Almighty God would grant her soul eternal repose in His Bosom.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

There was confusion, Saturday morning, at the popular Ikoku Market in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State as business people in the area resumed to see a corpse with machete cuts.

This happened as Rivers State Police Command, which confirmed the development, said a preliminary investigation showed the victim was notorious and may have been lynched.

It also gathered that the vital organs of the male victim, especially the private part, had been removed, sparking suspicions that he had been killed for ritual purposes.

The corpse was abandoned in front of a new-generation bank on Ayama Junction along Olu-Obasanjo road Port Harcourt.

A source, who owns a shop at Ikuku, identified simply as Emeka, disclosed that the stomach of the late man was ripped open and his intestine allegedly removed.
Emeka said that the identity of the deceased was yet to be ascertained even as onlookers gathered.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, noted that the victim was known in the area for notorious activities.
Iringe-Koko dismissed the report of the harvest of vital organs, stressing that all the victim’s vital organs were intact.

She said: “On November 9, 2024, at about 1030hrs, the Rivers State Police Command received a report of an unidentified corpse lying near Ayama Junction/Ikokwu Spare Parts Market, along Olu-Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt. Our operatives promptly