Football

Bakayoko and Drinkwater out at Chelsea

Published

7 years ago

on

July 29, 2019

By

Feyijimi Emmanuel

Frank Lampard is prepared to cut ties with underperforming midfielders Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater before the new season.

Neither player appeared for the Blues last season, with Drinkwater frozen out and Bakayoko loaned to AC Milan. Despite their transfer ban new boss Lampard believes Chelsea are well-stocked in the middle of the park and sees no future for the pair, says The Daily Mail.

In other news, Dybala wants Juventus stay. Tottenham and Manchester United-linked Paulo Dybala wants to stay and fight for his place at Juventus. Sky Sports in Italy says the Argentina international is prepared to cut short his holidays to return to Turin to begin training with Maurizio Sarri.

It was rumoured that Dybala was offered to United as part of a deal for Romelu Lukaku, and Spurs have apparently had a £50m ($62m) bid rejected already.

Related Topics:Chelsea FC Danny Drinkwater Tiemoue Bakayoko

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Vote-buying remains a major concern One of the strongest warnings from Osun was the continued presence of vote-buying and voter inducement. Yiaga Africa said the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were consistent with its independent statistical projections, but cautioned that this did not remove concerns about the integrity of voters' choices amid reports of vote-buying and inducement. The concern is particularly significant ahead of 2027, when political competition will take place nationwide and involve presidential, National Assembly and state-level contests. The International Republican Institute (IRI), following a pre-election assessment mission conducted in August, identified monetised political competition, election-related violence, insecurity and declining public confidence in INEC among the structural challenges facing the 2027 elections. IRI recommended stronger investigation and prosecution of vote-buying and voter inducement, urging INEC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and security agencies to act on credible allegations. Technology improves transparency — but has limits The Osun election also demonstrated how electoral technology can improve transparency. INEC's electronic transmission of polling-unit results through the IReV platform provided observers and members of the public with a mechanism to monitor uploaded results. Yiaga Africa subsequently said the official results were consistent with its independent statistical estimates, describing the outcome as evidence that the announced results reflected the ballots counted at polling units. However, technical problems with BVAS were reported during voting. CDD said difficulties involving biometric verification and slow processing occurred in several LGAs, including Irepodun, Ejigbo, Obokun, Osogbo, Olorunda, Ola Oluwa, Ede North and Ede South. 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The institute urged security agencies to identify high-risk areas early and develop location-specific plans to prevent intimidation, disruption and attacks on electoral participants. Osun offers lessons ahead of 2027 Despite the challenges, observers say the Osun election also provides evidence that improvements in election administration can produce positive results. Yiaga Africa's assessment found that INEC and security agencies largely passed the test of conducting the election, while its independent verification indicated that the official results accurately reflected the ballots counted at polling units. The challenge ahead is to build on those gains while addressing the weaknesses exposed during the election. For INEC, that means improving BVAS reliability, strengthening result-transmission and collation procedures and maintaining clear communication with voters and political parties. 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