Football

Neymar finally speaks on Real Madrid transfer rumours

Published

8 years ago

on

May 14, 2018

By

Feyijimi Emmanuel

By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye

Real Madrid have long been linked with a summer move for Neymar, yet the Brazilian forward quashed such rumours on Sunday by making clear that everyone knows what he has gone to Paris Saint-Germain to do.

The former Santos forward was present at the Union of Professional Players in France’s awards dinner, as he received the award for being the best player in Ligue 1.

“Real Madrid or Manchester United? Everyone knows what I have come to do at PSG,” he explained.

“People know the objectives I have, and my goal now is the World Cup.

“It’s not time to talk about transfers, I’m a bit bored with it now.”

These are certainly reassuring words for those in the French capital, although it’s still very early in the summer.

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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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