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John Powell Golden year: Suarez has been superb this season Luis Suarez has been named the PFA Footballer of the Year. The 27-year-old  collected the award in London on Sunday evening  after scoring 30 goals in a truly sensational campaign. It is a complete turnaround in fortunes for the Uruguayan, who was castigated for his bite on Branislav Ivanovic just 12 months ago. Suarez was handed a 10-match ban and after missing the first months of this season, has been unstoppable since returning. His award will be somewhat bitter-sweet after his Liverpool side  slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea earlier in the day , but Suarez spoke of his joy upon receiving the trophy: "Really this is for my team-mates and the staff at Liverpool because without their help I wouldn't have this prize," said the striker. "The Premier League is full of really great players and so it is a great honour when these players recognise your work on the pitch."

As the  House of Representatives resumes  from a two-week Easter break tomorrow, the chamber may be a theatre of another crisis as the 37 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC ) have vowed to initiate impeachment moves against  President Goodluck Jonathan. The lawmakers said that they will table a 30-point impeachment motion against the President next week, declaring that they are ready for  a “ total war” on the President. One of the 37 lawmakers, who doesn’t want to be named, revealed that they have gathered all the impeachable sins of the President. But he said the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, does not support their plan. The lawmaker, who is from the North, said: “We are going to the floor of the House to convince our colleagues that it is time we impeach President Jonathan. We have chronicled his offences, we are ready to fight since the President has declared war on us”.

Pope Francis has made a habit of breaking with tradition during the first year of his papacy, and yesterday he continued his string of unprecedented actions by elevating two former papal predecessors to sainthood in the same ceremony. He proclaimed his predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints in front of more than half a million pilgrims yesterday, hailing both as courageous men who withstood the tragedies of the 20th century. Cheers and applause rang out across St Peter’s Square after the historic double papal canonization as many in the crowd fixed their gaze on huge tapestries of the two popes on the facade of the basilica behind Francis. “We declare and define Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II to be saints and we enrol them among the saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church,” Francis said in his formal proclamation in Latin.

A Mobile policeman identified as Gbuchenge Augustine with Force number 400823 in Lagos, is on the run following a foiled  attempt to allegedly use an eight-year old girl for ritual. The girl identified as Amarachi, was found under his bed in his one-room apartment at Olufowobi Street, Ikosi Ketu with her mouth gagged and legs and hands tied. When she was eventually rescued  by neighbours, little Amarachi had injuries on her skull and neck. Trouble started for the policeman in the evening of Thursday last week when the parents of the girl, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Abakwan, who had gone out for their businesses returned and did not find their daughter, Amarachi at home. The girl’s father, a driver with Strands Communications Limited, told journalists that when he returned from work, he noticed that Amarachi did not come to greet him and when he  queried his wife on her whereabouts, he was told that she was asleep.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, on Sunday led some top government officials to pay condolence visit on Vice President Namadi Sambo over the death of his brother, Yusuf. Jonathan, at the Akinola Aguda House the official residence of the Vice President, described human beings as mere mortals, saying ‘death is a journey everybody must make.’ He said: “we are all mere mortals. All of us are from the Earth; we must all go back to the Earth. We do not know the timing of this journey all of us must make.” “This world is a place where we come to play our different roles. He (Yusuf) left too early.” “Maybe he left when the ovation is loudest. He left at a time we needed him most. But there is nothing we can do.”

Manchester City took advantage of Liverpool's slip to put the destiny of the Premier League title back in their own hands as Yaya Toure inspired a 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace on Sunday. Manuel Pellegrini's side had received a huge boost when leaders Liverpool crashed to a 2-0 home defeat against Chelsea earlier in the day. That result put a spring in City's step and before the first half was over at Selhurst Park they had seized the unexpected opportunity to regain control of the title race thanks to Edin Dzeko's opener and a sublime effort from Ivory Coast midfielder Toure. City remain third but they are now only three points adrift of Liverpool, crucially with a game in hand and a vastly superior goal difference, and one behind second placed Chelsea. After a potentially defining weekend in the title race, Pellegrini's men know that, whatever Liverpool and Chelsea do in their last two matches, City will be crowned champions for the second time in three y...

  A tornado system ripped through the central US and left at least 12 dead in a violent start to this year's storm season, officials said. Matt DeCample, a spokesperson for Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, said 11 in his state were killed Sunday when a tornado carved through several Little Rock suburbs. A separate tornado from the same storm system killed one person in Oklahoma. The large tornado outside Little Rock, Arkansas, stayed on the ground as it moved north-eastward for at least 48km. Emergency workers and volunteers went door-to-door to look for victims. Law enforcement officers checked the damaged and toppled 18-wheelers, cars and trucks on a stretch of Interstate 40, a major thoroughfare in and out of the state's capital. "It turned pitch black," said Mark Ausbrooks, who was at his parents' home when the storm arrived. "I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and ... all hell broke loose."