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Manchester City have appealed an independent commission’s ruling that found the 10-time English champions guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League’s financial regulations.

In a statement released on Friday, City said the commission’s ruling contained ‘clear material errors, of law, principle and fact’ and was therefore ‘unsafe’.

The club, which continues to deny wrongdoing, said it submitted a ‘comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence’ to support its position.

‘The club’s firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact and is unsafe,’ City said.

‘The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions relating to this case.

‘We will continue to respect due process and are necessarily restricted in what we can say further until all proceedings are complete.’

City face potential Premier League sanctions

No sanction has yet been determined by the Premier League, but City could face a substantial points deduction, a fine, or, in the most serious circumstances, expulsion from the top division.

The club was found guilty of the charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons.

The commission found that commercial arrangements had artificially inflated City’s revenues and reduced costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) between 2009 and 2018.

It also concluded that the club had concealed the true state of its finances and was ‘significantly in breach of both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits’.

FA warns of implications for English football

The Football Association said the commission’s verdict had ‘significant implications for the integrity of the game’ and that it was assessing the decision.

‘We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate,’ the FA said.

‘As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage.

‘We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely.’

The FA’s regulatory powers mean it could potentially launch its own investigation, exposing City to further sanctions.

The appeal marks another stage in the long-running dispute between Manchester City and the Premier League, with the club maintaining its innocence and challenging the commission’s findings on multiple grounds.

Women developers are increasingly turning technical skills into commercially viable digital products as She Code Africa and global web-scraping platform Apify seek to create new income pathways for Africa’s technology workforce.

The organisations concluded the 2026 BuildHer Hackathon, themed ‘Ship and Earn Africa’, with participants challenged to build, deploy and monetise technology solutions addressing real-world problems across agriculture, education, financial technology, cybersecurity and small businesses.

The hybrid hackathon culminated in a Demo Day on September 25 at The Zone, Gbagada, Lagos, where teams presented their solutions to a panel of judges.

Team Data Divas emerged first with LoanSafe, an Apify Actor designed to help Nigerians verify digital lenders before borrowing.

LoanSafe connects to the official lending registry of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), enabling users to check whether a digital lender is registered and monitor changes to its status.

The platform stores verified records, allowing users to identify when a lender is removed from the registry, when a new lender is added or when a lender’s status changes.

The tool could also provide fintech companies, developers and consumer protection researchers with easier access to lending-registry information without having to build monitoring infrastructure from scratch.

Team Byte Queens placed second with the Nigeria Flood Early-Warning Agent, which combines data from the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), GloFAS river-flow forecasts, rainfall forecasts and upstream dam releases to generate community-level flood-risk assessments.

Users can input a community, Local Government Area or GPS location to receive risk assessments for the next seven and 30 days, alongside factors driving the risk and recommended actions.

The team also developed a WhatsApp bot capable of delivering alerts in English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin. Its current minimum viable product covers Kogi, Benue, Adamawa, Anambra and Lagos.

Team SentinelNG came third with Sentinel, a cybersecurity tool that uses publicly available Certificate Transparency logs to identify internet-facing assets linked to an organisation’s domain.

The tool can flag unexpected assets, certificate anomalies and possible impersonation domains, while assigning risk scores and severity levels to identified threats.

Speaking about the partnership, Mfonobong Umondia, Community Manager at She Code Africa, said: ‘The She Code Africa x Apify Hackathon is a hybrid hackathon that brings together women and girls from different engineering tracks to build solutions to real-time problems. So we’re basically bringing them together in one room to collaborate and build solutions to problems.’

For Apify, the programme also addresses a broader challenge in Africa’s technology ecosystem: converting technical expertise into sustainable income.

Saurav Jain, Senior Developer Community Manager at Apify, said: ‘With time, we have noticed there is a huge gap in the African market where developers cannot really make money out of their software skills, but they have definitely very good, great developer skills.’

He said the partnership with She Code Africa was part of Apify’s effort to engage more women developer communities, particularly across Africa.

‘So this year, we made a pledge that we will participate with many women communities all over the world and especially in Africa. So what can be a great start other than collaborating with She Code Africa?’

The hackathon required participants to use Apify’s pay-per-event model, giving developers an opportunity to build products that can generate revenue based on usage.

Beyond the competition, the top three teams will participate in a post-hackathon workshop on October 7 led by Apify’s Developer Relations team and She Code Africa.

Members of the top 10 teams also received $100 each in prepaid Apify platform credits to continue developing their products.

The organisers said post-hackathon engagement would focus on helping participants improve their technical capabilities and further develop the Apify Actors created during the programme.

Five Nigerian startups have received a total of pound 65,000 in pre-seed funding through the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF), to support the growth and development of their businesses.

The close-out and award ceremony held recently at the Netherlands Embassy in Lagos, had 20 entrepreneurs completed Cohort 14, selected from about 1,500 applications.

Speaking at the event, Frank Keurhost, the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lagos, said the programme has so far supported 280 startups and innovative SMEs in Nigeria, with 67 of them generating a cumulative revenue of over pound 12 million.

‘Today is more than a graduation ceremony; it is a celebration of courage, innovation, resilience and the extraordinary potential of young Nigerian entrepreneurs and startups,’ he said.

The five businesses selected for funding are Kiyoko Foods Ltd, which received pound 22,000; Eco Heroes Nigeria Limited, pound 13,000; Leovia Farms Enterprise, pound 12,000; Teazy Tech, pound 10,000; and Neowel Solutions Limited, pound 8,000.

Ayomide Akindolie-Igwe, executive director of FATE Foundation, said the completion of the cohort shows the impact of providing entrepreneurs with knowledge, mentorship and networks.

‘At FATE Foundation, we believe that supporting entrepreneurs goes beyond helping them start businesses.’ ‘It is about equipping them with the knowledge, networks, resources and confidence required to build sustainable businesses that can create value and contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s economy.’

She added that the selection of 20 entrepreneurs from about 1,500 applicants demonstrates their commitment and resilience.

The Orange Corners Nigeria programme is implemented by FATE Foundation in partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands to support entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.

Innocent Chukwuma, Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Plc, (IVM), has expressed optimism that things will work well again in Nigeria under the democratic government.

Chukwuma, whose birthday coincides with Nigeria’s Independence, described the attainment of democratic rule in Nigeria, as a good reason to celebrate the country’s 66th independence anniversary.

Chukwuma, who spoke to BussinessDay on Thursday in his country home in Nnewi, Anambra State, said that local manufacturers produce quality products and needed encouragement from the government to succeed.

Reeling out his life journey, Chukwuma said: ‘in the late 1970s, a young boy named Innocent Chukwuma walked into a medicine shop in Nnewi, Anambra State. He had big dreams of studying engineering at the University, but when his exam results didn’t quite make the cut-off mark, he decided to bide his time helping his elder brother sell pharmaceuticals.

‘While sorting pills and ointment jars, he noticed something curious about himself: he had a sharp eye for numbers, inventory, and human interaction. He didn’t end up going back to school.

‘Instead, he pivoted to what fascinated him most-trade.

He served a brief apprenticeship under a major motorcycle spare parts dealer at the bustling Nkwo Nnewi market. Gifted a modest sum of 3,000 Naira by his brother to trade under their joint business, Gabros International, Innocent went to work. By 1981, he branched out independently with his own company: Innoson.

According to him, the disruption that changed everything was in the 1980s and 1990s, motorcycles were the backbone of Nigerian urban transit, but brand-new Japanese bikes (like Honda and Suzuki) were cripplingly expensive, pushing most Nigerians toward second-hand imports (tokunbo).

‘I traveled to Asia to investigate why foreign-used motorcycles were still so costly and realized that overseas suppliers shipped assembled bikes in massive shipping crates-a single 40-foot container could fit only about 36 complete motorcycles. That was when my engineering mindset kicked in,’ he said.

By importing motorcycles completely knocked down (CKD) and assembling them locally in Nnewi, he could squeeze nearly 200 disassembled motorcycles into that exact same container. His shipping costs plummeted.

He passed those savings directly to the everyday Nigerian. Practically overnight, Innoson crashed the price of a brand-new motorcycle from around ?150,000 down to ?60,000. He drove the tokunbo motorcycle market right out of Nigeria, replacing old junkers with shiny, brand-new rides for millions of riders.

Turning Plastic into Steel, he noticed another detail during motorcycle assembly: many non-essential components-like mudguards, light casings, and side mirrors-were made of plastic.

Instead of paying to ship heavy plastic pieces from overseas, he thought, Why not manufacture them right here in Nigeria?

He set up Innoson Technical and Industrial Limited in Enugu. Today, it has grown into one of the largest plastic manufacturing plants in West Africa.

By the mid-2000s, people told him he had reached the ceiling. ‘You can build plastics and put together motorcycles,’ they said, ‘but you cannot build cars in Africa. The infrastructure isn’t there.’

Innocent didn’t argue; he built.

In 2007, he formally established Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) in Nnewi. By 2009, the factory floor roared to life, rolling out the very first fully indigenous, made-in-Nigeria automobiles-from rugged pickup trucks and city transit buses to luxury sedans.

When skeptics doubted whether African-built cars could handle the local terrain, IVM vehicles were subjected to Nigeria’s toughest roads, police patrols, and military operations-and passed with flying colors. When fuel prices surged, IVM became one of the first factories in the country to roll out Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses on a massive scale.

Today, Innocent Chukwuma, sits at the helm of an industrial giant. The young boy, who missed his University cutoff ended up founding a multi-billion-naira industrial empire, employing thousands of Nigerians and proving that African engineering isn’t just a future dream-it is a present reality.

He, however, noted that manufacturers are tackling the challenge of lack of public power supply by investing in alternative means of power.

According to him, the major challenge confronting local manufacturers in Nigeria hinges on inconsistent economic policies and programmes.

Chukwuma faulted the Federal Government waiver on the importation of CNG Cars and electric vehicles, saying it was not in the interest of local industries as it would discourage many Nigerians from venturing into the local manufacturing of such vehicles.

The industrialist called on the government to improve workers’ welfare, noting that the current minimum wage could no longer meet the economic realities on ground.

Chukwuma urged Nigerians to be patient with the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, pointing out that many programmes and policies of the government would, in the long run, address numerous challenges confronting the nation.

Chukwuma, while calling on Nigerians to support the present administration also commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State for the infrastructural developments especially roads achieved so far in the state.

As Chukwuma celebrates his 66th birthday anniversary, Michael Nnaemeka Ugboma, his family lawyer and the Chairman Board of Directors of Estate Group of Companies Limited ,wished him ‘A Happy Birthday Dad’.

‘We extend our warmest congratulations and heartfelt best wishes to you on the occasion of your birthday.

You remain a trailblazer, a visionary industrialist, and a true pillar of Nigerian innovation. Your relentless commitment to local manufacturing, national development, and economic empowerment, through the Innoson Group continues to inspire us and millions across the nation,’ Ugboma stressed.

The Oyo State Government has expressed deep concern over the abduction of some corps members of Oyo State origin in Imo State.

‘We receive with deep concern the distressing report. Our hearts are with the affected young Nigerians and their families during this difficult and emotionally trying moment.

Dotun Oyelade, Oyo State Commissioner for Information in a statement stated that the ‘government of Oyo State condemns this reprehensible act and is in close communication with relevant security agencies, the Imo State Government, and the leadership of the National Youth Service Corps to ensure a coordinated and urgent response.

‘We are fully committed to securing the safe release of our children and will stop at nothing to ensure that they are reunited with their families without harm.

‘ His Excellency, the Governor of Oyo State, has directed that all necessary resources be deployed and has emphasised that the safety and well-being of every indigene of the state-within and outside our borders-remains a top priority.

‘ We urge the families of the abducted corps members to remain calm and assured that the government is actively engaged on all fronts. We call on security agencies to intensify efforts and bring the perpetrators of this criminal act to justice.

Oyelade said that the state will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that such incidents are prevented in the future, adding that the government stands firmly with the victims, their families, and the entire NYSC community at this time.

Nigeria recorded more than 1,400 winding-up applications in 2025, compared with only 13 administration proceedings approved by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

This development highlights the limited uptake of corporate rescue mechanisms introduced under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

The figures have prompted the CAC and Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN) to push greater use of debt restructuring and other rescue mechanisms to keep viable distressed companies operating rather than allowing them to collapse into liquidation.

Speaking at BRIPAN’s annual international conference, themed, ‘Building an Insolvency Architecture for a New World Order’, the CAC said Nigeria’s insolvency framework had moved from a predominantly liquidation-centred system towards rescue and recovery, but stakeholders needed to make the new mechanisms work in practice.

‘What we see still is more of the winding up and the liquidation,’ said Hussaini Magaji, Registrar-General of the CAC, during a panel session, adding that the insolvency practice was ‘still evolving’ and ‘still picking up’.

CAMA 2020 introduced Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) and administration, allowing distressed but viable companies to restructure their obligations and continue trading.

In his keynote address, Hussaini Magaji, Registrar-General of the CAC, said modern insolvency systems should do more than liquidate failed companies.

‘It must facilitate early intervention, preserve viable businesses, protect employment, maximise returns to creditors and provide an orderly exit where rescue is no longer practicable,’ he said.

Under administration, the primary objective is to rescue a company or its undertaking as a going concern. Where this is not reasonably practicable, the administrator is expected to pursue a better result for creditors than immediate winding-up or realise assets for secured or preferential creditors.

The CAC said more than 400 insolvency practitioners had been accredited under the Insolvency Regulations 2022, while CVAs and administration proceedings had been registered across sectors including banking, insurance, pensions and healthcare.

Albert Folorunsho, President of BRIPAN, said the role of insolvency practitioners should extend beyond managing failed businesses to helping distressed enterprises recover and return to sustainable operations.

Six years after CAMA 2020 introduced its insolvency and business rescue provisions, Folorunsho said practitioners had accumulated practical experience that should guide the next stage of Nigeria’s insolvency framework.

He said the BRIPAN conference provided an opportunity to identify gaps in the existing system and develop practical solutions that could inform policy and strengthen institutions.

Folorunsho said corporate distress had consequences beyond a company’s balance sheet, affecting entrepreneurs, employees, creditors and the wider economy.

He said preserving viable businesses could protect workers’ livelihoods, improve prospects for creditors to recover their funds and retain productive enterprises within the economy.

Abiodun Ariyibi, Vice President of BRIPAN, said the association was also focused on emerging insolvency trends and reforms that could strengthen restructuring practice in Nigeria and beyond.

He said modern insolvency systems needed to be resilient, transparent and responsive to economic uncertainty, technological changes and evolving regulation, while also addressing cross-border commercial activity and protecting enterprise value.

As technology evolves from assisting people to executing tasks and making decisions within defined parameters, business leaders have stressed the urgent need for organisations to adopt agentic artificial intelligence (AI) with a clear purpose, strong governance frameworks, and sustained human oversight.

The call was made during a recent virtual webinar organised by the EY Nigeria Alumni Association as part of EY Global Alumni Week.

The event, themed ‘Leading with Confidence in the Age of Agentic AI,’ examined the implications of autonomous AI systems for operating models, decision-making, customer service, and workforce transformation.

The webinar featured EY technology experts, including Wilfred Mamah, partner and digital transformation services leader at EY West Africa, and Tomiwa Adefokun, senior manager, technology consulting at EY. The session was moderated by Bisi Onasanya, former group managing director of FirstBank.

According to Mamah, agentic AI represents a significant shift from software that merely supports users to systems capable of pursuing goals, planning tasks, using tools, and executing approved actions.

‘The defining shift is not simply better content generation; it is the delegation of tasks, decisions, and actions to software,’ he said. ‘Organisations should therefore treat agentic AI as a transfer of defined decision rights rather than as an enhanced chatbot.’

Mamah highlighted immediate applications across banking, insurance, and public services, including credit and service orchestration, claims triage and settlement support, and citizen-service fulfilment.

He noted that such systems can collect evidence, coordinate approvals, flag exceptions, and communicate next steps efficiently.

He further observed that the broader impact of agentic AI may be organisational rather than purely technological, as work shifts from departmental silos toward business outcomes, routine execution gives way to exception management, and decisions become more continuous and responsive.

For his part, Adefokun advised organisations to calibrate an agent’s level of autonomy based on factors such as risk, reversibility, confidence, and business impact. Depending on the circumstances, an AI agent may recommend or prepare an action, execute it with approval, act independently while notifying a human, or escalate uncertain and high-impact matters for human intervention.

He urged business leaders to clearly define the outcomes assigned to AI agents, the decisions they can make independently, their escalation points, the individuals accountable for their actions, and the data and systems they are permitted to access.

‘The future is not autonomous AI operating without people,’ Adefokun said. ‘It is responsible human-agent collaboration, where technology provides speed and scale while people provide purpose, judgement, and accountability.’

Also speaking at the webinar, Ashish Bakhshi, partner and head of markets at EY West Africa, challenged participants to translate the discussions into practical action within their organisations. He noted that successful adoption would depend not on deploying the highest number of AI agents, but on responsibly redesigning valuable work and earning stakeholder trust.

The speakers collectively maintained that responsible deployment requires a named business owner, clearly defined authority and data-access limits, human oversight of sensitive actions, traceable activities, continuous monitoring, and formal procedures for approving, updating, suspending, or retiring AI agents.

They also warned against the risks associated with excessive permissions, manipulated instructions, unauthorised actions, leakage of confidential information, compromised third-party integrations, weak audit trails, and uncontrolled proliferation of AI agents.

Jarret Tenebe, the Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has stirred controversy again after invoking ‘AK-47 fire’ against those he said may stand in the way of the party’s plan to deliver 2.5 million votes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Tenebe was alleged to have made the remarks during the ongoing campaign tour of the 18 Local Government Areas of Edo State by Governor Monday Okpebholo and the leadership of the APC ahead of the 2027 elections.

A video circulating on social media platforms showed the APC chairman addressing party supporters, where he warned those who may stand in the way of the party’s plan to deliver the targeted votes to President Tinubu.

Tenebe said the number of votes delivered by a state could influence its development prospects, including the creation of additional local government areas and states.

He said the 2.5 million votes would strengthen Edo State’s prospects of attracting federal attention and development opportunities, adding that President Tinubu had the power to create additional local government areas for the state.

According to him, the APC had already demonstrated its capacity to mobilise voters after securing 2,158,600 votes in the recent local government elections in the state.

‘What we are trying to achieve is the 2.5 million votes. The reason why it is key is because you hear them creating local governments and you hear them creating states.

‘It is the number of votes such states turn out that would make it possible. And when you have more local governments, you have more development and allocation will go up,’ he said.

Tenebe urged APC members to intensify their mobilisation efforts to achieve the target.

‘The only person that can create a local government for us is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If it is that alone, we will not sleep. We will work hard. We will make sure that those votes are turned in for Mr President,’ he said.

He subsequently directed a warning at those he described as people seeking to create obstacles to the party’s plan to garner 2.5 million for the presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections.

‘Those who do not wish us well, who want to create an obstacle for us, I have a prayer for you.

‘And that prayer is a lesser prayer because if you invoke Holy Ghost power, it is more. If you invoke General Purpose Machine Gun power, it is lighter.

‘So everybody who refuses, who wants to stand in our way, for us not to have those votes that we intend to give to Mr President, AK-47 fire for the person,’ he stated.

The APC has been mobilising across Edo State ahead of the 2027 elections, with Governor Okpebholo and the party leadership repeatedly setting a target of 2.5 million votes for President Tinubu.