Mikel Arteta says Bruno Fernandes was “smarter” than referee Anthony Taylor over his free-kick that gave Manchester United the lead against Arsenal in 1-1 draw on Sunday; referee moved defensive wall 11.2 yards back; Gary Neville criticised Arsenal over incident

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Mikel Arteta refused to criticise Anthony Taylor for sending Arsenal’s defensive wall too far back for Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick in their 1-1 draw but said the Manchester United captain had been “smarter” than the referee in taking advantage to net his fine strike.

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Broadcast technology found Taylor marched the Arsenal defensive line 11.2 yards back, further than the minimum 10 yards required in the Laws of the Game, before Fernandes curled a dead ball inside the near post shortly before half-time.

“At the end of the day the referee is pushing them back too far, which is a mistake, but ordinarily you would sense you’re too far away and creep forward,” said Gary Neville on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“They didn’t do that and it ends up that Bruno Fernandes has the ability to play it over the wall.”

The United captain’s technique was superb but, like Neville, the Super Sunday pundits questioned whether his goal would have been possible had Arsenal’s five-player wall been closer.

Arteta refused to be drawn over the incident, only to congratulate Fernandes for making the most of the advantage he had been given.
“He’s been smart and he took advantage, that is football,” he told Sky Sports. “He’s been smarter than the ref. That’s OK, they allowed him to do it.”

Player of the match Declan Rice, who netted Arsenal’s equaliser after half-time, took the blame for the goal on himself and the other members of the Gunners wall, though he also felt it had been pushed too far back.

“It felt like a couple of us jumped and some of us didn’t, but I’ve not seen it back,” he told Sky Sports. “It felt like the ball flew over us at quite a low height so, from the wall’s perspective, we could have done a lot better.
“The wall did feel far back. Even on our free-kick, when Martin [Odegaard] took it, they felt far back as well, more than usual. But the referee makes that decision.”

After half-time, another free-kick from Martin Odegaard was being lined up when Taylor again appeared to exceed 10 yards when marking out where Man Utd’s defensive wall could stand.

As Neville had suggested Arsenal should do, Noussair Mazraoui questioned Taylor over the distance, while the wall itself crept forward before Odegaard’s strike – and did its job when his effort rebounded away to safety.

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim told Sky Sports he had noticed the issues with both free-kicks but had no intention of helping Arsenal out ahead of Fernandes’ opener.

He said: “It was clear, both free-kicks. So when it’s your free kick, you don’t say anything. When it’s the opponent, you try to push because it’s a big difference.

“It was fair, one for us, one for them. We had Bruno and he solved the problem.”

Man Utd midfielder Christian Eriksen, who has scored eight Premier League free-kicks, explained after the game the sizeable difference even 1.2 yards extra would make for a dead-ball specialist.

“It makes a very big difference,” he told Sky Sports. “When the ball is over the wall you don’t need to hit it as high – going down to statistics and how far they are back and how many metres and how they jump. So it’s easier and it gives Bruno a bit more space to put it over the wall.

“It was very good. It helped that the wall was about 15 metres away, so it was perfect for him to put it over.

“I saw it early [that the wall was a fair way back]. Even before the kick you could see how far back they were, and it was the same when they had it in the second half – obviously we were a bit angry with the ref [at that point] for putting us so far back after we saw that Bruno scored.

“But I think it was just beneficial to us.”

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Alhaji Sule Lamido was born August 30, 1948. He is a native of Bamaina village, Jigawa State, and is known for his wide-level exposure in leadership. He attended Birnin Kudu school, for his primary education in 1955 and proceeded for his secondary education at the prestigious Barewa College, Zaria, Kaduna State.

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Lamido embarked on a course in Railway engineering at the Permanent way training school, Zaria, Kaduna where he gained knowledge on the rail transport operations. Upon graduation from the Permanent Way Training School, Lamido started his career as a Quality Control officer at the Nigeria Tobacco Company in Zaria. He also worked in Bamaina Holding Company, amongst other companies in the country.

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He also worked in Bamaina Holding Company, amongst other companies in the country. In 1992, Lamido ventured into politics, first in the second republic as a member of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) where he was an active member. Lamido was also active in the third republic, as a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and played a key role as the National Secretary in the party. The seasoned politician was also a delegate of the 1995 National Constitutional Conference in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

During the military regime of the late Gen Sani Abacha, Lamido was a member of the G-34 political movement which was a notable and powerful opposition group that shaped Nigeria’s fourth republic. After several years of the Military junta in Nigeria, Sule Lamido returned back to active politics in the fourth republic under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party.

He was appointed the Foreign Affairs Minister in the first four years of President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2003) at a time Nigeria had to reposition and redeem its image in the international community. As Foreign Minister he travelled with Former President Obasanjo across the globe, restoring broken relationships with the western bloc nations and opening new frontiers with countries like Japan, Russia, Brazil, China and Australia.

Other roles he played as foreign minister was representing Nigeria in the United Nations, G77 bloc of nations, Commonwealth of nations, Organization of African Unity and Economic Community of West Africa States. In November 2001, at the United Nations , Lamido described the corrosive impact of corruption on new democracies such as Nigeria, and called for “an international instrument” against transfer of looted funds abroad.

As Governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido put the State on national scale with significant investments in infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, housing & urban development, empowerment programmes, education, rural development and industrial projects. The elder statesman is also known for his capacity to build consensus across the nation.

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By Samson Atekojo Usman

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Obviously, Senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District, Jibrin Isah Echocho could pass for “a true democrat” given his antecedents in the last six years in the ninth and 10th Senate in terms of legislative activities and back home his service to the people.

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Kogi East has had previous representatives in the upper Chamber before his ascension in 2019 and at the time, electorate least expect effective representation at National Assembly, given the many failures and disappointments with which the previous Senators were trailed with. But Senator Jibrin Isah fondly called “Echocho”, an astute banker who made foray into politics expected to become the executive governor of Kogi State in 2011 without success, has at the turn of events elected as a Senator in 2019 during the former administration of the former governor, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello.

He began to change the narrative through quality debate on the floor of the Senate even as a first timer and a non-ranking Senator in the ninth Senate led by the former Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan. His grasp of national issues, which he would not only contribute, but sponsored bills and motions reposted Kogi East into the limelight. The voice of Kogi East reverberated and the Federal Government’s attention was drawn to the Kingdom of the Igala and Bassa speaking people. One could recall vividly, a bill he sponsored for the establishment of “Federal Eye Centre Ochadamu in Ofu Local Government Council”, for the Federal Government to take over the asset and liabilities of the Holley Memorial Hospital Ochadamu which its public hearing was conducted by the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) on Tuesday, February, 2022.

Through his lobby and persuasion, the bill was passed into law on 7th April, 2022, two months after its public hearing was conducted.

The foresight of a lawmaker for such a facility shows the extent of his passion for his constituents unarguably. Though, the bill was passed into law, it was caught up with effluxion of time as it was not assented to by the former President Muhammadu Buhari before he left office. It is inherent in the tradition of parliament that any bill not passed into law or passed, but not assented by the President before the expiration of the session will expire with it and has to start “de novo” in a new session.

When he eventually returned for the second term as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as at 2024, he has already garnered 89 notable and verifiable achievements, including bills, motions and constituency projects delivery which were evenly distributed across the nine Local Government Councils in Kogi East.

Few months into his second tenure, his intervention on the long abandoned Lokoja-Shintaku-Anyigba road project which saw the contractors handling the project who have been mobilized to site is seen as strategic and critical to the social and economic well-being not just of the people of the East alone, but the entire Kogi State and Nigerians in general. Those conversant with the project would tell that the lawmaker’s intervention has rekindled the people’s confidence in their political leaders that they are there to do their bidding.

His ‘midas touch’ in empowering the constituents consistently and employment gained by some persons across the district through him which is worth mentioned, further suggested that he wasn’t into politics of selfishness, a paradigm shift from what it used to be, even as the Senator-Constituents relationship has never been this robust in times past.

In the world of social media, no politician can hide anything, hence, at a press of a button, any constituent or interested individual could self-cross-check facts or false of his or her lawmaker, thus, one is not surprise to see the massive achievements of Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho.

Echocho’s response to the legislative activities has exposed him to the leadership of the Senate and political gladiators at the national level, hence, one is not surprised that at the formation of the 10th National Assembly, the Godswill Obot Akpabio-led leadership appointed him to chair Senate Committee on Customs. To chair this Committee, a Senator must not only be a ranking member, but must be intellectually mobile with deep knowledge of revenue which he must be willing to assist the Federal Government. To say the least, the leadership of the 10th Senate is too smart to get the likes of Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho involved in strategic Ad-Committees given his upright standing, sincerity and commitment to the national development of the nation. In 2023, the Senate President appointed him as Chairman of Senate Adhoc Committee to probe CBN’s Anchor Borrowers, Ways and Means.

Echocho was inaugurated on March 11, 2024 to probe over N30 trillion that left the Central Bank of Nigeria to agencies of government during the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The task was one of the most complex as he was expected to unmask the whereabouts of the humongous fund and reason out why the nation got into huge debt overhang. His background in financial industry and his detail to legislative activities cum strong voice on the floor during plenaries may have occasioned him chairing the Committee. This was in addition to being member of other very strategic committees.

Thus, it is no flattering to say, Echocho’s passion for service as clearly demonstrated in the last six years is phenomenal in the history democracy, hence, this may be an opportunity to leverage on his beliefs and understanding of service to humanity at the State and national going forward.

Samson Atekojo Usman is a journalist and writes from Abuja

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