Cristiano Ronaldo has been dropped as the face of EA Sports’ FIFA 19 game.

The company revealed a new front cover on their Twitter page earlier this month which does not feature the Juventus striker.

16 teams, 7 games, 3 potential champions, 1 ? new #FIFA19 cover. https://t.co/pTvLyJF1qw @neymarjr @PauDybala_JR @DeBruyneKev pic.twitter.com/JhjQryW4Av

— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) February 6, 2019

Instead, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar and Ronaldo’s team-mate Paulo Dybala share the spotlight.

Ronaldo was the focus of a rape allegation in October and only last month he accepted a £16.6m fine and a 23-month suspended prison sentence for tax evasion during his time at Real Madrid in Spain.

Despite the unprecedented move to change the face of their game midway through the season, EA Sports insist it is purely to reinvigorate interest in the Champions League – even though Ronaldo himself is still playing in the competition.

A spokesperson for the company told Euro Gamer: ‘With the UEFA Champions League coming to EA Sports FIFA 19 this year, we have a unique opportunity to offer a range of new content to players that reflects the real-world excitement of football.

‘We often celebrate different talent across our sports games, and with the UEFA Champions League knockout stages underway we are featuring some of the biggest stars in football and bringing new players a range of content to get excited about.’

EA Sports had already adressed the sexual assault claims against Ronaldo back in October.

They said they were ‘closely monitoring’ the situation after a claim of rape against the Portugal international from a trip to Las Vegas in 2009 surfaced.

President Buhari has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) owes Nigerians detailed explanation for its decision to delay the general elections.

Speaking at the All Progressives Congress (APC) emergency caucus meeting at the party secretariat, President Buhari said:

‘‘Definitely, the reasons such incompetence manifested have to be explained to the nation. After the elections, we have to know exactly what happened and who is responsible.

‘‘The constitution and the laws protect INEC but they must not take us for granted. If for example, the National Assembly refused to approve what INEC wanted, then INEC would have more than enough reasons why they couldn’t perform.

‘‘If the time for the constitutional elections, four years after was not obeyed by the government and the system, INEC will have a case. But we do not understand why this inefficiency and we have to move into details after the election to find out who’s responsible.’’

Noting that the electoral commission had all the time and resources it needed to conduct the polls, the President said there was no justification ‘‘to wait for only six hours to postpone the votes’’, in the early hours of February 16.

The President also used the occasion to warn all political actors to ensure an environment free from intimidation and violence for all eligible citizens to peacefully cast their ballot on the Election Day. The President announced that he has directed security agencies to contain any acts of lawlessness before, during and after the elections.

‘‘We are not going to be blamed of trying to rig the elections. I want Nigerians to be respected. Let them vote whoever they want across the parties. I am not afraid, I have gone to all 36 states and Abuja and I think I have enough support across the country,’’ he said.

President Buhari urged all APC supporters to vote peacefully in the upcoming elections.

‘‘We have so much to do and I think we should again go back to our loyal, committed people in all constituencies. If anything happens we have nobody to blame. We have to tell our constituencies that they have to be patient and act in a very responsible way by going peacefully to vote again, and they should depend on party representatives at each of the 176,000 polling units,’’ he said.