4 Ogun teenage cultists arrested in Lagos (Punch)
Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command in the Alakuko area of the state on Friday arrested four suspected cultists.
The suspects, it was gathered, came from Ogun State for reprisal attacks on rival cult members at Junior Secondary Schools, Akinyele, Alakuko.
The suspects are 18-year-old Tosin Balogun, m; 15-year-old Sunday Dare, m; 14-year-old Jubril Olayinka, m; and 15-year-old Sani Babatunde.
Spokesperson for the police in Lagos, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, said Balogun and Olayinka are students of Odewale Community High School Ijoko Ogun State. He added that Babatunde is a student of Tunik International School, Dalemo Alakuko; while Dare is a tailoring apprentice at Alakuko. Read more
Gang of robbers busted in Lagos Guest House (PMNews)
The Lagos State Police Command says its operatives have arrested a gang of armed robbers at Ojota area of the State.
According to command’s spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi the operatives of D9 (Anti Robbery) Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba on Saturday 17th April, 2021 arrested the suspects.
He said the police acted upon information received to arrest the suspects.
The suspects are: Victor Alfred, Chubike Ikeh Donatus and Isiaka Olamide, all 19 years of age, at Marble Guest House, No 33 Ajibike Street, Ogudu Ojota, at about 3.25m. Read more
Hoodlums hack Lagos guard to death, injure colleague (Punch)
A 38-year-old security guard, Saliu Dairi, has met his death at the hands of some hoodlums who attacked him and his colleague, one Isiaka Samba, on their duty post on Alimosho Road, Pako bus stop, Lagos.
Dairi reportedly died from machete cuts inflicted on him by the thugs while Samba sustained injuries to an eye.
City Round learnt that the guards stopped the hoodlums wielding cutlasses around 1am while they were passing through the area and demanded to know where they were heading for.
They reportedly got angry and descended on the guards, attacking them with cutlasses and sticks. Read more
Uber, Bolt drivers threaten strike on Monday (Guardian)
Some Uber and Bolt e-cab drivers in Lagos on Saturday asked the e-hailing companies to immediately increase fares being charged by the operators, failing which they would go off the roads on Monday.
The e-cab operators, under the aegis of Professional E-hailing Drivers and Private Owners Association (PEDPA), threatened to embark on the strike if their demands were not met.
Mr Idris Shonuga, National President of PEDPA, at a news conference in Lagos, called for immediate upward review of e-cab fares to reflect the current economic
reality in the country.
According to Shonuga, over 95 per cent of e-hailing transactions are consummated through Uber and Bolt platforms. Read more
NDDC forensic audit ends in July, says Akpabio (Nation)
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Senator Godswill Akpabio has set July ending for the conclusion of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akpabio, who spoke on the sideline of the inauguration of the commencement of the physical verification phase of the audit exercise at Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said the audit involves the internal reforms of the NDDC.
He said the 16 field auditors selected for the field audit would begin to identify and verify the projects across the Niger Delta region.
Akpabio wondered why some people would be peddling rumours the forensic audit had derailed. Read more
Troops kill 5 as bandits invade Benue community (Punch)
Troops of Operation Whirl Stroke on Saturday neutralized five armed bandits and injured some during an air raid of their hideouts on the border between Benue and Nasarawa states.
The armed bandits, according to local sources had in the early hours of Saturday attacked residents of Anune community on Naka Road in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State.
One of the local sources who identified himself as Tyonum said that the bandits stormed the community and shot some persons dead and injured others. Read more
I didn’t work against Jonathan’s reelection in 2015, Jang tackles Aliyu (Nation)
Former Plateau Governor Senator Jonah Jang has described the claim by former Niger Governor Babangida Aliyu that the then 19 northern Governors worked against the second term bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan as a blatant liar.
Jang said he was not part of the northern conspiracy against Jonathan’s reelection bid in 2015.
He said he supported Jonathan, knowing he was better equipped to govern Nigerian than President Muhammadu Buhari.
Jang, in a statement by his Media Consultant, Clinton Garuba, said: “The attention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State, Senator Dr. Jonah David Jang has just be drawn to a statement credited to the past governor of Niger State where he alleged that the then 19 states Northern governors met, deliberated and all decided not to support the re-election of the then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and wish to state categorically that Senator Dr. Jonah Jang was not part of that meeting. Read more
Enugu police arrest woman for allegedly killing her stepson (Guardian)
Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command attached to the 9th Mile Police Division have arrested one Mrs. Nnenna Egwuagu for allegedly murdering her stepson.
Command’s spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, said the 29-yr-old suspect, who hails from Umulumgbe in Udi Local Council of the state, “administered a noxious substance to her three-year-old stepson, Wisdom Egwuagu, thereby causing his sudden death.”
Ndukwe disclosed that Nnenna’s husband and father of the deceased, Justine Egwuagu, reported the incident to the Police, alleging, “the unusual actions of the suspect towards the child caused his death.” Read more
Voter apathy mars Rivers LG polls (Nation)
There was a low turnout of voters during Saturday’s local government area elections in Rivers.
Though the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not participate in the poll, other opposition candidates complained the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hijacked the process.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) distributed sensitive and non-sensitive material for the poll on Friday to allow for early commencement of the process on Saturday. Read more
COVID: More than 3m people have died of coronavirus (Aljazeera)
The global death toll from the coronavirus has topped a staggering three million, with cases more than 140 million, amid repeated setbacks in the vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France.
The number of lives lost as of Saturday, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of Kyiv (Ukraine), Caracas (Venezuela) or Lisbon (Portugal). It is higher than Chicago’s population of 2.7 million and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
And the true number is believed to be significantly higher because of possible government concealment and the many cases overlooked in the early stages of the outbreak that was first reported in Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019.
When, in January this year, the world passed the bleak threshold of two million deaths, immunisation drives had just started in Europe and the United States. Read more
Topless woman arrested outside Windsor Castle during Prince Philip’s funeral (Metro)
A topless woman has been arrested by police during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral. Several police officers were pictured taking her away from the scene outside Windsor Castle after wrapping her in a sheet. The woman ran onto the road shouting ‘save the planet’ after the crowd began clapping following a minute’s silence for Prince Philip. She jumped onto a statue of Queen Victoria before police officers removed her from the scene on Castle Hill. Police were later seen retrieving the woman’s clothes. Read more
NASA chooses SpaceX to build Moon lander (BBC)
NASA has chosen Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to build a lander that will return humans to the Moon this decade.
This vehicle will carry the next man and the first woman down to the lunar surface under the space agency’s Artemis programme.
Another goal of the programme will be to land the first person of colour on the Moon.
The lander is based on SpaceX’s Starship craft, which is being tested at a site in southern Texas. Read more
Prince Philip: Small funeral to bid farewell to Duke of Edinburgh (Aljazeera)
Queen Elizabeth II and close members of the royal family bid a final farewell to Prince Philip on Saturday at a funeral restricted by coronavirus rules.
The ceremony, from behind the stately walls of Windsor Castle, west of London, will be watched by millions on television, with the public urged to stay away because of the pandemic.
The Duke of Edinburgh – described by royals as “the grandfather of the nation” – died aged 99 on April 9, just weeks after spending more than a month in hospital for treatment of a heart condition and an infection.
Britain’s longest-serving royal consort was an almost constant presence at the queen’s side during her record-breaking reign that began in 1952, as Britain rebuilt from World War II and as its global empire began to unravel. Read more
Giant clam shells worth $25m seized in Philippines (BBC)
Around 200 tonnes of illegally harvested giant clam shells worth nearly $25 million (£18 million) have been seized in the Philippines.
The seizure is one of the largest ever hauls of the endangered species.
Four suspects have been arrested on an island in the ecologically protected province of Palawan.
Giant clams can grow larger than one metre across, and weigh up to 250kg. They are seen as vital to the local marine ecosystem. Read more
Mother continues daughter’s art after losing her to Beirut blast (Aljazeera)
A young woman’s artistic dreams cut short by the 2020 Lebanon explosion is being carried further by her mother.
In early 2020, Lebanese-Armenian designer Gaia Fodoulian was busy planning the launch of her new virtual gallery. The 29-year-old sought to support the region’s artists and designers with a further-reaching, modern platform.
On August 4, 2020, her dreams were cut short by the massive explosion that rocked Beirut, devastating entire neighbourhoods, and destroying countless lives. Fodoulian was one of the 208 people killed in the blast that day.
Three days after she passed away, her mother, Annie Vartivarian, decided to complete her daughter’s work in her memory. Earlier this month, the virtual platform Art Design Lebanon (AD Leb) launched “Everyone is the creator of one’s own faith”, a physical pop-up exhibition at the blast-damaged historic Tabbal Building. Read more
Emilia Clarke says ‘godspeed’ to those making “Game of Thrones” prequels (Metro)
Emilia Clarke has extended her best wishes to those working on the upcoming Game of Thrones prequels. The actress, 34, starred in the original show as Daenerys Targaryen and reached global stardom as the Mother of Dragons. Now, Emilia has opened up about how she feels about the next HBO instalments, saying she always saw it coming – and quoted Mean Girls while she was at it. A prequel, House of the Dragon, is in production at HBO, while a series adaptation of George RR Martin’s novellas Tales of Dunk and Egg are also in the works. Read morel
Lewis Hamilton beats Sergio Perez to Imola pole (BBC)
Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of Sergio Perez in a thrilling Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying session.
Briton Hamilton was just 0.035 seconds clear in the Mercedes as Mexican Perez, in only his second race for Red Bull, beat team-mate Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc put the Ferrari fourth, while Valtteri Bottas was only eighth in the second Mercedes.
McLaren’s Lando Norris had his fastest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and fell from second to seventh.
It was a bitter blow for the Englishman, who had looked fast all session and appeared to have a chance of qualifying among the Mercedes and Red Bulls. Read more
Arsenal set ‘realistic’ date for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s return (Metro)
Arsenal are confident club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could return to full fitness in time to face Everton after the striker contracted malaria while on international duty with Gabon last month. Aubameyang, 31, received treatment in hospital earlier this week and was not considered for selection on Thursday night as the Gunners booked their place in the Europa League semi-finals in emphatic fashion with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Slavia Prague. Mikel Arteta confirmed after the win that Aubameyang had been released from hospital and there had been hopes the forward could play a part on Sunday when Arsenal play host to Fulham in the Premier League. Read more
Klopp admits Liverpool under pressure in top four race (Guardian)
Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool are under pressure as they try to salvage a troubled season by finishing in the Premier League’s top four.
Klopp’s side have failed to defend the Premier League title they won last term and were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid on Wednesday.
That quarter-final exit means Liverpool’s only route back into Europe’s elite club competition next season is via a top-four finish in the league.
The sixth-placed Reds have been outside the top four since early February and they slipped as low as eighth before winning their last three leagues games to get back in the race.
Fourth-placed West Ham’s 3-2 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday was a major boost to Liverpool’s hopes. Read more
Newcastle beat West Ham with late winner (BBC)
Newcastle took a big step towards securing their Premier League status with a dramatic win against 10-man West Ham.
Issa Diop’s own goal and a Joelinton tap-in had put the hosts in a commanding position at the break.
However, West Ham, who had Craig Dawson sent off for two first-half bookings, drew level from a Diop header and a Jesse Lingard penalty that was awarded after a VAR review.
But with the visitors seemingly on top, Newcastle had the final say, substitute Joe Willock heading an important winning goal that lifts Steve Bruce’s side up to 15th in the table, with a nine-point cushion to the bottom three. Read more
Jorginho admits feeling underappreciated at Chelsea but is enjoying life at Stamford Bridge (Metro)
Jorginho admits that he has felt underappreciated and overly-criticised during his time at Chelsea, but insists it only fuels him to play better and he is enjoying his time at the club. The Italy international has been an integral part of the Blues team since arriving from Napoli in 2018, already racking up 130 appearances for the club. He was signed by Maurizio Sarri and has since been managed by Frank Lampard and now Thomas Tuchel, all of whom have seen him as a big part of their plans. However, despite his fine displays, he was used as something of a scapegoat during Sarri’s reign and has never fully clicked with fans and pundits alike. Read more
NBA: Joel Embiid makes Philadelphia 76ers history in win over LA Clippers (BBC)
Joel Embiid scored 36 points and added 14 rebounds as his Philadelphia 76ers side defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 106-103.
The 76ers extended their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference while defeat ended the Clippers’ seven-game winning streak.
Embiid became the first 76ers player since 2006 to score more than 35 points in three consecutive games.”I think he’s clearly the MVP this season,” said team-mate Ben Simmons. Read more