Abba Kyari’s brother received N279m from Hushpuppi, others – Police report (Punch)
Police investigations have revealed how members of a syndicate led by international scammer, Ramon Abass, popularly known as Hushpuppi paid N235, 120, 000 to a younger brother of a former Commander, Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari
The probe also indicates that Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, equally funnelled N44m to his brother’s bank account in multiple transactions.
However, the investigation report obtained by our correspondent on Monday, failed to disclose whether Kyari’s brother was acting as a proxy for his embattled elder brother who is currently in custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Read more
Lagos bus driver self-immolates over seized vehicle (Sun)
There was pandemonium in the Ajao Estate area of Lagos when a bus driver set himself ablaze to prevent officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) from seizing his vehicle.
The driver was arrested for alleged traffic offences and the traffic officers were about to take the vehicle away when the driver poured fuel on his body and set himself ablaze.
It was gathered that while the man was burning in the fire, other drivers, conductors and other sympathisers, including street urchins started throwing pebbles and other dangerous weapons at the traffic officers while others were trying to put out the fire on the burning man.
A witness, John Opalaudu, said there was heavy fighting between drivers and LASTMA officials which caused heavy traffic and pandemonium as motorists abandoned their vehicles while commuters scampered for safety.
America-trained surgeon gets 27 years imprisonment for N35m fraud (Guardian)
Justice Abdulazeez Anka of a Federal High Court, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced an America-trained surgeon, John Adindu Nweke, to 27 years imprisonment without an option of fine.
He was sentenced, after the court found him guilty of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence, the charge brought against him by the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Nweke, who also claimed to be one Senator Haruna Baba Musa, a senator from Sokoto State, was convicted and given jail terms.
The police had on October 8, 2016, brought Nweke alongside Igwe Stephen (now deceased) and Kelechi Chetachi Emenike (a cart pusher) to court on a five-count charge of conspiracy, money laundering, false representation and obtaining high-class phones valued N35 million from an online sales outlet, Konga.
Among the phones fraudulently received from Konga Online Shopping Limited include nine Samsung phones; two blackberry phones; five iPhones; three Sunny Xperia phones and two cameras. Read more
Assembly lauds Sanwo-Olu over rail projects (Punch)
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his efforts to complete the state’s rail projects.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, usein a statement on Tuesday, lauded the efforts of the governor towards tackling gridlocks in the state.
He said, “The governor deserves commendation and I am optimistic that the rail projects will be completed by this administration. Traffic has become something else and people always complain. These projects are, thus, aimed at relieving people of the harrowing experiences they face on the roads.
“The Opebi-Ojota bridge project which is to be embarked upon by the government is also important because this is what our people deserve and we are encouraging the governor to do more, particularly on this rail line issue. We have been on this matter since the Jakande era. We wish the governor becomes the ‘lucky boy’ pûthat will see to the completion of the rail projects.” Read more
LASG pays over N1b to 222 retirees’ RSA, promises to clear backlog of pensions (ThisDay)
The Director-General of Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), Mr. Babalola Obilana has said that the Lagos State Government has paid the sum of N1.04 billion to its retired workers.
Obinala, who disclosed this at the 91st Batch Retirement Bond Certificate presentation Ceremony held in Lagos revealed that the state has cleared its pension contributions of 2018 – 2020 retirees under the contributory pension scheme.
He assured the retirees that their contributions have been paid into their RSA.
According to him, “despite the numerous local and global challenges, the state government has made continuous monthly payments a priority to ensure retirees access their retirement benefits as soon as possible. Read more
WASSCE: Nigerian office fingers states, private schools in registration delays (Nation)
Nigeria’s National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said less than 300,000 Senior Secondary 3 (SS3) pupils have registered for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) 2022 for school candidates, even though the deadline is about a week away.
Addressing reporters to announce the release of the WASSCE for Private Candidates 2021 First Series on Monday, WAEC’s Head of National Office (HNO), Dr. Patrick Areghan, faulted schools for failing to register their candidates on time for the examination scheduled to hold in May/June.
He said the Council had to extend the deadline from February 12 to February 25, adding that despite the nearness of the deadline, less than a quarter of potential candidates had been registered.
Nigeria presents the largest number of candidates for the examination yearly (average of 1.5 million) among West African member-countries. Read more
Nigeria may likely come to an end if PDP loses in 2023, says Sule Lamido (Tribune)
Former Jigawa State governor and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, has warned that Nigeria may likely come to an end if the PDP fails to take over power during 2023 elections.
He said this when he led a delegation of former governors, Sule Lamido of Jigawa to show solidarity with the party’s National Working Committee led by former Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The former Jigawa State governor said: “We are here to formally show solidarity with your leadership and give the message to Nigerians that PDP is a single family under your leadership and that PDP is the only hope for Nigeria in 2023. We are here to support you and the party.
“We are also here to minimise acrimonious discussion in terms of power allocation; we need the party first before the power. If the party is not properly organised, power will elude us. In 2023, if we lose power, Nigeria may likely come to an end. Read more
FCT Polls: Sign electoral bill now, CSO urge Buhari (Leadership)
Civil Society Organisation, Yiaga Africa, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Giving a report on the just conducted local government election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that took place on Saturday, the executive director Yiaga Africa Samson Itodo and BOT member Ezenwa Nwagwu, said Buhari must sign the electoral act if he wants the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve the electoral integrity.
“Yiaga Africa calls on the President to, without further delay, give assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2022.
“INEC should urgently undertake an audit of the BVAS and ensure all the technological glitches with the devices are resolved, ahead of Ekiti and Osun 2022 off-cycle gubernatorial elections to prevent possible disenfranchisement of voters, but also inspire public confidence in electoral technologies being deployed INEC for elections,” Yiaga Africa said at a press conference in Abuja. Read more
MTN Foundation invests N380m to empower theatre production(Leadership)
The executive secretary, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya said the foundation has invested over N380 million in theatre production, and over 3,000 creatives and skilled professionals have benefitted from its partnership and support for theatre productions.
Through its Youth Development initiative, the foundation has supported several projects including theatre productions, festivals, and visual arts exhibitions that highlight the rich heritage of our Nigerian and African culture.
Over 15 theatre productions in Nigeria have benefitted from MTN’s support, and these productions have been held in some of the most famous stages in Nigeria and abroad. Some of these plays have been shown in different countries including; the United Kingdom and South Africa.
In the past, the Foundation has supported some of the country’s most critically acclaimed stage productions such as, Tony Wants to Marry, Ibiom – When Doves Fly, Moremi, Fela, Death and the King’s Horseman; OMG the Musical and Flower, a virtual show, Ufok Ibaan and Osamede the Play. Read more
Robert Pattinson started filming ‘The Batman’ without a set Batman voice (Variety)
Robert Pattinson revealed during a recent “The Batman” post-screening Q&A (via Insider) that nailing his Caped Crusader voice “was a lot of trial and error.” The actor had “seven or eight months” prior to production to “experiment with a lot of different things” for his Batman voice, but he began filming the Matt Reeves-directed comic book tentpole without committing to a final vocal sound.
“I think the first two or three weeks, we were kind of doing a variety of different voices, because there’s only a couple of lines in the first few scenes we shot,” Pattinson said. “Me and Matt just sort of settled on something. It started to sit in a very particular place and it kind of felt like a progression from other kinds of Bat voices and felt kind of somewhat comfortable to do as well.”
“I have to say that one of the amazing — many amazing — things about Rob is he has such incredible technical control of himself, of his instrument,” Reeves said of Pattinson’s voice. “He could do things with his voice, it was a crazy thing. I was like going, ‘Oh, you can go lower.’ And then he would. I was like, ‘That’s amazing.’”
“He went through this process of searching for where it felt like that voice should sit,” Reeves continued. “He has an incredible ear for mimicry and accents. He can pick up anyone’s accent. There’s no dialect coach.” Read more
Netflix unveils new look at Umbrella Academy (DigitalSpy)
Netflix has unveiled a new look at The Umbrella Academy season 3.
The show’s official Instagram account shared a series of photos of the Umbrella Academy members from behind, holding their umbrellas.
The post was simply captioned: “take cover,” along with a bird emoji. The background of the images also shows the shadows of birds, which we can only assume are sparrows.
Season three of The Umbrella Academy is due out this year but Netflix is yet to confirm the exact release date. Read more
ViacomCBS renamed Paramount in a nod to its past and streaming future (LATimes)
ViacomCBS has renamed itself Paramount in a nod to the company’s historic moviemaking past — and its streaming future.
Chairwoman Shari Redstone announced the name change Tuesday during a virtual investor day to share the company’s strategy and upcoming programming.
The New York-based media conglomerate is placing a huge bet on streaming with its year-old Paramount+ service, which added 7.3 million subscribers during the fourth quarter. Paramount+ now has 32.8 million subscribers and is projected to grow to 100 million subscribers worldwide by 2024.
The rebranding comes two years after Redstone formed ViacomCBS by reuniting her late father’s Viacom media company with legendary broadcasting company CBS. Since then, executives have worked to integrate operations and sell CBS assets, including the Simon & Schuster book publishing house, CBS’ iconic Manhattan skyscraper and historic CBS Radford television lot in Studio City, to help finance streaming operations. Read more
Prince Andrew settles US civil sex assault case with Virginia Giuffre (BBC)
Prince Andrew has settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre.
Ms Giuffre had been suing the Duke of York, claiming he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17, allegations he has repeatedly denied.
A letter filed to the US district court on Tuesday said the duke and Ms Giuffre had reached an out-of-court settlement.
It said the duke – who makes no admission of liability – would pay an undisclosed sum to Ms Giuffre. Read more
Kanye West says he ‘takes accountability’ for sharing messages to Kim Kardashian (Independent)
Kanye West has returned to Instagram to say he “takes accountability” for his actions towards his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
On 14 February, West posted a number of screenshots of messages he had sent to Kardashian including one where she says “someone will hurt Pete [Davidson] and it will be all your fault.”
After being criticised by fans on social media and called “scary” by Kardashian, West deleted all of his prior posts before creating a new one which read: “I’ve learned that using all caps makes people feel like I’m screaming at them. I’m working on my communication.”
The rapper and fashion designer also acknowledged his behaviour towards his estranged wife: “I know sharing screenshots was jarring and came off as harassing Kim. I take accountability. I’m still learning in real time.” Read more
New Downton Abbey film trailer sees Dowager Countess and family escape to France amid mystery (Metro)
A newly-released trailer for the upcoming Downton Abbey film hints heavily at a yet-to-be-revealed mystery in the Dowager Countess’s past.
Downton Abbey: A New Era, sees the aristocratic family head to France, where Dame Maggie Smith’s character has been left a villa in the south of the country as a gift.
Dame Maggie, along with other key characters and fan favorites, make the trek to France in the new film.
Partly for a holiday, partly to escape the film crew which has been set up in their home, and partly to find out who exactly left a villa to the countess – and who he was to her. Read more
Trey Songz accused of anal rape in new $20 million lawsuit (TMZ)
Trey Songz allegedly anally raped a woman at a house party … this according to a new $20 million lawsuit.
The singer is being sued by a Jane Doe who says she had a consensual sexual relationship with Trey before the alleged rape on March 24, 2016 … when she claims he suddenly turned into a “savage rapist.”
According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the woman claims Trey invited her to a house party in L.A., where he invited her upstairs for what she believed would be consensual sex.
Instead, she claims Trey repeatedly asked her if he could “get that a**” on the way upstairs … to which she says she repeatedly told him “no” and to stop asking. Read more
AWCON: Oshoala, Plumptre land in Falcons camp (Punch)
Super Falcons captain Asisat Oshoala and Leicester City defender Ashleigh Plumptre on Tuesday arrived the women’s national team camp in Abuja, ahead of Friday’s 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations final qualifying clash against the Lady Elephants of Ivory Coast at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The second leg comes up at the Stade Robert Champroux in Abidjan February.
The duo’s arrival increased the number of players in camp to 25.
Already in camp are Atletico Madrid striker Rasheedat Ajibade, Toni Payne , Rita Chikwelu, Ifeoma Onumonu, Michelle Alozie, Ngozi Okobi, Tochi Oluehi, Chiamaka Nnadozie, Onome Ebi, Esther Okoronkwo, Yetunde Aluko and Peace Effih. Read more
‘Unstoppable’ Mbappe underlines value to PSG and leaves Messi in shade (France24)
Kylian Mbappe’s importance to Paris Saint-Germain was all too evident long before his stoppage-time strike gave them a narrow win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League showdown on Tuesday and left them on course for a place in the quarter-finals.
It is understood that PSG rejected an offer worth up to 180 million euros ($204m) from Real in August for Mbappe, despite the France World Cup-winning striker being in the final year of his contract.
They wanted at least one more season with Mbappe at the Parc des Princes knowing that, even with Lionel Messi and Neymar there too, he is the man they need if they are to win a first Champions League title since the Qatari takeover of 2011.
Mbappe is still expected to leave at the end of the campaign for Real, the club who have tracked him since he was a teenager but who are now in danger of going out of the Champions League after his last-gasp winner. Read more
Cristiano Ronaldo’s message to Man Utd teammates after ending goal drought in Brighton win (Mirror)
Cristiano Ronaldo has made it clear to Manchester United that they must never give up after their much-needed 2-0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Red Devils boosted their chances of a top-four finish in the Premier League largely thanks to Ronaldo, who ended his six-game goal drought by scoring the opener in style.
And post-match, Ronaldo – now having netted against 168 different clubs or countries – had a message for his teammates after they had failed to record a victory in their three previous games.
The superstar tweeted : “Back on track! Nobody gives up and there’s only one way to get back on track: hard work, team work, serious work. Read more
Manchester City decimate Sporting in ruthless Champions League last 16 display (Metro)
Manchester City ended their Champions League last 16 tie with Sporting as a contest by battering the home side 5-0 in Lisbon on Tuesday night in the first leg.
Pep Guardiola’s side were clear favourites for the match and they displayed an incredible level of complete superiority over their hosts.
Sporting tailed off a little in the second half, but did little wrong in the first despite already being four goals down, such was the superb performance of the visitors.
The home side would have planned to keep it tight early on against the Premier League champions, but that ploy was quickly out of the window when Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring after just seven minutes. Read more
Patrick Cantlay questions PGA Tour’s ‘incentivizing’ of social media self-promotion through $50M Player Impact Program (ESPN)
Defending FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay isn’t a fan of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program, which awards $50 million to players for their appeal and popularity on social media.
Cantlay, the No. 3 player in the world, said he would rather see the money go to players for their performance on the course. Only the top 10 players in the PIP standings are rewarded.
“I think I’m old-school in the respect that I would like the money to be doled out relative to play and I don’t think the PIP does that,” Cantlay said during a news conference at Riviera Country Club on Tuesday. “It may be the first departure that the tour has had from rewarding good play to rewarding social media or popularity, so I don’t like that departure.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said at last season’s Tour Championship at East Lake that the organization wouldn’t disclose the winners publicly. Read more
Oscar Rivas vs. Evgeny Romanov agreement reached, purse bid avoided (BoxingScene)
Today’s scheduled World Boxing Council (WBC) purse bid has been avoided as Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) announces an agreement has been reached with Titov Promotions, which promotes undefeated mandatory challenger Evgeny Romanov (16-0, 11 KOs), of Russia, for WBC Bridgerweight World Champion Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas’ first title defense.
Under this agreement, GYM obtained the rights to promote Rivas’ first WBC defense. “We are very happy with this outcome,” GYM President Yvon Michel said. “I would like to thank Mr. Alex Titov for his co-operation. We intend to hold this world championship in June, in Montreal or possibly in Colombia, where discussions are currently taking place. It was important for us that Oscar defends his crown in a familiar environment.”
Trained by Marc Ramsey, Rivas captured the WBC World title last October 22, winning a unanimous decision over Ryan Rozicki (13-1, 13 KOs) at the Olympia in Montreal.
Colombia-native Rivas, who represented his country at the 2008 Olympics, became the first WBC World Champion in the history of the Bridgerweight Division. Romanov, for his part, became the mandatory contender by virtue of his 12-round dominance over compatriot Dmitry Kudryashov (24-5, 23 KOs) last May in Khimki, Russia. Romanov had an excellent amateur career, even registering a knockout victory over Deontay Wilder, the future WBC World Heavyweight Champion, in an international tournament. Read more
Kubica on modern F1 cars: ‘Push the limit too much, you’ll fly off’ (PlanetF1)
Robert Kubica has weighed up the evolution of F1 cars from the start of his career to present; noticing a huge change in how the car behaves.
Kubica entered the paddock in 2006, and has stuck around despite his life changing accident in 2011 whereby his right forearm was partially severed.
In 2019, he raced as one of the Williams drivers, but now is a reserve driver for Alfa Romeo – and stood in for Kimi Raikkonen at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix in 2021.
Talking to Auto Motor und Sport, he said: “There are four main aspects to compare. The first is weight. Today’s cars are significantly heavier. The second is the drive unit. It’s a complex system instead of a simple V8. The third is the tires. Read more