Alleged Cybercrime: EFCC arraigns 13 Chinese nationals, 1 company (Channels)
Almost two months after it announced the landmark arrest of 193 foreigners and 599 Nigerians, in one fell swoop for offences bordering on Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud and Romance Scam, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun the prosecution of some of those arrested.
At the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Friday, the Commission arraigned 13 Chinese nationals and a company, Genting International Co. Limited, before Justice Deinde Dipeolu.
Channels Television gathered that another set of foreigners will be arraigned before other judges of the court on Monday. Read more
Stop inciting Nigerians against Tinubu, Ohanaeze tells Amaechi (Sun)
The Apex Igbo Sociocultural Organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has responded to what it termed alarming and incendiary remarks recently made by Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the former Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transport against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to Ohanaeze in a statement issued by the Deputy President General,
Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, “in a discourse at an opposition leaders’ conference in Abuja, Amaechi’s outrageous call for Nigerians to resort to “brutal force” in an attempt to snatch power from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by 2027 starkly contravene the principles of civility, democracy, and peace that we hold dear.
“Amaechi’s equally disconcerting assertion that politicians must be willing to “steal, maim, and kill” to retain power not only diminishes the dignity of our political discourse but also poses a dire threat to the very fabric of our society”. Read more
NUJ hails Sani for remitting N548m to Kaduna teachers’ union (Guardian)
Kaduna State governor Uba Sani
The Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists(NUJ) has commended Governor Uba Sani for remitting N548 million to the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Endwell fund scheme following the resolution of the dispute that had lingered since 2021.
The union which made this known in a communique after its monthly congress, also praised the governor for being media-friendly ”taking into cognizance the impressive number of journalists appointed in his cabinet since he assumed office in 2023.”
The communique was signed by the quartet of the communique drafting committee chairman Ango Bally, secretary Emmanuel Austine Agbo, and Maryam Ahmadu Suka, a member of the committee, as well as the secretary of the Council, Gambo Santos Sanga. Read more
We are cooperating with police over pupil’s death – Lagos school (Punch)
The management of Smiley Kids Montessori School in the Sangotedo area of Lagos State has said it is cooperating fully with the police and government authorities to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation into the death of one of its pupils, Raphaella Ogbodo.
PUNCH Metro reports that a woman, identified simply as Ella, called for justice following the death of her daughter, Raphaella, in a swimming pool during school hours.
She explained that her daughter left for school on Wednesday, January 15, but did not return alive.
In response to the incident, the Lagos State Government ordered the closure of the school to allow for a thorough investigation and to identify potential lapses that led to the unfortunate death. Read more
Allied Air plane crashed while on CBN duty – NSIB (DailyTrust)
The Allied Air Boeing 737-400 Freighter that crash-landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on December 11, 2024, was scheduled to collect cargo for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria’s Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has said.
“On 11 December 2024, a Boeing 737-400F aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-JRT, operated by Allied Air Limited was on a positioning flight to pick up cargo for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),” the bureau in a preliminary report released on Saturday, about two months after it commenced an investigation into the incident.
The report said the aircraft took off from Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 09:11 and began its descent into Abuja at 09:44. Read more
4 killed as Anambra task force vehicle rams into tipper (Vanguard)
At least six operatives of the Special Anti-Touting Squad of Anambra State (SASA), popularly known as Ndi Aka Odo, were killed on Friday after their vehicle collided with a tipper truck fully loaded with sand in Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The accident occurred along the Onitsha-Owerri expressway when the anti-tout squad’s vehicle rammed into the tipper, leaving several operatives dead on the spot, while others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
According to eyewitnesses, the crash occurred as the squad’s vehicle, a branded Toyota Hiace bus, was speeding out of a junction while conducting their daily stop-and-search operation. The bus collided with the tipper, which was coming out of another junction on the road. Read more
Girls Empowerment: Nigeria to unveil education project (VON)
The Nigerian government will soon unveil a new initiative tagged “LUMINA” that would specifically address the enrolment of out-of-school girls and their skills acquisition, especially in hard-to-reach areas, as well as empower their mothers.
The Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad stated this in Abuja, Nigeria during the re-launch of the “Madubi” project with the theme: “Empowering Girls, Transforming Communities,” under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE)
She said the new initiative like the AGILE project is to ensure that girls, in whatever location, are educated and given skills to enable them realize their dreams in life. Read more
I didn’t abduct my own daughter, I only enforced court judgement, Bauchi Commissioner replies ex-wife (Independent)
The Bauchi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki has debunked the allegation by his ex-wife, Iklima Manu Soro, that he abducted his daughter, Zainab, describing it as baseless, unfounded and very unfortunate.
Reacting to the petition submitted at the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nuhu Zaki, wondered how a father could abduct his own biological child which the constitution and religion has given him a legal right over her.
The Commissioner stated that him and Zainab’s mother parted ways peacefully over some differences he had with her family, pointing out that the marriage failed and they had to go their separate ways. Read more
NASA astronaut reveals horrifying effects of being stranded in space for 8 months (Unload)
An astronaut who has been trapped in space for several months has revealed the toll it’s taken on her body.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and her crew mate, Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, set off from Earth in June 2024 and were only supposed to spend eight days in space.
But their mission has since been drastically prolonged after technical issues with their Boeing capsule meant that they could not return home as planned. Read more
183 Palestinian prisoners released under ceasefire agreement (GulfTimes)
Israeli occupation authorities released 183 Palestinian prisoners today as part of the fourth tranche in the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal with The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
According to a Qatar News Agency (QNA) correspondent, buses carrying the freed detainees left Ofer Prison, southwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, heading toward Beitunia town, which was raided by Israeli forces prior to the prisoners’ release. Crowds of families and supporters gathered to welcome the prisoners. Meanwhile, Gazan prisoners were transported to Kerem Abu Salem crossing, where they were received by the Red Cross before being transferred into the Strip.
The release comes after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza earlier today. The released hostages – Ofer Calderon, Yarden Bibas, and Keith Shmounsel Siegel (who also holds US citizenship) – were then handed to Israeli authorities. Read more
Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say (CNBC)
Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
Since taking office 11 days ago, President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner tasked by Trump to slash the size of the 2.2 million-strong civilian government workforce, has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management. Read more
‘I knew I was good at Excel’ – World champion finalist (BBC)
An IT professional who thought he was “good at Excel” can now prove it after he reached the final of a global competition.
Harry Watson, 25, is usually a senior systems analyst in Sudbury, Suffolk, but in December he went to Las Vegas to compete at the World Excel Championships.
He was introduced to the concept of competitive spreadsheet events by his friend a couple of years back and “it turned out I was pretty good”, he told the BBC. Read more
Barclays customers ‘still unable to make payments’ as mass bank outage continues (Standard)
A major IT glitch is still affecting Barclays customers, with some locked out of their accounts throughout the night and almost 24 hours on from the bank’s initial outage.
On Friday, the bank apologised to customers, saying they were “currently facing intermittent errors” with their payment system.
We’re working to fix this as quickly as possible,” they added. Read more
TV chef Rick Stein says he feels “a bit sorry” for Gregg Wallace (RTE)
TV chef Rick Stein has said he feels “a bit sorry” for TV presenter Gregg Wallace after he stepped away from hosting MasterChef following a host of misconduct complaints.
The 78-year-old said he felt what happened to Wallace, who has stepped back from the hit BBC One cooking show as production company Banijay UK investigates claims of alleged misconduct, was “unfortunate”.
Stein added it would “affect me terribly” if he found himself in a similar situation, before clarifying he had not “got any skeletons in a cupboard”. Read more
Linda Nolan laid to rest in sparkling pink coffin as sister Coleen and Shane Richie among mourners (Independent)
Singer and actor Linda Nolan has been laid to rest in her beloved Blackpool, after being brought to her funeral service in a pink sparkly coffin.
Family members, friends and fans of the Dublin-born star gathered at St Paul’s Church – where she also married her husband, Brian Hudson – as she was remembered in a series of eulogies.
Among the guests were EastEnders actor Shane Richie and Paul Elliott, the comedian best known as Paul Chuckle, with whom Nolan had performed with in pantomimes and at charity functions.Read more
Remo Stars tipped against Sunshine Stars as Amuneke, Finidi face-off in Owerri (Nation)
Remo Stars will hope to extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points even before nearest rivals, Shooting Stars and Rivers United take to the pitch tomorrow with an away tie against Sunshine Stars today as the Nigeria Premier Football League Matchday 22 fixtures get underway this weekend.
Remo Stars are dictating the pace of the season with 42 points from 21 games and they will face Sunshine Stars who though are technically at home in the tie have been forced to play the game in Ikenne, the home ground of Remo Stars.
The Owena Whales are 15th on the log with 24 points and are in dire need of a win to move further away from the drop zone but the Sky Blue Stars have found it difficult to lose on their home ground though they are the visitors this term. Read more
Wood on the hat-trick trail as Forest bombard Brighton (RTE)
Chris Wood’s magnificent vein of form continued as his hat-trick helped Nottingham Forest to their biggest top flight win in 34 years with a brutal 7-0 thrashing of Brighton at the City Ground.
Nuno Espirito Santo was looking for a response following their 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth last week and his side responded in style.
Brighton simply could not deal with Morgan Gibbs-White, who was at the heart of Forest’s stylish first-half showing as he forced Lewis Dunk into putting in his own net before scoring one of his own to put the hosts in a commanding position. Read more
Aston Villa in talks for stunning move after Rashford as pieces in place to land 18 G/A PSG star (Football365)
Aston Villa could quickly land two star attackers one after the other, with a move for a Paris Saint-Germain star on track, along with Marcus Rashford closing in on a move to the Villans.
Villa have come out of nowhere to almost land Rashford. On Friday, reports suggested Barcelona were in the driving seat, but when talks hit a bump, Unai Emery’s side burst to the front of the queue.
The latest reports, from a number of insiders, state that Manchester United forward Rashford is nearing Villa Park, with the Midlands outfit ‘‘close to agreeing’’ a deal to land him, initially on loan. Read more
6 more tennis players banned for links to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium (WashingtonTimes)
Six more current or former tennis players linked to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium were given suspensions of varying lengths – one was barred for 15 years – and fined, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Friday.
That brings the total to about 30 players punished for their connections to the syndicate run by Grigor Sargsyan, who was previously given a five-year custodial sentence.
The player who received the longest ban in Friday’s announcement, 34-year-old Agustin Moyano of Argentina, was suspended for 15 years and fined $10,000 after denying the charges and requesting a full hearing. Moyano was ranked a career best 1,343 in 2015. Read more
Luke Littler crowd slammed as darts referee issues clear demand at World Masters (Express)
A darts referee had to step in during the World Masters after reigning world champion Luke Littler was targeted by disruptive whistlers. The 18-year-old faced Belgian qualifier Andy Baetens in Milton Keynes on Friday, swiftly defeating him 3-0 in a mere 10 minutes and 45 seconds, setting up a second-round clash with James Wade.
Despite an impressive average of 104.33 and completing six of his nine checkouts for a three-set whitewash, The Nuke had to deal with a hostile audience throughout the game. The situation escalated until referee Kirk Bevins was compelled to address the crowd, firmly stating: “Stop whistling, thank you.”
ITV commentator John Rawling slammed members of the crowd who were whistling, asking incredulously: “What sort of a moron comes along to a big darts event and starts whistling?”
Unperturbed by the disturbance, Littler advanced smoothly and is set to face Wade on Saturday.
Patrick Mahomes’ College GPA Is Going Viral Ahead Of Super Bowl 59 (TheSpun)
Before Patrick Mahomes became an all-time great quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, he was lighting up the boxscore for Texas Tech.
In his first full season as the starting quarterback for Texas Tech, Mahomes completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 4,653 yards with 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. The very next season, he threw for 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns while cutting down on turnovers. Some NFL teams viewed him as a prospect, but the Chiefs viewed him as their future. Suffice to say, they were right. From a physical standpoint, NFL scouts loved Mahomes. There were some concerns about his ability to handle a pro-style playbook though since he came from the “Air Raid” offense. Read moredanivert (Sun)