Awaiting trial inmate’s mother laments son’s six-year incarceration (Punch)
An inmate of the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Chidozie Ajokugi, has been languishing in the facility without trial for six years.
His mother, Modupe, who disclosed this to PUNCH Metro, said efforts by the family to get the authorities to act on the matter had proved abortive even after the complainant absolved him of blame in the matter that brought him to the centre.
It was learnt that Chidozie went to charge his laptop in his friend landlord’s apartment at the Abati area of Lagos sometime in 2014, and while waiting for the device to be fully charged, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad stormed the house and arrested him and others, claiming that they were suspects in the case of a stolen car. Read more
Sanwo-Olu urged to avert post COVID-19 food crisis (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has been urged to pay more attention to agriculture to avert food crisis in the State after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Bama Farms Limited, Prince Wale Oyekoya, who gave the call in a letter to the Governor, said there have been so much fraud and deceit with the way farming have been portrayed by government as if everything is okay.
“The truth need to be told that Lagos State is not ready to feed the rising population of 25 million people in the state. There is food crisis in the state. Read more
LAWMA contractor seeks prompt payment of sweepers’ salaries (Punch)
A contractor with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority has asked the Lagos State Government to pay street sweepers’ salaries as and when due.
The contractor, who did not want to be identified, said he sometimes paid his workers before receiving money from the government for their salaries.
He wondered how another contractor, Wuraola Williams, aka Iron Lady, allegedly controlled 66 of the 600 routes in the state, when there were 650 government contractors. Read more
PZ Cussons supports LASG on hand hygiene (Vanguard)
In a move to support the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos, PZ Cussons Foundation recently donated soaps to the Lagos State Ministry of Health towards encouraging handwashing among Lagosians.
The Foundation had previously donated soaps to over 40,000 people in six major cities across Nigeria in collaboration with the Foundation for Refugee Economic Empowerment (FREE), a UK and Nigerian Charity that aims to provide high quality, timely, accountable, and inclusive humanitarian assistance to displaced persons towards enabling them to return to normal and sustainable productive lives. Read more
Church loses eight pastors, over 8000 members to Boko Haram insurgency (Guardian)
The Ekklesiyar Yan’uwaa Nigeria (EYN), also known as Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, has said it lost more than 8,370 members, including eight pastors, to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
EYN President, Joel Billi, who gave the statistics yesterday at a world news conference organised by the Dominion in Yola, Adamawa State, said 25,000 members of the church were currently taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroun, while more than 700,000 were in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. Read more
Chinese couple lock up eight Nigerian employees for four months (Punch)
The police have arrested a Chinese couple in Abuja for allegedly locking up their Nigerians employees in their apartment for the past four months.
Eight domestic workers were rescued by the personnel of the Utako Divisional Police Station on Tuesday following a tip-off by a resident, who reported the incident to the Human Rights radio station.
The police raided the residence of the Chinese in the Jabi area of Abuja and took the unidentified couple and their domestic employees to the station.
In footage provided by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, the victims said they had been locked up in the apartment since February. Read more
Akwa Ibom people don’t patronise our manufactured goods, governor’s Aide laments (Vanguard)
The Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Akwa Ibom State Mr. Ukpong Akpabio has lamented the lack of patronage of products and goods manufactured in the state by the citizens.
Akpabio decried a situation where Akwa Ibom citizens would prefer to go to neighbouring States such as Aba in Abia state, and Cross River State to buy Flour and plastic products whereas those items are now being manufactured in the state.
Akpabio who spoke Thursday in Uyo while fielding questions from newsmen on the ongoing expansion of the ‘Dakkada Cottage Industries’ which comprises the toothpick, the pencil and plastic factories, said government has decided to launch an initiative during the 2020 State’s anniversary that would help encourage the people to start patronizing their own things. Read more
Obaseki’s wife tasks politicians on nation building (Guardian)
Wife of Edo State Governor, Betsy Obaseki, has urged politicians to forget personal gains and think of the common good. Mrs. Obaseki made the disclosure when the Deputy National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hadizat Umoru, and the State Woman Leader, Lindsay Tes-Sorae, visited her at the Government House, Benin City.
Noting that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s passion for the development of the state earned him a place in the hearts of many, she urged every politician to work towards development and progress. She maintained that such passion should transcend party platforms, adding that it accounted for the emergence of Edo’s one big family. Read more
WhatsApp officially confirms a load of new features (Metro)
WhatsApp users – all two billion of them – are about to receive a load of new features in the messenger app to play with. The Facebook owned messaging service detailed the update in a blog post this week. Alongside new animated stickers, the app will also now allow users to add contacts by scanning a QR code and use dark mode on the desktop version of WhatsApp. The service has also been focusing heavily on improving its video calling options in the wake of the coronavirus crisis and the meteoric rise of rival Zoom across the world. Read more
Australia considers ‘safe haven’ offer for Hong Kong people (AlJazeera)
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said his government was considering an offer of safe haven to Hong Kong residents after China imposed tough national security laws that critics fear could crush dissent in the semi-autonomous territory.
Morrison’s announcement on Thursday came as lawmakers in the United States agreed to seek sanctions on groups that undermine the wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms Hong Kong was promised when Britain returned the city to China in 1997.
Morrison said the situation in Hong Kong was “very concerning” and his government was “very actively” considering proposals to welcome in residents of the former British territory. Read more
Ghislaine Maxwell charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls as young as 14 (Metro)
Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell helped the dead pedophile sexually abuse girls as young as 14, prosecutors say. New York Southern District Prosecutor Audrey Strauss said Maxwell had undressed in front of Epstein’s victims, discussed sex with them, and would watch the late pedophile sexually abuse them – occasionally joining in the abuse – at his homes in the US and UK. Strauss told reporters at a press conference Thursday that the charges against Maxwell spanned between 1994 and 1997 and involve three victims. She said the allegations were a ‘prequel’ to the 2002 to 2005 charges that were pending against Epstein when he killed himself in a Manhattan jail last August. Read more
South Sudan women demand equity in government (VOA)
Partners in South Sudan’s unity government violated a provision of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement that states that 35% of all government positions should be filled by women, women’s groups say.
Amer Manyok Deng, chairperson of the South Sudan Women’s Bloc, a stakeholder at the peace talks, urged President Salva Kiir on Thursday to revoke his recent appointment of eight governors, of which only one is a woman.
If he refuses, Deng told South Sudan in Focus, Kiir should find a solution that meets the required 35% quota for female representation at all levels of government. Read more
Nathan Law: Leading young democracy activist flees Hong Kong (BBC)
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent young democracy activists has fled the territory after China imposed a sweeping, controversial security law.
Nathan Law, a one-time student leader and local legislator who spent time in prison after 2014’s “Umbrella Protests”, said he would continue his advocacy work from abroad.
“I think the movement is still pretty much alive,” he told the BBC.
Despite the high personal risk, he said “Hong Kong people will not give up”.
While activists say the new law erodes freedoms, Beijing has dismissed the criticism. Read more
Venezuela reverses decision to expel EU ambassador (France24)
Venezuela has reversed its decision to expel the EU’s ambassador to Caracas ordered by President Nicolas Maduro, a statement said on Thursday, ending a tit-for-tat diplomatic row.
Maduro on Monday gave the EU’s Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa 72 hours to leave the country in response to European sanctions against 11 Venezuelans. Read more
George Floyd: Twitter drops ‘master’, ‘slave’ and ‘blacklist’ (BBC)
Social media platform Twitter is dropping the terms “master”, “slave” and “blacklist” in favour of more inclusive language.
The terms are frequently used in programming codes which originated decades ago.
US bank JPMorgan has also announced a similar move as more companies address racism following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Replacing the terms could cost millions and take months, according to experts. Read more
Arsenal set to off-load youngster Folarin Balogun (Vanguard)
Arsenal have informed youngster, Folarin Balogun that he is free to leave the club this summer, after a break down in contract negotiations.
The 19-year-old striker is one of the most highly-rated youth players at the club and led the way for the Under-23s this season, scoring 10 goals in 15 appearances.
Talks have been taking place to try and extend his stay, but discussions between the club and the forward’s representatives have been unable to come to a successful conclusion according to reports by Goal. Read more
Dessers completes Genk move (Punch)
Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers has joined Belgian Pro League club Genk on a four-year deal from Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo.
The 25-year-old scored 18 goals and provided six assists in 29 appearances across all competitions for Heracles Almelo last season.
He spent one season at the club following his arrival from FC Utrecht last summer. Read more
Champions Liverpool thrashed at Man City (BBC)
Liverpool’s Premier League title-winning celebrations were slightly dampened as they were thrashed by deposed champions Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s side ended an agonising 30-year wait for the top-flight title when City lost at Chelsea last week, but were resoundingly hammered on their return to action.
The Reds, who were given a guard of honour by the hosts before kick-off, could have taken the lead at Etihad Stadium but Mohamed Salah’s low drive cannoned off the post. Read more
Jose Mourinho blasts VAR over disallowed Spurs goal and criticises Michael Oliver (Metro)
Jose Mourinho has slammed the decision to rule out Tottenham’s first-half strike against Sheffield United on Thursday evening and criticised his players for ‘mentally dying’ after the controversial call.
The Blades took the lead through Sander Berge at Bramall Lane but Spurs appeared to have hit back immediately as Harry Kane collected a ball that had ricocheted off Lucas Moura and calmly slotted past Dean Henderson.
However, video assistant referee Michael Oliver ruled out the effort as the ball hit off the back of Lucas’ arm as he hit the deck having been fouled, with even accidental handballs seeing goals chalked off now. Read more
French prosecutors seek trial for football star Karim Benzema over sextape scandal (France24)
French prosecutors on Thursday asked for ex-national team star and Real Madrid footballer Karim Benzema to face trial on charges of involvement in an alleged attempt to blackmail fellow player Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape almost five years ago.
Prosecutors in Versailles outside Paris told AFP they want Benzema tried on charges of complicity in attempted blackmail over the incident in 2015.
Four others should also face trial, they said, but not former Liverpool and French international Djibril Cisse who had previously been implicated in the probe. Read more
Ramos penalty sends Real four points clear (BBC)
Sergio Ramos’ penalty sent Real Madrid four points clear at the top of La Liga with a hard-fought win over Getafe.
Real looked as if they were going to be frustrated until Mathias Olivera fouled Dani Carvajal, with Ramos stepping up to score his 21st consecutive penalty.
Getafe – who are in contention for a Champions League place – started well and Thibaut Courtois had to make three saves in the opening 12 minutes.
The derby was a physical battle at times with 10 players booked in total. Read more