Building Collapse: Our son went to deliver food at building –grieving family (NewTelegraph)
Building collapse in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State, has become one too many. The recent one, which happened on Gerrard Road in the Ikoyi area of the “Centre of Excellence”, has again brought the issue to the front burner. Isioma Madike, who was at the scene of the collapsed building on Wednesday, captured the mood of some relatives of the victims
There were all manner of people at the site of the collapsed building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, November 3. Among the crowd are those involved in the rescue operation, relatives of victims, sympathisers, government officials as well as security operatives. There were also touts from the neighbourhood, who were there to take advantage of the situation to pickpocket from the surging multitude. At one far end sat a young lady, who should be in her mid-twenties. She was forlorn; looking dejected and lost in thought.
She intermittently muttered unintelligent words directed to no one in particular. About four other people sat around her, though not in any sort of open conversation. As our reporter approached them, the mood in the circle changed to some sort of aggression. Sensing danger, the reporter had to play smart by quickly sympathizing with them without even knowing if any of them was a victim. But the strategy worked as it calmed nerves and instantly snowballed into acquaintance.
Gradually but steadily, we became entangled in discussions around the ill-fated building, which was why everyone around had gathered. “My brother, it was God, who saved my life,” she said, adding, “I experienced what many would refer to as an uncommon miracle. You can’t believe I’d have been in that rubble if not for God. I only escaped by His grace.” Prodding further, the young lady, who refused to give her name, told this reporter that she is a Youth Corps member sent to serve in the company. Read more
Anambra Guber: We’re investigating failure of BVAS – INEC (DailyTrust)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it has commenced investigation on the failure of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in some Polling Units during the Anambra Governorship Election.
The BVAS failure or inconsistency has been a major issue that has affected the smoothness of the election in many polling units across the state.
Dr. Nwachukwu Orji, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, said INEC’s technicians have already built an update to the devise software to prevent further challenges.
“The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS and we request voters, candidates and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem.” Read more
COVID-19: Lagos commences massive roll-out of vaccination (VON)
The Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board (LSPHCB), with the Lagos State Government has commenced massive roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination while dispelling misconception surrounding it.
The roll-out forms part of the massive vaccination campaign to reach a four-million target of getting more Lagosians vaccinated before the end of December.
The process which commenced in the Mainland Local Government Area, under the hash-tag #KosayeCovidLeko (no room for COVID-19 in Lagos), was designed in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA).
It would be recalled that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last week Wednesday, disclosed the mass vaccination roll-out process to get no less than four million Lagos residents vaccinated before the end of December 2021. Read more
I was offered millions of dollars by African politicians to stop singing the truth —Burna Boy (Tribune)
Nigerian Afropop singer Burna Boy, popularly known as the ‘African giant’, in his reaction to a fan, who called him out online for “painting Africa bad” with his music, has revealed that he was offered millions of dollars by some African politicians in a bid to stop him from singing the truth about the realities of Africans living in Africa.
The fan with the name Derah had called Burna Boy out on Twitter saying he uses the ‘Africans suffering’ script for his own gain. “Stop making us look like we live in the jungle. Stop man. This is what brings insults to our name and pride for God’s sake,” she wrote.
Speaking further she said: “Other African artistes go out there to talk about the wonderful talents coming out of Africa and how Africa is one of the most beautiful continents ever. But as a*e that you are, you want to make us look like we live in the forest… Stop dragging us back with your music.”
Burna, however, replied her and said no one could make music about girls, money and bullsh*t than him but he just chose to speak his truth about Africa. He also said it was dumb of the fan to think he sings about Africans suffering for personal gains, as he would have been way richer if he chose to be silent about it. Read more
NCC to auction 5G Spectrum 13th December (Vanguard)
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says all is set for the official auctioning of the 3.5 Gigahertz (3.5 GHz) spectrum for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) technology in Nigeria on December 13, 2021.
According to a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the Commission said it is adopting Ascending Clock Auction format, which is software-based, while a mock auction has been slated for December 10, 2021, as a precursor to the actual auction on December 13, 2021.
It said the Information Memorandum (IM) recently presented to the Commission at a stakeholder engagement forum provides information, conditions, obligations, financial implication, timelines and other necessary details on the planned 3.5Ghz spectrum auction.
‘‘The IM also explains the rollout obligations of the would-be eventual winners of the spectrum licence auction, whose reserved price has been pegged at $197.4 million (N75 billion). Read more
Insecurity: NSCDC inaugurates 35 Special Female Squad to tackle kidnappings, rape, others (Punch)
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps has trained and graduated 35 Special Female Squad, to help in tackling frequent attacks and kidnapping of students, rape, human trafficking and other crimes.
The Bauchi State Commandant of the NSCDC, Nurudeen Abdullahi, who stated this in his welcome address at a graduation ceremony said the Squad started with only eight officers and later the number was increased to 35.
He said, “The wisdom of the Commandant General, in tackling the kidnapping of students in some part of the country, abduction of women and children, rape and human trafficking which have become rampant in our societies, brought up the idea of training our female personnel to intervene in some of these issues.
“In our effort to form the squad, we had a big challenge because the female officers hid, and we had to start with only eight officers. Later, they began to join and today, we are passing out 35 female officers. I commend the initiative of the instructors who made the training very interesting which motivated other female officers to join the squad.” Read more
INEC extends voting till Sunday (Nation)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended voting in the Anambra State governorship election till Sunday.
It is to enable those who could not vote on Saturday due to the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) machine to do so.
The machine failed to work in many units.
Addressing reporters at the INEC office in Awka, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, said the closing of voting had been shifted from 2.30 pm to 4. pm on Saturday, after which the exercise will continue on Sunday in units where voting could not hold. Read more
2023 Presidency: We won’t support any candidate above 60 – AYCF (Sun)
President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, on Saturday ruled out the possibility of supporting any presidential aspirant who is above the age of 60 ahead of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
Yerima said, the youths in the northern region would go with the position of a former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), that Nigerians should look inward for a younger person as their president come 2023.
Yerima, who spoke in Kaduna during an interactive session with journalists said categorically that, only presidential aspirants who are in their 40s and 50s would be supported irrespective of the region they come from.
“We have made our position very clear that we will not pitch our tent with any old generation. This is not because it is not their right to contest, but you can be rest assured that we will only campaign for young generations. Read more
2023: S’West group lobbies Govs, Obas to ask Tinubu to step down for Osinbajo (Tribune)
Ahead of the 2023 Presidential Election, the South West Movement for Osinbajo (SOWEMOVE) has urged governors and traditional rulers in the region to prevail on the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to step down for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the battle for the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC.
The group has consequently begun lobbying governors, traditional rulers, business and political elites in Yorubaland to carefully weigh various options and seriously consider backing Prof. Osinbajo.
Presenting a report and copies of several correspondences with Obas and other eminent personalities in the South West to the Director of Operations of The Progressive Project (TPP), Alhaji Aliyu Usman Aliyu in Abuja during the weekend, the group said youths of the region will become arrowheads of efforts towards making Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, successor to President Muhammadu Buhari.
In his brief response, Alhaji Aliyu Usman Aliyu explained that the TPP is going to be an umbrella organization for all Nigerian groups at home and abroad who are canvassing for the success of All Progressives Congress (APC) and that of Professor Yemi Osinbajo in the 2023 elections. Read more
Anambra election: Ngige battles card reader for over an hour without luck (Punch)
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige could not get his accreditation done in order to vote for over an hour due to the failure of the Biometric Voters Accreditation System machine.
He was at the Alor Ward polling unit in the Idemili South Local Government Area of the state during the exercise. Moreso, he put the failure rate of the machine at 30 per cent.
Ngige insisted that he would wait until he voted despite the setback. The Minister called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to find a way to resort to manual accreditation in such circumstances to allow people to exercise their franchise.
He said, ” I have been here for over an hour without success. I’m not impressed.” Read more
More than 90 killed in oil tanker explosion in Sierra Leone (TimesofIsrael)
An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.
The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning. About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to Foday Musa, a staff member in the intensive care unit.
Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them Saturday. Hundreds of people milled outside the main gates of the mortuary and near the hospital’s main entrance, waiting for word of their loved ones. Read more
At least 8 dead after Travis Scott Astroworld Festival mass casualty incident in Texas (People)
At least eight people have died after a mass casualty event at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday night.
Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena provided details regarding the incident in a press conference early Saturday morning after panic broke out when the crowd surged toward the concert stage.
“We had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight. Eight confirmed fatalities and we had scores of individuals that were injured here at this event. We had an attendance of approximately 50,000 to the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival event. What we do know is that at approximately 9 o’clock, 9:15, the crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic,” he said.
“The Houston Fire Department transported at the start of the mass casualty incident when it was triggered … at around 9:38 p.m. this evening, after that time we transported 17 patients to the hospitals. 12 of those patients were transported by Houston Fire Department ambulances, five were transported by Harris County emergency services, 11 of those that were transported were in cardiac arrest. We won’t know the cause of death of the eight that are confirmed until the medical examiner has completed his investigation, but we are in the process, the Houston Police Department is sending units out to the hospitals to identify these patients, these fatalities,” Chief Pena continued. Read more
Fresh sleaze row as investigation looms over Boris Johnson’s holiday at Zac Goldsmith’s Spanish villa (DailyMail)
The Prime Minister was dragged into a fresh sleaze row last night as he refused to say how much his free holiday in a luxury Spanish villa owned by Zac Goldsmith’s family was worth.
Labour demanded the Commons standards watchdog launch investigations into both Boris Johnson’s stay and the lavish revamp of his Downing Street flat.
He spent around a week at a property in the hills above Marbella with his wife Carrie and son Wilfred last month following the Conservative Party conference.
In the latest register of ministerial interests, the PM revealed the getaway was funded by Lord Goldsmith, the former MP who he gave a peerage to after he lost his Commons seat. Read more
Cop26: Funding for protecting nature and shift to sustainable farming (IrishTimes)
Accelerated action and investment to safeguard nature and shift to more sustainable farming methods have been announced at Cop26 by 45 countries, led by the United Kingdom.
The alliance has committed to addressing loss of forests, damage to soils and quickening destruction of ecosystems that play a critical role in absorbing carbon and cooling the planet.
It is the second big announcement focussed on nature enhancement at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow. On Tuesday, more than 100 world leaders pledged to halt deforestation by the end of the decade and committed $12 billion (€10.4 billion) in public funds to that effort; the private sector committed another $7.2 billion.
Approximately one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry and other land use. Farmers’ livelihoods are also under increasing pressure as changes in climate affect productivity, the alliance noted. It also committed to helping farmers adapt and to make the world’s food system more resilient for the future, as “more sustainable practices are essential”. Read more
9 patients succumb to Covid, positivity rate at 1.6% (TheStar)
The Ministry of Health has said that 76 people have tested positive for coronavirus from a sample size of 4,617 tested in the last 24 hours.
In a statement on Saturday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said that the positivity rate stands at 1.6 per cent.
The CS said that from the cases, 70 are Kenyans and 6 foreigners, of which 45 are males and 31 are females.
The youngest is a two-year-old child while the oldest is 93 years. Read more
Pokémon’s Diamond & Pearl remakes aren’t out until Nov 19, but some seem to already be playing them (NintendoLife)
Nintendo has not had a good run with Switch game leaks in recent months, and now to top it off, the upcoming Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes appear to already be in the hands of some individuals, who are now seemingly leaking images and video footage of the anticipated release.
One post, in particular, over on the PokeLeaks subreddit – simply titled “Got it early” – shows three photos of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond. In it, you can see screens of the Pokémon Center, battles, and even a cutscene. There’s also some video footage in a separate post.
One individual on the same subreddit, who appears to be located in Australia, shared the following post – stating how they attempted to get a copy from the store they work at, but the game was locked away. At the very least, it seems to confirm the remakes are now in the hands of retailers.
“My work started advertising BDSP today. Copy’s of the game are being locked away in back room. I was gonna try get it early but I got told I could lose my job so probably won’t do that” Read more
Man City boss Pep Guardiola delighted to get another win over Man United to set Premier League record (EveningStandard)
Pep Guardiola revelled in his latest derby day victory over Manchester United as his Manchester City team set a Premier League record for victories at Old Trafford.
No team has won more matches against United at the Theatre of Dreams than Guardiola’s team, with a 2-0 win on Saturday their eighth of the Prem era, one more than Liverpool.
The Spaniard has overseen four Premier League wins at Old Trafford with two further victories in Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did possess a very solid 50 per cent winning record against Guardiola ahead of the game, but an early Eric Bailly own goal and Bernardo Silva’s far-post finish earned City the Manchester bragging rights. Read more
Wolves’ Anthony Edwards & Chris Finch discuss what they see going wrong during 4 game losing streak (TalkBasket)
The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently on a 4 game losing streak, only scoring 100 or more points in just one of the losses.
Rising star Anthony Edwards and head coach Chris Finch talked about Minnesota’s lackluster play after Saturday’s defeat at home to the LA Clippers.
Edwards on team’s offensive struggles: “I feel like we generate our offense from our defense. So if we’re not getting stops, then we’re in trouble. I feel like our half court offense is very low compared to the league. So if we’re not getting stops, it gets hard in the half court because we’re just out there with no ball movement.”
Edwards discusses turning point in loss to the Clippers: “The key was, man, we came out (in the) third quarter flat once again. What were we up coming out of the third quarter? Like 8 points, 10 points? We came out flat, but we’re struggling right now, man. It’s tough right now because we’re struggling. We’re playing good sometimes. We have spurts of playing good, then we play bad and don’t pick it up. It’s tough.” Read more
FIA scrap Turn 8/9 rule… after reprimanding Mazepin (PlanetF1)
Nikita Mazepin must feel some days like he can’t catch a break, the Haas driver reprimanded in Mexico only for the rule he broke to be scrapped.
Mazepin was reprimanded by the stewards after going off during Friday’s second practice at Turn 8/9 and failing to join the track as laid out in the pre-race notes.
The stewards’ notes read: “Car nine [Mazepin] left the track on the right hand-side at the apex of turn nine, passing completely behind the red and white kerb, and rejoined the track immediately, rather than rejoining by driving wholly to the right of the two bollards parallel to the track on the exit of turn eight.
“Whilst noting the driver’s comments in relation to the loss of control on the painted surface, the stewards also note that the driver made very limited efforts to reduce speed and therefore consider this to be a failure to follow the race director’s instruction given in article 21.3 (a) of the race director’s event notes.” Read more
Xavi officially confirmed as new Barcelona boss (IrishTimes)
Barcelona have appointed Xavi as their new manager on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
The former midfielder, who spent 17 years in the Barcelona first team between 1998 and 2015, joins from Qatari outfit Al Sadd after the two clubs had agreed on the payment of a release clause in his contract.
“FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Xavi Hernandez for him to become first-team coach for the rest of the current season and two more seasons,” the Catalan club said on its official website.
“Xavi Hernandez, a youth-team product at Barca, has left his current club, Al Sadd of Qatar, after talks held over the last few days with the owners of the club.” Read more
Newcastle’s appointment of Eddie Howe as new manager ‘in danger of collapse’ at 12th hour (DailyStar)
Newcastle United have been dealt a fresh blow in their pursuit of a manager as Eddie Howe looks set to snub the Magpies.
The former Bournemouth boss looked set to be announced as Newcastle’s new manager on Saturday with a two-and-a-half-year deal.
However, after lengthy negotiations, Howe has failed to secure a deal that would see his backroom staff join him in the North East.
According to The Mirror, Howe is now considering his options with the new Newcastle owners holding firm. Read more
Solskjaer denies he is on borrowed time despite Man City defeat (Guardian)
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he does not feel as though he is on borrowed time despite a chastening 2-0 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday.
Eric Bailly’s own goal and Bernardo Silva’s strike on the stroke of half-time proved the difference at Old Trafford but there was a huge gulf in quality between the teams.
United, who have lost three of their past four Premier League games, had less than 33 percent possession and just one shot on target.
The defeat, which comes two weeks after United’s 5-0 home demolition by Liverpool, ramps up the pressure on the Norwegian boss.
A disappointed Solskjaer said his team had started off too “passive” and conceding the first goal had been a hammer blow. Read more