Businessman being investigated for N75m fraud dies during COVID-19 test (Punch)
A businessman, Godwin Julius, who was being investigated for alleged involvement in a N75m fraud, has died while being tested for COVID-19 at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, Lagos State.
Godwin and one Obinale Osunwoke were arrested in the Ejigbo area of the state and were detained after the police reportedly traced some of the money to an account belonging to the late businessman.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the policemen acted on a petition by the representative of a United States of America-based company, Terraroad’s International Incorporation, Wisdom Chris, that the firm had been swindled out of N75m.
Wisdom told PUNCH Metro that the suspects and others currently at large impersonated the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and defrauded the firm of $200,000 with forged documents. Read more
2 Customs commands bicker over sealing of a controversial terminal (Vanguard)
The Lagos zonal command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has sealed a new Customs bonded terminal established within the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, KLT, Command, for allegedly posing administrative threats to functions of the area command.
The confusion arising from the action disrupted activities at the command Phase 11 operational area and the said terminal last weekend as truckers and their trucks were caught up in the chaos that followed, resulting in a temporary traffic blockade in the area.
As at the time of filling this report Vanguard Maritime Report gathered that the operations of the bonded warehouse known as Clarion Terminal had remained closed. Read more
Sanwo-olu suspends reopening of worship, events centres indefinitely (Guardian)
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has indefinitely suspended the planned reopening of worship centres across the state, saying it is not a decision that was taken lightly, as it is simply in line with government ongoing evaluation of evolving scenarios regarding the course of the infection in Lagos State and the corresponding public health advisory guidelines issued by the experts.
Speaking at the fifteenth update on Coronavirus management in the state, the governor said: “So, let me say this again: we are now hereby suspending, with immediate effect, the plan to re-open religious houses and places of worship in Lagos State, until further notice.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely, and continue to base our decision-making on data modelling; as well as on the responsibility we have to act in a manner that ensures the protection of all of you the people of Lagos State.” Read more
Lagos shuts traffic around Pen Cinema flyover for construction works (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Government has announced immediate closure and traffic advisory plan guiding vehicular traffic movement around Agege Pen Cinema Flyover.
The move, according to the state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, was part of efforts to ease traffic gridlock necessitated by construction works at site.
Oladeinde explained that the closure and diversion of traffic is to enable the contractors launch beams across Iju Road at the Pen Cinema junction.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, by Oladeinde who said that the traffic advisory became expedient to sensitize motorists and other road users added that the traffic diversion plans is to encourage the use of alternative roads during the period of the launch of the beams. Read more
New electricity tariffs effective July, says minister (Punch)
The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, has insisted that the new increment on electricity tariff would take off in July.
He stated this on Tuesday at the Investigative Public Hearing on Power Sector Recovery Plan and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic organised by the Senate Committee on Power.
Mamman said COVID-19 pandemic had affected the laid, out plan for the repositioning of the electricity market towards financial sustainability under the Power Sector Recovery Programme.
According to him, the regulator, following the completion of public consultation on tariff review, has initially planned to conduct a tariff review in April 2020. Read more
150m Nigerians without NIMC ID (DailyTrust)
In a development that qualifies as an anticlimax, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) announced that as many as 150 million out of an estimated total of 200 million Nigerians, are yet to be registered and assigned the unique National Identity Numbers (NIN).
This was disclosed last week by the Director General of the organisation, Aliyu Azeez, during a talk with journalists, under the theme ‘Strategic Roadmap for Identity Development’. Speaking further, Azeez pointed out that only about 41.5 million Nigerians, or 20% of the country had the NIN, while 38% had any form of identification.
These include those with official passports, bank identity cards and other forms. Read more
Man in court for allegedly reneging on promise to marry woman (Vanguard)
The Police on Tuesday, arraigned a driver, Christopher Okpe, 28, in an Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada, FCT, for allegedly reneging on his promise to marry a woman.
Okpe is charged with one count of deceitful inducement.
The prosecution counsel, Emeka Ihekoronye, alleged that on May 5, 2020 Ms Angela Sunday of Old Kutunku, Gwagwalada, Abuja reported that in 2019, she was pregnant for the defendant.
Ihekoronye said that the defendant promised the complainant that after giving birth, he would marry her. Read more
Resident doctors’ strike: FG orders attendance registers, meeting deadlocked (Punch)
The Federal Government has directive all medical directors in the country to open attendant registers for striking resident doctors.
The government gave the directive as the meeting between its representatives and the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors ended in a deadlock on Tuesday.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated that the Federal Ministry of Health would issue a directive to all medical directors in the country to open a register by 7am and record those who come to work and those who fail to come. Read more
Court of Appeal upholds Oshiomhole’s suspension as APC chairman (DailyTrust)
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). An FCT High Court had on March 4 granted an application by six members of the APC in Edo State suspending Oshiomhole from office. We won’t lose if Obaseki leaves – Oshiomhole FLASHBACK: 12 things Oshiomhole said about Obaseki in 2016 A three member panel of justices led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem held that Oshiomhole’s appeal challenging his suspension was unmeritorious. Read more
Beijing coronavirus outbreak: travel restricted to tackle ‘extremely severe’ situation (MSN)
Authorities in Beijing have described the city’s coronavirus outbreak as “extremely severe” as dozens more cases emerged and travel from the city was curtailed.
Additional neighbourhoods were fenced off on Tuesday, with security checkpoints set up at residential compounds, and high-risk people – such as close contacts of people who test positive – prevented from leaving the city.
“The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe,” Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned at a press conference. “Right now we have to take strict measures to stop the spread of Covid-19.” Read more
John Bolton: Trump administration sues to block book (BBC)
The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to prevent former National Security Adviser John Bolton from publishing a new book about his time at the White House.
According to the complaint, the book contains “classified information”.
The move comes a day after President Donald Trump said Mr Bolton could face “criminal problems” over the release.
The book, entitled The Room Where It Happened, is due to be released on 23 June. Read more
World War 3: India slaughters 5 Chinese soldiers in bloody massacre- border tensions erupt (Express)
There were losses on both sides of the battle as one of the Indian army’s officers and two soldiers were killed in a “violent faceoff” at Galwan Valley, one of the four clash points in the eastern Ladakh sector.
These are the first reported casualties in decades to result from a clash between the nuclear-armed Asian giants. China has not yet confirmed the deaths or numbers of injured. India’s army said on Tuesday senior military officials from both sides were meeting in a desperate bid to calm tensions.
The Indian army statement said: “Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.” Read more
US death toll from COVID-19 now exceeds number of Americans killed in WW1 (CBC)
The US death toll from COVID-19 now exceeds the number of American service members who died in the First World War.
The tally for the United States from Johns Hopkins University reached more than 116,700 on Tuesday, just past the 116,516 Americans believed to have died in the war a century ago.
Both figures are far from precise, due to a lack of testing during the pandemic and the challenges of counting the war dead, though historians and the Congressional Research Service say 116,516 is the best figure for World War One battlefield deaths. Read more
How refugees are leading the way in helping UK communities through the pandemic (Metro)
The coronavirus pandemic has ripped apart families, confined people to their homes, and changed the way we live, perhaps forever. But amid the heartbreak and challenges the novel virus has inflicted upon us, we have also seen great unity and selfless acts of kindness. Following the outbreak in the UK, many refugees have used this time as an opportunity to give back to the communities who welcomed them in their hour of need. Metro.co.uk spoke to the refugees who have been at the forefront of the pandemic making face masks, cooking hundreds of meals for struggling families, and dropping off pharmacy prescriptions to the doorsteps of the vulnerable. Read more
Mali’s Keita says abducted opposition leader Soumaila Cisse alive (AlJazeera)
Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said leading opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, who was kidnapped days before the country’s parliamentary election in March, is alive.
In a speech in the capital, Bamako, Keita said on Tuesday the government had proof that Cisse was still alive after months in captivity.
“We know who his captors are,” he said, without elaborating. “And if it pleases God, he will come back soon.” Read more
Under-20s half as likely to contract coronavirus: study (MSN)
People under the age of 20 are half as likely to contract COVID-19 than the rest of the population, according to new modelling released on Tuesday that suggests four out of five infected young people show no symptoms.
The research, published in the Nature Medicine Journal, could help inform the next moves of governments under pressure to reopen schools and colleges shuttered since the start of the pandemic.
Experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine developed age-based COVID-19 transmission models based on data from six countries — China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Canada and South Korea. Read more
Bayern Munich seal eighth Bundesliga title in a row as Robert Lewandowski smashes record (Express)
Bayern Munich have captured a record-extending eighth Bundesliga title in a row after a 1-0 win over Werner Bremen.
Since the resumption of German football following the enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bayern have been unstoppable, winning all six games and scoring 19 goals.
But they needed just one goal at the Weser Stadium to earn their seventh consecutive win and the title.
And it came in the 43rd minute when Robert Lewandowski took a clipped ball over the top of Bremen’s defence by Jerome Boateng on his chest and volleyed the ball into the net. Read more
Green advises NFF to shun quota system in appointment of coaches (DailyTrust)
A former member of the Nigeria Football Federation Executive Committee, Barrister Chris Green has admonished the football federation to shun quota system in appointment of national team coaches The advice from the former chairman of the NFF technical Committee is coming on the heels of speculations that two southerners, a former Super Eagles winger, Finidi George and Paul Aigbogun are highly favoured to pick the National U-17 and U-17 jobs respectively. It is also an open secret that Abdul Maikaba who assisted Aigbogun in the last dispensation, Usman Abdallah and Henry Makinwa are the Nigeria Professional Football League coaches in the running for the Flying Eagles job. Read more
SA’s golf courses reopen (BBC)
Golf courses in South Africa have officially reopened as the country eases some of its lockdown regulations.
The courses had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic but under the current level 3 lockdown regulations, non-contact sports like golf are now allowed to resume.
The golf courses have been closed since 26 March when the 21 day national lockdown started.
Club were only permitted to open their facilities after completing the Confirmation of Compliance document and submitting it to GolfRSA. Read more
US Open gets green light to go ahead without fans (Metro)
The US Open has been given the green light to run without fans in August by New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Tournament organisers had decided to push ahead with plans to run the event at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but were awaiting formal government approval.
That arrived on Tuesday, with Cuomo confirming the decision on Twitter, saying: ‘The US Open will be held in Queens, NY, without fans from August 31 to September 13. Read more
Teenager Fati joins Messi on scoresheet in Barcelona win (BBC)
Ansu Fati has scored five goals from 10 shots on target in La Liga
Seventeen-year-old Ansu Fati scored his fifth La Liga goal of the season as Barcelona extended their lead at the top with victory over Leganes.
The Guinea-Bissau forward produced a clinical finish at an empty Nou Camp before Lionel Messi doubled the lead from the penalty spot.
Messi’s 699th goal for club and country came after the Argentina forward was fouled by Ruben Perez. Read more
Atletico boss, Simeone reveals wide interest in midfielder Partey (Vanguard)
Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey is good enough to play for “the best teams in Europe”, according to head coach Diego Simeone.
Thomas has been linked with a move to the Premier League with Arsenal after eight years in Madrid, where he first featured for Atleti’s youth and reserve teams.
Simeone can see why such a transfer would appeal to the London club and several other European giants, even if Thomas is still searching for consistency. Read more