Christian body slams CAN over comments on Buhari’s OIC attendance (Vanguard)
The Reformed Christian Association of Nigeria (ReCAN) has faulted the leadership of CAN over its biased reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s attendance of the just-concluded Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Buhari on Sunday departed, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for Abuja, after attending the 14th OIC Summit in Makkah. Among others, the President noted with delight the decision of the organisation to support the Inter-Basin Water Transfer Project, aimed at recharging the Lake Chad. Read more
Attempt to impose 2015 Standing Order on 9th Senate will fail —Adeola (Punch)
Senator Solomon Adeola (APC-Lagos) says any move to adopt the 2015 Senate Standing Order in election of Senate leadership of 9th Assembly will be resisted. Adeola, who made this known while speaking with newsmen in Abuja, maintained that proper procedure was not followed in amending the 2015 standing order, which the 8th Senate is currently using. He noted that the 2011 standing order allowed for open ballot system, which is the practice in parliaments in other climes. Read more
Support Omo-Agege’s bid for Senate Deputy President’s seat– Delta APC (Guardian)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta Central Senatorial District has appealed to other ethnic nationalities at the Senate to support the bid of Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege for Deputy Senate President. The APC Vice-Chairman in Delta, Mr Adelabu Bodjor, read the party’s resolutions at a press briefing/solidarity support meeting for Omo-Agege on Sunday in Warri. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Omo-Agege is vying for the deputy senate seat and will be the first Urhobo person to attain that exotic seat if he eventually emerged winner. Read more
Nigerian Mission excited as Singapore’s S-Court frees Ejike from death (Vanguard)
The Nigeria High Commission in Singapore has expressed delight over the acquittal and release of a Nigerian, Mr Adili Chibuike Ejike, sentenced to death for drug trafficking in the country. The Nigeria Head of Mission in Singapore, High Commissioner, Akinremi Bolaji, said this in a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ejike, sentenced to death for allegedly importing nearly two-kilogramme of methamphetamine, was on Monday granted an acquittal by Singapore’s Supreme Court and released with no outstanding charges. Read more
We spent N45m on teachers’ training, Nasarawa tells SERAP (Punch)
The Nasarawa State Government has said it spent N45m in one week in 2015 to train 1,000 primary schoolteachers in the state. It said the N45m was part of the Universal Basic Education Commission funds it received between 2015 and 2019. The state said this in response to a Freedom of Information request sent to it by anti-corruption group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project. Read more
NCC plans further devt of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem (Guardian)
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is ready to further develop the technology ecosystem in the country. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made this known on Sunday. He said that the development would ensure improvement of local content in the technology industry. Danbatta said that steps to further develop the ecosystem would be discussed at the “Maiden Edition of Emerging Telecoms Technologies Research and ICT Innovation Forum’’ in Lagos. He said that the forum had the theme: “Developing Nigeria’s Tech Ecosystem; Imperative for Improving Local Content’’. Read more
Buhari sends delegation to support Muhammad-Bande for UNGA presidency (Punch)
Ahead of the election for the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly scheduled to hold in New York on June 4, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday sent a delegation to support Nigeria’s candidate, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. According to Presidency in a series of tweets via the official Twitter handle @NGRPresident, Ambassador Mustapha Sulaiman is leading the delegation, which includes the DG, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Bello Aliyu Gusau; and SSA to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. Read more
Highly indebted states: Lagos debt hits N1.043trn in 2018 – Investigation (Vanguard)
Lagos State, South West Nigeria, is number one among the Highly Indebted States in Nigeria in both external and domestic debts with N1.043 trillion in 2018, in a latest report by the Economic Confidential. 2. While the external debt stock of Lagos amounts to N513.514 billion, the local debt stock settled at N530.243 billion. 3. In a meticulous investigation just concluded by a team of Economic Confidential researchers on Annual High Indebted States (AHIS) on External and Domestic Debt, the amount owed by Lagos State represents about twenty (20) percent of the total debts owed by the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which is N5.376 trillion in 2018. Read more
Woman, baby drown in migrant shipwreck (Punch)
A woman and baby drowned Sunday off the Libyan coast, while up to 25 migrants remain missing after their engine was stolen and their boat sank, the coastguard said. Their bodies were recovered while the 73 other migrants were rescued after fishermen alerted the Libyan coastguard, said spokesman Ayoub Kacem. The group had been left without an engine after it was stolen at sea by unknown assailants, he added. Read more
Germany’s Merkel vows to carry on despite coalition setback (BBC)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her coalition government will continue despite the surprise resignation of the leader of its junior partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Mrs Merkel said she respected the “far-reaching” decision by Andrea Nahles. Ms Nahles resigned after her centre-left party came third, behind Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Greens, in the European elections. Read more
Don’t sow hatred, Pope warns politicians (Punch)
Pope Francis said Sunday politicians should “never sow hatred and fear” in an answer to a question about Matteo Salvini, Italy’s strongman and leader of the far-right. The pontiff told journalists on the return leg of a three-day trip to Romania that it would be “very unwise” of him to express an opinion on the deputy prime minister and interior minister, who heads the anti-immigrant League party. And he insisted the reason he had not received Salvini — who regularly waves aloft a Catholic rosary at his rallies — was simply because the minister had not requested a private audience. Read more
Kim Kardashian ‘being used by death row prisoner’ she is helping to release (Metro)
Kim Kardashian is being warned that a prisoner could be ‘using her’ to be released. The Keeping Up With The Kardashian star recently spent a day visiting death row inmate Kevin Cooper, 61, who has been serving time for four murders since 1983, according to TMZ. Now the mother of one of his victims claims that Kevin, who has maintained his innocence, is shamelessly using the star. Read more
Godzilla King of Monsters leads box-office (Punch)
Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” stomped to the top of the box-office in its opening weekend in North American theatres, taking in an estimated $49 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported. But analysts called the creature feature’s debut disappointing. Its total for the three-day weekend came in far behind the studio’s previous “Godzilla” installment (which opened in 2014 with $93 million), and the new film cost $200 million to make. Read more
Elton John’s brother slams Rocketman over ‘inaccurate’ portrayal of their dad (Metro)
Elton John’s half-brother, Geoff, has slammed Rocketman over the way their dad, Stanley Dwight, was portrayed. The film, which was released in cinemas last month, is a searing exploration of the singer’s path to stardom – and includes scenes where Elton (Taron Egerton) battled with his parents. In one scene, viewers saw Stanley (Steven Mackintosh) appearing uninterested in his singing career, while also shouting at him for reading women’s’ magazines with his mum and grandmother. Read more
Clubless Mikel Obi begins Nigeria comeback at Cup of Nations training camp (Punch)
John Obi Mikel, Leon Balogun of Brighton Hove Albion and Levante winger Moses Simon were among the early arrivals on Sunday at Nigeria’s training camp for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations. Former Chelsea midfielder Obi Mikel, who last played for his country at last year’s World Cup in Russia, is making a comeback to the national team. The 32-year-old is currently without a club after his short-term deal with English Championship side Middlesbrough ended when they failed to win promotion back to the Premier League. Read more
African Champions League: Wydad president calls on Caf to investigate final (BBC)
Wydad Casablanca’s president called on the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to investigate the controversial end to Friday night’s African Champions League final, in a bid to “save the image of football in Africa”. Esperance were awarded the title in Rades after Wydad refused to play on when VAR was unavailable to judge a disallowed equaliser. VAR had been set up on the side of the pitch, but the players had not been told it was not working, although officials were aware. Read more
Anthony Joshua gets £20m for shock defeat, Andy Ruiz £5m for winning (Punch)
Andy Ruiz Jr might have produced one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history on Saturday, but his pay cheque was distinctly lightweight, compared to Anthony Joshua’s. The Mexican stunned Britain’s WBA, IBF and WBO champion to shake up heavyweight boxing’s established order in dramatic style. Ruiz is understood to have made only around £5m from the fight at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, The SUN has reported. Read more
Antoine Griezmann sends message to Roberto Firmino during Liverpool’s Champions League parade (Metro)
Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann was keeping a close eye on Liverpool’s Champions League victory parade on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp’s side returned to Liverpool to show off the Champions League trophy to their fans following their 2-0 victory over Tottenham in the final at the Wanda Metropolitano. Roberto Firmino was getting Liverpool fans involved as he went live on Instagram while he and his teammates were celebrating. Read more
Cricket World Cup: Bangladesh beat South Africa by 21 runs (BBC)
Bangladesh stunned South Africa to start their World Cup campaign with a fine 21-run victory at The Oval. Bangladesh made 330-6 – their highest one-day total – with Mushfiqur Rahim scoring 78 and Shakib Al Hasan 75 in front of a passionate crowd strongly in their favour. The pair put on 142 for the third wicket and, although both fell in the final 15 overs, Mahmudullah helped power his side to the highest total of the tournament with an unbeaten 46 off 33 balls. Read more