Coronavirus: Pain, anguish at Lagos isolation centre (Sun)
As the third wave of Coronavirus is raging and currently wreaking havoc in communities across the country, some survivors have come out to recount the pain and anguish they went through.
Their testimonies send clear warning signals to the citizenry that COVID-19 is still dangling overhead like the proverbial Sword of Damocles, though many are yet to realise the looming danger, let alone acknowledging it.
Our correspondent’s recent encounters with COVID-19 victims and the pain they went through come across as real eye opener. Everything points to one direction: that all and sundry must be careful; everyone needs to exercise a lot of personal responsibility and caution to remain alive.
Recalling her experience, Evelyn (not her real name) who contracted COVID-19 recently noted that “as soon as I tested positive for the virus, I rushed to one of the government facilities immediately. Read more
Igboho: Yoruba group to sue FG for disrupting Lagos rally (Tribune)
Reactions have continued to trail Friday’s judgment of Oyo State High Court which declared self-determination agitation as legal and resistance to it by agents of government as “crude and most unprofessional.”
Leader of the Yoruba Nation group and Ilana Omo Oodua, Emeritus Professor of History, Professor Banji Akintoye, told Sunday Tribune that the verdict has made the Yoruba Nation and other self-determination groups in the country invincible threatening to take further legal action against the FG for disrupting its rally in Lagos.
“We knew it would come, because it is the truth. People can try to hide the truth for as long as they want, but someday, the truth always surfaces. The truth has surfaced.
“Nigerians now know that our struggle for self-determination is totally lawful and legal, that the government has no right to stop us. The knowledge now is that more and more people are rallying into our court. Read more
Lekki shootings: Why Lagos #EndSARS panel suspended sitting -Members (Punch)
The Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other Matters on Saturday suspended its sitting indefinitely.
The Chairperson of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi (retd), announced the suspension, saying that the break is needed to “evaluate, collate and make findings” on the Lekki shootings.
The panel was set up on October 27, 2020, to investigate cases of police brutality, especially involving officers of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, and determine whether protesters were killed at the Lekki tollgate plaza on October 20, 2020, or not.
Though the panel was to last for a period of six-months -April 27, 2021, the Lagos State Government gave it a three-month extension which elapsed on Monday, July 19. Read more
Pregnant woman, fake soldier arrested for drug trafficking (Guardian)
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), continued their nationwide ‘offensive action’ against drug traffickers in the past week, seizing hundreds of kilograms of illicit substances at the airports, courier firms, hideouts and destroying hectares of cannabis farms in the remote forests.
Attempts by a female passenger, Isesele Obehi and one Emmanuel Chibuzor Omebere to export illicit drugs to Europe through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja were thwarted by narcotic officers who arrested them shortly before they boarded their flights.
While Isesele was nabbed on Saturday, September 11, 2021 during outward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight at Gate B departure hall of the Lagos airport on her way to Milan, Italy with 312 sachets of Tramadol, weighing 1.5kg, concealed in crayfish and dried vegetables, Chibuzor was equally caught with 137.45 grams of the same drug concealed in foodstuff at the Abuja airport on Thursday, Septémber 2, during outward clearance of Turkish Airline flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Read more
Worshipper shot dead, officials abducted as gunmen invade Kogi church (DailyTrust)
Gunmen on Sunday morning attacked ECWA Church in Okedayo along Kabba-Okene road in Kogi State, killing one and abducting two persons.
Daily Trust gathered that the gunmen invaded the church during service.
Gunmen kill policemen in Onitsha, set patrol van on fire
How bandits seized from Sokoto police station were burnt to ashes
The worshipper killed was identified as Mr Reuben Gbenga while those whisked away are Elder Oshadumo Julius, and Elder Abiodun T.O.
A stray bullet reportedly hit Gbenga. Read more
Former CBN deputy governor Obadiah Mailafia dies at 64 (Punch)
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, has passed on at the age of 64.
Mailafia, who was a columnist with The PUNCH was said to have died at midnight after a brief illness.
The former deputy governor, who was the Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2019 election, was a known government critic and had advocated for public sector and exchange rate reforms.
Mailafia was born on December 24, 1956, in the Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Read more
Buhari directs incorporation of NNPC Ltd, appoints Ararume, Okadigbo’s widow, others (DailyTrust)
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the President gave the directive in his capacity as Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Adesina said this was in consonance with Section 53(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, which required the Minister of Petroleum Resources to cause for the incorporation of the NNPC Limited within six months of commencement of the Act in consultation with the Minister of Finance on the nominal shares of the Company. Read more
Organised Private Sector wants FG’s directive over VAT payment (Vanguard)
The Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) on Sunday in Lagos called on the Federal Government to urgently make a pronouncement on the on-going controversy over VAT payment.
This, it said, would enable businesses to know what to do.
OPSN chairman, Mr Taiwo Adeniyi, made the call at a news conference and said delays in addressing the issue could cause negative effect on businesses, most especially in the collection and remittances of VAT.
“We are aware that by Sept. 21 we get penalised if we do not pay or remit the VAT for the month of August. Read more
Chris Rock says he has Covid-19: “Get vaccinated” (Complex)
Chris Rock revealed on Twitter that he’s been diagnosed with COVID-19. He also urged anyone who hasn’t yet gotten vaccinated to do so.
“Hey guys I just found out I have COVID, trust me you don’t want this. Get vaccinated,” he wrote.
Hey guys I just found out I have COVID, trust me you don’t want this. Get vaccinated.
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) September 19, 2021
He didn’t reveal if he’s feeling symptoms, but the virus has been hitting unvaccinated people hard and overwhelming the healthcare system.
Just a few days ago, Nas also disclosed that he battled the virus last year.
“I caught COVID in late October,” Nas told Ebony. “This is the first time [I’m] mentioning it. It was a tough time. It was mentally and physically hard.” Read more
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (RollingStone)
In 2004, Rolling Stone published its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It’s one of the most widely read stories in our history, viewed hundreds of millions of times on this site. But a lot has changed since 2004; back then the iPod was relatively new, and Billie Eilish was three years old. So we’ve decided to give the list a total reboot. To create the new version of the RS 500 we convened a poll of more than 250 artists, musicians, and producers — from Angelique Kidjo to Zedd, Sam Smith to Megan Thee Stallion, M. Ward to Bill Ward — as well as figures from the music industry and leading critics and journalists. They each sent in a ranked list of their top 50 songs, and we tabulated the results.
Nearly 4,000 songs received votes. Where the 2004 version of the list was dominated by early rock and soul, the new edition contains more hip-hop, modern country, indie rock, Latin pop, reggae, and R&B. More than half the songs here — 254 in all — weren’t present on the old list, including a third of the Top 100. The result is a more expansive, inclusive vision of pop, music that keeps rewriting its history with every beat. Read more
Amazon reportedly kicks 3,000 Chinese merchant accounts off its platform (PCMag)
Amazon has reportedly closed approximately 3,000 merchant accounts related to 600 Chinese brands since May for violating its policy against incentivizing positive reviews for products that were purchased through its platform.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Amazon Vice President for Asia Global Selling, Cindy Tai, confirmed the efforts to remove the offending accounts from its marketplace in an interview with the state-owned China Central Television.
Tai reportedly said that Amazon wasn’t specifically targeting companies in specific regions for violating its review policies. SCMP noted that “tens of thousands of Chinese merchants” have been affected by these enforcement actions, however, according to a Shenzhen Cross-Border E-commerce Association report on the matter that was published in July. Read more
In the elections no one wanted, Canada is tilting towards the status quo (Guardian)
On 20 September, Canada’s general election will end. Throughout the campaign, the governing Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, and the opposition Conservatives, led by Erin O’Toole, have been neck and neck, trading the lead within the margin of error. The next closest party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), trails 10 points behind. A close seat count and a handful of tight races could mean days before the final results are known.
From the first day of the campaign, the country faced an important yet unnecessary election: important because the issues at stake are monumental – climate policy, pandemic management and recovery, childcare, healthcare, housing, the overdose crisis, Indigenous reconciliation, and much more; unnecessary because the government could have kept governing. But the Liberals had a minority government and they wanted a majority. Trudeau claimed parliament was toxic. It wasn’t. And if the governing side had trouble passing legislation, it was due more to their poor management of the House of Commons than opposition intransigence, even given a handful of holdups. So off to the races the country went. Read more
Amazon is piling ads into search results and top consumer brands are paying up for prominent placement (CNBC)
Search for “toothpaste” on Amazon, and the top of the web page will show you a mix of popular brands like Colgate, Crest and Sensodyne. Try a separate search for “deodorant” and you’ll first see products from Secret, Dove and Native.
Look a little closer, though, and you’ll notice that those listings are advertisements with the “sponsored” label affixed to them. Amazon is generating hefty revenue from the top consumer brands because getting valuable placement on the biggest e-commerce site comes with a rising price tag.
“There’s fewer organic search results on the page, so that increasingly means the only way to get on the page is to buy your way on there,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at advertising firm Publicis.
For consumers looking for toothpaste on Amazon, getting to unpaid results requires two full swipes up on the mobile app. Read more
Manny Pacquiao: Boxing star to run for Philippines president (BBC)
Philippine boxing star Manny Pacquiao says he is to run for president in next year’s election.
He was nominated as a candidate by a faction of the ruling party, PDP-Laban.
On top of a glittering career as a fighter, Mr Pacquiao, 42, is a senator in the Philippines’ parliament.
Incumbent Rodrigo Duterte is barred from another term but has been picked by a rival party faction to run for vice-president, a move critics say is an attempt to cling to power. Read more
AfroBasket: Nigeria’s D’Tigress begin title defence with Mozambique win (Punch)
Nigeria’s senior women national basketball team, D’Tigress, began their 2021 FIBA AfroBasket Women’s Championship campaign with a victory against Mozambique on Saturday in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The Nigerian team won survived an early scare to beat Mozambique 67-50 in their first Group B encounter at the women’s AfroBasket.
Ezinne Kalu top-scored with 17 points, team captain Adara Elonu also impressed, netting 13.
Nigeria are in Group B alongside Mozambique and Angola, with Group A having hosts Cameroon, Cape Verde and Kenya. Read more
Football legend Jimmy Greaves dies at 81 (Unilad)
Football legend Jimmy Greaves has passed away at the age of 81.
Greaves was described as one of England’s greatest goal scorers and was part of the national team to bring home the World Cup in 1966.
Tottenham Hotspur made the announcement this morning, September 19, on Twitter, writing, ‘We are extremely saddened to learn of the passing of the great Jimmy Greaves. We extend our deepest sympathies to Jimmy’s family and friends at this sad time.’
Greaves made his name at Chelsea where he scored 32 goals for the club in 169 matches between 1957 and 1961, The Guardian reports, before joining Spurs.
He went on to become the team’s all-time record goalscorer after securing 266 goals in 379 appearances. Read more
Ronaldo scores before Lingard grabs winner against West Ham (Guardian)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his fourth goal in three matches since his return to Manchester United on Sunday before Jesse Lingard grabbed a late winner on his return to West Ham in a 2-1 win.
Ronaldo tapped in to cancel out Said Benrahma’s opener and substitute Lingard appeared to have won the match for the visitors in the 89th minute.
But there was time for late, late drama when the home side were awarded a penalty for a Luke Shaw handball in added time.
Mark Noble came on to take the spot kick but United goalkeeper David de Gea dived to his left to keep it out, sparking a frenzy among United players. Read more
Boxer Amir Khan removed from US flight (BBC)
British boxer Amir Khan has been removed from a flight in the US after a reported row over face coverings.
Mr Khan, 34, said he had been taken off the American Airlines plane along with a colleague by police when someone complained his friend’s mask “was not high enough”.
The airline said the flight from Newark Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth returned to the gate after two people reportedly “refused to comply with crew requests”.
It denied that police had intervened. Read more