Court orders remand of 2 teenagers over alleged murder of RCCG pastor (Channels)
A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in the Yaba Area of Lagos State has ordered the remand of two teenagers Farouk Mohammed 16, and Kasali Jamiu 19, charged with the alleged murder of a Redeemed Christian Church of God’s (RCCG) Pastor, Babatunde Dada, aged 46.
Magistrate Linda Balogun ordered the remand of the minor, 16-year-old Mohammed at the Special Correctional Centres for Boys in Oregun while 19-year-old Jamiu was remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Center, pending the legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The duo were charged alongside two others Mumuni Toheeb, 21 and Mubarak Soliu, 20 both of whom allegedly received a Spark S Techno Phone belonging to the deceased and valued at N60,000.
The four defendants are facing three charges bordering on conspiracy, murder, and receiving of a stolen item, preferred against them by the Police. Read more
Nigeria records 395 cases of mutant poliovirus in 27 states, FCT (DailyTrust)
Nigeria has recorded 395 cases of Circulating Nigeria Mutant Poliovirus Type 2 (cMPV2) across 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT’).
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in response to media reports that there was an outbreak of a new poliovirus in some states.
The agency said contrarily to the reports, no case of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) has been reported anywhere in the country since the last case in 2016.
“Nigeria and the African region were certified Wild Polio Virus (WPV) free in 2020, following a rigorous verification and certification process by the African Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (ARCC) which spanned three years of no detection of WPV.
“Till date, there has been no case of WPV anywhere in the country,” he said in the statement. Read more
Presidential Visit: No diversion on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway ― FRSC (Vanguard)
Sequel to the official visit of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari, to Ogun State on Thursday, the Federal Road Safety Corps FRSC, has assured road users on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway that the visit will not affect their movement.
President Buhari is expected to inaugurate multiple landmark projects, executed by Ogun State governor Dapo Abiodun.
Olabisi Sonusi, the Spokesperson of Lagos Sector Command of FRSC in a statement said, “the command wishes to inform motoring public who intend to ply the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that the corridor is not affected by the visit of Mr President today 13th January, 2022.
“Personnel of FRSC, Nigeria Police, TRACE and other agencies are along the corridor ensuring free flow of traffic.
Anambra: Soludo appoints ex-minister Ezekwesili as head of transition team (Sun)
Anambra State Governor-Elect Prof Chukwuma Soludo has appointed the former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, as the head of his transition team ahead of the March 17 handover.
Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, was declared the winner of the November 6, 2021 governorship election in the state. He was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
He defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Valentine Ozigbo, who came second. Although an Abuja court recently declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in the poll, INEC had declared that Senator Andy Uba came third on the party’s platform.
Other members of the transition committee were not yet known at the time of filing this report as the list has not been officially released. Read more
Gunmen abduct 3 Plateau poly students (Nation)
Suspected Gunmen on Wednesday night stormed the Plateau State Polytechnic Barkin Ladi and kidnapped three students.
The abducted students were identified as Bencit and Longfei and one other person.
The Police confirmed the incident and informed one suspect has been arrested.
Sources said the three gunmen stormed the hostel known as ‘Plateau Embassy’ towards the end of the School fence and whisked the three girls away after shooting sporadically in the air. Read more
No Plateau Poly student kidnapped, says management (Nation)
The management of the Plateau State Polytechnic, Heipang in Barkin Ladi local government area has denied reports that three students of the institution were abducted on Wednesday night.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Matthew Dokotri said those abducted were not students of the institution.
In a statement on Thursday in Jos, he said: “I came to the Main Campus and we went to the Barkin Ladi Police Station with the Chief Security Officer of the institution. We met the DPO of Barkin Ladi.
“What happened yesterday, the 12th of January, 2022; precisely by 8.15 pm, a male student by name Lucky Joel of ND1 Electrical Electronics Engineering Department made an illegal electrical connection from a lady’s apartment to his own.
“When the lady found out, she engaged the boy, telling him that he should disconnect the illegal connection, the boy mobilized some other students nearby and they engaged the woman in an argument. Read more
Police, military rescue 3 women kidnapped in Plateau (Sun)
The police in Plateau and Operation SAFE HAVEN has rescued three women who were abducted on Wednesday night by kidnappers at Ban village behind Plateau State Polytechnic Heipan, in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area.
Police spokesman Ubah Gabriel Ogaba confirmed that the victims were rescued unhurt.
He said efforts are ongoing to arrest other perpetrators who are still on the run as one of the suspects was arrested earlier.
“The team of Police and STF deployed to rescue the victims kidnapped yesterday at Ban Village behind the Plateau State Polytechnic have been rescued today 13/1/2022 at about 1430 hrs unhurt and are presently with the police.
“Effort is still on to arrest other perpetrators of the act.” Read more
5 things Nigeria says Twitter agreed to before lifting ban (Guardian)
Nigeria Wednesday lifted the suspension of the Twitter operation in the country after reaching agreements.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who headed a Nigeria committee that interfaced with Twitter, said in a statement that Buhari approved the restoration of Twitter in a memo written to communications and digital economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.
Twitter has since been restored in Nigeria with citizens continuing usage of the microblogging platform without the aid of a Virtual Personal Network (VPN).
Abdullahi said there were agreements reached between the two parties before the suspension was lifted. Here are the five agreements he listed in his statement. Read more
Senate President seeks consensus among political elites (VON)
President of the Nigerian Senate Ahmad Lawan, has called on Nigerian politicians to build consensus among themselves to be selfless and work only in the interest of the country.
Senator Lawan made the call at a reception organized in his honour in Abuja by former Governor of Abia State and Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, to mark the 63rd birthday of the Senate President.
Addressing the gathering, the President of the Senate said the kind of consensus he wants should centre on fundamental issues about the country below which none of them should go irrespective of their political affinities.
“You can’t be anything unless there is a country”. So we must build and sustain consensus on certain fundamental issues about our country. Irreducible minimum below which nobody should go whether you’re APC, PDP, APGA or whatever you call yourselves because that will infringe on the very fabric of our country.” Read more
Ckay’s worldwide hit ‘Love Nwantiti’ gets certified Gold in the US (Guardian)
Nigerian singer, CKay’s worldwide hit song, ‘Love Nwantiti’ was certified Gold in the US on January 10, 2022. This took place after the record was certified Gold in the UK and France.
The record surpassed charts streams across the world in 2020 to topping major charts. This made history and emerged CKay as Africa’s biggest artist on Spotify. Such honorary moves of receiving the Gold Plaque in the US happen when a record moves from the equivalent of 500,000 copies via streaming and raw CD sales.
The hit single “Love Nwantiti” was initially released under Chocolate City in 2019 but a year later, a remix with Joeboy and Kwami Eugene emerged becoming very popular.
Making waves in the US to earn him the Gold Plaque was the original version of the hit song ‘Love Nwantiti’ and not the remix. Read more
Ammunition supplier “created a perfect storm” for deadly “Rust” shooting, lawsuit says (CBS)
The armorer for the film “Rust” has sued the man who supplied the ammunition and guns for the movie, accusing him and his company of providing a combination of dummy and live rounds. Alec Baldwin fatally shot the film’s cinematographer as it was being made.
Lawyers representing Hannah Gutierrez Reed filed the lawsuit Wednesday in New Mexico, where the shooting occurred.
The lawsuit claims that Seth Kenney and his company, PDQ Arm & Prop, “distributed boxes of ammunition purporting to contain dummy rounds, but which contained a mix of dummy and live ammunition to the ‘Rust’ production.”
“Hannah and the entire Rust movie crew relied on the Defendants’ misrepresentation that they provided only dummy ammunition,” the suit asserts. “In so doing, Defendants created a
dangerous condition on the movie set, unbeknownst to Hannah Gutierrez Reed, which caused a foreseeable risk of injury to numerous people.”
Kanye West teases new music with Pusha T, The Game, & DJ Premier: ‘We are about to control music’ (HipHopDX)
A Yeezy, Gap and Balenciaga clothing collaboration isn’t the only thing Kanye West has up his sleeve in 2022.
With the sequel to last year’s Donda reportedly in the works, Ye has been busy in the studio lately, reuniting with some old friends while connecting with a few new faces. That trend continued on Wednesday night (January 12) as the Chicago rap icon hit the studio with A$AP Rocky, Pusha T, The Game and Re-Up Gang’s Ab-Liva.
Kanye’s close associate Tracey Mills captured footage of the star-studded session, posting an audio-less clip on Instagram showing Rocky spitting bars into Ye’s ear while Pusha and The Game chop it up in the background. Whatever was being played through the speakers was met with face-scrunching reactions from around the room.
In another video shared by Mills, Kanye West can be seen connecting with DJ Premier over FaceTime. Ye and The Game give the legendary producer his flowers while enlisting his services for new music they plan to release this week. Read more
Lionel Richie to be honoured with Gershwin Prize by Library of Congress (USAToday)
The immense catalog of Lionel Richie will be commemorated when the R&B-pop superstar is honored as the next recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Richie’s song list – both as a solo artist and with The Commodores – is vast, from “Endless Love” to “All Night Long,” “Hello” to “Truly,” while his record sales tally more than 125 million worldwide. His involvement in the creation of “We Are the World,” the Grammy-winning 1986 charity smash to benefit the USA for Africa, is another part of his enduring legacy.
Richie’s accomplishments will be celebrated with an all-star tribute concert in Washington, D.C. on March 9; the show will be broadcast nationally on PBS May 17 (9 EDT/PDT; check local listings).
“This is truly an honor of a lifetime, and I am so grateful to be receiving the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song,” Richie, 72, said in a statement. “I am proud to be joining all the other previous artists, who I also admire and am a fan of their music.” Read more
Avril Lavigne unveils new album, Love Sux (MusicNews)
Avril Lavigne has announced her new album, ‘Love Sux’.
The 37-year-old singer’s eagerly-awaited follow-up to 2019’s ‘Head Above Water’ will be released on February 25.
The 12-tracker includes the previously released single ‘Bite Me’ and the new Blackbear-featuring track ‘Love It When You Hate Me’, which is out on Friday (14.01.22).
Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus also makes an appearance on the song ‘All I Wanted’ and Machine Gun Kelly is featured on ‘Bois Lie’. Read more
Lesotho’s ‘Oscar worthy’ film is now streaming on Showmax (TheSouthAfrican)
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s film also cracked many of the most prestigious Top 10 Films of 2021 lists, placing second on Vulture, third on Slant, fourth on LA Weekly, sixth on RogerEbert.com, seventh on AV Club, and ninth on Paste and The Playlist – not to mention making Vanity Fair’s list of the 21 Most Underrated Movies of 2021 and The Film Stage’s list of The Best Cinematography of 2021.
Now streaming on Showmax, This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection stars the late, great Mary Twala Mhlongo (Black Is King) in her final film role as an 80-year-old widow in Lesotho who finds a new will to live and ignites a collective spirit of defiance within her community when her village is threatened with forced removals due to the construction of a reservoir.
Triple SAFTA winner Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha (Tsotsi, Five Fingers For Marseilles) narrates, while Makhaola Ndebele (The River) co-stars.
This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection has won over 33 international awards, including the Visionary Filmmaking Prize at Sundance 2020, the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize at Hong Kong 2020, the Artistic Bravery Prize at Durban 2020, Best Cinematography at the African Movie Academy Awards 2020 and FESPACO 2021 for Pierre de Villiers, and the Silver Tanit for Best Film at Carthage 2021. Read more
Michael Rubin, Meek Mill & Kevin Hart announce $15m donation to Philly students (AllHipHop)
Philadelphia 76ers partner Michael Rubin teamed up with Philadelphia natives Meek Mill and Kevin Hart for a special cause. The three men are looking to help the local community in Pennsylvania’s largest city.
Michael Rubin, Meek Mill, and Kevin Hart donated a combined $15 million to 110 Philadelphia-area schools. The contribution will assist thousands of students from underserved families for the 2022-2023 academic year.
This latest donation is an extension of Rubin and Meek’s recent philanthropic work. Previously, the Fanatics CEO and the “Stay Woke” rapper created a $2 million scholarship fund. It was used to support underprivileged Philadelphia students from Pre-K through high school.
Michael Rubin and Meek Mill are also Co-Chairs of the REFORM Alliance. The bipartisan non-profit organization is dedicated to criminal justice reform across the nation with the intent of creating common-sense solutions to transform probation and parole. Read more
Denmark to offer 4th Covid vaccine shots to special groups (ABC)
Denmark will offer fourth coronavirus vaccination shots to risk groups and vulnerable citizens as the pandemic situation in the country has worsened due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant.
Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Wednesday that health authorities would offer fourth vaccine jabs to the “most vulnerable groups” such as those with weakened immune systems.
Heunicke didn’t say when the rollout of the fourth jab would begin in the country of 5.8 million. He stressed that while the omicron variant appears to be less dangerous than the previously dominant delta variant, it is not harmless.
Effective Jan. 16, Denmark will ease some of the coronavirus restrictions as lawmakers agreed to reopen cinemas, entertainment parks, museums and theaters among other venues. Also, limited numbers of spectators will be allowed at indoor and outdoor sports events. Read more
2Baba, Ice Prince, others to light up Mark D Ball Basketball Championship (DailyTrust)
Organisers of the Mark D Ball Basketball Championship have announced that top music acts will perform at the rejuvenated basketball championship in Abuja.
Director of Media for Mark D Ball Basketball Championship, Kingsley Aigbonoga, said Innocent Idibia (2Baba) will lead other top music stars to light up Abuja during the championship.
He disclosed that Joel El, Magnito, Ice Prince, Goya Menor, Rayce and Chuddy K will all perform live at the championship.
“The Mark D Ball Championship is a complete package as we are mixing sports and entertainment together.
“Beyond the playing basketball, the organisers are bringing 2Baba, Joel El, Magnito, Ice Prince, Rayce, Goya Menor, Chuddy K and many more to spice up the championship with their live performances. Read more
Benue State kick-starts 2022 with U-18 tournament for girls (Sun)
Hope rises for kids in Benue State whose ambition is to take basketball as a profession, as the Benue State Basketball Association has concluded plans for the 2022 U18 Girls tournament.
The three-day event starts today at the basketball court inside the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi.
This initiative tagged “Catch them Young” is one of the many programmes on the 2022 calendar of the state basketball association.
Benue State Basketball chairman, Col Sam Ahmedu (Rtd) said the platform would provide an avenue for talented kids across the state to play coordinated basketball. Read more
AFCON: Burkina Faso’s Troare tests positive for COVID-19 (Punch)
Aston Villa winger Bertrand Traore has tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty with Burkina Faso.
Traore is currently in Cameroon representing his nation at the Africa Cup of Nations, but his tournament could now be over.
Burkina Faso head coach Kamou Malo, who himself has only just recovered from the illness, confirmed the result of Traore’s test this afternoon.
The West Africans’ second group game is due to take place on Thursday against Cape Verde after they lost the opening game of the tournament to hosts Cameroon. Read more
Jurgen Klopp pours salt in Man Utd wounds after Cristiano Ronaldo admits problems (Mirror)
Jurgen Klopp has hailed Liverpool’s latest crop of academy stars just as Cristiano Ronaldo cited issues with the current day young player.
The Reds have benefitted from individuals rising through the ranks for years.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is the biggest success story of the Liverpool academy in recent times, establishing himself as one of the world’s leading right-backs.
Curtis Jones and Tyler Morton also look to have bright futures. Read more
No one thought my clause would be triggered – Newcastle new boy Chris Wood (InsideFutbol)
Newcastle United new boy Chris Wood has conceded that he did not expect any club to trigger the release clause in his contract with his previous club Burnley.
Wood’s move to Newcastle was confirmed earlier today and he has headed from Burnley, where he spent more than four years in the Premier League.
Burnley were not interested in selling him in the middle of the season but could do little once Newcastle decided to trigger the £25m release clause in his contract with the Clarets.
The New Zealand international was keen on the move and conceded that everything happened at a brisk pace in the last 36 hours, which saw him move clubs in the ongoing window. Read more
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen sent fighting message by Carlos Sainz before new season (Express)
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jnr has sent a warning shot to Mercedes and Red Bull ahead of the new season with a strong fighting message to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen as the Spaniard insists he’s 100% ready to challenge the top two teams.
Despite a sharp turn of form in 2021, Ferrari failed to pick up any wins across the season but did manage to beat McLaren to third place in the Constructors Championship by 47.5 points thanks to two pole positions and five podiums from Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
But as Formula One finally introduces its new technical regulations, with new aerodynamic concepts and 18-inch tyres to contend with, Sainz feels Ferrari have a fighting chance this season.
When asked if he would be ready for a title fight in 2022, Saiz replied: “Yes, 100 percent. Especially… This second half of the season has given me the right confidence with the car, the right confidence with the team, to know I’m ready for whatever comes next year.
Djokovic in Australian Open Draw as COVID Vaccine Row Drags On (VOA)
Top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic was included in the Australian Open draw as top seed Thursday while the government considers whether to revoke his visa for a second time.
Australia’s immigration minister could use discretionary power to cancel Djokovic’s visa over concern about the Serbian’s medical exemption from Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rules.
Djokovic drew unseeded fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic for his opening match that is expected to take place on Monday or Tuesday.
Djokovic’s status remains uncertain after Thursday’s draw was held following a 75-minute delay to determine the brackets for the men’s and women’s singles draws at the first major tennis tournament of 2022. Read more