CP Squad storms Ikorodu, arrests traffic robbers, cultists (Vanguard)
A Police Special Squad set up by Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has stormed Ikorodu area of the state arrested five suspected traffic robbers/cultists and cleared shanties in the area.
The operation took place at about 6pm on Thursday, at Agric area.
The suspects were Tanimowo Babatunde, male, 41, Gbolahan Oladimeji, male, 25, Kabiru Atanda, male, 30 years, Ibrahim Abubakri, male, 29 years, and Wasiu Rafiu, male, 19.
The sting operation was part of the promises of the CP, at the recently concluded Ikorodu Town Hall Meeting held on Wednesday 27th January, 2021, that Ikorodu will be sanitised of illegal and criminal acts. Read more
Water Transportation: Britain demonstrates hovercraft in Lagos (DailyTrust)
Recognising the urgency to tackle climate change by quickly reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones and the General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) Mr. Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, have witnessed the demonstration of a hovercraft in Lagos on Friday.
Hovercraft, an amphibious boat-like vehicle that travels over water, sand and grass, can enhance waterways transportation system and help to reduce the chaotic Lagos traffic.
Griffon Hoverwork, a UK hovercraft design and manufacturing company, carried out the demonstration on Friday in Lagos, as part of the UK Government’s effort to enhance the waterways transportation system of the Lagos State Government.
A hovercraft can improve the climate resilience of Lagos state, contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development in the city, the company said. Read more
Canadian high commissioner parleys with women in Lagos community (Vanguard)
Widows in Itedo, a suburb in Lagos have called on the Lagos State Government to address what they described as a poor state of health, bad roads and unfavourable environment.
While narrating their plights to WO, the women said that their inability to access good health care has subjected them to health challenges including rheumatism, malaria attacks among others.
They took turns to express their plights on the state of the environment, road inaccessibility and non-availability of healthcare facilities among others.
With their encounter with the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria; Ambassador Nicholas Simard who paid a familiarization visit to them recently, they were optimistic that their burdens will be lifted. Read more
Gunmen kill man, wife, daughter in Anambra church (Punch)
A man, Ken Ekwesianya, his wife and daughter have been reportedly killed by gunmen in Azia, in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
They were said to be killed inside a church around 7 pm on Thursday.
Details of the incident were still sketchy as of the time of filing the report.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Haruna Mohammed confirmed the incident.
He said an investigation had commenced. Read more
MAMA 2021: MTV Base postpones award (Punch)
MTV Base, organizers of the MTV Africa Music Awards has postponed the event indefinitely. The ceremony was scheduled to hold in Kampala, Uganda on February 2021.
In an e-mail sent to The Punch, organizers of the award said that the postponement was due to the ‘current health and safety challenges.”
They wrote, “After careful consideration, MTV Base is concerned that the current health and safety challenges will significantly jeopardize the ability of the campaign to continue to achieve its objectives. Read more
Customs hands over 4,907 cartons of expired sweet, chocolates to NAFDAC (Guardian)
The Commander of Comptroller-General of Customs’ Strike Force, Mr Hussein Ejibunu disclosed this while handing over the items to NAFDAC officials in Karu, Abuja on Friday.
Ejibunu said the trailer, which was loaded with the seized items was intercepted in Abaji along Lokoja-Abuja Highway on Dec. 16, 2020.
He said the items seized, which had no NAFDAC’s certification and expiring date were said to have been manufactured in India and Pakistan based on preliminary investigation conducted by the service.
The commander gave the breakdown of the seized items as 4,882 cartons of Deluxe Toffees sweet and 25 cartons of Jolly Boy Chewy Lollipop.
According to him, one suspect that was arrested in connection with the truck loaded with the seized items is being handed over to NAFDAC.
“In the spirit of inter-agency collaboration, it behoves on us to do this and hand it over to the appropriate agency.
“It is our primary responsibility of making sure that the Federal Government’s fiscal policies are followed accordingly.
“From our investigation, these items have no NAFDAC numbers which means they are capable of creating health hazard for Nigerians. We all know that things that are not certified by NAFDAC could be harmful. Read more
COVID-19: Nigerian Entertainers Need Palliatives From FG – Tee Mac (DailyTrust)
The President, Entertainment Database and a Nigerian Flutist, Omatshola Iseli, popularly known as Tee Mac, has called on the Federal Government to provide COVID-19 palliatives to Nigerian entertainers.
Tee Mac, who made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said Nigerian entertainers were worst hit by the restrictions occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 spike: Anambra imposes curfew, set up mobile courts
NLNG earned $108bn, paid $35bn dividends in 21 yrs
Iseli, also the Chairman, Entertainment Foundation, said the fact that night clubs and multipurpose halls had been shut down and ban on live shows, entertainers like musicians, actors and comedians have been hugely affected.
According to him, with this development, Nigerian Entertainers have no streams of income.
Tee Mac said that palliatives must be extended to these group of individuals just as practised in other climes like Europe and the United States of America (USA). Read more
CBN orders banks to close cryptocurrency accounts (Punch)
The Central Bank has ordered banks and other financial institutions to identify persons and entities operating cryptocurrency exchanges and close all such accounts.
It stated that dealing with cryptocurrencies and facilitating payments through them are illegal in the country.
This was disclosed in a circular titled ‘Letter to all Deposit Money Banks, non-bank financial institutions and other financial institutions’ Friday.
The circular was signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Bello Hassan; and the Director of Payments System Management Department. Read more
COVID vaccines extremely safe, finds UK regulator (BBC)
COVID vaccines being given to millions of people in the UK are extremely safe, with mild expected side-effects, says the country’s drugs regulator.
It assessed safety reports from nearly seven million doses given up to 24 January – mostly with the Pfizer jab.
Some 22,820 suspected reactions were reported. Almost all were mild, such as a sore arm or flu-like illness.
Meanwhile, new research shows the AstraZeneca jab protects well against the new ‘Kent’ variant of Covid. Read more
Orthodox Church under fire in Romania after baby dies during baptism (NYPost)
A Romanian baby died after a baptism ceremony in which infants are immersed in holy water three times.
The 6-week-old infant was rushed to a hospital in cardiac arrest on Monday and died a few hours later, the autopsy revealing liquid in his lungs, Agence France-Presse reported.
The tragedy put pressure on the Orthodox Church to change baptism rules.
Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation against the priest in the city of Suceava. Read more
Russia expels European diplomats over Navalny protests (BBC)
Russia has expelled three diplomats from Germany, Sweden and Poland for joining protests in support of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who was jailed earlier this week.
The Russian foreign ministry said the three took part in “illegal demonstrations” on 23 January.
The diplomats’ home countries have condemned the expulsions, as has the EU. France expressed solidarity.
Mr Navalny is a vociferous critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Read more
President Biden will raise cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 (NYPost)
President Joe Biden aims to raise the refugee cap to 125,000 — a stark rise from Trump’s 15,000 refugee limit last year.
President Joe Biden plans to raise the refugee cap to 125,000 — a stark rise from Trump’s 15,000 refugee limit last year.CNP / MediaPunch
President Joe Biden announced Thursday he plans to increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the US after his predecessor Donald Trump slashed it dramatically while in office.
Biden aims to raise the refugee cap to 125,000 — a stark rise from Trump’s 15,000 refugee limit last year — starting Oct. 1, according to The Washington Post.
“I’m approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need,” the president said in a speech at the State Department. “It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged.”
Biden would have to consult with Congress before setting the annual limit. Read more
Stutthof camp: Woman, 95, accused of aiding Nazi mass murder (BBC)
A 95-year-old woman who worked for the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp has been charged in north Germany with aiding and abetting mass murder.
The woman, named in media as Irmgard F and who lives in a care home in Pinneberg near Hamburg, is charged in relation to “more than 10,000 cases”.
She was secretary to the SS commandant of Stutthof, a brutal camp near modern-day Gdansk, where about 65,000 prisoners died during World War Two.
It is unclear if she will face trial. Read more
Nick Cannon back to hosting ‘Wild ‘N Out’ after public apology (PageSix)
Nick Cannon is going back to work.
Cannon, 40, is returning as host of VH1’s “Wild ‘N Out” after parent company ViacomCBS fired him over the summer for making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast, “Cannon’s Class.”
In the episode, “The Masked Singer” host claimed that black people are “the true Hebrews” and made reference to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories regarding “Zionists” and the Rothschild family.
“It’s never hate speech, you can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people,” Cannon said. “When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright. We are the true Hebrews.” Read more
Serena Williams withdraws from semi-final against Ashleigh Barty (BBC)
Serena Williams has withdrawn from her Yarra Valley Classic semi-final against world number one Ashleigh Barty with a right shoulder injury.
Williams had earlier beaten fellow American Danielle Collins 6-2 4-6 10-6 in the last eight in Melbourne.
Australian Barty, who won 7-5 2-6 10-4 against American Shelby Rogers, has received a walkover into the final.
Williams will be seeking a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.
The first Slam of the year begins on Monday and all six ATP and WTA warm-up events are being held at Melbourne Park. Read more
National Sports Festival may suffer another setback (DailyTrust)
The 20th edition of the National Sports Festival to be hosted by Edo may yet suffer another setback following reports that the ‘Nigerian Olympics’ may be postponed for the fourth time.
The Games was initially scheduled for March 21 to April 1, 2020 before it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will be recalled that the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki had cried out that the state was not financially buoyant to host the event and sought for support from the Federal Government.
“Since March last year, you know the financial strength of most States, sub-nationals and countries. For us as a State, we are ready to host but don’t have the funds at this point in time to host the games; this is the plain truth. Read more
Diri directs immediate constitution of board for Bayelsa Utd, Bayelsa Queens FCs (Vanguard)
Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri has directed the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo to immediately set up a substantive board to run the affairs of the two State owned clubs, Bayelsa United and Bayelsa Queens.
Governor Diri gave the directive during the presentation of new sets of jerseys to Bayelsa United for the 2020/2021 season at the Government House in Yenagoa.
The governor while commending Exosports over its effort to rebrand Bayelsa United, said sports in the world was no longer fashionable with government as it is increasingly becoming a private sector driven enterprise.
He urged Exosports to look beyond Bayelsa United and also extend same to the female counterparts, Bayelsa Queens,pointing out that as a governor his aspiration is to see Bayelsa United return to the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL and for Bayelsa Queens to win Nigeria Women Premier league at the end of the season.
Having listened to the complaints of both teams, Governor Diri who was one time commissioner for Sports Development in the State stressed that both teams would get a brand new bus in no distant time to execute their matches.
The Governor called on the private sector and well meaning individuals in the state to support the development of sports in the Bayelsa State. Read more
Frankie Edgar caved and now his new UFC rivals have a problem for years to come (NYPost)
For most of Frankie Edgar’s accomplished career in the UFC, the calls from outside the cage were loud and clear.
“Why don’t you fight at 135 pounds?”
It took almost nine years from the time he last successfully defended his lightweight crown — most of that time competing at the smaller featherweight class — but he finally gave the masses the bantamweight debut so many craved much more than he had, winning a nail-biter of a split decision over Pedro Munhoz last Aug. 22.
Happy now? Read more
Ajax’s Cameroonian goalkeeper, Onana, suspended one year for doping (DailyTrust)
Ajax’s Cameroonian international goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for one year for doping, the Dutch club said on Friday.
The club said in a statement Onana had “mistakenly” taken his wife’s medicine which had led to the banned diuretic Furosemide appearing in his urine.
Ajax said they had hoped Onana would receive a shorter ban because the substance was “arguably” not a performance booster.
“On the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell,” the club said in a statement. Read more
Super Bowl 2021: How Brady turned the Bucs into contenders (BBC)
After winning a record six Super Bowls in 20 years with the New England Patriots, Tom Brady became a free agent for the first time last year.
He sought a new challenge, and chose to leave the most successful team of the NFL’s modern era for one of the least successful – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Bucs were hosting Super Bowl 55 at the end of the season and had just signed the man widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time.Could he really lead Tampa Bay to the big game in his very first season, making them the first team to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium? It seemed too good to be true. Read more