EFCC arrests 10 suspected internet fraudsters in Lagos (DailyTrust)
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Office, have arrested 10 suspected internet fraudsters in Lagos.
The suspects were arrested in Westwood Estate, Ajah, during a sting operation the EFCC conducted on Wednesday January 29, 2020 following an intelligence report it received on the suspects’ alleged involvement in cybercrime.
The Commission said items it recovered from the suspects at the point of arrest included a car, laptops and mobile phones. The suspects, the Commission added, would soon be arraigned in court. Read more
Lagos Govt partners China on prevention of Coronavirus in Nigeria (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Government says it has partnered with the Chinese Embassy in Lagos to reduce the risk of novel Coronavirus importation after the Chinese New Year celebration.
Prof. Akin Abayomi, the state’s Commissioner for Health, made this known on Wednesday in Lagos at a media briefing highlighting the state’s preparedness to prevent or contain the spread of Coronavirus to the country.
Recalls that the new Coronavirus (known as 2019-nCoV) are zoonotic diseases, and was first reported in Wuhan City, China, on Dec. 31 and has since been detected in 15 other countries, including Thailand, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and the U.S. Read more
Alleged N2.9bn fraud: Judge threatens to arrest suspect (DailyTrust)
Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has threatened to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of a Lagos-based businessman, Kenneth Ndubuisi Amadi, after the businessman failed to appear before the court yesterday for arraignment over a fraud case against him. When the matter came up, a prosecutor from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja, Mrs Imama, informed the court that prosecutors had travelled to Lagos from Abuja on four occasions for the arraignment of the defendant but to no avail. Imama requested for reimbursement of N150,000, representing the cost of her transportation and accommodation for the failed arraignment yesterday. Read more
Policemen raid Lagos hotels, arrest workers, customers (Punch)
Pandemonium broke out on Tuesday in the Ebute area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, when the Divisional Police Officer, Ipakodo, Shedrack Oriloye, allegedly led his men to raid some hotels in the area.
The policemen arrested no fewer than 100 workers and patrons of the centres.
When PUNCH Metro visited the Club Lakers and the Pegrite Place in the Ebute area on Wednesday, it was gathered that Oriloye and his men, who were accompanied by some personnel of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, invaded the lounges between 8pm and 10pm, and threw the workers and customers into panic.
During the invasion, business activities were paralysed and the CCTV footage from the Club Lakers showed policemen marching the workers and customers into private and commercial vehicles, for transfer to the Ipakodo Police Station. Read more
Ekiti Reps member appoints 35 aides ‘to fight poverty’ (DailyTrust)
A lawmaker at the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Femi Bamisile, has appointed 35 aides to help him in the discharge of his duties as a federal legislator and in combating the scourge of poverty in the state. Bamisile, the legislator representing Ekiti South Federal Constituency II and who is the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said the measure was also to ensure that he spreads the dividends of democracy across the three local governments within his constituency. Read more
Rumble in Power sector as unions fight over membership (Vanguard)
Two of the unions in the nation’s Power sector; the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and its Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, are at each other throat over membership.
Vanguard investigation revealed that the fight over membership has been on for sometimes now and that the leadership of the SSAEAC has taken NUEE to National Industrial Court, NIC, accusing the former of poaching.
According to Vanguard’s checks, the matter comes up later in February.
Investigations revealed that while the matter is pending, SSAEAC has also petitioned the Ministry of Labour and Employment, complaining over the same issue of poaching and begging the ministry to intervene. Read more
Most children sleep with mobile phone beside bed (BBC)
More than half of children say they sleep with their mobile phone beside their bed, according to an annual survey of young people’s use of media.
The Childwise report found children getting mobiles at an earlier age, with most now having their own phone by the age of seven.
The average time spent on mobiles by seven to 16-year-olds is three hours and 20 minutes per day.
Researcher Simon Leggett says mobiles can “dominate children’s lives”. Read more
China opens 1,000-bed coronavirus hospital after just 48 hours of construction (Metro)
A new 1,000-bed coronavirus hospital has opened in a city close to Wuhan where the outbreak of the disease began.
The Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre started receiving patients at 10.30pm last night after workers spent just 48 hours converting an empty building.
More than 500 construction workers, electricians and police worked around the clock to open the hospital in the Huangzhou District. Read more
Coronavirus: Death toll rises as virus spreads to every Chinese region (BBC)
The death toll of the coronavirus has risen to 170 and with a confirmed case in Tibet, the virus has now spread to every region in mainland China.
Chinese health authorities have said there were 7,711 confirmed cases in the country as of 29 January.
Infections have also spread to at least 16 other countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will meet on Thursday to discuss whether the virus constitutes a global health emergency. Read more
More than 200 Americans evacuated from Wuhan to be screened for coronavirus (Metro)
More than 200 Americans have been evacuated from Wuhan, China to be screened for coronavirus, according to federal health officials. The group has been taken to a military base in Southern California where they will be kept for three days while medical staff monitors their health. At a news conference, Dr Chris Braden, who is with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the evacuees are not quarantined and the agreed to a 72-hour ‘hold’ that requires them to stay at the base. Read more
EU officially approves Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal with just two days to go (Metro)
The European Parliament has approved Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in a historic final vote paving the way for the UK to leave the EU this week. MEPs in Brussels overwhelmingly backed the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, with 621 votes to four, on Wednesday evening.
There were emotional scenes in parliament as the result was announced, with MEPs linking hands in solidarity to sing a final chorus of Auld Lang Syne.
Many were seen crying and hugging one another, while others celebrated by clinking glasses of champagne toasting to Britain’s new-found independence. Read more
Liverpool set incredible record with West Ham victory as they claim 19th Premier League scalp (Metro)
Liverpool’s remarkable season continued on Wednesday night as they beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium to claim their 19th and final Premier League scalp of the campaign – a new club record. The Merseysiders went ahead shortly after the half-hour mark when Issa Diop brought down Divock Origi, with Mohamed Salah stepping up to dispatch the resulting penalty in the bottom corner. Liverpool dominated possession from the first whistle, exerting enormous control on the match, though it was a counter-attack that brought about their second goal. Salah netted his 12th Premier League goal of the season from the spot (Picture: Getty) This time Salah turned creator, poking an exquisite pass in behind the defence for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who burst through on goal and tucked the ball past Lukasz Fabianski. Read more
Rodgers frowns at Iheanacho’s failure to win Leicester a penalty (DailyTrust)
kelechi Iheanacho Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers believes Kelechi Iheanacho should have won his side a penalty in their 2-1 League Cup defeat to Aston Villa on Tuesday night. Villa’s Tyrone Mings challenged the Super Eagles star in the box in the opening 10 minutes of the game but the striker managed to stay on his feet which did not go down well with Rodgers who felt he should have fallen and possibly earned his side a penalty. The former Manchester City striker later levelled for the Foxes after Matt Targett had opened the scoring before Egypt international Trezeguet volleyed home a late effort to inspire Villa into the final of the competition. Read more
Jurgen Klopp says he doesn’t need to copy Pep Guardiola ploy to motivate his Liverpool players (Metro)
Jurgen Klopp insists he does not need to set artificial targets like Pep Guardiola did in Manchester City’s title-winning seasons and says Liverpool’s players are naturally motivated by the club’s ‘proper history’. The Premier League leaders increased their cushion at the top of the table to 19 points with a 2-0 victory over West Ham on Wednesday night at the London Stadium, with Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scoring the goals. In the process, Liverpool beat all 19 other teams in a single season for the first time, but Klopp does not care for such records and says his Liverpool side, unlike City, don’t need any extra motivation. Read more
Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer condemn fans’ behaviour in Manchester derby (BBC)
Manchester United won Wednesday’s game 1-0 but lost 3-2 on aggregate as Manchester City progressed to the EFL Cup final
Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer condemned fans who made aeroplane gestures and threw seats during Wednesday’s Manchester derby.
A social media post showed fans in the Manchester City section making gestures referring to the 1958 Munich air crash, in which 23 people died, including eight United players.
After the match, fans in the United end threw seats at home supporters nearby.
“I don’t know what happened but it is not nice,” said City boss Guardiola. Read more
Fiorentina up offer for Amrabat (DailyTrust)
Fiorentina are adamant about signing Hellas Verona midfielder Sofyan Amrabat and they have increased their offer for the Moroccan midfielder.
La Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia reported that the Purple Ones have submitted a new bid around €18 million-plus €2 million in bonuses for the 23-year-old.
Amrabat is also a target for Serie A rivals Napoli who have tabled €15m bid for the Club Brugge loanee. Read more
NBA explain why logo won’t be changed to Kobe Bryant (Metro)
The NBA is reportedly against changing their iconic logo to honour Kobe Bryant following the death of the LA Lakers legend. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday and tributes have flooded in. However, basketball fans are demanding that the NBA change their logo by proposing that Bryant’s silhouette. A petition which was started on Change.org was close to reaching three million signatures in the early hours of Thursday morning. Read more
Several Chinese players to miss Olympic qualifier amid coronavirus outbreak (Vanguard)
The Chinese Football Association already relocated its Olympic women’s soccer qualifying event to Australia amid an outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, however, several players will skip the trip next after having spent time in Wuhan, according to The Guardian.
Per the report, midfielders Wang Shuang and Yao Wei will not travel with the team to Australia for the qualifying matches. They were reportedly among a group of players who traveled to Wuhan where the outbreak started for China’s spring festival. Wang, per the report, has played in more than 100 matches for the national team. Both started in every match for China at the World Cup last summer, too. Read more
LMC re-opens Lafia city stadium to Nasarawa United fans (DailyTrust)
The League Management Company, LMC, has granted conditional approval for Nasarawa United to open up the Lafia City stadium to fans for its home games. This was made known via the official Twitter handle of the LMC, @LMCNPFL on Wednesday. According to the statement, “The LMC has granted conditional approval for Nasarawa United to admit fans to its home games after the club’s completion of the 5 home fixtures closed door sanction due to the fracas that occurred at the end of the MatchDay 4 fixture against Plateau Utd in Lafia. Read more
Everton Turn Down €100m Offer From Barcelona for Richarlison (Vanguard)
Everton have reportedly turned down a €100m (£85m) bid from Barcelona for Richarlison. The Brazilian is currently partway through his second season at Goodison Park after joining the club from Watford for around £35m in July 2018.
Since then, the 22-year-old has gone on to score 24 goals in 65 appearances in all competitions for the Toffees, also registering six assists.
According to Sky Sports, this form has proved to be enough for the forward to attract interest from five-time Champions League winners Barcelona, with Everton understood to have rejected the mouth-watering £85m bid. Read more
Man City into EFL Cup final despite defeat (BBC)
Manchester City are only the third team to reach the EFL Cup final in three successive seasons
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City need to “learn to be more clinical” after they made difficult work of reaching their third successive Carabao Cup final.
Guardiola’s side will face Aston Villa at Wembley on 1 March – despite losing the second leg of their semi-final against Manchester United, advancing 3-2 on aggregate.
Leading 3-1 from the first leg at Old Trafford, the holders pushed forward in search of a goal to put the tie to bed but could find no way past an inspired David de Gea. Read more