FG announces partial closure of Independence Bridge (Guardian)
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on Sunday announced partial closure of the Independence Bridge in Lagos for routine maintenance till May 2 to replace damaged expansion joints.
A statement by Mr Adedamola Kuti, Federal Controller of Works, Lagos appealed to road users to use alternative routes.
“As part of the National Bridge Maintenance Programme of the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has embarked on the maintenance of Independence Bridge, the bridge linking Bonny Camp and Onikan in Lagos. Read more
45-year-old Celestial pastor arrested for selling missing person’s phone (Vanguard)
A 45-year-old Celestial pastor Ejiro Ologonla who is currently being investigated by the Lagos State Police Command for being in possession of missing person belongings has revealed that he took the items after the victim disappeared.
The missing person, Olatunfe Anthony No 27 Owode Street, Alapere Ketu was last seen on December 10 when he was sent on an errand to Ilupeju.
It was gathered that on the 12th of December 2019 at about 2pm Police received a complaint that on the the victim Olatunfe Anthony Oluwafemi of No 27 Owode Street, Alapere Ketu who was sent on an errand to Ilupeju has not returned and his whereabouts remained unknown.
All efforts made by his family members to trace him were unsuccessful. The Itel phone of the missing person was electronically analysed by Police forensic experts and that led to the arrest of the user of the phone, a 23-year old girl Monsurat Gbadegeshin. Read more
Why we invited Italian who brought coronavirus to Nigeria – Lafarge (Punch)
The Industrial Director of Lafarge Plc, Mr Segun Soyoye, has said “the Italian who brought coronavirus to Nigeria came to inspect some installations of machines bought from a Swedish firm”.
He said this during an on-the-spot-assessment by Ogun State Government, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, and World Health Organisation teams to Lafarge facility at Ewekoro on Saturday.
Soyoye added that the Italian didn’t go behind Lafarge the guest house at Ishofin Estate before he was evacuated, having developed abnormal temperatures that suggested he had been infected with Covid-19. Read more
Coronavirus: Nigeria to bar vessels carrying infected persons from berthing at seaports (Tribune)
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said that any vessel suspected of having crew members with Coronavirus infection onboard will not be allowed to berth at the nation’s seaports.
This is even as it said that, for now, all vessels scheduled to visit Nigerian ports are being monitored globally for trace or connection to the Coronavirus disease.
Speaking to the Tribune Online exclusively, the NPA spokesman, Adams Jatto, stated that the agency is currently collaborating with the Port Health Unit at the ports to ensure the Coronavirus disease does not enter the country through the seaports. Read more
Police arraign three teachers over alleged rape of secondary students (Guardian)
The Ekiti Police Command, on Friday, arraigned three secondary school teachers in Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court over alleged rape of Secondary School students.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr. Adesoji Adegboye, ordered that the three defendants be kept in police custody pending issuance of legal advice from Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) and adjourned the matter till March 2.
The defendants in the three cases are 44-year-old Adeyanju Olaitan, a teacher at Osi Community High School, Osi-Ekiti; 40-year-old Gbenga Ajibola and 50-year-old Olaofe Ayodele, both teachers of All Soul Grammar School in Ado-Ekiti. Read more
DSS agents stake out Premium Times office, visit editor’s residence (Guardian)
Agents of Nigeria’s secret police on Sunday visited the home of the editor of Premium Times, Musikilu Mojeed, in their quest to pry information from one of the newspaper’s reporters.
The two agents, who visited Mojeed’s residence, arrived and left in a Toyota Camry car.
DSS is looking to extract the source of a secret memo first published by the newspaper. The memo was written by the national security adviser Babagana Monguno to service chiefs, warning them against taking orders from President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari. Read more
All 43 suspects of coronavirus in Plateau are negative – Commissioner (Nation)
Plateau state commissioner for health, Dr. Nimkong Larndam has said there is no confirmed case of coronavirus in Plateau state.
The commissioner however said there 43 persons had to be isolated for 14 days so as not to take chances.
Larndam gave the confirmation yesterday in a press conference held in his office to disabused the minds of Nigerians and citizens of the state over allegations that the virus has been ditected in Plateau state. Read more
Adesina wins 2019 African of the year award (Guardian)
Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank (AfDB) has won 2019 African of the Year Award by African Leadership Magazine in South Africa.
In a speech delivered by the publisher of the magazine, Ken Giami and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday described Adesina as Africa’s developer-in-chief.
The African Leadership Persons of the Year Investiture Ceremonies and Awards Gala night took place at Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday. Read more
Katsina to partner FG, NGOs to remove Almajiri from the streets (Nation)
The Katsina State Government on Sunday disclosed plans to partner Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, and the Federal Government to take Almajiri pupils and homeless Children off the streets and begging for arms by formalizing the Islamic system of education.
The State Governor Aminu Bello Masari made the above disclosure while playing host to an Islamic sect named ‘Maj’mau Durqu Rufiyaa’, saying he sees no reasons why a child would be left by his parents to unknown destinations in a quest for knowledge and endangering his life, whereas it is the sole responsibility of his parents to care for him.
The Governor further stressed the need to restructure the Almajiri system of education in the state by taking statistics of the pupils, and ascertaining their status while introducing western knowledge particularly mathematics and English language lessons. Read more
War of words as Nigerian English recognised by Oxford English Dictionary (BBC)
Nigerian English words have recently been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), but there is still a debate in the country about what constitutes proper English, as the BBC’s Nduka Orjinmo writes from Lagos.
“Come to an all-night prayer vigil to welcome the ember months,” read a text from my mother.
It was an August ritual she had reminded me about severally.
“I have something to do next tomorrow,” I texted back from the barbing salon.
“You sef,” came her instant reply, half-irritated, half-rebuking. Read more
Pope appears in public ill, cancels planned retreat (Punch)
Pope Francis said Sunday he was cancelling a planned six-day spiritual retreat south of Rome after coming down with a “cold”.
“Unfortunately, a cold forced me not to take part this year,” the 83-year-old pontiff said after coughing a couple of times during his weekly Sunday appearance from a Vatican window in front of supporters.
The cancellation of the retreat, which was supposed to start Sunday, came as Italy battles Europe’s worst outbreak of the new coronavirus that has spread from China across much of the world. Read more
US coronavirus cases jump to 71, West Coast is hardest hit (NYPost)
The number of coronavirus cases in the US stood at 71 early Sunday, according to the Center for Disease Control officials.
The majority of those cases — 44 — were patients who caught the virus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The remaining cases were mostly from the West Coast, including 12 confirmed in California and six from the Seattle area. One of those patients, a middle-aged man in his 50s, died overnight Friday, becoming the first reported fatality on US soil. Read more
Israeli scientists claim to be weeks away from coronavirus vaccine (NYPost)
Amid fears of a looming pandemic, scientists in the US and across the globe are scrambling to develop vaccines – including in Israel, where one group of researchers says it could be ready in just three weeks and available for use within 90 days.
The scientists at the Galilee Research Institute, known as MIGAL, are adapting its vaccine against the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV, to work for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“Congratulations to MIGAL on this exciting breakthrough. I am confident that there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s minister of science and technology. Read more
Coronavirus: World’s richest lose $444 billion after hellish week for markets (Tribune)
Last week was an expensive one for most investors, even for billionaires, the Times of India has reported
The combined fortunes of the world’s 500 richest people fell by $444 billion as the coronavirus continued to spread – and spread fear – rattling equity markets worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 12%, the biggest five-day slide since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, in a rout that vaporised more than $6 trillion from global stocks.
The drubbing more than erased the $78 billion in gains that the 500 wealthiest people had amassed since the start of the year through last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Read more
Bradley Cooper and Rooney Mara battle the snow as they begin filming for Nightmare Alley in New York (Metro)
Not only were Bradley Cooper and Rooney Mara seen stepping back in time to film new movie Nightmare Alley, but it looks like they’ve been battling the elements too. Both stars were spotted in character while on a very snowy set in Buffalo, in the state of New York, on Friday. Nightmare Alley – a remake of the 1947 film that is based on the novel of the same name – follows a corrupt con-man who teams up with a female psychiatrist to trick people into giving them money. Read more
South Carolina primary: Joe Biden wins decisively (BBC)
Joe Biden has been handed a huge boost in the race to challenge President Donald Trump in November’s election.
Mr Biden, a former vice-president, won decisively in South Carolina’s primary, where voters chose which Democrat they want to be the party’s candidate.
Left-winger Bernie Sanders came second in South Carolina – the fourth state to vote in the months-long primary season – and remains in the lead overall. Read more
Drake mentions Michael Jackson’s Neverland on new song ‘When To Say When’ (Metro)
Drake surprised fans early on Sunday morning with the release of two new songs, ‘When To Say When’ and ‘Chicago Freestyle’. And he holds no punches, making reference to Michael Jackson and his Neverland home amid the child molestation allegations against the late musician. The In My Feelings rapper joked that he had ‘leaked’ his own music in an Instagram post and directed fans to listen on his Octobers Very Own Soundcloud. There they found When To Say When, which flips Jay Z’s Song Cry and the genius sample of Bobby Glenn’s Sounds Like a Love Song, as well as borrowing lyrics from Eminem’s Superman on Chicago Freestyle. Read more
Nadal cruises past Fritz to win Acapulco title (Vanguard)
World number two Rafael Nadal captured his first ATP Tour title of 2020, easily defeating unseeded Taylor Fritz in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, in the final of the Mexico Open on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Nadal, playing in his first tournament since losing in the quarter-finals at the Australian Open last month, didn’t drop a set all week and improved to 19-2 all-time at this event.
He nabbed his third Mexico Open title to go with victories in 2013 and 2005. Read more
Ancelotti shown red card after game as Everton denied late winner over Man Utd (BBC)
Everton had a late winner against Manchester United ruled out and had manager Carlo Ancelotti sent off in an entertaining game where both teams were undone by goalkeeping mistakes.
The hosts made a dream start thanks to a calamitous error by United’s David de Gea, whose clearance cannoned straight into Dominic Calvert-Lewin and then into the net for the striker’s 15th goal of the season.
United responded from that early setback when Nemanja Matic’s shot smacked against the Everton crossbar, and they equalised after 31 minutes when Everton’s Jordan Pickford failed to stop Bruno Fernandes’ bouncing shot from 20 yards. Read more
Alonso double earns Chelsea point at Bournemouth (Nation)
Marcos Alonso scored twice as Chelsea came from behind to earn a point against struggling Bournemouth in an entertaining encounter at Vitality Stadium.
Wing-back Alonso followed in Olivier Giroud’s shot which had come back off the bar to open the scoring in the 33rd minute and struck again five minutes from time to rescue the Blues, whose top-four aspirations were dealt another blow. It could have been much worse, however, after Eddie Howe’s side scored twice in three second-half minutes through Jefferson Lerma and Joshua King to leave the visitors stunned. Read more
Jimenez winner at Tottenham sends Wolves sixth (BBC)
Raul Jimenez scored a smart winner as Wolves recovered to move above Tottenham in the Premier League and boost their hopes of earning a Champions League spot.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side trailed twice in north London before Jimenez latched on to Diogo Jota’s pass to finish with his left foot.
Spurs first led when Steven Bergwijn poked in and then from Serge Aurier’s curling effort before the break. Read more
Wilder exercises rematch clause for third fight with Fury (Guardian)
Dethroned world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has exercised his rematch clause and will fight Tyson Fury a third time, according to media reports on Saturday.
BT Sport, citing promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren, and Yahoo Sports, reported Wilder had officially exercised his contractual rematch clause and will take on Fury for a third time later this year.
The news comes a week after Britain’s Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh round of their heavyweight title rematch in Las Vegas. Read more
El Clasico battle at Bernebeu may decide Barca, Real Madrid’s title race (Guardian)
Barcelona lead Real Madrid by two points heading into today’s huge El Clasico, which could well have a huge say in the destination of this season’s Spanish title.
Today’s clash of the Spanish titans at the Santiago Bernabeu arrives at a key moment in the Spanish title race – and with nothing between the two teams’ historical record ahead of the latest chapter in the biggest club rivalry in world football.
Barcelona travel to Real Madrid with a two point lead in the table, meaning victory for either team would be a huge step towards claiming the 2019/20 LaLiga Santander title. Read more
Coronavirus: Tokyo Marathon takes place on empty streets (BBC)
The Tokyo Marathon took place on Sunday against a backdrop of empty streets and with just a couple of hundred runners due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Organisers had reduced the entries to just elite runners and wheelchair athletes with the mass race, which usually attracts around 38,000 runners, cancelled.
The numbers of volunteers were also reduced and spectators were advised to “avoid gathering along the course” and were instead encouraged to “support through TV and radio.”
Event staff and competitors were given surgical masks and hand sanitizer. Read more