FG debunks reports on Federal High Court judgement on Ikoyi Marriage Registry (Tribune)
The Federal Government has described reports making the rounds on social media claiming that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has declared all marriages conducted by the Ikoyi marriage registry to be illegal and invalid as false and misleading reports.
Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages, Dr Shuaib Belgore, reacting to the development in a statement, on Tuesday, in Abuja, said there was no iota of truth in the said publications.
He said: “The attention of the Ministry of Interior has been drawn to news making the rounds on social media claiming that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has declared all Marriages conducted by Ikoyi marriage registry to be illegal and invalid.
“We would like to state that this statement is false, misleading and a deliberate distortion of the decision of the Court in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/816/18 between Eti-Osa Local Government Council & 3 others v. Honourable Minister of Interior and 2 others, where the Honourable Court held that only the Local Government councils can conduct valid marriages in Nigeria,” Belgore said.
He stated further that the same Federal High Court situated in Ikoyi, Lagos in Suit No. FHC/L/870/2002 between Prince Haastrup and Eti Osa Local Government held that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Interior is constitutionally empowered to conduct marriages in Nigeria and held that the Local Governments were delegated by the Federal Government to conduct marriages, by virtue of Legal Notices issued pursuant to the Marriage Act. Read more
My wife, daughter died before doctor’s arrival — Nielsen, Danish murder suspect tells court (Vanguard)
A Danish murder suspect, Peter Nielsen, accused of killing his Nigerian wife and daughter, yesterday, told a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, that his wife and daughter had died before the doctor arrived.
Nielsen said he had tried to resuscitate Zainab and Petra but when he discovered that they had died, he had to cover them with two blankets.
The defendant said this on the second day of his cross examination, which started November 23, 2021.
Nielsen was cross examined by Lagos State prosecuting counsel, Mr. Adebayo Haroun, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. Read more
Ogun monarch’s son, woman found naked, dead inside car, police begin probe (Punch)
A 37-year-old man, Azeez Ilias, identified as the son of a traditional ruler in the Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State, and a woman, identified only as Deborah, have been found dead in a car parked in front of a building in Ago Egun, Idiroko.
While they were found naked, their clothes were not in the Toyota Camry, said to be owned by Ilias.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the deceased man’s clothes were found in a gutter in front of a house suspected to be the residence of the female victim.
Confirming the incident on Tuesday, the Idiroko divisional headquarters of the Ogun State Government-owned indigenous security outfit, So-Safe Corps, said it discovered the bodies around 2am on Monday. Read more
TSA: FG unleash anti-corruption agencies on banks (DailyTrust)
The Federal Government has warned banks still illegally holding government funds in their vaults to pay the same to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or face criminal prosecution from anti corruption agencies.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed stated this at the inauguration of the Reconstituted Treasury Single Account Implementation Structures yesterday in Abuja.
Zainab said: “In 2018, we conducted a post-implementation compliance exercise to determine the extent to which MDAs and Deposit Money Banks complied with the Presidential directive on TSA of 7th August 2015. The finding was that huge amounts of public funds were still trapped in commercial banks” the minister indicated.
“It has been reported that the banks have not been cooperating with the consultants assigned to sweep these funds to the TSA. Read more
Ekiti bricklayer jailed 5 years for stealing foodstuffs (Punch)
An Ekiti State Chief Magistrate’s Court, sitting in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, sentenced a 42-year-old bricklayer, Soji Agunbiade, to five years’ imprisonment for stealing foodstuffs and a cash sum of N61,000.
Agunbiade was tried and found guilty on two counts of felony and housebreaking.
The charge read, “The defendant, on 17th October, 2021, and 2nd December, 2021 respectively, in Ilawe Ekiti, did break into the houses of Olanrewaju Alonge and Peter Olowokere through the ceiling and carted away their belongings, including foodstuffs and a sum of N61,000.”
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Prosecutor, Mr Oluwanifesimi Iyaniwura, said, “The offences are contrary to and punishable under sections 411 and 412 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap. C39, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.” Read more
The federal government has paid over N17b unfunded liabilities to pensioners after 30 years (DailyTrust)
The payment is a significant part of the outstanding pension liabilities owed to pensioners of defunct agencies on Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) payroll.
The Executive Secretary (ES) of PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the official finalization of payment of inherited unfunded liabilities to pensioners of defunding agencies.
Ejikeme explained that “the funds that will be utilized to make today’s payments is from the recoveries made from the liquidation of the federal government pension assets recovered from various insurance underwriters to date.” Read more
Witchcraft: Rivers grandmother suffering from dementia stripped naked, beaten (Punch)
Some youths have stripped naked a grandmother, Ann Soberekon, over witchcraft allegations.
The group, in a video seen by our correspondent, repeatedly asked the elderly woman several questions, as they manhandled her.
The details of how she was found were not clear as of press time.
One of the people in the clip said, “The woman is a strong witch; who are the 11 people you mentioned?”
Another said, “Can you give us any number that you have so that we can call for them to come and attend to you here?” Read more
Cititrust Donates To Orphans, Rewards Employees (DailyTrust)
The Staff of Cititrust Holdings Plc and its Nigerian subsidiaries have donated food items to the Living Fountain Orphanage in Lagos while it held its annual retreat to reward some employees and presented awards to them.
The company, in a statement, said the donation to the orphanage was a mark of gratitude to God for a successful year noting that it was also to support the orphanage in the running of its activities, especially during the festive season.
The Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Isioma Iwuagwu, said the employee-driven Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative provides succour to the most vulnerable children in the community.
“As a company, we give strong priority to people’s welfare, especially children. We are determined to assist ordinary Nigerians during the current difficulties and this is one of the ways we are achieving this,” Iwuagwu further stated. Read more
Singer Tems Recounts Her Ugandan Prison Experience (VON)
Nigerian music star, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems has recounted the time she spent in a Ugandan prison a year ago.
In 2020, Tems was arrested and detained alongside another famous Nigerian musician, Omah lay.
In a tweet shared via her Twitter page, to mark the memory of the incident which occurred on 13 December 2020, the singer recounted how her life has changed one year after the ugly incident.
“This very day Last Year, I was sitting in prison in Uganda bonding with women and kids. I almost can’t believe the things I’ve seen so far. All I can say is God is too awesome and He will always have the last and final laugh,” she tweeted. Read more
Ayu pays homage to acting Och’Idoma, seeks royal blessings
(Guardian)
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, yesterday, paid homage to the Acting Och’Idoma, George Edeh, in his palace in Otukpo, headquarters of the Idoma nation.
Ayu said he was in the acting Och’Idoma’s palace to formally inform him of his election as National Chairman of one of the biggest political parties in West Africa and to seek his royal blessings.
The PDP national chairman noted that he had a Herculean task of regrouping all PDP leaders and positioning the party to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and make life better for Nigerians.
Responding, Edeh congratulated Ayu on his victory, saying leadership comes from God and prayed He gives him the wisdom to succeed. Read more
Billie Eilish began watching porn at 11: ‘It really destroyed my brain’ (NYPost)
Billie Eilish says porn “destroyed my brain” after she began watching graphic online movies while she was still in elementary school.
The singing sensation — who is now 19 — made the shocking confession during “The Howard Stern Show” on Monday.
“As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace,” Eilish declared in the interview. “I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11.”
The “Ocean Eyes” crooner continued: “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
Eilish also admitted that she began watching more and more graphic types of pornography, which warped her ideas about sex and relationships. Read more
Covid: Omicron spreading at unprecedented rate, WHO says (BBC)
The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned
Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries.
But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to detect it.
Dr Tedros said he was concerned that not enough was being done to tackle the variant. Read more
White House points to culprit behind soaring prices (RT)
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki blamed an increase in the cost of groceries, including that of meat, on the “greed” of big corporations, accusing them of profiteering from the pandemic amid the record-breaking inflation.
After being asked on Tuesday for her opinion on the argument that high inflation in the US is being driven by “corporate greed,” Psaki responded that President Joe Biden and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack “have both spoken to what we’ve seen as the greed of meat conglomerates.”
“That is an area, one where people go to the grocery store and they’re trying to buy a pound of meat, two pounds of meat, ten pounds of meat. The prices are higher,” she said, claiming that you “could call it corporate greed, sure.”
“You could call it jacking up prices during a pandemic,” Psaki added. Read more
Leonardo DiCaprio ‘had problem’ with naked Meryl Streep scene in “Don’t Look Up” (Metro)
Meryl Streep led a star-studded cast in Netflix film Don’t Look Up – but it turns out an A-lister had an issue with one of her scenes.
She plays President Janie Orlean in the comedy drama, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Timothee Chalamet and Cate Blanchett – with even more celeb cameos to boot.
Like we said, star studded.
However, director Adam McKay revealed that Leo wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of a nude scene involving the Devil Wears Prada actress, 72.
Chatting to the Guardian, he lifted the lid on the Oscar-winner’s fears behind the naked moment in the script. Read more
Covid-19: US surpasses 800,000 pandemic deaths (BBC)
More than 800,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus, the highest recorded national death toll from the global pandemic.
It comes as the US reached 50 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Monday.
Most deaths have been recorded among the unvaccinated and the elderly, and more Americans died in 2021 than in 2020.
The US is again seeing deaths rising at an alarming rate. Read more
Matthew Koma responds to Hilary Duff pregnancy rumours (PageSix)
He’s giving some “Clarity.”
Matthew Koma shut down theories that his wife, Hilary Duff, is pregnant again, after fans flocked to the comments section of the actress’ latest Instagram post.
“Leaving for a little bit…The 3 of us,” Duff, 34, captioned a photo of the couple on a plane.
Many of Duff’s followers speculated that the third person she was referring to was another baby – but according to Koma, that’s not true.
“She’s talking about @stephanjenkins sitting behind us you baby crazies,” the music producer, also 34, wrote.
Alas, pictured sitting in the row behind the pair was a masked-up Jenkins, who also wore a baseball cap, making the musician easy to miss in a first glance at the photo. Read more
Chadwick Boseman’s brother says he would want Black Panther role recast after death (Metro)
Chadwick Boseman’s brother has insisted that he would have wanted his Black Panther role recast, following his death.
The actor played King T’Challa in the Marvel blockbuster but died last year aged 43, following a battle with colon cancer.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige later announced that he would not be replaced in the upcoming Wakanda Forever sequel, which began filming recently.
There has since been an intense debate on social media on whether another actor should take the helm, with the late star’s sibling, Derrick Boseman, adding his name to the chatter. Read more
Man City 7-0 Leeds: Kevin de Bruyne shows why Pep Guardiola ‘absolutely needs him’ this season (BBC)
If Manchester City scoring seven goals as they racked up their seventh consecutive Premier League win was not ominous enough for their title rivals, there was the sight of Kevin de Bruyne back in scoring form too.
Up until his brilliant two-goal performance in City’s 7-0 demolition of Leeds, the 30-year-old Belgian’s season had been blighted by illness and injury.
When he had played, he was below his imperious best, but Tuesday’s sparkling display was a reminder of how good he is in full flow – and how important he is to his side’s title defence.
City had gone top of the table at the start of December largely without his help – but he was inspirational as they demolished Marcelo Bielsa’s side to move four points clear. Read more
Marcelo Bielsa reacts to Leeds’ thumping 7-0 defeat away to rampant Manchester City (Metro)
A despondent Marcelo Bielsa said he simply had ‘no justification’ to offer after his Leeds side were thrashed 7-0 by Manchester City, the joint-heaviest defeat in the club’s history.
The defending Premier League champions were at their frightening best and got off to the perfect start as Phil Foden and Jack Grealish both netted to present Leeds with an almighty uphill battle after only 13 minutes.
Kevin De Bruyne struck either side of Riyad Mahrez’s 49th-minute effort, with the Belgian in supreme touch on his return for City, and John Stones and Nathan Ake joined the party late on to send the Etihad crowd into raptures.
Pep Guardiola’s men have now won all but one of their last ten matches in all competitions and the result saw them take a four-point lead over second-placed Liverpool at the top of the table. Read more
NFL gunman who killed 6 people had ‘severe brain trauma’, says medic (RT)
Former NFL star Phillip Adams, who was responsible for a violent gun rampage which killed six people in April, was suffering from severe brain trauma often linked to a career on the football field, according to a neuropathologist.
Defensive back Adams, who spent six seasons in the NFL with a variety of teams and had no previous criminal record, shot five people to death at a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina as well as fatally injuring a sixth who died several hours later.
The victims included a well-known local doctor, his wife and their two children aged nine and five, as well as two people who were working on the house where the attacks occurred.
He turned the gun on himself the next day, having barricaded himself inside his home after his mother had been safely removed from the residence. Police later said they attempted to make contact with him via loudspeaker as well as sending a robot into the house in an attempt to persuade him to exit safely. Read more
Nigeria-eligible attacker joins MLS club Seattle Sounders (AllSoccer)
With a statement on their official website, Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders have announced the signing of Nigeria-eligible attacker Samuel Adeniran.
The American-Nigerian has joined Seattle Sounders’ first team from USL side Tacoma Defiance, the reserve team of the Sounders.
Aged 23, Adeniran has signed a one-year contract with club options for 2023 and 2024.
He spent time with European clubs Belenenses (Portugal), Guadalajara (Spain), Castellón (Spain), Kickers Emden (Germany) and Atlas Delmenhorst (Germany) before returning to his country of birth to join Tacoma Defiance in March 2021. Read more
Nigerian Olympic Committee to hold Annual General Meeting in Yenegoa
(Insidethe games)
The three-day meeting will begin on Thursday (December 16) in the city, which is located in Bayelsa state.
Senator Douye Diri, the Governor of Bayelsa state, has welcomed the opportunity to host the meeting.
“It’s been almost 20 years since we hosted the Nigeria Olympic Committee Annual General Meeting and it’s a privilege to be considered to host the most important stakeholders of sports in the country in Bayelsa on December 16,” Diri said.
“We will showcase Bayelsa’s hospitality which is full of excitement and attractions plus cultural display to our guests on the eve of the Annual General Meeting and make their stay worthwhile.” Read more…
Premier League increases testing as Covid ravages schedule (Guardian)
Premier League players and staff must take a lateral flow test every time they enter their club’s training ground as part of strict new measures to curb the threat of the coronavirus.
The protocols were agreed after Manchester United’s Premier League match at Brentford on Tuesday and Tottenham’s trip to Brighton last Sunday were postponed due to Covid-19 outbreaks.
United, Tottenham, Brighton, Leicester, Norwich and Aston Villa have all been hit by the virus over the last week as the new Omicron strain threatens to cause havoc in England’s top-flight.
Twice-weekly PCR testing is also reported to have been introduced after a clubs’ shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday. Read more
Mailantarki Academy set to discover northern talents (DailyTrust)
An elite development football academy, Mailantarki Care Sports Academy is set to contribute its quota to the overall development of sports in Nigeria by discovering fresh talents from the northern part of the country.
In an interview, the founder, Hon Khamisu Mailantarki, said the academy wants to bridge the gap where northern youths are not included in national sporting teams while bemoaning the insecurity situation which has prevented these talents from being unearthed from the region.
The academy, which was launched earlier this year, according to Mailantarki, is also a platform for talented players to advance their careers in professional clubs in both Nigeria and abroad.
“We saw that the northern part of the country has not been producing the best largely due to the insurgency and unseriousness from our governors in sports. We are here to bridge the gap and bring new talents from the North. Read more
McGregor renews Dagestan feud as he insults rival Makhachev (RT)
UFC loudmouth Conor McGregor has again taken a shot at one of Dagestan’s most famous fighters, this time hurling an insult at top-ranked lightweight Islam Makhachev after a tense back-and-forth on social media.
McGregor has drawn the ire of several fighters from the region following numerous statements made by the Irishman throughout his fractious feud with undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he appears to have affixed his crosshairs to surging lightweight contender Makhachev as his next target.
Makhachev, the fighter anointed by many as Khabib’s successor in the UFC’s 155lbs frame, is poised to receive his first opportunity at UFC gold should he get past Beneil Dariush in February – with the 21-1 fighter unable to resist taking a shot at ‘The Notorious’ on social media after McGregor tweeted his interest in an upcoming fight with champion Charles Oliveira.
“So what date am I fighting Oliveira?” McGregor tweeted. Read more