Governor’s wife, LASUTH to treat gunshot victim of Okada protest ban (Guardian)
The wife of Lagos State governor, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwoolu, in conjunction with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), has pledged to financially support 15-year-old Mariam Shobukola to get through subsequent stages of her hospital management.
Following a gunshot injury that Mariam sustained in her pelvis at Aboru, Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State on February 5 during a clash between hoodlums and policemen over enforcement of the ban on okada and tricycles in 15 local councils of the state, she had a successful restorative first stage surgery, and will still need another which will be carried out at no cost to the family.
Chief Medical Director, LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, reaffirmed this, noting that at times like these, people’s compassionate nature must clearly be demonstrated and sacrificial gestures come into play to save lives. He called on well-meaning Nigerians to rise up to the occasion and assuage the suffering of the family.Though Shobukola is recovering well, the second surgery will be carried out at a later time, after full recovery. Read more
Man narrates how sister was allegedly murdered in Lagos hotel (DailyTrust)
A defence witness, Mr Ige Afolabi, on Tuesday narrated before an Ikeja Special Offences Court how his younger sister, Mrs Feyisayo Obot (nee Afolabi), was allegedly murdered by a chef in a hotel in Lagos. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Afolabi was testifying at the commencement of the trial of Joshua Usulor, a 21-year-old chef accused of killing Obot at the Citiheights Hotel located at the Opebi Link Road, Ikeja. Led in evidence by lead state counsel, Mr Olakunle Ligali, Afolabi described himself as the eldest brother to the deceased – a mother of two. The witness told the court that Obot, a lawyer who worked with an Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation called Save the Children, had in January 2019 come to Lagos for few days to write a project management examination. Read more
Police arraign women for selling three-year-old for N650,000 (Punch)
The police on Tuesday arraigned two women before the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja for allegedly selling a three-year-old child for N650,000.
The defendants – Mercy Sampson and Stella Madueke – were arraigned on five counts bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and obtaining money by false pretences before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It was gathered that the defendants allegedly kidnapped the child during a church service at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Agege, and sold the girl to one Chikodi for N650,000.
According to the prosecutor, Joseph Eboseremen, the defendants also fraudulently obtained the sum of N700,000 from one Magus Nwaigbo under the pretext of assisting in the adoption of a baby from an orphanage. Read more
Nigeria lost N230bn to oil theft in 2019 – NNPC (DailyTrust)
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Tuesday said the nation lost about $750 million to oil theft in 2019. The amount is about N230 billion at the official CBN exchange rate of N306 to $1. NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, gave the figure in a presentation to members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 13 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) who visited the NNPC Towers, Abuja, on a study tour today. Read more
Immigration fails to remit N11.2bn to FG, Reps allege (DailyTrust)
The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has demanded explanation from the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) over its alleged failure to remit N11.2 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund from 2018 to 2019. Discrepancies in the remittance were discovered when the Comptroller General of the service, Muhammad Babandede, appeared before the House Committee on Tuesday. According to the Chairman of the Committee, James Abiodun Faleke, based on the available records before the committee, the Service is owing the federal government N11.2 billion which it failed to remit. Read more
Amaechi loses security aide to electrocution (Guardian)
Mr. Tony Iwelu, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has passed on. The aide, who died on Monday, February 17, suffered an electric shock from a shower rose in a Kaduna hotel while on an official assignment.
A statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Eric Ojiekwe, said until his passage, Iwelu was in charge of all issues relating to the minister’s security, a job he was reputed to have executed with utmost professionalism. “There is no gainsaying that the professionalism he brought to bear in the discharge of his job sustained him for the over two decades in the service of the minister,” the document read in part. Read more
Coronavirus: A Cameroon student on how he recovered (BBC)
Kem Senou Pavel Daryl is the first African to contract the virus in China
When Kem Senou Pavel Daryl, a 21-year-old Cameroonian student living in the Chinese city of Jingzhou, contracted the coronavirus he had no intention of leaving China, even if that were possible.
“No matter what happens I don’t want to take the sickness back to Africa,” he said from his university dormitory, where he is now under a 14-day quarantine.
He was suffering from a fever, a dry cough, and flu-like symptoms.
When he became ill he thought of his time as a child in Cameroon when he contracted malaria. He feared the worse. Read more
Girl, 8, dies after being ‘raped by 16 men’ (Metro)
An eight-year-old girl allegedly raped by 16 men including some of her relatives has died in India. The child’s parents reportedly broke down the bathroom door in a house in Tamil Nadu after she passed out following complaints of stomach pain. She was rushed to hospital but tragically pronounced dead on arrival, according to local media. Police are waiting for a postmortem to determine the cause of her death, but a case has been lodged under Section 174 (unnatural death) of the Indian Penal Code. Read more
Coronavirus: First passengers disembark from Diamond Princess in Japan (BBC)
About 500 passengers have begun disembarking from the virus-hit cruise ship moored off Yokohama, Japan after 14 days of quarantine.
An outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has seen 542 passengers and crew infected on the Diamond Princess- the biggest cluster outside mainland China.
Several countries had already evacuated their citizens as infections spread among passengers.
Covid-19 has now claimed 2,004 lives in China, according to the latest data.
There are now 74,185 confirmed infections in mainland China and more than 500 cases in other countries around the globe. Read more
Bloomberg qualifies for Las Vegas debate, facing Democratic rivals for first time (NYPost)
Michael Bloomberg has officially qualified for Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, marking the first time the billionaire 2020 contender will come face to face with his rivals.
Bloomberg, who made a late entry into the primary, met the Democratic National Committee’s qualifications to get on stage with the Tuesday release of a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll that put the former mayor in second place with 19 per cent support.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was in first place with 31 percent support, according to the poll.
“Mike is looking forward to joining the other Democratic candidates on stage and making the case for why he’s the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump and unite the country,” Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said. Read more
Brit Awards 2020 winners list: Lewis Capaldi, Billie Eilish, Tyler, The Creator and more (Metro)
The Brit Awards are always a coveted gong to win, and 2020’s awards show inducted a few new faces into the elusive Brit Award winners club. Lewis Capaldi scooped two of the four awards he was nominated for on the night, while album of the year went to Dave. Billie Eilish, Mabel, Stormzy, Foals and Tyler, The Creator topped off the winners of the night, with all of them leaving with one more accolade to add to the shelf. TOP ARTICLES 1/5 READ MORE Of course, it wouldn’t be the Brits without some pointed acceptance speeches, and Tyler used his to call out Theresa May for banning him from the UK back in 2015. Read more
Atletico Madrid shock Liverpool in Champions League cracker (DailyTrust)
Atletico Madrid have edged past Liverpool by a lone goal in their UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 first leg encounter at the Wanda Metropolitano on Tuesday night. Saul Niguez scored the only goal of the game in the fourth minute and the hosts held on to see off the reigning European Champions. They will be hoping to build on the victory when they proceed to Anfield for the second leg clash against Liverpool in three weeks time. The Premier League outfit were frustrated by the home side in their attempt to get back on level terms as Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson wasted their best opportunities. Read more
Teenager Haaland scores twice as Dortmund beat PSG (BBC)
Erling Braut Haaland scores the first of his two goals
Haaland was linked with Manchester United before joining Dortmund
Erling Braut Haaland continued his remarkable scoring form this season with two more goals to give Borussia Dortmund the advantage over Paris St-Germain in their Champions League last-16 tie.
The 19-year-old Norwegian showed two distinct sides of his impressive game with two second-half strikes – the first a predatory finish after Raphael Guerreiro’s shot was blocked and the second a left-footed thunderbolt from 20 yards.
They took his tally for the season to a stunning 39 goals in only 29 appearances, and 11 in seven since joining Dortmund in January. Read more
Man U summer signing Daniel James needs to be dropped after Chelsea win, says Paul Merson (Metro)
Manchester United summer signing Daniel James needs to be taken out of the team and looked ‘lost’ in the victory over Chelsea, according to Arsenal legend Paul Merson. Welsh winger James has largely impressed for the Red Devils following his £15million move from Swansea City last summer, scoring five goals and making six assists in 34 appearances in all competitions. But Merson believes James would benefit from a spell out of United’s starting XI and says it is only a matter of time before he is dropped. Manchester United beat top-four rivals Chelsea 2-0 on Monday evening, with goals from Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire sealing the win in west London. Read more
John Utaka football academy signs MoU with Minna School (DailyTrust)
The John Utaka football academy have signed a memorandum of understanding with Brighter school, Minna to nurture young footballer.
The pact according to the management of the academy is to allow students in the academy to also attend conventional school and still continue with their training. Read more
Daytona 500: Ryan Newman ‘awake and speaking’ after serious crash (BBC)
American driver Ryan Newman is awake and able to speak after a serious last-lap crash at the Daytona 500 in Florida.
Newman, 42, who was leading Monday’s race, was hit from behind in his Ford Mustang and spun into the wall before flipping and being struck by another car.
“Ryan Newman remains under the care of doctors at Halifax Medical Centre in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is awake and speaking with family and doctors,” his team Roush Fenway said in a statement. Read more
PGA Nigeria advises prospective pros on self-development (Guardian)
The Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGA) has urged prospective golfers to strive for self-development if they desired to reach the pinnacle of their career.
Stressing that self-development means working on the game outside tournaments, PGA of Nigeria Director, Samson Lawal said during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Qualifying School final event at the Port Harcourt Golf Club, Rivers State, “You must develop yourself beyond this level. Read more
Jurgen Klopp explains why Sadio Mane was subbed off at half-time in Liverpool’s defeat to Atletico Madrid (Metro)
Jurgen Klopp says Sadio Mane was not injured in Liverpool’s Champions League last-16, first-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid but he was worried the forward would be ‘targeted’ and get a second yellow card.
The Premier League leaders went behind after just four minutes as Saul Niguez tucked home from a corner, with hosts Atletico sitting deep and frustrating the reigning European champions. Mane twice clashed with right-back Sime Vrsaljko and was shown a yellow card for the first tussle, while Atletico’s players surrounded the referee pleading for Mane to be sent off for another flailing arm just before the half-time break. Read more
NWFL demand share of FIFA’s $.19m largesse to clubs (DailyTrust)
The board of the Nigeria Women Football League have demanded to be given a percentage of the FIFA largesse to Nigerian clubs whose players were paraded at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
According to the league’s operating officer, Alhaji Ayo Abdulraham, the women league deserves to be recognized and given its due. Read more
Heated LeBron James goes off on Astros’ cheating scandal (NYPost)
Baseball stars aren’t the only ones fuming about the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
“Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in Sports and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it I would be (expletive) irate,” Lakers superstar LeBron James tweeted Tuesday in response to the cheating scheme rocking baseball.
James roots for his hometown Cleveland Indians and the Yankees, who lost to the Astros in the 2017 ALCS — the same season Houston was found to have electronically stolen signs en route to winning the World Series. (MLB also confirmed that Houston cheated during parts of 2018.) Read more
Oborududu appeals for individual, corporate support ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympics (Guardian)
African champion, Blessing Oborududu says she still awaits sponsorship deals in the form of the adopt-an-athlete initiative of the Ministry of Sports and Development to enable her qualify for the Olympics in the forthcoming Africa/Oceania qualifiers holding between March 13 and 19 in Morocco.
Oborududu, who currently ranks number two in the world in the 68kg freestyle wrestling, achieved her latest feat through the points she acquired in the ranking series tournaments in Rome and Algeria. She hopes any offer of assistance would help her gain qualification to represent the country in Japan. Read more