Hawker killed, many injured in multiple crash on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Tribune)
A male hawker died and many other people were on Thursday morning injured in a multiple motor accident that occurred on the Kara Bridge along the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway in Ogun.
The accident involved a trailer truck, laden with a 40 ft container and six other vehicles, which were rammed into by the truck, following a brake failure.
The Federal Road Safety Corps and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority ( LASEMA ) confirmed the road mishap and added that the injured persona have been rushed to the hospital.
Eye witnesses at the scene of the incident stated that the accident was caused by the trailer truck, which reportedly had a break failure and rammed into multiple vehicles. Read more
Atiku wants Lagos REC removed, alleges partisanship (Punch)
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has called for the removal of the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, over alleged partisanship and compromise.
Atiku made the call in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
Shaibu stated that Agbaje had insisted on using the Lagos State Park and Garage Management Committee under the leaderahip of transport kingpin, Musiliu Akinsanya known as MC Oluomo, who is believed to be a member of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council. Read more
Why I’m close to Ortom – Wike (Vanguard)
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has given reasons why he has a very good relationship with Governor Samuel Ortom saying his Benue state counterpart endeared himself to him by his firm belief in the principles of equity, fairness and justice.
The Rivers Governor made this known Thursday at the commissioning of the ultra modern palace, residence and office complex built by the Benue State government for the paramount ruler of the Idoma tribe, the Ochi’Idoma in Otukpo, the traditional headquaters of Benue South District.
He recalled that last year he was in Gboko for the commissioning of a similar ultra modern palace, residence and office complex for the paramount ruler of the Tiv tribe, the Tor Tiv saying by providing edifices for the two paramount rulers of the state the Governor had demonstrated his commitment to ensure fairness in his dealings. Read more
Court remands 48-year-old man for allegedly defiling minor (Nation)
An Ikorodu Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Thursday remanded a 43-year-old man, Bakare Joseph, in Kirikiri Correctional Centre for allegedly defiling a 15-year-old girl.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A.O Olateru-Olagbegi, who did not take the plea of Nwachor, ordered that the case file should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.
Olateru-Olagbegi adjourned the case until March 2 for DPP advice. Read more
Lagos mulls free cancer screening for residents (Leadership)
Lagos State government is considering on a bill for ensure residents have free access to cancer screening and vaccines.
Available statistics In Nigeria showed that cancer leads to over 72,000 deaths per annum (30,924 for males and 40, 647 for females) and this number is set to increase given that there are 102,000 new cases of cancer every year.
As a way out of the woods, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Amuwo Odofin Constituency 1, Hon. Mojisolaoluwa Alli-Macaulay, in an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP, at the 2023 World Cancer Day awareness walk, organised by LASUTH Oncology Department, in Lagos, said the best way to tackle the scourge is early detection. Read more
Lawan/Machina: Supreme Court ruling surprised me – Ozekhome (DailyTrust)
A constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has said that the recent Supreme Court judgement that affirmed Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the All Progressives Congress senatorial candidate for Yobe North surprised him.
Ozekhome stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
He said, “That judgement with much respect came to me as a surprise. As a constitutional lawyer, what I am trying to do is to discuss issues dispassionately because if you discuss issues based on your likeness for one individual or a political party, by the time those individuals or political parties are no longer there you may find yourself beclouded by that genie you let out of the bottle. Read more
Hoodlums planning to snatch BVAS wasting their time, says INEC (Guardian)
With less than 15 days to the general elections Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has said politicians planning to hire thugs to snatch Bimodal Voter Registration Systems, (BVAS) and manipulate the process were simply wasting their time.
The commission said BVAS snatched on election day by thugs would be deactivated.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Information and Communications Technology, (ICT), Lawrence Bayode, stated this on Channels Television’s special election programme on Wednesday.
Bayode who demonstrated how election results will be uploaded using the BVAS machine said the commission has a system meant to deactivate any BVAS that is snatched. Read more
Bottom-Up Cash Planning: AGF kicks-off sensitisation training (Channels)
The office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) has commenced sensitization training on the Bottom-Up Cash Management Policy.
The training which commenced on Tuesday, is aimed at creating awareness in preparation for the Go-Live or flag off of the Bottom-Up cash Planning which has been in the making since 2009 when the Federal Government initiated a feasibility study to determine the best strategies to address its cash management challenges as part of its Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms.
In his opening remark, Mr. Sylva Okolieaboh, the Acting Accountant-General of the Federation explained that shortly after the pilot roll-out of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) alongside the Treasury Single Account in April 2012, the process of implementing an efficient cash management system commenced. Read more
Burt Bacharach, master of pop songwriting, dies aged 94 (Guardian)
Burt Bacharach, the songwriter and performer who turned easy listening into high art, has died aged 94. A representative for Bacharach confirmed to the Washington Post that the singer died at home in Los Angeles of natural causes.
In all, he scored 73 Top 40 hits in the US and 52 in the UK.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1928 and raised in New York, Bacharach would sneak into jazz clubs underage to hear performers such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, while immersing himself in the work of composers such as Stravinsky and Ravel. He was classically trained at schools in Montreal, New York and California, and, following a spell in the US army, he became a piano accompanist to musicians, including Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and his first wife, Paula Stewart. He also worked as an arranger and conductor for Marlene Dietrich when she toured Europe in the late 50s and early 60s. Read more
Disney announces planned sequels for Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia (NBC)
After the difficult news he had to deliver about layoffs and losses, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced several big news items for fans during the company’s earnings call for the year-end 2022 quarter on Wednesday.
For animated film lovers, Iger announced that two new sequels to massive franchises — Toy Story and Frozen — were in development. A sequel to the animated comedy Zootopia was also announced.
The Toy Story franchise consists of four theatrical chapters and one spin-off: 2022’s Lightyear. Although the latter film underperformed, Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 both made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Read more
2023 Emmys set September date for 75th awards ceremony (TheWrap)
The Television Academy announced Thursday that the 75th Emmy Awards will be held on Monday, Sept. 18.
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies will be held Saturday, Sept. 9 and Sunday, Sept. 10.
Nominations for the 75th Emmy Awards will be announced on Wednesday, July 12. Read more
Ellie Goulding tells fans to put phones away at gigs to ”live in the moment” (MusicNews)
Ellie Goulding wants fans to put their phones away at shows, so they can “live in the moment”.
The 36-year-old singer performed at London venue Koko this week, where she told her supporters to stick their gadgets back in their pockets after she had watched some old footage, in which gig-goers were just watching the moment unfold and “feeling free” rather than fiddling with their technology.
She told fans: “Put them in your pockets. I looked back at old festival and gig footage and everyone is just living in the moment and feeling free.”
Louis Tomlinson’s All of Those Voices documentary to premiere in March (Variety)
A documentary film about Louis Tomlinson, titled “All Of Those Voices,” is due to hit select theatres on March 22.
The doc is described as “a refreshingly raw and real look” at the former One Direction member’s life and musical career, according to its official news release. It will be directed by Charlie Lightening, who helmed Liam Gallagher’s “As It Was,” and produced in partnership with 78 Productions and Trafalgar Releasing.
“This has been something I’ve been working on for years, I’m really excited to finally put it out into the world,” said Tomlinson. “I’ve said it a million times but I’m lucky enough to have the greatest fans an artist could wish for, and as they always go above and beyond for me, I wanted to share my story ‘in my own words’.” Read more
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy closes European tour with visit to EU summit (Global)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was wrapping up a whirlwind tour of his major European backers on Thursday, seeking assurances that Ukraine could one day become part of the European Union.
Zelenskky will already head home with heaps of goodwill and commitments of more military aid.
He arrived to the European Parliament to rapturous applause, cheering and hoots from legislators, insisting in his plenary speech that Ukraine’s fight against Russia was one fought for the freedom of Europe as a whole. Read more
Turkey Earthquake: Why helping means so much to this family (BBC)
When Ozge Ovun-Sert saw video footage of catastrophic damage from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck her home country of Turkey on Monday, she said she was instantly pulled back to the night when she and her family were forced to evacuate their home.
In August 1999, when Ms Ovun-Sert was 22, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit her hometown of Izmit, Turkey, killing around 40 of her neighbours in the building next door and forcing her family to sleep in tents for three weeks.
Watching from the US as the Turkey-Syria earthquake claimed thousands of lives in recent days, she and her community have been called to action. Read more
IMC sanctions El-Kanemi Warriors (Sun)
The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) rolled out far-reaching disciplinary measures on Wednesday even as various requests by clubs for change of venue and postponement of fixtures were also addressed.
El-Kanemi was fined and to play its remaining fixtures of the first half of the season behind closed doors just as the Coach of Bayelsa United received a warning to be of good conduct.
The IMC after a review of findings of the official reports of the MatchDay 5 fixture between El-Kanemi Warriors and Bendel Insurance, found the host team to have breached Rule B13.52 for failure to provide adequate and effective security for all persons involved in the match and which led to the destruction of the camera tripod of the away team, and disagreements prior to the resumption of the second half. Read more
Joshua ‘looks amazing under new trainer’ ahead battle with Franklin (Guardian)
Boxing manager, Adrian Clark, has disclosed that Anthony Joshua looks ‘amazing’ under new trainer, Derrick James. Joshua is currently out in America preparing with James for his upcoming clash against Jermaine Franklin, reports express.co.uk.
The Watford powerhouse acquired the services of the 2017 Ring Magazine trainer of the year after parting ways with previous lead, Robert Garcia. Joshua and Garcia had only been working together for four months before the split.
The pair linked up prior to AJ’s second fight with Oleksandr Usyk in August but after coming up short again, Joshua announced that he would be touring America in search of a new coach. Joshua is understood to have visited Virgil Hunter and James, opting to go with the latter. Read more
FIFA use Club World Cup to trial referee microphones (RFI)
The ongoing Club World Cup is being used as a trial run for another potential refereeing revolution in football, with fans in the stadium able to hear officials explain decisions taken following VAR reviews.
Referees being hooked up with microphones is nothing new in other sports such as the NFL, but it is only now being tested in football, just as the sport is still getting used to Video Assistant Referees and semi-automated offside technology.
And so Uruguayan referee Andres Matonte was able to succinctly explain why he awarded a late penalty to Real Madrid after coming across to review a possible foul in the box during the Spanish club’s 4-1 win over Al Ahly in the semi-final in Rabat on Wednesday. Read more
Patrice Evra convicted of posting homophobic abuse as ex-Man Utd star issued £2k fine (Mirror)
Former Manchester United and France football star Patrice Evra was given a criminal conviction on Thursday for posting homophobic abuse online.
The ex-Red Devils captain, 41, was not in court in Paris on Thursday when he was fined €1000 (£890) and ordered to pay €2000 (£1780) compensation to two anti-hate campaign groups.
Stop Homophobia and Mousse complained in March 2019 when Evra posted a video of himself on social networks following a game between United and Paris St Germain. Read more
Roger Federer was once called a tennis ”bad boy” and a ”brat” who smashed rackets for fun (Express)
Retired tennis star Roger Federer has a reputation for being one of the most respectful figures to ever grace the court – but that was not always the case.
The Swiss star called time on his 24-year-long career in September, retiring at the Laver Cup in London. Federer was joined by plenty of tennis greats at the event, with the love for the 41-year-old clear to see in the packed-out event.
Rafael Nadal and co were all visibly heartbroken at the idea of their rival leaving the court for the final time, with family and friends also distraught in the stands. Federer was popular due to his sensational ability and affable personality, though he has not always conducted himself in that way, according to former Nike director Mike Nakajima. Read more
Nets agree to trade Kevin Durant, signaling end of star-studded era (NYTimes)
The Nets’ era of superstars appears to be over.
The Nets have agreed to trade Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns for a package of players and first-round picks, according to a person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The agreement was reached only days after the Nets traded their star guard Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks.
The trades will effectively draw the curtain on a brief, hopeful but ultimately unsatisfying era in Brooklyn in which the Nets gathered elite players like Durant, Irving and James Harden and cultivated hopes of multiple N.B.A. championships. Instead, the franchise endured a series of bitter standoffs, ugly headlines and playoff disappointments with its stars, and one by one let them go. Read more