Housewife who allegedly set husband ablaze to know fate May 30 (Guardian)
Amina Dauda, a housewife accused of killing her husband, Mohammed Matazu, a former reporter with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Kaduna, by setting him ablaze, to know her fate on May 30. Dauda, 28, was arraigned before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, on May 22, 2013, on three counts bordering on culpable homicide, punishable with death. Justice Baba-Yusuf, fixed the date after the adoption of written addresses by Mr Abubakar Musa, prosecuting counsel and defendant counsel, Mr Charles Yoila. Read more
Govt will partner labour to ensure peaceful, corruption-free Nigeria —Buhari (Punch)
President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will partner with the organized labour to ensure that the country remains peaceful, prosperous and corruption-free. The president stated this when he received the leadership of the organized labour led by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday. The labour leaders were in the presidential villa to felicitate with the president on his electoral victory. Read more
NUJ to politicians: Don’t destroy Nigeria with fake news (Nation)
National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Chris Isiguzo, has decried the use of social media influencers by desperate politicians to circulate fake news. He said encouraging such distorted reports especially during electioneering period were capable of destroying the corporate existence of the country. Isiguzo, who spoke in Awka, Anambra state, enjoined politicians to see election as normal game of winners and losers. He said, “In their desperation, they engage in all manner of activities like mudslinging, name calling, character assassination. Read more
Don’t abuse collation process again, Situation Room warns INEC (Punch)
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Thursday challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission to avoid an abuse of the collation process, which, it alleged, was evident in the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 23. While challenging the Commission to carry out “an effective and transparent collation of results with unfettered access to centres,” the organisation called on the Armed Forces to restrict themselves to the responsibilities as defined by INEC and the Electoral Act. “INEC had committed not to yield to pressure from politicians seeking transfer of specific Resident Electoral Commissioners with replacements of amenable RECs to compromise the elections. We expect INEC to follow through with this commitment,” the group warned. Read more
Kidnapped INEC adhoc staff released- Police (Nation)
The Katsina State Police Command on Thursday told newsmen that the INEC adhoc staff, who was kidnapped by bandits during the Presidential and National Assembly polls in Safana Local Government Area of the state has regained his freedom. The State’s Police Commissioner, Sanusi Buba while confirming the development said the victim escaped from his abductors and has since spoken with him. He said “he escaped from his abductors and has spoken with me on his ordeals. Originally he was not officially engaged by INEC but had volunteered to replace someone who was earlier employed by the commission but could not turn up. We have already made an arrest on the matter and shall certainly prosecute the criminal.” Read more
APC alleges plan to rig elections in Benue (Guardian)
The ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC), has accused the governor of Benue state of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Ortom and his party members of plotting to rig elections on Saturday, in the state. Abba Yaro, the chairman of APC in the state, who in a statement in Abuja today, berated the current government of failing in their projects in the last four years, affirmed that the opposition party are planning to buy votes. “We wish to remind the governor that in 2015 when the people of Benue State voted massively for APC, he did not have any money to buy votes. This implies that conscience of the people of Benue State cannot be bought with silver or gold,” Yaro said. Read more
Police beef up security at four flash points in Ebonyi (Nation)
Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi state, Awosola Awotunde has said that the command has identified four flash points in the state which it will pay serious attention in Saturday’s governorship and State Assembly elections in the state. The state Commissioner of disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abakaliki on the preparedness of the state police command ahead of Saturday’s governorship and state Assembly elections. According to him, the flashpoints, which he described as volatile areas, gave the command trouble during the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in the state. Read more
ASCSN asks Buhari not to recruit Perm Secs outside civil service (Punch)
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria on Thursday warned President Muhammadu Buhari against mischievous sycophants who had started to beat their war drums barely few days after being declared the winner of the 2019 election. The ASCSN advised him to restore tenure policy in the civil service for Permanent Secretaries and Directors and reverse the practice of recruiting Permanent Secretaries from outside the civil service. The organisation said that contrary to claims that the civil service was over bloated, the staff strength of the core civil service stood at 80,000. Read more
Elections: Adamawa APC assembly candidate dies (Punch)
A candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Adamawa State in the forthcoming House of Assembly election in the state, Adamu Kwanate, has died. The late Kwanate was a member of the state House of Assembly representing Nasarawo/Binyeri (Mayo Belwa 1) state constituency. He died on Wednesday aged 56. He was said to have collapsed during a campaign in Kwanate and rushed to a hospital in Yola, the state capital where he died. Read more
Court adjourns Jang’s N6.3bn fraud case (Guardian)
The State High Court in Jos, on Thursday adjourned to April 9, hearing in ex-Gov. Jonah Jang’s alleged N6.3 billion fraud case to enable prosecuting counsel conclude submissions. Jang and Yusuf Pam, a former cashier in the Plateau Government House, were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over fraud alleged committed between Sept. 2010 and Oct. 2014. The duo is facing a 12-count charge bordering on conspiracy and money laundering allegedly committed when Jang was governor of Plateau. Read more
Governorship election: We are tipped to win in Bauchi, says PDP Chairman (Punch)
The Peoples Democratic Party in Bauchi State on Thursday said that although it does not anticipate violence in the governorship and State House of Assembly elections, “there can only be crises when there is injustice.” The party, however, said that “anybody who stands before a moving train from getting to its destination will definitely be crushed.” The PDP, therefore, called on its supporters to cast their votes, wait for them to be counted and escort them to their final destinations. Read more
INEC distributes sensitive election materials in Kebbi (Punch)
The Independent National Electoral Commission, Kebbi State, has distributed sensitive election materials to the 21 Local Government Areas ahead of Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state. The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday that the distribution took place at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Birnin Kebbi branch on Wednesday. “The distribution was done in the presence of representatives of political parties and security agencies like the DSS, Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, Police and Nigerian Army,” he said. Read more
One dies, two injured in Yola street fight (Nation)
One person has died and two others injured in a street fight in a community in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. The Nation correspondent gathered Thursday that the incident happened at the Jambutu area of Yola North Local Government Area Tuesday night during a clash among youths returning home from a party. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Othman Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, named the deceased as John Jada. “Youths returning from a night outing engaged each other in a fight at Rumde Baru in Jambutu. One John Jada was fatally wounded and he later died,” the PPRO said. Read more
Afzal Kohistani: ‘Honour killing’ whistleblower shot dead (BBC)
The man at the centre of a campaign to expose one of Pakistan’s most notorious “honour killings” cases has been shot dead nearly seven years after he brought it to national attention. M Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad. A video showing two men dancing as four women sing a wedding song to the beat of clapping would pass as normal anywhere in the world. But this scene, filmed in 2011 in rural Pakistan, led to chilling consequences. The women in the video, and a young female member of the family who was also at the scene, are believed to have been killed by male relatives for “breaching their honour”. Read more
Police prosecute 14 for sharing murder video (Punch)
Danish police on Thursday said they had launched prosecutions against 14 people suspected of sharing on social media the murder video of one of the two young Scandinavian hikers killed in Morocco. Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland were found dead at an isolated hiking spot south of Marrakesh on December 17. The pair were stabbed, had their throats slit and were then beheaded, according to Morocco’s counter-terror chief. Read more
Saudi Arabia rebuked over detention of women activists at UN forum (BBC)
Thirty-six states at the UN Human Rights Council have criticised Saudi Arabia for detaining women’s rights activists, and demanded their release. The joint statement was the first collective rebuke of the Gulf kingdom since the council was set up in 2006. It reflects international concern at the detention of a number of activists in the past year and also at the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. There was no immediate response to the statement from the Saudi government. Read more
Climate change: Rain melting Greenland ice sheet ‘even in winter’ (BBC)
Rain is becoming more frequent in Greenland and accelerating the melting of its ice, a new study has found. Scientists say they’re “surprised” to discover rain falling even during the long Arctic winter. The massive Greenland ice-sheet is being watched closely because it holds a huge store of frozen water. And if all of that ice melted, the sea level would rise by seven metres, threatening coastal population centres around the world. Precipitation usually falls as snow in winter – rather than as rain – which can balance out any melting of the ice in the summer. Read more
Daredevil doctor performs gastroscopy on himself (Punch)
A daredevil doctor in eastern China performed a gastroscopy on himself to check his stomach after feeling unwell in that area. According to Newsflare, the video, filmed in Yiwu City in eastern Zhejiang Province, shows the 32-year-old doctor named Jin Chengfeng putting a gastroscope into his own stomach, while sitting in front of a screen to check the findings himself. Jin has been a doctor for five years and has performed gastroscopies for his patients for tens of thousands of times, the medium reports. Read more
Groom arrested before wedding for punching man photobombing bridal party (Metro)
A groom never got the chance to say ‘I do’ after he was arrested before his beach wedding for punching a man who interrupted the bride’s photoshoot. Jeffrey Alvord, 27, spent the night in jail on Sunday after he got into a fight with the man who refused to leave his beach chair, which was in the way of their wedding photos. Alvord first offered the man $20 to relocate, but the man demanded $50 and ‘became belligerent,’ so Alvord punched him in the face, breaking his nose minutes before the wedding on Sunday in Boynton Beach, Florida. Read more
Man Utd: Neymar of Paris St-Germain criticises penalty decision (BBC)
The decision to award Manchester United a penalty in the 94th minute of their win over Paris St-Germain in the Champions League was a “disgrace”, says the French club’s forward Neymar. The 27-year-old raged about the call, made after using VAR, on social media as United reached the quarter-finals. Marcus Rashford’s goal earned a 3-1 win and United went through on away goals after the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate. But Brazilian striker Neymar said the penalty “doesn’t exist”. Read more
Thomas Tuchel slams Manchester United tactics after humiliating Champions League loss (Metro)
Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel was not impressed by Manchester United’s tactics as they knocked his side out of the Champions League on Wednesday night. United secured an unlikely 3-1 victory at the Parc des Princes to go through to the quarter-finals on away goals, thanks to a 94th minute Marcus Rashford penalty. The Red Devils finished the match with just 28% possession, having scored their three goals from four shots on target as PSG largely dominated the game. Read more
NBA: LeBron James overtakes Michael Jordan in all-time points scoring (BBC)
LeBron James overtook Michael Jordan to move fourth on the NBA’s all-time points scorer list in the LA Lakers’ 115-99 defeat by the Denver Nuggets. James, who netted 31 points against the Nuggets, has scored 32,311 points, surpassing Jordan’s tally of 32,292. He achieved the feat in 1,190 games, compared to Jordan’s 1,072. “I don’t know, man, a lot of the stuff I’ve done in my career, this ranks right at the top,” the 34-year-old said after the game. Read more