I make N18,600 per person – Suspected human trafficker (Vanguard)
A 30-year-old suspected human trafficker Michael Omowunmi, has revealed that she usually make the sum of 30,000 CFA (an equivalent of (N18,600) per victim, anytime she traffic’s Nigerian ladies for prostitution to African countries most especially Mali.
However, nemesis caught up with her on Wednesday as she was apprehended by the officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps NSCDC, Lagos State Command and was paraded on Thursday.
The resident of No 13, Abule-Oki, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, was apprehended alongside four of her victims.
The former food vendour told Vanguard she ventured into the illicit business over two years ago and use the proceeds for the upkeep of her seven years old son unknown to her that the business will boomerang. Read more
Lagos Assembly confirms Sanwo-Olu’s commissioner nominees, others (Nation)
The Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday confirmed 11 nominees of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the State Executive Council, Civil Service Commission and Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission (LAHASCOM).
The confirmation took place through a voice vote conducted during plenary on Thursday.
The three commissioner-nominees are: Mr Ganiyu Ayuba, Mr Olugbenga Oyerinde and Bamigbose Martins.
Those confirmed for the Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission (LAHASCOM) are: Hon. Akeem Bello, a former member of the 8th Assembly, Hon. Kabiru Lawal, a member of the House from 2007–2015 and Mr Richard Osungboye. Read more
Charcoal dealer murdered in Lagos (DailyTrust)
A middle-aged woman, identified as Omotolani Detona, who was a dealer in charcoal along Amusu-Igboro Street, Ijanikin, was on Tuesday morning murdered in her apartment at Vespa bus stop, Mile 2-Badagry expressway, Lagos.
Witnesses said that the body of the lady was discovered by her children five hours after she had been killed. It was learnt that Detona had a telephone call while she was seeing her children off to school about 7am, prompting her to return home. It was also learnt that her killer lured her into her bedroom where he stabbed her to death. Read more
Court fixes February 6 for final argument on armed robbery charges against 11 persons (Guardian)
An FCT High Court, Nyanya on Thursday fixed Feb. 6 for the adoption of final written argument in a case of alleged armed robbery preferred against 11 persons.
The defendants are Sani Mohammed 28, Godwin Okagbue 35, Babayaro Musa-Ayuba 46, Emeka Okoli 32, Chijioke Okwo 43 and Elendu Okorie 36.
Others are Justin Anorue 33, Uche Chukwuma 32, Jack Omelinuniru 41, Chukwudi Okafor 22 and Geoffrey Ozomabu 30. Read more
Another PDP member shot dead in Delta (Nation)
Another member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Ovie Wisdom Iroro, has been shot dead in Abraka, Ethiope East council area of Delta state.
The victim, who was in his early 30s, was reportedly killed at his residence about 10pm on Wednesday.
The deceased was said to be having his bath when the gunmen struck.
Sources said that the hoodlums dragged him from his apartment to a nearby bush, where he was shot dead.
While details about the motive were not clear as at the time of filing this report, community sources claimed that Iroro may have been killed over a misunderstanding with suspected internet fraudsters around the neighbourhood. Read more
Man, 32, drugged, pushed from moving car along Abuja-Lokoja road (DailyTrust)
A middle aged man, simply identified as Bala, was allegedly drugged and pushed out from a moving vehicle by a suspected one chance gang in Abaji, along the Abuja- Lokoja road. A witness said he discovered the man lying unconscious by the road side at Sabon -Tasha junction in Abaji. He said, he then alerted a Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) special marshal who was controlling traffic at the junction and he contacted his colleagues who brought their patrol vehicle to convey the victim to the general hospital in the area. Read more
Blackout looms as national grid collapses again (Guardian)
The national grid experienced another system collapse on Thursday, causing a power outage in some parts of the country.
“Dear Customer, present outage affecting all is a TCN System Disturbance on the grid. Power to be restored as soon as available,” Eko Electricity Distribution Company tweeted on Thursday.
“Dear Customer, the outage which occurred at 1237hrs is due to a TCN system collapse affecting Lekki, Ibeju & environs. The team is working to restore power,” it added. Read more
Police arraign suspect for allegedly receiving stolen cars (DailyTrust)
A 35 year-old man, Adams Ibrahim of Okene Kogi State, has been arraigned by the FCT police command for allegedly receiving stolen vehicles. The prosecuting counsel, Saidu Jibrin, told the court that the defendant was arrested by a team of detectives from CID FCT police command, Abuja, led by DSP Oboli Azuka. He said the suspect had in his possession, cars he could not give satisfactory account of, adding that two Toyota Camry sedans, a BMW car and a Toyota Sienna were found with him. Read more
Di’Ja makes acting debut in Kannywood (Guardian)
Mavins recording artiste Hadiza Blell, popularly known as Di’Ja, is set to appear in her first acting role in a new Kannywood film titled “Mati A Zazzau”.
In the film, Di’ja stars in a lead role opposite Sadiq Sani Sadiq.
“Mati A Zazzau” is a sequel of the 2014 Kannywood hit comedy film, ‘Mati Da Lado’, a comical film about two brothers, Sadiq and Lado, who went about different villages pretending to be Islamic clerics and scamming people in the process.
“Mati A Zazzau” is a sequel of the first film and continues the story. The producers retained the comic elements and themes from the original version.
It tells the story of a comical and dubious traveller, Mati, who arrives Zaria and is up to no good. Read more
Benue: Govt, labour agree to implement N30,000 minimum wage (DailyTrust)
The Benue State Government and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday agreed to begin implementation of the new minimum wage for level one to six workers in the state. The Special Adviser to the Benue governor, Chief Ode Enyi, told our correspondent that the agreement was reached at the committee meeting on Minimum Wage and Salary Adjustment instituted by Governor Samuel Ortom. Enyi said a date would be fixed in due course for the signing of the agreement for official commencement on payment of the new minimum wage. He explained that the date would be made known soon as the committee complete work on wage and salary adjustment of workers on level seven and above. “Today (Thursday) both labour and government have agreed on a new minimum wage of N30,009.99 in the state,” Enyi said. Also, the Chairman of NLC in the state, Comrade Godwin Anya, confirmed that both parties have agreed to commence payment of the new minimum wage on a date yet to be fixed. Read more
Lesotho PM to resign over alleged links to wife’s murder (Guardian)
Lesotho’s prime minister has bowed to pressure to step down over evidence allegedly linking him to the murder of his estranged wife, the ruling party said Thursday.
Senior members of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have accused Thomas Thabane of hampering investigations into the killing.
They called for his resignation last week. Read more
Hong Kong leader says city could keep freedoms if it ‘stays loyal’ (Guardian)
Hong Kong may be allowed to keep its unique freedoms beyond their 2047 expiry date, its leader said Thursday, but only if inhabitants remain loyal to Beijing’s vision of how the city should be run.
Chief executive Carrie Lam, a pro-Beijing appointee, made the comments during a fiery session in the city’s legislature, where she was frequently interrupted by opposition lawmakers — many of whom were ejected.
Hong Kong has been battered by seven months of pro-democracy protests, which Lam and Beijing have taken a hard line against. Read more
Onazi moves to Denizlispor (Nation)
Ogenyi Onazi’s future at championship-chasing Trabzonspor has finally been sorted after he joined another Turkish club Denizlispor.
The move to Denizlispor, who are 11th on the Super Lig table, is till the end of the season. He was on the last year of his contract at Trabzonspor.
SCORENigeria first reported the uncertainty regarding the future the 27-year-old defensive midfielder after Trabzonspor took on loan another direct rival. Read more
Kerber suffers Australian Open injury setback (DailyTrust)
Angelique Kerber’s preparations for the opening Grand Slam of the year were dealt a blow Wednesday when she was forced to retire from the Adelaide International with back pain. The German former world No 1, who won the Australian Open in 2016, pulled out when behind 6-3, 2-0 in her second-round clash with Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska. The ninth seed began showing serious signs of the back problem early in the second set then stopped after two points in the third game on her own serve, calling for the trainer. Read more
Xavi says it was ‘too early’ for Barcelona top job (Guardian)
Xavi said it was “too early” for him to coach Barcelona as he confirmed on Thursday that he had received an offer from his former club but would remain at Qatari side Al-Sadd.
World Cup winner Xavi, 39, said Barcelona’s director of football Eric Abidal made him the offer, before settling on Quique Setien to replace Ernesto Valverde as a coach.
“I received an offer from Barcelona in the presence of Eric Abidal… but I did not agree to this offer, especially as it is too early for me to coach Barcelona,” he said in a statement issued by Al-Sadd. Read more
Scores injured as irate fans hold Pillars hostage after 1-1 draw (DailyTrust)
Irate fans believed to be supporters of Katsina United yesterday held players and officials of Kano Pillars hostage for several hours after their week 15 Nigeria Professional Football League match ended in 1-1 draw. Despite the presence of heavily armed security personnel at the Muhammadu Dikko stadium, the hoodlums succeeded in holding the visiting team hostage for several hours. Daily Trust gathered that during the half time break, the visiting team had to stay back on the pitch for fear they would be attacked, if they returned to their dressing room. Read more
UEFA report lays bare growing wealth gap in European football (Guardian)
Europe’s top-division clubs generated a combined profit for the second successive year in 2018, but the gap between the wealthiest sides and the rest continues to grow, according to a new report published by UEFA.
The annual “benchmarking” report from European football’s governing body calculates that the combined profit of the 700 top-tier clubs across the continent was 140 million euros ($156 million) with total revenues up to 21 billion euros, an increase of one billion euros.
However, 75 per cent of all revenues were generated by the so-called “Big Five” leagues of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In addition, more than half of all top-division revenues for 2019 will be generated by just the top 30 clubs, according to preliminary reporting for the year. Read more
Tokyo 2020: Home based athletes to camp in Europe (DailyTrust)
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has disclosed that home based athletes who will represent Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be camped in Europe as part of the preparations of the Games. He made this known while speaking on preparations for the 2020 Olympics. The Minister said that the foreign based athletes will benefit from the advanced sporting facilities in their countries of residence, hence the need to provide same for the Nigerian based athletes. Read more
Juventus score ‘goal of rare beauty’ in Italian Cup cruise (Guardian)
Cristiano Ronaldo was too ill to play, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic spent the evening resting on the bench, but even without their biggest stars, Juventus and AC Milan cruised into the last eight of the Italian Cup on Wednesday.
Juventus beat visiting Udinese 4-0 in the late game after Milan had dispatched SPAL, 3-0.
In the first game of the evening, 10-man Fiorentina beat Atalanta 2-1. Read more
Lobi Stars drown 1-2 at Rivers United (DailyTrust)
Lobi Stars yesterday suffered a slim 1-2 loss against Rivers United in one of the week 15 NPFL matches decided at the Yakubu Gowon stadium in Port-Harcourt but managed to keep the top spot on superior goal difference. Although both Lobi Stars and Rivers United now have same 27 points, the ‘pride of Benue’ are first on the table with a goal difference of plus 10 as against Rivers United’s seven. The Benue-side who have now suffered their third league defeat began the game on the back foot as they fell to a second minute goal scored by Nelson Esor from the first corner kick of the game. Read more
Hazard admits to holiday excesses (DailyTrust)
Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard has admitted to letting himself go while on holiday and piling on the pounds after signing for the Spanish giants in the close season last year. The Belgium international, who after years of flirtation finally signed for Real from Chelsea for a joint-club record €100 million in June, raised eyebrows when he reported for pre-season training packing some extra weight. “It’s true, I cannot lie, if I’m on holiday, then I’m on holiday,” Hazard told Belgian magazine Sport/Foot. “I put on five kilos in the summer. I’m one of those people who puts on weight very quickly then loses it very quickly.” Read more