I was paid N5m, I must perform at Celestial Church, says Portable (Punch)
Street-hop singer, Habeeb Okikiola aka Portable, has stated that he must perform at the Celestial Church of God, Goshen Land Cathedral, in Lagos State, adding that he was paid N5 million for the performance.
The church was recently under fire for inviting Portable and Fuji singer, Pasuma, to its praise night scheduled to hold on December 15, 2023.
After public outrage, Celestial Church leader, Olatosho Oshoffa, in a Facebook post, announced that Portable and Pasuma would no longer be present at the occasion. Read more
Customs intercepts 9 trucks of smuggled rice, 13 vehicles in Ogun (Leadership)
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced the interception of nine truckloads of foreign parboiled rice and 13 foreign used vehicles smuggled into the country from neighboring Benin Republic.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos State, on Tuesday, the Customs Area Controllers, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Acting Comptroller Hussein Ejibunu, said 18,100 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 376 bales of used clothes were also seized in November, 2023.
LEADERSHIP gathered that other contraband seized are 1,926 cartons of frozen poultry products; 337 pieces of used compressors; 3 by 40 ft containers found to contain 3,838 pieces of used tyres. Read more
Army Chief Lagbaja visits Kaduna after deadly military bombing that killed 85 (Vanguard)
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has visited Kaduna State, two days after a deadly military air strike that killed at least 85 people and injured several others.
The army chief’s move is also for an on-the-spot assessment of the community and to condole with the families of the victims.
Sunday’s incident is one of the country’s deadliest military bombing accidents. Read more
Alleged N4.8b Fraud: EFCC opposes Lagos AG’s moves to take over Ibeto’s prosecution (Channels)
The planned arraignment of the Chairman of Ibeto Energy Development Company, Chief Cletus Ibeto, again failed on Tuesday at the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.
This is the fourth time the arraignment has failed as the defendant again failed to show up in court. His lawyers, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Uche Obi told Justice Ismail Ijelu that an issue of legal representation had arisen following moves by the office of the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to take over the prosecution of the case.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Jacobs, described the move as “an attempt to scuttle the trial”. Read more
NIREC: Tinubu addressing poverty, hunger in Nigeria – SGF (Sun)
Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Dr George Akume, has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government, stressing that the President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is working on several ways to address the poverty and hunger in Nigeria.
Dr. Akume, made the appeal in a keynote address delivered at the fourth quarterly meeting of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), in Abuja, on Tuesday, with the theme “Restoration of Hope in Nigeria”.
He said the focus of the administration of President Tinubu, is to rekindle hope in Nigerians, hence the “Renewed Hope” agenda which was the mantra of the 2023 election campaign. Read more
Benue Assembly suspends 4 members for alleged sabotage (Guardian)
The Benue House of Assembly has suspended four members for three months for allegedly sabotaging the its proceedings.
The Speaker of the house, Mr Hyacinth Dajoh, announced the suspension, following a unanimous decision of the house during its plenary session on Monday.
The suspended lawmakers include Mr Douglas Akya (Makurdi South/PDP), Mr Anthony Agom (Okpokwu/PDP), Mr Cephas Dyako (Konshisha/LP) and Solomon Gyila (Gwer-West/APC). Read more
Tinubu commissions N361m TETFund projects in Osun college (Tribune)
President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, commissioned Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) projects worth N361,232,123,88 at the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke.
The projects were a 600-seater capacity auditorium and a story block of offices.
However, the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Mr. Sonny Echono hinted that over 70 projects spread across 17 tertiary institutions in 11 states across the country had been commissioned in 2023. Read more
NLC seeks new National Minimum Wage commensurate with cost of living (Nation)
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said the commencement of negotiation of the new National Minimum Wage in 2024 would be based on the prevailing cost of living in the country.
Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President, said this at the ongoing 19th edition of the NLC 2023 Harmattan School, organised by the Congress on Tuesday in Abuja.
The theme of the event is “Building Workers’ Skills for Policy Engagement”. Read more
Britney Spears’ dad rushed to hospital as infection causes leg amputation (DailyRecord)
Jamie Spears has reportedly had his leg amputated after he was rushed to hospital with a ‘severe infection’.
The star – who is the father of Britney and Jamie-Lynn Spears – was rushed to hospital in October after suffering from a ‘bad infection’.
At the time, a source revealed Jamie required surgery and had to spend weeks in a special infectious disease facility. Read more
Matthew Perry: Julia Roberts reflects on Friends role and ‘heartbreaking’ death of ‘anybody so young’ (Sky)
Julia Roberts has reflected on Friends star Matthew Perry after he died in October aged 54.
Roberts, who was briefly in a relationship with Perry, said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that she had “all good thoughts and feelings” towards him and the show.
Speaking about her experience appearing on the sitcom in 1996, Roberts said: “They were all so welcoming to me as just a kind of a one-off character and it was a really fun time.”
“The sudden passing of anybody so young is heartbreaking. I think that, you know, it just helps all of us just appreciate what we have and to keep going in a positive way as best we can,” the 56-year-old added. Read more
Washington to restrict visas for Ugandans who enforce anti-LGBT+ law (AfricaNews)
The United States announced Monday that it will refuse to grant visas to Ugandan officials who enforce a controversial anti-homosexuality law enacted in the East African country in May that includes penalties up to and including the death penalty.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the measure would apply to Ugandan officials, both serving and former, and their family members, if they are found to have played a role in the “repression of members of marginalised or vulnerable populations”.
“These groups include, among others, environmental defenders, human rights defenders, journalists, LGBTQI+ people and leaders of civil organisations,” Blinken said in a statement. Read more
Victoria Mary Clarke spent 35 years worrying about losing Shane MacGowan (RTE)
Shane MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, has said she worried about his death for 35 years because he “pushed the boundaries of what humans can do to their bodies”.
The Pogues frontman, best known for the classic Christmas hit song “Fairytale Of New York”, died last week at the age of 65.
The gritty song is now battling to score the coveted Christmas number one spot in the UK, a feat not achieved when it was originally released in 1987, having peaked at number two in the charts. Read more
Netflix cancels Robert Pattinson and Robert Downey Jr serial killer movie (FarOut)
“Average Height, Average Build”, Adam McKay‘s serial killer comedy, has been cancelled by streaming platform Netflix.
Written and directed by McKay and starring Robert Pattinson, Robert Downey Jr, and Amy Adams, “Average Height, Average Build” was announced earlier this year. It followed the story of Pattinson’s serial killer who enlists the help of Amy Adams’ lobbyist to change laws to help him get away with his crimes. Meanwhile, Downey Jr played a retired police officer tracking the murderer.
However, the plug has been unexpectedly pulled on the movie. As reported by Deadline, McKay, who brought the project to Netflix, is leaving to work on a new film about climate change. It is claimed that the streaming giant isn’t planning on hiring another director for Average Height. Read more
Jamie Foxx makes 1st public appearance since health scare (NYPost)
Jamie Foxx made his first public appearance Monday night at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema and Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements since being diagnosed with a mysterious illness in April.
Foxx, 55, who was the recipient of the event’s Vanguard Award for his performance in the 2023 film The Burial, managed to take the stage unassisted when the category was announced.
“I couldn’t do that six months ago, I couldn’t actually walk to [the stage]. And I’m not a clone, I’m not a clone. I know a lot of people saying that I was cloned out there,” Foxx said in his speech, per The Hollywood Reporter. Read more
Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza’s 2nd largest city in new phase of conflict (Global)
Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city early Tuesday, sending ambulances and private cars racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the conflict.
Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north – but Palestinians say there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return.
Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes – and new orders to evacuate areas around Khan Younis are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas of the already tiny coastal strip. Read more
Osimhen bags AIC Footballer of the Year award (Punch)
Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, was named as the Italian Footballers’ Association Footballer of the Year for his stellar showing with Neopolitans last season.
The award ceremony held on Monday night, also had other accolades, including the team of the year, coach of the year, club of the year, and goal of the season.
Osimhen’s 26 goals were instrumental in helping the Partenopei win their first Scudde in 33 years. Read more
Man Utd ban journalists from Erik ten Hag news conference (BBC)
Manchester United banned journalists from four media outlets from Tuesday’s news conference with boss Erik ten Hag.
United claimed they had not been given right of reply to negative stories around the club.
Journalists from Sky, ESPN, Manchester Evening News and the Mirror were excluded after reporting some players were unhappy with Dutchman Ten Hag.
“We are taking action against a number of news organisations,” the club said in a statement. Read more
The biggest VAR blunders of the 2023-24 Premier League Season (CompleteSports)
The consensus at the time was that it would be a flawless piece of evolutionary equipment by this stage, yet it only seems to have gotten worse with time.
We are only 13 gameweeks into the 2023-24 campaign at the time of writing, but several managers have already been left furious by some of the decision-making of officials.
With the season recently restarting after yet another international break, we’re prepared for the debate over VAR to stem even further. Read more
Schumacher reveals main lesson garnered from Mercedes reserve role (PlanetF1)
In Abu Dhabi last month, Mick Schumacher concluded his inaugural year as Mercedes’ reserve driver, and the young German has shared the main learning he gained from his unique experience.
Schumacher was picked up by Mercedes and handed a support role with the Brackley squad after losing his race seat with Haas at the end of the 2022 F1 season.
The 24-year-old’s responsibilities included development work in the team’s simulator and embedding with Mercedes on race weekends. Read more
Regis Prograis out to get respect he deserves by handing Devin Haney ‘‘reality check’’ (NYPost)
Don’t get it twisted – Regis Prograis is the champion and Devin Haney is the challenger.
It just doesn’t feel that way.
The 25-year-old Haney, who recently vacated all four of his titles as the former undisputed lightweight champion, is moving up to super lightweight as he looks to now become a two-division champion. Read more
Sheffield United reappoint Wilder after sacking manager Heckingbottom (Vanguard)
Sheffield United on Tuesday reappointed Chris Wilder as manager after sacking Paul Heckingbottom following a miserable start to the Premier League season.
CEO Stephen Bettis said the club, bottom of the table, needed a “boost” in their battle for survival.
Heckingbottom is the first manager to be fired this season in the English top flight after 11 defeats in 14 league games, leaving them four points from safety. Read more