Inspector remanded for Lagos nightclub killing (Nation)
An Ebute Metta Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a 48-year-old dismissed policeman, Edwin Apalowo Ola, for allegedly killing a 27-year-old-man, Malik Mohammed, at a nightclub, Crest Inn Club, Oshodi.
When the defendant was brought before the court, Chief Magistrate M.A. Ajiferuke, did not take his plea.
Magistrate Ajiferuke ordered that Ola be remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Services custody for 30 days, pending advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Prosecuting Insp. Raphael Donney, had earlier told the court that the defendant committed the offence on November 29 at about 8.05 pm at the Club located on Balogun Street, Oshodi. Read more
Family, friends mourn 28-year-old lady stabbed by robbers (Punch)
Family and friends of the 28-year-old Moradeun Balogun, who was stabbed on Monday by armed robbers and allegedly denied treatment by a Lagos hospital, turned out at the candlelight service to mourn her departure on Thursday.
The friends chanted dirges during the service held at her parent’s house as they called for justice for the departed podcast host.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Moradeun was stabbed in the neck by the robbers in the Gbagada area while returning from work. Read more
DSS releases Sowore, Bakare on bail after 125 days in detention (Tribune)
Omoyele Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow and publisher of Sahara Reporters has eventually regained his freedom, 125 days after being detained by the Department of State Services (DSS),
Also set free is Olawale Adebayo Bakare (aka Mandate) who was arrested in Osun State during a #RevolutionNow protest. Read more
Nigeria’s tertiary institutions overpopulated, says Atiku (Nation)
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has said Nigeria’s higher education sector is overburdened by population growth.
He suggested the establishment of more tertiary institutions across the country to cope with the country’s growing population.
Atiku spoke yesterday at a public hearing on a Bill to establish Modibbo Adama University, Yola, at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja. Read more
Ibadan-Lagos rail line not fully ready, journey took 3 hours – Reporter’s diary (Tribune)
All is not yet set for the Ibadan-Lagos rail line to begin full operation as Moniya axis of the tracks are yet to be completely fixed and all stations along the line still under various stages of construction. This is as the free trips, to and fro Lagos, from Ibadan witnessed a low turnout of passengers.
The maiden trip which commenced on Monday had as low as two passengers from Ibadan and less than five from Lagos. Recall that the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi had directed the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) to begin operation of free rides from October 30, 2019, to March 31, 2020.
But our correspondent who was part of the trip, on Tuesday, reports low turnout of passengers as only two passengers alongside him joined the trip, apart of more than 30 other people on board the train, which comprised of two soldiers guiding a Chinese engineer onboard, an armed police officer, Man O’ War members, staff of NRC and cleaners. Read more
Soil Day: Lagos warns against illegal sand mining (Nation)
AS Lagos State joined the rest of the world on Thursday to observe the World Soil day, the government warned against illegal sand mining, urging those involved to desist from the act which removes vital resource protecting the soil.
At a press parley as part of activities to mark the day, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, advised residents to desist from indiscriminate tree cutting which also damages the soil.
Bello stated that the state is committed to preventing further soil erosion in the state through identification and recovering of all erosion prone areas and conserving them for better productive use. Read more
WHO decries ‘collective failure’ as measles kills 140,000 (Vanguard)
Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization, WHO said on Thursday.
In figures described by its director-general as “an outrage”, the WHO said most of last year’s measles deaths were in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated.
“The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said the WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus. Read more
Saudi Aramco raises $25.6bn in world’s biggest share sale (BBC)
State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco has raised a record $25.6bn (£19.4bn) in its initial public offering in Riyadh.
The share sale was the biggest ever, surpassing that of China’s Alibaba which raised $25bn in 2014 in New York.
Aramco relied on domestic and regional investors to sell a 1.5% stake after lukewarm interest from abroad.
The IPO will value it at $1.7tn when trading begins – short of its $2tn target, but making it the most valuable listed company in the world. Read more
Football star, 18,’shot dead by his twin brother as they played with a gun’ (Metro)
A football star was allegedly shot dead by his twin brother as they were playing with a gun that accidentally fired. Suhail Gillard, 18, was shot once in his chest by his brother Fayaadh Gillard on Sunday in their father’s apartment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both Suhail and Fayaadh were standout football players at Mastery Charter North High School. The teen was rushed to Lankenau Medical Center where he was pronounced dead approximately four hours later. Relatives were with the brothers at the time of the shooting, including the twins’ father, who had been showing them how to handle the gun, a court source told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Read more
Macron pension reform: France paralysed by biggest strike in years (BBC)
France’s largest nationwide strike in years has severely disrupted schools and transport.
Workers are angry about planned pension reforms that would see them retiring later or facing reduced payouts.
More than 800,000 workers from a wide range of professions demonstrated against the changes. Some cities saw clashes between protesters and police.
President Emmanuel Macron wants to introduce a universal points-based pension system. Read more
‘Acid attack’ in north London leaves woman in hospital (Metro)
A woman has been rushed to hospital after a ‘substance’ was thrown at her in a suspected acid attack in north London. Police say she was attacked during the morning rush hour on Kentish Town Road. Officers arrived to the scene shortly before 7am following reports a chemical substance may have been thrown at a woman. The victim’s condition is currently unknown. A woman working in the Owl Bookshop, near the incident, told LBC News that a customer said she watched a woman ‘collapse on the floor’. Read more
Breathing the air in London is like smoking 160 cigarettes (Metro)
Living in some of the UK’s most polluted towns and cities can harm your health as much as smoking up to 160 cigarettes a year.
Campaigners have said pollution is now a ‘public health emergency’ and urged the government to enforce stricter rules to bring it down.
Analysis by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) showed that the air quality in inner city London is four times as bad as some Scottish islands. Read more
Tiger Woods burns Justin Thomas after big drive (Guardian)
Tiger Woods made sure not to waste an opportunity to burn Justin Thomas after out-driving him at the Hero World Challenge, writes golfmagic.com.
With Tiger Woods pairing himself with Justin Thomas at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, it’s highly likely the two will play together in the Presidents Cup next week against Ernie Els’ Rest of the World side.
During the first round of the Hero World Challenge, Woods hit a monster drive that sailed past Thomas’ ball on the fairway and Woods made sure that JT was well aware of it.As Thomas stood behind his ball eying uphis next shot, Woods casually strolled up to JT’s ball and inspected it, pretending to check if it was his ball or not.
When Thomas realised that Woods was clearly just mugging him off, Thomas smiled in disbelief at his playing partner’s tomfoolery. Once Woods was satisfied that Thomas had got the message, the 15-time major champion smiled widely and walked off to go to his ball. Read more
Ruiz targets history in Riyadh (Punch)
Heavyweight World Champion Andy Ruiz Jr has been knocked out by the iconic venue in Saudi Arabia where the Clash On The Dunes, his colossal rematch with Anthony Joshua, is set to take place.
The American-Mexican fighter – known as ‘The Destroyer’ – toured the custom-built Diriyah Arena in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site ahead of the epic bout on December 7.
The 15,000-seater stadium has been constructed in the ancient remains of Saudi Arabia’s first capital, a place fittingly known as the ‘home of kings and heroes’. Read more
Arsenal beaten by Brighton in Ljungberg’s first match as manager (BBC)
Managerless Arsenal’s season plummeted to a new low as they were beaten by Brighton in interim manager Freddie Ljungberg’s first home match in charge.
Alexandre Lacazette marked his 100th Gunners appearance by heading his side level after Adam Webster had given the visitors a first-half lead.
With the score 1-1, there was frustration for Ljungberg and Arsenal when David Luiz thought he had made it 2-1 with a volley but it was correctly ruled out following a VAR check for offside. Read more
Nicolas Pepe unhappy over Unai Emery sacking at Arsenal but highlights Freddie Ljungberg positive (Metro)
Nicolas Pepe admits it was ‘painful’ to see Arsenal sack Unai Emery but admits Freddie Ljungberg has a better understanding with the players. Arsenal took the decision to sack Emery last week after a poor run of results and have appointed Ljungberg as an interim manager until the club’s hierarchy can agree on a permanent replacement. Pepe struggled to find his best form under Emery, who guided Arsenal to just one win in his last nine games in charge. But the £72 million summer signing still admits he was unhappy to see Emery lose his job. Read more
Everton sack Marco Silva as manager after 18 months in charge (BBC)
Everton have sacked manager Marco Silva after 18 months, with the club in the Premier League relegation zone after their Merseyside derby humiliation.
Wednesday’s 5-2 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield was their ninth of the season and leaves them 18th in the Premier League after three successive losses.
Silva, who took charge in May 2018, won 24 and lost 24 of his 60 games. Read more
Salzburg boss Marsch lauds Liverpool’s Klopp as world’s best coach (Vanguard)
Jurgen Klopp has been hailed as the world’s best coach by Salzburg boss Jesse Marsch, whose side are preparing to face Liverpool in a crunch Champions League clash.
Liverpool hold an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League after 15 games, having missed out on the title by one point last season.
That disappointment was tempered by victory in the Champions League, as the Reds claimed their sixth European Cup title. Read more
Romelu Lukaku & Chris Smalling criticise ‘Black Friday’ headline (BBC)
Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku says the ‘Black Friday’ headline used by Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport is “one of the dumbest” he has seen, while Roma’s Chris Smalling condemned it as “wrong and insensitive”.
The headline accompanied pictures of Lukaku and Smalling prior to Friday’s match between their two sides.
“You guys keep fuelling the negativity and the racism issue,” Lukaku said.
Smalling urged the newspaper’s editors to “understand the power they possess”. Read more
Ibenegbu boost for Rangers ahead of Al Masry clash (Punch)
Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup, Enugu Rangers, will have three of their injured players back for the second game of their Group A clash against Egyptian club side Al Masry on Sunday.
The Flying Antelopes lost their opening group game to another Egyptian side FC Pyramids at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium on Sunday and will be buoyed by the return of Ike Ibenegbu, Uche John and Ifeanyi George, having lost their captain, Tope Olusesi, who was shown a red card in the 3-1 defeat. Read more
Max Allegri distances himself from Arsenal jo, says he will not return to management until June (Metro)
Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri says he will not be returning to management until the summer, ruling out the possibility of taking over at Arsenal midway through the season. The Italian – who won five straight Serie A titles during his time in Turin – has been out of work since the end of last season and is one of the main contenders to take over from Unai Emery full-time at the Emirates. Freddie Ljungberg has been handed the role on an interim basis while Arsenal’s hierarchy assess potential candidates, though Allegri has made it clear he’s not available right now. Read more
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Balogun calls for collective effort to fight racism (Vanguard)
Brighton and Hove Albion centre-back Leon Balogun believed fighting racism requires collective responsibility.
The defender suffered racial abuse in 2018 during his time with German Bundesliga side Mainz 05, where he was subjected to monkey chants from Hannover fans.
The Nigeria international wants fans, coaches as well as players, who are not targeted to show their support. Read more