Killing of Omobolanle: Reps seeks alcohol consumption ban on police (Guardian)
The House of Representatives has called for a ban on police officers from consuming alcohol and other hard substances capable of inhibiting their sense of reasoning.
Adopting the motion, the lawmakers while agreeing that the Nigerian police act on the general conduct of the police officers should be reviewed, observed a minute silence for the late Raheem.
The lawmakers also condemned the killing of a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Omobolanle Raheem, who was shot in Lagos by policemen on Christmas Day.
This resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion of Urgent Public Importance raised by Rep. Babajide Obanikoro (APC-Lagos) at plenary on Wednesday in Abuja.
Moving the motion, Obanikoro lamented that on the fateful day, without any altercation, one of the officers shot Mrs Raheem who was seven months pregnant with twins, on the spot. Read more
Drama in Senate over Buhari’s N23.7t loan request (Punch)
The Senate is currently in a rowdy session over the request by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to approve Ways and Means Advances restructuring to the tune of N23.7 trillion.
At the plenary on Wednesday, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, read out Buhari’s request to members of the respective chambers.
In the request titled, ‘Restructuring of Ways and Means Advances,’ the President wrote, “The Ways and Means Advance by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Government has been a funding option to the Federal Government to cater for short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipt of fiscal deficit.
“The Ways and Means balance as of 19th December 2022, is N23,719,703,774,306.90. Read more
I have been single for 4 years – Paul Okoye (Vanguard)
Nigerian singer and one of the music duo, P Square, Paul Okoye has revealed he had been unmarried for four years and was divorced before meeting Ifeoma, his partner.
The singer made this known on during an Instagram live session with his fans on Tuesday.
Okoye made the decision to respond to some inquiries about his prior union with Anita, the mother of his three children.
He disclosed that he had been divorced for a long time and had been single for four years prior to meeting Ifeoma.
He said, “I have been single for 4 years and I have been divorced for a long time. I don divorce sef before I found Ifeoma.” Read more
Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello lauds LASG, as LASU ranks high in 2022 UI GreenMetrics ranking (Independent)
The Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has lauded the Lagos State government as the institution emerged the Best University in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region in the newly released 2022 UI GreenMetrics Global Ranking.
The Vice-Chancellor, who expressed her excitement over the ranking, called it a breakthrough in the accomplishment of her vision to make LASU the very best in West Africa.
She congratulated the entire university community on the feat and thanked the Lagos State Government, under the leadership of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for empowering her administration to succeed.
Besides, the Vice Chancellor further assured that the university would not relent in putting the right policies, strategies and infrastructure in place for LASU to become the best in the sub-region in all other ranking indices. Read more
5 teenagers raped, threatened me, says 8-year-old (Punch)
Five teenagers have been accused of raping an eight-year-old girl, Christine (not real name), on Adepeju Street, in the Bariga area of Lagos State.
The victim’s father, Asuquo, who demanded justice, said the rape was discovered by his wife’s sister.
He said, “My wife travelled to her hometown in November 2022 and she went with my second child, a boy. She took my first child to her sister’s place. Some days after, I received a call from my wife’s sister that I should come to her house for something urgent about my daughter.
“When I got there, my in-law narrated to me how she saw blood coming out of my daughter’s private parts and when I questioned her, my daughter mentioned that five boys, the eldest who is over 18, had been sexually molesting her whenever no one was around the house. Read more
Senate approves Buhari’s fresh N819.54b domestic loan request for capital projects (ThisDay)
The Senate on Wednesday approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for a N819.54bn domestic loan meant to fix the infrastructure destroyed by floods across the country.
Buhari had through an executive communication last week, sought the approval of the National Assembly for a N819.54bn supplementary budget.
The request, according to the President, would form part of the 2022 Appropriation Act.
Buhari in the letter read by President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said the supplementary appropriation request was meant for the capital expenditure component of the 2022 budget. Read more
$106m Ilesa Water Loan: Adeleke suspends project consultant (Channels)
The Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke has directed the immediate suspension of the project consultant for the Ilesa Water Project, Mrs Tawa Williams over questionable handling of a $106 million dollar loan for the project.
The State Governor in a statement by His Spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed further ordered full scale probe of the entire project and disbursed loans especially as there is no progress on the project despite reported disbursement of N10 billion and another $28million on the project.
The Governor equally suspends the project coordinator to allow for unhindered review of the loan administration while the Consultant was directed to return to government the N70m bullet proof jeep in her possession.
Governor Adeleke’s directive was sequel to the interim report of the State’s Assets Recovery Committee chaired by Dr B.T. Salami which made recommendations for immediate action to stop further squandering of loans secured to execute the Water Project. Read more
El-Rufai wants politicians using religion as campaign tool punished (DailyTrust)
The governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has stressed the need to punish politicians using religion as a campaign tool.
The governor spoke yesterday in Kaduna at the commissioning ceremony of the head office of the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development.
He expressed concern over the way and manner some politicians were using religion and ethnicity to create division in their campaigns.
He said the 2023 elections presented a unique opportunity for Nigerians to take religion out of politics. Read more
China Covid: US considers restrictions on Chinese arrivals (BBC)
The US is considering imposing new Covid restrictions on Chinese arrivals, after Beijing announced it would reopen its borders next month.
American officials say this is due to a lack of transparency surrounding the virus in China, as cases surge.
On Wednesday, Italy announced plans to enforce mandatory testing, after tighter measures were outlined by Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and India.
Beijing said coronavirus rules should be brought in on a “scientific” basis.
Officials in the Italian city of Milan are already testing passengers on flights from China. Read more
Mariah Carey dethrones Adele as she breaks huge Spotify record (Metro)
Christmas may be over for another year, but Mariah Carey is no doubt still revelling in the celebrations – especially as she’s just broken a new Spotify record.
The 52-year-old’s seminal festive hit All I Want For Christmas Is You has broken the record for the most plays in a single day on the streaming service after being listened to a whopping 21,273,000 times in just 24 hours on Christmas Eve.
The record was previously held by Adele, 34, whose single Easy On Me was played 19,747,000 times by Spotify users on the day it was released in October 2021.
All I Want For Christmas Is You has been listened to a total of 1,423,860,643 times since Spotify launched in 2008. Yep, that’s right, one billion. Read more
Billie Lourd pays tribute to late mother Carrie Fisher on 6th anniversary of her death (MusicNews)
Billie Lourd wrote a tribute post to her late mother Carrie Fisher six years after Carrie’s death.
In a Tuesday Instagram post, the Ticket to Paradise star acknowledged the six-year anniversary of her mother Carrie Fisher’s death.
Captioning a photo of herself and her late mother together, Billie wrote, “It has been 6 years since my Momby died (feels like 2 but also like 705 at the same time?). And unlike most other years since she’s died, this year, these past two weeks have been some of the most joyful of my life.”
Billie and her husband Austen Rydell welcomed their second child, Jackson, on 12 December. They also share two-year-old Kingston. Read more
Pakistani film to release in India after 11 years amid blowback (AlJazeera)
A blockbuster Pakistani movie, The Legend of Maula Jatt, is poised to become the first film from the country in more than a decade to be released in India on December 30, marking a tentative cultural breakthrough in the tense ties between the South Asian neighbours.
An adaptation of the 1979 cult classic Maula Jatt, 38-year-old director Bilal Lashari’s movie will be released in Indian Punjab and in select cinemas in Delhi, confirmed Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer of INOX Leisure, an Indian multiplexes chain.
“It will be played in Punjab and a few theatres in Delhi in INOX where there are Punjabi-speaking people,” Jyala told the Press Trust of India on December 26. Al Jazeera reached out to Jyala for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
Last week, another Indian multiplex chain, PVR Cinemas, shared the announcement of the release of the movie on its website, before taking it down. It is unclear whether the film will still run at its cinemas, but the incident underscored the political risks Indian companies and individuals face when engaging with Pakistani counterparts.
Glass Onion racks up 82.1m hours watched on opening weekend (NME)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was watched for 82.1million hours over its first weekend on Netflix.
The sequel to Rian Johnson’s 2019 mystery film initially had a limited release in cinemas, being screened from November 23 before debuting on Netflix exactly a month later. By Netflix’s estimation, dividing viewing hours by the film’s 139-minute runtime, 35 million households worldwide watched the film over the Christmas weekend. These figures make Glass Onion the sixth biggest film debut on Netflix in the last two years.
Last year, Netflix paid $450million (£372 million) for the rights to two sequels to Knives Out, plus $40million (£33 million) to produce the first of these, which became Glass Onion. The other sequel is already in development. Read more
Usher shuts down G Herbo’s claim he’s a better singer (HipHopDX)
G Herbo believes he can sing Usher’s music better than Usher himself, but the R&B legend begs to differ.
Herbo showed his lighter side this week by posting a video of himself singing along to Usher’s 2004 song “Superstar” during a car journey, even hitting the high notes that open the Confessions track.
After belting out his best falsetto, the otherwise gravel-voiced rapper turned around and told his fellow passengers: “That was decent wasn’t it, though? That was decent. That boy is good!”
The Chicago native displayed even more confidence in his singing ability by captioning the clip with a bold message for Usher. “@usher can’t fuck wit me on my worse day,” he wrote. Read more
Kendrick Lamar Explains Why He Avoids Social Media (Complex)
Kendrick Lamar has never been particularly active on social media, and in a new interview with the New York Times, he explains why.
“My social media, most of the time, is completely off,” he said in the feature, which also focuses on his pgLang co-founder and longtime collaborator Dave Free. “Because I know, like … I can easily smell my own [expletive]. I know. … Like, I’m not one of those dudes that be like, Oh, yeah, I know how good I am, but I also know the reason why I’m so good is because God’s blessed me with the talent to execute on the talent, and the moment that you start getting lost in your ego, that’s when you start going down.”
Kendrick has often addressed the idea of ego in his music, and more recently it’s something he’s been more careful to control. In an interview for Citizen earlier this year, he said he was “dropping the ego a bit” and he no longer wants to be considered “the greatest.” Read more
2022 World Cup: Messi’s hotel room in Qatar to be turned into museum (Leadership)
The hotel room used by Argentine star, Lionel Messi, during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, is set to be turned into a museum after Argentina’s success in the tournament.
Messi was key in Argentina’s first World Cup victory since 1986 and was named player of the tournament after netting twice in the dramatic final against France.
The 35-year-old picked up the silver boot after netting seven goals on his way to the one trophy that had always eluded him in an otherwise illustrious career.
His achievements are now set to be immortalised, with Achraf Ben Ayad tweeting that the University of Qatar space he stayed in will be turned into a ‘small museum’. Read more
Obi Utd wins Mailafia Peace, Unity Cup in Nasarawa (Sun)
Obi United has been crowned champions of 6th edition of the Yakubu Mailafia Peace & Unity Football competition in Nasarawa State against all odds.
Recall that Obi United, whose best finish last year was a quarterfinal finish, proved bookmakers wrong to win the “Mailafia Dynasty/Daddare Community World Cup designed trophy,” beating highly favored, Thunder FC, who ousted the erstwhile defending champions, Greater Tomorrow at the semi final.
Obi United FC won the trophy with the sum of N 600, 000 after beating Thunder FC 4-3 on penalties after regulation time stood at 0-0.
Runners’ up, Thunder FC smiled home with N400, 000, while the winner of the third place match, Giant Killers FC, beat the defending champion, Greater Tomorrow to pocket the N300, 000. Read more
Christian Eriksen: Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Man United is ”sad” but time to move on (ESPN)
Christian Eriksen has admitted he is “sad” Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer part of the squad at Manchester United but insists it’s time to move on following the striker’s departure.
Ronaldo agreed a mutual termination of his contract at Old Trafford during the World Cup to end his second spell at the club six months before the end of his contract.
“We are sad that Ronaldo is not part of it,” Eriksen said. “His legacy and his name at any club is special, for me to be fortunate to play with him in my career was very nice. The football goes on.
“You feel that the next game after, people will forget what it was like before and now our focus is really like he is not here.” Read more
Italy’s Jorginho could quit Chelsea for Newcastle (FootballItalia)
Italy international midfielder Jorginho could potentially remain in the Premier League by leaving Chelsea for Newcastle United.
The former Hellas Verona and Napoli star has repeatedly been linked with a return to Serie A, above all to Juventus or a reunion with his old coach Maurizio Sarri at Lazio.
His contract at Stamford Bridge is due to expire at the end of this season, meaning he can be a free agent in the summer.
However, Sky Sport Italia claim that he might not hold off that long and already be on the move to Newcastle United in January. Read more
Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks make NBA history with late ”miracle” vs New York Knicks (Mirror)
Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic scored the first ever 60-point triple-double in Tuesday night’s win over the New York Knicks with the Slovenian’s efforts securing an incredible comeback.
With just 33 seconds to go, the Mavericks were down by nine points, with Doncic scoring the points to help put the team down just two points. Doncic would go to the free throw line with one shot, but needed to score two to complete the comeback to take the game to overtime.
The 23-year-old then intentionally missed a free throw, secured the rebound and scored to add two points to force an overtime, where the Mavericks went on and won.
Doncic finished with 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists – being the first to ever do so with 60 points and the youngest with a 50-point triple-double since the late, great Wilt Chamberlain. Read more
Great Britain face high-altitude tie against Colombia to make Davis Cup Finals (BBC)
Great Britain will need to beat Colombia in a tie played 2,500 metres above sea level to reach next year’s Davis Cup Finals.
The hosts have selected the Pueblo Viejo Country Club’s clay court on the outskirts of capital city Bogota for February’s qualification encounter.
Great Britain, who last won the title in 2015, were eliminated in the group stages of this year’s Finals.
Colombia lost 4-0 to the United States in their final qualification play-off. Read more