Lagos Assembly, CSO, others brutalise lawyer over council poll suit (Punch)
A lawyer, Yakubu Eleto, has accused some workers at the Lagos State House of Assembly, led by the Chief Security Officer, of brutalising him when he attempted to serve the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, with a suit.
Eleto, who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday, alleged that he was beaten to a pulp and taken to the Alausa Police Station, where he collapsed.
He claimed that the police later put him in a vehicle, where he was kept for several hours before he was released.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident happened on Friday.
Our correspondent gathered that Eleto and some lawyers dragged the state House of Assembly and the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, over the state council poll slated for Saturday, July 24. Read more
Sallah ram sales at Kara market halt movement on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Guardian)
Ahead of the Eid-el Kabir celebration, Lagosians, yesterday thronged the popular Kara market, located along the Lagos- Ibadan expressway for their Sallah rams.
Eid al-Adha, Arabic for Festival of the Sacrifice, is one of the latter holidays celebrated among Muslims.
It honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God’s command. Before Ibrahim could sacrifice his son, however, Allah provided a lamb to sacrifice instead.
Muslim faithful often commemorates the day with the slaughtering of rams. Read more
Yoruba Nation rally: Police to conduct autopsy on slain salesgirl today (Punch)
The Lagos State Police Command will on Monday carry out a post-mortem examination on Jumoke Oyeleke, the salesgirl who was allegedly killed by a stray bullet during the Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos on July 3.
Agitators for the Yoruba Nation gathered at the Gani Fawehinmi Park at Ojota amid the presence of armed policemen and soldiers.
Jumoke, 25, who displayed soft drinks at her boss’ shop in a compound close to the rally ground when security men chased some agitators into the premises, was hit by a stray bullet.
However, the police in a statement denied killing the victim, saying she was an abandoned corpse with a wound sustained from a sharp object. Read more
NiMet predicts 3 days thunderstorms, cloudiness from Monday (Vanguard)
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudiness and sunshine weather conditions across the country from Wednesday to Friday. NiMet’s weather outlook released on Tuesday in Abuja predicted partly cloudy with sunshine intervals over Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara with chances of few rains over parts of southern Kaduna and southern Taraba on Wednesday. “ While leaving remaining parts of the region to be in sunny and hazy condition during the morning hours, a few thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of Kebbi, Sokoto and southern Kaduna in afternoon and evening. “The North central region is expected to be cloudy in the morning hours. There are prospects of thunderstorms over parts of southern Plateau, Kogi, Abuja, Benue and Kwara during the afternoon and evening period. “Inland and coastal cities of South are expected to be cloudy in the morning hours. Read more
NDLEA arrests drug kingpin, recovers 548,000 Tramadol tablets (Leadership)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested a suspected major illicit drug kingpin in Anambra State, Okeke Chijioke, 44, and recovered 548,000 tablets of Tramadol tablets branded as Tarkadol.
The arrest and recovery was done at his warehouse at No. 3, Atunya Street, Maryland Estate, Nkwelle, Oyi local government area of the state.
Spokesperson of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said Okeke’s arrest on Saturday, July 10, 2021 followed credible intelligence and surveillance, which confirmed he stocked his warehouse with the illicit drug.
According to Babafemi, “after the search of his warehouse, 548,000 tablets of Tarkadol weighing 302.500 kilograms were recovered. The suspect accepted ownership of the substance recovered.
“Preliminary investigation has established that Tarkadol is a brand of Tramadol that has just been introduced into the market to evade attention. The substance has also tested positive to amphetamine. Read more
CCT chair sues Lawan, Malami, others over his probe for alleged assault (Guardian)
Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, accused of beating up one Clement Sargwak in March this year, has initiated a legal action against the Sargwak and the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions investigating the matter.
Included also in the suit as defendants, according to the originating summons dated July 13, 2021, are President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, chairman and members of the panel, as well as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Umar, in the case numbered FHC/ABJ/ CS/671/2021, is challenging the upper legislative chamber’s powers to conduct the investigation and the purposes for which they are exercisable.
Specifically, the embattled CCT chair is praying the court to interpret the constitutional powers granted by the Red Chamber or its committee if they cover public assaults or if the task did not fall entirely within the purview of the police and judiciary. Read more
1 dies as robbers engage cops in shoot-out (Punch)
A suspected armed robber was killed during a gun duel between men of the Ogun State Police Command and a gang of armed robbers on the Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode Expressway.
The police clashed with the armed robbers who were robbing travellers on the highway around 2:30am on Friday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.
Oyeyemi said the police got a distress call that armed robbers, numbering about seven, blocked the road around the South-Western University and were dispossessing people of their belongings. Read more
High prices deprive faithful of Sallah celebration amid ‘declining’ inflation (Guardian)
From 2009 until four years ago, Raheem Adelabu, who until recently was a business analyst with a leading insurance firm and devout Muslim, was used to buying three rams to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir. But since 2017, the festive season has seen a reducing balance for his family as well as parents and in-laws, who were hitherto given a ram and bag of rice each.
In the last two celebrations, Adelabu, whose commitment to Islam has taken him to Hajj three times, could only afford a ram, which he shared as his family tradition demanded with his parents and in-laws.
Tomorrow’s celebration was largely uncertain for the father of four, until Saturday when his sibling wired $250 (N125,000) from the United States to support him. Yesterday, Adelabu, who has been unemployed since 2017, turned up at Ejigbo livestock market with N80,000. He left the ram market with a deep sigh, without a ram.
At the market, like others in Lagos, the price of ram ranges between N120,000 and N400,000. Ahmed Murtar, a trader, told The Guardian, this is the most expensive Sallah he has witnessed in his 72 years. Read more
FRSC to clamp down on driver’s license violators, vehicles without speed limiting devices (Punch)
The Federal Road Safety Corps has said it will start to clamp down on driver’s license violators and also vehicles without speed limiting devices.
Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, issued the order in reaction to the rising cases of speed-related road crashes and fatalities.
A statement issued to newsmen on Sunday by the Corps Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, said, “Oyeyemi has directed Commanding Officers across the country to intensify special operations targeted at the offenders. This is with the ongoing operation sanity aimed at restoring sanity to the nation’s highways.”
According to the statement, “The Corps Marshal expressed dismay over continuing incidents of fatal crashes caused by speed violation with most of the drivers failing to install speed limiting devices in their vehicles despite repeated warnings. This, he said, is unacceptable to the FRSC Management and decision has been taken to clampdown on such recalcitrant violators who must be subjected to the fullest sanctions provided by law to serve as deterrence for others.” Read more
England lifts Covid-19 restrictions even as variant cases spike (France24)
The British government on Monday lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown.
From midnight (2300 GMT Sunday), nightclubs were able to reopen and other indoor venues allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson—who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected—urged the public to remain prudent and for any laggards to join the two-thirds of UK adults who are now fully vaccinated.
He defended the reopening—dubbed “freedom day” by some media—despite scientists’ grave misgivings after daily infection rates in Britain topped 50,000, behind only Indonesia and Brazil. Read more
Kurt Westergaard, Danish cartoonist behind Muhammad cartoon, dies at 86 (BBC)
Kurt Westergaard, a Danish cartoonist whose caricature of the Prophet Muhammad outraged many Muslims worldwide, has died at the age of 86.
His family said he died after a long illness, the Berlingske newspaper reported on Sunday.
Westergaard was a cartoonist for the conservative Jyllands-Posten newspaper from the early 1980s.
He became world famous in 2005 for his controversial depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the newspaper. Read more
Private Israeli malware used to spy on journalists, activists and politicians (France24)
Activists, journalists and politicians around the world have been spied on using cellphone malware developed by a private Israeli firm, reports said Sunday, igniting fears of widespread privacy and rights abuses.
The use of the software, called Pegasus and developed by Israel’s NSO group, was reported on by the Washington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde and other news outlets who collaborated on an investigation into a data leak.
The leak was of a list of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016, the reports said.
Not all of those numbers were subsequently hacked, and the news outlets with access to the leak said more details about those who were compromised would be released in coming days. Read more
Zuma’s graft trial to resume despite unrest (DW)
The corruption trial of former South African president Jacob Zuma is set to resume despite the violence that shook the country this week. The court will hold a virtual session to “avoid disruption”.
The trial of former South African president Jacob Zuma is set to continue on Monday.
Zuma, who was jailed in July, faces 16 charges — including fraud, graft and racketeering — related to his time as the country’s deputy president. The case focuses on a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European arms firms.
He is also accused of pocketing four million rand (€ 234,000, $277,000) in bribes from one of the firms, French defense giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering. Read more
Olivia Colman takes a plunge in the sea in dramatic rescue scene for new film “Joyride” (Metro)
Olivia Colman has been spotted taking a plunge in the sea while filming dramatic rescue scenes for new film Joyride.
Seen wearing an eye-catching blue suit, the actress ran into the cold water in Kerry, Ireland while shooting a tumultuous sequence for the upcoming movie.
The scene in quest saw Olivia clash with her on-screen husband Lochlann Ó Mearáin, before dashing to save her 12-year-old son Mully, played by Irish co-star Charlie Reid.
The actress was seen surrounded by crew and her co-stars, battling the elements to capture the footage. Read more
Britney Spears says she will not perform while father controls career (BBC)
Britney Spears has said she will not perform again while her father retains control over her career as part of a conservatorship set up in 2008.
The singer’s message is the latest in a series of emotional public comments about the arrangement that controls her personal and financial affairs.
“This conservatorship killed my dreams,” she said in a lengthy post on Instagram. “So all I have is hope.”
Britney wants to bring an end to the arrangement, calling it abusive. Read more
Taliban leader ‘favours political settlement’ to Afghan conflict (AlJazeera)
The Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada has said he “strenuously favours” a political settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan even as the group launched a sweeping offensive across the nation.
The announcement on Sunday comes as representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban armed fighters sat down for a new round of talks in Doha over the weekend, stirring hopes that the long-stalled peace talks were being resuscitated.
“In spite of the military gains and advances, the Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan] strenuously favours a political settlement in the country,” Akhunzada said in a message released ahead of next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
“Every opportunity for the establishment of an Islamic system, peace and security that presents itself will be made use of by the Islamic Emirate,” he added. Read more
Lewis Hamilton wins British Grand Prix(BBC)
Lewis Hamilton fought back from a 10-second penalty for a crash with title rival Max Verstappen to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and claim a dramatic British Grand Prix victory.
Hamilton was blamed for a collision with Verstappen’s Red Bull at Copse corner on the first lap of the race, which led to the Dutchman crashing out.
Verstappen, 23, was taken to hospital for precautionary tests after the accident while Hamilton set about trying to win the race.
The Grand Prix was stopped after the incident with Leclerc in the lead from Hamilton and the Ferrari driver held that position until two laps from the end, when the Mercedes driver passed him, ironically, at the same corner at which he had crashed with Verstappen. Read more
Senegal’s Ballo-Toure joins AC Milan (Punch)
Senegal’s Fode Ballo-Toure has agreed a four-year deal with AC Milan from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, the Italian club announced on Sunday.
“AC Milan are delighted to announce the permanent signing of Fode Ballo-Toure from AS Monaco,” last season’s Serie A runners-up said in a statement.
“The defender has signed a contract with the Rossoneri until 30 June 2025 and will be wearing the number 5 jersey.”
The 24-year-old spent his youth career with Paris Saint-Germain, before moving to Lille in 2017. Read more
The Open 2021: Collin Morikawa wins at Royal St George’s (BBC)
Nerve-less Collin Morikawa shot a scintillating bogey-free final round to clinch the Claret Jug on his Open Championship debut as returning fans soaked up the victory at a sun-drenched Royal St George’s.
The American wrestled hold of the lead with three birdies to finish the front nine and held off the charging Jordan Spieth to win by two strokes on the Kent coast.
The 24-year-old, who won his first major on his US PGA Championship debut last year, becomes the first Open debutant to win since Ben Curtis did so at this course in 2003.
“This is one of the best moments of my life,” he said. “Look at all these fans. To see some of the best crowds I have ever seen, I’m looking forward to making my trip every year.” Read more
Star performers at the Tour de France (France24)
After the Tour de France wound up in Paris on Sunday, AFP Sport takes a brief look at some of the stars that lit up the 2021 edition.
Tadej Pogacar
— A calm, articulate athlete who describes himself as “a good boy from a good family taking no short cuts in life”, UAE Emirates rider Pogacar is also a boy in a hurry. Two Tour de France wins at the tender age of 22 says it all. Beneath the boy-scout charm is an iron-willed and stone-hearted winner who crucially has pulverised rivals even when isolated from his teammates. There were two joyous mountain pass wins where his victory was built and he produced the disciplined pacing required on the lonely individual time-trials where his triumph was sealed.
Wout van Aert
— The one-day specialist van Aert, who rides for Jumbo Visma, emerges from this Tour covered in glory and a burgeoning reputation as a complete rider having won Mont Ventoux, the so-called Giant of Provence, billed as the toughest stage of the race, a long time-trial run through the Saint-Emilion vineyards and a mass bunch sprint on the Champs-Elysees. Read more
Racist abuse sees Germany’s men’s football team walk off in pre-Olympics friendly (DW)
Just a few days before the start of the Olympic tournament against defending champions Brazil on Thursday, Germany’s men’s football team walked off during a pre-tournament friendly against Honduras.
The game, which was played behind closed doors in three 30-minute periods, did not resume and finished 1-1 with five minutes left to play after centre-back Jordan Torunarigha was allegedly racially abused by an opposition player in Wakayama, Japan.
“When one of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option,” said head coach Stefan Kuntz. “[Torunarigha] could hardly contain himself and got terribly upset because he said he had been repeatedly racially insulted. It was clear to us then that it violates our values. We couldn’t tolerate that either and we’re backing our player completely.”
The incident was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on social media, while the Honduras FA have denied the claims citing a “misunderstanding on the pitch.” Read more
Tokyo Olympics: ‘Plague of oysters’ threaten key venue (BBC)
Officials in Tokyo are nervously eyeing the waters at a major Olympic venue where an unwanted visitor has cost $1.28m (£0.93m) in emergency repairs.
The Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay which will host the canoeing and rowing events was ready ahead of schedule.
But the one thing no-one counted on was oysters.Massive numbers of them had attached themselves to floats intended to stop waves boncing back across the water and on to the athletes. Read more