Lagos assembly suspends three council chairmen over alleged disobedience (Punch)
The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday suspended three local government council chairmen over alleged disregard for the guidelines governing their activities.
In a statement issued on its website, the House said “it can no longer continue to watch while the council chairmen stubbornly flout the state’s local government guidelines.”
The affected chairmen are Ogidan Mukandasi Olaitan of the Lekki LCDA, Suleiman Jelili of Alimosho Local Government Area and Tajudeen Ajide of the Surulere Local Government Area.
Their suspension was unanimously approved by members of the House in a voice vote with no opposition. Read more
Sanwo-Olu meets Ikorodu Bois, praises their creativity (Guardian)
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has applauded Nigerian internet sensation Ikorodu Bois for earning international recognition with their creativity as he hosted them in his office on Monday.
The comic group made up of Muiz Sanni (15), Malik Sanni (10) and Fawas (13) are known for recreating and mimicking multi-million-dollar music videos, Hollywood film trailers and epic pictures with household items.
“Today, I welcomed generational filmmaking talent, whose creativity has put them and Ikorodu on the global map of international platforms like Netflix, earned them a nomination at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and put their faces on billboards in Times Square, NY,” Sanwo-Olu said on Twitter. Read more
Family demands justice as assailants murder Baale nominee (Nation)
Was 60-year-old businessman, Rasak Adeola Jikoji killed over his nomination as Baale of Badore in Ajah, Lagos? Did he send a petition to the police alleging a threat to his life weeks before his murder? Was the petition acted on? Why are the police yet to begin an investigation into the assassination of the father of five on Sunday afternoon, April 25?
There are many more questions the police are expected to answer as relatives of the deceased are demanding justice.
Jikoji, The Nation gathered, was murdered in front of his residence at Jikoji Court, Unity Estate, Badore, Ajah, around 3 pm on Sunday by armed men said to have smashed his head with stone after gunning him down.
Trouble was said to have started for the deceased socialite after he was nominated by the Jikoji family to replace their late monarch, Baale Saliu Muraina Jokoji, who died last June. Read more
Greenfield student regains freedom (DailyTrust)
One of the students abducted from Greenfield University, a private institution in Kaduna State, has regained freedom.
Bauchi govt raises alarm over suspicion of Boko Haram infiltration
Daily Trust reports that bandits had breached the security of the institution located at Kasarami, along the Kaduna-Abuja highway on April 20, and abducted about 22 students and staff.
The leader of the bandit group, who identified himself as Sani Idris Jalingo, popularly known as Baleri, had in an interview with Voice of America (VOA) Hausa, threatened to kill the students if N100 million ransom and 10 Honda motorcycles were not made available by Tuesday, May 4. Read more
NAF neutralises bandits congregating to carry out attacks in Kaduna (Guardian)
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has neutralised bandits congregating to carry out attacks in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State.
Mr Samuel Aruwan, the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, made the disclosure in a statement issued on Tuesday in Kaduna.
“The Nigerian Air Force, in response to credible intelligence, neutralized a group of bandits congregating in a location to carry out attacks in Birnin Gwari LGA on Monday, May 3,” he said. Read more
Please don’t kill abducted Greenfield varsity students, parents beg bandits (Punch)
The Parents Teachers’ Association on Tuesday, pleaded with bandits to spare the lives of the remaining 17 students of Greenfield University, Kaduna State.
This followed the threat by the abductors of the students kidnapped in their school on April 20, 2021, along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
The PUNCH had reported that at least 23 students, including a staff of the privately-owned university, located along the Kaduna-Abuja highway were abducted from the school on April 20, 2021. Read more
Buhari approved 316 duplicated projects, others in 2021 budget – BudgIT (Guardian)
A Nigerian civic tech group BudgIT Tuesday released a report in which it claimed that the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari approved 316 duplicated projects in the 2021 budget.
The Nigerian Government is yet to react to the content of the report.
The report explained how the Nigerian Government agencies have billions of naira reportedly earmarked as security votes – a fund usually given to state governments by the government to equip the security arms.
“Our analysis of the #2021Budget reveals over 316 duplicated capital projects totaling N39.5bn, among other loopholes for corruption,” BudgIT said in the report. Read more
Reps okay bill seeking to raise Appeal Court justices by 60 (Punch)
The House of Representatives has approved a bill seeking to make each division of the Court of Appeal have a minimum of six justices per time, for effective justice delivery.
The amendment will consequently raise the number of justices from the current 90 to a minimum of 150.
At the plenary on Tuesday, the House passed for second reading, the Court of Appeal Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill, sponsored by Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Mr Onofiok Luke.
The legislation is titled ‘A Bill to Amend the Court of Appeal Act, Cap. C36, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, to Increase the Number of Justices of the Court and Provide for Appointment of a Minimum of Six Justices in every Judicial Division of the Court for Speedy and Efficient Justice Delivery and to Improve Citizens’ Access to Justice.’ Read more
Alleged Kaduna kidnapper, murderer dismissed from army in 2013 – Spokesperson (Guardian)
The Nigerian Army says that Lance Cpl. Adamu Galadima, who was arrested in connection with kidnap and murder of his neighbour’s child in Kaduna was dismissed in 2013.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
Yerima said the suspect, who was alleged to have murdered his victim after collecting N5 million ransom currently work with the Kaduna State Environmental Services and not the Nigerian Army as being circulated.
He said that Lance Cpl. Galadima was duly dismissed from the Nigerian Army in 2013 after a General Court Marshal that held in Kaduna found him guilty. Read more
Twitter suspends Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s account (BBC)
Twitter has suspended the account of contentious Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut over a tweet that allegedly incited violence.
In it, she asks Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “tame” an opposition leader using his leadership style of the “early 2000s” – a likely reference to rioting on his watch, which left over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.
Ranaut’s tweet immediately drew outraged reactions on the platform.
Twitter has not made a statement yet. Read more
Moon fight: Blue Origin, Dynetics protest NASA’s SpaceX contract (AlJazeera)
Thanks to protests by two commercial space companies, NASA’s plans for sending American astronauts back to the moon by 2024 have been put on hold — at least temporarily.
The National Team, a multi-company partnership spearheaded by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, and Alabama-based defence contractor Dynetics are both crying foul about a contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX last month for $2.9bn.
Both Dynetics and Blue Origin have filed protests with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) against NASA, with Bezos’s company accusing the space agency of having “moved the goalposts at the last minute”.
The highly coveted contract is for a Human Landing System (HLS) that will ferry astronauts to the lunar surface for NASA. But the pending litigation has forced the United States space agency to put the brakes on any work related to the contract until the GAO issues its ruling, which is expected to be announced by August 4. Read more
Shark attack survivor wins right to keep tooth left in surfboard (BBC)
An Australian man who was almost killed in an attack by a great white shark has won the right to keep a tooth the animal left wedged in his surfboard.
Surfer Chris Blowes lost his leg and was in a coma for 10 days after he was attacked in South Australia in 2015.
The shark’s tooth was embedded in his board, but state rules ban people from possessing parts of protected species.
Now the state has granted him an exemption, and Mr Blowes says he’s keeping the tooth as a “souvenir”. Read more
DR Congo imposes military rule in regions under ‘state of siege’ (France24)
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidency on Monday ordered military and police officers to take over civil authorities in two regions that have been declared under a “state of siege”.
North-Kivu and Ituri — both eastern provinces where dozens of armed groups operate and civilians have been subject to horrifying massacres — were declared under siege on Friday.
Under the DRC’s constitution, the president can declare a state of either siege or emergency “if severe circumstances immediately threaten the independence or integrity of the national territory, or if they interrupt the regular functioning of institutions”.
In an address broadcast on public television on Monday, President Felix Tshisekedi said he had heard “the cries of distress of our population, and felt the pain that our mothers, sisters and daughters are suffering in these provinces ravaged by barbarity” Read more
Samia Suluhu Hassan – Tanzania’s new president challenges Covid denial (BBC)
Her predecessor was known for his rhetorical outbursts, whereas Tanzania’s new president is calm.
Where he was contentious, President Samia Suluhu Hassan is more conciliatory.
Where he was autocratic, she appears to be more inclusive.
It is less than two months since the death of the former President, John Magufuli, aged 61 but his vice-president, who was sworn in as head of state soon after he died, looks to be on a different path. Read more
Mexico City metro overpass collapse kills 23 (BBC)
A metro overpass has collapsed in Mexico City as a train was travelling over it, killing at least 23 people, including children, the mayor said.
Two train carriages were seen hanging from the structure, above a busy road. At least 65 people were injured, and seven are in a serious condition.
One person trapped in a car underneath the wreckage was pulled out alive.
This is the deadliest incident in decades in the city’s metro system, one of the busiest in the world. Read more
Ivory Coast power outages anger citizens and business leaders (Guardian)
Consumers, unions and business leaders in Ivory Coast are sounding the alarm about waves of blackouts that are hitting major cities, including the economic capital Abidjan and its five million residents.
The West African nation has boasted strong economic growth for the past eight years and has been a regional leader in energy production.
It exported 11 percent of its 2,200-megawatt production in 2019 to neighbouring Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Fasso, Mali and Liberia, according to official figures.
But the past week has seen frequent and severe outages that have upended lives and disrupted the economy — and more may come. Read more
Tokyo Olympics: FG sets Atlanta ’96 medals benchmark for athletes (Punch)
The Federal Government on Tuesday charged participating Nigerian athletes in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics not to go below the six medals record set at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games held in the United States.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, set the benchmark in Abuja while inaugurating the newly constituted caretaker committees for 30 National Olympic Sports Federations.
While defending the devolution of the federations, he said that it had become necessary after the expiration of their tenures and the fact that the Tokyo Olympics was less than 90 days.
Dare said, “The caretaker committees are thus specially selected to reflect our aspirations towards podium appearances at the Tokyo Olympics. Read more
Conte’s obsession with winning pays off for Inter Milan (Guardian)
Antonio Conte has justified his salary as the highest-paid coach in Serie A by toppling his former club Juventus to end Inter Milan’s decade-long title drought after two seasons at the helm.
Eleven years after Jose Mourinho’s historic treble, Inter claimed the ‘Scudetto’ for a 19th time thanks to a fiery coach whose winning mentality was forged over many years at arch-rivals Juventus.
The title justifies Chinese-owned Inter’s decision two years ago to make Conte the star signing of the fallen northern giants with a reported annual salary of 12 million euros ($14.4 million) until 2022.
The 51-year-old fell short in his first campaign, finishing just one point behind Juventus, but this time their early European exit allowed Inter to focus on their first title since 2010. Read more
NBA: Carmelo Anthony makes history, New York Knicks continue impressive run (BBC)
Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry shone while Carmelo Anthony made history in Monday’s NBA action – but the night belonged to the New York Knicks who recorded their 12th win in 13 games.
The Knicks’ impressive run was extended with a 118-104 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, with Julius Randle top scoring on 28 points.
Westbrook posted his 32nd triple-double of the season with 14 points, a career-high 21 rebounds and 24 assists as the Washington Wizards won 154-141 against the Indiana Pacers.
Curry scored 42 – his ninth 40-plus point haul of the season – in the Golden State Warriors’ 123-108 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Read more
English FA opens inquiry into European Super League breakaway (AlJazeera)
The English FA has opened an inquiry into the Super League rebellion and sought evidence from the six English clubs involved in the breakaway that could lead to punishments.
The Premier League also disclosed on Monday that it had prepared measures to stop teams playing in closed competitions.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham launched an ill-fated attempt last month to found a new European competition with three clubs from each of Spain and Italy. Read more
Pakistan Cricket Board to introduce new parental support policy for players (BBC)
Pakistan has become the latest cricketing nation to formalise a support policy for parents.
Players from the country’s women’s team can transfer to a non-playing role until the start of their maternity leave.
They can also take up to 12 months of paid maternity leave and will be guaranteed a contract extension for the following year.
Male players will be entitled to up to 30 days of paid leave. Read more
La Liga launches virus probe after Messi’s Barca party (France24)
Spain’s La Liga is investigating whether a party organised by Barcelona players at their captain Lionel Messi’s home broke Covid-19 protocol.
“We’re looking into it,” La Liga sources told AFP on Tuesday.
Monday’s meal brought together Barca players, some accompanied by their partners, at the Argentinian star’s house, despite social distancing rules in the Catalonian capital outlawing groups of more than six to meet in private.The party may constitute “a possible breach of Covid-19 protocols”, the source suggested. Read more