Lagos collapsed building: Distressed buildings’ demolition has split my family, says resident (Punch)
Following the demolition of some distressed buildings on the Lagos Island by the Lagos State Government, a resident, Mr Femi Oshibodu, has lamented that the action has dispersed his family. PUNCH Metro had reported that the government, through the Lagos State Building Control Agency, had on Friday begun the demolition of some distressed buildings on the Lagos Island on the order of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. The government’s action followed the collapse of a three-storey building in the Ita Faaji area of the Lagos Island on Wednesday, which killed 20 people. Read more
Festac residents decry poor drainage system, flood menace (Guardian)
Residents of 6th Avenue, FESTAC have decried the poor state of living condition in the once sprawling elite neighbourhood owing to non-existing and poorly managed drainage system in the estate. The Guardian gathered that whenever it rains, residents are not able to go about their normal activities because the area is usually flooded and it takes about a week, depending on the intensity of the downpour, for the floodwater to recede. According to the Estate Manager, Mr. Okezie Madichie, out of the five estates in the area, which he manages, the entire stretch of 6th Avenue is flood-prone due to its swampy nature. Read more
Loyalists plead with Daniel not to quit partisan politics (Nation)
Thousands of former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel’s supporters yesterday pleaded with him not to quit active partisan politics. The supporters, who met with Daniel at his “Asoludero Hall”, within his home in Sagamu GRA, Ogun State, protested that his resignation from politics got to the media without the former governor first consulting them. The loyalists, who took turn to speak, hinged their demands on the fact that their efforts contributed to the emergence of Prince Dapo Abiodun, as the state’s governor-elect on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). One of the top loyalists, Ifekayode Akinbode, led other members to prostrate for Daniel with the women holding his legs, pleading passionately that he should lead them into APC. Read more
APC rejects INEC’s decisions on Rivers, Bauchi (Punch)
The All Progressives Congress has rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission’s decision to resume collation of results in Rivers and Bauchi states ahead of supplementary elections declared in six states. The commission had fixed March 23 for supplementary elections after declaring the governorship elections in six states as inconclusive. The states are Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa and Plateau. The governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State were suspended due to violence. Read more
Falana, Shobayo caution INEC against registration of new parties (Guardian)
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) and a political scientist, Mr. Isaac Shobayo, have warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against registration of new political parties in view of the results of the just-concluded 2019 general elections. Falana, in a statement yesterday, urged the commission to sanitise the political system by formulating new guidelines for the registration political parties within the ambit of the Constitution. This, he said, should be done in view of the fact that no fewer than 100 political associations are said to have submitted applications for registration as political parties. Read more
Supplementary elections: Without intimidation, APC has no support, says PDP (Punch)
The Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that the All Progressives Congress does not have the support of Nigerians outside intimidation by security agents. It said this would play out in the forthcoming supplementary elections scheduled to hold in six states on Saturday. The states are Plateau, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi and Kano. The Independent National Electoral Commission is set to meet with security agencies on Tuesday where issues bordering on how to have peaceful elections are expected to be discussed. Read more
Man cuts off woman’s hand with cutlass in Kwara State (Guardian)
Tragedy struck in Omu-Aran, Kwara State on Saturday night when a middle-aged bricklayer, simply identified as Lukman, allegedly attacked and cut off the hand of a 60-year-old woman, Muibat Abifarin, with a cutlass. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the attacker, who was said to be showing traits of insanity, also attacked two of his co-tenants in a bungalow at Orolodo area, beside the Olomu’s palace in Omu-Aran. Abifarin, who had her left hand severed from her body, was said to have been rushed to Ajisafe Hospital in the community while the other two victims with varying degree of injuries were also being treated at Omu-Aran General Hospital. Read more
Unknown gunmen abduct Edo traditional ruler (Punch)
Unknown gunmen have reportedly abducted a traditional ruler, the Enogie of Ukhiri, in the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, Godwin Aigbe. Our correspondent gathered that the heavily armed men, numbering about five, stormed the palace of the monarch in the early hours of Saturday. They were said to have shot in the air before taking the Enogie to an unknown destination. Sources in the community said the hoodlums set ablaze their unregistered car before forcing the traditional ruler into his own Nissan Sunny car and zoomed off. Read more
Babalakin faults S’West free education policy (Punch)
The Pro-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), has described the 1979 free education policy in Western Nigeria as one of the saddest events in Nigeria’s history. According to him, Western Nigeria embarked on a free education policy without the resources to fund it. Babalakin argued that while there was nothing wrong in free education, quality education should not be sacrificed on the altar of free education. According to a statement on Sunday, the UNILAG pro-chancellor said this in his review of Chief Olatunde Abudu’s biography, titled, “Sowing the Industrial Mustard Seed.” Read more
Comedian accuses Lagos prince of assault (Punch)
A comedian on Instagram, Babatunde Ogunleye, popularly known as Oluwadolarz, has accused one Prince Shola Oniru of allegedly assaulting him for parking behind his car. PUNCH Metro learnt that the comedian had on Saturday gone for a birthday party with his friends at the Oniru area of Lagos and parked his car behind another., It was gathered that after a while, Ogunleye was called to come and move his car so as to allow the car in front of his to go. In a series of rant videos posted on his Instagram page, Ogunleye accused Oniru of slapping and punching him in the mouth for parking behind his car. Read more
Police nab two armed robbery suspects in Lekki (Punch)
A team of police detectives has apprehended two suspected members of an armed robbery gang said to be terrorising residents of the Lekki area of Lagos State. The suspects, Adebayo Ayomide and Isaac David, were arrested after they had allegedly robbed two residents of the area at gunpoint. The team, which was led by the Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Police Station, CSP Isah Abdulmajid, was said to have embarked on a crime prevention patrol along the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge around 9pm on Saturday. Read more
Ethiopian Airlines: ‘Clear similarities’ with Indonesia crash (BBC)
Flight data from the Ethiopian Airlines disaster a week ago suggest “clear similarities” with a crash off Indonesia last October, Ethiopia’s transport minister has said. Both planes were Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. Last Sunday the Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges told journalists that a preliminary report would be released within 30 days. “Clear similarities were noted between Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610, which would be the subject of further study during the investigation,” Ms Dagmawit told journalists on Sunday. Read more
Indonesia floods: Dozens dead in Papua province (BBC)
At least 73 people have died and more than 60 are missing in flash floods in Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua. Rescue workers are struggling to reach remote parts of the province, and there are fears the number of dead may rise. Roads have been blocked by landslides and fallen trees, and floodwaters have damaged two bridges and more than 100 houses. More than 4,000 people have been forced from their homes, and some are sheltering in government offices. Local residents said torrential rain began on Saturday evening and continued into the night, triggering mudslides and flash floods. Read more
Israel elections: Court bans far-right candidate Ben-Ari (BBC)
Israel’s Supreme Court has disqualified the leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, Michael Ben-Ari, from next month’s elections. In doing so, it overturned an earlier decision by the electoral committee. Mr Ben-Ari has faced criticism over his comments about Israeli Arabs. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has said they amount to “incitement to racism”. The court also reinstated Israeli Arab parties previously banned from contesting the 9 April poll. Read more
Chelsea are at mental limit, says Sarri after defeat at Everton (BBC)
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri says his side have reached their mental “limit” after their top-four hopes were dented by Everton’s second-half resurgence. The visitors dominated possession in the first half with Eden Hazard striking the post and Pedro wasting a chance from close range. But their profligacy was punished four minutes after the break as Richarlison headed in following a corner for his 13th goal of the season. And the visitors’ woes increased on 71 minutes when Richarlison was brought down in the area by Marcos Alonso, with Gylfi Sigurdsson scoring the rebound from his own penalty. Read more
Fulham 1-2 Liverpool: Reds nerve ‘not in doubt’ after scare – Jurgen Klopp (BBC)
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his side’s nerve is “not in doubt” as they survived a scare to win 2-1 at Fulham and go top of the Premier League. James Milner scored a late penalty after a mix-up between Alisson and Virgil van Dijk gifted Ryan Babel an equaliser to Sadio Mane’s opener. The Reds are now two points in front of Manchester City, who have a game in hand. “We started well but lost the rhythm a little bit,” Klopp told BBC Sport. Klopp said his side were “a bit rusty” in the first half, having beaten Bayern Munich away on Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarter-finals. Read more
Lionel Messi scores hat-trick (BBC)
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick of the highest quality as Barcelona avenged their defeat by Real Betis earlier in the season to move 10 points clear at the top of La Liga. His first was a 20-yard free-kick before he converted Luis Suarez’s backheel pass with a toe-poked strike. The pick of the bunch was a clipped finish that went in off the bar. Suarez scored a fine individual effort while Loren Moron grabbed Betis’ only goal with a superb finish. Read more
Nemanja Matic fires warning to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea over top-four fight (Metro)
Nemanja Matic warned Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur that their season will not fizzle out and they are now fully focused on securing Champions League qualification after a disappointing FA Cup exit. The Serb was part of the Manchester United side that crashed out to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men beaten 2-1 away at Molineux. Their lacklustre defeat to their Premier League rivals was a cause for concern for many United fans and it was a second loss on the spin following an equally poor display in a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates. Read more
Dominic Thiem fights back to shock Roger Federer and win first Masters title at Indian Wells (Metro)
Dominic Thiem fought back from a set down to shock Roger Federer and win a first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells in what was a thrilling final. The Austrian had lost his two previous finals at this level – both on the clay in Madrid – but in his first hard-court Masters final he came up trumps against the five-time champion in the Californian desert, hitting some ferocious groundstrokes along the way. Few had given him much hope heading into the tournament finale but by securing a 3-6 6-3 7-5 win over the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Thiem also snapped a 20-match winning streak for Federer in finals when he has won the first set. Read more
Martina Navratilova compares Bianca Andreescu to Andy Murray after stunning Indian Wells win (Metro)
Martina Navratilova believes Bianca Andreescu will be inside the WTA top-10 by the end of 2019 – and compared the young Canadian to British legend Andy Murray. The 18-year-old wildcard stunned three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 6-4 3-6 6-4 to win her first tour-level title on a huge stage at Indian Wells. Andreescu – who was ranked outside the world’s top-150 before the start of the year – is tipped for great things and 18-time Grand Slam winner Navratilova believes she will be among the elite come the end of the season. Read more
Rory McIlroy holds off Jim Furyk to win Players Championship at Sawgrass (BBC)
Rory McIlroy has won the Players Championship, beating 48-year-old Jim Furyk by one shot after a thrilling final round at Sawgrass. The Northern Irishman’s two-under-par 70 gave him victory on 16 under. It is his first win in a year and sets him up for an attempt at the career Grand Slam at the Masters next month. “I feel like I’m playing some of the best golf of my life right now and I just need to keep doing the same things,” he told Sky Sports. “If I hadn’t won today, I’d have said I didn’t need one going into Augusta but it’s nice to win on a course that will play similar to Augusta in a few weeks.” Read more