Lagos court fines 172 arrested at Cubana nightclub N6.8m (Punch)
A mobile court sitting at the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit in Oshodi has convicted 172 persons arrested by the state police command for violating COVID-19 protocols.
The state police command said on Monday that the presiding judge ordered each of the 172 violators to pay a fine of N40,000, and also sentenced them to community service.
The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had while parading them at the command headquarters in Ikeja, said the 172 persons were arrested during a raid on the Cubana Nightclub, Victoria Island, on Saturday. Read more
Sanwo-Olu commissions refurbished Ajeromi council secretariat (Vanguard)
Lagos State governor, Saturday, commissioned the refurbished Ajeromi Ifelodun council secretariat and legislative building which was looted and razed by hoodlums during the EndSARS protest.
The event was also used to lay the foundation stone for the proposed customary court.
Sanwo-Olu while delivering his speech applauded the resilience and commitment of Ayoola’s led administration towards gifting Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area a befitting edifice. Read more
NBC jams Radio Biafra signals in Lagos (Guardian)
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has jammed the signals of a pirate radio claiming to be “Radio Biafra” in most parts of Lagos, an official of NBC has said.
Mr Ekanem Antia, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of NBC, made the disclosure in a statement by the management of the commission on Monday in Abuja.
Antia explained that the illegal radio which broadcast incendiary messages was notorious for spewing fake, inflammatory and inciting content. Read more
COVID-19: Lagos extends work-from-home directive by 4 weeks (ThisDay)
The Lagos State Government has further extended the work-from-home directive to civil servants on salary grade levels 12 and below.
A statement by the Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, said this was to further stem the spread of COVID-19 within the public service and other stakeholders.
He expressed the government’s delight that measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state has resulted in a steady decline in the number of recorded cases in the preceding weeks.
Muri-Okunola stated that in order to sustain the success so far recorded, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has extended the directive to the affected public servants by four weeks, with effect from Monday, March 1 to 26, 2021. Read more
Bench warrant against Orjiako: Parties wait on appellate courts (Nation)
All eyes are on the appellate courts as parties await hearing dates on pending appeals over a bench warrant issued against the chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Dr Ambrose Orjakor.
While an interlocutory appeal is pending at the Supreme Court, Orjiako’s main appeal is pending at the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
Justice Hadiza Shagari of the Federal High Court in Lagos issued the bench warrant against Orjiako for alleged contempt of court.
The arrest order was based on an application by AOS Orwell Limited, an oil service company.
The firm entered into an agreement on February 8 and 20, 2013 with Shebah Exploration and Production Company Ltd owned by Orjiako. Read more
Delta Police exhume body of kidnapped woman (Vanguard)
THE Delta State Police Command have exhumed the decomposing body of Mrs Philomina Ogadi, a 54-year-old woman who was buried in a shallow grave in farmland near the Benin-Agbor-Onitsha expressway, Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area, Delta state by her abductors.
The body of the woman who hails from the Otolokpo community in the Ika North East Local Government Area of the state was exhumed after four days of her burial by her kidnappers after collecting a ransom of N650,000 from her family.
Ogadi was abducted last week by a nine-man gang of kidnappers including her neighbours. Read more
IPC demands retraction of Gumi’s ‘journalist-are-criminals’ statement (ThisDay)
The Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), Mr. Lanre Arogundade, has demanded a retraction of the statement credited to Kaduna-based Islamic scholar that ‘journalists are criminals’ and also urged the media to take a stand on herdsmen’s terrorism, kidnapping and acts of brigandage.
He said since the media was acting as the conscience of the society, the question of a bad report would not come in.
Arogundade who was a guest on ‘The Morning Show,’ a programme on ARISE NEWS Channels, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, yesterday, spoke against the backdrop of the media and sensitivity of coverage, as well as the recent comment of Gumi that journalists are criminals and reckless.
The statement by Gumi, he stated, was not just a bad precedent, but a dangerous one, adding that everybody must condemn it, demand a retraction and some actions on the part of those who can act collectively in their interest. Read more
Southern states dismiss blockade, North food traders insist on strike (Punch)
Some southern state governments and farmers have dismissed the blockade by northern food suppliers, saying it is an opportunity for the South to boost its food production capacity.
Officials of the states including Lagos, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Enugu and Ondo in separate interviews with The PUNCH, on Monday explained their actions to ensure self-sufficiency in food and animal production.
But Ondo and Cross Rivers states went further to take a swipe at the northern food suppliers, saying they would not beg the traders to end their blockade, which entered the fourth day on Monday.
Recall that cattle and foodstuff dealers under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria on Thursday stopped supplies to the South. Read more
Fishing crew reel in shark so huge they could barely fit it on the boat (Metro)
The crew of a fishing boat managed to catch a deadly shark weighing a whopping 900lb. The tiger shark was caught off the coast of Sydney by by Captain Paul Barning and the crew of the Dark Horse. It took the fishers just over 45 minutes to haul the shark on board, MailOnline reports. They then took it to shore for a weigh-in at Port Hacking in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. Read more
Trauma, anger as Tigrayans recount Eritrea troops’ ‘grave crimes’ (AlJazeera)
December 4 is a date that fills Mona Lisa Abraha with horror. It was then, the 18-year-old says, that Eritrean soldiers entered her village of Tembin in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray.
“They tried to rape me and I was thrown to the ground. Then, one of the soldiers fired bullets to scare me, but they hit my hand and then fired another bullet that went through my arm,” Abraha recalls from a hospital bed on the outskirts of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.
“I was bleeding for hours. Then, I had my arm amputated,” she says, before breaking down in tears.
Abraha’s account is one of few emerging from the secretive conflict in Tigray, where communications were cut for many weeks and media access was severely curbed before being slightly eased recently. Al Jazeera has now gained rare access and heard from witnesses and survivors who allege they suffered grave abuses at the hands of Eritrean troops. Read more
Taylor Swift criticises Netflix show for ‘deeply sexist joke’ (BBC)
Taylor Swift has accused a Netflix show of “degrading” women for featuring a joke she branded “deeply sexist”.
The pop star tweeted to criticise the joke, which was in the season finale of comedy-drama Ginny and Georgia.
In one scene, main characters Ginny Miller and her mother Georgia argued about relationships.
Asked whether she had broken up her with her boyfriend, Ginny said: “What do you care? You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” Read more
Golden Globes 2021: Andra Day breaks down over surprise history-making best actress win (Metro)
Andra Day broke down in tears as she became the Golden Globe’s second Black female star to land the best actress in a drama motion picture award in 35 years. On Sunday night the Golden Globes took place virtually, with Day going up against Viola Davis, Vanessa Kirby, Carey Mulligan and Frances McDormand in her category. Day became a first-time Golden Globe winner and said she was in the ‘presence of giants’ as she referenced those in her category while breaking down in tears during her acceptance speech. She took home the award for her role The United States vs Billie Holiday and her surprise win made history, as Day became the second ever Black female to receive the gong. Read more
Rapper reportedly chops off roommate’s penis for gory video (NYPost)
A Spanish rapper is accused of hacking off his roommate’s penis with a 12-inch kitchen knife as part of a gruesome attempt to get attention on social media, according to reports.
Aaron Beltran allegedly made a deal with Andrew Breach, an Oxford-educated British teacher, to amputate his manhood — with Breach agreeing to pay a fee depending on how many times the video was shared on YouTube, the Independent reported.
The payout ranged from £173, or about $240, to a maximum of £2,164, or about $3,000, according to the report.
Beltran now faces four and a half years behind bars if convicted of carrying out the grisly act in Zaragoza, Spain, in March 2019, the newspaper said. Read more
Zimbabwe Vice President Kembo Mohadi resigns amid sex scandal (AlJazeera)
Zimbabwe Vice President Kembo Mohadi resigned on Monday following local media reports he had engaged in improper conduct.
Mohadi, along with Constantino Chiwenga, was a deputy to President Emmerson Mnangagwa since 2018, but without a political power base, he was not seen as a potential successor to the president.
In a rare move by a public official in Zimbabwe, Mohadi said he had taken the decision to step down “not as a matter of cowardice but as a sign of demonstrating great respect to the office of the President”.
“I have been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage and realised that I need the space to deal with my problem outside the governance chair,” he said in a statement released by the Ministry of Information. Read more
How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million (NYPost)
In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent almost $67,000 on a 10-second video artwork that he could have watched for free online. Last week, he sold it for $6.6 million.
The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work.
It’s a new type of digital asset – known as a non-fungible token (NFT) – that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online. Read more
FIFA favours billionaire candidate, Patrice Motsepe for CAF presidency (Vanguard)
FIFA have asked three candidates to back South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe in the upcoming Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential election, a source close to one of the candidates told AFP.
The previous incumbent Ahmad Ahmad was banned for breaches of FIFA’s ethical code, but has had the ban suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
World body FIFA are keen for a fresh start in Africa, the source said.
Motsepe is a South African mining billionaire and owner of reigning domestic champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Read more
36 Eaglets set for MRI test (Nation)
Ahead of the forthcoming TOTAL U-17 Africa Cup of Nations to held in Morocco from March 13 to 31, the Golden Eaglets would this week be subjected to the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Tests.
Competent source told NationSport last night that some 36 players out of the lot presently in Abuja jostling for a spot in the final squad fore Morocco 2021 will undergo the test as mandated by CAF.
“As you know, the Golden Eaglets have been training in Abuja ,” the source informed NationSport.“ We are doing MRI for 36 players by Monday.” Read more
Colin Blackwell emerging as Rangers’ hidden gem (NYPost)
Rangers head coach David Quinn noted he’d be lying if he said at the beginning of this season that he thought Colin Blackwell would be producing offensively the way he has.
That’s certainly true for Quinn, and everybody else for that matter.
But the fact is: Ever since Blackwell’s call up from the taxi squad on Jan. 23, the 27-year-old has cemented himself in the Rangers’ lineup with his reliable play and unexpected offensive prowess. The only time he’s been out of the lineup since joining the active roster was when he missed four games due to an upper-body injury.
Blackwell played the first 33 games of his NHL career with the Predators before he signed with the Rangers in October 2020. He had just three goals and seven assists to his name, including a goal and four assists in his last six games of the 2019-20 season. Read more
Richarlison boosts Everton’s top-four hopes and extends Saints’ miserable run (BBC)
Carlo Ancelotti says he wants Everton to experience the feeling of “touching” the top four after a win over Southampton that sets up a chance to overtake their rivals on Thursday.
Richarlison rounded Fraser Forster to score the only goal of the game against the struggling Saints as Ancelotti’s side moved level on points with Liverpool and two points behind fourth-placed West Ham with a game in hand.
If they beat West Bromwich Albion on Thursday they will move into fourth ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, who play each other later the same evening.
“We have a great opportunity,” said Ancelotti after a first league win at home since 19 December. “I don’t know for how long it will be, maybe for one day, or two or three, but we would like to touch the position, so we have to put all our fight into the game on Thursday.
“We have to try to see how we feel if we are there.” Read more
Chelsea handed Callum Hudson-Odoi injury boost ahead of Liverpool clash (Metro)
Thomas Tuchel has received a boost ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Liverpool, with Callum Hudson-Odoi expected to be fit for Thursday’s heavyweight encounter at Anfield. The 20-year-old England international was at the heart of the action in the first half of Chelsea’s goalless draw Manchester United and provided the major talking point of the game after handling the ball inside his own area in the 14th minute. And while Hudson-Odoi will have breathed a sigh of relief as referee Stuart Attwell decided against penalising him for handball, he was taken off just 30 minutes later with Reece James coming on in his place at the halfway stage at Stamford Bridge. Read more
Vinicius rescues late point for Madrid (BBC)
Vinicius Jr marked his 100th Real Madrid appearance with a late equaliser against Real Sociedad in La Liga.
Madrid dominated the first half with Mariano and Raphael Varane heading off the bar in the space of two minutes.
Real Sociedad were much improved after the break and Portu scored an excellent header from Nacho Monreal’s cross.
Zinedine Zidane changed his front three after 61 minutes and one of the replacements – Vinicius – finished from Lucas Vazquez’s cross late on.The draw brought to an end Madrid’s five-game winning run in all competitions and means they missed out on the chance to overtake Barcelona into second place. Read more