Lagos CP condemns Computer Village video, says policemen are not thieves (Guardian)
The Commissioner of Police (CP), Lagos State, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, has condemned and described the viral video, where two policemen were attacked and alleged to have stolen mobile phones, as false.
Odumosu condemned and falsified the content of the viral video in a statement signed on Tuesday by CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer on Tuesday.
He said that the incident, which he described as mischievous, allegedly happened on Friday at the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos.
“The authors of the referred viral video painted the incident mischievously and in a bad light with an attempt to ridicule the entire Nigeria Police Force. Read more
FAAN shuts screening point at Lagos airport (DailyTrust)
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has temporarily shut down the E-Finger departure screening point at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The suspension, according to the FAAN, was part of its maintenance and upgrade programme.
The spokesperson of FAAN, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, stated that the closure would enable the Authority carry out some routine maintenance on the screening machines.
“Consequently, all human and cargo movement have been temporarily diverted to the D-Finger screening area until the maintenance and upgrade are completed,” she said. Read more
Lagos rural community gets free dental care from firm (Guardian)
As part of the cardinal focus of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm, Revolution Plus Group, through its charity arm, Chris Bamidele Onalaja Foundation (CBOF), has provided medical care for rural communities on the outskirts of Lagos.
The foundation, at the weekend, took its medical outreach to Ogulu base, Osoroko community, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, where it gave free medical care to over 500 persons, including children.
Speaking during the outreach, Dr Olayiwola Elisha Opeyem, who led the dental team, said the aim of the outreach was to bring free health care down to the down trodden. Read more
Lagos resolves Kirikiri kingship tussle (Nation)
The protracted kingship tussle in Kirikiri, Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA) has been laid to rest following the affirmation of Chief Anthony Folami as Baale.
Folami was recognised in a letter from the Ministry of Local Government dated March 10 and addressed to the Chairman, Oriade LCDA, in response to a petition on alleged acts of impunity, usurpation of traditional stool, breach of public peace and communal violence against one Babalola Shabi.
The Nation reports that the two ruling houses in Kirikiri-Agunbiade and Folami ruling houses- had through their lawyers, Taiwo Lakanu & Co. petitioned the state over the alleged usurpation of their traditional stool by Shabi, alleged to be a stranger from Ijebu Ode. Read more
Lecturer arrested for alleged rape of Ogun minor (Punch)
The Ogun State Police Command said it arrested a 41-year-old lecturer in the Department of Business Management, Covenant University, Ota, Dr Stephen Ukenna, for allegedly raping a 17-year-old student of the institution.
The suspect was arrested following a complaint lodged at the Ota area command by the parents of the victim.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Oyeyemi said the parents reported that their daughter called them on the phone from school that she was invited by the lecturer to his office under the pretext that he wanted to plan a surprise birthday party for her close friend. Read more
Abducted OOU students regain freedom (DailyTrust)
The female Students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) who were abducted in front of their hostel in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State have regained freedom.
They were released on Tuesday night but it is unclear if any ransom was paid.
Adeyemo Precious and Oyefule Abiola, who are studying Forestry and Wildlife Management and Agricultural Economics at the Ayetoro Campus of OOU, were abducted on Sunday night.
The development had sparked outrage, with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) threatening to shut down all tertiary institutions in the state.
Governor Dapo Abiodun had ordered security operatives to rescue the students unhurt. Read more
Court jails man 15 years for fraud (Punch)
Justice Hadiza Suleiman of the Kano State High Court has sentenced one Jamilu Yunusa to 15 years’ imprisonment for defrauding his victims of over N1.5m.
Yunusa was arraigned on seven counts of advance fee fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
According to the EFCC, Yunusa and two others, Inuwa Abdu and Habibu Inuwa, who are still at large, defrauded their victims of N1,520,000 under the guise of executing a contract of supplying pipes to Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company.
Yunusa was said to have convinced the victims to finance the contract and promised to share the profit with them. Read more
Court discharges Ohakim in alleged false information suit (Guardian)
Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State, was yesterday, discharged and acquitted by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on a three-count criminal charge brought against him by the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
This followed a notice of discontinuance filed by the police in relation to the matter.
Titled CR/933/2020 and dated March 12, the request was filed before the court by the Legal Counsel, Legal/Prosecution Section, FCIID, Force Headquarters, Rotshang Faith Dimka. Read more
JAMB parades workers for alleged extortion, accomplice blames suspect (Punch)
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, on Monday, paraded two of its staff members for allegedly extorting money from Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates with the promise to help them secure university admission.
The affected employees are Andy Okoro, a level 12 officer in Delta State’s JAMB office, who confessed to collecting N500,000 from four candidates’ parents, out of which he paid N180,000 to a colleague, Gambo Ibrahim Abba, to help facilitate their admission.
But the issue came to the public domain when one of the parents petitioned JAMB about Okoro’s activities, a move that prompted the organisation to investigate the issue.
Okoro told Journalists at the JAMB Headquarters in Abuja that he engaged in the fraudulent act because of economic hardship. Read more
Uber to pay drivers a minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions (BBC)
Uber says it will give its UK drivers a guaranteed minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions.
The ride-hailing app giant said drivers would earn at least the UK’s National Living Wage, paid to the over 25s, of £8.72 an hour.
It comes one month after the US firm lost a legal battle in the UK, begun in 2016, over drivers’ status.
Uber told the BBC it did not expect the change in drivers’ conditions to mean higher fares. Read more
Syria shoots down Israeli missiles over Damascus, state media says (France24)
Syrian air defences shot down several Israeli missile strikes over the capital Damascus on Tuesday, state media reported.
“At 22:35 (2035 GMT) this evening the Israeli enemy carried out an aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on some targets in the Damascus area,” Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.
“Our air defences intercepted the attack and shot down most of” the missiles, it said, adding there were no casualties.
AFP reporters heard explosions above the capital, which official media said were the air defences responding to the attack. Read more
Trump tells Republican supporters to get vaccinated (BBC)
Former US President Donald Trump has urged his Republican supporters to be vaccinated against Covid-19, saying he would recommend it.
In a TV interview, he said the vaccine was “safe” and “something that works”.
Mr Trump’s conservative fan base has been one of the main groups resistant to the vaccine programme.
The former president himself was criticised during his time in office for playing down the seriousness of the pandemic. Read more
Turkish prison conditions worsen amid pandemic (DW)
The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact all over the world, including in Turkey, where there is widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s management of the crisis.
Human rights organizations have long criticized prison conditions in Turkey, and these have worsened further since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
To avert the spread of COVID-19 in prisons, the government passed a new law on April 14 last year allowing for the early release of thousands of inmates. According to the Turkish General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses (CTE), 78,000 people were released. Read more
At least 50 killed by armed men in southwestern Niger, government says (France24)
Armed men in southwestern Niger killed at least 58 people when they intercepted a convoy returning from a weekly market and attacked a nearby village, the government said.
The attacks on Monday occurred in the Tillabery region, which is near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso and has seen increasingly deadly attacks by Islamist militants active across the region with links to Islamic State and al Qaeda.
Suspected militants killed at least 100 civilians on Jan. 2 in raids on two villages in Tillabery, one of the deadliest episodes in the country’s recent history.
The assailants this time intercepted four vehicles transporting passengers from a weekly market to the villages of Chinagoder and Darey Dey, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. Read more
New Dead Sea scrolls found in desert cave in Israel (CBC)
Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago.
The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been dated around the 1st century AD based on the writing style, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. They are the first new scrolls found in archeological excavations in the desert south of Jerusalem in 60 years.
The Dead Sea scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD. They include the earliest known copies of biblical texts and documents outlining the beliefs of a little-understood Jewish sect. Read more
Asian American Group Receives Nearly 3,800 Reports of Hate and Bias (VOA)
In Brooklyn, New York, a white man catcalled an Asian American woman and aggressively followed her down the block, yelling a racial obscenity and a sexually derogatory term.
In Washington, D.C., a man punched an Asian woman in the back in a Metro subway station, repeatedly shouting racial expletives and physically threatening her and her boyfriend.
In Las Vegas, a ride-sharing service driver told his Asian passenger, “Damn, another Asian riding with me today. I hope you don’t have any COVID.”
The three incidents are among nearly 3,800 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate and abuse an advocacy coalition has recorded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago. The disease originated in China. Read more
Confed Cup: Enyimba target away win against Pirates (Punch)
Nigeria Professional Football League side Enyimba will hope to build on their match-day one success when they play South African side Orlando Pirates in their second group game of the CAF Confederation Cup on Wednesday (today).
Enyimba who claimed a 2-1 victory over Libyan side Ahli Benghazi on March 10, play Pirates 5:00pm Nigerian time at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa.
Both sides will be meeting for the third time after meeting twice in the group stage of the CAF Champions League in 2016.
The Buccaneers won 1-0 in South Africa, before holding the People’s Elephant to a goalless draw in the reverse fixture in Nigeria. Read more
De Bruyne and Gundogan goals see Man City advance comfortably in Champions League (BBC)
Manchester City moved into the Champions League quarter-finals for a fourth successive season by completing a comprehensive aggregate victory over Borussia Monchengladbach.
Leading 2-0 after the first leg, the Premier League leaders extended their overall advantage after only 12 minutes of the last-16 second-leg tie through Kevin de Bruyne’s excellent 20-yard left-footed strike.
Six minutes later, City scored again as Ilkay Gundogan slotted past goalkeeper Yann Sommer following a fine run and pass from Phil Foden, with the goal completing a 4-0 aggregate win.
Both matches in this tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest because of coronavirus restrictions. Read more
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel plays down Timo Werner exit rumours (Metro)
Thomas Tuchel has dismissed reports linking Timo Werner with a move away from Chelsea this summer. The Germany international, who was signed in a £47.5 million deal from RB Leipzig last year, has struggled over the winter period with just one goal in his last 26 games for Chelsea. Werner has been linked with a return to the Bundesliga at the end of the season, with Chelsea targeting Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland. But Tuchel has backed the 25-year-old to start hitting the target for Chelsea. Read more
LeBron James becomes partner of Liverpool FC owners (BBC)
LeBron James has become a minor partner in Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the owners of Liverpool FC.
FSG announced on Tuesday the basketball legend has invested in the group, which also owns the Boston Red Sox.
James has been a part-owner of Liverpool FC since 2011 and has a 2% stake in the club, which he bought for £4.7m.
He and his business partner Maverick Carter are now taking a more active role in global sports ownership. Read more
Real Madrid march into Champions League last eight (BBC)
Real Madrid reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in three seasons with a clinical second-leg performance against Atalanta.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Real doubled their advantage in the tie when Luka Modric pounced on Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello’s poor clearance to square for Karim Benzema to sweep home.
Skipper Sergio Ramos added Real’s second from the penalty spot after Vinicius Junior was cynically tripped just inside the area by Rafael Toloi.
The Italian side pulled one back through Luis Muriel’s marvellous 25-yard free-kick but Marco Asensio’s near-post finish quickly silenced any thoughts of a late fightback. Read more
Rafael Nadal withdraws from Miami Open to continue back injury recovery (Metro) Rafael Nadal has announced he will not compete at the Miami Open as he continues his recovery from a back injury. Nadal, the 20-time Grand Slam champion from Spain, has not competed since losing in the Australian Open quarter-finals to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. He has pulled out of events in Rotterdam, Dubai and now Miami since, while slipping to No. 3 in the ATP rankings behind Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. Nadal is a five-time losing finalist in Miami and hasn’t played there since a final defeat to Roger Federer in 2017. Read more
