Lagos hospital elevator still unreplaced 5 months after killing officer (Punch)
Five months after an elevator accident led to the death of a House Officer, Dr Vwaere Diaso, at the General Hospital, Odan Lagos, the equipment was yet to be replaced.
The PUNCH reports that Diaso was killed after the elevator crashed from the 10th floor to the ground floor of the 131-year-old hospital.
A colleague of the deceased told our correspondent when he visited the scene of the accident in August 2023 that the management of the hospital was aware of the poor state of the elevator. Read more
NDLEA arrests 28-year-old female bandits’ ammunition supplier (Nation)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), says it has arrested a 28-year-old woman Bilkisu Suleman who supplies ammunition to bandits.
The director of media and advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, January 7, said Suleman came top on the list of 12 other suspects arrested by NDLEA operatives in New Year’s interdiction operations in Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun states.
Babafemi said Bilkisu was arrested on Wednesday 3rd January by NDLEA officers on patrol along the Zaria – Kano expressway in possession of 249 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a black nylon bag kept in her lady’s handbag. Read more
Fake Universities: Kaduna business school threatens legal action against NUC (DailyTrust)
The Rector of Kaduna Business School (KBS), Dr. Dahiru Sani, has threatened to sue the National Universities Commission (NUC) if it doesn’t remove the school’s name from the list of 58 illegal universities released by the commission.
According to him, the NUC was wrong to include KBS in the list because the business school is not a university and doesn’t run a degree programme.
The Rector addressed newsmen to react to the recent list released by the NUC, which included the school among the 58 ‘fake’ universities in the country. Read more
Recruitment: CP assures applicants of transparency in Jigawa (Guardian)
Mr Ahmadu Abdullahi, Commissioner of Police (CP) in Jigawa has assured applicants for the Police Constable Cadre recruitment in the state, of transparency.
Abdullahi gave the assurance in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Lawan Shiisu in Dutse on Sunday.
Abdullahi warned officials deployed for the exercise against collection of money from applicants, families or any other person. Read more
AAPU probes certificate racketeering in Cotonou varsity, hails Nigerian Gov’t (Leadership)
The Association of African Private Universities (AAPU) has announced the constitution of a fact-finding committee, which will visit the neighbouring Benin Republic on the heels of a report by a Nigerian online newspaper, which exposed certificate racketeering in a Cotonou University.
This is even as AAPU commended Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, for resolving to investigate certificate racketeering in some universities both at home and outside the country.
The Deputy Secretary of the Association (West Africa), Salissou Mamoudou, made the commendation in a statement issued in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on Saturday. Read more
My hubby asked if I’d have married him if he was mechanic — Regina Daniels (Vanguard)
Nollywood actress Regina Daniels has revealed a question her husband, Senator Ned Nwoko asked her.
She disclosed that her husband had asked if she would have married him if he was a mechanic.
Regina Daniels said at first, she was clueless about the response to give to him, but later came up with an amusing one.
In her response, she wondered if their meeting point would be at his mechanic shop. Read more
NDLEA intercepts Colos consignment in boxing kits on New Year day (Sun)
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos on New Year day, Monday 1st January 2024 intercepted a consignment of Colorado, a very strong strain of cannabis, concealed in boxing kits imported from the United States of America.
A weeklong intelligence-led operation to get the receiver arrested was consummated on Saturday 6th January following the successful tracking and arrest of 38-year-old Olorunfunmi Saheed Olakunle who distributes the dangerous psychoactive substance to dealers across Lagos State. The consignment had arrived in the country on Monday 1st January via Cairo on Egypt Airlines flight marked as boxing kits.
According to Saheed, he delivers such consignments to different recipients whenever his childhood friend, US-based Sagir Salami sends them. The latest shipment has a total weight of 1.80 kilograms. Read more
Betta Edu: Probe payment of N585m grant in private account, group tells Tinubu (Channels)
More outrage have continued to trail an alleged instruction by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, to the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein, to transfer N585 million to the bank account of an individual.
The instruction for the payment is contained in a leaked letter dated December 20, 2023. In the letter, Edu instructed the accountant-general to transfer N585,189,500 to the UBA account of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.
The transfer contravenes various sections of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009, which are meant to prevent fraud and other forms of corruption. Read more
Halle Bailey announces birth of son and hails it as ‘‘greatest thing’’ (Standard)
Halle Bailey has announced the birth of her son and called it “the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me”.
The 23-year-old American actress and singer, who played Ariel in Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid, revealed the arrival of her son Halo on Instagram.
The photo showed a baby’s hand wearing a bracelet with an inscription of his name. Read more
Meryl Streep shows love to Billie Eilish and Finneas with big Barbie praise (HuffPost)
Meryl Streep didn’t hold back her appreciation for Billie Eilish and Finneas after the two made history at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards on Thursday.
Streep, who was on hand to present the International Star Award to Carey Mulligan, praised the siblings after they accepted an award for the song “What Was I Made For?” off the Barbie soundtrack.
“You have delivered the Barbie love bomb,” said Streep of the track from the hit 2023 film. Read more
Megan Thee Stallion goes ‘Mean Girls’ in new video ‘Not My Fault’ (HipHopDx)
Megan Thee Stallion has dropped her latest video, “Not My Fault,” which will appear on the Mean Girls soundtrack — view it below.
The Houston hottie dropped the clip, which also features Reneé Rapp, on Friday (January 5). The Stallion adopts a Regina George-like persona in the video, and even refers to herself as “The Black Regina George.”
George, played by Rachel McAdams in the 2004 original film, was the wealthy, controlling villain of the story. Read more
North Korea threatens Seoul as tension builds over military drills (Aljazeera)
North Korea has threatened an immediate military strike against South Korea in response to any “provocation”.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister and key ally of leader Kim Jong Un, made the threat on Sunday, as Pyongyang reportedly fired artillery shells near its border with South Korea for the third day in a row.
The remarks follow South Korean military reports that said the North had fired more than 60 artillery rounds on Saturday near their disputed maritime border. Read more
Pressure builds on newsletter company Substack to stop paying Nazi writers (NBC)
One of the internet’s top platforms for independent writing is facing a growing backlash from some writers over its announcement last month that it won’t block Nazis from its services, a decision that allows them and other extremists to sell subscriptions and build an online audience.
Substack, founded in 2017 in San Francisco, has become a hub for journalism and other online writing by streamlining the process for publishing email newsletters and allowing writers to keep 90% of any sales, with the company taking a 10% cut.
But in a test of that model, a handful of writers who have used Substack to build email newsletter businesses have quit the platform in recent weeks, and more writers have said they’re considering doing so if Substack doesn’t reverse its policies and demonetize white supremacists — a step that the company argues would be tantamount to censorship. Read more
DRC: Electoral commission cancels votes cast for 82 candidates citing illegal activities (AfricaNews)
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission (CENI) has cancelled the votes cast for 82 candidates who contested in the legislative and local council elections.
The head of the CENI said, Friday (Jan.05), that the candidates were involved in illegal activities which include fraud, illegal possession of voting material and intimidation.
12 candidates from the presidential party are listed, the number exceeds 20 when adding candidates of political groups belonging to the ruling coalition. Read more
Texas woman charged with murdering daughter, 6, was allegedly found by police running naked (People)
A Texas mother charged with capital murder in the death of her daughter was discovered running around naked at the scene, according to police.
Nephiterea Sancho, 36, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with capital murder of a child under 10 in connection with the death of her 6-year-old daughter, Hosanna Sancho, police say, NBC News 4 San Antonio , KSAT.com, KENS 5 CBS and CBS Austin have reported.
Police were initially called to Frontera Crossing Apartments off Watson Road in San Antonio on a disturbance call at 3pm on Wednesday, according to reports. Read more
Coco Gauff defends Auckland Classic title as Elena Rybakina & Grigor Dimitrov win in Brisbane (BBC)
American teenager Coco Gauff successfully defended her Auckland Classic title by battling back from a set down to defeat Elina Svitolina.
The US Open champion triumphed 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3 to record her seventh win in eight career WTA singles finals so far.
Nineteen-year-old Gauff has now won 29 of her past 33 singles matches. Read more
Tinubu clears N12b backlog of debts owed Super Eagles, others (Leadership)
About a week to the kick-off of the 2023 edition of Africa Nations Cup (AFCON) tournament in Côte d’Ivoire, and in an effort to ensure that Nigeria’s football and other sporting activities are revived and developed, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has released the sum of N12 billion to the Ministry of Sports Development.
The said amount would assist those in charge of the management of sports to clear backlog of arrears of salaries and other outstanding debts owed coaches of the national teams and other sporting activities under the sports ministry.
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan-Enoh, stated this on Saturday during a thanksgiving ceremony at Holy Family Catholic Church in Ikom LGA of Cross River State. Read more
AFCON 2023: Super Eagles’ group opponent Guinea-Bissau suffer heavy loss in friendly (CompleteSports)
Guinea-Bissau’s preparations for AFCON 2023 suffered a huge setback following a 6-2 loss to Mali in a friendly game in Bamako on Saturday.
The defeat is coming just one week before Guinea-Bissau face Côte d’Ivoire in the opening game of this year’s AFCON.
The Ivorians gave their preparations for the competition a big boost with a resounding 5-1 win against Sierra Leone on Saturday in Abidjan. Read more
Paul Merson reacts to Arsenal transfer situation involving £30m star, says it’s ‘horrible’ (HitC)
Paul Merson says the transfer situation involving Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal is ‘horrible’ amid suggestions he could leave during the January window.
Weeks into the current Premier League season, Mikel Arteta decided to displace Aaron Ramsdale as his number one and replace him with David Raya, who is on-loan from Brentford.
That call caused a huge stir and it still is a talking point to this day, with Paul Merson stating that he simply now ‘has to fight for his place’ at Arsenal, as he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (06/01/24 at 2:10 pm). Read more
Hearn Stresses importance of staging “major” fights in the UK amid boxing boom in Saudi Arabia (BoxingScene)
British promoter Eddie Hearn wants to make sure significant fights are not all cannibalized by Saudi Arabia.
The head of Matchroom Boxing insisted in a recent in interview that there needs to be a concerted effort to ensure that high-profile domestic matchups between fighters from Ireland and the United Kingdom take place on local soil and not in the oil-producing country in the Middle East, which has emerged as a de facto capital for the sport in recent months. Read more
Rafael Nadal withdraws from Australian Open due to injury (Independent)
Rafael Nadal has been forced to pull out of the Australian Open due to injury, just one week after making his long-awaited return to the court.
The 37-year-old made his comeback at the Brisbane International this week, playing his first matches in 12 months, but suffered a “micro tear” in his hip during a gruelling three-set defeat to Jordan Thompson on Friday.
Nadal said he underwent a MRI scan upon arriving in Melbourne and while the Spaniard confirmed the positive news that it was not in the same area that forced him to sit out the majority of last season, the tear is significant enough for him to miss the opening grand slam of the year. Read more