Lagos pastors arrested for conducting fake miracles (Punch)
Personnel of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested four suspects, including two pastors, for allegedly staging fake miracles to defraud unsuspecting members of the public in the Lekki and Epe areas of the state.
The alleged pastors, Favour David and Favour Chimobi, were said to have connived with Rukayat Folawewo and Bunmi Joshua to perpetrate the crime.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said in a statement that the suspects specialised in procuring members for the Wonders Assembly Ministry, situated opposite the Lagos Business School on the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Ajah. Read more
Bricklayer remanded for allegedly defiling 9-year-old daughter (Tribune)
For allegedly defiling his nine-year-old daughter, a bricklayer, Oko Bassey, 65, was on Tuesday remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre on the order of an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
The Magistrate, Mrs B.O Osunsanmi did not take the plea of the defendant.
Osunsanmi ordered that the defendant be remanded in the correctional centre, pending advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Read more
How five Ikoyi prison inmates were electrocuted – Source (Punch)
An inmate at the Ikoyi Medium Security Custodial Centre, Lagos (Ikoyi prison), has blamed the death of five inmates in a cell on the carelessness of the prison authorities.
The inmate, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on condition of anonymity, said prison officers did not tell the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, the whole truth about the incident when he visited the facility on Monday.
He explained that it was not the first time there would be an electrical fault at the centre, adding that three weeks earlier, an inmate had suffered a shock. Read more
Lagos Government renames Onikan Stadium after Mobolaji Johnson (Guardian)
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday renamed Onikan Stadium after Late Brig. Gen. Mobolaji Johnson (Rtd) in recognition of his illustrious service as the first military administrator of Lagos.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State announced the change of name during the Day of Tribute for Late Johnson at Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island.
Sanwo-Olu said that the Onikan Stadium would now be known as ”Mobolaji Olufunso Johnson Stadium”. Read more
Insurgency: Buhari launches made-in-Nigeria mine-resistant armored vehicles (Tribune)
President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned made in Nigeria military war vehicles known as Mine Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles (MRAP), which will be used against the insurgents in the North-Eastern part of the country.
The vehicles named Ezugwu were produced by Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) and Command Engineering Depot (CED).
President Buhari who commissioned the war vehicles in Kaduna on Tuesday at the opening of the 2019 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference, commended the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Army in particular for their efforts in defending the country. Read more
VC orders closure of ASUU secretariat in UNIPORT (Guardian)
Tension has continued to mount at the University of Port Harcourt as the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, finally orders the closure of the secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Lale, who has been having a running battle with ASUU over the termination of Professor Frank Ugiomoh’s appointment, said his decision was based on claims to the ownership of the secretariat between ASUU and the Congress of University Academics (CONUA).
ASUU Chairman, Dr. Austen Sado, told The Guardian that it was preposterous for the Vice Chancellor to have ordered the closure of the secretariat on the basis of a claim by a parallel group that is not recognised a trade union in the country. Read more
LASWA partners firm on water hyacinth recycling initiative (Nation)
The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) in conjunction with a Lagos based social enterprise Mitimeth on Tuesday commenced the third edition of the water hyacinth recycling initiative where 100 rural women were trained on the economic benefits of recycling hyacinth weed.
LASWA General Manager, Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel who spoke in an interview at the Ikorodu Ferry Jetty said the agency put the programme together as a window to create waste to wealth for youth, women and others turning the menace of water hyacinth into sustainable lifestyle and fashion for people in coastal communities with requisite skills to transform the hyacinth into valuable handcraft materials.
Rather than lament over the menace of water hyacinth and its attendant effects on Lagos waterways, Emmanuel said LASWA is collaborating with other agencies to harvest weed from hyacinth and convert them into materials including: bags, mats, notebook cover, hand-basket, furniture items and textile decorations. Read more
Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer declared wanted (Guardian)
The police in Anambra State have declared Ifeanyi Ejiofor, a lawyer to leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu wanted.
“I will like to let Nigerians to know that as we speak, Barrister Ejiofor, an IPOB member and his cohorts have been declared wanted by the command,” Anambra police commissioner in the state, John Abang, said on Tuesday.
“And I will seek the cooperation of law-abiding Nigerians from North, South, East and West, wherever they find this individual, they should report to the nearest police station or any other security agency for possible arrest and prosecution.” Read more
Malpractices: WAEC withdraws 1992, 1993 candidates’ certificates (Punch)
The West African Examinations Council has released the list of impounded certificates of candidates, who were believed to have engaged in malpractices during its examinations held as far back as December 1992 and 1993.
The council released the examination years and certificate numbers of the affected candidates, noting that the nature of their malpractices was impersonation.
Our correspondent sighted the list of indicted WAEC candidates as published in the weekly bulletin of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board released on Monday. Read more
NAFDAC moves to avert dangers of pesticides, agrochemical usage – DG (Guardian)
The National Agency for Food Drugs and Administration Control (NAFDAC) says it has evolved measures toward averting dangers associated with the use of pesticides and agrochemicals in Nigeria.
Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, made the disclosure on Tuesday during a Sensitisation Workshop for Agro-Input Dealers on Safe and Responsible Use of Pesticides and Agrochemicals in Ibadan.
News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by NAFDAC in collaboration with stakeholders in Agrochemicals and Pesticides. Read more
EFCC arrests former Kwara LG lawmaker over car theft (Vanguard)
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission on Tuesday said it had arrested a former councilor in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, Samuel Opeyemi Adeojo.
According to EFCC, Adeojo was fingered as the leader of a car theft syndicate notorious for stealing vehicles from car dealers through pretence as genuine buyers.
Until his arrest recently, the EFCC had been on his trail after series of petitions against his gang’s criminal activities were considered by the Commission’s Ibadan zonal office. Read more
Google’s Sundar Pichai named CEO at parent firm Alphabet (Vanguard)
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will assume the CEO role at parent firm Alphabet in a shakeup at the top of the Silicon Valley titan, the company said Tuesday.
Pichai will take over from Larry Page, a co-founder of the internet firm, at the parent company which includes Google as well as units focusing on “other bets” in areas including self-driving cars and life sciences.
Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin “will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s board of directors,” the company said. Read more
I hope to win Ballon d’Or next year – Mane (Tribune)
Liverpool star, Sadio Mane has apologised for not attending the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on Monday night but feels he might be a contender for the award next year.
The 27-year-old finished fourth in the award voting behind winner Lionel Messi, Reds team-mate Virgil van Dijk and Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ahead of tonight’s Premier League match against Merseyside rivals Everton, Mane sent a video message explaining why he wasn’t at the event.
And he also predicted that this year’s winner could be presenting the trophy to him at the ceremony in 12 months’ time. Read more
I joined Lille to secure Eagles spot – Osimhen (Punch)
Victor Osimhen has said joining French club Lille was a means to secure a starting spot in the Super Eagles.
He said this in an interview with Bal des Productions monitored by our correspondent via Youtube.
Osimhen said, “It was really vital to come here. When they spoke to me about the project they had for me, I couldn’t wait to sign because I knew it was going to help me not just here, but also in the Eagles. Read more
QPR’s wonderkid Eberechi Eze can ‘improve’ Super Eagles- Pinnick (Vanguard)
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick believes Queen Park Rangers midfielder Eberechi Eze can help improve the Super Eagles.
The NFF boss recently had a meeting with the youngster and his parents on the potential of the England U21 midfielder to switch his allegiance to the West Africans.
Eze has been delivering impressive showings for QPR this season, scoring seven goals and providing four assists, which have caught the attention of the Nigerian football authority. Read more
Chukwueze is world’s ninth best U-21 player (Punch)
Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze has been voted as the ninth best player in the world.
This was revealed in the voting details for Kopa Trophy Award revealed on Tuesday.
Chukwueze tied for ninth place with Valencia’s Lee Kang-in, who won the Golden Ball award at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
On Monday, Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt won the Kopa Trophy at the ceremony of the Ballon d’Or at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Read more
Manchester City bounce back with Burnley drubbing (Vanguard)
Gabriel Jesus scored twice as Manchester City showed no signs of giving up on their Premier League title defence easily with a 4-1 victory at Burnley to cut the gap on leaders Liverpool back to eight points.
Pep Guardiola’s men have struggled to match the blistering standards they set in back-to-back title winning seasons early in this campaign, but looked more like their old selves in what could have been a tricky trip to Turf Moor.
Jesus made the most of his chance to shine in the absence of the injured Sergio Aguero with two brilliant finishes either side of half-time to end an eight-game goal brought before long-range strikes from Rodrigo and Riyad Mahrez moved City above Leicester into second place on goal difference. Read more
Chelsea will find out transfer ban decision ‘very soon’, says Lampard (Guardian)
Frank Lampard expects to find out “very soon” whether Chelsea will be free to make any January signings, with the club waiting to learn the outcome of their FIFA transfer ban appeal.
Chelsea’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was heard last month, with the Blues contesting FIFA’s two-window ban relating to the recruitment of minors.
When asked when he expects to discover the result of that appeal, Lampard replied: “Very soon I believe. Days, I think. Read more
UEFA chief accuses British PM Johnson of fuelling racism (Punch)
UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin has accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of fuelling racism and insists European football’s governing body is working hard to tackle the problem plaguing the game.
A number of high-profile incidents in recent weeks, including racist abuse hurled at England players in Bulgaria and chants aimed at Romelu Lukaku and Mario Balotelli in Italy, have underlined the scale of the issue.
Johnson condemned the “vile” racist chanting during England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia in October and called for UEFA to take tough action. Read more
Guardiola rules out Man City January spree (Guardian)
Pep Guardiola says he will not be splashing out in January to revive Manchester City’s flagging Premier League title fortunes despite the yawning gap to leaders Liverpool.
The champions, in third place and trailing Jurgen Klopp’s men by 11 points after 14 matches, visit Burnley on Tuesday.
City has gone seven games without a clean sheet, which Guardiola said was not “good enough” and the club has been linked with Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu.
But he played down the idea of buying a centre-back when the transfer window re-opens next month. Read more
Bucks keep streak alive, Sixers still undefeated at home (Vanguard)
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points as the Milwaukee Bucks stretched their winning streak to 12 games on Monday with a 132-88 demolition of the hapless New York Knicks.
The Eastern Conference leaders showed no mercy to the worst side in the division, outscoring the Knicks by 33-15 in the first quarter and showing no let-up through a one-sided encounter.
Antetokounmpo was on court for just 21 minutes, adding 15 rebounds and shooting 10-of-14 while leading the scoring. Read more
Ljungberg open to Wenger advice (Tribune)
Freddie Ljungberg says he would like to speak to Arsene Wenger ahead of his first home game as Arsenal interim boss against Brighton on Thursday.
Ljungberg’s first game in charge of Arsenal was a 2-2 draw against Norwich on Saturday, as they came from behind twice at Carrow Road.
The interim boss insists speaking to Wenger, who was Arsenal’s boss for 22 years and coached Ljungberg during his time in north London, is among the things he plans to do. Read more