Lagos police command rescues another abandoned baby (Punch)
Barely two months after an abandoned day-old newborn was rescued near a bush in the Oko-Oba area of Lagos, another baby abandoned around Orile bus stop has been found by the police.
The baby girl said to be about one-month-old was rescued around 8am on Friday by policemen attached to the Orile division and handed over to the Gender Unit of the state police command in Ikeja.
The spokesperson for the police, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Friday said some passersby who sighted the baby alerted the police. Read more
CAC wades into Balogun Business Association crisis (ThisDay)
The Corporate Affairs Commissions (CAC) has waded into the crisis that has split the Balogun Business Association (BBA) into two factions, declaring the Okey Ezibe group as the authentic group against the faction made up of Mr. Tony Obih, John Ezeako and Jones Okpala.
In a letter on true position from the CAC signed by the Registrar General and contained in their bulletin, the Commission declared re-constitution of the Board of Trustees of Balagun Business Association as illegal, having been obtained through the instrumentality of false documents.
Part of their letter reads: “The Certificate of Registration issued on 3rd July, 2018 is hereby revoked and cancelled in line with the provision of section 41(7) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020. This is based on the unassailable fact that while Chief Emmanuel Ohanugo and Alhaji Magaji Mohammed died years before the purported meeting re-appointing them as trustees was held, Mrs. Caroline Nwazojie had left Nigeria at least three years before the meeting was held.” Read more
Alumni group honours Adadevoh six years after death (Punch)
Over six years after her death, the Queen’s School Ede/Ibadan Old Girls Association is set to honour the late Dr Ameyo Adadevoh with the inauguration of a multipurpose building.
The event holds at the Bell Event Centre, Lagos Island, on May 22, according to a statement by the association titled, ‘Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh: The Ebola Heroine.’
The association said women were making an indelible mark in various fields from politics to finance to sports to healthcare, and so on, but said that perhaps one of the most influential women in recent history was the late Adadevoh.
The late Adadevoh is credited with having curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian, in quarantine. Read more
Officers dodge as attacks on police facilities persist (Guardian)
Since the EndSARS protest that rocked most of the southern parts of the country, especially the Southwest and Lagos in particular, as well as lingering attacks on Police personnel and infrastructure in the Southeast, banditry and insurgency in the north, life has not been the same for the average police officer in the affected areas.
Apart from the toll on their morale and apprehension over a public they can no longer trust as before, the situation has also affected their operational effectiveness, as self-survival instincts now precedes security of the general public.
Today, some Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and operatives still work under the canopies, a situation that has affected their morale, efficiency and psychology in the metropolis, as many of them operate without offices.
A visit to one of the stations in Lagos State revealled that most police officers have become disillusioned and even somewhat angry with the system, the Force and with Nigerians. Read more
Boko Haram war: Army recalls soldiers from study leave (Punch)
Following intensified insurgency attacks across the country, particularly in the North, the Nigerian Army has recalled a large number of its personnel studying in civil institutions (universities and polytechnics) across the country, according to a leaked memo by the Nigerian Army Headquarters, Department of Army Training, Abuja.
In the memo dated May 11, the Nigerian Army also suspended the sponsorship of personnel in civil institutions with the exemption of students in the final year.
This is happening as the army continues to suffer heavy casualties in its counter-insurgency operations that have seen hundreds of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists also neutralised by gallant Nigerian troops. Read more
Senator alleges fraud in Nigeria armed forces, demands probe (Guardian)
A member of the Senate, representing Osun East Senatorial District, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, yesterday, alleged that fraud was rampant within the Nigerian armed forces and some paramilitary agencies, noting that the nation would not overcome insecurity if left unchecked.
The senator said the arms and ammunition being snatched from Nigerian soldiers by insurgents and the neglect of the defence industry, which is responsible for manufacturing war armaments, should be investigated.
Fadahunsi claimed that the military service chiefs prefer the importation of arms because of what they stand to gain from the exchange rates to the detriment of local manufacturing of guns and other weapons. Read more
$65m fraud: Presidency says ex-FMBN boss no longer Buhari’s in-law, PDP demands probe (Punch)
The Presidency has said that a former Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank, Gimba Yau Kumo, declared wanted for $65 million fraud is no longer a son-in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is as the Peoples Democratic Party is demanding the probe of Kumo, who got married to Buhari’s daughter in October 2016 in Daura, Katsina State.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission had declared the fugitive wanted alongside Tarry Rufus and Bola Ogunsola over alleged misappropriation and dispersion of national housing fund.
The notice published on the ICPC website, was signed by the commission’s spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua. Read more
PCN seals 424 pharmacies, patent medicine shops in Abuja (Leadership)
The Pharmacists Council Of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed 424 premises, comprising 99 pharmacies and 325 patent medicine shops, during an enforcement exercise in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
PCN registrar, Pharm. Elijah Mohammed, who disclosed this during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, said the pharmacies and shops were sealed for various offences.
Some of the offences, according to him, include operating without registration with PCN, failure to renew premises license, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist, poor storage and sanitary condition, among others.
The registrar, who was represented by the director enforcement, PCN, Pharm. Stephen Esumobi, added that eight pharmacies and patent medicine shops were issued compliance directive. Read more
China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft completes historic Mars landing (AlJazeera)
An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported, making China the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on a site on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, “leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time”, Xinhua said.
The craft left its parked orbit at about 17:00 GMT Friday (1am Beijing time Saturday).
The landing module separated from the orbiter three hours later and entered the Martian atmosphere, the official China Space News said. Read more
Alec Baldwin rails against cancel culture, calls it ‘a forest fire in constant need of fuel’ (PageSix)
Actor Alec Baldwin once again railed against cancel culture, as he compared it Friday to a destructive “forest fire” in a pointed tweet.
“Cancel culture is like a forest fire in constant need of fuel. Functioning objectively. No prejudice. No code. Just destroy. The deserving and the undeserving alike,” the 63-year-old wrote.
The heated message came a day after he took to social media, in an apparent thinly veiled critique of the press coverage of his wife’s inconsistent account of her heritage. Read more
Teen girl found in boat drifting for 3 weeks at sea (BBC)
Aicha, 17, from Ivory Coast survived at sea for three weeks without food or water.
Out of 59 passengers, she is one of only three to survive.
It’s the biggest known tragedy involving migrant boats in the Canary Islands.
Aicha left her hometown in November, travelling to Mauritania where she got the boat. Only her older sister knew of her plans to make the perilous journey. Read more
Biden cancels Trump’s planned ‘Garden of American Heroes’ (AlJazeera)
President Joe Biden on Friday put the kibosh on his predecessor’s planned “National Garden of American Heroes” and revoked former President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at social media companies’ moderation policies and branding American foreign aid.
In an executive order of his own, Biden abolished the Trump-formed task force to create the new monument, which the former president proposed last year. It was to have featured sculptures of dozens of American historical figures, including presidents, athletes and pop culture icons, envisioned by Trump as “a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.”
Trump himself curated the list of 30-plus, which included Davy Crockett, Billy Graham, Whitney Houston, Harriet Tubman and Antonin Scalia, among others, but no site was selected and the garden was never funded by Congress. Read more
UK troops seize IS weapons in Mali operation (BBC)
AK47 rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition are among a cache of suspected Islamic State weapons that have been seized by UK troops in Mali.
Around 100 soldiers took part in efforts to retrieve the weapons in a village close to the border with Niger, where the Ministry of Defence said locals were being threatened.
Suspected IS members had earlier fled by swimming across a river, it added.
The operation was carried out in a sandstorm and temperatures above 50C. Read more
Gwyneth Paltrow gushes over daughter Apple on her 17th birthday (PageSix)
Like the rest of the world, Gwyneth Paltrow can’t believe her baby girl is turning 17.
On Friday, the Goop founder posted a sweet snap on Instagram of her lookalike daughter sitting near a tropical beach.
“Can it be? 17 today?? My sweetest girl… YOU ARE MY LIFE! You make me belly laugh every day,” she captioned the photo. “You are brilliant and hardworking. You are fully YOU which I respect and admire so much. I wish I had had even a spoonful of the self-acceptance you have when I was your age.”
She continued, “You are so inspiring and just so cool. I remember the morning you came into the world so perfectly, I just can’t believe it was 17 years ago. Happy birthday, my angel. Read more
US stocks rise a second straight day, overriding inflation fears (AlJazeera)
US stocks rose and Treasury yields declined for a second consecutive day as more-tempered commodity prices helped allay concerns about inflation risks.
Energy and technology shares led the S&P 500, which tumbled Wednesday by the most since February. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 outperformed the broader index, suggesting a market recovery is gaining momentum, after a bruising week that saw gathering price pressures hit equities. Both indexes still finished the week in the red. An advance in European stocks was led by cyclical industries. MSCI Inc.’s Asia-Pacific share gauge advanced more than 1%.
“People are very optimistic economically,” said Simon Maughan, head of trading alpha at Liquidnet. “Between now and the end of the year, the market is still on the upward trajectory. Clearly sentiment is extremely optimistic about pent-up demand.” Read more
Phil Mickelson granted special exemption into US Open (BBC)
Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson has been granted a special exemption into the US Open at Torrey Pines.
The American, 50, needs to win the event to complete a career Grand Slam.
Mickelson has finished as runner-up six times at the US Open – most recently in 2013 when he took a one-shot lead into the final round.
“Winning the US Open has been a lifelong and elusive dream and I’ve come close so many times,” said world number 116 Mickelson. Read more
FA Cup: Iheanacho, Ndidi seek to join Amokachi, Kanu, others (Guardian)
History beacons on Super Eagles’ duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi today as they seek to join the legion of Nigerian players who have won the English FA Cup when Leicester City clash with Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium, London.
Nigerian players, including Daniel Amokachi, Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, John Obi Mikel, John Utaka, Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi have won the FA Cup in their playing career in England.
Amokachi was the first Super Eagles player to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995 as they dispatched Manchester United in the final. Nwankwo Kanu remains the only Nigerian player to have won the FA Cup with two separate teams, with Arsenal, when he came off the bench in victory over Chelsea in 2002, and later with Portsmouth—alongside Utaka as they defeated Cardiff City. Read more
Knicks getting ‘different level of respect’ from the NBA (NYPost)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to the Knicks.
RJ Barrett said he has noticed how much respect the Knicks have received from opposing teams and players after reaching the playoffs for the first time in eight years and improving by 18 wins from last season — from 21 to 39 — with two games remaining.
“Most definitely, you can see there’s a different level of respect [for the Knicks],” Barrett said Friday on “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN Radio. “Teams have to come in and bring their best, teams have to come in and play hard. Most definitely, you can tell that. We have a really good record at home, at the Garden, with our fans, and it’s really tough to come in there and get a win. So you definitely can see that teams respect us a lot more.”
The Knicks enter their home game Saturday against the Hornets with a 23-11 record at the Garden. Barrett said he’s happy that attendance at the Garden will rise from about 2,000 fans to 5,000 for the playoffs, but he wishes the arena could have been packed throughout this turnaround season. Read more
Torres scores hat-trick as Man City win thriller against Newcastle (BBC)
Manchester City twice came from behind to win a Premier League classic against Newcastle in their first game since being confirmed as champions.
Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick for City and his superb backheeled finish was the highlight of a remarkable game that swung back and forth.
Pep Guardiola, who surprisingly selected Scott Carson in goal – almost a decade on from his last English top-flight game – saw his City side dominate early on but fall behind to Emil Krafth’s powerful header from Jonjo Shelvey’s corner.
Joao Cancelo equalised with a deflected effort into the bottom right corner and when Torres expertly turned home Ilkay Gundogan’s free-kick 185 seconds later it looked as though the visitors could cut loose. Read more
Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent responds to claims forward could rejoin Sporting this summer (Metro)
Cristiano Ronaldo will not re-join Sporting CP this summer, according to the forward’s agent. Ronaldo rolled off Sporting’s famed production line in 2003, earning a move to Manchester United where he developed into one game’s greats before making history with Real Madrid. The 36-year-old scored his 100thJuventus goal on Wednesday but there has been speculation he could leave this summer after a difficult season with the Bianconeri, who are at risk of finishing outside the top four. Sporting meanwhile have clinched their first Portuguese title since 2002 with Ronaldo’s mother Dolores Aveiro this week declaring she will try to convince her son to return to his boyhood club. Read more
Minnesota Timberwolves: Ex-MLB star Alex Rodriguez agrees takeover (BBC)
Retired Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez and businessman Marc Lore have reached a deal to buy National Basketball Association (NBA) team Minnesota Timberwolves.
The agreement is subject to approval by the NBA’s board of governors.
It also includes the purchase of Women’s NBA team Minnesota Lynx.
The deal struck with Glen Taylor, which sees Rodriguez and Lore each acquire 50% ownership, is worth a reported $1.5bn (£1.06bn).Taylor had owned the Minnesota Timberwolves – who have reached the play-offs once since 2004 – since 1995. Read more