Lagos raises alarm over ‘fake’ Safety Officers (NewTelegraph)
The Director General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola has raised the alarm over influx of touts who claim to be safety Officers to swindle unsuspecting firms and other member of the public.
According to him, the touts had cloned and forged the Commission’s logo to carry out unofficial duties, calling on the residents to be wary of their activities. He warned that arrangement had been made to ensure that those caught will be arrested and prosecuted in line with relevant laws of Lagos State as security personnel have been contacted to carry out such directives.
The Director-General, who affirmed the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu led administration to safety of lives and property of its citizenry, advised members of the public to disregard any illegal purported summons, abatement notices, seal orders and so on. Read more
Sanwo-Olu, Adeboye stress importance of traditional rulers in government (Vanguard)
LAGOS State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, have underscored the importance of traditional rulers in government, saying they hold the ace in ensuring a peaceful society.
The governor and the General Overseer spoke at the maiden special service for royal fathers, traditional rulers and community leaders organized by The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Region 19, Dominion Sanctuary, ACME Road, Ogba, Lagos with the theme: “Peace in your domain.”
The Special service was designed and packaged to foster peace among communities and to appreciate the influence of royal fathers in governance and nation building. Read more
Brothers at War Over Oniru Stool (ThisDay)
In September, the Oniru of Iruland, Oba Idowu Abiodun Oniru, joined his ancestors, amidst grief by family and subjects as well.
After weeks of deliberations and meetings, the remains of the revered king were interred last month, with many eminent personalities, including the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in attendance.
Since the passing of the king, Society Watch gathered that there has been no love lost among three of his children as to who will the late monarch’s successor, given the elitist nature of the kingdom on Victoria Island, Lagos.
It was gathered that the trio of Adesegun, Tijanni and Ademola Oniru have been scheming to succeed their deceased father. Read more
Fayemi attends Fayose son’s wedding in Lagos (Punch)
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Saturday joined other well wishers to celebrate with the family of the immediate past governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose, whose son, Tomiwa, got married.
The event drew many important persons to the Haven Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos. Read more
Lamentations Of Isheri North Residents Over Flood (Independent)
Residents of Isheri North Residential Scheme along Lagos-Ibadan expressway have continued to count their losses as a result of the flood that engulfed the area last month owing to the release of water from the Oyan Dam by the management of Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA).
The residents in a letter to the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, dated October 24, lamented that they have been “deeply devastated, distressed and virtually comatose from the latest bashing we are currently receiving from the perennial annual flooding of our estate.”
“This 2019 version is the worst ever and we have been knocked down, flat on our backs. Hundreds of families have been displaced and brutally traumatised. No help or succour from anywhere. We are on our own.” Read more
Nigeria Emerges First in Africa Netprenure Competition (ThisDay)
A team of young entrepreneurs from Nigeria has emerged first in the just concluded Netprenure technology competition, sponsored by Alibaba Foundation for Africa.
The sponsor of the competition, the Alibaba Foundation, disclosed that it had set aside $10 million to be won by 100 entrepreneurs in the next ten years.
The finalists were announced saturday at the Netprenure 2019 Conference held in Accra, Ghana after a panel of IT experts assessed their entries in the contest. Read more
Busola vs Fatoyinbo: What the court papers say (Punch)
Amid the raging controversy that has engulfed the court case between photographer, Busola Dakolo, and Senior Pastor, Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Abiodun Fatoyinbo, The PUNCH has obtained a certified true copy of the court judgment (see Court-papers).
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Bwari, Abuja had dismissed the case filed by Dakolo against Fatoyinbo, on Thursday, and ordered that a fine of N1m be paid.
The judgment, it was learnt, was delivered around 10:30 am on Thursday, November 14. Read more
Dickson calls for cancellation of election in Nembe, Southern Ijaw, others (NewTelegraph)
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to cancel the election in some parts of the state, where the exercise was characterised by brigandage, hijacking of electoral materials and personnel. Governor Dickson made the call while speaking with newsmen shortly after casting his vote at Oruerewari, Polling Unit 005, Toru Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area on Saturday.
He particularly, called for outright cancellation of the elections in Nembe Local Government Area where over 20 PDP faithful were massacred by armed APC militia during an aborted campaign rally of the PDP. The Governor said the bloodthirsty thugs were sponsored by pipeline surveillance contractors in the state and one Kodjo Sam. Read more
Kogi gov’ship: How votes were sold at N500 — CDD (DailyTrust)
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) Election Analysis Centre (EAC) CDD-EAC has said voters received as low as N500 to sell their votes in Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State. The CDD Director Idayat Hassan and CDD Senior Fellow, Prof. Ibrahim Jibrin said this in the preliminary report on the conduct of the election.
“In our report on Friday, we noted the extensive use of financial inducements to affect the outcome of the elections as election officials were offered $1,000 each to buy their conscience. Today (Saturday), we noted direct financial incentives to voters who were offered money before and after voting. Read more
Bayelsa, Kogi foretell 2023 (Nation)
In order to police Satuday’s governorship and senatorial elections, security agencies militarised Kogi and Bayelsa States, and rationalised the use of overwhelming force to safeguard the electoral process. Bayelsa had the compliment of about 32,000 policemen and security agents, in addition to a host of electoral commission officials. Kogi had about 35,000 policemen and security agents, also in addition to dozens of top electoral officials. How they came about those numbers and raised the logistic to ferry them must remain a mystery. If a one-day, two-state elections attracted nearly 70,000 policemen and security agents, as mindboggling and unbelievable as this is, should this not tell Nigerian leaders that the country’s security and ethical conditions are not improving, and that they must begin to reflect on how to rework the country, design new paradigms for progress, and recognise that the future is indeed very bleak and precarious? Read more
US election 2020: Obama issues warning to ‘revolutionary’ Democrats (BBC)
Former US President Barack Obama has issued a warning to Democratic presidential candidates, cautioning them against policies that are not “rooted in reality”.
Mr Obama said Democrats risked alienating voters if they lurched too far to the left politically.
The former president, speaking at a fundraising event, said most voters didn’t want to “tear down the system”.
Mr Obama is yet to publicly back a Democratic candidate. Read more
Olympic qualifier: D’Tigress beat Mozambique, play Mali in semis (Punch)
D’Tigress increased their chances of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics after defeating hosts of the FIBA Africa Women’s pre Olympics qualifying tournament, Mozambique 57-48 at the Pavilhao Maxaquene on Saturday.
The 2019 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket champions showed superiority over their opponents in the first quarter with a 21-8 lead also taking the second quarter 17-11 going into the half time break 38-19 with a massive 19 points lead.
The home side took control of the second half taking the third quarter 16-8 also coming tops in the fourth quarter 13-11 but their late charge was not enough to guarantee a comeback as Nigeria qualified for the semi-final as group B winners. Read more
Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Roger Federer & faces Dominic Thiem for title at ATP Finals (BBC)
Coverage: Watch live coverage of one match per day on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra; Live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app. Click here for Live Guide.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Dominic Thiem for the title at the ATP Finals on Sunday after beating six-time champion Roger Federer in London.
The Greek, making his debut at the event aged just 21, won 6-3 6-4. Read more
Murray faces ‘Baby Fed’ instead of Federer at ATP Cup (DailyTrust)
Former world number one player, Andy Murray reacts after winning a point. Former world No 1 Andy Murray is in line to play Grigor Dimitrov in the opening round of the inaugural ATP Cup, with Bulgaria qualifying among the final six teams in the nation-based tournament. Briton Murray, on the comeback trail after hip surgery, was initially set to face Roger Federer in a blockbuster Group C clash in Sydney but the 20-times Grand Slam champion pulled out of the January 3-12 tournament, making Switzerland ineligible. Read more
2021 Africa Cup of Nations: Ivory Coast and Madagascar win qualifiers (BBC)
Ivory Coast and Madagascar both produced 1-0 victories on Saturday in the first round of Group K matches in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
Ivory Coast beat Niger 1-0 in Abidjan thanks to a second half penalty from AC Milan’s Franck Kessie.
It was the second spot-kick of the game for the home side, after Max Gradel missed a first-half chance from 12 yards having argued with Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe over who would take the kick. Read more
Babangida, Imenger, Sadi demand Eagles improvement against Lesotho (DailyTrust)
Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo Former internationals, Tijani Babangida, Barnabas Imenger and Dahiru Sadi have called on the Super Eagles to improve on their performance when they meet the Crocodiles of Lesotho on Sunday in their second match of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers. On Wednesday, three time African champions came from behind to beat Squirrels of Benin Republic 2-1 in their opening match of Group L but the victory didn’t stop football fans from demanding for improved performance from the Super Eagles. Read more
Nwosu blames NFF for Tokyo 2020 Olympics miss (Punch)
Henry Nwosu has slammed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after the Olympic Eagles failed to reach the semi-final of the 2019 Africa U23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The former Nigeria international has expressed his displeasure after the Olympic Eagles crashed out of the U23 Afcon tournament.
Imama Amapakabo’s men were held to a draw by South Africa in their final Group B game at Al Salam Stadium on Friday. Read more
Benzema hits out at continued French exile (Guardian)
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has told French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet he and he alone will decide when the time to end his international retirement has come.
After Real coach Zinedine Zidane called for Benzema’s four-year France exile, caused by his alleged part in an attempt to blackmail Mathieu Valbuena, to end this week, Le Graet told French radio Benzema’s adventure with the French team was finished. Read more
Tomori: Drogba inspired me to join Chelsea (Nation)
Named Oluwafikayomi Oluwadamilola Tomori 21 years ago, England and Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori can never forget his Nigerian roots. “I enjoy Nigerian music, I’m Nigerian; it’s my culture and I’m very proud of it,” he said simply without much ado. But for time, Tomori said maybe he would have accepted the invitation of Nigeria FA to play for his fatherland rather than his adopted country.
He was selected in Gareth Southgate’s latest squad for Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria earlier last month.
Tomori’s parents are of Nigerian descent while he is also eligible for Canada having been born in Calgary, representing them three times at Under-20s level. Read more
Ndidi is Leicester’s unsung hero, Redknapp (Punch)
Liverpool legend, Jamie Redknapp, has compared Nigeria and Leicester City midfielder to France coach, Didier Deschamps, due to his work rate and importance to his team.
The midfielder has been one of Leicester’s top performance this season and the former Liverpool captain, a midfielder during his playing days expressed his admiration for the combative midfielder.
“There are so many things to admire about Leicester under Brendan Rodgers, and Ndidi is one of them,” he wrote in an opinion page in the dailymail. Read more
Olympics ouster: Minister charts new course for football (NewTelegraph)
Minister of Sports Sunday Dare has expressed profound displeasure at the sliding fortune of Nigerian football following the failure of Dream Team to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.
The minister wrote on his Twitter account that it was important to chart a new course for the game. “Nigeria’s game against S.A. (South Africa) which ended in a draw concentrates the mind.
Time to take a look back and find out where the rain began to beat us. Like I said before, our football needs a return to the basics of grassroot football, pristine sports admin, sound technical coaching…,” the Minister tweeted early on Saturday morning. Read more