Lagos supplementary election: Heavy security at collation centre as results arrive (Guardian)
Security operatives on Saturday mounted heavy presence at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Collation centre for the Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency Supplementary election in Lagos State. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that security personnel, were strategically positioned at the entrance and within the premises of the centre, located at Local Authority Primary School, Baale St., Ajegunle. Several patrol vehicles were also stationed at the access roads leading to the centre. Read more
Buhari committed to ensuring availability of agricultural produce –Minister (Nation)
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has assured that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration was committed to ensuring increase in the production of agricultural produce. Chief Ogbe speaking during the opening ceremony of the council’s meeting at the 43rd National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development conference in Umuahia, Abia State also posited that the Buhari led government was working assiduously to reduce food importation, stating that the incumbent APC led government was equally working to implement programmes that promote food safety and security among others. Read more
Tribunal: 60 indigenous lawyers to defend Bauchi gov-elect (Punch)
The Body of Bauchi Lawyers of Conscience (BOBOLAC) has submitted 60 names of legal practitioners to defend the state’s governor-elect, Sen. Bala Muhammed, of the Peoples Democratic Party at the election petition tribunal. Mr Shipi Rabo, disclosed this on Saturday in Bauchi at a press conference by the group, which is made up of indigenous lawyers from the state. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the group of lawyers had previously promised to freely offer services of 50 legal practitioners willing to defend the governor-elect at the tribunal. Read more
Kidnapping: Taraba LGA boss restricts movement of motorcycles (Guardian)
Mr Shiban Tikari, the Caretaker Chairman of Takum Local Government Area of Taraba, on Saturday imposed restriction on the use of motorcycles in the council area from 7 pm to 6am, to check kidnapping and armed robbery in the area. Tikari, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Jalingo, said kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery have become a daily affair in the LGA, adding that the operations are often carried out using motorcycles. He said this informed the decision to ban the use of motorcycles in the area from 7pm to 6 am. Read more
Security agencies vow to raid criminal hideouts in Abia (Nation)
Heads of various security agencies in Abia State have vowed to raid all the identified criminal hideouts in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state and other parts of the state. This was disclosed by the Abia State Commissioner of Police, CP Ene Okon at the Aba Area Command while flagging off Operation Puff Addar in compliance in Aba with the order of the Ag. Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu to tackle cases of cultism, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes in the state and the country at large. According to Okon, the launching of the Operation Puff Addar in Aba was deliberate as the place of the commercial city to the economic development of the state and the country was a whole cannot be overemphasized and as such demand that efforts should be put in place to ensure that there was security of lives and property in order to promote business and economic activities in the state. Read more
No word can describe our grief –Parents of teenagers crushed to death by NSCDC official in Gombe on Easter Monday (Punch)
If tears could bring back the dead, in Gombe, at least 10 teenagers would be back on their feet today. Since April 22, 2019 – Easter Monday – when they were crushed to death during a 12:00 religious procession by a murderous official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps – Adamu Abubakar fondly known as Ushaka – in the Sabo Line area of the capital, their distraught parents and all those, who knew them closely have been drenched with tears. They have cried, prayed and constantly hoped for a miracle. But sadly, the victims are gone forever. That early Easter morning, trouble was said to have begun when Abubakar first attempted to break the religious procession comprising members of the Evangelical Church Winning All, Church of Christ In Nations, and Anglican Church but was initially resisted by Brigade Boys of the group. Read more
FG begins rehabilitation of 104 unity schools (Nation)
The Federal Government has begun the renovation and rehabilitation of 104 unity colleges in the country, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has said. He said the rehabilitation exercise include replacement of broken toilets, ceilings, creation of additional classrooms and the renovation of existing ones. The minister said the renovation, directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, is aimed at expanding access to education in the country. He stated this during the monitoring of 2019 common entrance examination organised by the National Examination Council, in Abuja, on Saturday. Read more
Facebook user defrauds policemen seeking promotion, peacekeeping programme (Punch)
Luck has run out on a Facebook user, Loveday Ugochukwu, who specialises in defrauding policemen and members of the public by parading himself as a senior officer. His victims included policemen seeking promotion and officers, who wanted to participate in peacekeeping missions outside Nigeria. It was learnt that Ugochukwu met his match recently after he impersonated the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to defraud a contractor, Shuaibu Semion, of N800,000. Read more
25 years after apartheid, South Africans still not free —President (Punch)
A quarter of a century after the end of the apartheid in South Africa, large swathes of population still aren’t free given abject poverty and high unemployment and the scourge of corruption affecting the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday. Speaking at a ceremony in Makhanda, formerly Grahamstown, in the south of the country, Ramaphosa said that South Africans were “gathered here to celebrate the day we won our freedom.” The first democratic elections were held in South Africa on April 27, 1994, with blacks — who make up three-quarters of the population — voting for the first time, bringing to an end three centuries of white rule and the apartheid regime in place since 1948. Read more
Former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada dead at 75 (Guardian)
Former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada has died in Germany where he was undergoing medical treatment for an unspecified illness, state broadcaster EBC reported on Saturday. Negasso, who was 75, was president between 1995 and 2001 and was the first head of state after Ethiopia adopted a new constitution transforming the country into a federal state, with increased autonomy given to the different regions. The role of president in Ethiopia is largely ceremonial, with the prime minister holding most of the power. Read more
Sri Lanka bombings: 15 die in blast during raid on suspected hideout (BBC)
Fifteen people including six children were killed in Sri Lanka on Friday when suspected Islamist militants blew themselves up in a raid, police said. The raid occurred in Sainthamaruthu, near the hometown of the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday attacks that killed at least 250 people. Gunmen opened fire as troops attempted to raid a house, police said. Three men set off explosives, they added, killing the children and three women. Three others died in gunfire. One civilian was caught in the crossfire and died, according to police, while a wounded woman and child were taken to hospital. Read more
Donald Trump to withdraw US from Arms Trade Treaty (BBC)
US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw his country from the international Arms Trade Treaty. The agreement, signed by Barack Obama in 2013, aims to regulate the sale of weapons between countries. The US National Rifle Association says the treaty amounts to international gun control, and is a threat to America’s second amendment right to bear arms. Speaking at the lobbying group’s annual meeting, Mr Trump said he would ask the US Senate not to ratify the pact. Read more
Knives found at Japan prince’s desk days before abdication (BBC)
Police in Japan have launched an investigation after two knives were found near the school desk of Emperor Akihito’s 12-year-old grandson, local media report. The knives were discovered on Friday in a classroom at a junior high school attended by Prince Hisahito. Police are probing CCTV footage of a man trespassing on the school grounds. Prince Hisahito is set to become second in line to the throne after Emperor Akihito’s abdication next week. Read more
Mum turns vigilante to find daughter’s attacker because ‘police took too long’ (Metro)
A mother tracked down CCTV footage to find the ‘scumbag’ who broke her daughter’s leg in a hit-and-run crash after allegedly waiting a week for police to take action. Amber Carter-Thompson, 28, was crossing a road in Northampton with a friend last Friday at around 11pm when she was struck by a minicab. She said police told her in the ambulance on the way to the hospital that she should expect a call from them the following Monday or Tuesday. Read more
‘Fake Lego gang’ dismantled in $30m Chinese raid (BBC)
Police in China have uncovered a gang accused of manufacturing and selling $30m (£23m) worth of counterfeit Lego. Officers raided a Chinese toymaker which was allegedly manufacturing fake Lego products in the southern city of Shenzhen, arresting four people, reports quoting police said. The toys – including an imitation Star Wars set – were copied from Lego blueprints, a police statement said. More than 630,000 finished products were seized, the statement added. “In October 2018, the Shanghai police found that Lepin building blocks available on the market were extremely similar to that of Lego,” police said. Read more
Will Taylor Swift’s next album be called Kaleidoscope? Swifties seem to think so (Metro)
The Taylor Swift fandom is known for some next-level detective work and now they think they’ve figured out her next album will be called Kaleidoscope. The Swifties set to work when Taylor revealed on Twitter the name of both her next single and album were hidden among all the other easter eggs waiting to be found in the ME! video. And boy do they work quickly. Read more
Love not Haight: San Francisco school changes its name (BBC)
A US school named Haight after a governor who espoused racist views is changing its name to Love Elementary. Haight Elementary in San Francisco was named after Henry Huntly Haight, who in 1867 said allowing Asian Americans and African Americans to vote would “corrupt” political power in the US. The school let the community choose a new name and settled on Love, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. This week, the school board approved the name change by five votes to zero. Read more
U-17 AFCON: Angola upsets Nigeria to clinch bronze (Nation)
Angola defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the battle for third place at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday afternoon. Despite being forced to play with 10 men for the majority of the second half after Porfirio’s expulsion, the Palanquinhas held firm to end their U17 AFCON campaign in third place. Nigeria settled for fourth. Capita opened the scoring before Wisdom Ubani levelled for the Golden Eaglets. Zito Luvumbo then scored a 49th-minute winner, with Nigeria unable to exploit their numerical advantage. Read more
Antonio inflicts Spurs first defeat at new stadium (Guardian)
Mauricio Pochettino admitted his Tottenham stars are suffering from fatigue after they lost for the first time at their new stadium as Michail Antonio fired West Ham to a surprise 1-0 victory on Saturday. Pochettino’s side had won all four matches at their new £1 billion Tottenham Hotspur stadium. But Antonio’s clinical second half strike ended that run as the West Ham winger became the first visiting player to score in the plush arena. Read more
Maurizio Sarri speaks out on Gonzalo Higuain’s tantrum against Burnley (Metro)
Maurizio Sarri insists he has no issue with Gonzalo Higuain’s furious reaction which followed his manager’s decision to substitute him against Burnley. The Argentine striker, on-loan from Milan until the end of the season, ended a five-game run without a goal by firing his side into a 2-1 lead following an eventful opening quarter of an hour at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s advantage lasted less than 10 minutes, however, with Ashley Barnes restoring parity after which Sarri’s side endured an immensely frustrating evening which ultimately saw them drop two valuable points in the race to secure Champions League qualification. Read more
Bakayoko happy in Italy despite racist abuse, says Gattuso (Guardian)
AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said Saturday that Tiemoue Bakayoko is happy in Italy despite being the frequent target of racist chants by Lazio supporters in recent weeks. “He is on good form, those horrible songs hurt but he was prepared for them. he behaved admirably and he did not lose his head,” Gattuso told reporters ahead of Sunday’s trip to Torino. “He looks in good form, that he wants to leave is something you (the media) are saying. He’s had a good season and he feels good in Italy.” Read more
Paul Merson predicts winner of Manchester United vs Chelsea (Metro)
Manchester United and Chelsea will go head-to-head on Sunday in what could prove to be a pivotal battle in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Just three points separate fourth-placed Chelsea and sixth-placed Manchester United before their Premier League clash, with Arsenal sandwiched in between them in the table. The three sides look set to be fighting it out for one remaining Champions League spot, with Tottenham Hotspur perhaps just out of reach in third, and United could effectively be out of the running, should they suffer defeat to Maurizio Sarri’s men. Read more
Injured Naomi Osaka pulls out of Stuttgart semi-final (Guardian)
World number one Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart due to an abdominal injury. The 21-year-old Japanese was scheduled to play a semi-final tie against Estonian eighth seed Anett Kontaveit on Saturday evening, but announced in the afternoon that she would be unable to play. Osaka said that she had to roll out of bed on Saturday morning after picking up the injury during her quarter-final win over Donna Vekic on Friday. Read more
Rafael Nadal out as extraordinary Barcelona Open run is ended by inspired Dominic Thiem (Metro)
Is this the year the prince overthrows the king? Dominic Thiem produced a masterclass on Saturday afternoon as he ended Rafael Nadal’s remarkable unbeaten run in the semi-finals and finals of the Barcelona Open, inflicting a straight sets defeat on the 11-time champion on a court bearing his name. The world No. 5 has long been primed as ‘King of Clay’ Nadal’s successor on this surface but this performance was a sign that 2018 French Open runner-up Thiem is prepared to become the bride rather than the bridesmaid in 2019. Read more