Lagos warns religious leaders against second COVID-19 wave (Punch)
The Lagos State Government has warned religious leaders in the state against a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, urging them to intensify safety protocols to avert the spread of the virus.
The state Commissioner for Home Affairs, Anofiu Elegushi, spoke on Monday in Lagos at the 2020 International Day for Tolerance.
While appealing to operators of worship centres to comply with the guidelines of the Nigeria Centre of Disease Control, Elegushi said the state government might be forced to sanction any religious house that failed to comply with regulations.
The commissioner stressed that this was no time to play with the safety of worshipers and residents. Read more
Lagos NYSC swears in 805 corps members as four persons test positive for COVID-19 (Guardian)
Lagos State Co-ordinator, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr. Eddy Megwa, has refuted social media report that the state’s orientation camp has COVID-19 patients and is being used as isolation centre.
Megwa, who debunked the claim, yesterday, during the swearing-in of 805 corps members for the 2020 Batch B Steam 1A orientation exercise at Iyana-Ipaja Camp, Lagos, said that only those who tested negative were admitted into the camp premises and that the camp had been certified COVID-19 free.
Meanwhile, the NCDC officials at the camp told The Guardian that only four people tested positive and were immediately taken to the isolation centre where they are undergoing treatment. Read more
Lagos releases BECE result (Punch)
The Lagos State Ministry of Education has released the result of 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination.
A statement by the Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Lagos State Examinations Board, Mr Bakare Fatai, said, “The Lagos State Ministry of Education hereby announces to the general public. especially the Public and Approved Private Junior Secondary Schools in the state, that Year 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination result is out.
“In the meantime, the Lagos State Examinations Board implores the principals of Public Junior Secondary Schools to visit their respective Education District Headquarters for the collection of result. Read more
Scanty police presence, spike in crime rate trigger fear among Lagos residents (Guardian)
A month after the #EndSARS protests turned violent across the country with widespread brigandage and burning of police, public and private facilities, there is apprehension among many Lagos residents as the spike in crime rates triggers fear in many settlements and communities.
Citizens now take responsibility for their own security as visibility policing is at its lowest ebb. Last Thursday’s bloody attack on a bullion van by daredevil robbers in the Ajah area of the state has further aggravated their fears.
Speaking on the rise in crime rate within the metropolis, Christopher Chukwuka said: “We are at the mercy of hoodlums now as policemen no longer respond to distress calls. Bad boys now operate with boldness.” Read more
Govt threatened to shut African Shrine over Movement of the People’s launch – Seun Kuti (Vanguard)
Superstar singer, Seun Kuti, the son of legendary Fela, has said the government threatened to shut African Shrine if he goes ahead with the launch of his “political resistance” which he called The Movement of the People.
In a post on his Instagram page (bigbirdkuti) duplicated on his Twitter handle (@RealSeunKuti) Seun revealed that “the government” made the threat in a call to his elder sister.
Seun also posted a letter from the Divisional Police Officer, The Nigeria Police, Alausa Division, Ikeja Lagos, and addressed to THE MANAGER, The African Shrine, No. 1, NERDC Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos. Read more
Court hears suit seeking Abiru’s disqualification Dec 9 (Punch)
The Federal High Court, Lagos, has fixed December 9, 2020, for definite hearing in a suit seeking to disqualify the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, for the forthcoming Lagos East Senatorial District by-election.
The senatorial district seat became vacant at the Senate following the death of Senator Bayo Osinowo in June.
The Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the election, Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi, who filed the suit, are urging the court to disqualify Abiru from participating in the election on the grounds of his alleged possession of two voter cards and violation of Section 31 of the Electoral Act. Read more
Ex-FIRS Boss, Fowler, returns to EFCC over alleged diversion of N5bn (Thisday)
Former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, yesterday returned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further questioning over his stewardship and alleged diversion of N5 billion.
Fowler is also accused of allowing gaps in the auditing of the agency’s accounts and other allegations of financial impropriety during his headship of the revenue agency.
Fowler, who arrived at the commission’s office in Lagos yesterday, is still being grilled over alleged corruption while in office as at the time of filing this report. Read more
Fuel Price Hike: There’s limit to what Nigerians can tolerate – NLC (Vanguard)
Reacting to the recent hike in the pump price of fuel to N170 per litre, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has warned that there’s is a limit to what Nigerians can tolerate, adding that there were questions over financiers of political parties known to be the architects of the current woes in the petroleum sector.
Organise Labour also asked the government to account for the several Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) projects that were undertaken.
These sentiments were contained in a statement by the President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, on Monday, with Congress cautioning “that there was a limit to what the citizens could tolerate if these abysmal increases in the price of refined petroleum products and other essential goods and services continued.” Read more
Indian factory workers supplying major brands allege routine exploitation (BBC)
Indian workers in factories supplying the supermarket chains Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, and the fashion brand Ralph Lauren, told the BBC they are being subjected to exploitative conditions.
Women working at a Ralph Lauren supplier said they had been forced to stay overnight to complete orders, sometimes requiring them to sleep on the factory floor.
“We’re made to work continuously, often through the night, sleeping at 3am then waking up by 5am for another full day,” one woman said in an interview. “Our bosses don’t care. They’re only bothered about production,” she said. Read more
Trump’s lawyers withdrew from representing his campaign in its biggest Pennsylvania election lawsuit (MSN)
On the eve of a hearing in the biggest election-related lawsuit the Trump campaign has filed in Pennsylvania, three of the four lawyers representing the campaign withdrew as counsel.
The lawyers, Linda Kerns, John Scott, and Douglas Bryan Hughes, “move to withdraw their appearance as counsel for Plaintiffs,” they said in a court filing Monday evening. Marc Scaringi “will act as counsel for Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs consent to this withdrawal.”
In the wide-ranging federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, the Trump campaign alleged irregularities in the way ballots were counted throughout the state. They argued that 14,000 votes should be thrown out and that the election process in Pennsylvania was inherently unconstitutional. Read more
Google explains why it axed face unlock for the Pixel 5 (Metro)
Discontinuing face unlock and reverting back to a fingerprint sensor on the Pixel smartphone is ‘a good trade-off’ to enable other premium features, a Google product manager has said. The tech giant introduced facial identification to the Pixel 4 device for the first time in 2019 but decided to bring back the fingerprint sensor in this year’s Pixel 5. Face unlock initially suffered an issue where it would still work when a person’s eyes were closed, though it was later fixed. Read more
South Africa’s Zuma fears ‘biased’ anti-graft panel: lawyer (Guardian)
After months of refusing to testify, South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Monday appeared before a panel probing rampant state corruption during his nine-year reign.
The 78-year-old did not give any evidence on the graft allegations but lodged an application requesting the head of the judicial commission recuse himself, accusing him of prejudice.
The scandal-tainted former leader had indicated in September that he would ask the chairman of the commission, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, to step aside because he believed he was biased against him. Read more
Megan Thee Stallion claims Tory Lanez offered her money to keep quiet about shooting (Variety)
Megan Thee Stallion has continued the slow drip of details about the July incident in which rapper Tory Lanez allegedly shot her in the foot after an argument. Lanez has repeatedly denied her accounts of the incident without directly saying he did not shoot her.
In a new interview with GQ, Megan claims that Lanez begged her not to say anything about the incident and offered Megan and an unidentified friend, who was also present at the time, money to stay quiet.
“[At this point] I’m really scared,” Megan says, “because this is like right in the middle of all the protesting. Police are just killing everybody for no reason, and I’m thinking, Read more
Horror movie “Megan Is Missing” resurfaces almost 10 years after being banned for sexualised content (Metro)
TikTok users are scaring themselves to sleep over horror movie Megan Is Missing, which is seeing a resurgence almost 10 years after its release. The controversial indie film, originally released in 2011, stars relatively unknown actresses Rachel Quinn and Amber Perkins and was directed by Michael Goi. Somehow, users have rediscovered the horror and it’s gathered momentum on TikTok thanks to users sharing their reactions after watching for the first time. Many have described it as ‘traumatising’, some have been scared to leave the house and others are even considering deleting their social media accounts due to the harrowing story. Read more
Taylor Swift master tapes sold by Scooter Braun to investment fund (BBC)
US singer Taylor Swift has confirmed a report that music mogul Scooter Braun has sold the rights to her first six albums.
US entertainment magazine Variety first reported on Monday that Braun had sold the rights – known as masters – to an investment fund.
It said the deal is thought to be worth more than $300 million (£227m).
Writing on Twitter Swift said it was “the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge”.Read more
No room for mistakes against Leone Stars, Eagles promise (Guardian)
Nigerian delegation tested again for COVID-19 at Lungi Airport
Players of the Super Eagles arrived in Freetown yesterday, promising to avoid the mistakes that cost them a win against Sierra Leone in the first leg of their African Cup of Nations qualifier on Friday.
Nigeria led Sierra Leone 4-0 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Friday only for the Leone Stars to come back and force the Super Eagles to a 4-4 draw. The teams will meet in the reverse fixture this evening at the Siaka Stevens Stadium, Freetown. The Nigerians arrived in Freetown shortly after midday yesterday, looking determined to fix the wrongs in Benin City, which generated ‘bad blood’ on Friday. Read more
We’ll give 100% in Freetown – Iwobi (Punch)
Alex Iwobi, says the Super Eagles have promised to give their 100 per cent when they file out in the reverse fixture of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown on Tuesday (today).
The Everton player scored a brace as the Eagles shockingly lost a four goal lead to draw 4-4 against the Leone Stars at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, last Friday. The team arrived Freetown Monday afternoon and trained at the Siaka Stevens Stadium at about 5.45pm (4:45pm Sierra Leonean time) in Nigeria time. Read more
Arsenal ace Mohamed Elneny tests positive for coronavirus (Metro)
Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny is self-isolating in Cairo, Egypt after testing positive for Covid-19. The 28-year-old tested positive on Monday afternoon after arriving in Togo with his team-mates ahead of the side’s AFCON qualifier. Elneny is asymptomatic but he’ll now need to self-isolate for at least a fortnight and will not be able to play again until he returns a negative result. That would rule Elneny out of at least the next three matches, beginning with Sunday’s away game at Elland Park against Leeds and followed by games against Molde and Wolves. Read more
Lewis Hamilton contract talks ‘to start in days’, says Mercedes boss Toto Wolff (BBC)
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he expects to start talks with Lewis Hamilton over a new contract within a few days.
Hamilton became the most successful Formula 1 driver in history on Sunday as he clinched his seventh world title.
His contract expires this year but he has said he wants to stay at Mercedes.
“Flying back from a seventh drivers’ championship, you can’t talk about a contract. It wouldn’t do justice to the achievement,” Wolff told BBC Sport. Read more
Chelsea star Ben Chilwell hopeful about quick return after back spasm in England defeat (Metro)
Ben Chilwell is hopeful of making a speedy recovery after a back problem cut short his appearance in England’s 2-0 defeat to Belgium. A pair of first-half goals from Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens sealed a comfortable victory for Belgium at Leuven’s Den Dreef stadium and the result ensured England missed out on a place in the Nations League finals. Chelsea left-back Chilwell has had an impressive start to the season for both club and country but had to be replaced by Bukayo Saka in the 38th minute of Sunday’s clash. Read more
ATP Finals 2020: Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev win in London (BBC)
Top seed Novak Djokovic started his bid for a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title with a classy win over Argentine debutant Diego Schwartzman.
The 33-year-old Serb, who has not won the event since 2015, eased to a 6-3 6-1 victory at the O2 Arena in London.
In Monday’s evening session, Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev earned his first ATP Finals match win by beating German fifth seed Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev lost all his group matches in 2019, but began with a 6-3 6-4 win. Read more