Man tackles pastor for allegedly snatching wife (Punch)
A man, Bright Ben, has accused his pastor and General Overseer of the World Bank Assembly in Eneka, in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Moses Adeeyo, of snatching his wife, Tina.
Bright claimed that trouble started after his wife of 12 years was made an assistant choir mistress in the church and she moved out of the house with their two children.
The aggrieved husband said he had been searching for her and called the pastor to seek advice on the matter.
He stated that he knew his wife’s whereabouts on Sunday when he saw pictures of her remarriage. Read more
Lagos welcomes introduction of modular health facility (Guardian)
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has described the Modular Healthcare Facility (MHF), recently launched by Alpha Mead Healthcare Management Services (AMHS), as an exciting innovation that will boost access to healthcare in Nigeria.
Abayomi said this yesterday, during an inspection and walkthrough of the MHF at the Gbagada General Hospital. The commissioner said: “It is innovative and has a robust array of facilities within it and can be used in specific locations. I am happy to see it’s an indigenous product and has all the required technical backdrops. It is also energy-conscious and mobile.”
The commissioner also expressed government’s willingness to collaborate with AMHS to deploy the facility, noting that the MHF will come handy in interim and stop-gap situations where the government has not erected physical structures yet.
Earlier, the Group Managing Director, Alpha Mead Group, the parent company of AMHS, Femi Akintunde, while briefing the commissioner before the walkthrough of the facility, said that Alpha Mead was inspired by the need to take quality healthcare facilities to all Nigerians and reduce the construction timeline of a healthcare facility to less than 30 days. Read more
Conduct election within 90 days, Sanwo-Olu tells ASPAMDA (Punch)
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has directed the interim leadership of the Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association to conduct election within 90 days.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, on Tuesday in a statement explained that the deadline was given in order to put an end to the leadership crisis in the market since 2018.
The statement reads partly, “On Saturday, August 7, 2021, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, summoned a meeting of all stakeholders of ASPAMDA at Lagos House Marina. After listening to all the stakeholders present, the governor directed that the caretaker committee headed by Sunday Igboanuzuo with Emeka Chukwuloka as Secretary, should conduct election into ASPAMDA offices within 60 to 90 days; and that the Lagos State Government will provide security and other logistics that will enable the conduct of free and fair elections within this said period.” Read more
FG allays fear over assorted vaccines as 176,000 doses of J&J arrive today (Guardian)
As concerns mount over the different brands of vaccine being imported amid resurgence in confirmed cases of COVID-19, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), yesterday, said it was, in conjunction with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), deploying tracking and tracing technology to monitor the four million doses of Moderna vaccine at all health facilities where the vaccines would be administered.
Rollout of the Moderna vaccines begins next Monday, while Nigeria will today receive 176,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccines out of the 29,850,000 doses that the Federal Government procured from the AFREXIM Bank through the African Union.
Executive Director/CEO of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, while briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, disclosed that the doses are meant for persons who live in hard-to-reach areas as this way, they can be given a single shot of the vaccines and get fully vaccinated instead of other vaccine types that are of two doses. Read more
Dickson protests EFCC grilling over N17.5b cash (Nation)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has quizzed a former Bayelsa State governor and senator representing Bayesla West, Seriake Dickson, over his family assets in the United Kingdom (UK) and alleged diversion of funds totalling about N17.5 billion.
But, Dickson said the affected assets were acquired before he became governor, insisting that he had consistently declared the assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
The senator described the petition filed against him at the EFCC by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for alleged diversion of funds as frivolous.
A source told The Nation that Dickson presented himself to the EFCC, following an invitation by the agency. Read more
FG recalls envoy as Indonesian officials assault Nigerian diplomat (Punch)
Nigerians, including ex-diplomats, expressed their anger on Tuesday over a trending video showing some Immigration officials assaulting a Nigerian diplomat in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
This was as the Federal Government announced the recall of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Asian country, Usman Ogar, due to the ugly incident.
The diplomat, who was apparently in pain while the unyielding Indonesian immigration officers pinned his head to the seat of a car, was heard shouting “I can’t breathe.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who announced Ogar’s recall for consultations at a press briefing in Abuja, on Tuesday, also stated that the government would review the bilateral relations between Nigeria and the Asian country. Read more
Eyimofe wins Best Feature Narrative at BlackStar Film Festival (Guardian)
Nigerian feature film Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) has emerged Best Feature Narrative at this year’s BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists.
Presented this year with lead sponsor Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, the Jurors comprising of Dagmawi Woubshet, Rajendra Roy and Tayarisha Poe, while declaring Eyimofe winner of the category, stated:
“Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) is a beautifully shot, vibrant film whose cinematography believes fully in its environment, and carries an acting style that captures a complete snapshot of life in a place.” Read more
CBN releases guidelines for regulation of CGCs (Sun)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, released guidelines for registration and supervision of Credit Guarantee Companies (CGCs) in the country.
The guidelines are contained in a circular signed by Ibrahim Tukur, CBN’s Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department and addressed to commercial banks, Other Financial Institutions and stakeholders in the financial services industry.
Tukur said that the guidelines were in furtherance of effort to improve lending for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
He said that the guidelines seek to ultimately reduce credit risk, stimulate lower interest rates on loans and complement other initiatives of regulatory authorities aimed at stimulating lending to MSMEs. Read more
Anger as Nigerian diplomat manhandled in Indonesia (BBC)
The Nigerian government is demanding punishment for Indonesian immigration officials who were filmed assaulting a Nigerian diplomat.
Footage circulating on social media showed Abdulrahman Ibrahim, a consular officer based in Jakarta, being held down in a vehicle by several men.
Nigeria called it “an egregious act of international delinquency by the Indonesian state”.
It vowed to review bilateral relations with the south-east Asian nation. Read more
Kathy Hochul: Who is New York’s first female governor? (BBC)
Kathy Hochul is to become the first female governor of New York, after Andrew Cuomo resigned over sexual harassment allegations – which he denies.
Ms Hochul will take over as the top politician in the fourth most populous US state in just two weeks’ time.
But who is she?
Described by her predecessor as “smart and competent”, the 62-year-old is a centrist Democrat from the Buffalo area of New York state. Read more
Sexual violence used as weapon of war in Ethiopia’s Tigray, Amnesty finds (France24)
Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have raped hundreds of women and girls during the Tigray war, subjecting some to sexual slavery and mutilation, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday.
Drawing from interviews with 63 survivors, the report sheds new light on a scourge already being investigated by Ethiopian law enforcement officials, with at least three soldiers convicted and 25 others charged.
Some survivors said they had been gang-raped while held captive for weeks on end. Others described being raped in front of their family members.
And some reported having objects including nails and gravel inserted into their vaginas, “causing lasting and possibly irreparable damage”, Amnesty said. Read more
Algeria forest fires: Dozens killed in Kabylie region (BBC)
At least 25 Algerian soldiers and 17 civilians have been killed in wildfires to the east of the capital Algiers, the country’s prime minister has said.
Several more soldiers were injured fighting the fires, in the forested Kabylie region.
Temperatures of up to 46C were forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fires have caused devastation in several Mediterranean countries in recent days, including Turkey, Greece, Lebanon and Cyprus. Read more
Chinese court sentences Canadian Michael Spavor to 11 years on spying charges (France24)
A Chinese court convicted Canadian businessman Michael Spavor of espionage on Wednesday and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, in a case seen in Ottawa and Washington as part of a wider diplomatic spat with Beijing.
His sentencing comes as lawyers in Canada representing the chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei make a final push to convince a court there not to extradite her to the United States.
The Dandong Intermediate Court also said 50,000 yuan of Spavor’s personal assets will be confiscated and he will be deported, although it was not clear when. Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping told Reuters that deportation generally takes place after the person has finished serving the sentence but may happen earlier for special cases.
China detained Spavor in December 2018, days after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport on a warrant from the United States. Read more
Wagner: Scale of Russian mercenary mission in Libya exposed (BBC)
A new BBC investigation has revealed the scale of operations by a shadowy Russian mercenary group in Libya’s civil war, which includes links to war crimes and the Russian military.
A Samsung tablet left by a fighter for the Wagner group exposes its key role – as well as traceable fighter codenames.
And the BBC has a “shopping list” for state-of-the-art military equipment which expert witnesses say could only have come from Russian army supplies.
Russia denies any links to Wagner. Read more
Idris Elba signs up to star in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in key role (Metro)
Idris Elba has signed up to join the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in the role of Knuckles.
The actor, 48, is set to voice the character, a red Echidna who is the guardian of the Master Emerald, according to Deadline.
The likes of James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore, and Jim Carrey are all set to return for the second film.
The movie, based on the Sega video game franchise and set for release in April next year, is set to tell the tale of the hedgehog and his friends after he defeats Dr Robotnik in the first film and sends him to the mushroom planet. Read more
Pinnick knocks Dalung, hails Dare (Punch)
President, Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has taken a swipe at former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, describing him as “a bulwark and
divisive force against Nigerian athletes.”
Pinnick said this in a statement by the Communications Department of the NFF, which was made available to our correspondent on Tuesday.
The NFF boss praised present sports minister Sunday Dare for Nigeria’s performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He said Nigeria’s performance at the Games, which ended on Sunday, gives hope for better performance in Paris in 2024. Read more
Manny Pacquiao to fight Yordenis Ugas after Errol Spence Jr pulls out with eye injury (BBC)
Manny Pacquiao will fight Yordenis Ugas later this month after WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr was forced to pull out of their fight with an eye injury.
Eight-division world champion Pacquiao and American Spence Jr were due to fight in Las Vegas on 21 August.
But a medical revealed Spence has a torn retina and needs surgery.
Spence said he was excited about the fight but “there was no way I could fight with my eye in that condition”. Read more
Injured Nadal pulls out of Canadian Open (BBC)
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Canadian Open with an ongoing foot injury, less than three weeks before the US Open begins.
The 35-year-old pulled out of Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, saying he wanted to rest after the clay-court season.
Nadal played in Washington on 5 and 6 August, but now says he will return to Mallorca to try and “be better again”.
“I’ve had this issue for a couple of months. It is not a happy situation,” the four-time US Open champion said. Read more
Steven Gerrard says ‘fear and panic’ cost Rangers as they follow Celtic out of Champions League (Metro)
Steven Gerrard says ‘fear and panic’ cost Rangers as they crashed out of the Champions League after losing to 10-man Malmo at a full Ibrox.
The Scottish champions looked well placed to overcome Swedish outfit Malmo after levelling the third qualifying round tie through Alfredo Morelos’ first half strike.
Rangers had a numerical advantage for the entire second half after Malmo’s Bonke Innocent was sent off on the stroke of half-time, but they could not take advantage as a quickfire brace from Antonio Colak sent the visitors through.
A third successive defeat for Rangers – their worst run since May 2015 – means Gerrard’s side become the second Scottish club to be knocked out, after Celtic were beaten by Denmark’s Midtjylland. Read more
Lionel Messi signs two-year Paris St-Germain deal after leaving Barcelona (BBC)
Lionel Messi joins fellow superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe at PSG
Lionel Messi has signed a two-year contract with Paris St-Germain after leaving Barcelona.
The 34-year-old’s deal also has the option of a third year.
Messi left Barca – the only club he has played for – as they were unable to afford a new deal under La Liga’s financial fair play rules.
“I am impatient to start a new chapter of my career in Paris. The club and its vision are in perfect harmony with my ambitions,” said the Argentina star. Read more
Chelsea striker Timo Werner reacts to ‘world-class’ Romelu Lukaku’s imminent arrival (Metro)
Timo Werner has rubbished suggestions he might be worried by Romelu Lukaku’s pending arrival at Chelsea and believes he – and the rest of the team – will benefit from the Belgian’s presence.
The west Londoners are on the verge of announcing a club-record £97.5million deal with Inter for the striker, who has already undergone a medical in Milan before flying to London to finalise the transfer.Thomas Tuchel had made a new, clinical frontman his top target this summer, with Werner having endured a mixed first season in the Premier League as he missed a host of gilt-edged chances. Read more