Navy arrests more ratings who tortured peacemaker to death in Lagos (Punch)
The Nigerian Navy has apprehended four accomplices of a rating, Awosanya Olufemi, who were involved in the alleged torture and killing of a peacemaker, Collins Osagie.
A spokesperson for the Western Navy Command, Thomas Otuji, told PUNCH Metro on Monday that the outcome of the investigation would be made public.
Olufemi had bought an electrical item worth N250 from a trader, Cletus Ben-Onyejimbe, in Ishashi, Okokomaiko area of Lagos, which he later returned.
There was a disagreement when the trader refused to take the item back or return the money. Read more
Rotary Club donates furniture to schools (Guardian)
Members of the Rotary Club of Lagos Central have donated 80 chairs and desks to Dolphin High School and Elegbata High School in Lagos Island.
Speaking during the project inauguration, District 9110 Governor, Bola Oyebade, who was on an official visit to the club, said the gesture was in line with Rotary’s values of service to humanity, adding that there was no better time to execute the project than this literacy month of September.
President of the club, Segun Oluyemo, said the furniture was donated to make learning fun for the students. He said that over the years, the club has supported schools in the area with healthcare, borehole, and a generating set while also renovating their halls.Read more
Lagos now flattening virus curve, says Sanwo-Olu (Nation)
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday announced that the state has started witnessing the flattening of COVID-19 curve.
He stated this during the official opening ceremony of the second session the 34th Synod of the Dioceses of Lagos, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion at Our Saviour’s Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos.
He said: “It has been said that we will be picking dead bodies on the streets, but we thank God He kept all of us. We have less than two per cent fatality, when the statistics said that it will be 10 to 15 per cent. Read more
Sanwo-Olu seeks more prayers amid COVID-19 (Guardian)
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has charged Nigerians to pray to God, serve and do their best for the growth of their respective faith, state, and the nation at large.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke, yesterday, at the official opening ceremony of the second session of the 34th Synod of the Diocese of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) at Our Saviour’s Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, said COVID-19 had shown in reality that people need to pray.
The governor, who disclosed that Monday, September 7, 2020, would be the first day in over six months that he is entering into “House of the Lord,’ thanked God for sparing his life and millions of Lagosians, especially members of the Diocese of Lagos, to witness this year’s Synod even as Lagos State continues to see a reduction in the numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19. Read more
Ogun reopens schools Sept 21, operate three-hour timetable (Punch)
The Ogun State Government has announced Monday, September 21, 2020, for the reopening of schools in the state for the first term of 2020/2021 session.
The government, however, staggered the resumption and closing hours for primary and secondary schools, while colleges and tertiary institutions have full normal hours.
The government said this on Monday in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the state Governor, Kunle Somorin.
The government said early child care development and education classes from three to five years of age would not be resuming in public schools until the next phase of school reopening. Read more
Doctors begin nationwide strike (Nation)
National Association of Residents Doctors (NARD), on Monday began a nationwide strike.
But the Federal Government directed them to return to work because it had met six of their eight demands.
Our correspondents, who went round some hospitals, reported that NARD members, including those in the frontline of the battle against COVID-19, complied with their national leadership’s call to drop their stethoscopes.
Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige, in a statement by the Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Health, implored the NARD members to resolve the outstanding issues with the Federal Government through dialogue. Read more
Three suspected Internet fraudsters nabbed in Abuja (Punch)
The Abuja zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has apprehended one Ajayiton Harry and two others for alleged involvement in Internet fraud and other cybercrimes.
The suspects were arrested at their hideout, Flat G2, Plot 334, Dawaki, behind News Engineering, Abuja, following complaints by concerned citizens in the area.
Among the items recovered from the suspects are two Lexus R350 SUVs, three laptops and phones. Read more
Govt pushing Nigerians to the wall, says PDP (Nation)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that his administration is pushing Nigerians to the wall with the latest hike in fuel price.
In a statement on Monday, the party spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, said the administration has continued to display insensitivity and total disregard for demands by the citizenry for immediate downward review in the pump price of fuel.
The opposition party described the attempt by the Buhari Presidency to justify what it described as the wicked increase in the pump price of fuel from N87 per litre under the PDP to N160 as provocative, confrontational and totally unacceptable to Nigerians. Read more
South Africa booze, tobacco ban created new criminal networks (Aljazeera)
South Africa could take years to dismantle the criminal networks that sprung up and benefited from a ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco products during the country’s coronavirus lockdown, according to the head of the tax agency.
The ban, aimed at managing the health impact of the pandemic, has allowed illegal operators to gain a foothold in the market, South African Revenue Service Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said Monday in an online address to tax practitioners.
Many illegal and criminal operators have now “marketed themselves to previously honest smokers and drinkers,” he said. “They are now embedded in the supply chain and it will take us years to reverse the impact.” Read more
Michael Cohen’s Trump book: The ex-lawyer’s key claims (BBC)
Donald Trump behaves like a mobster and has “a low opinion of all black people”, according to the US president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
The allegations come from Cohen’s new book, Disloyal: A Memoir, written during his jail term for Trump campaign finance violations, among other crimes.
Cohen claims Mr Trump also made racist comments about Nelson Mandela and Hispanics.
The White House says Cohen is lying. Read more
‘Complete mockery’: Saudi Arabia condemned over Khashoggi ruling (Aljazeera)
A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, a final ruling in the case that saw the Washington Post columnist killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad.
The court handed 20-year sentences to five people and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years, state media reported. The eight convicted of the murder, which took place in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Turkey, were not identified.
The verdict comes after Khashoggi’s sons said in May they had “pardoned” the killers, a move condemned as a “parody of justice” by a UN expert. Read more
Australian journalists flown out of China ‘amid diplomatic standoff’ (BBC)
Two Australian news outlets have removed their reporters from China over what they say is a diplomatic standoff.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Mike Smith landed in Sydney on Tuesday.
Chinese authorities questioned both men before their departure. The ABC reported Birtles was “not asked about his reporting or conduct in China”.
Relations between Australia and China have deteriorated in recent years. Read more
Man, 80, blows up his kitchen while trying to swat a fly (Metro)
A pensioner blew up his own kitchen while trying to kill a fly with an electric bug zapper.
The man, 80, was trying to reach the buzzing insect, but he hadn’t planned for the fact that gas was leaking into the property.
He waved the bug zapper – which looked like a tennis racket and is designed to burn flies the moment there is contact – but instead of swatting the fly, the hot instrument ignited the gas. Read more
Leonardo DiCaprio tried to hide his 1990s smoking habit from his mum (PageSix)
Leonardo DiCaprio — who these days is often spotted with a vape — fretted about his image, and didn’t want his mum to know that he smoked when he was still an up-and-coming star, Page Six is told.
Photographer Steve Eichner — whose new book, “In the Limelight: The Visual Ecstasy of NYC Nightlife in the ’90s,” chronicles the 1990s club scene in pictures — told us that DiCaprio made a deal with him one night in 1994 at Club USA during a party for the Nicolas Cage-Dennis Hopper thriller “Red Rock West.” Read more
Man beats his own record after sitting in tub of ice for over two hours (Metro)
An Austrian man battled a ‘wave of pain’ to beat his own record for the longest full body contact with ice cubes.
Josef Koeberl stayed in a glass box filled up to his shoulders with ice cubes for 2 hours, 30 minutes and 57 seconds on Saturday.
After finishing, he then enjoyed a celebratory ice cream.
A crowd of people watched on as Mr Koeberl beat his previous best from 2019 by 30 minutes in the town square of Melk in Lower Austria. He plans to overcome his latest record next year in the USA. Read more
Baba Ijebu’s frozen account won’t affect Lagos stadium renovation – Ministry (Punch)
The sports ministry is optimistic that the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive to banks to freeze the account of Premier Lotto won’t affect the renovation of the main bowl of the dilapidated National Stadium, Lagos.
Owner of Premier Lotto, popularly known as Baba Ijebu, Chief Kessington Adebutu, last December, pledged to renovate the stadium’s main bowl following the highly-successful Adopt-A-Pitch initiative of the sports minister, Sunday Dare.
The initiative is meant to engage top businessmen and firms in the private sector to adopt a stadium for repairs across the country. Read more
Four Bundesliga stars set for Eagles debut (Punch)
Hoffenheim centre-back Kevin Akpoguma and three other German players of Nigerian descent are set to be rewarded for their impressive performances in the Bundesliga last season with a call up to the Nigerian senior national team next month, The PUNCH reports.
The Super Eagles will face Ivory Coast and Tunisia in international friendlies on October 9 and 13 respectively, in Austria.
“The coach has stated that four new defenders from the German Bundesliga namely Akpoguma, Felix Agu, Felix Uduokai and Jordan Torunarigha are likely to get invitations for next month’s international friendlies,” an Eagles official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH. Read more
Zimbabwe’s Gabriel Nyoni uses his marketing degree to get a new club (BBC)
A Zimbabwean forward has sealed a deal with a South African club just three days after advertising his services on social media.
Gabriel Nyoni was released by South African top-flight side Maritzburg United during the lockdown, and has now been signed by first division side Cape Umoya United.
A video of match highlights posted by Nyoni on Twitter shows his pace and finishing skills, and says, “Kindly like and retweet. Maybe I can get a job.”
The post attracted attention on the continent and beyond. Read more
World No. 1 Ash Barty will not defend French Open title (Metro)
Ash Barty will not travel to Paris to defend her French Open title. Barty, the world No. 1 from Australia, was a surprise winner at Roland Garros in 2019 where she won a first Grand Slam title by beating Marketa Vondrousova.
She opted against travelling to the US Open due to ‘significant risks’ posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – a factor in her decision to swerve the French Open. Read more
Serena Williams overcomes Maria Sakkari to reach US Open quarter-finals (BBC)
Six-time champion Serena Williams battled through a challenging three-set test against Greek 15th seed Maria Sakkari to reach the US Open quarter-finals.
Williams, 38, looked composed as she took the first set in 37 minutes.
The third seed lost a close tie-break in the second and was forced to find her best tennis to come from a break down in the third and win 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 almost two hours later.
“I just kept fighting,” Williams said.
“She was doing so well. She was being so aggressive and I knew I needed to do the same thing.” Read more
Dustin Johnson clinches FedEx Cup title with Tour Championship win (BBC)
World number one Dustin Johnson claimed a three-shot victory at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.
The American, 36, held a five-stroke lead heading into Monday’s final round at East Lake and carded a two-under 68 to claim the $15m FedEx Cup jackpot.
It is a first FedEx Cup title for Johnson, who squandered a chance to win on the final round four years ago.
Compatriots Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele each carded a final-round 66 to finish tied for second on 18 under.
Johnson told the Golf Channel: “This is a difficult golf course so no lead is really safe. I knew I was going to have to come out and play really well. Read more