Nursing mother detained in Lagos hospital over N95,000 debt (Punch)
For owing N95,000 hospital bill, a nursing mother, Blessing Bassey and her baby have been sleeping on the floor of one of the wards of Mojol Hospital, Church Street, in the Shasha area of Lagos State, for seven months.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the hospital management ordered nurses and doctors to ensure that Blessing and her daughter did not leave the hospital premises.
Our correspondent, during a visit to the hospital, observed the 27-year-old and her child sleeping on the floor.
Blessing, who bemoaned her fate, said efforts by her husband to raise the money had been abortive. Read more
Independence Day: Police arrest 30 protesters, detain Inspector for assaulting journalist (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Police Command on Thursday arrested 30 protesters at various locations within the state for unlawful assembly and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace during the Independence Day celebration.
This indication is contained in press statement, signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, and made available to newsmen in Lagos.
Adejobi said that the protesters put on crested vests of #RevolutionNow# with placards and gathered in numbers in violation of the COVID-19 protocol in the state.
“They will be charged to court on Friday, Oct. 2.,” he said. Read more
Arewa leaders urge FG to grant Lagos special status (Vanguard)
The leaders of Arewa communities in Lagos State have urged the Federal Government to grant Lagos State special status, lamenting the state’s diverse infrastructure challenges since Federal Capital Territory, FCT, moved to Abuja.
Also, the leaders of Ndigbo in All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state have endorsed the APC candidate for the October 31 by-election in Lagos East, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, attesting to how he successfully transformed Polaris Bank from liability to profitability under four years.
The leaders of the ethnic nationalities made these remarks at separate meetings with the Lagos East Senatorial By-Election Campaign Council, under the leadership of Chief Kaoli Olusanya in Ikorodu, Thursday. Read more
Ogun, FCT, Oyo lead in road accidents during COVID-19 lockdown (Guardian)
Ogun and Oyo states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) lead in number of road accidents in second quarter of the year, says a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Ogun topped the list with 178 cases; it is followed by FCT and Oyo, which recorded 155 and 152 road accident cases respectively.
Of the total 2,080 officially documented cases, the combined cases recorded by the seven top states (including Ogun, FCT and Oyo) were 918, translating to 44 percent of the number of accidents recorded in the period. The other states are Kaduna (132 cases), Nasarawa (119 cases), Lagos (92 cases) and Kogi (90 cases). Read more
I drugged my victim, collected his N6m – Suspect (Punch)
The police in Niger State have arrested two suspected robbers for stealing the sum of N6m from a businessman in Tegina, Rafi Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects apprehended by police operatives attached to the Area Command, Minna, following a tip-off.
They were identified as Abdullahi Maikudi 27, of Katsina State; and Rabiu Abdullahi, 23, of Kano State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Maikudi lodged in a hotel in Tegina, where he met the businessman on September 25, 2020. Read more
NHF urges Nigerians to act against heart disease (Vanguard)
With 2018 WHO country profiles showing that Non-Communicable Disease, NCDs, accounted for 29 per cent of all deaths in Nigeria of which Cardiovascular Disease, predominantly hypertension was responsible for 11 per cent of the deaths, the Nigerian Heart Foundation, NHF, has urged Nigerians to take action to reduce the risk of heart disease in spite of all challenges including COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing a press conference to mark the 2020 World Hearty Day in Lagos, the President of the NHF, Mallam Ismaila Shuaibu said it has become necessary for Nigerians to watch the kind of foods they consume as Cardiovascular Disease, CVD has become the leading cause of death globally and Nigeria inclusive. Read more
Police deploy 30,000 personnel for Ondo poll (Guardian)
The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami, has said that at least 30,000 police officers have been deployed to provide security during the October 10, 2020 governorship election in the state.
Salami, who disclosed this to The Guardian, said that the command was fully prepared in terms of manpower and logistics and that the manpower was enough to cover all the polling units during the election to enable the state have a free-and-fair poll.
He warned that violence would not be tolerated in the state and urged the political parties to go about their campaigns peacefully. Read more
Nigerians defy rally ban, protest tariff hike, corruption, others (Punch)
Nigerians on Thursday defied the ban on rally as they took to the streets to protest against tariff hike, corruption, hunger and general insecurity while the country marked its 60th independence anniversary.
There was a clampdown on many of the protesters, who were either arrested or brutalised by security agents.
In Abuja, members of the #RevolutionNow Movement, who protested at the United States Embassy in the Federal Capital Territory, lamented the security and socio-economic challenges in the country.
They demanded the resignation of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over increasing insecurity, hunger and corruption. Read more
Immigration introduces new visa fees (Guardian)
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has introduced new visa fees effective yesterday.
The Comptroller General, Muhammad Babandede, said the decision was in line with the new visa policy signed February this year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement issued by the public relations officer, Sunday James, the service said each country’s visa fee was determined by the policy of reciprocity. Read more
Coronavirus: Loss of smell may be clearer sign than cough (BBC)
Loss of a sense of smell may be a more reliable indicator of Covid-19 than cough or fever, research suggests.
A study by University College London (UCL) of 590 people who lost their sense of smell or taste earlier in the year found 80% had coronavirus antibodies.
Of those people with antibodies, 40% had no other symptoms.
The research only looked at people with mild symptoms, however.
Evidence that loss of smell and taste could be signs of coronavirus began to emerge from about April, and they were added to the official list of symptoms in mid-May. Read more
Cats spread Covid-19 and must self-isolate, warn scientists (Metro)
It’s been known for a while that cats are capable of carrying and spreading the coronavirus to each other.
And scientists in the US have now publicly stated that our feline friends should stay inside and self-isolate if they live with a person who has tested positive for Covid-19.
What’s more, if the owner has to be admitted to hospital the researchers from Colorado State University in the US say whoever is left looking after the cat should observe social distancing just as if it was a person. Read more
Hope Hicks: Top aide to Trump ‘tests positive for coronavirus’ (BBC)
One of US President Donald Trump’s closet aides, Hope Hicks, has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus.
The adviser to the president travelled with Mr Trump on Air Force One to a TV debate in Ohio on Tuesday.
She was in even closer quarters with him aboard the helicopter Marine One on Wednesday, White House reporters noted.
The 31-year-old would be the closest aide to Mr Trump to test positive so far. Read more
Microsoft unveils new Surface Laptop Go and updated Surface Pro X (Metro)
Microsoft has introduced a new member of its Surface hardware family as well as updating the most interesting Surface gadget from last year. The brand new Surface Laptop Go is a smaller and more affordable version of the standard Surface Laptop. It has a 12.4-inch ‘PixelSense’ touchscreen display but keeps the full-sized keyboard and a large trackpad. Microsoft has loaded it up with Intel’s 10th generation Core i5 processor and provided a few configurations up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
There are both USB-A and USB-C ports on the laptop and Microsoft claims the battery life will go for 13 hours on a single charge. Read more
China: Vlogger ‘set on fire during live stream’ (BBC)
A Chinese influencer has died after her husband allegedly doused her in petrol and set fire to her as she attempted to live stream, according to local media.
Lamu was popular on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, where she had hundreds of thousands of followers.
According to local media, Lamu suffered burns on 90% of her body. She died two weeks after she was attacked.
The case has prompted conversations on social media over violence against women in China. Read more
Tom Grennan’s new album is apology to ex-girlfriend after ‘realising he was the toxic one’ (Metro)
Tom Grennan’s new album is not so much a break-up collection as an apology to his ex-girlfriend… but he fears it will fall on deaf ears. The singer-songwriter — who shot up the charts in 2018 with his debut album Lighting Matches — says his love life was derailed by his ego and a taste for alcohol. Tom’s second album, Evering Road, is a desperate appeal for forgiveness. ‘The whole album is about how I came to the realisation that I was the toxic one in the relationship,’ he told Guilty Pleasures. ‘I was drinking and going out, which then polluted. Read more
New doc tells WWII story of Post writer and Allied spy Virginia Hall (PageSix)
Sometimes, New York Post columnists go on to change the world.
Virginia Hall wrote for this paper during WWII, while she was also a heroic spy who worked in France for the British and US governments — recruiting resistance fighters, helping downed Allied pilots and organizing jailbreaks. She even blew up a few bridges, could speak five languages, slash an enemy in the throat with a knife and was responsible for killing 170 Germans and capturing 800 more. Read more
Izilien queries NFF’s choice of Danjuma as Falconets coach (Guardian)
Last year, Coach Christopher Danjuma was the focus of attention, but for a wrong reason: He failed to qualify the senior women’s national team, Super Falcons, for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. His team lost the ticket to the Les Femelles Elephantes of Cote d’Ivoire, a country that is relatively unknown in women football.
A 1-1 draw at the Agege Stadium in Lagos, after the Falcons played a 0-0 draw a few days earlier in Abidjan, was the least expected result from the African champions. The failure was the third time in a row for the Falcons on the road to the Olympic Games. Read more
Ighalo’s €10,000 transfer money with sports ministry – Osun United (Punch)
Tajudeen Amodu, the media officer of Osun United FC, on Thursday said the £10, 000 the club got as part of Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo’s transfer fee – which was allegedly missing, – was kept with the Osun State Ministry of Sports.
The money was reportedly diverted into private accounts.
But Amodu insisted the money was not missing, saying it’s in the custody of the state’s sports ministry.
“The money is being kept by the Ministry of Sports. You can quote me. I have been questioned on this by some officials, but I stand by my claim. The ministry has the money in their custody,” Amodu told The PUNCH. Read more
Munir El Haddadi and Morocco take advantage of Fifa rule change (BBC)
The moment Munir El Haddadi (right) came onto the pitch to replace Koke for Spain against Macedonia in 2014
Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic has immediately taken advantage of a recent change in Fifa regulations to include Munir El Haddadi in his latest squad.
The old regulations prevented the 25-year-old Sevilla forward from playing for the Atlas Lions as he had earned a competitive cap for Spain.
However at last month’s Fifa annual congress the rule was amended, following a proposal by the Moroccan Football Federation. Read more
Paris Saint-Germain open talks to sign Arsenal target Houssem Aouar (Metro)
Arsenal’s hopes of signing Lyon playmaker Houssem Aouar have been dealt a blow after Paris Saint-Germain entered into negotiations over a deal for the Frenchman.
The Gunners have had two bids turned down for the Frenchman, the last of which was believed to be around £32million.
Lyon are seeking closer to £46m for the midfielder but Arsenal cannot stretch that far and must raise funds in order to significantly improve their current bid. Read more
Teenager Fati scores again in Barcelona win at Celta (BBC)
Ansu Fati became only the second 17-year-old to reach 10 La Liga goals for Barcelona as they beat Celta Vigo.
Fati opened the scoring with a clever first touch and finish after being picked out by Philippe Coutinho, his third goal in two games this season.
Ronald Koeman’s Barca went down to 10 men in the first half when Clement Lenglet was sent off for two bookings.
Lionel Messi’s cross was then diverted into his own net by Lucas Olaza and Sergi Roberto smashed in a late third. Read more
Jadon Sancho absent from Dortmund training amid Manchester United speculation (Metro)
Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho was absent from training on Thursday amid ongoing speculation over a move to Manchester United.
The 20-year-old is keen on a move to Old Trafford but his hopes of completing a transfer are fading, with the transfer window set to close on Monday.
United have agreed personal terms with Sancho but agreeing a fee with Dortmund has proven far more difficult as the Bundesliga giants are seeking £108million for the midfielder. Read more