One killed as robbers attack Lagos bullion van, cart away cash (Punch)
At least one person has been killed after some armed robbers attacked a bullion van on Ado Road in the Ajah area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the robbers attacked the van around 3pm on Thursday and carted away huge sums of money.
Our correspondent learnt that the gunmen first fired at the van from a distance, but the driver refused to stop till he got to Blenco Supermarket.
A clip of the robbery circulated on the social media revealed the robbers pumping bullets into the van to open the lock. Read more
Medical doctor arraigned for alleged rape of married woman (Guardian)
Accountant drags wife to court, seeking divorce for indecent dressing
A medical doctor has been arraigned before a Yola Chief Magistrate for allegedly raping a married woman. The doctor who owns a private clinic and also works at the Adamawa State Specialist Hospital, Yola, allegedly raped the woman in the course of medical checks in his private clinic.
The suspect, Dr. Phillips Duru, appeared in court yesterday, with the police prosecution specifying that the doctor perpetuated the act in the lab of his private clinic located near the state Specialist Hospital.
After preliminary hearing of the case, the presiding Magistrate, Aliyu Bawuro, adjourned further hearing to November 26. Read more
Lagos promises to clear pension arrears by 2022 (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Government on Thursday promised to clear arrears of all pension payments by the end of year 2022.
Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, Lagos State Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pension, made the pledge while delivering a keynote address at the virtual Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) pre-retirement seminar, in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar was organised for civil servants retiring between January and June 2021 in the state.
She said “Unfortunately we have a backlog of accrued pension rights and we acknowledge that.
“But by the end of 2022 which is about two years from now, we are hoping that the backlog would be cleared. Read more
Lagos court orders forfeiture of 31 vehicles over traffic offence (Punch)
The Lagos State Mobile Court has ordered the forfeiture of 31 vehicles to the state government over violation of a traffic rule.
The drivers of the vehicle were arraigned by the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) on one count of driving against traffic.
The offence was said to be punishable under Part (III) item 27 of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reformed Law of 2018.
Following the plea of the drivers, the court ordered the forfeiture of their vehicles to the state government. Read more
NIMASA, NSC others condemn attack on NPA (Thisday)
Heads of maritime agencies have expressed shock at the level of destruction that took place at the corporate headquarters of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos when hoodlums hijacked a nationwide peaceful protest by youths last month.
They voiced their concerns during a solidarity visit to the site of the incident.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Dr. George Moghalu, condemned the assault, saying the level of destruction is monumental and constitutes a huge loss to the maritime community as a whole. Read more
No relaxation of COVID-19 rules for Christmas Season – PTF (Guardian)
The Presidential Task Force (PTF), on COVID-19 has said that there will be no relaxing of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), protocols ahead of the Christmas season.
The coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the daily briefing of the pandemic.
Aliyu said that Nigeria was currently worried with the rising cases of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe hence the need to enforce the COVID-19 rules during the holiday season. Read more
Rivers councillor allegedly beats up brother’s wife (Punch)
A mother of six has accused the leader of the Etche legislative assembly in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Blackson Nwanyawu, of inflicting injuries on her.
Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt, the woman, who gave her name as Love Nwanyawu, said the councillor, who is her husband’s younger brother, along with two others, beat her to stupor.
Love, who had a swollen face and bruises in other parts of her body, said trouble started when she travelled to her husband’s hometown in Omualu community, Etche.
She said she heard the councillor, his sister and a male relative, shouting on top of their voices. Read more
UK Court Okays Trial of Nigeria’s $1.7bn suit against JP Morgan (Thisday)
A lawsuit filed by Nigeria against a United States bank, JP Morgan Chase, claiming over $1.7 billion for its role in the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 deal, will proceed to trial, London’s high court ruled yesterday.
The suit, filed in the English courts in 2017 relates to the purchase of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield in Nigeria by oil majors, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni in 2011, which is the subject of an ongoing trial in Milan.
The federal government had filed a claim against the US lender, accusing the bank of negligence in transferring funds from the disputed oilfield deal to a company controlled by a former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Dan Etete. Read more
Death of my health commissioner, a devastating blow – Ortom (Vanguard)
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has described the death of his Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Emmanuel Ikwulono as a devastating blow to his administration.
The Commissioner died Wednesday of undisclosed ailment at a Jos Hospital after surgery.
The Governor in s statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase described the late Dr. Ikwulono as a true professional who built a wonderful working relationship with other members of the State Executive Council within a period of only four months in which he served as Commissioner. Read more
TikTok lives to see another day in US (BBC)
The US Commerce Department has halted a ban on TikTok that was due to come into effect on Thursday night.
The order would have prevented the app from being downloaded in the US.
The Commerce Department delayed the ban “pending further legal developments,” citing a Philadelphia court ruling from September where three prominent TikTokers had argued the app should be allowed to operate in America.
The decision will be a relief to the estimated 100 million US TikTok users.
In September, TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance announced a deal with Walmart and Oracle to shift TikTok’s US assets into a new entity called TikTok Global. Read more
Bollywood actor Asif Basra dies aged 53 (Metro)
Actor Asif Basra has died at the age of 53, it has been confirmed. The Bollywood star was found dead at his apartment in Dharamshala, located in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, on Thursday. Local police told Indian Express that his death is not suspicious but is now under investigation. A post-mortem is set to take place later. Priyanka Chopra led tributes for Basra and tweeted: ‘RIP Asif Basra.. A terrible loss of a talented, versatile artist. My deepest condolences to the family.’ Kareena Kapoor Khan, who starred alongside the late star in Jab We Met, tweeted: ‘Rest in peace Asif Basra. Heartfelt condolences to the family and loves ones.’ Read more
South Africa jobless rate hits 12-year high as more seek work (Guardian)
Nearly a third of South Africa’s workforce was unemployed in the third quarter of 2020, a 12-year high, as the continent’s most advanced economy was battered by the Covid pandemic, according to government figures released Thursday.
Between July and September, the jobless rate surged by 7.5 percentage points to affect 30.8 percent of the workforce, the national statistics agency StatsSA said.
“In the 3rd quarter of 2020 there were significant movements in the South African labour market… which resulted in a significant increase of 7.5 percentage points in the unemployment rate to 30.8%,” it said. Read more
Belgium expels Danish right-wing activists over plot to burn Koran (BBC)
Belgium has expelled five Danish far-right activists and banned them for a year over their plans to burn a Koran in a mainly-Muslim area of Brussels.
Secretary of State for Asylum Sammy Mahdi called them “a serious threat to public order”.
According to their Facebook page, the five are associates of the Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan.
Paludan was expelled from France on Wednesday after signalling his intention to burn a Koran in Paris.
Earlier this year, he was jailed for a month in Denmark for a string of offences including posting anti-Islam videos on the social media channels of his Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party. Read more
Rapper Octavian ‘blocked by 10,000 Spotify users’ and dropped from label after domestic abuse allegations (Metro)
More than 10,000 Spotify users have blocked Octavian on the music platform in light of domestic abuse allegations. The musician, full name Octavian Oliver Godji, has also been dropped from his record label, Black Butter, who said they would not be releasing his new album Alpha which had been due out on Friday. It comes after his ex-girlfriend Hana, known as @emobaby4real, accused him of attacking her with a hammer, threatening to kill her and also pressuring her to have an abortion. Hana shared footage of an incident where she was allegedly attacked by Octavian, who has since denied all allegations. Read more
US election: Obama says fraud claims undermining democracy (BBC)
Former President Barack Obama has said senior US Republicans are undermining democracy by going along with President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
In an interview with CBS News, due to air on Sunday, Mr Obama said President-elect Joe Biden had “clearly won” this year’s race for the White House.
The result was called by US media last weekend, but some counting continues.
Claiming ballot tampering, Mr Trump has launched a flurry of legal challenges.
The president’s team has yet to provide any evidence to support their claims. Read more
“Matrix” cast reportedly skirts Berlin ban on parties by staging one for film (PageSix)
Parties are strictly banned under Germany’s current lockdown, but Keanu Reeves and the rest of the cast and crew of “The Matrix 4” threw themselves a rager near Berlin by allegedly staging a party scene for the movie.
Perhaps living in their own matrix, nearly 200 workers on the movie enjoyed their wrap party at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam.
They were treated to a pyrotechnics and dance performance, a DJ playing on a packed dance floor, tattoo stations inside caravans, several bars serving wine and sake, a sushi and dessert station (sans red or blue pills) and cushioned Bedouin tents, German newspaper Bild reported. Read more
Okoye retains place, Etebo, Osimhen return for S’Leone (Punch)
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr is poised to keep faith with Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye in goal for Friday’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations against Sierra Leone, The PUNCH reports.
The game which is billed for the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin, Edo State will be without fans.
Rohr will also recall Oghenekaro Etebo and Victor Osimhen to the starting line up for the game. Both players missed the international friendlies against Algeria and Tunisia in Austria last month.
“We have our first team players back in the team and they are going to be in from start to give us a good chance of winning,” Rohr said. Read more
Africa Cup of Nations: Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast all win (BBC)
African champions Algeria extended their unbeaten run to 21 matches on Thursday night in Algiers with a 3-1 win over Zimbabwe in their latest 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
The result means Algeria – who lifted the trophy in Egypt last year – have won all three of their Group H matches and are five points clear at the top of the standings.
It was one of 10 fixtures played on Thursday as teams continued their bid to reach the Nations Cup finals which will be held in Cameroon in 2022.
The Africa Cup of Nations holders Algeria went into their game against Zimbabwe looking to stretch their long unbeaten run. Read more
Tiger Woods stunningly finding magic formula at Masters again (NYPost)
Guilty as charged.
I gave Tiger Woods little chance to defend his Masters title this week at Augusta National.
It never crossed my mind that Woods had a prayer of taking the green jacket back home with him until the next Masters in April.
His lack of tournament play this year (only six events since the PGA Tour restart in June), poor results (not a single finish inside the top-30), age (44) and history of back problems pointed to Woods being not much more than host of the Champions Dinner and a ceremonial participant this week. Read more
Mike Tyson rates the skills of heavyweight trio Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder (Metro)
Mike Tyson believes Tyson Fury is the finest heavyweight on the planet, but feels Anthony Joshua has plenty to work on ahead of his proposed bout with the Gypsy King next year. Fury and Joshua share all the heavyweight gold, with the Gypsy King picking up the WBC and Ring Magazine titles with his comprehensive defeat of Deontay Wilder in February. AJ holds the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO straps, having regained them from Andy Ruiz in December, but despite the number of belts he has in his possession, Iron Mike sees Fury as the best in the business. Read more
Scotland win shootout to end 23-year wait for men’s major tournament (BBC)
Scotland’s agonising 23-year absence from major men’s tournaments is finally over after an historic shootout victory over Serbia.
David Marshall saved magnificently from Aleksandar Mitrovic for a 5-4 sudden-death win after Scotland had dominated, led until the 90th minute, then hung on for penalties in Belgrade.
Ryan Christie’s second-half opener had Steve Clarke’s side tantalisingly close to a Euro 2020 place but Luka Jovic netted amid a late Serbian rally to force extra time.
However, a tiring Scotland were impeccable from the spot as they ended a barren streak of 10 missed tournaments. Read more
Ivan Lendl disagrees with Mats Wilander over Andy Murray wildcard row (Metro)
Ivan Lendl believes his former mentee Andy Murray has ‘earned the right’ to play as long as he likes and disagreed with Mats Wilander’s assessment that he is ‘taking wildcards from young players’. Lendl, the former world No. 1 from the Czech Republic, had two stints as Murray’s coach, guiding the Scot to three Grand Slam titles, two Olympic Golds and to the top of the ATP rankings. Since that burst to the top of the ATP leaderboard in 2016, Murray has struggled physically and has gone under the knife twice to tackle hip problems. Read more
Masters 2020: Paul Casey sets clubhouse lead on day one at Augusta (BBC)
Englishman Paul Casey has set the clubhouse lead at seven under par during the first round of the Masters.
Casey’s bogey-free 65 at Augusta featured five birdies and an eagle.
Defending champion Tiger Woods also looked back to some of his best form with a 68, while pre-tournament favourite Bryson DeChambeau battled back after early struggles to shoot 70.
An electrical storm saw play suspended for three hours, so 45 of the 92 players did not complete their rounds.
Heavy rain flooded parts of the course and left it so soft that players were able to take advantage of the benign conditions once play resumed, knowing they could stop their ball quickly on greens that usually repel wayward shots. Read more