Poll: Two feared killed, many injured as hoodlums clash in Lagos (Nation)
Two persons were feared dead on Thursday while many others were injured as hoodlums clashed in Oto Awori, Ijanikin, Lagos. It was gathered that the violent clash, which started around 1 pm in the Lagos community and continued until about 5 pm, was between loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) State House of Assembly Candidate for Ojo Constituency II, Alhaji Suleiman Raji a.k.a. Jafo and those of former Chairman Oto Awori Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Kayode Robert a.k.a. Bibire. Read more
Two pupils kill 15-year-old boy to avenge father’s action (Punch)
Two pupils of an undisclosed secondary school in Iyana Iyesi, Ogun State, have been arrested for the murder of a 15-year-old boy, Kehinde Adebiyi. The teenage pupils, identified simply as Divine and Bolu, reportedly beat the late Kehinde and smashed his head on a concrete pole and left him for dead while he was on an errand to his father’s mechanic’s shop in the neighbourhood on February 21, around 5 pm. City Round learnt that Adebiyi was attacked a few days after his father, Nojeem Adebiyi, challenged the suspects for flashing the beam of their torchlight into his compound around 9 pm, demanding to know their mission in the area. Read more
PDP to Buhari: Atiku ‘ll soon reclaim his mandate (Nation)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop gloating and showboating on Nigerians with the “stolen” 2019 presidential mandate, saying that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would soon retrieve the mandate at the tribunal. ,The party described President Buhari’s renewed attack on the PDP’s 16 years administrations as a lame attempt to divert public attention from the overwhelming evidence that he rigged the elections. A statement yesterday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, also said the President’s statement that the PDP has questions to answer on its 16-year stewardship was part of the plots to obstruct the clear winner, Atiku Abubakar, from going to the tribunal to reclaim the mandate freely given to him by Nigerians. Read more
Getting highest number of votes not enough to win gov poll –INEC (Punch)
Getting the highest number of votes in a state is not enough to declare a governorship candidate winner, the Independent National Electoral Commission has said. To be declared winner, a governorship candidate must not only get the highest number of votes, he must also win at least one-quarter of total votes cast in two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state. This is contained in the guidelines for the governorship election posted by INEC on its website. The commission said the collation officer for a state can only return as winner, any candidate who “(i) has the majority of votes cast at the election; (and) (ii) has not less than one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the LGAs in the state.” Read more
Katsina State’s governor’s mother-in-law kidnapped (Guardian)
Suspected kidnappers were reported to have abducted Hajiya Hauwa Yusuf, mother-in-law of Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari. Hajiya Hauwa, 80, is mother of Binta Masari, one of the governor’s three wives. Before her kidnap, she was reported to be living at Dandume Crescent in Katsina Layout in the state capital. It was gathered that the kidnappers, wearing masks and armed with weapons, stormed her residence around 3am yesterday and forced their way into her apartment and immediately whisked her away. Read more
INEC omits APC from results sheets in Zamfara (Punch)
The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed regrets over the omission of the acronym of the All Progressives Congress on the results sheets for Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Zamfara State. This is contained in a statement signed by the commission’s National Secretary, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau on Friday. The statement with reference number INEC/SEC/265/Vol.ll/X and dated 8/3/2019, was circulated to the chairmen of all political parties and other stakeholders in the state. Read more
Dog kills nursery school pupil, injures another in Rivers (Punch)
A dog belonging to a yet-to-be-identified man has attacked and killed a nursery school pupil, David Emmanuel, while also injuring another child, named Benita Adejoh, at a school in Rumuagholu in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The owner of the dog is said to be out of the country but left it in the care of his security guard, who looks after his building as well. Our correspondent gathered that the dog escaped from the compound when the gate was left open, went to the primary school, which was nearby and unfenced, where it attacked its victims. Read more
Buhari runs govt with no direction –Financial Times (Punch)
The Financial Times of London says President Muhammadu Buhari has been running a government that lacks a clear direction in the last four years. The newspaper, therefore, called on the President to see his re-election as an opportunity to do the right thing. The Financial Times said this in its editorial which has been read and shared thousands of times around the world. It said there was no clear economic policy like that of Rwanda and Ethiopia. Read more
Ondo: 318 Candidates scramble for 26 seats as INEC insists on supplementary election (Guardian)
No fewer than 198 candidates from 13 political parties will be slugging it out in today’s House of Assembly elections in Ekiti state. INEC made this known yesterday in Ado Ekiti at an interactive session by the State’s Public Relations Officer of the Commission, Taiwo Gbadegesin, saying the contestants are from 13 political parties namely APC, PDP, NAC, LP, ACPN, NLC, ADC, NDL, YP, AAC, NPC, PPN and MPN. Gbadegesin, who spoke on behalf of INEC’s Administative Secretary, Muslim Omoleke, who doubles as the State Acting Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) added that all is set for the polls. Read more
Venezuela power cuts: Blackouts continue as protests loom (BBC)
A widespread power cut affecting much of Venezuela has continued throughout Friday ahead of planned protests on Saturday. President Nicolás Maduro and the US-backed opposition trying to oust him have blamed each other for the outage. Hospitals struggled to cope and at least one hospital patient died when her respirator stopped working. The power cuts, which started on Thursday, have been caused by problems at a major hydroelectric plant. Read more
North Korea ‘preparing rocket launch’, images suggest (BBC)
Satellite images of a facility near Pyongyang suggest that North Korea may be preparing to launch a missile or a satellite. The increase in activity is around a site known as Sanumdong, where North Korea assembled most of its ballistic missiles and rockets. It comes after reports earlier this week that North Korea’s main rocket launch site at Sohae had been rebuilt. Work to dismantle Sohae began last year but stopped as US talks stalled. On Friday US President Donald Trump said he would be disappointed if North Korea was to resume weapons testing. Read more
Jussie Smollett: Chicago grand jury charges US actor over hate hoax (BBC)
A grand jury in Chicago has returned 16 charges against US actor Jussie Smollett, accusing him of falsely claiming to police that he had been the victim of a hate crime. Prosecutors had previously charged him with one count of filing a false report. The 36-year-old African-American actor told police he had been the victim of a homophobic and racist assault. Police say he staged the attack because he was “dissatisfied” with his salary. Read more
Arfa puzzled over Emery’s anxiety in Rennes’ win over Arsenal (Guardian)
Rennes forward Hatem Ben Arfa revealed the sight of ‘agitated’ former Paris Saint-Germain boss Unai Emery made him laugh in the win over Arsenal. Led by Ben Arfa, the Ligue 1 side ran out 3-1 winners in their Europa League last-16 first leg on Thursday, with Ismaila Sarr’s late third goal putting Rennes in control of the tie heading into the return match. The victory might have been particularly sweet for Ben Arfa, who was widely reported to have had a fractious relationship with Emery at PSG. Read more
Mourinho distances self from Real Madrid return (Guardian)
Jose Mourinho has not spoken to Real Madrid but has admitted he is ‘proud’ that their supporters chanted his name. Los Blancos fans called for the Portuguese boss to return after their 4-1 thumping at the hands of Ajax on Tuesday night. The defeat saw Real Madrid exit the Champions League at the last-16 stage after winning it in three consecutive seasons. Mourinho, however, has distanced himself from reports that he is returning to the Santiago Bernabeu. Read more
Tottenham: New stadium to be used competitively in first week of April (BBC)
Tottenham will play the first competitive fixture at their new stadium in the first week of April. Spurs were scheduled to move to the new White Hart Lane stadium in September but construction has been delayed. Who their first opponents are hinges on Brighton’s FA Cup campaign. If Brighton beat Millwall in the FA Cup on 17 March, Crystal Palace will be Spurs’ visitors on 3 April, but if the Seagulls are knocked out, they will be the opposition on 6 or 7 April. Read more