Sultan declares Friday as Eid-El-Fitr (DailyTrust)
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has declared Friday as Eid-el-Fitr, following the sighting of Shawwal, 1444 AH in many places across the country.
According to the monarch, reports on the new moon were received and verified by the national moon sighting committee.
He therefore called on Muslims to live peacefully with one another irrespective of their differences.
He also prayed Allah to “guide our new leaders aright and continue to shower his Blessing on our country.” Read more
Eid-El-Fitr: FRSC, security agencies arrest 25 motorists in Lagos (Vanguard)
The Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos Sector Command; the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps formed a joint patrol to arrest 25 motorists within the Lagos metropolis on Wednesday.
The state’s Sector Commander, Mr Babatunde Farinloye, made this known in a statement in Lagos on Thursday.
Farinloye explained that the owners of vehicles apprehended were arraigned with various offences including speed limit violations, Number Plate violations (faded), and Vehicle licence violations among others. Read more
1 month later, Piggyvest keeps mum over missing N807k savings (Guardian)
One month after N807,000 allegedly disappeared from the account of a customer of Piggyvest, Oluwafemi Tomori, the fintech company is still yet to resolve the case.
Tomori, a data analyst in Abuja, allegedly received the shock of his life on March 16, when he realised his life savings had disappeared from his Piggyvest account.
Piggyvest, launched in 2016, is the pioneering and leading online savings and investment platform in Nigeria, with about 400,000 users. Read more
Lagos paid retirees N50b in 4 years – Commissioner (Punch)
The Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, has said Lagos paid its retirees N50bn in four years.
Ponnle disclosed this in her opening remark at the 100the retirement bond certificate presentation ceremony to retirees of the Lagos State Public Service.
She said, “The State Government is truly grateful for your hard work and recognises the need to protect your retirement benefits, hence, Lagos State was one of the first states to implement the Contributory Pension Scheme with an objective to ensure you receive income regularly in your retirement. Read more
Eid-el-Fitr: Bello congratulates Muslims (Nation)
As Muslim faithful all over the world complete the 1444/2023 Ramadan fast to celebrate the Eid-el-Fitr, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has tasked Nigerians with peaceful coexistence, national integration and sticking to the lessons of Ramadan which proffers solutions to some of the problems facing the country today.
Bello made the call in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Muhammed, on Thursday in Lokoja, stating that the teachings of Ramadan were centered on humanity, kindness, peace and love.
The governor also urged all Muslims to ensure that the lessons they had learnt during the Ramadan season and their act of devotion remained a consistent way of life even after the 29 days exercise. Read more
Adamawa charade: Probe APC’s Binani now, Falana tells Police (Tribune)
Human rights lawyer and political activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to probe the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru following the charade that greeted the just concluded Adamawa gubernatorial poll.
Falana, who featured on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, described Binani’s declaration and her acceptance speech as a ”charade”.
According to him, Binani’s acceptance speech confirmed that she was in on the illegal declaration. Read more
FG, Zeenab foods launch Nigeria Export Trade house in China (Guardian)
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in partnership with Zeenab Foods have launched the first Nigeria Export Trade House in China in an effort to boost the visibility of Nigerian non-oil products and foreign exchange earnings, under the Export Expansion Facility Programme [EEFP].
The Executive Director NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, while speaking at the launch of the warehouse yesterday in China state stated that the launch of the Nigerian Trade House today signifies the need for aggressive marketing to increase productivity, enhance expansion and facilitate economic growth through non-oil export for the Nigerian Economy.
He added that the initiative is “also a way of addressing the ever-increasing challenge of dwindling revenue from oil as the world is fast moving away from oil to renewable energy..Read more
Lagos mulls blockchain technology adoption (Nation)
No fewer than 50 students have graduated from the Blockchain Vibes Academy, Yaba, Lagos.
At the ceremony tagged: “The future of digital transformation and graduation ceremony of Cohort 1”, which was also online, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, commended the graduands.
She noted the importance of blockchain technology, saying the government was considering putting it in its curriculum. However, she said the government would “think through the matter and other technical skills” before making a decision. Read more
Manslaughter charges dropped against Alec Baldwin (BBC)
Criminal charges have been dropped against Alec Baldwin over a fatal on-set shooting in October 2021.
The Emmy-award winning actor was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the incident during the filming of Rust in New Mexico.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a live bullet fired from a prop gun that was being used by Baldwin. The development comes less than two weeks before a trial was set to begin. Read more
Scarlett Johansson makes rare comment about ex-husband Ryan Reynolds (PageSix)
Scarlett Johansson got candid about how she feels about her first ex-husband, Ryan Reynolds, more than a decade after their divorce.
During an appearance on the “Goop” podcast Tuesday, host Gwyneth Paltrow asked the “Marriage Story” actress how many times she had been married, to which she replied, “Three times.”
Paltrow, 50, responded, “Oh, that’s right because I forgot you were married to Ryan Reynolds. Goals.” Read more
UN chief calls for three-day ceasefire in Sudan as thousands flee (France24)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Sudan’s warring factions to observe a ceasefire over the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday to allow mcivilians to reach safe areas as rival forces battled for a sixth day on Thursday.
Thousands of civilians streamed out of the capital Khartoum as gunfire and explosions sounded. Large numbers also crossed into Chad to flee fighting in the western region of Darfur.
The United States said it was sending more troops to the region in the event that it decided to evacuate its embassy in Khartoum. Guterres and senior officials from the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt called Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to urge an end to violence. Read more
Technique reverses heart attack damage by reprogramming scar cells (NewAtlas)
For all they do for us, our hearts aren’t very good at repairing themselves. So when a person suffers a heart attack, their blood pump is left with a large amount of scar tissue, which can impede the organ’s flexibility and thereby its function. Inspired by the way young hearts heal themselves, researchers have now found a way to transmute scar tissue into healthy tissue in mice, thereby walking back some of the damage brought about by heart attacks.
In the United States alone, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds, which means finding a way to prevent and minimize the damage from these cardiac events is a major priority for scientists. Read more
Insider lays off 10% of staff after announcing pivot to AI (Futurism)
Just a week after urging its writers to incorporate AI tools like ChatGPT into their workflow, Insider has laid off 10 percent of its staff.
“As you know, our industry has been under significant pressure for more than a year. The economic headwinds that have hurt many of our clients and partners are also affecting us,” Insider president Barbara Peng wrote in an email to staff sent this morning.
“Unfortunately, to keep our company healthy and competitive, we need to reduce the size of our team,” Peng continued, adding that “the reduction would affect about 10 percent” of the publication’s workforce. Read more
Quavo causes stir online as fans think he’s dissing Offset over TakeOff tribute tattoo (HipHopDX)
Quavo hasn’t been seeing eye to eye with Offset for some time, and his latest post has fans speculating that he decided to take a public shot at his TakeOff tribute tattoo.
On Thursday (April 20), Quavo took to Instagram with a carousel of random photos – but the caption was what had people talking.
“Rocket Power It’s In You. Not On You!” he wrote, referencing TakeOff’s Rocket Man nickname. However, fans thought it could be a dig at the fact Offset just got a huge tattoo of the late Migos rapper on his back – which would signify being “on” him. Read more
Ukraine Nobel Laureate appeals to ‘neutral’ South Africa (VOA)
A Nobel Prize-winning Ukrainian is in Pretoria this week as part of a group urging South Africa’s government to re-think its friendly relations with Russia as it wages war on Kyiv. The Ukrainians called on South Africa to honor an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant and arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he goes there for a summit in August.
Oleksandra Romantsova, who heads Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, an NGO that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, is in South Africa along with an official from the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, to try and shore up support for Kyiv.
Pretoria has taken an officially neutral stance on the conflict and has refrained from criticizing Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Read more
Rivers United, others chase continental glory as knockout stages begin (DailyTrust)
The road to the finals of Africa’s top club competitions, the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, reaches the suspense phase this weekend.
This stage of the competitions sees the continent’s top clubs, including the Port Harcourt-based Rivers United, start the first leg journey of the quarter-finals.
The action gets underway this evening as four-time champions, ES Tunis of Tunisia make their way to Algeria to face JS Kabylie.
The Algerian side are working towards a third Champions League medal, having won it in 1981 and 1990. Read more
Rivers won’t underrate Yanga – Eguma (Punch)
Rivers United will not be buoyed by their previous results against Tanzanian club, Young Africans, when they meet in the first leg quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup in Uyo on Sunday.
The Nigeria Professional Football League champions are the only Nigerian representatives on the continent this season and will hope to progress as far as possible, having reached the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Both clubs met in 2021 during the first preliminary round of the CAF Champions League with Rivers United winning both ties. Read more
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta vows to keep Bukayo Saka on penalty duty (DailyMail)
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has decided who the Gunners penalty taker will be going forward following Bukayo Saka’s crucial miss against West Ham last weekend.
Saka failed to convert from the spot with Arsenal 2-1 up against the Hammers, and it saw David Moyes’ side go on to find an equaliser to see the league leaders side drop two vital points in the title race.
Arteta, however, revealed he will not remove Saka from his penalty responsibilities during his pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal’s clash with bottom-placed Southampton on Friday night. Read more
Real Madrid’s David Alaba in race to be fit for Man City clash, Copa del Rey final (ESPN)
Real Madrid defender David Alaba is facing a race to recover from his injury in time for the Champions League semi final against Manchester City and the Copa del Rey final, sources have told ESPN.
The centre-back picked up a calf injury during his team’s 2-0 win over Chelsea in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter final return leg and was replaced at half time.
According to sources, Alaba underwent tests which revealed a small muscle tear in his right calf and he will be sidelined for at least 10 days. Read more
Ryder Cup captain offers telling update on LIV Golf rebels being allowed to play in Rome (Mirror)
United States Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has refused to rule out LIV Golf rebels turning out for his side in Rome .
The US side heads to the Italian capital later this year, looking to win in Europe for the first time in 30 years. But the make-up of both teams are still undetermined with the fate of the players on the Saudi-backed rebel tour unknown.
The likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and joint Masters runners up Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickleson all decided to move away from the PGA and DP World Tours last year. Read more
Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks calls LeBron James ‘‘old,’’ helps tie series with Lakers (UPI)
Dillon Brooks scored a dozen points before he threw a jab at LeBron James, calling the future Hall of Famer “old” after the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their NBA playoff series.
Brooks, 27, and James, 38, exchanged words several times during the Grizzlies’ 103-93 win Wednesday in Memphis. James totaled a game-high 28 points and chipped in 12 assists in the loss. The series is tied at 1-1.
“I don’t care,” Brooks told reporters. “He’s old. You know what I mean? I was expecting him to do that in Game 4 or Game 5. He wanted to say something. … I poke bears. Read more