Suspected child traffickers bought two kids for N140,000 – Police (Nation)
A man, Chukwunoso Happiness and his wife, Chukwunonso Blessing have been arrested for alleged child trafficking.
Police said the couple bought two kids – Joshua James, 6 and Samuel Gbawune, 3 for N140,000.
The duo was nabbed on Thursday around 10:30pm following a tip off.
Blessing, who lives at 23 Masebinu Street, Igbede, Ojo was first arrested on Thursday night with the kids along Alaba International Market.
On interrogation, she told the police that she was taking the kids to Anambra State. Read more
UK Police reinstates BBNaija’s Khafi (Independent)
BBNaija Season Four Housemate, Khafi Kareem, says she has been restored to her Police job in the United Kingdom.
Khafi returned to the UK last week, UK Mirror has reported.
The medium reports that, in her first interview following a meeting with her superior officers, “PC Kareem confirmed she will be going back on the beat.”
She was reported to have said: “Work has been really great, we’ve been speaking and communicating, they asked me when I’d be coming back to work. Read more
Compel banks to drop interest rates, Donald Duke tasks FG (DailyTrust)
A former governor of Cross River state, Mr Donald Duke, has called on the Federal Government to compel banks to reduce interest rate to the barest minimum to make credit available and affordable for small businesses.
Duke made the call at the 5th anniversary of Political Forum G50, with the theme: “Blueprint For Sustainable Economic Development” held on Saturday in Lagos. Read more
Borders ll remain closed until govt’s objectives are achieved – Customs (Punch)
The Nigerian Customs Service on Sunday said the January 31, 2020 date which was contained in a leaked memo is not the terminal date for the border closure.
The Public Relations Officer, NCS, Mr Joseph Attah confirmed the development in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday.
Attah said the January 31, 2020 is not a terminal date for the entire border closure exercise but just for this phase of the operation. Read more
AfDB’s capital increase, vote of confidence in your leadership, Says Buhari (Nation)
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Board of Governors and members of staff on historic increase of its capital from $93 billion to $208 billion, placing the multilateral institution on a stronger pedestal to drive growth and development on the continent.
President Buhari joined shareholders of the Bank and African Heads of State and governments in celebrating the feat, adding it clearly demonstrated the quality of leadership at the helm of affairs, and the technical expertise that has been steadily pushing reforms for a smart and nimble institution focused on alleviating poverty. Read more
Why Chinese loans must be scrutinised thoroughly – Mailafia (Guardian)
With some African countries already nursing badly burnt fingers arising from failed Chinese loans/deals, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia wants the Federal Government to tread carefully in order not to suffer similar fate. While also commenting on the size of loans so far collected, he stressed that the country should take cognisance of political risk associated with piling up such huge loans from one country that is also a world power, even as servicing challenges could lead to loss of critical national assets. Read more
Fire outbreak on Japan govt jet with Prime Minister on board (Punch)
A minor fire broke out mid-flight on a Japanese government jet Sunday while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was on board, but it was extinguished quickly with no injuries, media reports said.
The leader was flying to Bangkok from Tokyo on a Boeing 777-300ER to attend talks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
About an hour after take-off, an in-flight announcement said that an oven on the plane had sparked a small blaze, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Read more
Bulgaria president slams Macron remarks on illegal workers. (Punch)
Bulgaria’s president on Sunday denounced “ham-handed” comments by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron regarding Bulgarian immigrants that have triggered an outcry in the eastern European EU member.
Macron “has clearly stated his ambitions to become Europe’s leader, but his ideas will be difficult to achieve if he expresses himself in such a ham-handed way,” Roumen Radev told journalists. Read more
Trump booed at UFC fight night in New York (Guardian)
President Donald Trump was loudly booed on Saturday for the second time in a week at a sporting event as he attended a UFC fight in New York.
Trump, wearing a dark suit and a red tie, pumped his fist and waved at the crowd as he walked into the city’s iconic Madison Square Garden arena on Saturday night.
There was no repeat of the loud chants of “lock him up” that greeted Trump when he attended a World Series baseball game last weekend, but loud jeers rung out.
Many mixed martial arts fans also clapped and cheered as Trump took his seat just 15 feet from the cage where the UFC was set to award the “BMF” belt. Read more
Nadal’s late-season injury jinx strikes again (Punch)
Rafael Nadal’s vulnerability to late-season injuries resurfaced this weekend as the 19-time Grand Slam champion was forced out of the Paris Masters with an abdominal muscle strain.
The 33-year-old has carved out one of the sport’s greatest-ever careers in spite of persistent injury troubles, a pattern which has continued in 2019.
The latest problem has put his participation at both the ATP Tour Finals and the Davis Cup in doubt. Read more
21-year-old Kenyan wins Abeokuta 10km race, goes home with $5,000 (DailyTrust)
The overall winner in female category, Tadu Nare, an Ethiopian, shortly after she completed the race. A 21-year-old Kenyan athlete, Biwott Kemboi, on Saturday, beat over 3,000 racers in the Abeokuta 10 kilometers Marathon race after completing the race in 28 minutes and 16 seconds. Daily Trust reports that athletes from 18 countries took part in the race, tagged “JAC Motors Abeokuta 10KM Marathon Race 2019.”
Kemboi went home with $5,000 overall prize in the male category, while an Ethiopian, Tadu Nare, who crossed the finish line in 33 minutes and 43 seconds, clinched $5,000 overall prize in the female category prize. Read more
Amuneke: I’m open to new job offer (Nation)
EMMANUEL Amuneke has announced that he is open to new job offers, four months after he left his role as coach of Tanzania by mutual consent.
The 48-year-old, who led the Taifa Stars to their first Africa Cup of Nations since 1980, paid the price for the team’s failure to progress to the knock-out stages of Egypt 2019 after finishing bottom of their group with three defeats.
The 1994 African Footballer of the Year, who had previously managed his country’s youth teams and Sudanese club SC Khartoum, is now seeking a fresh start. Read more
ITTF Challenge: Bello, Oribamise hit semifinal as champions emerge (Nation)
Nigeria’s duo of Fatimo Bello and Tosin Oribamise have qualified for the semifinal as new West Africa champions emerge in the maiden ITTF West Africa Singles Challenge holding in Abidjan.
The two-day tournament was attended by 11 of the 15 countries in West Africa and at the Multipurpose Hall in Trenchville, new king and queen of West Africa will be crowned as the maiden tournament hosted by the Federation of Ivorien Table Tennis (FITT) with support from ITTF. Read more
Liverpool overcome Villa with late Mane header (Nation)
Liverpool scored two late goals – including a dramatic injury-time winner from Sadio Mane – as they came from behind to beat Aston Villa and preserve their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
With their 10-month long unbeaten league record seemingly about to end, the Reds dug deep to conjure a stellar finish, begun when Andy Robertson arrived at the back post to head them level.
Mane then provided the final, remarkable twist, glancing a header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner past Tom Heaton and into the far corner of the net. Read more
NSF 2020 will be toughest ever – Dilichukwu (DailyTrust)
The Director of Sports, FCT State Sports Council, Chief (Mrs) Dilichukwu Onyedinma has declared that the forthcoming National Sports Festival to be hosted by Edo will one of the toughest in the history of the competition. Dilichukwu while speaking in her office in Abuja said the National Youth Games has raised the bar in terms of preparation, the readiness of states to give perennial teams a run for their money while giants like Lagos, are beginning to wake up. Read more
Gbajabiamila inaugurates mini stadia in Surulere (Nation)
THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Saturday declared open two mini stadia and other projects he sponsored in his Surulere 1 Federal Constituency.
The projects were Love Garden mini stadium, Paddington mini stadium, and ICT center at Stadium High School. Other events were the presentation of Desktop computers and laptops to secondary school students and presentation of buses to various organizations.
Speaking on the Love Garden Stadium, Gbajabiamila thanked God for giving him the privilege to contribute to the restoration of the lost glory. He said the new stadium has all the facilities expected of a modern community recreational center. Read more
Why Akwa United signed 15 new players – Paul Bassey (DailyTrust)
Fifteen newly signed Akwa United players in a group photograph with club chairman, Elder Paul Bassey The Chairman of Akwa United Football Club, Elder Paul Bassey has revealed that the ‘Promise Keepers’ signed 15 new players to bolster the quality of the squad in a chat. He stated this in a chat while responding to the possibility of the players fully getting to understand one another better with less than four days to the kickoff of the 2019/20 Nigeria Professional Football League.
Serie A: Balotelli reacts furiously to racist abuse against Verona (Vanguard)
Mario Balotelli almost stormed off the pitch during Brescia’s Serie A clash with Verona on Sunday after he was subjected to racial abuse once more.
The former Italy international, who has been the target of attacks throughout his career, was again the recipient of vulgarity from the stands during the league encounter at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.
The 29-year-old was persuaded from departing the field by team-mates and opponents alike after booting the ball into the crowd. Read more
Boxing: Alvarez stops Kovalev in 11th round to win 175-pound title (NewTelegraph)
Canelo Alvarez used a big punch to beat a big fighter.
Alvarez landed a left-right late in the 11th round Saturday night, dropping Sergey Kovalev to the canvas and ending their light heavyweight title fight. Kovalev was left on his knees, his arms draped over the middle ring rope as the fight was stopped at 2:15 of the round.
It was a dramatic finish for a fight that had little drama up to the knockdown. Kovalev was more than holding his own late in the fight and hadn’t been hurt when Alvarez landed the left followed by a right. Read more
