Suspected mentally-deranged man sets another man ablaze in Lagos (Tribune)
Police in Lagos State has begun investigations surrounding the setting ablaze of a man by a suspected mentally- deranged man.
The state police spokesperson, Bala Elkana, confirmed the incident and added that the suspect was on admission at the Yaba Psychiatric Hospital where he was admitted to.
Elkana said, “on 09/01/2020 at about 0708hrs one Adeola Kadara ‘f’ of No 13 Aiyeleto Street Surulere reported at Surulere Police Station that she received an information that on 08/01/2020 her brother, one Bolatito Farook Kadara ‘m’ was set ablaze at Hogan Bassey Street Surulere and was taken to Lagos Island General Hospital. Read more
Cobbler rapes graduate, shares nude video with friends (Punch)
A 25-year-old cobbler, Olamide Babayemi, has been arrested for raping a 22-year-old Microbiology graduate and sharing the victim’s nude video with his friends.
Babayemi was alleged to have invited the victim, whom he claimed was his girlfriend, to come and collect the phone she asked him to buy in Mowe, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The suspect was reported to have soaked the victim’s clothes in water when she got to the agreed location and used his phone to record her nudeness before sending the video to some of his friends.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this on Sunday in a statement. Read more
Oshodi-Abule Egba BRT corridor ready in May – Sanwo-Olu (Vanguard)
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said on Sunday construction work on the 13.68-kilometer Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor from Oshodi to Abule Egba would be completed in May.
The governor disclosed when he led a delegation of his cabinet members and contractor on an inspection tour of the project.
Construction work has resumed on the project which was initiated by ex-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration.
The project is supervised by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). Read more
Residents accuse police, Lagos task force of demanding bribe (Punch)
Residents of Balogun Close, Taoridi Street and Muniru Close in the Surulere area are angry with the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Unit, at Bolade, Oshodi, for allegedly demanding N200,000 to flush out criminals from the areas.
The residents told our correspondent, who visited the areas, that once it was night time, the communities become beehives of criminal activities and drug peddling.
They stated that they had contacted the nearest police station for help, but the police never paid attention to their complaints as they seem helpless in curbing cultism and other criminal activities in the areas.
A resident, who identified himself simply as Abe, said they were stunned when the task force demanded money from them. Read more
Police arrest car wash operator for allegedly killing neighbour (Tribune)
Police in Lagos has arrested 35-year-old Sheriff Balogun for allegedly killing his neighbour, Mr Peter Elebo, over an altercation arising from the locking of their compound’s gate.
Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos police command, DSP Bala Elkana, said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect, a car wash operator who lives at 32, Ola Street, Itire, had been apprehended.
He said that one Miss Faith Elebo, the daughter of the deceased, reported at Itire police station that Balogun had a fight with her father when he went to close their compound’s gate.
“Balogun pushed down Elebo, resulting in him vomiting blood and he died on the spot,” Elkana said. Read more
Lagos goes after commercial motorcyclists, begins enforcement of traffic law (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Government said on Sunday it would embark on full enforcement of the 2012 Lagos Traffic Law which restricted the activities of motorcycle and tricycle operators in order to restore sanity in the state.
The government said the measure has become necessary following flagrant abuse of the laws by motorcycle and tricycle riders in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Alausa, said over 1,500 accidents which involved tricycle and motorcycle operators were reported from 2015 till 2019 in the state with 689 persons confirmed dead and 250 others injured. Read more
Adeboye seeks 50% cut in governors’, lawmakers’ salary (Nation)
General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has urged 36 governors and the Houses of Assemblies to reduce their salary and emoluments by 50 per cent.
He said this would ensure that there are sufficient funds to tackle the challenges facing education, health and other critical sectors in the country.
Adeboye spoke on Sunday during the special prayer and thanksgiving service for the New Year at RCCG headquarters in Ebutte-Metta, Lagos.
The event, tagged: Unbeatable Champions, was attended by thousands of Christians from across the country.
The eminent cleric noted that the nation’s budget for health, education and infrastructure, compared to those of advanced countries, shows that Nigeria has a long way to in its quest for development. Read more
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway diversion: FRSC deploys 100 officers (Nation)
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says it has deployed 100 personnel to control traffic on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway following the resumption of diversion to continue reconstruction.
Samuel Obayemi, the FRSC’s Zonal Commanding Officer, Zone RS2, comprising Lagos and Ogun, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday
He, however, advised motorists and commuters using the ever busy highway not to panic.
Obayemi, who urged motorists to be patient and obey traffic rules and officers, said that no one would sleep on the road. Read more
Evra, footballer with psychosis recovers with Samaritan’s support (Tribune)
Nobody wants to be associated with anyone with an obvious mental health problem, at least not one that roams the street to pick food from dustbins, and is oftentimes naked.
This is not the case with Mr Oluwatoyin Olasemo, a public administration graduate who runs a family-owned mechanical engineering firm in Ibadan after he returned from National Youth Service to Ibadan to find his old school playmate roaming Alegongo, a suburb of Ibadan, sometimes naked and without food.
“I knew Evra, as he was popularly called, about 15 years back where we played football in Alegongo. That was way back in my secondary school days. But after finishing University and coming home, I found he had become insane,” said Mr Olasemo. Read more
Police launch manhunt for man who broke neighbour’s head (Punch)
The Cross River State Police Command has launched a manhunt for a suspected cultist, Bassey Effiong, for breaking his neighbour’s head on the Eta-Eyo Street, off Marian Road, Calabar.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Effiong, on January 5, 2020, broke into his neighbour’s house thinking that nobody was in the compound.
It was gathered that Effiong, who was surprised to see his neighbour, simply identified as Dorathy at home, tried to suffocate her with a pillow and later broke her head with a hammer and rushed out of the compound by scaling the fence.
Dorathy’s sister, Chinyere Pamou, who told PUNCH Metro that nobody knew if Effiong came into her sister’s room to steal or kill her, noted that if not for one of the neighbours, who heard her sister screamed, Effiong would have succeeded in killing her. Read more
Tiv, Jukun desert Dananacha in Taraba (DailyTrust)
Tiv and Jukun communities have deserted Dananacha town in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba state following renewed hostilities between the two ethnic groups. Daily Trust gathered that the two groups have been in conflict since the attempted change of name of the town from Dananacha to Kwararafa which led to violent clash that claimed several lives in November last year.
It was further gathered that the two ethnic groups also clashed on Saturday but only the quick intervention of soldiers and the police prevented an escalation into full-scale war as the warring factions embarked on mobilisation of their militia groups. Read more
Supreme Court to deliver judgment on Imo, Sokoto guber elections appeals Monday (Tribune)
The Supreme Court will, on Monday, deliver its judgment on the governorship election appeals concerning Imo and Sokoto states.
The Imo state governor, Emeka Ihedioha and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, both members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were declared winners of the March 9, 2019 governorship elections conducted in Imo and Sokoto states respectively by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The apex court will, in its judgment slated for today determine legitimate winners of the elections after the challengers, Hope Uzodinma and Ahmed Aliyu, both of the All Progressives Congress (APC), lost their appeals at the lower courts.
Uzodinma and Aliyu lost their cases at the Imo and Sokoto governorship election petition tribunals respectively as well as the Court of Appeal. Read more
Confed Cup: Enyimba win, Rangers draw at home (Punch)
Nigerian champions Enyimba returned to winning ways, defeating Paradou AC of Algeria 4-1 in a CAF Confederations Cup clash at the Aba stadium on Sunday.
Enyimba had lost 1-0 to Paradou in the reverse fixture in Algeria on December 29.
The win ended a five-game winless streak for the Nigeria Professional Football League champions.
The game was Enyimba’s first match since sacking former coach Usman Abd’Allah after a 4-0 loss to Plateau United in the NPFL and replacing him with Fatai Osho. Read more
Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid on penalties to win Spanish Super Cup (Vanguard)
Thibaut Courtois proved the hero on Sunday as Real Madrid beat city rivals Atletico Madrid in a penalty shoot-out in Saudi Arabia to win their 11th Spanish Super Cup.
Courtois and Jan Oblak were both imperious during a goalless final in Jeddah but the Belgian came up trumps, saving Thomas Partey’s penalty after Saul Niguez had already hit the post.
Sergio Ramos tucked away the winning spot-kick to ensure Real Madrid clinched their first trophy of the season, with La Liga and the Champions League next in their sights.
“I went through their takers on the bench,” said Courtois. “Saul’s surprised me but Thomas’ I read, and he’s got a very hard shot.” Read more
Manchester City beat Aston Villa 6-1 (Punch)
Sergio Aguero became the Premier League’s top-scoring foreign player with a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa 6-1 to move ahead of Leicester into second in the table.
It may be too late to salvage City’s defence of the Premier League title as they remain 14 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, who also have a game in hand, but led by Aguero the champions showed they will not give up the chase.
An injury-hit Villa were blown away by three goals in 10 first-half minutes as Riyad Mahrez struck twice before Aguero’s blast into the top corner from long range. Read more
Nigeria battle 62 others for Tokyo 2020 slots in Portugal (DailyTrust)
Nigeria will be battling 33 teams in the men category and 29 in the women category at the 2020 World Team Olympic Qualifying tournament set to take place in Gondomar, Portugal on January 22 to 26. The only African nation, Nigeria will be making another attempt at qualifying for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Portugal.
From the men and women events, 18 teams made up of nine men and nine women are expected to pick their slots to Tokyo 2020 from the Portugal showdown. Read more
Iran’s only female Olympic medalist quits country (Vanguard)
Iran’s only female Olympic medalist has said on social media she had left her homeland.
Taekwondo champion Kimia Alizadeh said this was because she had had enough of being used by Iranian authorities as a propaganda tool.
She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Alizadeh implied in an Instagram post that she had now moved to Europe. Read more
Guardiola faces huge task of replacing Man City’s ‘golden generation’ (Vanguard)
Pep Guardiola knows replacing Manchester City’s “golden generation” is a tough task but it is one he must accomplish to keep the team at the pinnacle of English football.
Talismanic captain Vincent Kompany has already left the Etihad, midfield maestro David Silva is going at the end of this season and all-time leading goalscorer Sergio Aguero is expected to depart when his contract runs out in 2021.
The three players were pivotal to City’s rise and have been part of all four of the club’s Premier League triumphs between 2012 and last season. Read more
Lobi Stars displace Plateau Utd, top NPFL table (DailyTrust)
Lobi Stars celebrating a goal in a recent league match Lobi Stars have displaced Plateau United as the Nigeria Professional Football League leaders following a 1-0 victory over visiting MFM after the conclusion of the Match Day 14 clashes. Plateau United who at the early stages of the league seemed untouchable as they were securing victories home and away till the Jos based club suffered its first loss to Heartland in December. It was a 1-0 loss.
With two more losses to Abia Warriors and Katsina United, a supposed insurmountable lead was cut and were level on the same points with Lobi Stars who had constantly been on their heels and had lost two matches. Read more
Dakar Rally in mourning as Portuguese rider Goncalves dies in crash (Vanguard)
Portuguese motorbike rider Paulo Goncalves has died after a crash in the Dakar Rally on Sunday, the 40-year-old becoming the gruelling motorsport marathon’s 25th fatality.
Goncalves suffered the fatal accident after 276 kilometres of the seventh stage from Riyadh to Wadi ad-Dawasir.
“The organisers received an alert at 10:08 (0708 GMT) and dispatched a medical helicopter that reached the biker at 10:16 and found him unconscious after going into cardiac arrest,” a statement on the rally’s official website reported.
“Following resuscitation efforts in situ, the competitor was taken by helicopter to Layla Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead,” it added. Read more
Ronaldo continues scoring streak as Juve top Serie A (Punch)
Cristiano Ronaldo stretched his goal-scoring streak to six consecutive league games as Juventus took top spot in Serie A on Sunday with a 2-1 win at Roma, whose defeat was made worse by the cruciate ligament injury of rising star Nicolo Zaniolo.
Juventus move two points ahead of Inter Milan, who were held 1-1 by Atalanta at the San Siro on Saturday, to move top after going two goals up in just 10 minutes in Rome.
Turkish defender Merih Demiral found a way through after three minutes when he connected with a Paulo Dybala free-kick.
Minutes later Argentine Dybala was hauled down in the box, and Ronaldo stepped up to convert from the spot to make it nine goals in six league games. Read more
Peace tournament for Muslims, Christians commences in Jos North (DailyTrust)
A football tournament geared toward promoting peaceful coexistence amongst Muslims and Christians in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State has commenced. About 140 youths are participating in the tournament which is played across the various communities which constitute Jos North.
Speaking on the need for the tournament, the organizer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Displaced Women and Children Foundation and also the Director Face of Peace Global, Salis Mohammad Abdulsalam, said such tournament has the capacity to bring back the stained relationship between the two religions not only in Jos North, but in the state at large. Read more