Tinubu returns to Nigeria after 3-month UK medical trip (Punch)
The National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, returned to Nigeria on Friday after about a three-month medical trip to the United Kingdom, where he underwent a knee surgery.
The former Lagos State governor arrived in Lagos barely 24 hours after the incumbent Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, inaugurated the South-West Agenda 2023 (SWAGA ‘23), a group rooting for Tinubu as the APC presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
Though Tinubu had yet to declare his intention to contest any office in 2023, there have been rumours and veiled indications that he might be interested in the exalted seat. Read more
Anxiety as ritual killings, Yahoo-plus, rape cases spread (DailyTrust)
As the end of the year draws nearer, residents of Lagos and Ogun states seem to be on the red alert following an incident that took place on Monday when two suspected ritual killers were arrested around the Jibowu area of Yaba with lifeless bodies of two young boys stuffed inside a sack and tucked in the trunk of their car.
Although an investigation is still ongoing on what the suspects intended to do with the bodies of the dead schoolchildren, residents are speculating that they were planning to use them for money rituals.
The preliminary investigation carried out by detectives in the homicide unit of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti Street, Yaba, showed that the children died of suffocation as they were still alive when they were allegedly abducted, fuelling the belief that their abductors intended to use them for money ritual.
Days earlier, four young men who left their Lagos residence to seek the help of a herbalist in Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State for money ritual were arrested by detectives attached to the South West regional security outfit, Amotekun.
The suspects were arrested at Maborede Street by the security men when their movement on a motorcycle became suspicious. Read more
LASUTH wins cardiovascular care award (Punch)
The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital won the ‘Excellence in Cardiovascular Care’ Award at the 50th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigeria Cardiac Society held in Lagos last week.
This award was given on the grounds that the hospital is renowned for her contribution to the growth and development of Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery in the country, according to a statement by the hospital on Friday.
The statement read in part, “LASUTH is one of the two tertiary hospitals carrying out open-heart surgery in Nigeria. The hospital has continued to make giant strides in improving lives of the citizens of Lagos State and environs. The soon to be quaternary hospital has over the years provided high quality healthcare to Lagosians using state-of-the-art equipment and cutting-edge technology to solve common and emerging health problems. Read more
Insecurity: SSSG partners police, DSS on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Tribune)
The Southwest Security Stakeholders Group (SSSG) on Friday expressed its readiness to support the Nigeria Police, the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) and other security agencies in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states in securing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway against banditry, Kidnapping and robbery.
The SSSG made this known after a meeting with leaders of the group across the Southwest, saying it had towards that end decided to write the police authorities in the three states on its resolve to enter into a partnership.
The group, in a statement by its spokesperson, Mr Adewole Ireti, said the reason for the request was to use the group’s strengths and networks to secure the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which had remained volatile and porous due to prolonged attacks, including robbery, killings and kidnapping and other social vices in the region.
“The letter was in response to the growing spate of insecurity along the road, which remains a major road in the region. Read more
Why cannabis cannot be legalised in Nigeria now, by Marwa (Guardian)
Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has explained why proponents of the legalisation of cannabis sativa cannot have their way under the prevailing security situation in Nigeria today.
Marwa spoke as guest speaker at the 2021 Ulefunta annual public lecture organised by the Deji of Akure kingdom, the Ondo state capital, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi and chaired by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae.
Laying the basis for his argument, the NDLEA Chief Executive said: “The proliferation of illicit drugs often engenders a pattern of crime, chaos and conflict. In the advanced world, it is the driver of high crime rate and violent killings in the inner cities. In developing or Third World countries, it is the escalator of strife, pogroms and civil war, and has played a big role in countries torn to pieces by tribal war, such as it is playing our in Syria, which has become the hotbed of Captagon, and Afghanistan, which controls the opium trade. Read more
Chinese expatriates, soldiers brutalise Ogun mechanic over missing car part (Punch)
A mechanic, Olujimi Ogunbona, has accused some Chinese expatriates and three soldiers led by one Olushola Ogunrinde of brutalising him over a missing car part.
The incident happened at Ofada, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that one of Olujimi’s customers, who is the landlord of the expatriates, connected him to the Chinese when they needed a mechanic to change their vehicle’s brake pads.
The mechanic was said to have taken the vehicle to his workshop, worked on it for four hours and returned it. Read more
Journalists renew Isiguzo’s mandate as NUJ president (ThisDay)
Journalists in Nigeria have renewed the mandate of the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ), Comrade Christopher Isiguzo, as he emerged victorious at the 7th triennial conference of the Union held in Umuahia, Abia State capital, during which other members of the National Working Committee were also elected.
Deputy National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, who was the returning officer announced the results of the poll Thursday night, saying Isiguzo polled 665 votes to beat his only opponent, Yusuf Idris who got 15 votes.
Isiguzo, who is the Enugu State Correspondent of THISDAY Newspaper, was first elected NUJ president in 2018 and successfully completed his tenure before his reelection despite litigations mounted by his opponents to stop his reelection. Read more
Bandits release 5 more students of Kaduna Baptist School (DailyTrust)
Five more students of Bethel Baptist School in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State have been released.
Rev Israel Adelani Akanji, President, Nigerian Baptist Convention, confirmed the release of the students on Friday night.
“Glory be to God. Five of our Bethel Baptist High School students and the Matron (Making 6) have just been released to us this evening, October 8.”
“We thank God and trust that the remaining four students will also be released. Thank you for your prayers and support,” he said in a statement. Read more
Brazil Passes 600,000 COVID deaths, second only to US (VOA)
The Brazilian activist group Rio da Paz (Peace in Rio) held a memorial Friday on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach to honor victims of the COVID-19 pandemic as the nation surpassed 600,000 deaths from the disease.
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource center tells the Associated Press that Brazil reached the grim milestone overnight, recording 451 deaths a day in a 7-day average over the last week.
Brazil now stands second in the world for lives lost to COVID-19, behind only the United States.
Rio de Paz strung 600 white handkerchiefs on the beach, each one symbolizing 1,000 deaths from the pandemic. Read more
Dave Chappelle mocks cancel culture over his transphobic remarks in the closer (RollingStone)
Dave Chappelle was greeted with a standing ovation from his fellow celebrities during the screening of his Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary, despite the recent controversy over his Netflix stand-up comedy special, The Closer. The comedian has received criticism about the special, which some critics say contains transphobic material.
“If this is what being canceled is like, I love it,” he said on Thursday night at the Hollywood Bowl, The Hollywood Reporter reports. He also went further, calling out specific outlets during the night: “Fuck Twitter. Fuck NBC News, ABC News, all these stupid ass networks. I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to you. This is real life.”
One of Chappelle’s offending lines in The Closer is: “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact.” In the special, Chappelle also waded into the controversy surrounding DaBaby, who was criticized for his homophobic remarks at the Rolling Loud festival and subsequently removed from several festival dates. Chappelle said that he wanted to “negotiate the release of DaBaby” with the LGBTQ community. Read more
Russia labels reporters foreign agents after Nobel award (BBC)
Hours after independent editor Dmitry Muratov was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Russian authorities have designated several publications and journalists as foreign agents.
Investigative group Bellingcat and BBC Russian journalist Andrei Zakharov are among those listed.
The term “foreign agent” was used by the Soviets for political dissidents.
It has since been used to label independent media organisations and NGOs seen as receiving foreign funding. Read more
Turin selected as host city for Eurovision Song Contest 2022 (Metro)
The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Turin, following Måneskin’s win.
The Italian broadcaster Rai has decided that the biggest live musical event in television will be held in Turin, after the city beat out other host city hopefuls Bologna, Milan, Pesaro and Rimini.
Eurovision’s executive supervisor Martin Österdahl said: ‘Turin is the perfect Host City for the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.
‘As we saw during the 2006 Winter Olympics, PalaOlimpico exceeds all the requirements needed to stage a global event of this scale and we have been very impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment from the City of Turin who will welcome thousands of fans next May. Read more
Facebook apologises as services including Instagram hit again (BBC)
Facebook has apologised after again reporting problems with its services, days after a major outage hit WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook for hours.
The company said that a “configuration change” had impacted users globally.
It added that the incident was not related to the outage that saw its products taken offline for over six hours earlier this week.
Its Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Workplace products had been affected, it said. Read more
Biden blocks attempt by Trump to withhold White House documents from Jan. 6 probe (USAToday)
President Joe Biden’s administration formally rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to withhold White House documents from a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a letter Friday to the National Archives obtained by USA TODAY, White House Counsel Dana Remus wrote that “President Biden has determined that any assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interest of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents.”
“As President Biden has stated,” Remus continued, “the insurrection that took place on January 6, and the extraordinary events surrounding it, must be subject to a full accounting to ensure nothing similar ever happens again.” Read more
Nations agree to 15% minimum corporate tax rate (BBC)
Most of the world’s nations have signed up to a historic deal to ensure big companies pay a fairer share of tax.
Some 136 countries have agreed to enforce a corporate tax rate of at least 15%, as well a fairer system of taxing profits where they are earned.
It follows concern that multinational companies are re-routing profits through lower tax jurisdictions.
Yet some say that a 15% rate is too low and big companies will get around the rules. Read more
Ajagba aims for 16th career win against Sanchez (Punch)
Nigerian boxer Efe Ajagba will be aiming to make it 16 wins from 16 fights when he takes on Frank Sanchez in Nevada, later tonight with the undefeated Cuban putting his WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title on the line.
Ajagba has a perfect professional record of 15 wins from 15 fights, with 12 of those by knockout.
Trained by two-time trainer of the year Eddy Reynoso, is also banking on his ferocious punch to knockout Sanchez.
The 29-year-old Cuban is regarded by many as the favourite and superior boxer, while Ajagba is dismissed as a power-punching boxer.
“I see and hear a lot of people say that, but I don’t care,” Ajagba said ahead of the bout. Read more
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder both weigh in at career heaviest for trilogy showdown (Metro)
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have both weighed in at their career heaviest for their trilogy showdown.
Reigning WBC heavyweight champion Fury hit the scales at 277lbs at Friday’s weigh-in in Las Vegas, 4lbs up from his victory over ‘The Bronze Bomber’ in February 2020.
Wilder struggled to physically match ‘The Gypsy King’ on that night. In response, the American has also packed on the muscle ahead of Saturday’s clash, weighing in at 238lbs.
As was the case during Wednesday’s final press conference, there was no face-off between the two fighters on stage which a sizeable security presence around the two and their respective teams. Read more
Kamaru Usman praises Colby Covington ahead of UFC 268 rematch (Guardian)
The rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington has gotten off to a far more civil start than their previous meeting, writes www.lowkickmma.com.
Usman and Covington first met face-to-face at UFC 245. The lead-up to the fight featured more than it’s fair share of trash talk from either side, most of it going far beyond the usual pre-fight build up.
However, when all was said and done, Usman got the last laugh with a fifth round stoppage to defend his welterweight title. Read more
Leeds’ Raphinha helps Brazil to comeback win (BBC)
Leeds winger Raphinha helped Brazil to fight back to a 3-1 win over Venezuela after coming off the bench for his international debut.
The 24-year-old, who withdrew from a squad in September as Premier League clubs blocked players going to high-risk Covid areas, set up two goals.
“Tite asked me to do what I did with Leeds,” said Raphinha, referring to Brazil’s coach.
“I don’t think I let him, nor my team-mates, nor the Brazil fans down.” Read more
Brit boxer Courtenay points to menstrual cycle causing weight miss as she is stripped of title (RT)
British boxer Shannon Courtenay said the onset of her menstrual cycle caused her to miss weight as she came in over the limit for her showdown against Jamie Mitchell, leading to her being stripped of the WBA bantamweight belt.
Courtenay, 28, came in at 120.5lbs in Liverpool on Friday – missing the limit by 2.5lbs – although the contest will still go ahead on the card headed by local rivals Anthony Fowler and Liam Smith at the M&S Bank Arena.
“Thank you to everyone that’s been messaging to check on me and send me love,” wrote Courtenay on Instagram.
“We had no weight issues during camp and all week I’ve been in a really good place and ready.
“We were on weight and ready to go yesterday and then last night unexpectedly my menstrual cycle started which for obvious reasons makes woman gain weight,” added the star, who won the title on points in her last fight Australian rival Ebanie Bridges back in April. Read more
England’s World Cup qualifier to go ahead despite fire at Andorra’s stadium (Metro)
England are due to play Andorra at the Estadi Nacional on Saturday (Picture: Simon Peach/PA Wire)
England’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Andorra will go ahead despite a fire breaking out at the national stadium just over 24 hours before the game kicked off.
On Friday afternoon, fire was seen engulfing the TV gantry at the Estadi Nacional stadium where Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions kick-off on Saturday night.
The fire was put out quickly by staff and firefighters but one of the dugouts and a small area of the pitch were damaged.
Despite initial fears the game would be called off, the Andorran Football Association have confirmed the match will go ahead with the clean up operation underway. Read more