Traffic laws: We will remain civil but firm, LASTMA tells motorists (Punch)
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority has allayed the fear of motorists over the enforcement of traffic law in the state. The agency assured members of the public, especially motorists not to be apprehensive over the fines being circulated on social media platforms as it was not a punitive measure but part of the law and measures that have been put in place to restore sanity to roads in the State. In a statement signed by the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olawale Musa, it was revealed that the 2018 traffic law was an improvement of the 2012 law. Read more
DSP Omo-Agege appoints Chief of Staff, Media Adviser, Media aide (Nation)
The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie 0mo-Agege, has approved the appointments of Dr. Otive Igbuzor as his Chief of Staff and Mr. Yomi Odunuga as Special Adviser, Media and Publicity. He also announced the appointment of Ms. Lara Owoeye-Wise as Senior Special Assistant on Electronic and New Media. Omo-Agege, in a statement personally signed by him and released by his office on Thursday, explains that the appointments which take immediate effect are based on merit. Read more
Court quashes Ganduje’s quest to vacate status quo on new emirates (Guardian)
A Kano high court has refused to grant Kano state government’s application to vacate orders directing all parties to maintain status quo on the appointment and inauguration of the new four emirs in Kano. A member of Kano state house of assembly, Habibu Sale Gwarzo had sought the leave of the court to stop Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, speaker Kano state house of assembly and four other defendants from further action on the inauguration, appointment and issuance of staff of office to the newly established emirates, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. Read more
Another APC candidate withdraws petition against PDP at Plateau tribunal (Punch)
Plateau North Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Rufus Bature has withdrawn his petition challenging the victory of Senator Istifanus Gyang of the Peoples Democratic Party at the State and National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal. The decision of Bature, a former Secretary to the State Government to withdraw his petition against Gyang came barely one week after two other candidates of the APC for Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency and that of Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency withdrew their petitions against the PDP candidates who won the elections. Read more
Islamic State claims 12 Nigeria soldiers killed in Gajiram attack (Guardian)
The Islamic State has claimed it killed 12 Nigerian troops and others injured on Monday when its fighters attacked “a barracks of the apostate Nigerian Army” in Gajiram, Nganzai local government area of Borno State. The terrorist group said three armored vehicles, “tanks” and four-wheel-drive vehicles were destroyed and the base was burned, and that weapons, ammunition and 4×4` vehicles were captured. Read more
Miyetti Allah leadership proposes Umahi for president in 2023 (Nation)
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) Thursday endorsed Governor Dave Umahi for the presidency of Nigeria come 2023. At the well-attended South East Security Summit in Enugu, the national president of the group, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa told the gathering without mincing words that Umahi is the next president of Nigeria after Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure ends in 2023. Read more
FG charges Senator Nwaoboshi with false assets declaration at CCT (Punch)
The Federal Government has filed three counts of false declaration of assets against Delta-North Senator, Peter Nwaoboshi, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The charges were filed by the Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions, Federal Ministry of Justice on Monday. A copy of the charges was obtained on Thursday. Read more
Drama as two speakers emerge at Bauchi House of Assembly (Guardian)
A crisis ensued at Bauchi State House of Assembly when two speakers emerged after the inauguration of the 9th Assembly on Thursday. The drama started when the 9th assembly of the state was inaugurated then eight lawmakers of the minority People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with three of the majority All Progressives Congress (APC) elected Abubakar Suleiman, an APC member, who represents Ningi constituency as the speaker. Read more
No deployment of NYSC corps member to crisis prone areas in Niger (Nation)
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Coordinator in Niger state, Mrs. Funmilayo Ajayi has said that no Corps Member would be posted to Shiroro local government area and other areas that are prone to violence and attacks in the state. Just as she said that all Corps members serving in these areas have been redeployed to other areas. Ajayi stated this while speaking to newsmen after the 2019 Batch ‘B orientation course and swearing in of corps members to Niger state at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Paiko. Read more
Snakes invade Anambra hospital six months after morgue got burnt —Lawmaker (Punch)
Snakes and rodents have taken over the Enugwu Ukwu General Hospital in the Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State. This is coming barely six months after scores of corpses got burnt in the hospital’s morgue. The lawmaker representing the area in the Anambra State House Assembly, Timothy Ifedioramma raised the issue during plenary on Thursday. Read more
PENCOM commences verification of prospective retirees (Nation)
The acting Director-General of National Pension Commission, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar on Thursday in Kano stated the Commission has concluded arrangement to verification of prospective retirees for the year 2020. Mrs. Dahir-Umar who spoke through the Assistant General Manager of PENCOM, Malami Bunza, during a Pre-retirement workshop organized for Federal Civil Servants due to retire in 2020, the verification exercise is scheduled to hold from July 1 to August 2 in 15 centres across the country. Read more
Gay refugees sent back to ‘homophobic Kenya camp’ (BBC)
Kenya’s government has ordered a group of 76 refugees to return to a camp they had fled after some of them faced homophobic attacks, a UN agency says. Police with guns escorted the group on to buses on Wednesday night, photos sent to the BBC by the refugees show. The group had been living in temporary accommodation in the capital, Nairobi, after fleeing the refugee camp. Read more
South Sudan lawmakers block annual budget to demand overdue pay (Guardian)
The South Sudan parliament on Wednesday withheld approval of the government’s next budget in protest that troops and some civil servants in the oil-rich country have gone unpaid for months. The government is proposing a 2019/2020 budget of 208 billion South Sudanese pounds (1.17 billion euros/$1.3 billion), anticipating a deficit of 77 billion pounds. Most of the funds are intended for infrastructure development, to be financed by oil revenue. Read more
Tory leadership: Sajid Javid knocked out of contest (BBC)
Sajid Javid has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race, leaving three contenders vying for the job and to be the next prime minister. The home secretary received 34 votes, coming behind Jeremy Hunt with 59. Michael Gove received 61 votes, leapfrogging Mr Hunt to gain second place; while frontrunner Boris Johnson got 157 votes from MPs. Read more
Biden refuses to apologise for working with racist senators (BBC)
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has refused to apologise for reminiscing on his work with two long-dead racist senators. But amid a firestorm of criticism, the ex-US vice-president said he had “detested” the views of late senators who favoured separating the races. His rivals have blasted him for saying senators once “got things done” with “civility” with the segregationists. Read more
‘Hit-and-run driver killed pregnant mom and her son, 2, in random attack’ (Metro)
A driver killed a pregnant mother and her two-year-old son in a random hit-and-run incident that police say was intentional. William Phillips, 33, ‘swerved and intentionally struck a pedestrian’ on Monday in Jefferson City, Tennessee, then hit the pregnant mother and her son less than a mile down the road. Authorities say Sierra Cahoon, a pregnant 30-year-old, and her son Nolan, 2, were pronounced dead at the scene after the ‘intentional act of violence.’ Read more
Turkey jails 151 for life in ‘coup ringleaders’ trial (Punch)
A Turkish court on Thursday gave life sentences to 151 people including senior military officers in one of the biggest trials over the 2016 failed bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The judge handed 128 of those convicted between one and 141 aggravated life terms each over the deaths of 139 people, for “violating the constitution” and “attempting to assassinate the president”, the private DHA news agency reported. Such sentences carry harsher prison conditions. Read more
MH17 crash: Malaysia PM Mahathir denounces murder charges (BBC)
A day after the MH17 plane crash inquiry team announced murder charges against four men, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has condemned the decision as “ridiculous”. The three Russians and a Ukrainian are accused of bringing a missile into eastern Ukraine which shot the Malaysian Airlines plane down. All 298 people on board were killed. Read more
Seven children missing after vehicle falls into canal in India (Punch)
No fewer than seven children went missing on Thursday after a vehicle carrying 29 people fell into a canal in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said. According to the police, 22 people were rescued from the canal and search for the missing ones was underway. The accident took place in the morning in Nagram area on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. Read more
Women’s World Cup: We’re where we want to be, says England coach (Punch)
Phil Neville, Coach of English football team in ongoing FIFA Women World Cup in France, has said that the players have taken the team where it wants to be. They are “right where they want to be,” he said after the team secured victory over Japan and progressed to the knockout stages as group winners. Forward, Ellen White, scored in both halves of the game as England beat 2011 champions, Japan, 2-0 in Nice to secure top spot in Group D with a perfect record. Read more
Messi salvages point in Argentina draw (BBC)
Lionel Messi salvaged a vital point for Argentina as they struggled in a 1-1 draw against Paraguay in the Copa America in Belo Horizonte. The Barcelona forward’s 57th-minute penalty cancelled out a first-half opener from Paraguay’s Richard Sanchez. Argentina remain bottom of Group B with one point from two games. Read more
Aaron Wan-Bissaka agrees £80,000-a-week deal to join Manchester United (Metro)
Crystal Palace defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka has agreed personal terms with Manchester United ahead of a move to Old Trafford. The right-back is expected to become United’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of Daniel James from Swansea City. United had two bids rejected for Wan-Bissaka but reports on Wednesday claimed they had struck a deal that could eventually rise to £55million. Read more
Ray Parlour speaks out as Arsenal prepare for Lucas Torreira bidding war (Metro)
Ray Parlour has claimed that Arsenal may be powerless to prevent Lucas Torreira from leaving the club this summer. Torreira completed a £26million move from Sampdoria last summer and the 23-year-old had a promising debut season at the Emirates, making 50 appearances in all competitions. However, Torreira admitted earlier this month that he’s struggled to settle into life in England and AC Milan are looking to lure the midfielder to the San Siro. Read more
Semenya to race 800m for first time since gender ban (Guardian)
Caster Semenya will race in the 800m at the Stanford Diamond League on June 30 in her first outing over the distance since she launched a legal battle against new rules targeting athletes with hyperandrogenism. The double Olympic champion was cleared to compete in the event after Switzerland’s top court upheld her appeal against an IAAF ruling obliging women with higher than normal male hormone levels to artificially lower their testosterone before competing in races at distances of 400m to the mile. Read more
