Troops rescue 14 kidnap victims, neutralise bandit in Kaduna (Guardian)
Troops of Sector Four of “Operation Whirl Punch’’, and Special Forces of the 167 Battalion of the Nigerian Army have cleared a bandits hideout in a fierce encounter in Kaduna State.
Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the development in a statement he issued on Saturday in Kaduna.
Aruwan said the troops who embarked on a long range fighting patrol to Tukurua general area of Chikun Local Government Area of the state, engaged and overpowered the criminals, neutralised one, while others fled in disarray. Read more
Old notes: Mixed reactions trail Supreme Court judgement (Vanguard)
Stakeholders in the energy sector have expressed divergent views on the Supreme Court judgment over the extension of the use of old Naira notes till December 31.
They expressed their different views in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
NAN reports that the Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the old N200, N500, N1,000 notes remain legal tender and would be in circulation till December 31. Read more
Police nab 6 suspected robbers terrorising Lagos community (Punch)
The Lagos State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of six suspected members of armed robbery gangs for allegedly dispossessing unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables in the Ajegunle and Alaba-Rago areas of the state.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the development in a statement on Saturday, said a locally-made gun, a motorcycle, and two phones were recovered from the suspects.
Noting that efforts were on to arrest other fleeing members of the two gangs, Hundeyin said the suspects would be charged to court. Read more
6 senators, 34 reps: LP wave hits National Assembly (Tribune)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, released the breakdown of results for the National Assembly elections held on Saturday, February 25, with Labour Party (LP) now third in the list of parties with the most seats in the house.
The Commission said winners have been declared for 423 national assembly seats while supplementary elections will be held in 46 constituencies.
According to INEC chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, 98 out of 109 senate seats have been declared while in the house of representatives, 325 out of 360 seats have been decided. Read more
Elections: Violence won’t stop us next weekend — Lagos youths (Tribune)
The violence that characterised last weekend’s presidential and National Assembly elections in Lagos State won’t stop youths in the state from participating in next weekend’s governorship and House of Assembly elections, Saturday Tribune has learnt.
A survey conducted by the newspaper showed that the voting group which was in majority in last Saturday’s election was undeterred by the violence unleashed by thugs during the polls.
Most young voters in the state have professed to be anti-establishment and are believed to have contributed to the upset recorded in the presidential election in the state. Read more
Onoh begs Igbos in Lagos to re-elect Sanwo-Olu (Nation)
The South East Presidential campaign spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Josef Onoh has pleaded with Igbos residing in Lagos to re-elect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on March 11.
Onoh, in a statement, said that Sanwo-Olu has shown affection and support for the Igbos in Lagos in the past four years and deserves reciprocation from well-meaning Igbos who are good tenants and have over the years shown fidelity in project Lagos State.
He said: “I recall how he helped former super Eagles captain, Henry Nwosu, who was at the point of death and couldn’t get any assistance even from our Igbo brothers, Sanwo-Olu took over Nwosu’s treatment just three hours after being notified, flew him from a hospital in Asaba to LUTH Lagos and went further to build a house for him,” Onoh recalled. Read more
12 persons die in Rivers oil pipeline explosion (Guardian)
The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed that 12 persons died in yesterday’s oil pipeline explosion at the Rumurkpe community in the Emuoha Local Council of Rivers State. The incident happened at a tap head of the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) in the area.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement, said preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were scooping crude oil products when the explosion occurred. She also revealed that 12 people lost their lives while five vehicles, four tricycles and a motorcycle, were burnt.
She said: “Preliminary investigation by the Police Command indicates that the victims were scooping crude oil products when the fire was ignited. So far, about 12 persons are believed to have been burnt to death. The identities of the victims are still unknown.
Five vehicles, four tricycles, and one motorcycle were all burnt to ashes.” Read more
INEC Chairman holds meeting with RECs, promises use of BVAS in gov elections (Channels)
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used in the forthcoming governorship and state legislature elections.
Yakubu gave the assurance on Saturday in an ongoing meeting with all Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
According to him, the BVAS machines will be used for the elections, though the devices are being worked on to avoid a repeat of the glitches recorded with last Saturday’s elections. Read more
Cate Blanchett dances wildly in Sparks’ new video (Pitchfork)
Sparks have enlisted Cate Blanchett for the video of the title track from their new album, The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael co-directed the video with Richie Starzec. Watch the Tár star fling out an array of Stop Making Sense–style moves while wearing a vibrant yellow suit.
Of the team-up, the Maels told Variety, “We met Cate Blanchett in Paris at the César Awards last year, little knowing that a year later, one of the great actors of our time (and a splendid person!) would graciously consent to lending her bootie-shaking skills to the first video from our new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte. Dreams really do come true. We will sleep well tonight knowing that forever we can say we co-starred in a film with Cate Blanchett!”
The new album, out May 26, is Sparks’ first with Island since leaving the label in 1976. Read about what happened next in Pitchfork’s Sunday Review of the landmark 1979 album No. 1 in Heaven. Read more
Hugh Grant admits to tantrums and ”lashing out at a stranger” on set of new movie (Mirror)
Hugh Grant admitted he had “tantrums” and “lashed out” at a stranger on the set of his new movie, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” and compared himself to Christian Bale.
Spending time in Northern Ireland to film for the hotly-anticipated movie, the 62-year-old actor revealed that his stress got the best of him as he confessed to losing his cool on set.
The Golden Globe Award winner admitted to ‘having a couple of tantrums’ during an interview with the Daily Mail. Read more
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu sequel takes a big step forward (DigitalSpy)
Pokémon’s Detective Pikachu sequel is taking an exciting step forward as the film has finally found its director.
According to Deadline, Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel is in talks to direct the sequel. The film will be written by Chris Galletta.
The first film was directed by Rob Letterman and starred Ryan Reynolds, Ken Watanabe, Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton. Read more
50 Cent’s Sire Spirits sues Staten Island couple for alleged embezzlement (NYPost)
50 Cent’s luxe booze company claims a one-time drug dealer paved the way for an executive to allegedly steal millions from the business.
The rapper’s Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi, or The King’s Path, champagne go for $200 and $150 or more per bottle, respectively — but that’s nothing compared to the $6.2 million the Queens-born musician’s Sire Spirits says it lost in the alleged embezzlement scheme.
Michael Caruso, who works for beverage company Beam Suntory — owner of whiskey brands Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark — connected Sire Spirits with a man named Mitchel Green, according to a lawsuit. Read more
J. Cole contemplates retirement on new collaboration with BTS’ J-Hope (HipHopDX)
J. Cole has hinted he might be looking to retire from the music industry in a new track with BTS star J-Hope titled “On the Street.”
On the K-pop artist’s new track, which dropped on Thursday (March 2), Cole spits a set of lyrics that give off the energy of a man looking to move on to greener pastures.
“Some days, I wonder if I need to pick a different hobby/ I’m deep in with this rappin’, it’s all a n-gga know/ I never didn’t nothin’ better, it’s hard to let it go/ But like a father watching his daughter/ Walk down the altar with tears in his eyes/ You gotta let her grow,” he raps. Read more
Oxygen plant blast kills at least 5 in Bangladesh (StraitsTimes)
At least five people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion at an oxygen plant outside Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong on Saturday, officials said.
The blast rocked the oxygen unit of the Sheema steel re-rolling mill in the industrial town of Sitakunda, 40km from Chittagong.
The incident occurred at around 4.30pm local time, trapping “many workers” inside the plant, local police chief Tofael Ahmed said. Read more
Hundreds evacuated as Pertamina fire kills at least 17 in Jakarta (AlJazeera)
Residents have searched through the remains of their charred homes after a fuel storage depot fire in Jakarta killed at least 17 people, including two children.
The fire, which started at approximately 8pm (01:00 GMT) on Friday from a fuel pipe at Pertamina’s Plumpang fuel storage depot in capital Jakarta, quickly spread to nearby houses and sent residents in the densely populated area into a panic.
Sixty people were injured, with many severely burned, while hundreds more living in residential areas near the depot had to be evacuated. Read more
More misery as D’Tigers miss 2023 FIBA W’Cup ticket (DailyTrust)
Without doubt, the recent failure of the men’s national basketball team of Nigeria, D’Tigers to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup has broken the hearts of millions of Nigerian basketball fans and underscored the country’s steady decline in the sport.
The pain of the mishap is almost unbearable to most fans of the game because they expected the male team to hoist the country’s flag at the world stage again after their female compatriots were kicked out of the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup following the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw all the national teams from international competitions.
It will be recalled that D’Tigress had qualified for the World Cup which was held in Sydney, Australia last year after defeating France and Mali during the Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade. Read more
AFCON U20: Flying Eagles to face Gambia Monday (Sun)
The Flying Eagles of Nigeria will face the Gambia U20 national team in the semi-final of the 2023 CAF U20 African Nations Cup.
Nigeria on Thursday edged Uganda 1-0 to pick the semi-final and World Cup tickets while Gambia walloped South Sudan 5-0 to set up the semi-final tie and also picked the FIFA U20 World Cup ticket.
Adama Bojan scored a hat trick for Gambia in the 7th, 33rd and 47th minutes. Read more
Man City beat Newcastle to keep the pressure on Arsenal (RTE)
Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva struck as Manchester City maintained their pursuit of Premier League leaders Arsenal with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Newcastle.
Foden opened the scoring at the Etihad Stadium after a superb run before Silva came off the bench to secure the points from a feisty encounter in the second half.
Foden’s brilliant 15th-minute effort, albeit coming with the aid of a deflection, gave the champions a deserved interval lead but Newcastle, looking to get back to winning ways after a poor run, fought back. Read more
Mourinho able to lead Roma in clash with Juventus after appeal (FootballItalia)
The Court of Appeal has decided to suspend Jose Mourinho’s two-game ban, allowing him to sit in the dugout for Roma’s blockbuster clash with Juventus.
The Portugese coach was given a two-match suspension after being shown a red card in the 2-1 defeat to Cremonese. Mourinho clashed with fourth official Marco Serra before his sending off, after the official told him to ‘mind his f*cking business’ after the Roma coach questioned a missed call.
As announced today, the Court of Appeal has temporarily suspended Mourinho’s two-game ban pending a final decision, allowing him to take part in Roma’s upcoming Serie A clash with Juventus. Read more
US Open, USTA back Djokovic’s bid to enter US despite unvaccinated status (France24)
Novak Djokovic’s bid to gain entry to the United States for ATP events at Indian wells and Miami received support from the US Tennis Association and US Open organizers on Friday.
The Serbian star is currently barred from entering the United States because he is unvaccinated against Covid-19, but has petitioned US authorities for special permission to enter.
The US Open Twitter feed featured a post on Friday saying American tennis authorities hoped he would be allowed to enter. Read more
Strade Bianche Donne 2023: Demi Vollering beats team-mate Lotte Kopecky in thrilling sprint finish (Eurosport)
Dutch star Demi Vollering took the Strade Bianche Donne title on Saturday in thrilling fashion over defending champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) and Kristen Faulkner (Team Jayco-AIUla).
Billed as a battle between world champion (and two-time winner) Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and last year’s victor, Belgium’s Kopecky (SD Worx), in the end the unstoppable Belgian team train rumbled on. After a first one-two of the season a week ago at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, they gained a second perfect result on the white roads of Tuscany.
The race got off to a fast start, and the first 40km were completed in one hour and minutes. That put them ahead of the fastest projected finish schedule. Read more