We break into homes, boutiques at midnight to steal – suspects (Vanguard)
Two interstate robbers who are currently being investigated by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad Lagos State Police Command have revealed how they break into homes and boutiques in Lagos and Ogun State and dispossessing residents of their belongings.
The robbers, identified as Gbemi Ogunleye, 45, a fairly used cloth seller in Ijora and Ini Effiong, 32, a roadside Gala hawker in Oshodi were arrested after an all-night robbery at the resident of one church cleric in Ibafo, Ogun State.
According to 45-year old Ogunleye, apart from the fairly used clothes popularly known as ‘okrika’, which I sell in Ijora, I also sell clothes and shoes taken from our victims at night. We target boutiques and surveyed the environment days before breaking into them at night. Read more
Police arrest five suspected miscreants for ‘assault’ (Nation)
The police in Lagos have arrested five persons, including a speech-impaired man, for alleged assault on a road user at Kosofe underbridge in Mile 12.
The suspects were arrested around 4am on December 20 for allegedly attacking Mr. Emmanuel Awotayo.
Police spokesman Bala Elkana said Morufu Adebusi, Masadu Shaibu, Alalehu Mohammed, Chuka Nwefor and Usman Aliyu were caught in possession of weapons, including cutlasses and knives. Read more
Sanwo-Olu pledges to boost food, fish production (NewTelegraph)
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday said that his administration was set to boost food and fish production in the state, saying that the aquaculture life of the state would be fully explored.
To this end, the governor said fishermen and fish traders in the state would soon begin to experience a turnaround development in the fishing sector, adding that his administration had identified sustainable development in the state’s tourism potentials in aquaculture and its value chain as a driver of economic growth that would not only create jobs and contribute to poverty reduction, but would also unleash opportunities for entrepreneurship. Read more
Defence closes case on Synagogue collapsed building (Nation)
Defendants in the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed building trial have closed their case.
This was after the cross-examination of their last witness by the prosecution at a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere.
During resumed proceedings at the weekend, the court heard that the mode of collapse of SCOAN Guest House negated the characteristics of collapsed building with structural defects. Read more
Dad slaughters two of his children, leaves third half dead (NewTelegraph)
Police in Ebonyi State at the weekend arrested a middle-aged man, Chinasa Ogbaga, for allegedly butchering his two children, while leaving a third battling to live.
The deceased are six-year-old boy, Chikamso Ogbaga and four-year-old girl, Chizaram Ogbaga. The third child, who is still battling to stay alive, is a two-year-old boy named Emmanuel Ogbaga.
Little Emmanuel was rushed to Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital (AE-FETHA), Abakaliki, where he is receiving treatment. Read more
Trouble looms between Alake, Olota subjects over disputed land (Guardian)
There is apprehension over seeming tension between subjects of the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and the Olota of Ota, Oba Abudulkabir Obalanlege over disputed land in Iju-Atan, Ado-Odo Ota local government area of Ogun State.
The disputed land, occupied by six communities, is referred to as Gbalefaland. The communities are Ajegunle, Onigbongbo, Ketu Oluyomi, Atan, Kooko and Iju. They are insisting that by a court judgment, the Alake has Prescribed Authority over the communities but the Ota people sharply disagree, saying they are under the Prescribed Authority of the Olota of Ota.
The communities have therefore made a passionate appeal to the state government, State House of Assembly and the Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, to intervene immediately to avoid chaos. The Oba-elect, Alatan of Atan, Gbalefaland, Olatunji Abiodun Oluyomi, who spoke to journalists yesterday on the issue, insisted that Gbalefa is a separate entity belonging to the people of Egba under the control of the Alake of Egbaland. Read more
Angry youths protest as fire razes Ekiosa Market, torch EPDA edifice in Edo (NewTelegraph)
A mid day fire on Sunday razed the popular Ekiosa Market with goods and properties worth several millions of naira destroyed in the process in Benin the Edo State capital.
Also affected by the blaze was the five-storey building office complex of the Edo Property Development Agency (EPDA) located on Sakponba Road.
This is as angry youths protest and pelted armed soldiers and policemen deployed to the scene to prevent hoodlums from looting shops in the wake of the confusion that followed. Read more
Police deploy operatives to worship centres, markets, parks at yuletide (Guardian)
The Kano State Police Command has deployed joint operatives to forestall likely security breaches during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
It admonished residents to remain extra-vigilant and avoid moving around the metropolis with unnecessary objects during the festive period.
The police issued the warning in a statement issued by the command’s spokesman Abdullahi Haruna yesterday in which it reminded residents that the ban on political rallies and all forms of unauthorised gathering still stood, warning that whoever violated the security rules would be prosecuted. Read more
CBN slashes bank charges (Nation)
Bank charges will go down in January as the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend announced a new regime of rates.
The Card Maintenance Fee (CAMF), which many customers described as unnecessary, has been scrapped.
The Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) charge has been slashed, according to the guidelines which take effect from January 1, 2020 in furtherance of the apex bank’s quest to make financial services more accessible and affordable to various stakeholders. Read more
Government accuses US of sowing mistrust among Nigerians (Guardian)
The Federal Government yesterday rejected the United States’ (U.S.) designation of Nigeria as a country that perpetrates severe violations of religious freedom. It also accused the U.S. of attempting to sow the seed of mistrust among the various religious groups in Nigeria.
The U.S. government had last week included Nigeria on a watch list of countries it accused of stifling religious liberty.
But in a statement issued in Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the iniquitous tag stemmed from an orchestrated narrative that has long been discredited, stressing that the people of Nigeria enjoy unfettered freedom to practise their religions. Read more
Legionaries of Christ founder ‘abused 60 minors’ (Nation)
No fewer than 60 children were abused by Marcial Maciel, founder of the ultra-conservative Catholic order Legionaries of Christ, an investigation has found.
The report, published by the Roman Catholic group, said 33 priests in the order abused at least 175 minors since it was founded in 1941.
In 2006, Maciel was ordered to retire to a life of penitence after years of allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Read more
Osimhen makes history in Lille (NewTelegraph)
Victor Osimhen has joined Senegal’s Moussa Sow and Ivory Coast’s Gervinho in Lille’s exclusive goalscoring club after scoring a goal on his 18th appearance.
The 20-year-old opened the scoring at the Stade Louis II in the 13th minute to take his tally to 10 goals in his debut Ligue 1 season.
Osimhen comes behind Sow and Gervinho as the only players to have scored more goals in their first 18 matches for the Great Danes in the French top-flight. Read more
African Player of Year: CAF drops Ighalo, names Salah, Mane, Mahrez in Top Three (NewTelegraph)
Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez made the three-man shortlist for the 2019 African Player of the Year as Confederation of African as the Confederation of African Football dropped Odion Ighalo.
Ighalo was the highest scorer in both 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and AFCON tournament proper but he could not make the final cut released by CAF on Sunday.
The trio of Salah, Mane and Mahrez made significant contributions for both club and country in the year under review and a winner will be named at a ceremony in Egypt on January 7. Read more
Kickboxing has inspired my rise in boxing, says Ehwarieme (Guardian)
A U.S.-based Nigerian boxer, Onoriode Ehwarieme has revealed that his exploits in the world of kick boxing have been a major inspiration since he turned to professional boxing.
Ehwarieme, who will face an Argentine opponent in a world title contest in Lagos during GOtv Boxing Night 20 on December 28, fought at Garden City 2011 National Sports Festival, where he grabbed a silver medal in boxing.
A year later, he fought at the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival in kickboxing and won a gold medal. Read more
Lampard wants action over racist abuse of Rudiger (Vanguard)
Frank Lampard called for strong action to be taken after Antonio Rudiger suffered alleged racist abuse in Chelsea’s 2-0 win at Tottenham, but Jose Mourinho risked adding to the defender’s problems by mocking his role in Son Heung-min’s dismissal.
Rudiger appeared to be subjected to monkey chants from Tottenham fans after he was involved in a second half clash with Son that triggered the South Korean’s controversial red card.
Son kicked out at Rudiger after they collided and the German centre-back went to the turf clutching his stomach. Read more
Team Nigeria wins maiden Valuejet Para Table Tennis Open (Guardian)
Tajudeen Agunbiade and Olufemi Alabi at the weekend shone like stars at the end of the maiden ValueJet Para Table Tennis Open, which took place at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
In the men’s singles event, Agunbiade defeated Algeria’s Karim Bounedouha 11-8, 16-18, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9 to win the tie.
Also playing in the double event, Agunbiade paired with Olufemi Alabi to overcome the pair of Bounedouha and South Africa’s Theo Cogil in 7-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-7 to make it 2-0 for Team Nigeria. Read more
NFF in search of N6.4bn budget deficit, as NASS approves N1.1bn (Newtelegraph)
The Nigeria Football Federation is at loss as to how it would run its activities for 2020 because of the huge gap between its budget and what the National Assembly approved in the 2020 National Budget signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari penultimate week.
The NFF rose from its General Assembly Meeting last week and announced that it would need N7.5billion to run its activities for next year.
Although both men and women teams did not qualify for the 2020 Olympics and the Home-based Super Eagles also failed to pick the ticket for the 2020 African Nations Championship, the federation insisted it would need that huge amount to run its operation smoothly. Read more
Serie A: Atalanta hand rudderless AC Milan 5-goal thrashing (Vanguard)
Alejandro Gomez scored a stunning individual goal and Josip Ilicic notched a second-half brace as Atalanta thrashed a rudderless AC Milan 5-0 on Sunday.
The result helped to hand the former European champions their opponents their joint-heaviest Serie A defeat.
Former AC Milan player Mario Pasalic rubbed further salt into their wounds by also scoring.
It was the fourth time AC Milan have lost a Serie A match by a five-goal margin and the first since 1998. Read more
De Gea mistake just one of those things, says Solskjaer (Vanguard)
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has dismissed David de Gea’s mistake against Watford as “one of those things” after his side suffered a 2-0 defeat on Sunday.
Watford scored twice in the early stages of the second half to seal the three points against the Red Devils.
De Gea was held responsible for Watford’s first goal as Ismaila Sarr’s shot bounced past him and into the top corner before Troy Deeney converted a penalty.
The loss is United’s first in seven matches in all competitions and leaves them eighth in the Premier League, drifting further behind their rivals for a top-four finish. Read more
Nwaiwu, Nmesoma, others in today’s Marvico Badminton Championship semifinals (Guardian)
Joy Nwaiwu and Onunwa Nmesoma are among the players set for today’s semifinals of the on-going Second Marvico Open Badminton Championship holding in Obazu Mbieri, in Mbaitoli Local Government Area, Imo State.
The semifinals will hold at the Obazu badminton courts with Nwaiwu, who defeated Rachael Onyegbule 2-0 (11-3, 11-5) in the quarterfinals, and Nmesoma, who outclassed Peculiar Chieke 11-5, 11-8, battling for the finals tickets in the women’s category.
Also through to today’s semi-finals are Happiness Onyegbule and Favour Chieke, who beat Amarachi Nwaneri 11-4, 11-8 victory, and Gift Anumadu 11-9, 11-6 respectively. Read more
Carlo Ancelotti urges patience from Everton fans (Vanguard)
Carlo Ancelotti has said that patience will be required for Everton to reach the European standard that he wants them to.
The Italian has been appointed in the wake of Marco Silva’s sacking, and though the club has been stabilised by interim manager Duncan Ferguson, who led to the team to a victory over Chelsea and then draws against Manchester United and Arsenal, Ancelotti knows it will take time for success to come.
Speaking after Saturday’s tepid goalless draw with Arsenal, he nevertheless pledged to bring the glory days back to the Goodison Park outfit. Read more
Abd’Allah rues missed opportunity as Jigawa hold Enyimba (Guardian)
Enyimba Coach, Usman Abd’Allah believes his team would have left the Sani Abacha Stadium, venue of their Week Nine game against Jigawa Golden Stars, with three points if his strikers were more clinical.
Jigawa rallied to hold Enyimba to a 1-1 draw in the game dominated by the defending champions.
Enyimba took the lead in the sixth minute when Victor Mbaoma headed in Stanley Okorom’s freekick, but Jigawa drew level three minutes to the end of the half with Munir Ubale’s powerful finish. Read more