Yoruba Nation rally: Coroner’s inquest into salesgirl’s death begins (Punch)
A coroner’s inquest into the death of Jumoke Oyeleke, the salesgirl, who was allegedly killed by a stray bullet during the Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos on July 3, began on Monday.
The coroner’s inquest, headed by Chief Magistrate M. K. O. Fadeyi, was held at the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court, Ogba.
Speaking at Monday’s sitting, Fadeyi stated the importance of the inquest, saying justice would be served. Read more
Traders move to avert total closure of Ladipo spare parts market (Guardian)
Traders at Ladipo International Auto Spare Parts Market, Mushin, yesterday, seem to have woken up to their environmental duties to avert total closure of the multi-billion-naira market.
The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), had on Friday, announced the closure of the popular market over sanitation infractions.
The government accused the traders of contravening repeated environmental warnings against indiscriminate dumping of junk auto parts.
The closure of the market was confirmed by Assistant Director of Public Affairs for LAWMA, Hakeem Akinleye, who lamented that the market leadership failed to redress the issue of environmental infractions despite warnings from the authority. Read more
COVID-19: FG raises alarm over Delta variant in Lagos, A/Ibom, Kwara, others (DailyTrust)
The federal government has raised the alarm over the rising cases of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 in the country, especially in seven states.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, PSC, Boss Mustapha, raised the alarm on Monday in Abuja at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19.
He said the affected states are Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Rivers, Kano, Plateau, and FCT.
While noting that the PSC has been working on the rising number of COVID-19 cases and proffer ways to curtain a huge impact on citizens lives and livelihood, Mustapha said: “The world has added about 4 million cases and under 100,000 deaths in the last week. All countries in the West African region are beginning to see the 3rd Wave while Nigeria is recording about 500 cases daily in the last seven days.” Read more
Lagos to float housing fund (Nation)
The Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Mr Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, has said the government will soon unveil an Affordable Housing Development Trust Fund to bridge housing gap in the state.
He spoke to The Nation during the inspection of ongoing projects at the weekend.
According to him, the fund, to be established with Arctic Infrastructure, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), is intended to support property developers and home owners.
“The fund will reduce the challenge of financing housing development and empower people, particularly the low- and medium income earners to access housing without undue financial stress. When you talk of construction, the development partners are people in business and people who are going to live in these houses,” he said. Read more
FG confirms COVID-19 3rd wave amid doctor’s strike (Guardian)
Lagos State has recorded about 30 deaths since the COVID-19 third wave hit Nigeria last month. This dreadful disclosure came from the state’s pandemic incident commander, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday while briefing reporters on the COVID-19 situation report at the State House in Alausa, Ikeja.
According to him, the state has recorded about six deaths daily in the last week. As a result, he implored residents to sit up and observe all COVID-19 protocols while event centres and religious groups should ensure compliance from all those coming into their facilities.
Providing the update, Sanwo-Olu said: “From the beginning of the outbreak in February 2020 to date, Lagos State has recorded a total of 64,032 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 56,336 have recovered in the community, 2,755 are currently being managed actively in the community. Read more
DSS keeps four Igboho aides, produces eight, assaults journalists in court (Punch)
There was a mild drama at the Federal High Court Abuja on Monday as the court tried to identify the 12 detained aides of Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
The confusion arose when the court sought to ascertain the identities of those that were produced and those that were not produced in court by the Department of State Services.
When the matter came up before Justice Obiora Egwuatu, the DSS only produced eight of the detained Igbobo’s aides in court. The produced aides consisted of seven males and one female.
Recall that The PUNCH had earlier reported that Justice Egwuatu had ordered the DSS to produce all the 12 detained aides. Read more
Medical services crippled, patients stranded as Resident Doctors down tools (DailyTrust)
Patients of public hospitals across the country were left stranded on Monday as members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) downed tools following the failure of the government to fulfill its promises on salary payment, hazard allowance, medical residency training fees, and COVID-19 allowance among others.
Findings by Daily Trust indicate that while patients on admission in some of the hospitals were hurriedly discharged and asked to leave the hospitals, outpatients were denied access to the health facilities.
NARD had in a communiqué issued Saturday after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Umuahia, Abia State said it would resume its nationwide strike on Monday, August 2, following the inability of the federal and state governments to meet its demands and implement the memorandum of action after 113 days.
The association had suspended its indefinite nationwide strike, earlier this year, following a Memorandum of Actions (MOA) signed at the instance of the Minister of Labour, Sen. Dr. Chris Ngige. Read more
Death toll in Bassa crisis rises to 20, coalition says it’s reprisal (Guardian)
About 20 persons have been confirmed dead in Miango, Bassa Local Council of Plateau State, where the Fulani militia and the natives were fighting.
The National Publicity Officer of Irigwe Youth Movement, Lawrence Zongo, said on Sunday that seven were killed.
However, yesterday evening, the Miango spokesman, Nuhu Bitrus, said that he would not speak to journalists until he had seen it all.
However, a resident confirmed to The Guardian that the number of casualties had risen to 20. This figure could not be confirmed, however, as at press time. Read more
Vigilante mistakenly shoots Delta community leader dead, beaten to death (Punch)
A local vigilante, Mr David Power, has been beaten to death for allegedly killing a former President-General of the Ukpiovwin community in the Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the incident happened at the community’s secondary school during the swearing-in of the new executive committee, where the victim, Mr Fredrick Ighoshemusua, handed over to his successor.
An eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated, “Ighoshemusua’s tenure as president-general of the community ended and he had successfully handed over to his successor when he met his untimely death.
“While the celebration was on, the former PG left for his house. After some time, it was discovered that he was no longer there and they sent for him to take part in a group photograph. Read more
Inside Meghan Markle’s ‘low-key’ 40th birthday plans (PageSix)
Meghan Markle will celebrate a low-key 40th birthday on Wednesday — though husband Prince Harry may still whisk her off on an intimate getaway, sources tell Page Six.
There are no plans for a big party for the Duchess of Sussex, who only recently gave birth to her daughter Lilibet, we’re told.
Markle turns 40 on the same day former President Obama celebrates his 60th birthday, which will be followed by a huge bash at his Martha’s Vineyard home over the weekend. The Sussexes are not planning to attend Obama’s party.
While it was rumored that Markle is having a grand bash with Oprah Winfrey’s A-list party planner Colin Cowie at the helm, this is absolutely not happening. Read more
“Suicide Squad”: Major character death in first 15 minutes sends fans wild (Metro)
The Suicide Squad has delighted and baffled fans in equal measure, with James Gunn’s DC movie being a gory, bizarre bonanza.
The follow-up to David Ayer’s 2016 flick features a star-studded cast, with the returning Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn alongside the likes of Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), Pete Davidson (Blackguard), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Nathan Fillion (TDK), and Peter Capaldi (The Thinker).
However, not everyone makes it to the end of the film. In fact, not everyone makes it to the half-hour point. Read more
Boeing set for re-run of Starliner space capsule test (BBC)
The American Boeing company is about to run another demonstration mission of its new astronaut capsule.
The CST-100 Starliner is set to launch from Florida to showcase how it can ferry crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
It will be the second test flight, and conducted with no people aboard.
A similar demonstration run in 2019, encountered software problems that very nearly resulted in the loss of the capsule. Read more
A 3rd cop who responded to Capitol riot has died by suicide (Metro)
A third police officer who responded to the January 6 Capitol Riot has killed himself.
DC Metropolitan police officer Gunther Hashida, 43, took his own life on July 29, according to a GoFundMe account set up by his family. His death was confirmed by DC’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Details around Hashida’s death were not immediately disclosed. His family has not said that his death was owed to the Capitol riot.
Hashida is survived by his wife, three children and a sister. Read more
Twitter works with news sites to tackle disinformation (BBC)
Twitter will collaborate with two of the largest international news providers, Reuters and the Associated Press, to debunk disinformation on its messaging site.
The news agencies will help Twitter give more context and background information on events which create a high volume of tweets.
Twitter hopes this will counteract the spread of misleading information.
There has been renewed pressure to remove false content from the platform. Read more
Dizzee Rascal charged with assaulting woman in domestic altercation (Metro)
Dizzee Rascal has been charged with assaulting a woman following a domestic incident.
The 36-year-old rapper, real name Dylan Mills, is due to appear in court in September following the alleged attack, which is said to have taken place at the woman’s flat in Streatham, South London.
Police arrived at the scene where the victim reported minor injuries but was not taken to hospital.
A spokesperson for The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on 8 June. Read more
Ese Brume wins Nigeria’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics (BBC)
Long jumper Ese Brume has won Nigeria’s first medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after clinching bronze in the final event of the women’s long jump.
Her 6.97 meters jump came just short of 0.3 of Germany’s Malaika Mihambo’s 7.00 meters and American Brittney Reese’s 6.97 meters. Reese won the event at the 2012 Olympics.
Brume moved right into the lead, jumping 6.97 meters on her first try. But she came behind Brittney Reese after leaping 6.67 meters in the second jump and fouling her third.
She pulled ahead again with 6.88 meters on her fourth attempt, just a fraction ahead of Reese’s 6.87 meters.
Mihambo, who was in the third position, however, jumped ahead of both Brume and Reese with a last-gasp 7-meter leap to clinch the gold medal. Read more
Oborududu guns for Olympic wrestling gold today (Punch)
Nigerian wrestler Blessing Oborududu is one fight away from winning a gold medal after qualifying for the final of the women’s freestyle 68kg on Monday.
The final, which takes place on Tuesday (today), has Oborududu battling USA’s Tamyra Mensah-Stock for a historic wrestling medal, as no Nigerian wrestler ever won a medal at the Games.
Oborududu qualified for the final after defeating Mongolia’s Soronzonboldyn Battsetseg 7-2 in the semi-finals. Read more
Tokyo Olympics: Soufiane El Bakkali ends Kenyan run of success in steeplechase (BBC)
Kenya’s phenomenal run of success in the Olympic men’s 3,000m steeplechase came to an end as Soufiane El Bakkali won gold on day 10 of Tokyo 2020.
The 25-year-old clocked eight minutes 8.90 seconds to beat Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma and Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen and win Morocco’s first medal in Tokyo.
Kenyans have won the event at every Games they have competed at since 1968.
“I am so used to seeing Kenyans win, it’s a big accomplishment for me,” said a delighted El Bakkali.
“I have been aiming for this for years and this was my opportunity to show that Morocco is capable of winning this prize. Read more
Tottenham to fine Harry Kane after striker fails to report for pre-season training (Metro)
Tottenham reportedly intend to slap Harry Kane with a hefty fine after the forward skipped pre-season training in an attempt to force through a move to Manchester City.
Kane first intimated his desire to leave Spurs in May and was nowhere to be seen as the rest of Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad reported for duty at the club’s Enfield training base on Monday, with the 2021/22 Premier League campaign less than a fortnight away.
The 28-year-old and his camp maintain that they have a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ in place with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy which would allow him to complete a switch to the Etihad before the summer transfer deadline. Read more
Lewis Hamilton’s F1 championship lead extended to 8 points after Hungarian GP results error (BBC)
Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead has been extended to eight points after the correction of an error in the results of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was listed as second in the “final” results Sunday night despite being disqualified for a fuel infringement.
A note said it was provisional pending an appeal by Aston Martin.
The results have been re-issued with Vettel disqualified and Hamilton second.
An appeal by Aston Martin may still happen. Read more
Chelsea offer Marcos Alonso to Inter Milan in player-plus-cash bid for Romelu Lukaku (Metro)
Chelsea reportedly offered Marcos Alonso plus €100million (£85.5m) in an audacious attempt to prise Romelu Lukaku away from Inter Milan but the proposal was swiftly rejected by the Serie A champions.
Erling Haaland has been at the top of Chelsea’s shortlist of attacking targets for much of the summer, with Thomas Tuchel on the hunt for a proven centre-forward and goalscorer with a view to mounting a serious title challenge this coming season.
But Borussia Dortmund’s eye-watering £150million asking price for the Norwegian has led the Blues to instead focus their efforts on securing a return for Lukaku, who was previously on the club’s books from 2011 to 2014 but failed to make an impact before leaving to join Everton. Read more