Alarm
Police charge Lekki tollgate protesters with ‘breaching public peace, coronavirus protocol’
The police in Lagos have charged 40 protesters arrested at the Lekki tollgate on Saturday to court, for breaching public peace. The arrested protesters include, Debo Adebayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, Dabiraoluwa Adeyinka, Damilare Adenola, Anjorin Joseph, Paul Terkuma and Anisere Sodiq. The protesters were charged at the Magistrate Court of Lagos State, Yaba. In the charge sheet obtained by newsmen, they were charged on three counts including failing to comply with the “Quarantine Law which prohibit any social gathering to avoid spreading and contacting of Coronavirus Disease”. The other charges are “breach of public peace, harassment, and causing unnecessary alarm to the public”. Newsmen earlier reported the arrest of the protesters and how they were manhandled by police officers. ...
Apple’s App Store hosting multi-million dollar scams – developer
Mobile app developer Kosta Eleftheriou has a new calling that goes beyond software development: taking on what he sees as a rampant scam problem ruining the integrity of Apple’s App Store. Eleftheriou, who created the successful Apple Watch keyboard app FlickType, has for the last two weeks been publicly criticizing Apple for lax enforcement of its App Store rules that have allowed scam apps, as well as apps that clone popular software from other developers, to run rampant. These apps enjoy top billing in the iPhone marketplace, all thanks to glowing reviews and sterling five-star ratings that are largely fabricated, he says. Up to now, I’ve been in the “Apple *wants* to do the right thing” camp. My viewpoint is starting to change. How to spot a $5M/year scam on the @AppS...
OPC: We’ll deal with killer herdsmen
The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has vowed to get rid of killer herdsmen from the South West. It also offered to enforce the quit notice to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves by Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, which expires on Sunday. Deputy President to late OPC founder, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, in a statement on Sunday, further said the arrest order on Yoruba rights activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho is “misguided and provocative.” The socio-cultural group said: “Although the millions of law-abiding Fulani men and women living in our midst have absolutely no cause for alarm, those Fulani criminals hiding under the cloak of being herdsmen to perpetrate evil against law-abiding citizens should know their time is up. Henceforth, it will be fire for fire. “We are fully pr...
Two ‘kidnappers’ arrested in Ondo
Two young men suspected to be kidnappers have been arrested in Supare Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State while trying to abduct a child in his family house. The two suspected kidnappers were caught after pretending like scavengers looking for used iron and plastic materials to buy. A source said that the two suspects were tackled when the mother of the child noticed their movement and the bag they wanted to use to carry the child. The mother of the boy, it was gathered immediately raised the alarm and the people in the neighbourhood assisted her in apprehending the suspects who attempted to escape. The two hoodlums were said to have been handed over to the police in Supare Akoko for further investigation. Efforts to get the Divisional Police Officer in charge of ...
Coronavirus takes toll on federal roads’ construction in Lagos
The ravaging effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) was, perhaps, the biggest challenge faced by stakeholders in the road sub sector of the construction industry in 2020. As the virus gained ground, several contractors soon abandoned work and shut their operations, consequently, many hitherto gainfully employed Nigerians were thrown into the labour market. Even when the government later introduced partial lockdown measures, the number of workers on site was scaled down by many contractors in line with COVID-19 protocols, which slowed down progress of work. Virtually all road projects in Lagos State suffered the effect of the pandemic, with every project having its own peculiar challenge. The reconstruction of 46km Agbara-Seme section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project awarded to CGC Nigeria...
Senate: Power ministry smuggles N7 billion into its account without appropriation
The Senate has raised the alarm on how the Ministry of Power smuggled over N7 billion smuggled into the Ministry’s budget without an appropriation from the National Assembly. The Senate has observed that there was no evidence that such money was budgeted for in respect of the Hydropower Transmission Project in either the 2014 or 2015 fiscal year. Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo South led Senate Committee on Public Accounts is raising the alarm of how the Ministry spent such amount of money without getting approval from the National Assembly in line with the law. The Committee is relying on the query raised by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in the 2015 report and brought before it for probe and subsequent presentation to the Senate at Plena...
Nigeria loses 250,000 babies to preventable, treatable causes annually – experts
Despite the global efforts to end preventable newborn deaths by 2030, through the Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, experts have raised the alarm that Nigeria loses over 250,000 babies yearly due to preventable and treatable causes, even as the country ranks second highest globally in infant deaths. According to a Professor of Paediatrics at the College of Medicine University of Lagos, and Clinical Lead, Newborn Essential Solution and Technologies, NEST360, Professor Chinyere Ezeaka, with current slow progress, it may take Nigerian 100 years to meet the goal. Ezeaka identified causes of newborn deaths in Nigeria to include prematurity, infections, birth asphyxia, congenital abnormalities among others, she said these would be reduced with the wide-scale adoption of comprehensive newborn car...
Senator Musa: Two killed, 30 abducted, 5,000 homeless in Niger East
Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, All Progressives Congress, APC, Niger East has raised the alarm that the insecurity situation in his Senatorial District is worsening every day, saying that it has been one week of sleeplessness and horror. Senator Musa has reiterated his call on President Muhammadu Buhari to put the security operatives on their toes to ensure they live up to their responsibilities of protecting the lives of the citizens, adding that if security agencies in the country cannot guarantee the protection of lives and property of the citizens, then Nigeria may be on the precipice of anarchy. According to him, the horrible event in the last one week in Niger State and particularly in Niger East Senatorial District has raised tension and uncertainti...
Germany to close most shops from December 16-January 10 – draft proposal
Germany is planning to close most shops from Wednesday until Jan. 10 as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and tries to rein in the spread of the disease, according to a draft government proposal seen by Reuters on Sunday. The draft was prepared head of a meeting later in the day between Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders. She has favoured stricter pan-German measures but was previously unable to get agreement from the nation’s 16 states. However, some states have since clamped down on their own, and momentum supporting stricter harmonized measures has been building. The draft proposal would allow only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as banks, to remain open. Schools will also be basically closed during the period, and employers will be asked to close...
Angry mob set three armed robbers ablaze in Delta
Three suspected armed robbers were set ablaze by an angry mob early Tuesday morning, along Okumagba Avenue in the Warri South council area of Delta state. Newsmen learnt that two of the suspects were burnt at Emebiren Junction, close to the popular Robinson Plaza, while the other one was lynched at Eburu Junction. According to reports, the hoodlums were members of a gang, whose numbers could not be ascertained. A witness who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that they started the robbery operation from about 1 am in an unknown vehicle. A chemist, a fish farm, and a household, all within the Okumagba Avenue axis, were said to have been attacked by the hoodlums, who carted away an undisclosed amount of money and mobile phones. Other onlookers claimed they attempted to rob some female t...
Group dismisses Nigerian Army chief’s coup alarm as diversionary
A Coalition of elders under the auspices of Nigeria Elders for Peace and Good Governance (CONEPAGG), has accused the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, of raising false alarm about “imaginary” coup to divert the attention of Nigerians from the failings of the Service Chiefs. Buratai had while decorating the 39 newly promoted Major Generals, said he was aware that some Generals were being approached by politicians, warning that his eyes are on them. He vowed that the Nigerian Army will never tolerate any agent of destabilization bent on scuttling the current democratic dispensation. “Democracy has come to stay. We will not tolerate any agent of destabilization. The years of military misadventure in politics have never carried us anywhere. It is over,” Buratai had stresse...
Benue governor calls for arrest of ‘Fulani spokesman’
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has called for the arrest and questioning of a self-acclaimed spokesman of Fulani groups and All Progressive Congress, APC, chieftain, Garus Gololo, over alleged comments on Benue killings. Gololo had recently alleged that Governor Ortom was sponsoring attacks on Fulanis residing in Benue state. Piqued by the allegation, the governor demanded an apology and retraction. The Governor in a statement on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, alleged that Gololo had not been new to such false and malicious statements after his request, to be appointed a Special Adviser in Benue state was turned down. “Since Governor Ortom turned down his request to be made Special Adviser preferring to appoint another Fulani man as his aide, Gololo has launched a ce...