₦airaland Forum

A Lagos high court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has convicted Peter Nielsen, a Danish national, for killing his wife and daughter.

The state government had, on June 13, 2018, arraigned Nielsen before the court on a two-count charge of murder — the offence is contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2015.

He was alleged to have killed his wife, Zainab, also known by her stage name as Alizee and his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter on April 5, 2018, at about 3.45 am at their Banana Island residence in the Ikoyi area of Lagos.

Giving the ruling on Friday, Bolanle Okikiolu-Ighile, the presiding judge, sentenced Nielsen to death by hanging on both counts.

Oklahoma lawmakers on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that would ban nearly all abortions and would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps women terminate a pregnancy.

The bill would take effect immediately upon being signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the United States.

The Republican-backed legislation bans abortion from the moment of "fertilization," making exceptions only in cases of medical emergency, rape or incest. The bill text says it does not prohibit the use of contraception or emergency contraception.

Trust Women, which operates a clinic in Oklahoma City, called passage of the bill "gratuitous and cruel."

"Our patients are frightened, confused about the new reality they now live in," the clinic said in a statement.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global advocacy group based in New York, said on Thursday it would challenge the ban in state court.

Oklahoma is among the country's Republican-led states rushing to pass anti-abortion laws this year, anticipating that the U.S. Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established the constitutional right to abortion.

Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma is inundated with women from Texas seeking abortion care
Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma provides medical and surgical abortions. The Oklahoma State Capitol is seen in Oklahoma City.

A draft opinion leaked earlier this month showed the court's conservative majority intends to overhaul federal abortion rights and send the issue of legalization back to individual states.

The Republican-backed laws remain vulnerable to legal challenges pending that ruling. A federal judge on Thursday extended a block on a recently-enacted in Kentucky law that would force clinics to stop offering abortions until they can meet certain requirements. read more

Oklahoma Governor Stitt has said he will sign any anti-abortion legislation that reaches his desk.

The state already this month enacted a bill that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as opposed to fertilization. Like the latest measure, it relies on civil lawsuits to be enforced.

The enforcement provision in both bills was modeled after Texas legislation, which took effect in September and stopped clinics from performing nearly all abortions in that state.

Oklahoma quickly became a destination for Texas women seeking abortions after six weeks.

But the enactment of Oklahoma's own six-week ban this month has severely limited abortion services the state's four clinics can provide.

If signed as expected, the newest bill would expand a region of the country where there is little to no legal abortion access, forcing patients to travel to states such as Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado to end their pregnancies.

Today, Oklahoma passed a law effectively banning abortion from the moment of fertilization—the latest in a series of blatant attacks on women by extremist legislators. It has never been more urgent that we elect pro-choice leaders at the local, state, and federal level.

The pop star welcomed her baby with ASAP Rocky on May 13, after first announcing they were expecting in late January.

Rihanna is officially a new mom.

The pop star gave birth to a baby boy on May 13 in Los Angeles, TMZ reports. The infant is her first child with ASAP Rocky.

PRESS RELEASE

KIDNAPPERS OF GREENFIELD STUDENTS , OTHER KIDNAPPING, RAPE SUSPECTS ARRESTED

• 61 Firearms, 376 Ammunition, 22 Cartridges, Cash Sum of 2 Million Naira Recovered

The Force Intelligence Bureau Special Tactical Squad (FIB-STS) operatives following directives from the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, fdc, to clampdown on the perpetrators of crimes and criminality, as well as cutting off their supply of arms, have successfully effected the arrest of 31 suspects connected with major violent crimes including Kidnapping, Culpable Homicide, Rape, Unlawful Possession of Firearms etc.

The FIB-STS equally recovered a total of 61 firearms including 41 AK rifles, 8 Type 06 rifles, 4 Light Assault Rifles (LAR), 4 pump action guns, 2 locally made firearms, 1 G3 rifle, 1 dane gun, 376 rounds of live ammunition of different calibres, and cash sum of two million Naira, from the suspects in the course of investigations.

Prominent among the cases include a case of kidnapping where the duo of Aminu Lawal (aka Kano), and Murtala Dawu (aka Mugala), both working in synergy with the kidnap kingpin known as Yellow Ashana, confessed to the kidnap and murder of two police officers and one vigilante in 2021. They equally confessed to the kidnap of students from the Greenfield University in Kaduna State, and the mindless murder of five victims before the payment of ransom, and eventual release of the others. Intelligence shows that there area of operations include Dan Hunu, Kekebi, Dan Busha Rido, Maraban Rido, and Kumi Sata, all in Kaduna State. FIB-STS operatives caught up with them in March, 2022, after being on their trail upon the mention of their names in connection to the kidnapping of Bethel Baptist School students in 2021.

Similarly, a five-man trans-border syndicate who carries out kidnapping operations in between Adamawa State in Nigeria, and Burha, Fituha, and Kesu in Cameroun were arrested. The gang which comprises Abubakar Mohammed aged 28 years old, Shehu Mohammed aged 38 years old, Abdullahi Ali aged 30 years old, Abubakar Ali, aged 18 year old, and Hussaini Sule aged 18 years old, all males from Mubi, Adamawa State, targets wealthy individuals who possess beautiful houses or cars. They confessed to the kidnap and multiple rape of a newly wedded woman at Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno state whom they released upon receipt of a million Naira ransom. They were apprehended by operatives of the FIB-STS after collecting a ransom sum of 2 million Naira for one Alhaji Moni of Buladega Village on the 11th of May, 2022.

Operatives of the FIB-STS equally apprehended the duo of Umar Muhammed aged 40 years old from Mitchika in Adamawa State, and Musa Buba aged 29 years old from Hong in Adamawa State, who are famous for their kidnapping activities. They were arrested at the market, upon credible intelligence that they would be there to buy food items for their kidnap victims. They confessed to many heinous crimes including the killing and beheading of one Alhaji Mai Gome, even after ransom payment had been made.

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc (+), NPM, fdc, while commending the FIB-STS operatives for the successes recorded, assured that all criminal elements will be smoked out of their hiding places and would answer to their crimes in due course.

All the suspects will be arraigned in court on completion of investigations.

CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FORCE HEADQUARTERS,
ABUJA

9 dead bodies have been recovered so far from the rubble of a collapsed building beside a primary school following explosions from gas cylinder at Aba Road in Sabon Gari area of Kano.

Let’s talk about spam. And let’s do so with the benefit of data, facts, and context…

First, let me state the obvious: spam harms the experience for real people on Twitter, and therefore can harm our business. As such, we are strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can, every single day. Anyone who suggests otherwise is just wrong.

Next, spam isn’t just ‘binary’ (human / not human). The most advanced spam campaigns use combinations of coordinated humans + automation. They also compromise real accounts, and then use them to advance their campaign. So – they are sophisticated and hard to catch.

Some final context: fighting spam is incredibly *dynamic*. The adversaries, their goals, and tactics evolve constantly – often in response to our work! You can’t build a set of rules to detect spam today, and hope they will still work tomorrow. They will not.

We suspend over half a million spam accounts every day, usually before any of you even see them on Twitter. We also lock millions of accounts each week that we suspect may be spam – if they can’t pass human verification challenges (captchas, phone verification, etc).

The hard challenge is that many accounts which look fake superficially – are actually real people. And some of the spam accounts which are actually the most dangerous – and cause the most harm to our users – can look totally legitimate on the surface.

Our team updates our systems and rules constantly to remove as much spam as possible, without inadvertently suspending real people or adding unnecessary friction for real people when they use Twitter: none of us want to solve a captcha every time we use Twitter.

Now, we know we aren’t perfect at catching spam. And so this is why, after all the spam removal I talked about above, we know some still slips through. We measure this internally. And every quarter, we have estimated that <5% of reported mDAU for the quarter are spam accounts.

Our estimate is based on multiple human reviews (in replicate) of thousands of accounts, that are sampled at random, consistently over time, from *accounts we count as mDAUs*. We do this every quarter, and we have been doing this for many years.

Each human review is based on Twitter rules that define spam and platform manipulation, and uses both public and private data (eg, IP address, phone number, geolocation, client/browser signatures, what the account does when it’s active…) to make a determination on each account.

The use of private data is particularly important to avoid misclassifying users who are actually real. FirstnameBunchOfNumbers with no profile pic and odd tweets might seem like a bot or spam to you, but behind the scenes we often see multiple indicators that it’s a real person.

Our actual internal estimates for the last four quarters were all well under 5% – based on the methodology outlined above. The error margins on our estimates give us confidence in our public statements each quarter.

Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share). Externally, it’s not even possible to know which accounts are counted as mDAUs on any given day.

There are LOTS of details that are very important underneath this high-level description. We shared an overview of the estimation process with Elon a week ago and look forward to continuing the conversation with him, and all of you.

Those who want to learn about bots or not: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/bot-or-not

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his deal to buy Twitter can’t move forward unless the company shows public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the platform are fake or spam.

Musk made the comment in a reply to another user on Twitter early Tuesday. He spent much of the previous day in a back-and-forth with Twitter CEO Paraj Agrawal, who posted a series of tweets explaining his company’s effort to fight bots and how it has consistently estimated that less than 5% of Twitter accounts are fake.

He added that: “Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of 5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.”

At a Miami technology conference Monday, Musk estimated that at least 20% of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots, a percentage he said was at the low end of his assessment, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Also at the All In Summit, Musk gave the strongest hint yet that he would like to pay less for Twitter than his $44 billion offer made last month.

He said a viable deal at a lower price would not be out of the question, according to the report by Bloomberg, which said it viewed a livestream video of the conference posted by a Twitter user.

While Musk reaffirmed that he is still committed to acquiring Twitter after stating the deal is on hold last week, he also confirmed during his nearly two-hour-long interview that a new price, especially a lower one, would not be far-fetched. Musk reportedly said that the more questions he asks Twitter brass, the more his concerns grow, as he is yet to receive a concrete answer on how many fake or spam accounts are on the platform.

Musk said he believes 20 percent of Twitter accounts are fake or spam, a number that needs to be significantly reduced and could be the reasoning behind his thirst for a renegotiation of terms. Perhaps Twitter is not as valuable with fewer users, of course, and Musk may feel that the already-large asking price of $54.20 per share is simply too high to justify when one-in-five users are not actually humans.

If Musk backs out of the deal, he will be required to pay Twitter a $1 billion termination fee and could be subjected to additional litigation due to damages.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military and political alliance into safeguarding the security and defense of its 30 members in Europe and North America.

NATO was formed in Washington DC in April 1949 to strengthen ties between States in the face of a perceived Soviet threat. It was originally a 12-member alliance (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States); then later, Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).

The group's Civilian Headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium. Its general Staff is structured into the Allied Command Operation in Mons, Belgium and the Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

NATO carried out ground, air and naval operations across the globe. Forces are operating in Kosovo and the Mediterranean. The group carries out Training in Iraq and it's also co-operating with the African Union.

NATO also fulfills activating machines for its members. The Principles of collective defense is at the heart of NATO's founding treaty. According to Article V, an attack against one member is considered an attack against all. The article was first invoked in 2001 as a sign of members solidarity as a response to the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Sweden’s Prime Minister announced Monday that Sweden will join Finland in seeking NATO membership in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The historic shift, which comes after more than 200 years of military nonalignment in the Nordic country, is likely to upset Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We will inform NATO that we want to become a member of the alliance,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said.

The announcement came after a debate in Riksdagen, or Parliament, earlier Monday showed that there is a huge support for joining NATO. Out of Sweden’s eight parties, only two smaller left-leaning parties opposed it.

On Sunday, the Swedish Social Democrats broke with the party’s long-standing position that Sweden must remain nonaligned, paving the way for a clear majority for NATO membership in the parliament.

The move in Sweden came after neighboring Finland announced Sunday that it too would seek to join the 30-country alliance.

Public opinion in both countries was firmly against joining NATO before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, but support for NATO membership surged quickly after that.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military and political alliance into safeguarding the security and defense of its 30 members in Europe and North America.

NATO was formed in Washington DC in April 1949 to strengthen ties between States in the face of a perceived Soviet threat. It was originally a 12-member alliance (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States); then later, Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).

The group's Civilian Headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium. Its general Staff is structured into the Allied Command Operation in Mons, Belgium and the Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

NATO carried out ground, air and naval operations across the globe. Forces are operating in Kosovo and the Mediterranean. The group carries out Training in Iraq and it's also co-operating with the African Union.

NATO also fulfills activating machines for its members. The Principles of collective defense is at the heart of NATO's founding treaty. According to Article V, an attack against one member is considered an attack against all. The article was first invoked in 2001 as a sign of members solidarity as a response to the 9/11 attacks in the US.

PRESS RELEASE

Hackers can unlock, steal your vehicles, NCC alerts Nigerians

…Warns of vulnerability to new Android trojan apps

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) wishes to alert telecom consumers and members of the public on an ongoing cyber-vulnerability that allows a nearby hacker to unlock vehicles, start their engines wirelessly and make away with the cars.

The fact that car remotes are categorized short range devices that make use of radio frequency (RF) to lock and unlock cars informed the need for the Commission to alert the general public on this emergent danger, where hackers take advantage to unlock and start a compromised car.

According to the latest advisory released by the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), the Cybersecurity Centre for the telecom sector established by the NCC, the vulnerability is a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack or, more specifically, a replay attack in which an attacker intercepts the RF signals normally sent from a remote key fob to the car, manipulates these signals, and re-sends them later to unlock the car at will.

With this latest type of cyber-attack, it is also possible to manipulate the captured commands and re-transmit them to achieve a different outcome altogether. “Multiple researchers disclosed a vulnerability, which is said to be used by a nearby attacker to unlock some Honda and Acura car models and start their engines wirelessly. The attack consists of a threat actor capturing the radio frequency (RF) signals sent from your key fob to the car and resending these signals to take control of your car's remote keyless entry system,” the advisory stated emphatically.

However, the NCC-CSIRT, in the advisory, has offer some precautionary measures or solutions that can be adopted by car owners to prevent falling victim to the attack.

According to the cyber-alert unit of the Commission, “When affected, the only mitigation is to reset your key fob at the dealership. Besides, the affected car manufacturer may provide a security mechanism that generate fresh codes for each authentication request, this makes it difficult for an attacker to 'replay' the codes thereafter. Additionally, vulnerable car users should store their key fobs in signal-blocking 'Faraday pouches' when not in use.”
Importantly, car owners in the stated categories are advised to choose Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) as opposed to Remote Keyless Entry (RKE), which would make it harder for an attacker to read the signal due to the fact that criminals would need to be at close proximity to carry out their nefarious acts.

The PKE is an automotive security system that operates automatically when the user is in proximity to the vehicle, unlocking the door on approach or when the door handle is pulled, and also locking it when the user walks away or touches the car on exit. The RKE system, on the other hand, represents the standard solution for conveniently locking and unlocking a vehicle's doors and luggage compartment by remote control.

Additionally, in a related advisory, the NCC, based on another detection by CSIRT, wishes to inform the general public about the resurgence of Joker Trojan-Infected Android Apps on Google Play Store. This arose due to the activities of criminals who intentionally download legitimate apps from the Play Store, modify them by embedding the Trojan malware and then uploading the app back to the Play Store with a new name.

The malicious payload is only activated once the apps goes live on the Play Store, which enables the apps to scale through Google’s strict evaluation process. Once installed, these apps request for permissions that once granted, enable the apps to have access to critical functions such as text messages and notifications.

As a consequence, a compromised device will subscribe unwitting users to premium services, billing them for services that do not exist. A device like this can also be used to commit Short Messaging Service (SMS) fraud while the owner is unaware.

It can click on online ads automatically and even use SMS One Time password (OTPs) to secretly approve payments. Without checking bank statements, the user will be unaware that he or she has subscribed to an online service. Other actions, such as stealing text messages, contacts, and other device data, are also possible.

To avoid falling victim to the manipulation of hackers deploying Joker Trojan-Infected Android Apps, Android users have been advised to avoid downloading unnecessary apps or installing apps from unofficial sources. The NCC also wishes to advise telecom consumers to ensure that apps installed from the Google Play Store are heavily scrutinized by reading reviews, assessing the developers, perusing the terms of use and only granting the necessary permissions.

Conclusively, the NCC recommends that unauthorised transactions be checked against any installed app. Indeed, any apps not in use should be deleted while users are also advised to ensure that a device is always patched and updated to the latest software.

SIGNED

Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde
Director, Public Affairs

May 14, 2022

Putin to Finns: NATO instead of neutrality would be ‘wrong’

Giving up military neutrality to join NATO would be “wrong,” Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö Saturday in a phone call, the Kremlin said.

The two countries said their presidents spoke on the phone, two days after the Finnish government officially endorsed the idea that Finland should join the NATO defense alliance.

“Such a change in the country’s foreign-policy course could have a negative effect on Russia-Finland relations, which have been built over the course of many years in the spirit of neighborliness and partnership cooperation and have a mutually beneficial nature,” the Kremlin said.

Niinistö told Putin “how fundamentally the Russian demands in late 2021 aiming at preventing countries from joining NATO and Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have altered the security environment of Finland,” according to the Finnish president’s office.

He added that Finland aims to seek NATO membership “in the next few days.”

Moscow previously warned that it would respond to Finland joining NATO with “military-technical” retaliatory measures, but did not specify what measures it is considering.

Russia on Saturday halted electricity deliveries to Finland, citing “problems in receiving payments for electricity sold on the market.”

Finland’s ruling Social Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed the government’s decision. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Niinistö will hold a decisive final meeting and press conference on Sunday.

The country is moving toward NATO membership in parallel with neighboring Sweden, which has also rethought its reluctance since Russia’s invasion. Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats are expected to announce their decision on Sunday. If they come out in favor, both countries could formally apply as soon as Monday.

Finland’s President and Government announced Sunday that the Nordic country intends apply for membership in NATO, paving the way for the 30-member Western military alliance to expand amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin made the announcement at a joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki.

The Finnish Parliament is expected to endorse the decision in coming days, but it is considered a formality.

A formal membership application will then be submitted to NATO headquarters in Brussels, most likely at the some point next week.

MNJTF Airstrikes Eliminates ISWAP Leaders, Bako Gorgore, Aba-Ibrahim, Kaka Lawan in the Lake Chad

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has eliminated three prominent ISWAP commanders in the Lake Cha.

Zagazola reports that ISWAP Militant Defence Chief Bako Gorgore; Commander Hizba, Kaka Lawan and another leader Aba-Ibrahim were eliminated after airsrikes from the air taskforce of MNJTF.

Scores of terrorists were also Killed during the operation that took place at Tumbum Jaki and Tumbum Gini in Abadam Local Government area of Borno state.

Both terror kingpings had held key leadership positions in the Wylayat of the Timbuktu Triangle, before one Abu Aseeya was appointed as Ameerul Fiya in charge of Sambisa forest.

Despite recent battlefield defeats, sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks in across many part of the country including Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna and Kogi which were inspired by ISIS and its ideology.

RE: BREAKING: Girl Captured in Viral Sex Video with Dog Dies of Infection

The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a publication with the above caption dated May 10, 2022 and credited to one Kayode Ajiboye of Independent Newspapers.

As this borders on an ongoing police investigation, the Lagos State Police Command reached out to the author of this article for information that would help the police conclude/close the investigation. Shockingly, however, the author claimed he could not verify the story but simply lifted it from an online blog.

Not only did this author not credit the original source (plagiarism) of the news in consonance with simple ethics of journalism, he also made no attempt to fact-check the news, thereby making himself susceptible to the spreading of fake news, especially knowing how critical and sensitive the facts in issue were.

Available facts suggests that the author is in cahoot with the wanted suspect to help her evade justice, which in itself is a criminal offence.

While it is the duty of every Nigerian to support the police in any ongoing investigation, it is an established fact that it is criminal to publish false information with intent to mislead the public. It is equally criminal to subvert criminal investigation and obstruct police officers in the discharge of their duties.

In line with its stance on transparency, the Lagos State Police Command brings this update to Nigerians and gives assurances that the ongoing investigation has been re-focused appropriately. While available leads are being followed, the Command encourages anyone with useful information on the matter to make same available to the police using any of our available communication channels.

SP BENJAMIN HUNDEYIN, anipr, mipra
Police Public Relations Officer,
Lagos State Command,
Ikeja-Lagos.

May 13, 2022.

Twitter estimates spam, fake accounts comprise less than 5% of users - Filing

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) estimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter.

The social media company had 229 million users who were served advertising in the first quarter.

The disclosure came days after Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has inked a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, tweeted that one of his priorities would be to remove "spam bots" from the platform.

Twitter said in the filing it faced several risks until the deal with Musk is closed, such as whether advertisers would continue to spend on Twitter and "potential uncertainty regarding our future plans and strategy."

Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.

Alhaji Abbas Umar Masanawa was born On 7th August 1969 In the Ancient City of Katsina in Masanawa Area. He started his primary Education at Sararin Kuka primary School, after which he went to Day Kofar Yandaka and later Barewa College Zaria for his Secondary Education.

Masanawa graduated from the Prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria with a Distinction in Agricultural Economics and also bagged his MBA from Same University before leaving for Havard University.

He is the Managing Director of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company @NSPMC, with over 20 years of experience in different aspects, he was Deputy General Manager Zenith Bank Plc, Special Adviser to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and later appointed as Executive Director Finance and Strategies in the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company,.

Masanawa (on the recommendation of the CBN Governor, Emefiele) was appointed by President Muhammad Buhari as the Managing Director of the NSPMC on September 01, 2018.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the @EASPORTSFIFA Player of the Month for the second time this season

360 minutes = 5 big goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the @premierleague Player of the Month for April.

North Korea confirmed its first-ever Covid cases on Thursday and declared a "serious emergency", with leader Kim Jong Un ordering lockdowns across the country.

The nuclear-armed country had never admitted to a case of Covid-19 and the government had imposed a rigid coronavirus blockade of its borders since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

But samples taken from patients sick with fever in Pyongyang "coincided with Omicron BA.2 variant", the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, held a crisis politburo meeting on Thursday to discuss the outbreak and announced they would implement the "maximum emergency epidemic prevention system".

Kim "called on all the cities and counties of the whole country to thoroughly lock down their areas," KCNA reported, although details of the restrictions were not immediately given.

Kim told the meeting that the goal was to "quickly cure the infections in order to eradicate the source of the virus spread," according to KCNA.

Kim added that North Korea will "overcome the current sudden situation and win victory in the emergency epidemic prevention work".

It was unclear from the KCNA report how many Covid infections had been detected.

North Korea's crumbling health infrastructure would struggle to deal with a major outbreak, with its 25 million people not believed to be vaccinated, experts say.

"For Pyongyang to publicly admit omicron cases, the public health situation must be serious," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul said.

"Pyongyang will likely double down on lockdowns, even though the failure of China's zero-Covid strategy suggests that approach won't work against the Omicron variant."

Lyon's decision to sack their veteran centre back Marcelo last season was in part due to him FARTING in the dressing room and laughing about it with his team-mates, it has been revealed.

A new report has lifted the lid on a chaotic last few years at Lyon, both on and off the pitch, explaining some remarkable details of their downfall.

One of the most bizarre situations is that of Brazilian defender Marcelo, who was mysteriously kicked out of the first-team in August 2021, before leaving the club under a cloud just a few months later.

It has now been reported that his exit was sparked by his flatulence in the dressing room - and the ensuing laughter with team-mates - which riled the hierarchy during a difficult period for the club on the pitch.

The specific incident occurred following a 3-0 defeat away at Angers - a team Lyon will have expected to beat - in which Marcelo scored an own goal.

At the time, manager Peter Bosz had only been at the helm for a few months, while sporting director Juninho was growing tired with the squad - which ultimately led to his exit in the winter break less than five months later.

It was initially reported that Marcelo had been removed from the first team due to a 'dressing-room incident', but further details were not divulged at the time.

After the 34-year-old left the club in January of this year, he joined Bordeaux, where he is currently embroiled in a relegation battle as the end of the season approaches.

As it stands, the club are rock bottom of Ligue 1, four points from safety with just two matches remaining of the campaign.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/05/10/09/57625955-10800325-image-a-5_1652169896314.jpg
Lyon players trudge back to the dressing room after the August 2021 defeat at Angers
[quote]Marcelo has started the last three games for the struggling side, all of which ended in defeat.

At Lyon, meanwhile, the struggles have continued and they look set to miss out on European football amid a season that L'Equipe claim 'should have been filmed', such is the drama of the storyline.

The club were docked a point for fan violence in the stands, while there has been failed recruitment, a coach under pressure, Juninho's mid-season exit, and the departure of two main shareholders.

Groups of supporters have presented the All Progressives Congress’ nomination and expression of interest forms to Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.

The duo become the latest APC members who have had forms purchased on their behalf by supporters.

Jurgen Klopp has played down Pep Guardiola’s comments about Liverpool and feels they were said in the heat of the moment – something he was also guilty of when he took a swipe at Tottenham’s approach.

Manchester City retook control of the Premier League title race over the weekend, capitalising on Liverpool’s draw with Spurs by winning 5-0 against Newcastle United and significantly boosting their goal difference advantage in the process.

After the match, Guardiola aimed an unprompted jibe at his title rivals, saying ‘everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone’ and then brought up the fact they have only won one Premier League title in the last three decades.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Guardiola suggested there was a degree of bias towards Liverpool (Getty)
Klopp took his own swipe at Tottenham after the north Londoners’ resilient rearguard earned them a draw at Anfield and the German coach says managers often get carried away in the aftermath of a result.

Asked what he made of Guardiola’s comments, Klopp replied at his pre-match press conference on Monday ahead of facing Aston Villa: ‘I live in Liverpool so yes, here, a lot of people want us to win the league, that’s true!

‘But even here it’s probably only 50 per cent, because the other guys [Everton] were involved in another fight, at least until yesterday.

‘Look, as managers – and I had this experience only recently after a game – we are all obviously, how can I say this, we are massively influenced by the game, by the situation and stuff like this.

‘So I said – and would I say it again? No – but I said after the game [against Spurs] that they play like they play and are still only fifth. And it felt good in that moment but it was anyway wrong.

‘But it was just my feeling in that moment, and I couldn’t respect Antonio [Conte] more and what he’s doing and my god how he organises teams and all these kinds of things.

‘But after a game like that… I don’t know exactly what kind of situation Pep was in, but after getting knocked out of the Champions League, that’s already difficult enough to take, but then of course Liverpool made it to the final.

‘So of course you have these kind of things, “They played Villarreal and we played Real” and all these kind of things, and then you say what you say.

‘And he’s right, on top of it. I was right with fifth place and Tottenham still, and he was right that we’ve won the Premier League only once.

‘I’ve no idea if the whole country is supporting us, that I don’t know. It’s not the feeling I get actually when we go to other places and play there, it’s actually the opposite! But maybe he knows more about that than me.’

CALLS ON THE INEC CHAIRMAN TO JOIN THE RACE FOR THE 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Our attention has been drawn to innuendoes in certain quarters that Nigerians should not be surprised if the INEC Chairman joins the Presidential race or urging him to do so. It is a preposterous proposition. It will not happen.

The Chairman remains an umpire committed to free, fair and credible elections. His constitutional responsibilities as the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Federation and Returning Officer for the presidential election are onerous enough for him to even contemplate straying into extraneous matters at variance with the law, morality and his personal principles.

The Chairman will continue to discharge his responsibilities without affection for, or illwill against any political party or candidate.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is in good “business”.

After six days of sales of expression of interest and nomination forms to various categories of aspirants, the party on Friday raked in a total of N21.9305 billion.

The sum came from about 22 presidential aspirants who today joined the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Governor Godwin Emefiele, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former Governor of Ogun State, Dave Umahi, Ebonyi State Governor, Ogbonnaya Onu Minister of Science and Technology, Chris Ngige, Labour and Productivity minister and former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Sani Yerima.

Hon Dimeji Bankole, Senator Ajayi Borofice and Barrister Uni Kennedy,the lone female aspirant also picked presidential form. She however enjoyed the waiver granted by the party to female aspirants as she paid only N30 million for the expression of interest form.

Other presidential Aspirants who earlier picked forms include Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Yahaya Bello
Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajuiba, Barrister Uju Kennedy, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nicholas Bello, John Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Ken Nnamani.

In all the 22 presidential aspirants brought N2.2 billion while 105 APC Governorship aspirants contributed the Sum of N5.25 billion at N50m each.

For the National Assembly aspirants totalling 1198 in all, the 262 Senatorial Aspirants that procured forms at N20 Million contributed the Sum of N5.24 billion for the party while the 936 House of Representatives aspirants dropped a whooping N9.36 billion at N10million per aspirant.

In the midst of the trade, stakeholders of the party have raised concerns about the fact that the CBN Governor indeed collected forms without stepping down from office. A senior staff of the party who expressed worry over the brazen disposition of some of the aspirants given the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act said the action of some of the aspirants is bringing the party to ridicule, called for the timely intervention of the APC leadership.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has announced the shutdown of operations, with effect from Monday, over the skyrocketing cost of Aviation fuel, which has reached an all-time high of N700 per litre.

The operators sympathised with the passengers, saying the current situation with Jet A1 has shot up the cost of operations to over 95 percent.

The Operators stated this in a letter its President, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, sent to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.

Sarina’s position was endorsed by the chief executives of all the domestic airlines.

The letter read: “It is with a great sense of responsibility and patriotism that the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) have carried on deploying and subsidizing their services to our highly esteemed Nigerian flying public in the last four months despite the steady and astronomical hike in the price of JetA1 and other operating costs.

“Overtime, aviation fuel price (JetA1) has risen from N190 per litre to N700 currently. No airline in the world can absorb this kind of sudden shock from such an astronomical rise over a short period.

“While aviation fuel worldwide is said to cost about 40% of an airline’s operating cost globally, the present hike has shut up Nigeria’s operating cost to about 95%.

“In the face of this, airlines have engaged the Federal Government, the National Assembly, NNPC and Oil Marketers with the view to bringing the cost of JetA1 down which has currently made the unit cost per seat for a one hour flight in Nigeria today to an average of N120,000.

“The latter cannot be fully passed to passengers who are already experiencing a lot of difficulties.

“While AON appreciates the efforts of the current government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure air transport in Nigeria grows, unfortunately, the cost of aviation fuel has continued to rise unabated thereby creating huge pressure on the sustainability of operations and financial viability of the airlines. This is unsustainable and the airlines can no longer absorb the pressure.

“To this end therefore, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) hereby wishes to regrettably inform the general public that member airlines will discontinue operations nationwide with effect from Monday May 9, 2022 until further notice.

“AON uses this medium to humbly state that we regret any inconveniences this very difficult decision might cause and appeal to travelers to kindly reconsider their travel itinerary and make alternative arrangements.”

I will continue to fight corruption as President Buhari did, Senator Godswill Akpabio promises Nigerians.

Gucci's high-end handbags and other luxury products can now be bought using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, in some U.S. stores, the Italian company said, as digital currencies move to broader acceptance.

Starting later this month, customers can pay with crypto at some of Gucci's flagship stores, including Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and Wooster Street in New York, the company said.

Gucci, owned by France's Kering SA (PRTP.PA), plans to expand the service to its directly operated North America stores in the near future.

A growing number of companies have started to accept virtual currencies, bringing an asset class shunned by major financial institutions until a few years ago closer to the mainstream.

Fashion label Off-White, in which French luxury group LVMH (LVMH.PA) took a majority stake last year, has started accepting crypto in its London, Paris and Milan flagship stores, Vogue Business reported in March.

Gucci said on Wednesday it would accept multiple digital assets, including ethereum, dogecoin, shiba inu, litecoin, and a few U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.

PRESS STATEMENT

NCC Issues Final Letters of Licence Awards to 5G Spectrum Winners

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed issuance of the final letters of award of the Fifth Generation (5G) Spectrum Licences to MTN and Mafab Communications, winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction conducted by the Commission on Monday, December 13, 2021.

Management of the Commission led by its Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta confirmed this to the Board of Commissioners at the Board's Special Meeting, which took place on Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, 2022, where the Board considered updates from Management on the status of the spectrum auction.

With the issuance of the final letters of awards of 5G spectrum and in line with the Auction's Information Memorandum (IM), the two licensees are now expected to accelerate deployment of 5G network that will usher Nigeria into a more robust Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and a more digitised Nigerian economy.

In line with the terms and conditions of the 5G license, the licensees are expected to commence roll out 5G services effective from August 24, 2022.

The 5G network, when deployed, will bring a lot of benefits and opportunities that will engender accelerated growth and smart living in the country. The technology is also expected to bring substantial network improvements, including higher connection speed, mobility and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities.

Following a transparent, diligent, fair and credible auction of 3.5GHz on December 13, 2021, the National Frequency Managenent Council (NFMC), chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, had on February 22, 2022, officially handed over the spectrum allocation for 5G deployment as well as Federal Government-approved National Policy on 5G to the Commission.

Subsequently, the Commission, on February 24, 2022, confirmed the full payment of $273.6 million each by the two spectrum winners, in addition to spectrum assignment fee paid by MTN, for the 5G spectrum licence.

The Commission is optimistic that effective implementation of the National Policy on 5G will accelerate the actualisation of the national targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, as well as other sectoral policies designed to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation.

While the licensees are expected to meet the timetable regarding their 5G network rollout obligations, the NCC requires collective efforts and support of the private-sector and government toward transforming every aspect of the nation’s economy through 5G, which will herald greater transformation than what the nation witnessed with the 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G.

SIGNED

Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde
Director, Public Affairs

May 4, 2022

Bournemouth have clinched promotion to the Premier League!

Kieffer Moore's late goal against Nottingham Forest sealed Scott Parker's side's place in the top-flight next season.

#AFCB

We're back

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT BIDEN ON REPORTED SUPREME COURT DECISION DRAFT

MAY 3, 2022

We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court. With that critical caveat, I want to be clear on three points about the cases before the Supreme Court.

First, my administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade.
We said that Roe is based on a long line of precedent recognizing 'the Fourteenth
Amendment's concept of personal liberty... against government interference with intensely personal decisions.” I believe that a woman's right to choose is fundamental,
Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the
stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.

Second, shortly after the enactment of Texas law SB 8 and other laws restricting women's reproductive rights, I directed my Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel's Office to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued
attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the
cases pending before the Supreme Court. We will be ready when any ruling is issued.

Third, if the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the Federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.