Paradise News

Tag: General News

  • ‘They Pushed Me Out On The Express’- Lady Narrates Encounter With Abuja One-Chance Robbery Syndicate

    Abuja-One-Chance-robbers

    A resident of Abuja (name-withheld) has recounted her ordeal with a ‘one chance’ robbery syndicate who beat her to a pulp after she boarded a taxi going to Games Village on Wednesday night.

    The victim told THE WHISTLER that she boarded a vehicle from the International Conference Centre at Area 11 after leaving the mid-week service of her church on the faithful day.

    The rush from church members also heading home had caused scarcity of taxis, forcing commuters to rush for available ones.

    She had boarded a taxi heading to Area 1 with her mind fixed on quickly getting home and preparing for the next day.

    Narrating her ordeal in an interview with THE WHISTLER, the victim said, “Before I entered, it was just the driver and a guy in front, and another guy at the back. So, when I entered, I became the second person at the back.”

    Upon settling into the vehicle, the victim said she had noticed that the window regulator was absent, then she had asked the driver to wind down her side of the window, but the driver gave an unexpected response.

    “It was then that it dawned on me that I had entered the wrong car. Immediately I told the driver I wanted to come down. We haven’t even
    moved far from where I had boarded when the driver told the guy at the back in Igbo that he should take care of me.

    “This guy pounced on me and started to press my neck and I kept shouting Jesus! He was able to compress me under the car seat at the back. I think they stopped somewhere I could not see because my face was buried in the ground.

    “The guy in front now came to the back. So, it was just me in the middle of two men. The men kept pressing my neck with force, and I thought they wanted to strangle me,” she narrated.

    She said the manhandling continued while the car was in motion, and she heard the driver’s voice later, demanding access to her phone. Once he had access, the victim said all her money was transferred from her bank Application.

    They also demanded her ATM pin, which she revealed, and they withdrew the money using a POS machine which they had in the car.

    “They still asked me, if it was all the money I had. In fear, I said I had money in my shares account,” she said, adding that she immediately enabled the transfer after they subjected her to intense beating while putting a knife to her throat.

    The victim said she had a bag park containing all official things, including her personal items, all of which were carted away as she was later thrown out of the moving vehicle that night under the bridge at Mpape area of the city.

    The victim sustained a fracture and was later taken to a medical facility for treatment.

    The use of commercial vehicles by ‘one-chance’ syndicate to dispossess unsuspecting passengers of their belongings has heightened in the last
    three months in Abuja.

    There have been many reports of similar incidents in Abuja while the FCT police seem to be struggling to contain the situation.

    In October alone, the FCT Police arrested a one-chance kingpin, Chukwudi Ezirikew, who was terrorizing commuters along Kubwa/Zuba express way and recovered his vehicle, a golf 3 car.

    Also, one Shamsu Umar, a member of a three-man gang was apprehended while trying to rob a female resident along the Maitama expressway.

    Speaking to THE WHSITLER, the FCT Police Spokesperson, Josephine Adeh said the command “was on top of the matter as it has secured the arrests of some suspects in the last few weeks”.

    She noted that the command had also constituted an Anti-One Chance Squad to curb the menace of robbery (one chance) activities within the FCT.

    Adeh advised residents in the FCT to stop boarding unidentified vehicles along the wayside but should go to designated parks.

    “Most of the complaints that we have received, are from residents who boarded vehicles along the road or lonely paths. We have not received complaints from anyone that used designated parks,” she told THE WHISTLER.

    Source

  • Fact Check: No, difference in voter roll data and election results does not indicate crime

    The claim is startling: New York’s election results in 2022 might not be trustworthy because there were more votes than voters. 

    In a report on the 2022 election, New York Citizens Audit, a group of people who have cast doubt on election administration, claimed there were 35,312 more votes cast than there were voters who voted. 

    “Certification of New York’s 2022 general election appears to be a federal crime; a civil rights violation acting under color of law. Why?” the group wrote.  

    New York Citizens Audit has questioned the results of the 2020 and 2022 elections in appearances around the state, and its findings have been rebutted by state and county elections officials. 

    To arrive at the supposed discrepancy, the report’s authors compared all the votes cast in the U.S. Senate race in 2022, numbering 5,965,684, with the voter roll database that showed who voted in the 2022 election, some 5,930,372 in all. 

    The group submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the state Board of Election for the voter roll.

    We asked Marly Hornik, the group’s executive director, about the claim that certification of the results might be unlawful. She said that a U.S. Justice Department publication states that it is misconduct to certify something that is neither accurate nor compliant. “Because every American has a fundamental civil right to an accurate and compliant election, that constitutes a deprivation of rights acting under color of law,” Hornik said. 

    The Justice Department publication states broadly that election fraud can involve the counting of ballots and certification of results, and that voters have a right to have their vote counted “fairly and honestly.” But the claim New York Citizens Audit makes, that a ballot count from one dataset should always match up to a voter tally from another data set, is not mentioned in the Justice Department document as an example of voter fraud. 

    Another federal document, the Guide to the Canvass, warns against using the voter roll records as proof that a voter voted, warning that the counts of voters who voted can be higher than the number of ballots cast, the opposite issue of what New York Citizens Audit claims. 

    The state Board of Elections explained why the election tally and voter roll number could be different. The voter roll captures voter history as recorded in a moment in time, while certified results capture all of the ballots cast during a voting period, including early voting and the tabulation of ballots cast by overseas or military voters, or voters who filed an affidavit ballot. 

    The group received the voter file on Dec. 19, 2022, four days after the results were certified. The state board does not know when the group requested the file, because the request must have been made under a different name. 

    The board extracts the statewide voter file, which contains millions of data points, each Monday, which is used to fill all the requests for that data that week. It is then sent on a disc to the requester in the mail. Based on when the data was received, the file could reflect the voter roll from three days before the results were certified, or even more than a week earlier, state election officials said. During the days before certification, counties are still uploading their election data into the statewide database, such as those from military or affidavit ballots. In the 2022 general election, there were more than 401,000 absentee ballots cast, and more than 65,000 affidavit ballots. 

    The group has a voter roll from before all ballots were processed, and it is comparing that to certified results.  

    Also, voters who cast ballots might move or die, which can affect whether their voting history records are contained in the voter roll at the time it was requested. There are also different data sources maintained by counties and the state, and there could be problems synchronizing them. 

    The statewide database is a repository of information as provided by and edited by the county boards, said Kathleen R. McGrath, public information director at the state Board of Elections. “For that reason, it may be best to go county-by-county to get the complete voter participation for a particular election,” McGrath said.  

    We asked Republican officials at the Erie County Board of Elections about New York Citizens Audit’s claims. Commissioner Ralph Mohr and Registration Supervisor Gabriel Chen met with the group to explain how elections are conducted, and both were familiar with the group’s claim. 

    They confirmed that county boards of election submit records of each voter who cast a ballot to the state board within days of an election. But new data is uploaded as other votes are tabulated, such as overseas ballots and affidavit ballots. 

    Erie County has nearly 618,000 active registered voters, and in the last five years, there have been four cases of people voting twice, and the cases usually involved a college student who was registered at their home address and at their student housing, Mohr said. 

    “The number is minuscule,” he said. 

    Our ruling

    New York Citizens Audit claims that a count of 35,312 more ballots cast than voters who voted in the 2022 general election, when two different data sets are compared, is evidence the certification appears to be a federal crime. 

    It is possible that the number of ballots certified in the election and the number of voters who are listed as participating in the 2022 election in a statewide voter file is different. The voter roll is a list of voters in the state at one point in time, and may not match up with the total number of ballots cast in an election. This does not prove the certification of the 2022 election results is a civil rights violation. 

    The burden of proof in our rating system is on the speaker. New York Citizens Audit did not prove that differing data sets is evidence of a crime. We rate this claim False. 



    Source

  • Brock Purdy in, Trent Williams out

    SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy’s path to his 16th straight start involved passing through the NFL’s concussion protocol. Keeping him healthy will be a top priority, and one perhaps made more difficult by left tackle Trent Williams’ ankle injury.

    Williams will miss his second consecutive game and Jaylon Moore will remain in the lineup for today’s game against the Bengals.

    Also inactive for the 49ers is No. 3 quarterback Brandon Allen, defensive tackle Kalia Davis, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, linebacker Jalen Graham, running back Ty Davis-Price and tight end Brayden Willis.

    Designated as inactive for Cincinnati were cornerback D.J. Ivey, center Trey Hill, linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither and offensive tackle Jackson Carman.

    Williams has not practiced since spraining his right ankle — and playing through that injury — in the 49ers’ Oct. 15 loss at Cleveland.

    Purdy gained medical clearance Saturday, having reported concussion symptoms on the 49ers’ flight home from Monday night’s loss at Minnesota.

    Purdy’s 107.2 passer rating ranks second in the NFL behind Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (110.4). A year ago, Tagovailoa’s season, if not career, seemed in jeopardy; concussion fallout prompted him to miss a month, then he started nine games before a Christmas Day concussion ended his season.

    General manager John Lynch, on KNBR 680-AM on Friday, alluded to “the Tua thing” in declining to get into specifics on Purdy’s recovery. Purdy did not practice Wednesday, was limited Thursday and was a full participant in Friday’s walk-through session.

    Lynch said he did not know at what point Purdy sustained his head trauma, although most signs point to a fourth-quarter sneak. Lynch and Shanahan were alerted on the flight home about their quarterback’s issues. “I actually got woken up and they said, ‘I just want to let you know Brock’s not feeling well. He reported some symptoms and what-not,’ ” Lynch said on KNBR. “The trainers let us know that and from there, there goes the protocol. As to what it affected, how it affected, I don’t know.

    “I’m not sure Brock is sure when it happened. I guess if there’s any good news, he felt relatively soon after that,” Lynch added. “But you have to have the protocol, that’s where he’s at and going through those phases. I’m sorry to be vague. I’m not trying to be evasive. But after the Tua thing last year there really has been an emphasis in not trying to make prognostications and we’ve got to follow that.”

    Purdy has not commented on the injury, per NFL concussion protocol prohibiting media interviews.

    SAMUEL RECOVERING

    Samuel is out a second straight game, as projected once a hairline fracture was revealed in his left shoulder after the Browns game. This marks the 17th game he’s missed since his 2019 rookie season. “He’s doing good,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday. “It is a little hairline fracture in his shoulder. So we got to wait for that to heal. But he’s healthy enough everywhere else, so he is conditioning and working out, doing well. Hopefully that’ll be good after the (upcoming) bye week.”

    Source

  • Despite Harsh Operating Environment, Hospitality Business Booms As Transcorp, Capital Hotel Post N4.5bn Profit

    Despite the harsh operating environment, which has led to the closure of many businesses, the hospitality business is still booming based on the third-quarter financial performance of some hotel companies.

    The year 2023 has been a hard time for most businesses hit by the naira redesign policy of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and the fuel subsidy removal which induced hardship for businesses and individuals alike.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria went further to implement a managed float foreign exchange policy which led to the depreciation of the naira as companies posted billions in foreign exchange losses.

    However, the hardship is not reflected in the books of Transcorp Hotel Plc and Capital Hotel Plc as both companies declared a combined N4.5bn profit after tax in nine months, up by 83 per cent compared to N2.46bn which they declared in 2022.

    Analysis conducted by THE WHISTLER on their interim financial accounts ending September 2023 showed that their revenue for the period grew to N34.59bn, which represents a 26.4 per cent surge from the N27.36bn posted in the corresponding year of 2022.

    Their revenue growth was driven primarily by the increase in revenue from hotel rooms which grew to a combined N21.56bn in 2023 compared to N15.36bn in 2022.

    Another business line that contributed to their revenues was sales of food and beverage which rose from N10.6bn in 2022 to N10.9bn in 2023.

    Transcorp Hotel enjoyed the lion’s share of the revenue and profit after seeing its activities boom in 2023.

    In terms of revenue, the hotel posted N29.85bn in the nine-month period under review, a surge from the N22.65bn that it generated last year.

    The profit after tax also jumped by 79.2 per cent from N2.27bn in 2022 to N4.07bn in 2023.

    Capital Hotel’s books showed that N4.74bn was generated as revenue in nine months, a slight rise from the N4.71bn posted in 2022.

    Capital Hotel generated N2.09bn revenue from rooms and office spaces and another N2.3bn on food and beverages while N309m was generated from other service that it rendered during the period.

    But the company witnessed a 168.3 per cent rise in profit after tax from N187.3m in 2022 to N502.6m in 2023 principally driven by the decrease in the amount spent on the cost of sales.

    Unlike in 2022 where the hotel spent N4.2bn on the cost of sales, the company saw a drastic reduction in sales expenditure in 2023 as only N1.77bn was spent.

    Source

  • Christian McCaffrey’s 16-game touchdown streak by the numbers

    Running back Christian McCaffrey is working on a  streak of 16 games scoring a touchdown for the 49ers, with a chance Sunday against the Bengals to break the NFL record set in 1963-65 by Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts.

    Here is a historical look at McCaffrey’s streak:

    Oct. 23, 2023 at Minnesota: 35-yard pass from Brock Purdy; 3-yard run

    Oct. 15, 2023 at Cleveland: 13-yard pass from Purdy

    Oct 8, 2023 vs. Dallas: 1-yard run

    Oct. 1, 2023 vs. Arizona: 2-yard run; 6 pass from Purdy; 18-yard run; 1-yard run

    Sept. 21, 2023: vs. N.Y. Giants: 4-yard

    Sept. 17 at L.A. Rams: 14-yard run

    Sept. 10 at Pittsburgh: 65-yard run

    Jan. 29, 2023 at Philadelphia: 23-yard run (NFC Championship)

    Jan. 22, 2023 vs. Dallas: 2-yard run (NFC Divisional)

    Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Seattle: 3-yard pass from Purdy (NFC Wild Card)

    Jan. 8, 2023 vs. Arizona: 21-yard pass from Purdy

    Jan. 1, 2023 at Las Vegas: 14-yard run

    Dec. 24, 2022 vs. Washington: 1-yard run

    Dec. 15, 2022 at Seattle: 1-yard run

    Dec. 11, 2022 vs. Tampa Bay: 27-yard pass from Purdy; 38-yard run

    Dec. 4, 2022 vs. Miami: 3 pass from Purdy

    Total touchdowns: 21

    Games with multiple touchdowns: 3

    Rushing touchdowns: 14

    Receiving touchdowns: 7

    Source

  • Femi Gbajabiamila Is Their New Target!

    Several faceless groups masking themselves under fanciful nomenclatures have descended on the public space to discredit persons within the government of President Bola Tinubu they perceived as stumbling block to their own ambitions.

    The latest of such group is one that calls itself The Nigerian Transparency Initiative For Good Governance which issued a statement over the weekend about alleged “ongoing corruption within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.”

    The group alleged that elements within the Federal Government, spearheaded by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, are “trying to undo some of the critical decisions taken by the previous administration…”

    But it quickly gave itself away as the proxy voice of oil sector cabal when it alleged reversal of the appointment of pre-shipment inspectors and monitoring/evaluation agents for crude oil and gas exports under the Nigerian Export Supervision scheme. The group named seven agents said to have been approved by the previous administration and yell that any attempt to reverse the contracts would amount to economic sabotage.

    It’s amusing that the same group acknowledged the important reforms the Tinubu administration had embarked upon and the president’s desire to safeguard the oil and gas industry. It also admitted the efforts of the administration to sanitise the oil sector, encourage investments and expand the infrastructures to accommodate growth and development necessary to pull back the nation’s economy from the brinks of precipice!

    But it is laughable that one of the men behind the president’s renewed hope reforms can be labeled as a saboteur in a government he’s a key part of. It is not surprising that the chief of staff has also come under attack from vested interests and established criminal elements who would do anything to ensure the status quo remains.

    The same elements have continued to wage war of attrition against the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, and have demanded the president remove him from office. Now that they appeared to have failed in that project, they have turned on the chief of staff!

    Gbajabiamila is the next target, no doubt. Several other Tinubu men have continued to be targets of vitriolic abuse for these nefarious groups fighting for a cabal that is losing grip. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, had also been vilified and described as sabotaging the government of Tinubu.

    But Gbajabiamila’s travails is even more atrocious. He is said to have erected strong barricade against the Lagos Boys who see Tinubu as their own, and feel entitled to the villa. The word on the street is that Gbajabiamila is blocking everyone from getting access to the president. They obviously think he has such huge powers over the president that he can dictate to him who he sees.

    Gbajabiamila himself must be familiar with the antics of people around the corridors of power who feel frustrated that they’re unable to wield enough influence for trading, and blames everyone else for their problems. It’s obvious that those one of the groups after Gbajabiamila are the Lagos Boys who feel entitled to Tinubu and are determined to cut down anyone blocking or seen to be blocking their path.

    Others are political jobbers whose feel their expectations to land juicy appointments in the new administration quickly vanishing in light of the quality appointments the president has been making. Many of these people are the run of the mill politicians who see government appointments as opportunity for feathering their nests, and not for selfless service.

    It’s obvious such people underrate President Tinubu’s innate ability for quality head hunting to feel leadership positions. Perhaps they need to be reminded to take another look at Lagos and the type of leadership Tinubu has offered the state. Or do they expect it to be different in Abuja?

    Tinubu has started his administration like a man on a mission for urgent rescue. While there’s no doubt that President Tinubu is no longer the Jagaban of previous years due to age, anyone that has met him recently would no doubt attest to his undiminished political intelligence and the energy to deliver.

    Gbajabiamila certainly earned a seat close to the President, and Tinubu alluded to this in the speech he gave after he was declared winner of the presidential election in February. While acknowledging party men and women who worked for his success, he looked at Gbajabiamila and said, “your sacrifices will not be forgotten.”

    Tinubu knows the people he’s appointed into key positions. He’s not like some leaders who completely rely on others to choose for him. He has a fair idea about everyone before working with them. And for a man who has been at the centre of national politics for more than two decades, it’s almost an insult to warn him against his own people.

    The so-called transparency group equally admitted that each time the government takes decisions to move the oil and gas sector forward, some vested interests would begin to create problems to frustrate government decisions and cripple the entire sector. This is certainly true, and it reinforces the argument that those forces had existed before Gbajabiamila became chief of staff, and so he cannot be the problem.

    Anyone who has followed Gbajabiamila during his time as speaker of the House of Representatives knows how progressive a politician he is. And no one would know that better than President Tinubu who had supported Gbajabiamila’s political ascendancy.

    AS speaker of the 9th House of Reps, he introduced discipline into the appropriations process by implementing a January to December budget cycle that ended the policy instability and economic uncertainty of the previous irregular budget cycles. He also encouraged debates of critical national issues on the floor of the House.

    Amongst the achievement of the House under his leadership include the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production and Sharing Contracts Act; the Electoral Act Amendment, and the Police Act, among others.The House also passed the Police Act to change the nature of relations between the police and citizens in the country while ensuring that police officers who fell short of their responsibility could be quickly held accountable.

    On a personal note, he intervened successfully several times to ensure NLC didn’t go on strike, or call off the strike. When talks broke down between Labour leaders and the federal government, he was always willing to ensure a truce and get the country working. Certainly, if there are vested interests in the presidential villa today, it is without doubt, a vested interest in the progress of Nigeria.

    — Suleiman wrote from Abuja.

    Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.

    Source

  • Bengals’ Zac Taylor borrowed from 49ers, Kyle Shanahan to build team

    SANTA CLARA — The Cincinnati Bengals have ascended to a power position in the AFC in part because coach Zac Taylor paid close attention to the 49ers.

    The Bengals are 3-3 and like the 49ers have knocked on the door of winning a Super Bowl championship in each of the last two years without getting the ultimate payoff.

    Taylor, 40, was a surprise hire in 2019 in that his only stint as an offensive coordinator was in 2015 with Miami, having taken over play-calling duties for the last five games after Bill Lazor was fired.

    Before joining the Bengals, Taylor was the wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and quarterbacks coach for a team that advanced to the Super Bowl under Sean McVay in 2018.

    While with the Rams, Taylor watched the NFC West rival 49ers closely. After they went 6-10 in 2017 and 4-12 in 2018 following quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s torn ACL, the 49ers took off in 2019 and went 13-3.

    In Taylor’s first two seasons in Cincinnati, the Bengals were 2-14 and 4-11-1.

    “I know they had some quarterback injuries and in the third year they went to the Super Bowl,” Taylor told reporters this week in advance of their road game against the 49res (5-2) Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

    Cincinnati, like the 49ers, took wing in Year 3. In 2021 they won the AFC North with a 10-7 record, then beat the Raiders 26-19 in a wild card game, Tennessee 19-16 in the divisional playoff and stunned the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime in for the AFC title. Last season, the Bengals went 12-4 and made the AFC title game but lost 23-20 on a last-second field goal against the Chiefs.

    “I’ve always looked at San Francisco as a good template of how you can build and continue to evolve to get where you want to be and maintain that level of consistency,” Taylor said. “They’ve really been the standard of that.”

    Shanahan knows Taylor from NFL owners meetings as well as the fact that he once worked with Mike Sherman on the offensive staff in Houston. Sherman is Taylor’s father-in-law. When Taylor’s first Cincinnati teams were struggling, Shanahan had a ready response regarding his rough first year with the 49ers.

    “It’s real easy for me to say, ‘Don’t worry, at least you didn’t start out 0-9,’ ” Shanahan said. “I can always give that support to people. He’s done a hell of a job from where they’ve come from and where they are now.”

    Taylor said he even showed film clips of the 49ers to the Bengals, hoping to show them the way to success.

    “Our first year, we weren’t very good. Our attention to detail wasn’t great, our level of coaching at times wasn’t great,” Taylor said. “In 2020, we made some progress, and there was a path that San Francisco has shown people how it can occur.”

    Brandon Allen, the 49ers’ No. 3 quarterback, was the backup to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati from 2020 through 2022 under Taylor.

     

    While Allen doesn’t remember actually watching 49ers film, he can see the similarities between the organizations.

    “I don’t know if it was discussed with the players as much as it was an overarching philosophy of what he wanted his team to look like,” Allen said. “Since Kyle came here, this team is sound, they play extremely hard and extremely physical and that’s what Zac wanted for his team when he took over the Bengals.”

    Allen, 31, signed with the 49ers even though at the time they already had Purdy, Trey Lance and had also signed Darnold.

    Why would Allen join a team as a fourth quarterback rather than seek a backup opportunity elsewhere?

    Familiarity played a part. While Taylor never coached with Shanahan, he did work under McVay with the Rams. Shanahan and McVay both began their NFL coaching careers under Jon Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then were on staff together in Washington under Mike Shanahan.

    “I can see some similarities here and there, certain things,” Allen said of Taylor and Shanahan. “They’re both offensive-minded guys and they can see defenses from a quarterback perspective really well. Probably the biggest similarity I’ve noticed is how Kyle sees defenses and attacks certain things and I think Zac does a good job seeing things the same way.”

    Allen also worked with offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello as a reserve quarterback in Denver in 2019. Scangarello had worked the previous two seasons with the 49ers under Shanahan.



    Source

  • NDLEA: I Was Promised N3.5m To Ingest 49 Cocaine Wraps To Hong Kong — Alaba Trader Says

    Chidike Prince, 41, a self-described spare part dealer, has confessed that he was promised N3.5 million upon the successful ingestion and trafficking of 49 pellets of cocaine to Hong Kong.

    Prince confessed after he excreted 49 pellets of cocaine upon being detained by operatives National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA for an unspecified number of days.

    On October 21, narcotic officers intercepted Prince at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 950 to Hong Kong via Addis Ababa.

    He was not alone, as the agency had intercepted ThankGod Emenike, 38 on October 20 during the outward clearance of passengers on Air France flight 818 to Paris.

    “They were both arrested and detained after their body scan revealed they ingested illicit drugs.

    “After days in custody and a number of excretions, Emenike excreted 72 wraps of heroin weighing 1.171 kilograms, while Chidike discharged 49 pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 998.53 grams.

    “In his statement, Chidike claimed he is a businessman dealing in spare parts at the Alaba International market in Ojo area of Lagos.

    “He added that he was to be paid N3.5 million which he intended to use to import goods from Hong Kong,” a statement issued by the agency, and signed by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi revealed.

    In the same vein, another suspect, Agbo Tochukwu was arrested with a consignment of 58 parcels of skunk weighing 29.10kgs while undergoing processes to board his flight at terminal 11 of the Lagos International Airport, Lagos on October 25.

    The Qatar Airways flight passenger going to Oman claimed to have relocated to Oman on May 6 and had been working as a hotel attendant in Oman before venturing into drug trafficking.

    Source

  • Warriors need Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to make “Year 3 Leap”

    HOUSTON —  It may seem like the Warriors are leaning into their old age.

    The core that distinguishes them are all in their mid-30s, and where they lack in speed or athleticism they make up for by outsmarting their opponents. Teammates call 35-year-old Steph Curry a cheat code and 38-year-old Chris Paul a cheat sheet.

    The superstars may carry the load and set the standard, but it’s internally understood that the Warriors can reach new heights as title contenders if Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody take the “Year 3 Leap.” That not only means the third-year players making the “Non-Steph” parts of the game competitive, but challenging the regulars for crunch time minutes.

    That “Year 3 Leap” is the idea that players in their third NBA season can solidify themselves as rotation mainstays if they’ve pocketed enough game experience to pair with their youth and athleticism. The Warriors can right their bench woes from last year if Moody and Kuminga make that leap flanking the older veteran core.

    With Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson easing into the year, Kuminga and Moody, both 21, have jumped in their shoes on the wings. Kuminga even closed the Phoenix loss over Wiggins and both were playing key minutes down the stretch in Sacramento.

    It’s early, but the Warriors have been waiting for this upward trend from their former first-rounders. Poor bench play was a main contributor to the Warriors’ road woes last year; a double-digit deficit would spiral them in minutes when Curry wasn’t on the floor to mop the mess.

    Last year, the Warriors probably lose Friday night’s road game against the Sacramento Kings. They were down 11 early in the first half and outscored by 12 in the first and fourth quarters combined. But there was no desperate scramble to survive or costly mistakes — instead Moody and Kuminga helped lead a second unit surge, with Paul as the primary playmaker, to turn the deficit into a 20-point lead high.

    “Last year it took us a long time to win a road game,” Curry said after his 41-point effort against the Kings. “And we used everybody to get (this one) done.”

    Moody is playing himself into a regular rotation role as a constant shooter and scrappy defender. Turnovers and defensive lapses pushed him out of the rotation last year, only for coach Steve Kerr to pull him off the shelf to defend LeBron James in the Western Conference Semifinals.

    His 18 minutes in the season opener against Phoenix changed the tenor of Golden State’s sluggish start. He was a plus-11 shooting 4-of-5 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, in 21 minutes against the Kings.

    Moody has been on a shot-making kick for a while now. He’s shooting 53.6% from 3 in 18 games since February of last year, but has averaged 1.6 attempts in an average 11.2 minutes per game over that span. In these firs two games, Moody has gone 2-of-3 and 2-of-4, respectively, as he’s earned more minutes.

    Source

  • Tinubu, Atiku Extol Late Ohinoyi Of Ebiraland: ‘He Had Masterful Way Of Handling Issues’

    President Bola Tinubu has mourned the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in Kogi State, His Royal Majesty, Ado Ibrahim, who passed away at the age of 94 on Sunday.

    Ibrahim ascended the revered throne in 1997, serving as the fourth traditional ruler of Ebiraland until Sunday morning.

    President Tinubu, on Sunday, described the late monarch as a “peace-loving, affable, and cerebral” leader who had a “masterful way of handling issues.”

    The late monarch succeeded Alhaji Muhammed Sani Omolori, the former Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, who reigned from 1957 to 1997.

    Ibrahim was the son of the second paramount ruler of Ebiraland, Attah Ibrahim Onoruoiza.

    Reacting to the monarch’s passing on Sunday, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, described him as “a custodian of our traditional norms and an inspiration” to the people he left behind.

    “I, on behalf of my family, commiserate with the people of Ebira land and the government and people of Kogi State over this loss.

    “I pray that Allah, the benevolent and the merciful, will forgive his sins and grant him eternal rest in paradise,” Atiku said in a statement.

    Source