3-Storey Building Collapses In Lagos, says LASEMA

The Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Olufemi Oke Osanyintolu confirmed the partial collapse of a three storey building situated at Ebute Metta, Lagos at about 9 am on Monday morning.

The building was reported to have been weak due to lack of maintenance before it collapse at early hours of today.

According to the source, there was no life lost or injury.

The Director added that LASEMA experts and Lahos State Building Control Agency officials were at the scene of the incident.

Meet Pius Okaba: The Nigerian Ghetto Boy Who Rose to Rule Europe

Pius Okaba, otherwise known as Codread is a Nigerian-born model, singer, songwriter, actor and movie director, who has proved his mettle as one of Europe’s most sought-after thespians. His grass to grace story simply depicts hard work, resilience and focus.    

Pius was born in Maroko, a volatile slum that would later be demolished by the Lagos State Government under the military leadership of General Raji Rasaki. Maroko was a commumity in Eti-Osa Local Government, Lagos. It was adjacent to Ikoyi and east of Victoria Isalnd. It was a low income area that attracted a lot of migrants due to its proximity to economically robust areas.

In July 1990, the Lagos State Government, under Raji Rasaki, evicted the residents of Maroko and demolished the community. The government said Maroko was below sea level and needed to be filled in with sand and needed infrastructure improvements. About 300,000 people lost their houses and valuables. It was one of the largest forced evictions in Nigerian history.

Pius Okaba was born in Maroko, but grew up in another rural area in Ajegunle Ikorodu. Irrespective of crime and other social vices that were synonymous with the slum, Pius remained focused, as he only engaged in sporting activities –soccer and boxing, the two most popular sports in rural areas. “Soccer was to socialize with my friends while boxing was to protect myself from enemies,” Pius quipped. 

As a child, Pius said he “sold vegetables for my Mom, fish for my neighbors and kito/sanders for my older sister’s boyfriend, and this was how I developed an entrepreneurial skill which has shaped my life today. When I became a teenager, I wanted more, so I found my way out of the remote area to live with my brother in Victoria Island where I learned barbing. I tried to get into Lagos State Polytechnic where I studied Business Administration but I dropped out in second year because my brother who was supporting me financially had just lost his salon and I couldn’t continue my studies.”

However, one beautiful afternoon, as he went for a stroll around the neighborhood in Victoria Island, he met a friend, Charles Toye who introduced him to Modela, a frontline designer and modeling agent, who trained him as a runway model.

“A few years later, I became one of the first Glo ambassadors in Nigeria and I had my face on billboards, interstate buses and on advertorials. During a Glo advert shoot, I was introduced to the Creative Director of the production company in South Africa that got me and two other models from Modela signed by a South African modeling agency called Noir Models and this was how I left Nigeria to start my international modeling career,” Pius reminisced.

Today, Pius Okaba has emerged one of the toasts of European film market. The Berlin, Germany-based thespian has over his 10-year career in the film and television industry worked in various fields such as Format Buying, On-Air Image Design, Content Acquisition, Content Development/Management, Airtime Sales, Directing and Production for both the film and television industries.

An alumnus of The New York Film Academy (NYFA) where he studied acting and he holds a Master of Arts Degree in Film Directing from the prestigious University of West London, Pius is currently pursuing a second Masters Degree (MFA) in motion pictures and is a residence lecturer at the Prague Film Institute in Czech Republic. His controversial film AYE, released in 2019 sees a wide acceptance across the European film industry.

AYE won the award for Best Short Film at the Africa In Diaspora Cinema Festival in Florence, Italy and was nominated and screened at I Will Tell International Film Festival, London, United Kingdom, Black Star International Film Festival, Accra Ghana, The South African International Film Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa, Africa international Film Festival, Lagos Nigeria, and Inshort Film Festival, also in Lagos, Nigeria.

Pius’s role as a witch hunter in the most anticipated Czech fairytale film of all time, Princezna Zakletá V Čase (Princess Lost In Time) which is expected to be released in cinemas across Europe in March 2020 has made him a household name in the acting scene in Europe.

Although, his appearance on Berlin Tag Und Nacht, a daily series on German television RTL II was a highlight of his acting career in Germany. He is currently working on his latest film which will be released in the fall of 2021.

Before the Corona virus pandemic, he was on location with other Hollywood stars shooting Orisa, a film he is producing. Orisa is a Yoruba word for shrine, as the film centers around kidnapping, child rape and human trafficking.

Created by: Bsyo Ayetu 

Breaking News: Senate Summons Aregbesola Over Visa On Arrival Policy

Posted by Samuel on Tue 17th Dec, 2019 - tori.ng

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The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbosola has been summoned by the senate over the latest visa on arrival policy of the Federal Government.

Rauf Aregbosola

According to Punch Metro, the Senate on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbosola, to appear before it alongside the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede.

They are expected to brief the Senate on the latest visa on arrival policy of the Federal Government.

This was sequel to a point of order raised by the Senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial district, Olubunmi Adetunmbi.

The lawmaker had drawn the attention of his colleagues to the fact that the executive did not carry the legislature along before the implementation of the policy.

Details later...

Newborn Dies After Doctors Fail To Catch Him After Mum 'Pushed'.

A newborn baby has been pronounced dead after he came out really fast that the midwife couldn't catch him.

File Photo

A newborn died after doctors failed to catch him when his mum pushed him out. Grieving father Claudio Mondragon said he had witnessed the tragedy as his wife Stefania gave birth to their son Valentino.

An investigation was underway today into the incident at a hospital in the Argentinian city of Gualeguaychu, a three hour drive north of the capital Buenos Aires near to where the couple live.

The baby boy was transferred to a specialist hospital in the nearby city of Parana, but he was pronounced dead before arrival.

Claudio, 29, told local paper El Dia: “My wife was in labour and was just about to have the baby and they asked her to push and she pushed so he would come out.

“He came out really fast and no-one grabbed him and he fell to the floor.

"The midwife didn’t have time to catch him and the obstetrician didn’t react.

“The only thing they did was lift him up from the floor and put him in an incubator and take him to another hospital.”

The freak accident happened last Thursday afternoon in a clinic called Sanatorio Pronto in Gualeguaychu.

The baby boy died as he was being taken to San Roque Hospital in Parana.

The investigation, led by a local state prosecutor, will determine if his death is the result of medical negligence and whether anyone should face criminal charges.

Valentino, whose 26-year-old mum Stefania was 37 weeks pregnant when she gave birth, has already been buried by his grief-stricken parents.

A preliminary autopsy is said to have concluded the baby boy died from a head injury consistent with a fall.

Minimum Wage: No Worker In Lagos Can Live With N30,000 - Ex-Governorship Candidate

Gbadamosi said the roads in Lagos were so bad that people were dying in the gridlock caused by the poor condition of roads.

Babatunde Gbadamosi,

A former governorship candidate under the Action Democratic Party in Lagos State, Babatunde Gbadamosi, has said no worker can comfortably live with the new minimum wage of N30,000 in Lagos.

Gbadamosi while speaking at a conference in Lagos, said a minimum wage of N100, 000 should be paid to workers because of the high cost of living in the state.

Gbadamosi said, “Lagos should be paying at least N100,000 minimum wage because of the high cost of living in the state.

“There is no worker that can live comfortably on N30,000 salary in a month. The bad roads force transporters to keep increasing fares, rents are high, Lagosians pay so much to send their children to school.

“Lagos State internally generated revenue in a month is said to be above N30bn and that is the official figure. The state gets allocation from Abuja every month, so, can we say we get value for about N40bn made in a month?”

Gbadamosi said the roads in Lagos were so bad that people were dying in the gridlock caused by the poor condition of roads.

According to him, road construction and rehabilitation are the easiest tasks that can be done in governance, saying a kilometre of road in difficult terrains in the country will not cost more than N300m.

He said, “The Apapa gridlock has not been sorted out contrary to the promise made by the governor that he would clear the gridlock in his first 100 days in office. I knew it was a tall order. He was probably prompted to make that promise by his political advisers.

“ The palliative work they are doing on the roads is a waste of resources. They said they could not lay asphalt on the roads during the rainy season but the dry season is here, yet they are not doing what they promised. 

Failure To Terminate Pregnancy Leads To Dissolution of 7-Month-Old Marriage

A marriage of 7 months has been asked to be dissolved after husband allegedly starved wife for failing to terminate a pregnancy.

A Sharia court sitting at Rigasa, Kaduna on Monday dissolved a seven-month-old union between one Binta Abdullahi and Isyaku Abdullahi over irreconcilable difference.

The Judge, Mallam Dahiru Bamalli, dissolved the union after the complainant prayed the court to confirm notice of divorce issued by Abdullahi.

The judge also ordered the defendant to pay N7,000 monthly feeding allowance to Binta, his ex-wife who is pregnant, and also ordered him to take care of her health until she delivers.

Earlier, the complainant, 18, a resident of Rigasa area told the court that her husband had stopped caring for her ever since she refused to abort her pregnancy.

“When I noticed signs of pregnancy two months after our wedding, I notified him and he gave me N2,000 to terminate the pregnancy.

“I refused to abort the pregnancy and used the money to buy soap for my mother who is in the village; he later realized that I was still pregnant and was not happy,” she said.

Binta said that the defendant had refused to provide her with food for 25 days adding that she begs food from neighbours.

She said that she had reported the matter to her guardian, but Abdullahi had refused to change.

She added that Abdullahi later made one pronouncement of divorce to her.

In his defence, the defendant 50, acknowledged to have divorced his wife but denied starving her of food

Ex-President Of Pakistan Sentenced To Death

Former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death after he was found guilty of high treason.

Former President General Pervez Musharraf

A Pakistani special court hearing the high treason case against former president General Pervez Musharraf has handed the former ruler a death sentence.

A three-member bench of the special court headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad announced the decision, in a split judgment.

The court, in its short order said that it had analysed complaints, records, arguments and facts in the case for three months. The court added it had found Musharraf, now living in Dubai, guilty of high treason according to Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

It was a majority verdict, with three of the two judges giving the decision against Musharraf.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over his imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

The former army chief was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

On March 18, 2016, the former president left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list on the orders of the Supreme Court.

A few months later, the special court had declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear.

Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.