Author: Samuel Akpenpuun

President Bola Tinubu has expressed sorrow over the death of Alhaja Monsurat Bankole, mother of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Oladimeji Bankole. The Iya Adinni of Egbaland passed away on Thursday at the age of 78 after a brief illness. In a statement issued by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga on Friday, the President extended condolences to the Bankole family and the people of Ogun State. He described the deceased as a woman of great virtue who dedicated her life to community development and lived by the tenets of her Islamic faith. “Alhaja…

Osun State monarch, Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has congratulated the Alaafin-elect, Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade, and the people of Oyo Kingdom on the historic ascension to the revered throne. Describing the emergence of Owoade as divinely ordained, the Oluwo commended Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for making what he termed a “courageous decision” in selecting an “exposed prince” to occupy the stool of the Alaafin. In a Friday statement released by his press secretary, Alli Ibraheem, Oluwo praised Makinde for modernising the Yoruba traditional institution. “I congratulate Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, the Alaafin-elect, on his ascension to…

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, is set to honour the President of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and renowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Sharif Al-Hussain with honorary degrees. This decision followed the consideration and endorsement of the recommendation by the Honorary Degrees Committee at the University’s 544th (Special) Senate meeting held on Tuesday, 7 January 2025. The Governing Council subsequently approved it at its 207th meeting on Wednesday, 8 January 2025. The prestigious awards will be conferred upon the two distinguished individuals during the university’s 44th Convocation Ceremony, scheduled for 25 January 2025. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a globally renowned finance…

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, has dissolved his cabinet, stating that his administration requires fresh energy. He made this announcement on Friday during a valedictory session at the Executive Council chamber in Uyo, the state capital. The governor clarified that none of the commissioners had underperformed but that he needed to bring in new individuals to join his administration. Eno stressed that while all the commissioners had delivered on their responsibilities, they would be replaced to bring in a new set of professionals. “For me, if changes were based on non-performance, none of the commissioners would be…

Uganda’s army chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, announced he was quitting X on Friday after a string of controversial posts including threatening to behead an opposition leader and invade neighbouring countries. Seen as the likely successor to his 80-year-old father, Kainerugaba built up more than a million followers on X, formerly Twitter, thanks to his notorious posts. Just this week, Kainerugaba, 50, said it was only the presence of his father that prevented him from murdering musician-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine. “If Mzee was not there, I would cut off his head today,” Kainerugaba posted, using an…

The Benue State Government has ordered three former vice chairmen of Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi to refund N2.4 billion into the government coffers. The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Tersoo Kula, disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Makurdi. The statement said that the order was necessitated by the white paper report on the forensic audit investigation into the club’s affairs between January 2020 and September 2024. NAN reports that Governor Hyacinth Alia had on October 7, 2024, inaugurated a Forensic Audit Investigation Committee led by Donatus San-Chir-Igba to examine the funds of…

The victims who died in a stampede that occurred during a Christmas rice distribution in Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, have been buried. No fewer than 21 people, mostly women and children reportedly lost their lives during the tragic incident that occurred on December 21, 2024, during the palliative distribution being donated by a notable member of the community, Chief Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, through his foundation, Obijackson Foundation. The inter-denominational burial service for the victims held at St. Mary’s Field, Okija, on Friday, had families of the victims, survivors, community members, and other notable personalities of the…

The UN rights chief insisted Friday that regulating hate speech and harmful content online “is not censorship”, days after Meta scrapped its fact-checking programme on Facebook and Instagram citing censorship concerns. “Allowing hate speech and harmful content online has real world consequences. Regulating such content is not censorship,” Volker Turk said on X. “My Office calls for accountability and governance in the digital space, in line with human rights.” Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday the group would “get rid of fact-checkers” and replace them with community-based posts, starting in the United States, complaining the programme had made “too…

South African police said Friday that they had rescued 26 undocumented Ethiopian nationals who were being held captive without clothes in a suburban house in Johannesburg by suspected human traffickers. Up to 30 other men may have already escaped through a smashed window before police swooped in on the house late Thursday and could be hiding in the area, the police priority crimes unit said. According to preliminary information from the rescued men, the group was held in the house in the Sandringham suburb in northern Johannesburg without clothes or documents, Colonel Philani Nkwalase said. Last August, police found more…

Politician and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has called on the federal government to find lasting solutions to insecurity in the country. Obi also appealed for those in kidnappers’ captivity to be rescued. He appealed to his official X as he raised the alarm over rising spates of insecurity in the country. He wrote “The frequent occurrence of crimes, especially kidnapping, in the country today is worrisome and it’s causing a lot of apprehension in the land. “Today, no one is currently spared from the dangerous wind of many kidnappings and killings blowing through many parts of the…