Author: Samuel Akpenpuun

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…

In a split decision of two Justices to one, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has barred the Federal High Court in Kano from adjudicating over the Kano Emirate legal battle. The appellate court held that the court has no jurisdiction to dabble into the Kano State Chieftaincy Matters on the ground that such a case can only be determined by the Kano High Court. Justice Gabriel Kolawole who delivered the lead judgment,  held that the federal high court has no business adjudicating over the chieftaincy matters but ordered that the matter be returned to the Kano state high court,…

President Bola Tinubu is set to attend the 2025 edition of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the United Arab Emirates. Disclosing this in a statement on Friday, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the summit will take place from January 12 to 18. Tinubu’s planned trip to the Middle East is at the behest of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “The Summit will bring together global leaders to accelerate sustainable development and advance socioeconomic progress,” the statement read. “The event, ‘The Nexus of Next; Supercharging Sustainable Progress,’ will enable policymakers, business, and…

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja has permitted the Department of State Service (DSS) to detain 10 suspected terrorists, who had planned to launch a Boko Haram/ISWAP cell in Osun, for 60 days pending conclusion of investigation. In a ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by their lawyer, Justice Nwite held that the application was meritorious and accordingly granted. He subsequently adjourned the matter to March 3 for mention. In the affidavit deposed to by Yamuje Benye, a personnel of the agency attached to the Legal Service Department at the national headquarters, averred that the suspects were…

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 105 individuals, including four Chinese nationals, at a business apartment in the Gudu area of Abuja. EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, disclosed this in a statement on Friday. “In its ongoing efforts to clean the nation of internet fraud and other acts of corruption, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested four Chinese and 101 Nigerians in a business apartment in the Gudu axis of Abuja,” the anti-graft agency said. He said the suspects were apprehended on Thursday, January 9, adding that…

The Federal Government has received $52.88 million in recovered assets linked to a former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, from the United States of America. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, disclosed this during the formal signing ceremony of the asset agreement between Nigeria and the United States in Abuja on Friday. In his remarks, Fagbemi explained that $50 million of the recovered assets would be deployed through the World Bank for the development of rural electrification projects, while the remaining $2 million would be used by the International Institute of Justice to expand the…

Incoming US president Donald Trump sparked a political battle with outgoing leader Joe Biden and California’s Democratic governor Thursday over the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles. Trump launched a series of evidence-free broadsides accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of a variety of failings — including wasting water that could have been used to fight fires in order to protect a kind of fish. “Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump said on his Truth Social network, using his usual nickname for the Democrat, who is widely viewed as a potential White House contender. Trump added that the deadly Los…