Author: Festus Adeloye

A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said Friday. Fueled by a crushing heatwave, the so-called Park Fire — the most intense wildfire to hit the state this summer — has rapidly devoured nearly 240,000 acres (97,000 hectares) as of Friday night and is continuing to gain strength. “This fire has been rapidly expanding 4,000 to 5,000 acres an hour,” incident commander Billy See said at a press conference Friday evening. For now, it is “zero per cent” controlled,…

The Imo State Police Command has arrested two suspected armed robbers, Ntosi Godfrey, and Nnamdi Raymond, en route to Owerri with a Green Toyota Golf, Reg No AA775BD Lagos, allegedly snatched from a victim in Umuahia, the Abia State capital. The command’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Henry Okoye, made this known in a statement on Friday. He said the arrest was made through the efforts of the operatives of the command tactical unit while on intelligence-led stop-and-search along Owerri-Aba road. The statement read, “The suspects opened fire on sighting police operatives but were given stiff resistance by the ever-gallant…

The Justice Department late Friday filed its response to TikTok’s civil suit aimed at derailing a law that would force the app to be sold or face a US ban. TikTok’s suit in a Washington federal court argues that the law violates First Amendment rights of free speech. The US response counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance is not able to claim First Amendment rights here. The filing details concerns that ByteDance could, and would, comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users or yield to pressure…

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, on Friday said it is a time to solve problems and not protest as the Federal Government announced its participation in the Grand Challenges Nigeria project, a global health initiative aimed at combating malnutrition and food insecurity in Nigeria. He stated this during a high-level meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Shettima emphasised the need for constructive action over protest even as he acknowledged the hardship being faced by Nigerians due to recent economic reforms, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies. This was disclosed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President…

A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has said that the chances of restructuring the country under President Bola Tinubu’s administration are unlikely. Odinkalu noted that owing to the “mechanics of presidentialism,” it remains unlikely that a sitting president would champion the devolution of more powers to the federating units. The former NHRC boss said this on Friday when he was featured as a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a sociocultural programme of Channels Television. Odinkalu said, “President Tinubu is now seeing Nigeria from the centre, not from the circumference. I’ve lived in…

The Spokesman to Osun State Governor, Olawale Rasheed, has said his principal is governing the state without drawing credit facilities and without taking security votes. Olawale, in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Friday, said the clarification was in response to figures credited to some opposition politicians, who had alleged governor Ademola Adeleke, of increasing Osun debt and of accessing security votes to the tune of billions of naira. Rasheed who said the allegation was mischievous, said Adeleke is pursuing his many governance initiatives within the confines of available resources from federal allocations and internally generated revenue. The statement partly…

Amid complaints by the Airline Operators of Nigeria over multiple taxation, the Federal Government has expressed its intention to further raise its charges. The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Umar Farouk, announced this on Friday at the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents seminar themed “Aviation Survivability amidst a Challenging Macro-Economic Environment,” held in Ikeja, Lagos. He stated that the agency would raise its en-route navigational charges from N2,000 and N6,000 to N18,000 and N54,000 per flight. Similarly, the airspace agency increased the extension of service hours to airlines from N50,000 to N450,000, representing an 800 per…

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has urged all groups planning to participate in the proposed nationwide protest to submit their details to the Commissioners of Police in their respective states. He spoke while addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday. He said this was to ensure the protest was peaceful. Egbetokun said, “We acknowledge the constitutional right of Nigerian citizens to peaceful assembly and protest. “However, in the interest of public safety and order, we urge all groups planning to protest to provide necessary details to the Commissioner of Police in the state where the protest is intended to…

Grammy-winning artist Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has equalled Tems’ record as the Nigerian artist with the second-most certified singles in the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) history, with a total of four certified singles each. This accomplishment follows the Gold certification of his collaborative single “Location” with British Grime artist Dave, recognising sales of 500,000 units in the United States. Burna Boy’s previously certified songs in the US include “Last Last” (Platinum), “Ye” (Gold), and “On The Low” (Gold). Wizkid maintains his position as the most certified Nigerian artist in the US, with a total of…

Ahead of the proposed nationwide protest, the Federal Capital Territory police command has deployed a total of 4,200 policemen across the nooks and crannies of the nation’s capital. The command also announced the deployment of explosive ordinance device experts at various strategic locations. The command in a statement on Friday by its spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said the deployment was to ensure public safety, protection of protesters and to prevent the protests from being hijacked by non-state actors. She added that there would be raids on identified black spots, uncompleted buildings/shanties, and stop and search operations among others in collaboration with…