Author: Abimbola Ogunnaike

Famous Nigerian music sensation, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly addressed as Wizkid, has paid tributes to his late mother, Morayo, on her first posthumous birthday. Taking to social media on Thursday, 4 July, 2024 Wizkid celebrated her life, highlighting how much he missed her. “Happy birthday, love of my life! I miss you every day. The first one without you here feels unreal. Nothing makes sense without you, Mama! Life is empty without you,” Whizkid wrote “Continue to watch over us! My heart is broken forever! love you love love you, Morayo mi. Your smile is a memory I will never forget.…

Ahead of the Under 19 youth league which is scheduled to run from Saturday, 13 July to Saturday, 27 July, 2024, the Nationwide League One has approved 14 venues for the football event. The Stadia are the Legacy Pitch/Maracas Stadium in Lagos; FC Ebedei Stadium, Sagamu; Kayode Oluyemi Stadium, Ado-Ekiti; Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa; Ginger Sam Stadium, Umuahia; Awka City Stadium, Awka; and Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano. Others are: Pantami Stadium, Gombe; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi; Bwari Stadium, Abuja; Lafia City Stadium, Lafia; Giginya Memorial Stadium, Sokoto; Bako Kontagora Stadium, Niger; and Karkanda Stadium, Katsina. Over 200 teams will…

African Football ruling body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) unveiled on Thursday, 4 July, 2024 pitched Nigeria with Benin, Libya and Rwanda in Group D of the qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON qualifiers) in Morocco. The draw for the qualifiers took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 2025 AFCON will be played from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026 following the decision of the football governing body to adjust the schedule of the tournament for the congested FIFA calendar. It will be the first time in Nations Cup history that the tournament will kick off…

The European Union (EU) has offered postgraduate scholarships to 142 young Nigerians in top European universities in the 2024-25 academic session, under its flagship educational programme, Erasmus+. Nigeria with this number, retains its number one spot among beneficiaries of the EU postgraduate scholarships in Africa for the 6th year, as well as a place among the top five recipient countries globally. At a pre-departure orientation organised for the scholarship awardees in Abuja on Thursday, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Samuela Isopi, underlined the significance of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) programme, now in its 20th…

Several families affected by floods in Sierra Leone in 2022 have received humanitarian assistance from the ECOWAS Commission worth the sum of $690,719.00 The humanitarian assistance to affected households was launched by the Government of Sierra Leone with the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Sierra Leone, Amb. Harouna Moussa in attendance. Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Honourable Kenya Ballay stressed the importance of the ECOWAS humanitarian assistance which will benefit affected persons in eight districts in the country. The items including bags of food, financial assistance as well as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) essentials are being distributed…

Rivers Government has confirmed that the recent cholera outbreak in parts of the state claimed the lives of two persons while 16 people reportedly survived. A statement by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, confirmed the development in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, the state capital. According to Oreh, the incident in the state was recorded in three communities within the Andoni Local Government Area, stressing that the two persons died with symptoms suspected to be cholera. The Commissioner said that all the cases were recorded within the past four weeks while the ailment was ravaging other states of…

The Nigerian Federal Government has announced that the disbursement of N150 billion in loans to micro, small and medium enterprises and manufacturers would commence by the end of July 2024. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, disclosed this in a statement through her official X handle on Thursday, 27 June, 2024. According to Uzoka-Anite said that 60 percent of the proposed one million beneficiaries of the Presidential Conditional Grant had received a financial grant of N50,000 without repayment obligations in the 774 local government areas of the country. “To all applicants of the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme…

A 38-year-old man, Saheed Adisa,has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment by an Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court in Isabo, Ogun State for stealing cooking pots. The defendant, who resides at No 25 Temidire Street, Sabo area in Abeokuta pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of stealing. The Magistrate, Mrs V.B Williams, who handed down the judgment on Friday, 28 June, 2024 explained that the prosecution counsel had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, adding that the convict was guilty as charged. Williams, however, sentenced Adisa to one year in prison for the first count as well as the second count…

Tears flows like river on Friday, 28 June, 2024 as John Okafor, late comic actor popularly known as Mr Ibu, laid to rest. Okafor was buried on Friday, 28 June, 2024, in his hometown of Amuri, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State. Videos circulating on social media earlier revealed the arrival of his body as family, friends, and colleagues gathered to bid him a final farewell. Recall that the actor died on 2 March, 2024, after a prolonged sickness. In October 2023, Mr Ibu shared a video announcing to his fans that he was diagnosed with an illness…

Sokoto State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Barrister Nasiru Binji, on Friday, 28 June, 2024 stated that no courts reinstated deposed Sokoto district heads. Binji added that the deposed district heads in the state have lost their royal and traditional status indefinitely, as the court order on them has been vacated. According to him, the district heads remain deposed because the court order had ceased to exist seven days after it was granted. “The deposed district heads have not been reinstated, as the court order granted by the court has abated,” he added. The state attorney general cited Order 13…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has released the results of candidates of the supplementary Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, (UTME). Recall that the supplementary UTME was conducted between Friday,21 June and Saturday,22 June, 2024. JAMB’s spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Friday, 28 June, 2024, directed candidates on how to check their results. “To check their supplementary UTME results, candidates are to send UTMERESULT to either 55019 or 66019 through the same phone number they had used to generate their profile codes at the start of registration,” he stated. The board image-maker said…

Gunmen on Friday, 28 June, 2024 abducted Hajiya Halima Adamu, mother of the famous Hausa Singer Dauda Adamu, popularly known as Rarara,Daily Trust report. Daily Trust, quoting a source Kahutu village, said Hajiya was abducted at her residence in Kahutu village, Danja local government area of Katsina State. According to the source, the bandits stormed the village around 1am Friday, 28 June, 2024, and abducted the aged woman. “The bandits came on foot and silently because they did not fire a single shot during the operation that lasted for just a few minutes. The woman did not resist when the…

No fewer than 11 people were reportedly killed in a communal conflict between the indigenous Alago people and the Tiv community in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. A resident of Mzough U Tiv (MUT), Nasarawa State chapter, Philip Nongu, confirmed the fatalities to newsmen, including students from the Federal Girls College, Keana, who were trapped in their hostels. It was gathered that the conflict was triggered by a land dispute at the Benue/Nasarawa border community. A witness stated that four people were initially killed—two from Alago and two from Tiv—with many houses burnt and several individuals wounded. The…

The National Films and Videos Censors Board (NFVCB) has announced that it is now an offence to release skit, music video without the board classification. The NFVCB’s classification system assigns age ratings and content advisories to audiovisual content, aiding families in making informed viewing choices and protecting children from unsuitable material. The NFVCB Director General, Shaibu Husseini, made the announcement through a statement issued to media houses on Wednesday, 26 June, 2024, just as he also warned content creators against the distribution of unclassified material “It is also an offence to distribute or exhibit any film or video content, musical videos…

In a strategic move to bolster security and safeguard public educational facilities in Kano State, the State government has disbursed cheques totaling over N1.9 billion to the Chairmen of the Community Re-orientation Committee (CRC) for renovation of primary school classrooms across all 44 local government areas. The Governor also set aside the two billion, nine hudrend and twenty five thousand, one hundred and fourty naira for construction of additional classrooms in public primary schools. The Governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, who made this disclosure to newsmen in kano, also added that state has also initiated the immediate employment of…

A week before a general election in which the state of the publicly funded National Health Service is a major issue, junior hospital doctors in England on Thursday, 27 June, 2024 commenced a five-day strike. This latest development follows nearly a dozen similar actions by doctors below the specialist, consultant level over the last 18 months. The NHS is grappling with a massive backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and exacerbated by the repeated doctors’ strikes. As well as delays to operations and starting cancer treatment, an increasingly dissatisfied public also face long waits to see a doctor at their…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike Famous Nigerian Afrobeats music sensation, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido and his wife, Chioma, have jetted out of Nigeria after their lavish weeding in held Lagos. In a post via X on Thursday, 27 June, 2024, Davido shared images of the jet, with the caption, “Let’s first launch this one.” A video was taken of the couple boarding the private jet in Lagos, along with Davido’s team members like Asa Asika, Lati, and Chioma’s manager, Ubi Franklin. Although the reason and destination of the travel remains unknown, it is believed that the new couple flew out…

Two Bolivian army leaders were arrested Wednesday, 26 June, 2024 after soldiers and tanks took up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted coup. The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy. One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace. Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said the “armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a…

Operatives of Ebonyi State Police Command have reportedly killed at least five members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Ebonyi Local Government Area of state during gun duel. It was gathered the group was said to have invaded Ishieke Police Station in a blue Sienna bus around 9:30pm on Wednesday, 26 June, 2024 and opened fire on the station. They were, however, overpowered by the police in a gun battle that lasted about 30 minutes. Police vehicles were reportedly set ablaze during the gun fight. A video showing the bodies of the hoodlums were shared on social media platforms…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike The federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday, 26 June, 2024 ended their closed-door meeting with an agreement that all contentious issues will be amicably resolved. The parties also agreed to commence a communication process to avert the planned industrial actions by the union. Recall that two parties had entered into a close-door meeting which began at about 4:30 p.m. at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja. The meeting, which lasted for over two hours, had in attendance the two ministers overseeing Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, and Dr Yusuf Sununu and other top…