Trendingonline24

Kanu has questions to answer over Akunyili’s husband, Gulak, others’ deaths –Malami The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), came under attacks on Friday after the Federal Government tagged the activities of the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho, as acts of terrorism. The Federal Government blamed Kanu for the murder of Dr Chike Akunyili, the husband of a former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the late Prof Dora Akunyili. The government further accused him of being responsible for the murder of a former presidential aide, Ahmad Gulak, and over 184 others in the South-East. This is according to a committee set up by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to investigate Kanu, who is standing trial for treasonable felony. The 24-member comprised members from the Federa...

Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie, has commended Tiwa Savage concerning the leaked sex tape saga, stating that she has inspired many people going through blackmail. The actor shared Tiwa Savage’s picture on his verified Instagram page, and hailed her for her strength. On Thursday night, the singer had shared a picture of herself with the caption, “Charge that sh*t to the game and never speak on it again.” Though she didn’t state what or who she was referring to, it is pertinent to note that this message comes three days after she trended on the internet because of her alleged sex video. Commending Tiwa for how she handled the issue, Yul Edochie said, “I commend you @tiwasavage for the way you handled the issue. “You may not know this but you’ve inspired so many other people who may be going through blackmail silently. “You said capital NO to blackmail and it takes a lot of strength to do so. It is well. You’re a human being, like the rest of us.   “Nobody holy pass. In life,...

The Federal Government has accused the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, of using online Radio Biafra to instigate violence that led to the death of at least 175 security personnel and several other citizens. Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, made the allegation at a press briefing on Friday in Abuja. He alleged that Kanu also used the media platform to incite members of the group to commit violent attacks against civil and democratic institutions across the country, especially in the South East. According to Malami, such assaults include attacks on security personnel, police stations, and security formations, as well as the destruction of properties of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and that of private citizens. He gave a breakdown of the security operative killed, saying they comprised 128 policemen, 37 military personnel, and 10 other security operatives. The mi...

Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, has said electing a President from the North East will bring an end to the insurgency being witnessed in parts of the country. Fintiri, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Maxwell Gidado, disclosed this at 2021 North East Star Magazine awards, where he was honoured as the Governor of the Year. The governor noted that insurgency in the North East would end within the first term of the Presidency of any candidate of North Eastern extraction. He added that though the former chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, did his best in trying to bring the insurgency to the end, he said his effort only resulted in modest gains because the counter-insurgency efforts did not get the 100 per cent support required from the presidency. “The Boko Haram insurgency will be wiped out in the first term of a president from the North East. It is a popular saying that he, who wears the shoe, knows where it pinches him. Lt. Gen. Buratai did ...

The Senate on Thursday berated the executive arm of the Federal Government over the rising increment in recurrent expenditure and overhead in the annual national budget despite the embargo placed on employment by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The red chamber made the observation following the submissions by the Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Mr Ekpo Nta while defending his agency’s 2021 budget before the Senate Committee on Establishment. The inability of Nta to tell the committee the total amount of salaries and wages  federal government pays its workforce yearly,  angered many members of the committee. They wondered why recurrent expenditure in the yearly budget was not decreasing on account of the embargo placed on employment and retirements at the various agencies. The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, directed the Salaries and Wages Commission Chairman to liaise with the...

Facebook said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with some French newspapers to pay for news content shared by its users, months after Google announced plans to renumerate them for articles shown in web searches. Facebook said the licensing agreement with the APIG alliance of national and regional newspapers “means that people on Facebook will be able to continue uploading and sharing news stories freely amongst their communities, whilst also ensuring that the copyright of our publishing partners is protected.” The company said it would also launch a French news service, Facebook News, in January to “give people a dedicated space to access content from trusted and reputable news sources”. The head of APIG, Pierre Louette, said the deal would generate  “significant financing” for the alliance’s members, “particularly the smallest of them.” Louette, who is the CEO of the group that publishes the Le Parisien and Les Echos dailies, said it would also bring Facebook in ...

  The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday appealed to the Federal Capital Development Authority to fix the dilapidated parts of the National Assembly and save it from further roof leakage. Lawan made the appeal at the foundation laying of the permanent office complex of the National Assembly Service Commission. The nation’s parliament leadership cried out a few months ago that the complex could collapse with the constant leakage of its roof during downpour. “We also urge the Federal Capital Development Agency to expedite action on the processes of ensuring that the dilapidating parts of the National Assembly are rehabilitated,” Lawan said. He said the National Assembly leadership would continue to provide the needed infrastructure to ensure that the institution delivers on its mandate to Nigerians. He said the provision of needed infrastructure would guarantee and enhance productivity of the legislature in service delivery. He added, “The leadership and m...

Police on Wednesday fired teargas at the Lekki tollgate to disperse protesters. This led to some of the protesters running helter-skelter. The youths had converged on the Lekki tollgate to mark the first anniversary of #EndSARS in the country. Earlier, operatives of the Lagos State Police Command arrested two protesters. One of those arrested claimed to be a journalist while the other was seen carrying a placard. About 30 police trucks and armed personnel are currently at the tollgate to enforce a ban on protests issued by the police command. The #EndSARS protests which were held in October 2020 were against the activities of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit of the Nigeria Police Force which was accused of police brutality. The epicentre of the protests was the Lekki tollgate in Lagos where many youths gathered day and night to air their grievances against police brutality and bad governance. They were dispersed from the location by gun-wielding soldiers...

The Nigerian Army has said that troops of Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI deployed alongside Cameroonian Defence Force have foiled an infiltration by terrorists on its camp at the Forward Operating Base, Wulgo, Borno on October 18, 2021. Four members of the Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram terrorists were killed during the failed infiltration attempt. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu. The statement read partly, “The troops swiftly responded with overwhelming volume of fire and spontaneous reinforcement from the Battalion Headquarters, compelling the terrorists to retreat. “Troops immediately carried out a hot pursuit and exploitation after the encounter, along the terrorists’ route of withdrawal and neutralised three BHTs. The gallant troops also recovered three AK 47 rifles, six magazines and 50 rounds of 7.62mm special. “In another development, four ISWAP/BHT...

Popular Ghanaian dancehall musician, Shatta Wale, has stated that his life is in danger, as the Ghanaian Police earlier begun a search for him. In a statement via his official Facebook page on Tuesday, the musician stated that his life is in danger and he’s on the run. According to him, a prophet has told him that he would be shot on the 18th of October and the singer blamed the police for not taking action on such a “threatening statement.” According to several posts which surfaced online on Monday, the reggae singer was shot at East Legon in Ghana. Moreso, the singer’s representative, Nana Dope, revealed that the singer is alive and has been taken to the emergency ward of a hospital. However, the Ghana Police Service via a Facebook post noted that they have taken steps to locate the multiple award-winning singer and are currently searching for him. In the lengthy Facebook post titled, ‘This is what I have to say’, Shatta Wale stated that he has always gotten death threats...

The price of 12.5kg of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas, which was sold for N7,000 about a week ago, has increased to between N8,000 and N8,200, amidst various concerns by marketers and producers of the commodity. Of the 1.2 million metric tonnes of the product required by Nigeria, the Nigerian LNG Limited supplies about 450,000MT. This leaves a gap of 750,000MT to be filled by imports. The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had said in September that out of the 85,264.80MT of LPG consumed in the country in August, 38,040.46MT were imported. This means that 55.39 per cent of the LPG consumed in the country in August was imported, while 44.61 per cent was supplied locally. The PPPRA data showed that 21,606.30MT was imported from the United States, while 13,044.266 was imported from Algeria and 12,573.779MT was brought into the country from Equatorial Guinea. With a good measure of the product imported, its landing cost changes with the crisis i...

A former United States President Bill Clinton has been released from a California hospital after being treated for an infection that spread to his bloodstream. Clinton walked out arm-in-arm with his wife and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before greeting hospital staff and giving a thumbs-up when asked how he was feeling, CNN reports. University of California Irvine Health Department of Medicine Executive Director Dr Alpesh N. Amin, who had been overseeing Clinton’s medical team, released a statement following Clinton’s release. “President Clinton was discharged from UC Irvine Medical Center today. His fever and white blood cell count are normalized, and he will return home to New York to finish his course of antibiotics. On behalf of everyone at UC Irvine Medical Center, we were honoured to have treated him and will continue to monitor his progress,” Amin wrote. Clinton had been admitted last week to the UC Irvine Medical Center’s intensive care unit for a urina...

A fake police officer and a soldier suspected to also be fake were among 663 drug traffickers and users arrested when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) raided notorious drug joints in Lagos, Abuja, Benue and other parts of the country. In the raids which led to the seizure of assorted illicit drugs weighing over 153, 256.876 kilograms, a youth corps member was also arrested. According to a statement on Sunday by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the drugs seized were destroyed afterward. He disclosed that in Lagos, the notorious drug haven, Akala in the Mushin area of the state was on Friday 15th October raided by a combined team of 70 NDLEA operatives and 30 soldiers in a joint operation code-named ‘ Operation Still Waters.’ No less than 27 suspects were arrested while various drugs such as Cocaine, Heroin, Tramadol, Rohypnol and Cannabis, with a cumulative weight of 2,463.876 Kg were seized. A day earlier, operatives also raided drug joints in O...

 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey sent a fresh signal on Sunday that the British central bank is gearing up to raise interest rates for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus crisis as inflation risks mount. Bailey said he continued to believe that the recent jump in inflation would be temporary, but that a surge in energy prices would push it higher and make its climb last longer, raising the risk of higher inflation expectations. "Monetary policy cannot solve supply-side problems - but it will have to act and must do so if we see a risk, particularly to medium-term inflation and to medium-term inflation expectations," Bailey said during an online panel discussion organised by the Group of 30 consultative group. "And that's why we at the Bank of England have signalled, and this is another such signal, that we will have to act," he said. "But of course that action comes in our monetary policy meetings." The BoE has forecast...

Africa's premier film festival opened in Burkina Faso on Saturday with a colourful ceremony showcasing choreography, and acrobatic and musical acts from some of the continent's biggest names, including Senegalese Grammy nominee Baaba Maal. With a backdrop of Islamic militant attacks in the Sahel West African nation and the coronavirus pandemic, the glitzy ceremony saw a tribute to the country's military and to former president and revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara. The festival initially was planned for February, but was postponed as Burkina Faso battled a surge in coronavirus cases. "It was important to postpone the festival," Alex Moussa Sawadogo, delegate-general of the festival, said during the opening ceremony, saying it would not have been possible to get the quality of films selected had it been held in February. Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore, in a post on Twitter, said it was with pride that he gave the opening clap of the 27th edit...

India Fears Taliban Fallout In Kashmir Security personnel stand guard along a street in Srinagar on October 15, 2021, following the killing of two army personnel in an encounter with suspected militants in Poonch district, local media reported.   As Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out his Taliban worries to world leaders this week, Indian forces staged raids and battled Kashmir militants who he fears could be emboldened by the Islamists’ victory in Afghanistan. Kashmir rebel shootings of civilians and police, raids by the security forces on militant hideouts, and insurgent infiltrations across the India-Pakistan ceasefire line have all increased in the Muslim-majority region since the Taliban overran Kabul on August 15. About 40 people have been killed in shootings and clashes in the two months since then in the Himalayan region, which has been divided since India and Pakistan became independent in 1947. Militants have targeted minority Hindu and Sikh civilians, while ...

Gunmen have abducted the twin daughters of a traditional ruler in Kwara State, Oba Samuel Adelodun, and three of his aides. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Okasanmi Ajayi, confirmed the abduction in a statement on Friday. He identified others kidnapped as the monarch’s driver Kunle, his security aide Lawrence Abiodun, and his maid, Bukunmi Akanbi. Oba Adelodun, the Owalobo of Obbo Ayegunle in Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, said his daughters and aides were kidnapped on Thursday. According to Ajayi, the victims were travelling from Osi to Obbo Ayegunle before they were abducted by the assailants along the road connecting the two towns. The Toyota Sienna vehicle with a registration plate number bearing Owalobo of Obbo Ayegunle, conveying the victims, was abandoned on the road. “On receipt of the information, the Commissioner of Police Kwara State, CP Tuesday Assayomo, dispatched the anti-kidnapping and other tactical units of the command, alongsid...

British soul diva Adele on Friday released comeback single “Easy On Me”, in which she shares with the world details of the traumatic six years she has endured since last releasing a record. In that period, the 33-year-old megastar said she suffered a “year of anxiety” in which her marriage fell apart. While her voice has lost none of its power, the new single’s lyrics reveal a deeper vulnerability, with every chorus opening with the soaring refrain “go easy on me, baby” sung over a simple piano riff. The multi-million selling singer has not been forgotten, despite her years out of the limelight, with fans racking up more than 18 million views of the song on her official YouTube page in the 10 hours since it was released. Her much-anticipated new album “30” will be put out on November 19, the “Hello” singer announced on Wednesday. Recording began three years ago, she wrote on Twitter, at a time when her life was “a maze of absolute mess and inner turmoid. Given that Adele ha...

US President Joe Biden is slated to meet Thursday with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, the first African leader invited to the White House under the current administration. The two leaders will discuss “the strong US-Kenyan bilateral relationship and the need to bring transparency and accountability to domestic and international financial systems,” the White House said ahead of the meeting. The meeting was announced shortly after the release of the Pandora Papers, a journalistic investigation that exposed secret offshore accounts linked to politicians and businesspeople all over the world. The investigation revealed that Kenyatta — who has stated his intent to fight corruption — is believed to own, together with six family members, a network of 11 offshore companies, one of which is valued at $30 million. Asked about the findings and how they might affect Biden’s meeting with Kenyatta, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “The president has been quite vocal as you...

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has again said that he has no intention of returning to the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he was pushed out. Governor Obaseki gave the reassurance on Wednesday while addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The governor stated that as a politician of repute, his conscience would not allow him betray those who gave him shelter when there was a political storm. He explained that he did not leave the APC on his own terms, but was forced out, an action which he says will not allow him to leave the People’s Democratic Party where he got support in his time of need. “I think I’ve shown that I’m a politician with integrity and I have made it very clear that I didn’t leave the other party on my own, I was pushed out of the party, and someone else gave me cover, gave me an opportunity. “It will not be the right thing to do to now leave who helped you, who gave ...

The Federal Ministry of Sports and Youths Development on Wednesday said 10,000 out of the three million youths who applied for the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund have been shortlisted. The Youth Development arm of the ministry said this in a statement it issued in Abuja on Wednesday. The statement titled ‘Nigeria Youth Investment Fund: 10,000 youths shortlisted, await training and disbursement’ added that the selected youths would be entitled to loans between N250,000 and N3m. It said, “The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development stated that out of the ongoing screening of over three million applicants for the NYIF loan, 10,000 have been shortlisted for training by the ministry after which they will be approved for specific amounts. “With the successful completion of this pilot phase, NIRSAL has cleared names of another 10,000 for training and subsequent loan approval and disbursement. Loans are in the range of N250,000 to N3m for now.” According to the statement, checks do...