News & Announcements

A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, reaffirmed the constitutional superiority of elected officials when he mandated some traditional rulers to stand up and greet him.

Obasanjo gave this order at the commissioning of a 34.85 km Oyo-Iseyin Road and the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Iseyin Campus, which houses the College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources.

The ex-president, who spoke in Yoruba, stated that despite the tradition they needed to respect for them to respect elders and those in positions of power.

According to him, doing this will enable the preservation of the Omoluabi culture of the Yorubas.

“Thank you. Please, be seated. Firstly, I greet you all monarchs and royal fathers and thank you for coming,” he said.

“But let me make something clear: whenever the governor or the president is present, even the royal father must stand up to honour the president (or the governor).”

“Stand up! You can have your seat. Please!!!” he ordered them.

The statesman said, “In our (Yoruba) culture, we honour two main things: age and position. The governor’s position is higher than that of any monarch in as much as he is still the governor”.

He said even when he was the president, he honoured traditional rulers, adding that culture and value systems must be promoted.

The retired military officer served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 2007.

The suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, resigned from his post last month, according to a report by Reuters.

President Bola Tinubu nominated the former head of Citibank in Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, to serve as the country’s new CBN Governor days before its next interest rate meeting and set tongues wagging as to the legality of the appointment as there cannot be two governors of the apex bank at the same time.

However, government sources told Reuters that Godwin Emefiele, suspended as central bank chief by Tinubu in June and later detained by state police and charged with procurement fraud, resigned last month, effectively clearing the way for Cardoso to replace him.

Tinubu sent Cardoso’s nomination to the Senate for confirmation alongside four new deputy governors and it is unclear if the former deputy governors had themselves also resigned.

The central bank did not respond to Reuters’ request to comment on whether Emefiele and his deputy governors had resigned together. Ngelale declined to comment when asked about Emefiele’s resignation.

“The President expects the above-listed nominees to successfully implement critical reforms at the Central Bank of Nigeria, which will enhance the confidence of Nigerians and international partners,” Ngelale said in a statement.

Contrary to analysts ‘ expectations, the central bank raised rates by a smaller-than-expected 25 basis points in July under acting Governor Folashondun Shonubi, one of Emefiele’s deputies.

The bank is due to set rates again on Sept. 26, and some analysts expect a more hawkish stance.

During his inauguration in May, Tinubu promised a “thorough house cleaning” of monetary policy and said that the central bank should work towards lower interest rates after criticising Emefiele’s currency handling.

The central bank pursued unorthodox policies under Emefiele, who kept the currency artificially strong, a policy backed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, which supported government borrowings on the international markets.

Nigeria’s new government wants to encourage investments rather than rely on borrowing to create jobs as it tries to revive an economy struggling with record debt, a weak currency, double-digit inflation and fragile power supplies.

Cardoso was part of the team working on an economic blueprint for the new government. He was a former commissioner for financial planning and budget in Lagos state when Tinubu was governor from 1999-2007.

According to the Nigerian Army, 17 abduction victims and several rustled cattle were successfully rescued by Operation Hadarin Daji forces.

According to a statement made by Captain Yahaya Ibrahim on behalf of the Force Information Officer, Operation Hadarin Daji forces stopped a kidnapping attempt on September 14, 2023, and freed two victims as well as a commercial vehicle transporting food in Zamfara State.

It was also stated that three kidnap victims who had been taken from their farms and detained in the Dangajeru forest were intercepted and saved by forces stationed at Forward Operating Base Danjigba when they were out on a routine patrol.

The statement read, “Also, on 13 September 2023, troops of Operation Hadarin Daji in Zamfara State intercepted and rescued eight kidnap victims at Baggega.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the victims had been in captivity for eight weeks and were able to escape from Gando forest due to the recent offensive operation and constant fighting patrol along the fringes of the forest.

“Similarly on 12 September 2023, acting on intelligence reports on the movement of large numbers of rustled animals by bandits around Tsamiyar Gezozi in Anka LGA of Zamfara State. Troops of Operation Hadarin Daji (OPHD) deployed at Anka swung into action to the crossing route and engaged the bandits with superior fire which forced the bandits to flee and abandon over 130 rustled animals.”

A female student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State, who was enrolled in the 100th level was slain by a stray bullet shot by some yet-to-be-identified hoodlums who were likely cultists.

According to information obtained by City Round, the event took place late on Thursday along Ifite Awka’s well-known Miracle Junction.

According to local witnesses, the event happened as the thugs chased and attempted to shoot an unnamed tricycle driver but were unsuccessful because one of the shots struck a student who was crossing the street.

The victim, known only as Uche, was reportedly in the hospital’s medical laboratory department when the bullet struck her while she was walking to the market.

According to local witnesses, the event happened as the thugs chased and attempted to shoot an unnamed tricycle driver but were unsuccessful because one of the shots struck a student who was crossing the street.

The victim, known only as Uche, was reportedly in the hospital’s medical laboratory department when the bullet struck her while she was walking to the market.

The source said, “This deceased was a 100-level student of the Faculty of Health Science, she was killed on Thursday evening by a stray bullet shot by suspected cultists who were chasing a tricycle operator at the popular Miracle Junction.

“The tricycle driver was shot too, and he pretended to be dead, but surprisingly, he stood up after a while and escaped when his attackers had left thinking he was dead.”

According to reports, the deceased’s body was left at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital in Amaku Awka.

Tochukwu Ikenga, a spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, verified the occurrence when reached.

Ikenga stated that patrol and surveillance in the region have been stepped up as he pleaded with any eyewitnesses to come forward and provide the police with pertinent information to aid the investigation.

“It is very unfortunate, preliminary information revealed that the incident is cult-related and we are already working with eyewitnesses to identify the perpetrators and possibly arrest them.

“Meanwhile, police operational positioning has been improved within Awka and patrols intensified.

“The command would not relent in waging war against cultism and other forms of crimes in the state, recently we just remanded 33 suspects in a cult-related incident. We also urge the residents of the state to always alert the police.”

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Adeolu Egbetoku, has set up an ad hoc committee to review firearms licensing and regulations by the Nigeria Police Force in line with the Firearms Act and other extant laws for public safety and general security in the country.

Also, the acting IGP has charged State Commissioners of Police and supervising Assistant Inspectors-General of Police in charge of Zonal Commands, and tactical squads to commence a total clampdown on the illegal fabrication, sale, possession, and use of prohibited firearms.

He urged Nigerians to report suspicious activities related to firearms to the nearest police divisions or via the various NPF social media platforms for prompt response.

Egbetokun, who announced the establishment of the firearms review committee in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Monday, said the committee’s mandate encompass a thorough assessment of current firearms licensing procedures and regulations, with the aim of enhancing their effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.

He promised that the police will engage with relevant stakeholders, including legal experts, civil society organizations, and experts in the field, to ensure a holistic and well-informed review.

The IGP warned individuals involved in the wrongful possession of arms and light weapons, reiterating that illegal proliferation of firearms and light weapons poses a significant threat to the peace and stability of the nation.

He said the force is determined to combat the illegal fabrication, sales, possession and use of arms emphasizing that possessing firearms without the appropriate licenses and permits is not only a violation of the law but also a grave danger to society.

A Ugandan businessman, Habib Nsikonnene, wedded seven wives on Sunday, September 10, in Uganda.

This was revealed in photos shared by Capital FM Uganda on X, formerly Twitter.

The names of the wives are Mariam, Madinah, Aisha, Zainabu, Fatuma, Rashida, and Musanyusa, who is said to his first wife and has been with him for seven years. 

Two of the seven wives are also said to be biological sisters.

It was also reported that Nsikonnene bought brand new cars as presents for each of them, with each of them having their cars labelled with their own names

In his speech at the reception, he commended his wives for being loyal to him, saying, “My wives harbour no jealousy amongst themselves. I introduced them separately and decided to wed them all at once to make one big happy family. I am still a young man and in the near future, God willing, I cannot say this is the end of it.”

A security man, Samuel Adeniyi, was remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre on Monday for allegedly smashing the head of his girlfriend, Morolake Sunday, with a sledgehammer in the Lekki Phase 1 area of Lagos State.

Magistrate Patrick Nwaka of the Yaba Magistrate’s Court ordered that the 33-year-old be remanded after he (Adeniyi) was brought to court on one count of murder.

The police prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen told the court that the incident occurred on August 10, 2023, at No. 33, Audu Ekpa Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant claimed that his lover was cheating on him and was never satisfied sexually.

It was revealed in court that on the day of the incident, the deceased, a nanny, left the child she was tending to and went to meet with another man, claiming she went to buy recharge cards.

It was further disclosed that Adeniyi allegedly waited for hours before she returned.

While he was trying to question her on why it took her a long time to come back home, they had a heated argument that led to a fight and he unintentionally hit her head with a sledgehammer.

Nurudeen told the court that the defendant fled the scene, while the deceased was rushed to the Mainland General Hospital by her employers, where she was confirmed dead by a doctor on duty.

The charge read, “That you, Samuel Adeniyi, on August 10, 2023, around 12 pm, at No. 33 Audu Ekpa Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully kill one Sarah Morolake, aged 25 years by hitting a sledgehammer on her head, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 222 and punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2015”
The defendant’s plea was not taken.

The Magistrate ordered that he be remanded in prison custody pending the outcome of legal advice from the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution.

Nwaka adjourned the case till October 10, 2023.

At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods.

As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled “a calamity of epic proportions”.

Massive destruction shattered the Mediterranean coastal city of Derna, home to about 100,000 people, where multi-storey buildings on the river banks collapsed and houses and cars vanished in the raging waters.

Emergency services reported an initial death toll of more than 2,300 in Derna alone and said over 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 were injured.

“The situation in Derna is shocking and very dramatic,” said Osama Ali of the Tripoli-based Rescue and Emergency Service.

“We need more support to save lives because there are people still under the rubble and every minute counts.”

The floods were caused by torrential rains from Storm Daniel, which made landfall in Libya on Sunday after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Derna, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Benghazi, is ringed by hills and bisected by what is normally a dry riverbed in summer, but which has turned into a raging torrent of mud-brown water that also swept away several major bridges.

The number of dead given by the Libyan emergency service roughly matched the grim estimates provided by the Red Cross and by authorities in the east, who have warned the death toll may yet rise further.

“The death toll is huge and might reach thousands,” said Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, three of whose volunteers were also reported dead.

“We confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons so far,” Ramadan added.

Elsewhere in Libya’s east, the aid group the Norwegian Refugee Council said “entire villages have been overwhelmed by the floods and the death toll continues to rise”.

“Communities across Libya have endured years of conflict, poverty and displacement. The latest disaster will exacerbate the situation for these people. Hospitals and shelters will be overstretched.”

This handout picture provided by the office of Libya’s Benghazi-based interim prime minister on September 11, 2023, shows a view of destroyed vehicles and damaged buildings in the eastern city of Derna, about 290 kilometres east of Benghazi, in the wake of the Mediterranean storm “Daniel.”

Footage on Libyan TV showed dozens of bodies, wrapped in blankets or sheets, on Derna’s main square awaiting identification and burial, and more bodies in Martouba village to the southeast.

More than 300 victims were buried Monday — but vastly greater numbers were feared lost in the river that empties into the Mediterranean.

The storm also hit Benghazi and the hill district of Jabal al-Akhdar. Flooding, mudslides, and other major damage were reported from the wider region, with images showing overturned cars and trucks.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation, which has its main fields and terminals in eastern Libya, declared “a state of maximum alert” and suspended flights between production sites where it said activity was drastically reduced.

Oil-rich Libya is still recovering from the years of war and chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising which toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

The country is divided between two rival governments — the UN-brokered, internationally recognised administration based in Tripoli, and a separate administration in the disaster-hit east.

Access to the east is limited. Phone and online links have been largely severed, but the administration’s prime minister Oussama Hamad has reported “more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing” in Derna alone.

A Derna city council official described the situation as “catastrophic” and asked for a “national and international intervention”.

Libya’s UN-backed government under Abdelhamid Dbeibah announced three days of national mourning on Monday and emphasised “the unity of all Libyans”.

Aid convoys from Tripoli were heading east and Dbeibah’s government announced the dispatch of two ambulance planes and a helicopter, as well as rescue teams, canine search squads and 87 doctors, and technicians to restore power.

Rescue teams from Turkey have arrived in eastern Libya, according to authorities, and the United Nations and several countries offered to send aid.

Egypt announced three days of mourning “in solidarity” with Libya and earthquake-hit Morocco and offered to send aid to both countries.

Algeria said it was sending aid aboard eight military planes and Italy said it was “responding immediately to requests for support” with an assessment team on the way.

The United States embassy said it had “issued an official declaration of humanitarian need in response to the devastating floods in Libya”.

Bill Gates has opened up about how Elon Musk confronted him over shorting $1.5 billion worth of Tesla stock. 

Musk publicly mocked Gates on X back in 2022 over shorting the electric car company’s stock ‘while claiming to support climate change action’
In a biography of Musk set to be released this coming week, Walter Isaacson writes that in September of that year, Gates spoke to Musk and said he wanted to ‘come see [him] and talk about philanthropy and climate’ at a meeting.

The meeting happened at Musk’s Austin, Texas, plant, where the SpaceX owner confronted Gates over the decision to short Tesla stock.

Gates apologized for the move, one that cost him $1.5 billion, but Musk was still upset and became ‘super mean’ to the Microsoft leader.

‘But he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally,’ Gates told Isaacson.
When Gates first requested the meeting, Musk responded by saying that he didn’t have a scheduler or a personal assistant, telling Gates to have his secretary call him directly.

Gates bypassed his secretary and set the meeting up for March 9, 2022.

Musk gave Gates a tour of his factory in Austin, which impressed Gates but still, the two had much to debate while he visited.

When Isaacson pressed Gates on why he shorted the stock, he simply thought he could make money by doing so, which Isaacson called ‘alien’ to Musk.

‘How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduces the overall investment in the company doing the most?’ Gates asked Isaacson days after Gates’ visit.

‘It’s pure hypocrisy. Why make money on the failure of a sustainable energy car company?’
Grimes, Musk’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, called the incident ‘a little bit of a d**k-measuring contest.’

Gates was also critical of Musk’s belief that solar energy could solve climate change and that batteries could ever power semi-trucks.

‘I showed him the numbers,’ Gates said, according to CNBC. ‘It’s an area where I clearly knew something that he didn’t.’

Gates also spoke derisively of Musk’s attempt to colonize Mars.

‘I’m not a Mars person,’ Gates told Isaacson. ‘He’s overboard on Mars. I let him explain his Mars thinking to me, which is kind of bizarre thinking.
It’s this crazy thing where maybe there’s a nuclear war on Earth and so the people on Mars are there and they’ll come back down and, you know, be alive after we all kill each other.’

Previously, Musk dissed Gates’ physique on Twitter posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul alongside Apple’s controversial pregnant man emoji ‘in case you need to kill a boner.

Gates, the world’s third richest man after Musk and Jeff Bezos, took a shot earlier this year at the Tesla CEO after the electric vehicle maker announced taking a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin.

’Elon has tons of money and he’s very sophisticated, so I don’t worry that his Bitcoin will sort of randomly go up or down,’ Gates told Bloomberg.

‘I do think people get bought into these manias who may not have as much money to spare, so I’m not bullish on Bitcoin. My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out,’ he said.

Gates has also previously made comments about electric trucks like the Tesla Semi not being viable, which Musk countered.

In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said he believes that the Microsoft founder had a big short position on Tesla stocks at one point.

‘I heard that at one point he had a large short position. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it seems weird,’ Musk told Rogan.

‘People I know who know the situation pretty well, I asked them ‘Are you sure?’ and they said ‘Yes, he has a huge short position on Tesla.’ That didn’t work out too well.’

The book by Isaacson, set for release Tuesday, features several revelations about Musk.

On Wednesday, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, swore in 38 commissioners and special advisors.

The swearing-in ceremony marked the beginning of the governor’s second term in office and took place in the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa, Ikeja.

After substantial debate, the Lagos State House of Assembly approved 38 candidates for the governor’s cabinet, with the final one, Tolani Akibu, receiving approval less than a day before the inauguration.

The sworn-in State Executive Council includes Mr Layode Ibrahim, Mr Mobolaji Ogunlende, Dr Dolapo Fasawe, Bola Olumegbon, Mr Idris Aregbe, Ms Abisola Olusanya, Mr Moruf Fatai, Mr Kayode Bolaji-Roberts, Engr. Abiola Olowu, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka, Dr Oreoluwa Finnih-Awokoya, Mr Yakub Alebiosu, Mr Lawal Pedro SAN, and Mr Tunbosun Alake.

Others are Mr Gbenga Oyerinde, Dr Adekunle Olayinka, Dr Jide Babatunde, Mr Afolabi Ayantayo, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, Mr Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu, Mr Jamiu Alli-Balogun, Mr Abdulkabir Ogungbo, Dr Afolabi Tajudeen, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, and Prof Akin Abayomi.

Others include Dr Oluwarotimi Fashola, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medem, Mrs Akinyemi Ajigbotafe, Mrs Bolaji Dada, Mrs Barakat Bakare, Mr Olugbenga Omotoso, Mr Mosopefoluwa George, Dr Yekini Agbaje, Dr Olumide Oluyinka, Mr Abayomi Oluyomi, Dr Iyabode Ayoola, Sola Giwa, and Tolani Akibu.