News & Announcements

The Twitter account of former United States President, Donald Trump, has been reinstated on the social media platform.

Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, had set up a poll on Saturday to ask users on the platform whether the former president should be allowed back on the app or not.

Over 15 million users participated in the poll with a narrow majority of 52 percent voting for the reinstatement of the former US president.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted of the former US president’s account, which was banned last year after a mob of his supporters attacked the US Capitol.

Trump’s Twitter account was permanently suspended from the platform in January 2021, after he was accused of inciting violence through his tweets following the Capitol Hill riots and was termed a “risk.”

Twitter Incorporated under former owner, Jack Dorsey, had written in a statement, “After close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Trump’s reinstatement on the social media platform comes days after he announced his plan to run for the US presidency in 2024.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Saudi-bound widow with cocaine concealed in footwear at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

This is contained in a statement by the Director, of Media, and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.

Babafemi said the 56-year-old widow and mother of four, Mrs. Kehinde Ajisegiri, was arrested over her attempt to traffic 400 grams of cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

He said the suspect who claimed to be a businesswoman trading in adult’s and children’s wear on Lagos Island was intercepted on Sunday, Nov. 13.

This, he said, was when the suspect was trying to board a Qatar Airways flight going to Saudi Arabia via Doha.

“Upon a critical examination of the pair of sandals she was wearing, two parcels of cocaine weighing 400 grams were recovered from them,” he said.

In the same vein, attempts by a tricycle parts seller, Tayo Ayoade, to send 1kg of Tramadol 225mg and Rohypnol to Istanbul, Turkey, via Cairo on an Egypt Airlines flight was frustrating.

Babafemi said the suspect was arrested on Sunday, Nov. 13 by the operatives of the NDLEA.

“He was at the airport to hand over the drugs hidden inside a bag of food items to an intending passenger, Idowu Ayoade, but was arrested,” he said.

A 38-year-old herbalist, Jimoh Jogbo, has allegedly killed his mother-in-law in a Celestial Church located at White House in Orofun community, in the Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Jogbo also allegedly killed his friend, Shakiru Jamiu, who saw him on the way to perpetrate the crime in the church.

It was gathered that Jogbo and his wife relocated to Lagos and were living with his mother-in-law pending the time they would secure an apartment in the state.

The herbalist was said to be at home with his wife and her 14-year-old sister when he allegedly defiled the minor.

Angered by the development, the victim reported the incident to Jogbo’s wife and her mother.

The duo threatened to take up the matter with the herbalist and ordered him to leave the house.

During a visit to the mother-in-law’s residence on Saturday, Jogbo’s wife, while speaking with our correspondent, said after instructing her husband to leave the house, he trailed her mother to the church on Monday, November 14, 2022, and allegedly killed her.

She said, “Both of us moved in with my mum in March and we have been living with her since then. In October, my mum visited one of my sisters who delivered a baby, and we were at home with my two younger sisters.

“On November 6, one of my sisters went to a vigil, while the youngest one stayed at home with us. That very night, my husband and I were outside around 11pm but as he was talking to someone, I left him and went inside.

“He later came to sleep beside me. It was the following day that my younger sister told me he raped her at midnight. When I confronted him, he denied it. I informed my mum and we became furious and asked him to leave the house.

“He packed his properties and left the following day only to return during that week to start begging me. When my mum returned, she went straight to the church where she stayed till Sunday. On Sunday evening, he called me and said my mum called and rained curses on him.”

Jogbo’s wife said her husband informed her that he was returning to Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, but lurked around the community to perpetrate the crime.

She said, “Around 3 am, someone from my mum’s church called me to come to the church because she was not feeling fine. As I was about to rush out, I heard footsteps and saw an iron rod on the floor.

“I was called from the church again that I should start going to the Akodu General Hospital and that was how I got to know that he (Jogbo) had killed my mother and was about to come and kill me.”

An earthquake has struck the main Indonesian island of Java, leaving more than 40 people dead and hundreds injured, say local officials.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur town in West Java, at a shallow depth of 10km (6 miles), according to US Geological Survey data, reports the BBC.

The tremor could be felt in the capital Jakarta about 100km away, where people in high-rise buildings were evacuated.
Officials warn of possible aftershocks and say the death toll could rise.

The area where the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly-built houses. According to local reports, rescuers have been trying to evacuate people from collapsed buildings and managed to save a woman and her baby.

Herman Suherman, the head of administration in Cianjur town, told local media at least 46 people had been killed.

“Victims kept coming from many areas. Around 700 people were injured,” he told Kompas TV.

Earlier, AFP news agency quoted him as saying most injuries were bone fractures sustained from people being trapped by debris in buildings.

“The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he said.

“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Videos on social media showed the destruction to houses and shops.

Dozens of buildings had been damaged in the Cianjur region, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement, They include a hospital and an Islamic boarding school.

In Jakarta, office workers rushed out of buildings in the civic and business district during the tremor, which lasted for about a minute.

“I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly. I tried to do nothing to process what it was, but it became even stronger and lasted for some time,” lawyer Mayadita Waluyo told the AFP news agency.

An office worker named Ahmad Ridwan told Reuters: “We are used to this [earthquakes] in Jakarta, but people were so nervous just now, so we also panicked.”

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia which sits on the “ring of fire” area of tectonic activity in the Pacific. The country has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with more than 2,000 killed in a 2018 Sulawesi quake.

The pregnant wife of a Zambian man found in bed with a prophet, Martha, has allegedly committed Suicide.The news of the alleged suicide was broken on Twitter by a tweep and media man, with the twitter identity Gen Situka.

The news of the suicide of Martha has divided many with some, especially ladies faulting the husband for supposedly leaking the video of his pregnant wife in bed with the prophet.

The incident which happened in Zambia with all the characters Zambians was initially reported in some sections of the media with the depiction that the prophet came from Nigeria.

Below is how tweeps responded to the news of the alleged suicide by Martha, the pregnant wife remarkably with little mention of the prophet that was at the centre of the whole drama.

Recall that it’s alleged that the pregnant Martha was caught by her husband when having inappropriate contact with another man.

It’s alleged that Martha told her husband that she was going to her family in another town (Kitwe).

But things ended up in a different way. Martha’s husband came home and found out what had happened.

No further details are available about what exactly happened. Some explicit content has been shared on social media these days.

But platforms like Instagram and Twitter have some restrictions when it comes to explicit content.

Many have criticized the husband for sharing this content citing it was a private matter and should have been dealt with accordingly.

In order to guarantee free, fair, and reliable elections in 2023, the United Kingdom has promised to support the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, assured that the UK would closely watch the elections in an interview with NAN on Saturday.

The Commissioner disclosed that the UK government would utilize its immigration program to penalize anyone directly or indirectly implicated in electoral violence.

“I should say we always say that each election alongside our U.S partners that we will have eyes on; we will be monitoring this election closely on the ground and through other means.

“And if we understand that an individual has been involved in violence, either directly or through inciting violence, we can use our visa programme to ensure that that person is not allowed to travel to the UK” Catorina said.

She further expressed confidence that the 2023 election will be free and fair thanks to the new electoral law, which she claimed was supported by the UK government.

In the event that Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, gets freed, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, or AYCF, has outlined its next course of action.

If Kanu is released, the AYCF forewarned, it will seek restitution for Northerners murdered and their property ruined in the Southeast.

The National President of AYCF, Yerima Shettima, claimed that releasing Kanu would be a demonstration of the government’s weakness.

Shettima pointed out that the release of the IPOB leader could be viewed as a sign that the government is intimidated by him and that the security forces are overburdened.

He emphasized that if Kanu were released, his case would be used as a benchmark for crimes committed in the future.

 “Release Nnamdi Kanu because the Nigerian Government is afraid of him? Release him because Nigerian security has been overwhelmed by these criminals going about killing people like Northerners who go to that region to conduct their legitimate business? No, it’s not done in any society; all they need to do is to buckle up and face the monster” Shettima stated.

“The law must take its full course as they go around unleashing terror on innocent Nigerians, including their own people, the law must be allowed to take its full course. If nothing is found on Kanu, he should be released, but I know it won’t be easy because he has said it and has taken such responsibility. We can’t be blackmailed, we are not cowards, and Nigerians can’t be cowards by a few individuals.

“If the government or the court, in their magnanimity, decide to find safe ground, they should bear in mind that they will demand that the lives of Northerners killed in broad daylight by these criminals be compensated.

“We already have files and documentation of Northerners killed and properties destroyed because we will demand compensation from the government for the people we have lost, billions lost; the government must be ready to pay.

“The government should just be aware that we will definitely come out to demand compensation; we will now know that we are in Banana Republic, where there is no law and order. We will always use this Nnamdi Kanu’s case as a reference point for any crime committed in the future; the government should be ready to take responsibility.”

A soldier assaulted a female police officer who was on traffic duty in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday, causing her to hemorrhage from the eye.

According to reports, the police officer was attacked by the unidentified soldier along with a handful of his coworkers near Mobil Junction on Murtala Mohammed Way.

The assault led to a confrontation between police and army officers, which temporarily closed the route due to the resulting hostility.

According to reports, trouble started when the army officer riding in a black Toyota Corolla with the Lagos license plate number AGL 175 HA was stopped by the female police officer in charge of traffic control at the scene.

The police officer allegedly took several hard blows from the army officer, who was at the time not wearing a uniform, before the officer escaped in his car.

Another female soldier is claimed to have become enraged and assaulted another policewoman after she tried to photograph the rogue soldiers.

Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola has vowed that he will assert his mandate before the gubernatorial election petition tribunal.

Speaking on Saturday during the 31st Iragbiji Day in Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area of the state, Oyetola made this claim.

The governor of Osun and candidate for the state’s governorship in the All Progressives Congress, APC, insisted that he had won the election on July 16.

Oyetola expressed confidence that he would participate in the 32nd Iragbiji Day ceremony as the governor.

He stated, “By the special grace of Allah, In Sha Allah, I shall grace this occasion next year, still as the Osun Governor.

“I have no doubt in my mind that I shall reclaim my mandate,” he added.

In the recent gubernatorial election, Adeleke had won against Oyetola with 403,271 votes against 375,027. Oyetola and the APCs have been challenging results from 749 polling units over claimed electoral malpractice.

On Friday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Professional Council announced its support for Sen. Bola Tinubu, Gov. Bello Matawalle, and all APC candidates running in the general elections of 2023.

Dr. Barira Ibrahim, the group’s Zamfara Coordinator, made the announcement while speaking to a massive audience of APC women organizations at a rally in Gusau.

According to reports, thousands of women participated in the demonstration that lasted from the Gusau Women’s Center to the Gusau Government House.

The organization planned the gathering with the theme “Tidying up and Sweeping Zamfara from Top to Bottom” to show their support for the candidacies of Tinubu, Matawalle, and all other APC candidates in the state.

Dr. Ibrahim pointed out that women’s participation in elections has a long history in the state.

“Therefore, we must declare support for candidates with good plans for women.

“All women in Zamfara, we all agree that we must participate in politics to realise our dreams in politics.

“In 2023, we are are going to deliver similar votes to APC as we delivered 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019”, she added.

“Zamfara is already home of APC, therefore, no seat should be left to the opposition parties.

“As state Coordinator, I am happy to announce that we are going to mobilize and ensure that all women in our localities vote for all APC candidates.

“No seat should be left to the opposition parties in the upcoming 2023 general elections”, she explained.

“I am using this medium to commend Gov. Matawalle for his kind gesture to the activities of the council in Zamfara.

“On behalf of the APC Women Professional Council, Zamfara Chapter, we also appreciate His Excellency for considering women in appointing them in to various positions under his administration,” she added.