News & Announcements

Commercial drivers under the auspices of the Joint Drivers’ Welfare Association of Nigeria, JDWAN, vowed yesterday to begin their proposed seven-day strike today, after their meeting with the Lagos State Government ended in a stalemate.

According to JDWAN’s National Leader, Akintade Abiodun, some members of the association met with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Abdulhafiz Toriola, and the Parks Management Liaison Officer, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, in the company of JDWAN’s Legal Adviser, Mr Ayo Ademiluyi.
He said the essence of the meeting, which took place over the weekend, was defeated as the drivers received threatening messages.

Akintade, in a statement, “The leadership of the joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria met with Lagos State government representatives, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Engr. Abdulhafiz Toriola and the Parks Management Liaison Officer, Mr Hakeem Odumosu in the company of our Legal Adviser, Mr Ayo Ademiluyi.

“The Lagos state government has since made no concrete response to JDWAN demands, rather, their representatives only asked for another letter to be submitted on Monday, which is regarded as a joke on our part. We have issued a press statement with concise demands. We also honoured the demand to deliver a physical copy of the letters to the Lagos State government, the Department of State Security, DSS; the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner for Transport respectively.

“The retired AIG (Odumosu) also expressly said they can’t get rid of the bus stop to bus stop extortionists because they work for the state government. He also alleged that some individuals can organize thugs to attack us and we will be blamed or credited for the violence, all in a failed fear-mongering tactics.

“The statement of threat by Hakeem Odumosu that some individuals (names withheld) could attack our members is already happening. JDWAN notes that Lagosians must be aware that if anything happens to our drivers, the elements named above should be held responsible.

“It is pertinent to note that there is an existing restraining court order granted by Justice P.O Lifu of a Federal High Court in Ikoyi against the Lagos state government and all transport agencies, stopping them from ticketing, bus stop levies, motor park levies, dues and any form of extortion from commercial drivers with suit no: FHC/L/CS/224/2022 between applicant, Mr Olukoya Ogungbeje, the Transport Union Society of Nigeria, TUSON, and respondents, NURTW, RTEAN, NARTO, Musiliu Akinsanya (Mc Oluomo), Mohammed Musa, Lawal Yusuf Othman, Lagos State Government, the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of Lagos State, Inspector General of Police, Director-General of State Security Service.

“It is sad that the representatives of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu are mocking Lagos drivers’ predicament and are disinterested in stopping the major factor causing the high cost of living in Lagos, by asking for another letter and demanding that we call off the boycott without addressing our five demands.

“Drivers and commuters have had a brimful of extortion and harassment from the motor park management and caretaker committee thugs popularly known as Agbero. It is also visible to the blind in Lagos that the cost of goods and services is a consequence of Agbero’s extortion. No goods can be delivered and the 95% working class resident can be transported without the service of commercial drivers.

“The unfettered and violent extortion by the Lagos government agents has not only increased transportation fare beyond the affordability of workers but also made every good and service out of reach of poor Lagosians.”

Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new feature for WhatsApp.
According to the company, WhatsApp is officially launching Communities today. The new feature is offering larger, more structured discussion groups that first entered into testing earlier this year.

Designed to help organizations, clubs, schools, and other private groups better communicate and stay organized, Communities bring a number of new features to the messaging platform, including admin controls, support for sub-groups and announcement groups, 32-person voice and video calls, larger file sharing, emoji reactions, and polls.
Communities themselves can support groups of up to 1024 users and offer end-to-end encryption.

Some of the features developed for Communities, like emoji reactions, large file sharing (up to 2GB), and the ability for admins to delete messages, had already made their way to the WhatsApp platform ahead of today’s launch.

Now, the company says polls, 32-person video calls, and larger group sizes will also be supported on WhatsApp more broadly outside of Communities.

The new feature may initially draw some comparisons with Facebook Groups as they both support things like sub-groups, file sharing, admin functionality, and more.

But while Facebook Groups are often used by disconnected strangers who share a common interest, WhatsApp Communities are meant to be used by members who may already be connected in the real world.

Unlike Facebook, WhatsApp is phone number-based, meaning people joining these discussion groups already have some familiarity with one another, as they may have exchanged phone numbers or at least have shared their number with a group admin.

However, the phone numbers will be hidden from the wider Community and only made visible to admins and others in the same sub-groups as you.

This is meant to balance users’ demand for privacy with the need to allow fellow group members to reach you.
For instance, you may not personally know every parent on your kid’s sports team, but you’re likely comfortable interacting with them in a private group setting that may exist as a sub-group of the entire school’s Community.

In addition, unlike Facebook Groups which can be discoverable on the platform, WhatsApp Communities are hidden. There will not be a search and discovery feature available you have to be invited to join.

At launch, admins of existing group chats will be able to transition their group to Communities, if they prefer, or they can opt to re-create their group as a Community from scratch.
Admins also have the power to add members to the groups or they can send out invite links that allow others to become Community members.

Communities are structured with one main announcement group which alerts everyone of the most important messages.
But members can only chat in small sub-groups the admin has approved. This can keep members from being bombarded with messages about group happenings and events they’re not connected to.

For example, members might create a sub-group for a volunteer project or planning group, where only some people would need to chat.

The launch of Communities could challenge other apps that have grown popular for private and large group communications, including Telegram and Signal, as well as standard messaging platforms like iMessage, and apps aimed at organizations or schools like GroupMe, Band, TalkingPoints, Remind, and others.

In an announcement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also stressed the encryption aspects of the Communities feature, saying that the company is “aiming to raise the bar for how organizations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else.”

“The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption,” he said.

There are still concerns that Communities like this could facilitate groups that engage in illegal or dangerous behavior, similar to how Facebook Groups have allowed health and election misinformation to thrive in recent years, stoking the fires that led to events like the January 6 Capitol riot, for instance.

WhatsApp’s measures to stop such things seem limited, as the company says it will rely on the available unencrypted information about the Community like its “name, description and user reports” to determine if action is needed.

It says If it finds a group is being used to distribute child sexual abuse material, coordinate violence, or engage in human tracking, it will ban the individual Community members and admins, disband the Community or ban all the Community members, depending on the situation.

However, the company did note that messages that have already been forwarded will only be able to be forwarded to one group at a time, rather than five, which is today’s forward limit, in an effort to reduce misinformation’s spread.

The company, of course, is also still working to rebuild its reputation on the privacy front after the backlash over its hard-to-understand policy update last year, which caught the eye of some anti-competition authorities and regulatory bodies, including in the EU and India.

WhatsApp later added more clarity to its policies and noted the launch of Communities would not require another policy update.

Communities have been in testing with over 50 organizations in 15 countries to gain early feedback. In August, WhatsApp confirmed it had rolled out the feature to a small number of testers but didn’t offer a launch date.

Today, the feature will begin to roll out to the wider WhatsApp user base, reaching all users worldwide over the next few months on both Android and iOS.

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses have risen year on- year for the first time in two decades, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report has found.

The global health agency reported that 10.6 million people were confirmed to have tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5 percent from the year the previous year.

The increase – which coincides with the rise of a drug-resistant strain of the infection – reverses years of decline between 2005 and 2019.

Approximately 1.6 million people worldwide died of tuberculosis in 2021, up from 1.5 million in 2020 and 1.4 million in 2019, and back to the level of 2017.

The WHO said about 450,000 cases involved people infected with antibiotic-resistant TB, three percent more than in 2020. The resurgence of TB in 2021 is believed to be the result of fewer cases being diagnosed in 2020 during Covid-19 lockdowns and hospital restrictions.

The pandemic ‘continues to have a damaging impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment,’ the report said. ‘Progress made in the years up to 2019 has slowed, stalled, or reversed, and global TB targets are off track,’ it added. 

With fewer people being diagnosed with the highly infectious disease in 2020, more of them may have unknowingly spread it to other people, the WHO warned.

Officials added that the downturn in the global economy was also a factor, saying that about half of all TB patients and their families face ‘catastrophic total costs due to their treatment.

After COVID-19, TB is the world’s deadliest infectious disease. It is caused by bacteria that attack the lungs though TB can also affect other parts of your body, including the kidneys, spine, or brain.

The bacteria that cause TB are spread from person to person through tiny droplets in the air released in coughs and sneezes.

Brigadier General Amanda Azubuike was described by Army Chief, General James E. Rainey as a phenomenal officer who inspires everyone around her.

Commanding General of the United States Army Futures Command, General James E. Rainey, celebrates the extraordinary qualities of a newly promoted Nigerian-American woman, Brigadier General Amanda Azubuike who was born in London and moved to the United States.

She live in Arkansas and joined the army where she served as an Aviator, Personal Assistant to Commanding officers in and out of combat, and Public Affairs Officer. until her recent promotion.

American rapper Kirshnik Ball aka Takeoff has been shot dead in Houston.
The member of the hip hop trio ‘Migos’ which includes Quavo and Offset, was reported to be playing dice with Quavo at the bowling alley when an altercation broke out and someone started shooting and a bullet hit Takeoff.

The incident occurred on Tuesday morning and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Houston Police confirmed the incident but did not give the deceased’s identity in a series of tweets.

The police tweeted, “Downtown officers are on a shooting at 1200 Polk. One victim was found deceased upon arrival.
“Media partners, we are not releasing an identity of the deceased victim until his family is notified & Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences verifies ID.

“Any updates on the incident will be posted here.”

However, TMZ confirmed that Takeoff was deceased in the incident.
Takeoff was the youngest member of Migos. Quavo was his uncle and Offset was his cousin.

Former President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has completed an astonishing political comeback, beating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in one of the most significant and bruising elections in the country’s history.

With 99.97% of votes counted, Silva, a former factory worker who became Brazil’s first working-class president 20 years ago, had secured 50.9% of the vote. Bolsonaro, a firebrand who was elected in 2018, received 49.10%.

Addressing journalists at a hotel in São Paulo, Lula, a leftist, vowed to reunify his country after a toxic race for power that has profoundly divided one of the world’s largest democracies.
“We are going to live new times of peace, love, and hope,” said the 77-year-old, who was sidelined from the 2018 election that saw Bolsonaro claim power after being jailed on corruption charges that were later annulled.

“I will govern for 215m Brazilians … and not just for those who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people – a great nation,” he said to applause. “It is in nobody’s interests to live in a country that is divided and in a constant state of war.”

A few streets away on Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, ecstatic Lula supporters gathered to celebrate his victory and the downfall of a radical rightwing president whose presidency produced an environmental tragedy and saw nearly 700,000 Brazilians die of Covid, the Guardian UK reported.
“Our dream is coming true. We need to be free,” beamed Joe Kallif, a 62-year-old social activist who was among the elated throng. “Brazil was in a very dangerous place and now we are getting back our freedom. The last four years have been horrible.”

Gabrielly Soares, a 19-year-old student, jumped for joy as she commemorated the imminent victory of a leader whose social policies helped her achieve a university education.
“I feel so happy … During four years of Bolsonaro I saw my family slip backward and under Lula, they flourished,” she said, a rainbow banner draped over her shoulders.

Ecstatic and tearful supporters of Lula – who secured more than 59m votes to Bolsonaro’s 57m – hugged and threw cans of beer in the air.
“This means we are going to have someone in power who cares about those at the bottom. Right now we have a person who doesn’t care about the majority, about us, about LGBT people,” Soares said. “Bolsonaro … is a bad person. He doesn’t show a drop of empathy or solidarity for others. There is no way he can continue as president.”

There was a celebration around the region too as leftist allies tweeted their congratulations. “Viva Lula,” said Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro.
Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, celebrated “a new era in Latin American history”. “An era of hope and of a future that starts right now,” he said.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commemorated what he called a victory for “equality and humanism”.
Joe Biden issued a statement congratulating Lula on his election “following free, fair, and credible elections”.

“I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” the US president said.

Justin Trudeau said: “The people of Brazil have spoken. I’m looking forward to working with @LulaOficial to strengthen the partnership between our countries, deliver results for Canadians and Brazilians, and advance shared priorities – like protecting the environment. Congratulations, Lula!”
Brazil’s former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who governed before Lula’s historic election 20 years ago, tweeted: “Democracy has won, Brazil has won!”

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Lula’s election “kick starts a new chapter in Brazil’s history” while Spain’s president, Pedro Sánchez, called Lula’s triumph a move towards “progress and hope”.
The speed of the international reaction reflected widespread fears that Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has spent years attacking Brazil’s democratic institutions, might refuse to accept defeat. In the lead-up to the election, he indicated he would contest a result he considered “abnormal”. He is yet to concede to his rival.

Outside Bolsonaro’s home in west Rio, there was dejection and anger as the news sunk in. “I’m angry,” said Monique Almeido, a 36-year-old beautician. “I don’t even know what to say.”
João Reis, a 50-year-old electrician, said he was convinced the vote had been rigged.

“It’s fraud without a doubt, they manipulated the count. The armed forces must intervene,” he demanded.
And if they didn’t? “The population must take to the streets to demand military intervention so that we don’t hand power over to the communists.”

At Lula’s celebrations, the mood was very different as the veteran leftist vowed to wage war on hunger, and racism and to combat environmental destruction which has soared under Bolsonaro. “We will fight for zero deforestation in the Amazon … Brazil and the planet need the Amazon alive.”
“We are going to restart the monitoring and surveillance of the Amazon and combat any kind of illegal activity,” he vowed. “We are not interested in a war over the environment but we are ready to defend it from any threat.”

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday said eight domestic workers were brought in for questioning in connection with the death of Davido’s son, Ifeanyi Adeleke.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the development to our correspondent, said the domestic workers’ narrations would assist the command in ascertaining the circumstances surrounding the death of the three-year-old boy.

Hundeyin, however, said anyone not found culpable would be released immediately, adding the ones found culpable of negligence would be held back to assist the command in the ongoing investigation.
Hundeyin said, “His (Ifeanyi’s) death is confirmed. His (Davido’s) domestic workers have been brought in for questioning and anybody found not culpable will be allowed to go immediately.

“About eight of them were brought in to narrate their version of what happened to assist us in getting what really happened.

“At the end of their narrations, whoever is found not guilty of negligence or not culpable in any way will be allowed to go.
“Anybody found culpable will stay back to assist us in further investigation. The domestic workers are about eight that were brought in.”

 Ifeanyi reportedly drowned in a swimming pool at his father’s residence in the Banana Island area of Lagos State.

In a bid to revive him, the three-year-old victim, after being pulled out of the swimming pool, was reportedly rushed to a hospital in the Lekki area of the state, where he was confirmed dead by one of the doctors on duty.

The victim’s family had yet to react to the tragic development as of the time this report was filed.

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the pan-Yoruba group Afenifere, has raised the alarm of an alleged attempt to split the organization ahead of the 2023 general election.
He stated this on the backdrop of the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the election, Bola Tinubu by a former group leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti weeks after he had announced Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party as their choice.
He also faulted allegations that he did not consult Fasoranti and other leaders of Afenifere before endorsing Obi, saying he didn’t have to consult the former leader before Afenifere endorsed the Labour Party (LP) candidate.

He said the comments trailing the visit of Tinubu to Fasoranti are an attempt to divide the group, adding that all those who attended are APC members in Afenifere.
He stated this while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

He said, “I do not have to consult Fasoranti before Afenifere endorsed Peter Obi.”
He said he told Fasoranti that they were out to cause division and that the former leader should stay away from them.
“There is nothing going on other than an attempt to split Afenifere to which I will not be a party,” he said on Monday.

“It is a sort of conspiracy among those who want to see Afenifere divided. They have been on this plan for over a month ago and my members came to me to alert me about it and I said, ‘Don’t talk about it. It would be a diversion’,” the Afenifere chieftain added. “All we want now is an election on issues.”

He said Pa Fasoranti had called to inform him about Tinubu’s planned visit. He said the former Afenifere leader was initially not open to receiving the APC candidate but he persuaded him to do so.
“I will tell you the story and I won’t go further,” he said. “Pa Fasoranti phoned me on Friday that Tinubu had phoned him and that he wanted to come and see him and he wanted to say no. I said no, don’t do that, you are an elder statesman. If he wanted to see you, why not?”

As far as he is concerned, Obi’s endorsement is based on the principles of equity as the South-East has not produced a president since the return of democracy in 1999. Since the South-West and South-South have produced the president, he said it is the turn of the South-East.
“South-South has had its own and I said it is remaining the South-East,” he noted.

Nigerian Singer, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has lost Ifeanyi, his child with Chioma Roland. It was gathered that the sad incident occurred in the last days of October but was hushed up.

The death of Ifeanyi was, however, confirmed by many celebrities in several veiled posts. Including  Eniola Badmus, comedian AY and Daddy Freeze.
Our correspondent learned that Davido’s first son drowned in the family’s swimming pool in their Banana Island, Lagos State home.
It was said that immediately after the three-year-old Ifeanyi was found in the pool, he was rushed to Lagoon Hospital, Lagos Island, where he was confirmed dead by doctors on duty.

Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has been attracting negative attention prompting companies to cut ties with him following several weeks of troubling statements, many of them anti-Semitic.
The ongoing wave of offensive speech began at Paris Fashion Week at the beginning of this month and continued with unaired footage from an interview with Tucker Carlson, false statements made during a podcast appearance about the cause of George Floyd’s death, and recent anti-Semitic remarks made on social media.

Those remarks appear to have emboldened a group of demonstrators to hold a sign over a Los Angeles freeway that read, “Kanye is right about the Jews” while giving a Nazi salute, according to photos.
The comments he made on Twitter and during his since-deleted podcast interview with Drink Champs—where he made unfounded claims that Jewish people hold immeasurable power in media—have gotten him locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts, and prompted a slew of companies to cut ties with him. He has been posting instead on Parler, the right-wing social media app he has announced plans to buy.

On Oct. 9, West tweeted that he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people, in reference to the defense system used by the United States to signal military defense, and argued that he isn’t anti-Semitic because “black people are actually Jew[s] also,” leading his account to be locked.
Company after company has decided that West has finally reached a level of volatility that they can no longer justify working with. West recently hired Camille Vasquez, who served as Johnny Depp’s lawyer in his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard. But after he refused to walk back his anti-Semitic comments, Vasquez reportedly dropped him as a client.

One of the biggest brands to cut ties with Ye is Balenciaga. The clothing brand, helmed by creative director Demna, slowly began removing references to Ye from their site—including to their collaboration.
Vogue also vowed not to work with the rapper since Ye berated editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson online after she criticized his controversial Yeezy fashion show in Paris. Page Six reported that a representative for the magazine provided a statement that editor-in-chief Anna Wintour will not work with him again.
In wake of his recent comments, West’s G.O.O.D. Music label is no longer a part of Def Jam music group, the New York Times reports, and his music has seen a marked decrease in streaming numbers.

Gap also joined the slew of brands that are no longer working with West, but the termination of their deal actually originated from West’s lawyer. West blasted Gap on social media, alleging that the brand was taking his designs and not crediting him, and excluding him from the creative process. In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gap “left [Ye] no choice but to terminate their agreement,” according to a letter from his lawyers informing the clothing company of the decision.

Adidas also announced it had ended its partnership with West. On Tuesday, it was announced that West had been dropped by his talent agency, CAA, and studio executives at MRC announced on Monday that they would be shelving a recently completed documentary. “We cannot support any content that amplifies his platform,” the executives wrote in a joint memo.

Adidas said the termination of their partnership will deal a financial blow of €250 million ($246 million) to their fourth-quarter sales.
Adidas released a statement that read, in part: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
Kanye is no longer billionaire – Forbes
Meanwhile, Rapper Ye’s falling out with corporate partners has cost him his status as a billionaire, according to Forbes.

In the last few weeks, Ye — also known as Kanye West — has seen luxury fashion house Balenciaga, Gap, and most recently Adidas end the business relationship with him for antisemitic comments and wearing a shirt with a slogan linked to the Ku Klux Klan.

On Tuesday, Forbes, one of the leading trackers of wealth among the world’s financial elites, declared it had dropped Ye from its list of billionaires. It estimated the Adidas deal accounted for $1.5 billion of his net worth, but Forbes now estimates it at a mere $400 million.
Forbes said that the $400 million remaining of his net worth comes from real estate, cash, his music catalog, and a 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, Skims.