News & Announcements

The United States of America-based Nigerian mother of four Ajike Owens, 35 has been shot dead in Florida by a racist neighbour.

Owens was shot through the door in front of her son, 9, by a white woman who complained about her children playing outside but police have yet to make any arrest because of the ‘stand your ground’ law in the state, Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.

According to a civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, the deceased children were playing in a field near an apartment complex in Ocala, Florida, on Friday when her neighbour began yelling at them to get off her land and calling them racial slurs.

The children left the field but forgot their Ipad and went back to fetch it when the white woman threw it at one of the children and the screen cracked after hitting the boy.

Owens went across the street to speak with her neighbour after hearing of the incident when the white woman fired through the door, hitting the mother of four children who later died at the hospital from injuries sustained from the gunshot.

The Police Marion County Sheriff, Billy Woods, who confirmed to know the identity of the shooter, said authorities are working to determine what role the state’s ‘stand your ground’ law might play in the incident.

Citizens of the state are permitted to use deadly force if they feel their lives are in danger under the ‘stand your ground’ Florida law.

Pat Robertson, the fire-and-brimstone evangelical preacher who helped turn America’s Christian conservatives into the powerful constituency they remain today, died on Thursday at the age of 93, his organization announced.

The longtime TV host, religious broadcaster, and one-time presidential candidate died at his home in Virginia Beach, according to a statement from the Christian Broadcasting Network.

An avuncular presence on the daily talk show he started in 1966 — “The 700 Club,” which is still on air today — Robertson was a master at using the media to promote Christian right values, including his anti-gay, anti-liberal ideals.

“He shattered the stain glass window,” TD Jakes, a Dallas pastor said in CBN’s statement. “People of faith were taken seriously beyond the church house and into the White House.”

He was also known for throwing the kind of rhetorical hand grenades that have inflamed America’s decades-long culture wars.

In 2001, as America reeled from the September 11 attacks, Robertson got into trouble after appearing to agree with comments by sidekick Jerry Falwell that America’s tolerance for lesbians, gays, and abortionists had drawn God’s wrath.

The Christian Coalition, which Robertson founded, helped mobilize US evangelicals in the political arena, corralling them into a major voting bloc that continues to hold considerable sway over the Republican Party.

The organization, from which Robertson resigned as president in 2001, pressured Congress and the White House on moral and religious issues such as abortion and the separation of church and state.

Robertson — who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary in 1988 — went on to play an important role in garnering conservative support for Republican candidates.

The Christian evangelical movement would become a key base of support for Donald Trump, helping to propel him to the presidency — and Robertson himself interviewed Trump on his network after he won the White House.
               

The Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye, has called on the Federal Government to prosecute the perpetrators of the terror attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022, leading to the killing of no fewer than 41 worshippers.

Ajakaye said he recalled that the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, said last year that arrests had been made over the attack.

However, he expressed disappointment that a year after the bloody incident, nobody had been prosecuted.

The Bishop, in a statement on Tuesday, said, “Typical of the then President Muhammadu Buhari government, it commiserated with the church, Ondo State, and the people concerned, and it promised to arrest the culprits.

“Surprisingly, a few months after the attack, addressing a world press, the CDS, Gen. Irabor, informed the world that arrests had been made regarding the attack at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo. Unfortunately, to date, we have not heard anything again from the Army general.’’

The Ogun State Police Command paraded no less than 40 individuals on Wednesday for a variety of offences, including cultism, murder, and armed robbery.

Olanrewaju Oladimeji, the state’s commissioner of police, displayed the suspects in front of the media at the police command center in the state capital of Abeokuta and claimed that they were captured both inside and outside the state.

Michael Bob, Abdul Omotoyosi, and Adeshina Idris, according to Oladimeji, were detained for conspiracy, armed robbery, and theft.

He said that during the operation, a stolen Toyota automobile was found and that the suspects had been apprehended in Mushin, Lagos State.

Austin Omoh, who was detained in Maroko, Lagos State after allegedly taking part in an armed robbery in the region, was also presented by the man.

According to the police chief, a stolen Toyota Sequoia SUV with the license plate AAA 631 HX was found on him.

The CP further stated that one Wasiu Odubote was detained by the police for shoplifting and theft at Igbeba, Ijebu-Ode.

He said that Odubote and his gang members broke into a spare parts store on Old Ondo Road, and he added that the Divisional Police Officer and his team’s prompt involvement resulted in Odubote’s arrest.

Other gang members, according to him, were able to flee, and a tricycle with the license plate GBE 144VX was found.

Adedapo Taiwo, Arogundade Idowu, Noah Jogunom, and James Abiodun were also paraded. They had been detained in Kobape, Abeokuta, for reportedly plotting to disrupt the swearing-in of the state’s second governor, Dapo Abiodun.

He claims that the suspects were discovered to be in possession of charms, a Barreta weapon, and live ammunition.

He added, “Also, in Atan-Ijebu, four suspects identified as Onasanya Opeoluwa, Friday Daniel, Otuneye Samuel and Ayanbade Owolabi were arrested for their involvement in cultism.

“The police recovered a locally-made double-barrel gun, a locally-made short gun, an axe, a dagger, a jack knife and substances suspected to be Indian hemp.

“In the same vein, the police also apprehended Akindele Femi, Abodurin Afeez and Ishola Ayorinde for their affiliation with different cult groups and engagement in criminal activities.”

Sulaiman Ajagunjeun and Opeyemi Adesegun were also detained by the police in Itoko for their alleged involvement in cult-related fighting, and they reportedly confessed to being Aiye confraternity members.

Oladimeji declared in response to the state’s rising cultism charges that the command would constantly pursue the suspects.

In an effort to prevent a breakdown in law and order following the election of two speakers for the seventh assembly, the police closed off the Nasarawa House of Assembly Complex on Wednesday.

The Rt. Hon. Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, the previous speaker, who was running for a third term as speaker, and Hon. Daniel Ogazi, a member of the Assembly who represents Kokona East constituency, were both elected as speakers in separate sittings on Tuesday.

While Ogazi was chosen as Speaker following the proceedings at the State Assembly complex, Balarabe-Abdullahi was chosen during a meeting that took place at the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

11 members were loyal to Balarabe-Abdullahi, who is also a member of the All Progressives Congress in the state, while 13 members-elect, including those from the opposition political parties, were thought to have supported Ogazi, who is a member of the APC.

In contrast, DSP Ramhan Nansel, the state’s police public relations officer, explained in a statement issued on Wednesday that the action was taken as a result of a decision from Maiyaki Mohammed-Baba, the state’s commissioner of police.

He added that the decision was issued by the commissioner following consultation with other state security agencies.

Senator Annie Okonkwo, a former senator who represented the Anambra Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, has passed away.

He apparently lost his struggle with a serious disease and passed away in the US.

Okonkwo’s death was confirmed by a family member who spoke on the phone on the condition of anonymity.

Remember that on May 23, 2023, the late, prominent industrialist, celebrated his 63rd birthday.

Pope Francis, 86, had a successful first night in the hospital following a three-hour procedure to repair a bothersome hernia in a Rome hospital, the Vatican announced on Thursday.

The press office issued a brief statement stating that “the night went well” and promising to release more information later.

The abdominal surgery at the Gemelli hospital was alleged to have left the Argentine pontiff awake and joking with his medical staff on Wednesday.

Doctor Sergio Alfieri informed reporters on Wednesday that the pope, who underwent colon surgery in 2021, has an incisional hernia at the location of a scar from a prior operation.

According to Alfieri, the abdominal wall was reconstructed with surgical mesh while he was under general anesthesia.

For the Pope’s recovery, all papal audiences have been postponed until June 18.

The pope would spend “a few days” in the hospital, according to the Vatican, and the surgeon who operated on him, Alfieri, declined to provide any details.

He claimed that although the pope’s age and illness in March, when he was hospitalized with a lung infection, may impair his recovery time, this type of operation typically requires a stay of between five and seven days.

Francis, who has presided over the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world for ten years, has been hospitalized more frequently in recent months, which has raised concerns and fueled rumors about his future in office.

Benedict XVI, Francis’ predecessor who passed away in December, resigned in 2013 owing to deteriorating health.

Mike Pence, a former US vice president, declared his candidacy for president on Wednesday, portraying the Republican primary as a contest between “reckless” Donald Trump and the law, contending that Trump’s attempt to rig the 2016 election should prevent him from running again in 2024.

The profoundly devout former radio talk show presenter and Indiana governor gave a passionate defense of the Trump White House’s policies, saying he was glad to support his running mate “every single day” of the 2017–21 administration.

But on January 6, 2021, when Pence was inside the Capitol supervising the official declaration of Joe Biden’s victory, the then-president incited a throng to attack the building.

“As I’ve said many times, on that fateful day, president Trump’s words were reckless and endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol,” Pence told supporters in Ankeny, Iowa.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will.”

Pence developed a reputation as a steadfastly devoted vice president who stood by Trump over his four scandal-riddled years in office and pulled the religious right into the fold.

The evangelical Christian, however, alienated Trump’s rabid supporters and the populist firebrand himself by refusing to go along with the president’s demands and use his position as the Senate’s president to destroy the 2020 election.

When a crowd that Trump had ordered to march on the Capitol broke through barricades and demanded the vice president’s execution, Pence was forced to leave for his life.

Pence, who asserted in a launch video earlier on Wednesday that “God is not done with America yet,” is the first vice president in modern times to oppose his former running partner for the party’s nomination.

His declaration highlighted the precarious position he would find himself in as he tries to distance himself from the volatility of the Trump administration while still claiming credit for the improvements he thinks the nation made.

Pence criticized Trump for abandoning conservative values including strict abortion restrictions and budgetary restraint, and charged that he had broken a vow made “on day one” to lead the country with “decency and civility.”

In response to a question regarding media claims that Trump’s attorneys had been alerted that their client was the subject of an investigation into the improper handling of secret documents after he left the White House, Pence said during a CNN town hall that “no one’s above the law.”

“I would just hope there would be a way for them to move forward without the dramatic and drastic and divisive step of indicting a former president of the United States,” he added.

A day after former New Jersey governor Chris Christie entered the race, Pence, who was celebrating his 64th birthday, launched his candidacy. Christie promised to be the only contender who would be unafraid to take on Trump, who is still the leading Republican figure in much of the country.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, both former governors, are also running.

According to polls, Trump is by far the early front-runner, frequently maintaining advantages of over 30 points over DeSantis, who is currently in second place. None of the other contenders, including Pence, are scoring in the double digits.

DeSantis visited southern Arizona on Wednesday, where he promoted his hardline immigration stance and justified his state’s recent decision to transport hundreds of refugees, primarily from Venezuela, to California on charter flights from Texas.

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, threatened DeSantis with abduction charges for the taxpayer-funded operation after officials said the migrants had been tricked into boarding the planes with false promises of jobs. Newsom referred to DeSantis as a “small, pathetic man” and called him a “pathetic man.”

DeSantis responded by criticizing “sanctuary” cities and states, like California, and called for the border to be “shut down” at a round-table discussion in Sierra Vista with law enforcement officials from Florida, Arizona, and Texas.

“That’s the policies that they’ve (staked) out,” DeSantis said, criticizing California’s more relaxed approach to immigration control.

“And then what? When they have to deal with some of the fruits of that, they all of a sudden become very, very upset about that.”

Barrister Ken Imasuagbon, a former candidate for governor and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from the PDP on Wednesday.

The battlefront Due to his charitable act, the Edo politician gained notoriety outside of Edo State.

Imasuagbon didn’t mention his reasons for leaving the PDP in a letter he submitted to the state party chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, and the head of his local government, Esan South-east ward 2.

He expressed gratitude to the PDP’s leadership and entire membership, calling his time spent there a memorable one.

The letter reads, “Since 2009 in what was tagged the ‘Ewohimi Declaration’ where I had joined the PDP has remained a memorable journey for me and I want to thank God almighty for his benevolence.

“The course of my political journey in the PDP had afforded me the opportunity to make great and wonderful friends and had shared great moments with which I will cherish for a lifetime.

“However, the reality of the moment has made it decisive that there comes a time in a man’s life where he has to move ahead.

“Consequently, therefore I hereby tender my resignation of the membership of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Once again, I thank the entire leadership and body of the PDP”.

Imansuangbon, who worked tirelessly for the PDP and later the Grace Group, the PDP group that later evolved into the Action Congress, Action Congress of Nigeria, and finally the All Progressives Congress, has been running for governor since 2007, as you may recall.

Imasuagbon and a few other candidates resigned in support of Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020 after he defected from the APC, where he had pursued his second-term ambition.

The Ogun State Police Command has paraded no less than 40 individuals for a variety of offences, including cultism, murder, and armed robbery.

Olanrewaju Oladimeji, the state’s commissioner of police, who led a procession of the suspects, claimed they were captured both inside and outside the state.

Speaking to reporters, Oladimeji announced the arrests of Michael Bob, Madeshina Idris, and Abdul Omotoyosi on charges of conspiracy, armed robbery, and theft.

He said that during the operation, a stolen Toyota automobile was found and that the suspects had been captured in Mushin, Lagos State.

Austin Omoh, a notorious armed robber, was also detained in Maroko, Lagos State, despite reportedly being involved in an armed robbery event in the state.

The police chief reported that a Toyota Sequoia Jeep with the license plate AAA 631 HX had been found.

The CP went on to say that one Wasiu Odubote was detained by the police after breaking into a store and stealing merchandise in Igbeba, Ijebu-Ode.

The CP reported that Odubote and his crew had broken into a spare parts store on Old Ondo Road, and he added that Odubote was apprehended thanks to the prompt action of the Divisional Police Officer and his team.

Other gang members, according to him, were able to flee, and a tricycle with the license plate GBE 144VX was found.

Adedapo Taiwo, Arogundade Idowu, Noah Jogunom, and James Abiodun were also paraded; they had been detained at Kobape, Abeokuta, for attempting to interrupt the second-term inauguration of Governor Dapo Abiodun.

He claimed that the suspects had a Beretta pistol, live ammunition, and several nefarious charms when they were apprehended.

“Also, in Atan-Ijebu, four suspects identified as Onasanya Opeoluwa, Friday Daniel, Otuneve Samuel, and Ayanbade Owolabi were arrested for their involvement in cultism.

He said, “The police recovered a locally made double-barrel gun, a locally made short gun, an axe, a dagger, a jackknife, and substances suspected to be Indian hemp.

“In the same vein, the police also apprehended Akindele Femi, Abodurin Afeez, and Ishola Ayorinde for their affiliation with different cult groups and engaging in criminal activities.

“They were found in possession of weapons, including a locally made short gun, a live cartridge, and criminal charms.

“The police arrested Sulaiman Ajagunjeun and Opeyemi Adesegun in Itoko for their involvement in cult-related fights and also confessed to being members of the Aiye confraternity.

“Nwoke Stanley and Auche Uzuegho were apprehended for vandalising aluminium cables in Ogijo. The police found several vandalised cables in their shop, revealing their involvement in multiple cable thefts in the area.

“The Ogun State Police Command also arrested Osiniga Waheed, John Taiwo, Olashina Hameed, Olugbade Abidoun, Odeyemi Azeez, Tohter Shobitan, Babatunde Atinsola, Lateef Yahya, and Nurudeen Tajudeen for their roles in cultism, assault, and unlawful possession of hard drugs.”

Speaking on the increasing cases of cultism in the state, Oladimeji said the command would always go for them, saying that he would not relent on pursuing them.

“We’re not relenting, we’ll continue, so as long as we hear that they’re going about because we know they don’t mean any good for anybody, they’re always out to cause confusion and harm people, and that is why we are equally after them.

“Not until they change and they’re willing to live like every law-abiding citizen, once they want to remain deviant, we will equally be on their neck, we will not leave them,” he said.