News & Announcements

Nathaniel Ochoche, the chairman of the Labour Party’s Edikwun Council ward in Benue State, was killed by suspected herdsmen.

The state’s Apa Local Government Area includes the Edikwu Council ward.

The victim was killed by suspected armed herders in Ankpali village, Edikwu district of the local government, according to Kengkeng Ati, spokesman for the Labour Party in the state, who revealed this to our correspondent in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

According to Ati, who claimed that the event occurred over the weekend, the matter was reported to the local police station.

“It is true it happened at his village where herdsmen laid ambush by the roadside and killed him. The report has been submitted at the police station in the area and they (police) said they are on top of it.”

Ati, who denounced the murder, pleaded with security personnel to find the perpetrators.

The State Command Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, denied knowing of the ward party leader’s murder when approached.

The jury selection phase of a civil trial involving allegations that former US President Donald Trump sexually assaulted a prominent former American columnist thirty years ago began on Tuesday.

E. Jean Carroll, a writer, claims that Trump assaulted her sexually in a New York department shop and then slandered her after she made the complaint public years later.

The charges have been frequently refuted by Trump, who is dealing with a slew of legal issues that could imperil his bid for a second presidential term in 2024.

The trial, which is the result of a lawsuit Carroll brought against Trump, began only a few weeks after Trump was famously arraigned on allegations of making a criminal hush-money payment to a porn star.

In 1995 or 1996, according to Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of the opulent Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The now-79-year-old woman claimed the assault happened after Trump requested her opinion on what to get as a gift for a woman who wears lingerie.

Carroll initially made the claim in an extract from her book that was published by New York Magazine in 2019. Carroll was present in court for the beginning of the proceedings on Tuesday.

Then, in his reply, Trump claimed that he had never met her, that she was “not my type,” and that she was “totally lying.”

Carroll first filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in 2019, but the statute of limitations for the claimed conduct had already passed, so Carroll was unable to add the rape accusation.

However, a new legislation that went into effect in New York in November of last year granted victims of sexual assault a one-year window to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers decades after crimes may have taken place.

Carroll’s attorneys have brought a new lawsuit against Trump, accusing him of battery “when he forcibly raped and groped” her.

Additionally, it contained libel for a statement Trump made in October on his Truth Social platform, in which he disputed the claimed rape and called Carroll a “complete con job.”

Prof. Kaletapwa Farauta, the Deputy Governor-elect of Adamawa State, revealed that Ahmadu Fintiri, the current Governor, was the inspiration for her decision to step down as vice chancellor of Adamawa State University.

She said this during an appearance on Monday night’s episode of “Politics Today” on Channels Television, adding that Fintiri also played a role in her resignation.

Farauta said, “Life is about taking risks and whatever you do in life amounts to taking risks. I knew that when I left the classroom and university environment to take up being the running mate of a sitting governor, it was either I win or I lose.

“The community prompted me, my people prompted me and of course my boss did.

“I believe that God orders people’s destinies and whatever comes your way is a risk and whatever you take up to do in life, as long as you believe in God, and believe in yourself, God will sort it out with you,” she said.

However, she urged all parties and state citizens to work together for the state’s development.

“We might have hurt each other in the process of politicking. Now, that is over, we should put it behind us as brothers and sisters, mend our fences because the things that unite us are more than the things that divide us.

“If we focus on things that unite us as Adamawa citizens and Nigerians, we will build a better Adamawa State for ourselves and our children yet unborn.”

Robert Sylvester Kelly, popularly known as R. Kelly, an R&B artist, has been sent to a correctional facility in North Carolina, the United States of America, where he will likely serve a 30-year prison term for a number of sexual offenses.

According to the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, he was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on Wednesday of last week to the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina.

In February 2023, R. Kelly received a one-year jail extension for his federal child pornography and child enticement convictions in Chicago.

Along with that, he will also serve an additional 30 years in prison on a separate New York conviction.

A federal jury in Chicago found the singer guilty of six counts of sexual abuse against three women in September.

On tape, the women had given their testimony using the aliases Jane, Pauline, and Nia.

The jury also found him not guilty of the enticement allegations brought against him by Tracy and Brittany.

In addition, the singer was cleared of seven more charges, including obstructing justice for allegedly manipulating his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County with two of his accomplices.

One of Nigeria’s iconic journalists, Peter Enahoro, popularly known as Peter Pan, is dead.

Enahoro, born January 21, 1935, was said to have died in London, United Kingdom on Sunday.

The 88-year-old journalist, author, businessman, and publisher was known by the pen name, Peter Pan because of his popular column in New African magazine.

One of Nigeria’s foremost female journalists, Ms. Bunmi Sofola, also confirmed Enahoro’s death in a statement.

The statement read in part, “Regret to announce the passing on of our iconic journalist, Peter Enahoro “Peter Pan” today in London at the age of 88. RIP.

“Also known by the pen name of “Peter Pan” because of his popular column in New African Magazine under that name. He has been described as ‘perhaps Africa’s best-known international journalist.”

Born January 21, 1935, Enahoro was a journalist, author, businessman, and publisher.

The deceased columnist was one of the pioneers of Nigerian journalism and became editor of the Daily Times at a young age.

Enahoro attended the prestigious Government College, Ughelli (in present-day Delta State).

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a serious blow to his premiership on Friday as one of his closest allies resigned over allegations he bullied officials.

In a resignation letter posted on Twitter on Friday, Dominic Raab said he decided to quit as deputy prime minister and justice secretary after an official inquiry found some of the claims made against him were justified.

Sunak said he accepted Raab’s resignation with “great sadness.”

The review into Raab, conducted by independent investigator Adam Tolley, followed eight formal complaints about his behavior while acting as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and justice secretary.

“I called for the inquiry and undertook to resign, if it made any finding of bullying whatsoever. I believe it is important to keep my word,” he said.

He added that the inquiry into the allegation “dismissed all but two of the claims leveled against me” and “concluded I has not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone.”

The report, published in full after Raab’s resignation on Friday, concluded that “he acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting. It also involved an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates.”

It went on to say that Raab’s “conduct was experienced as undermining or humiliating by the affected individual, which was inevitable. It is to be inferred that [Raab] was aware that this would be the effect of his conduct; at the very least, he should have been aware.”

Raab also said he believed the report sets a “dangerous precedent in setting the threshold for bullying so low” and said its findings were “flawed.”

Raab held several high-profile posts since joining the government as a junior minister in 2015.

Besides serving as deputy prime minister, he was also the justice secretary and Lord Chancellor in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government.

He was the foreign secretary during the Boris Johnson era, but was removed after receiving heavy criticism following the UK withdrawal from Afghanistan. He was on holiday in Greece as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

He faced demands for his resignation after it emerged that not long before the fall of Kabul, he asked a deputy to handle an urgent call with the Afghan foreign minister regarding the evacuation of interpreters who had worked with British armed forces. The call never took place.

Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, criticized Sunak for letting Raab resign, rather than firing him. Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Starmer said the decision showed “weakness from top to bottom” of the government. “There’s a double weakness here. He should never have appointed him and then he didn’t sack him,” he added.

Raab’s resignation creates a headache for Rishi Sunak, who, despite coming from the right of the Conservative party himself, has been painted as softer than his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.

The Johnson comparison is particularly pertinent as Sunak served as his Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Covid pandemic, only to offer his resignation as scandals engulfed the then-prime minister. Johnson allies believe that Sunak’s resignation ultimately led to the end of his premiership and have not forgiven him.

Raab, who reminded Sunak in his resignation letter that he has been loyal since Sunak’s failed leadership bid last summer, is seen as a firm Brexiteer and a cornerstone of the right of the party. He got the attention of the Euroskeptic movement in 2014 when he led a rebellion of 81 MPs against then PM and ardent Europhile David Cameron.

Raab bolstered Sunak’s right-wing credentials, helping to push through policies that required bringing that section of the party with him. And while Raab has promised his loyalty to Sunak, former ministers are able to create trouble on the backbenches, if they wish to.

The question now is whether or not Raab wants to do this. He is sincerely loyal to Sunak and understands that Sunak really is a political ally to the right of the party. However, his resignation letter implies that Raab was very unhappy that he had to leave government.

The coming days will tell us more about the extent to which Raab was pushed or jumped.

If it’s the former, he could have reason to make life difficult for Sunak later down the line when he struggles with Johnson allies on the right of the party.

Raab is the second Sunak ally to resign over bullying claims in less than six months. Cabinet office minister Gavin Williamson resigned from his role in November over accusations, which he denied.

As numerous nations race to evacuate civilians from the war-torn African nation, the warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a three-day ceasefire that will begin at midnight on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday in a written statement, “Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours.”

Intense combat that has now entered its second week has killed at least 427 people and wounded more than 3,700 others, according to UN agencies, despite previous attempts at ceasefires.

The violence “risks a catastrophic conflagration within Sudan that could engulf the entire region and beyond,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned hours prior to Blinken’s remarks.

But he urged the UN Security Council members to use all of their influence.

The RSF said it had consented to the cease-fire “in order to open humanitarian corridors, facilitate the movement of citizens and residents” in a statement on Monday.

“Also to enable them to fulfill their needs, reach hospitals and safe areas, and evacuate diplomatic missions.”

Countries withdrew their diplomats and citizens over the weekend because combat was raging in heavily populated areas of the capital.

Foreign civilians have been able to leave Sudan for safety during brief lulls in the fighting.

If the present three-day ceasefire holds, there may be an opportunity to provide those in need with vital supplies like food and medicine.

Following the conclusion of the 2023 presidential elections, the newly elected president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, recently returned to Nigeria after a 32-day vacation in three nations, declaring that he is strong and prepared to get things started.

With his wife Oluremi and son Seyi, Tinubu arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja at around 4:30 pm. His supporters, party stalwarts, and members of his ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, including members of the now-disbanded Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, cheered him on.

The ex-governor of Lagos State, who was clearly overjoyed, pleaded with Nigerians to disregard rumors regarding his health.

Tinubu traveled to London, Paris, and Saudi Arabia for the holiday to participate in the lesser Hajj.

While thousands of fans and journalists gathered outside his campaign offices in Abuja’s Central District and the Defence House in Maitama, the President-elect of Nigeria’s official residence, he was driven to his home in Asokoro from the airport in a procession that resembled a carnival.

In order to rest, travel abroad, and perform the lesser Hajj, Tinubu had left the nation on March 22 on a three-nation visit.

According to a statement from the Office of the President-elect, signed by Tunde Rahman, the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Governors of Plateau and Niger, Simon Lalong and Abubakar Sani-Bello, as well as the former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, were all present at the airport to greet him.

Also at the airport were former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; APC Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Deputy National Chairman, South, Mr Emma Eneukwu; and National Woman Leader, Dr. Betta Edu.

There were also Senators Barau Jibrin, Adeola Olamilekan, Opeyemi Bamidele, Dayo Adeyeye, Sabi Abdullahi and Adelere Oriolowo as well as secretary of the recently-dissolved Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. James Faleke. Mr. Babajimi Benson and Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Director of media and Publicity in the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Councilwere also there.

The President-elect spoke to the gathering that had followed him home, “I am glad to be back. I’ve had a nap. I feel revived and prepared for the work at hand. Forget whatever you may have heard in the rumor mill. I am a really strong person.

When questioned about his goals for the nation, he stated that he had been planning and consulting in order to assemble a solid team so he could get started right away after taking office on May 29.

On Monday, the Federal Government confirmed that several Nigerian students who were escaping the turmoil in Sudan had been turned away from Ethiopia, but it assured them that the matter was being handled.

The Federal Government stressed that it was perilous for the students to have set out on such a trek, but added that Nigerian authorities in Ethiopia were taking care of the situation after seeking permission for the fleeing students.

As earlier attempts to halt the bloodshed abruptly failed, Sudan’s warring generals have agreed to a three-day truce beginning on Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday), according to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces  and the Rapid Support Forces have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours,” Blinken said in a statement two hours before the truce was to go into effect.

“During this period, the United States urges the SAF and RSF to immediately and fully uphold the ceasefire,” Blinken said.

In Sudan, where a fight between competing generals turned brutally violent ten days ago, Blinken said the United States was also working with allies to establish a committee that would negotiate a long-term truce.

When violent conflict between forces loyal to two opposing generals continued for a second week, other nations hurried to remove their citizens from Sudan.

According to UN statistics, thousands of people have been injured and over 420 people have died amid concerns about further unrest and a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The case of the students is getting the necessary attention, according to Dr. Onimode Bandele, Director of Special Duties at the National Emergency Management Agency and Chairman of NEMA’s Committee for the Evacuation of the Stranded Nigerians from Sudan.

“Yea, you must have been reading on social media that some students got into a town at the border of Ethiopia and they have not been able to grant them passage.

“The Nigerian Ambassador in Egypt, Nura Rimi, confirmed to me that the ambassador in Ethiopia is working on that, and hopefully they should be able to get a passage,” Bandele stated.

He, however, explained that “In our own humanitarian assignment, self-evacuation is at the risk of the person that is involved. If you decide to self-evacuate, whatever you meet is your headache, because you did not listen to the authorities that are supposed to cater for you.

“We empathise with them; we understand their situation; some of them are doing that out of panic or running to safety. But at the same time, self-evacuation has its own disadvantages.

“So, our appeal to Nigerians is that wherever they are, they should please wait for further instruction from the Federal Government, especially the ambassador that is with them in Sudan. He is there with his family too. It is not that he has run out and left them,” Bandele stated.

The NEMA representative added that the Federal Government had thought about utilising the United Nations’ services to evacuate Nigerians trapped in Sudan.

However, he said that this was ineffective because the UN stated that it could no longer provide assistance as a result of the deaths of five UN employees in Sudan.

“We were looking at the possibility of using the UN Utility Service and he (Rimi) said the UN had released a message that they cannot guarantee helping anybody.

“This is because the UN has already lost five staff in Sudan. So they are looking for a way to protect themselves and cannot guarantee anybody,” Bandele stated.

Air Peace, a private airline in Nigeria has disclosed its readiness to evacuate stranded Nigerians in Sudan, North-East Africa for free if the Federal Government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan.

This was disclosed in a statement on Monday by the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of the airline, Allen Onyema.

He noted that Nigerian students and others stranded in the war-racked nation urgently “need our help.”

Onyema said he is compelled to help because Nigeria cannot afford to lose her citizens in that country, adding that it would be his own commitment to making sure that the stranded Nigerians in the war-torn country are safe.

“Again, Air Peace is willing to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge if the government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan. Everything must not be left to the government and the government alone.”

It added, “We are very ready to do it immediately. No time wasting. Any action that would promote national pride, national cohesion, peace, and unity, we are for it.

“Again, we have no apologies for believing in our nation and loving the nation despite certain national challenges. If they are moved to Kenya or Uganda or any other country, we will move in to get them out. Some parents have started calling on us to help. We are ready to do this again and again,” he said.