BREAKING NEWS

  The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has announced that it would be demanding at least a N5billion compensation for the family of slain Lagos lawyer Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem, who was shot by an Assistant Superintendent, Drambi Vandi.   In a statement released on Thursday, December 29, it was also disclosed that NBA Lagos Branch member and rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) will be leading a team that will be monitoring the trial of the police officer.    The statement read;    “The NBA Lagos in conjunction with the NBA President, Mr. Y.C. Mikyau, SAN, has decided to be part of the prosecution of the policeman as part of its efforts towards securing quick and effective justice for the family of the deceased. “In this regard, the NBA will be partnering with the Ministry of Justice during the trial. “The NBA is also seeking monetary compensation for the family of Mrs. Raheem from the government of Lagos State, the Federal Government, ...

  Liverpool have joined the race to sign Super Eagles and Villareal winger, Samuel Chukwueze during the January transfer after the signing of Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven   According to Fichajes, Samuel Chukwueze is attracting plenty of interest from Premier League sides as Liverpool joins the chase for the Villarreal forward. “After pulling off the first big move of the winter transfer window with the signing of Cody Gakpo, the Liverpool Reds are preparing to hit the trail of another centre-forward. The one now targeted by Liverpool is none other than Samuel Chukwueze,” the website wrote.   Samuel Chukwueze could become Villarreal’s record sale if Premier League sides splash their €50 million asking price. Among the suitors for the pacy winger is Aston Villa with his former boss, Unai Emery interested him bringing Chukwueze to the Premier League.   Chukwueze has scored five goals and registered six assists in 23 appearances across all competitions this season...

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has recommended the immediate suspension of Assistant Superintendent of Police Drambi Vandi, the officer attached to the Ajah Divisional Headquarters of the Lagos State Police Command, responsible for the shooting and killing of Barrister Omobolanle Raheem.   Bolanle was shot in the chest by the trigger-happy cop at Ajiwe, Ajah area of the state while returning home from church service with her family on Christmas Day.  Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, said the IGP gave the recommendation as he awaits detailed report on the incident.   "The IGP noted that the recommendation for the suspension of the officer is in line with the internal disciplinary processes of the Force," the statement read.  "He further noted that the suspension is also expected to create an enabling environment for necessary legal procedures to uphold justice in the case wi...

Chelsea defender,  Reece James has admitted that 2022 has been the 'toughest year' of his life after suffering another injury setback on his return to action for Chelsea.    The 23-year-old England defender limped off after 53 minutes against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night December 27, in what was his first appearance since early October. James, who missed the World Cup due to a serious knock, revealed how difficult it has been for him dealing with injuries which discussed his mental health struggles.   He said: '2022 has been the toughest year to date. I just wanted to thank you all for the support this year, none of it has gone unnoticed. 'It's naturally affected me mentally, but life is about dealing with the hand you've been dealt and that's what I'm currently tryna do.   'I hope your end of year is filled with peace, joy, and happiness. Love you all, catch you next year.'  Right back James' ...

Liverpool have joined the race to sign Villareal and Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze. According to Fichajes, Samuel Chukwueze is attracting plenty of interest from Premier League sides as Liverpool joins the chase for the Villarreal forward. Samuel Chukwueze could become Villarreal’s record sale if Premier League sides cough up their €50 million asking price. The Nigerian forward has put in impressive displays for the Spanish side this term, attracting plenty of interest from the English sides. Among the suitors for the pacy winger is Aston Villa with his former boss, Unai Emery interested him bringing Chukwueze to the Premier League. Arsenal have also been a long-time admirer of the Yellow Submarine forward but Villarreal’s €50 million asking price could pose a problem for the North London side. It is reported that Villarreal are not looking to let Chukwueze go for a reduced fee, implying that only the team with the financial will could put in the cash to acquire the dazzling for...

  Nigerian singer and one of the music duo, P Square, Paul Okoye has revealed he had been unmarried for four years and was divorced before meeting Ifeoma, his partner. The singer made this known on during an Instagram live session with his fans on Tuesday. Okoye made the decision to respond to some inquiries about his prior union with Anita, the mother of his three children. He disclosed that he had been divorced for a long time and had been single for four years prior to meeting Ifeoma. He said, “I have been single for 4 years and I have been divorced for a long time. I don divorce sef before I found Ifeoma.” The singer has been in the news for a week now after he unveiled his new younger girlfriend on social media. On the 20th of December, an Abuja High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, finalised the couple’s divorce proceedings with five charges brought against Paul by Anita. In 2004, while both were undergraduate students at the University of Abuja, Paul met Anit...

  Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen, is the leading goal scorer from open play in the Italian Serie A for the year 2022.   Osimhen has made himself a prolific striker for Napoli since arriving in the Italian League from French Ligue side Lille in 2020 and has turned With 18 goals, the highest by any player in the Serie A in 2022, the 23-year-old leads the list of highest goals scored in the year under review.   Lazio’s Ciro Immobile is the top marksman in Serie A in 2022 with 20 goals. But six of the Italy international’s goals came from the penalty spot, leaving him with 14 spotless strikes. Third, on the chart is Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez with 17 goals for the year. The forward was part of the Argentina squad that lifted the FIFA World Cup in Qatar a few days ago.   Osimhen, who is considered as the best in the division has seen nine of his goals arrived during the 2022/2023 campaign, making him the top in Serie A this season.

  The hotel room football star, Lionel Messi stayed in during the Qatar 2022 World Cup is set to be turned into a museum after Argentina’s success in the tournament.   Messi was key in Argentina’s first World Cup win since 1986 and was named player of the tournament after netting twice in the dramatic final against France. The 35-year-old picked up the silver boot after netting seven goals in the tournament. Argentina began the tournament with a shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia, but eventually made it out of their group after wins beating Mexico and Poland.  In the round of 16, Argentina edged Australia 2-1 and had to dig deep to defeat the Netherlands on penalties after 120 minutes of football ended 2-2.   The semi-final saw the Albiceleste outclass a Luka Modric-led Croatia side 3-0 before relying on penalty shootout to overcome France. His achievements are now set to be immortalised, with Achraf Ben Ayad tweeting that the University of Qatar space he stayed in will...

  Lionel Messi's Instagram post celebrating Argentina's World Cup triumph is now officially the most-liked social media post of all time.   The Argentine superstar has surpassed the record initially set by a TikTok video set by Filipino-born American singer and social media personality Bella Poarch back in 2020.   In the aftermath of Argentina's penalty shootout win over France, Messi took to Instagram to post 10 pictures of the celebrations in Qatar.   Messi accompanied the post with a caption that read: 'WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!! I dreamed it so many times, I wanted it so much that I still haven't fallen, I can't believe it......   'Thank you very much to my family, to all who support me and also to all who believed in us. We demonstrate once again that Argentines when we fight together and united we are capable of achieving what we set out to do. 'The merit belongs to this group, which is above individualities, it is the streng...

  Elon Musk has said he will resign as Twitter’s chief executive officer when he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job”. The billionaire promised earlier to abide by the result of a Twitter poll which saw 57.5% of users vote “yes” to him quitting the role. He says he will still run the software and servers teams after his replacement is found. Since Mr Musk bought the social media site in October, he has fired about half of its staff and attempted a rollout of Twitter’s paid-for verification feature before putting it on pause. The feature was relaunched last week. Civil liberties groups have also criticised his approach to content moderation, accusing him of taking steps that will increase hate speech and misinformation. On Friday, Mr Musk was condemned by the United Nations and European Union over Twitter’s decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm. The UN tweeted that media freedom was “not a toy”, while the EU threatened Twitter with ...

  The founder and CEO of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to be repatriated to the United States to face fraud charges. According to BBC, the 30-year-old American who lives in the Bahamas has been accused of committing “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.” A source close to Bankman-Fried who has repudiated the allegations said Bankman-Fried had agreed to be extradited. Vanguard had published that FTX has filed for bankruptcy, leaving many people unable to withdraw funds. According to a court filing, FTX owed its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1bn (£2.5bn). As of the time of filing this report, it was not clear when Bankman-Fried will be extradited to the US, following his arrest on 12 December. Among the most serious allegations against him is that he used billions of dollars of customer funds to prop up his investment trading company Alameda. Last week, Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said B...

  Football star,  Lionel Messi was treated to a heroes reception as he returned to his home town of Rosario after leading Argentina to World Cup glory. The 35-year-old returned to his home city for the first time on Tuesday evening, December 20, since lifting the World Cup on Sunday, after he was earlier forced to evacuate Argentina's winners' parade earlier in the day, over safety concerns.    Following the parade, Messi was flown back by helicopter from Buenos Aires to Rosario - some 185 miles away - before he was pictured in a car driven by his wife Antonella Roccuzzo, as they headed home.   Upon his arrival, Messi was greeted by hundreds of cheering fans chanting 'Dale Campeon' translating to 'Let's go champion'. The jubilant fans had been pushed to two sides by security to clear space for his wife to drive the car through the middle and inside a building. Messi was born in Rosario and also started his football career playing for Newell's Old Boys ba...

  An Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama has formerly granted Anita Okoye and Paul Okoye divorce.   Recall that in August 2021, Anita Okoye filed for divorce after 8 years of marriage.   Anita Okoye cited five major reasons for her decision to divorce her husband: cheating, a claimed separation, being an absent parent, fraud, and difficult experiences.   She, therefore, requested a settlement of $20,000 monthly as well as a number of  Paul' houses.   Earlier on, in her divorce petition signed by her lawyer, Ojonimi Akpe and Okutepa J.S, Anita had claimed that she contributed N10 million as an agreement with Paul that she would be granted space at the mall he had just completed in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.   However, she accused Paul Okoye of cheating her out of the deal.   The petition reads in part, "That I know as a fact that the Petitioner founded a company called TannkCo in 2019.   "That the Petitioner and the Respondent a...

  An Argentina fan is facing jail time after she was spotted taking off her top in a fiery celebration of Argentina's victory over France in the World Cup final.    After Gonzalo Montiel's penalty kick sealed the win for Argentina, cameras turned towards cheering Argentina fans and among them was a blonde fan who gave the cameras a little more than was expected.  Ahead of the tournament, fans were warned that they would be required to respect Qatar's strict, conservative customs.   The Qatar Tourism Authority stated: 'Visitors (men as well as women) are expected to show respect for local culture by avoiding excessively revealing clothing in public.    'It is generally recommended for men and women to ensure their shoulders and knees are covered.'   In conservative Qatar, women are banned from wearing any revealing outfits such as tight clothing and from showing any cleavage.    Non-Qatari women are not required to wear the...

  Abdulsamad Rabiu has jumped in the list of richest men in Africa as the wealth of others drop Forbes reports that Rabiu is now the fourth richest man in Africa one place higher than where he started 2022 This happened as Dangote and other billionaires lost over N3trillion in the last three months  Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of BUA Cement Plc has risen to fourth place on the list of Africa's wealthiest men unseating Egyptian billionaire, Nassef Sawiris. According to Forbes, Rabiu made over $1.1 billion in 2022 and now has a net worth of $8.1 billion, up from $7 billion when the year began. The US-based medium also reports that Rabiu is the only African billionaire in the top 10 that has recorded an increase in his wealth. 

  The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar on Thursday led a delegation of the party as they paid a visit to the Governor of Anambra state, Charles Soludo in the state capital. In a video, the former vice-president could be seen exchanging warm pleasantries with Soludo who appeared excited to receive the PDP flagbearer. It will be recalled that Soludo, some weeks back, had a spat with Atiku’s rival for the presidency, Peter Obi with Obi’s party, Labour Party and his campaign organization issuing their respective rebuttals to the former CBN governor’s statement. Soludo had claimed in his article that Obi who is a former Anambra state governor cannot win the 2023 elections, noting that the LP standard bearer is only playing a game.

  Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has disclosed that the state is indebted to the tune of N407.32 billion. Briefing traditional rulers at their monthly meeting at traditional rulers chamber inside the State Government Secretariat on Thursday, the Governor said his predecessor must explain why the state is owing salaries and pensions to the tune N76 billion having gotten N50 billion as bail out for salary. He said the state owed N331.32 billion while salaries and pensions owed workers amount to N76 billion.

  The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, produced Form CF001, containing WAEC-GCE certificate and Secondary School Testimonial of Gov. Ademola Adeleke before the Osun Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Osogbo. This was in compliance with the order of Justice Tertsea Kume, the Tribunal Chairman, on Nov. 25. Kume had ordered the National Chairman of INEC to produce Form CF001, after INEC in Osogbo office said the documents were not in it’s custody, but with its Headquarters in Abuja. Lead Counsel to INEC, Prof. Paul Ananaba, informed the court that the order given had been complied with and that the documents had been brought from Abuja by Mrs Joan Arabs, a Deputy Director. Arabs, thereafter, presented the documents to the court, which was admitted and afirmed that the documents had been produced in compliance to the order. However, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, Counsel to the petitioners (APC and Gboyega Oyetola), after going through the two pages documents, tol...

  The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, said it will embark on a nationwide protest over Aminu Mohammed, a student of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa, who was remanded by court after criticising the First Lady Aisha Buhari  on Twitter. In a statement issued on Thursday, the president of NANS, Usman Barambu, announced plans for a massive protest to be held across the country on Monday, December 5, 2022, to emphasize the students’ demand. The NANS president also called for the Federal University Dutse student’s unconditional release.  Barambu denounced Mohammed’s detention for allegedly making a derogatory post about Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife. “Sequel to the exhaustion of all options available to us before confrontation in seeking the freedom of one of us who was arrested in questionable manner, tortured, molested, harassed and detained by agents of government, you are hereby notified of the decision of the leadership of the National Assoc...

  Morocco advanced to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time since 1986 after a 2-1 win over Canada. The Moroccans ended Group F as group winners with seven points becoming the second African side after Senegal to make it to the next round of the competition. V Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech opened scoring for his side when Canada captain and goalkeeper Milan Borjan raced off his line to clear a backpass from Steven Vitoria but could only watch in fear as the ball fell to Morocco’s Ziyech who made no mistake to find the back of the net. Canada struggled to get their rhythm after the goal with Morocco all over them and then succumbed to the pressure when right-back Achraf Hakimi’s long ball found En-Nesyri who smashed home past Borjan in goal for Canada to put Morocco two goal up. Canada, however, pulled a goal back when defender Sam Adekugbe power down the left and get to the end of a low cross to give Canada their second goal of the tournament. The goal was, however, n...