Author: Safiu Kehinde

Safiu Kehinde In the wake of banditry sponsorship allegation against Nigeria’s Minister of Defense, Bello Matawalle, by Zamafara state governor, Dauda Lawal, the minister has revealed how the governor used his letter to escape from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Matawalle made this disclosure at an interview on Tuesday. Speaking on why he often ignore the governor’s allegations, Matawalle claimed he sees as his Special Adviser while narrating how Dauda came to his administration. “When Dauda had a case in EFCC, they seized his passport so he cannot travel. He went to someone to begging Bashir Yugoda that…

Safiu Kehinde Abuja Federal High Court Justice in charge of Nnamdi Kanu’s case, Binta Nyako, has hinted her withdrawal from the IPOB leader’s case. The justice made this disclosure ahead of the court hearing on Kanu’s case on Tuesday. Nnamdi Kanu had earlier advised the justice to rescue herself from his case over her refusal to obey Supreme Court’s order, with the embattled secessionist agitator admitting to have lost hope in the court. According to report, Kanu had vehemently ordered his counsel, Alloy Ejimakor to sit down while he stood up from the dock to address Justice Nyako. He based…

Having slipped undetected into Mali’s capital weeks ago, the jihadis struck just before dawn prayers. They killed dozens of students at an elite police training academy, stormed Bamako’s airport and set the presidential jet on fire. The Sept. 17 attack was the most brazen since 2016 in a capital city in the Sahel, a vast arid region stretching across sub-Saharan Africa south of the Sahara Desert. It showed that jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda or Islamic State, whose largely rural insurgency has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, can also strike at the heart of…

Safiu Kehinde It was a moment of tears for Asue Ighodalo’s Campaign Director General, Emmanuel Odigie, who wept over vote buying and results manipulation observed at the just concluded Edo governorship election. Odigie broke down in tears on live broadcast on Tuesday while speaking in an interview. While accusing the All Progressive Congress (APC)  and some ‘negative’ supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of indulging in vote buying, Odigie narrated how he met some Edo indigenes in diaspora who came to Nigeria to vote for the PDP’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo. According to the campaign DG, the women had expressed…

Safiu Kehinde Nigerian business tycoon, Aliko Dangote has harped on the need for subsidy removal while disclosing how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) embarrassed his conglomerate. The Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group made this known while speaking at a recent interview. In the wake of his refinery’s commencement of fuel supply, Dangote admitted that the government can not afford subsidizing the fuel cost as the refinery also aimed at making profit. This, according to Dangote, birthed the agreement between the federal government and the refinery to engage in Naira-based transaction. “Government cannot afford those…

Safiu Kehinde  Popular Nigerian comedian, Ali Baba, has recounted how a costly joke had nearly made him incur the wrath of late Nigerian Military Head of States, Sani Abacha. Ali Baba made this disclosure in a recent interview on Leadership Podcast programme. Narrating his ordeal in the hand of Abacha, which he described as his ‘first close encounter with death’, the comedian recalled how he had made joke out of the dictator’s infamous sunglasses during an event in Abuja. “The first close encounter I had with death was with Abacha. When Abacha was President, I went to do this event…

Across southern Lebanon, families scrambled together belongings and headed north in cars and trucks and on motorcycles as the Israeli military struck targets it said were linked to the Lebanese Shia armed group Hezbollah. Some residents reported receiving warnings in the form of text messages and voice recordings from the Israeli military to leave areas near the Iran-backed group’s positions. Zahra Sawli, a student in the southern town of Nabatieh told the BBC’s Newshour programme the bombardment was intense. “I woke up at 6am to the sound of bombing. By noon it started to get really intense and I saw…

A man in South Korea has confessed to murdering his girlfriend and hiding her body in cement – 16 years after she was reported as missing. The man, who is in his 50s, told local police he hit the woman with a blunt object during an argument at his apartment in the southern city of Geoje. He then placed her dead body into a suitcase, which he buried under a layer of bricks and cement on his balcony. It remained there unnoticed until last month, when a maintenance worker discovered it while drilling, local media reported. The body – which…

Agency Report  Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), announced on Monday that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the construction of roads in Abuja’s satellite towns. Wike made this known while addressing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting. He emphasized that these satellite towns had previously suffered neglect, highlighting that prior administrations failed to recognize the importance of extending development to these areas. “It is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the president that we must take development to the satellite towns. “As I speak to you today, I know before December, we will…

Safiu Kehinde  The United States Chamber of Commerce has expressed plan to invest about 320 million dollars in mortgage refinancing and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. This was disclosed in a statement issued by spokesperson of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Mr Stanley Nkwocha. As contained in the statement, Nisha Biswal, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, made this known on Monday. According to  reports Biswal spoke at a US-Nigeria Executive Business Roundtable hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce as part of activities at the ongoing 79th Session of the United Nations. She…