Author: David Great

Five US citizens left Iran and landed in Doha on Monday in a prisoner swap for five Iranians held in the United States and the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds in a rare deal between the long-time antagonists. “Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement, adding they “will soon be reunited with their loved ones—after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering.” It was unclear whether the exchange might bring progress on the many issues that divide the two nations, including Iran’s nuclear program,…

The Lagos High Court in Ikeja has admitted two documents which include a FBI report tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into evidence, one of which contained an investigative report on the iPhone of Internet celebrity Ismaila Mustapha, popularly known as Mompha, alleging it was used for fraudulent practices. During Monday’s sessions, the trial judge, Justice Mojisola Dada, admitted the EFCC’s materials. The reports are a letter from the EFCC to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America and a report from the Bureau. The EFCC charged Mompha and his company, Ismalob…

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has accepted an appointment as the special adviser on political matters to Vice-President Kashim Shettima following his appointment by President Bola Tinubu, the activist said in a social media post on Monday. A verbal critic of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under Muhammadu Buhari announced his appointment on X (formerly Twitter) drawing mixed reactions from Nigerians. Baba-Ahmed is the elder brother of Datti Baba Ahmed, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election. “It is time to make it public that I have accepted the call to serve as Special Adviser (Political) to the…

Benjamin Mendy, acquitted in a sex offences trial in England in July, played his first game in two years on Sunday when he came on as a substitute for Lorient against Monaco in Ligue 1. The 29-year-old France international and former Manchester City player was introduced 70 minutes into his new club’s 2-2 draw with the Ligue 1 leaders. Lorient were trailing 2-1 when Mendy came on, and it was the defender’s cross which led to Romain Faivre’s equalising goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time in Brittany. His last competitive game before Sunday was back in August 2021…

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) are investigating an avoided plane disaster involving Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke. Governor Adeleke accused sabotage of the occurrence, which occurred around a week ago. However, in a statement issued on Sunday, NCAA Director General Capt Musa Nuhu expressed concern about the event and assured that an investigation is underway. 14 dead in plane crash in Brazil’s Amazonas Although the operator of the aircraft “submitted the report through the new web-based National Aviation Safety Reporting System, SMS Pro, deployed by NCAA in collaboration with Nigerian Safety Investigation…

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers on patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway apprehended five pregnant teenage females suspected of being victims of child trafficking. According to reports, the pregnant girls were apprehended while being transported from their refuge in the Naze district of Owerri to the Ikenegbu section of the Imo State capital. In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi confirmed this. The victims – Chioma Emmanuel, Uma Faith, Divine Adimonye, Opara Gift, and Amarachi Mbata – were rescued on Wednesday, according to Babafemi. “In their statements, they claimed they didn’t know the men who impregnated…

Eighteen civilians and one soldier have been killed in attacks by militia groups in western DR Congo, where sectarian violence has flared since June 2022, government officials said Sunday. The civilians were killed in the village of Final in Kimvula, around 190 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of the capital Kinshasa, allegedly by the “Mobondo” militia last Monday, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said after a government cabinet meeting. He said one soldier had also been killed and another was still missing alongside the 18 civilians killed, adding that the village had been burned. 14 dead in plane crash in Brazil’s Amazonas…

Femi Falana (SAN), a human rights lawyer, has requested that the Federal Government bring charges against suspended CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and the CBN management for the cash shortage that hit the nation early this year. In a statement released on Sunday, he asserted that Emefiele and the CBN had misled Nigerians over the availability of cash as a result of the country’s recent currency redesign. “Having misled Nigerians to believe that sufficient cash was distributed to commercial banks to replace the sum of N3.5 trillion mopped up from customers, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the entire management of the CBN…

A shuttle bus driver has knocked down a police officer, Anthony Ogbodo in Anambra State. Though the circumstances surrounding the officer’s death are unknown, it was learned that the incident occurred on Saturday. Tochukwu Ikenga, the state Police Public Relations Officer, verified this in a statement on Sunday. According to Ikenga, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ogbodo, a Superintendent of Police, was “killed in a tragic vehicular accident involving his motorcycle and a shuttle bus on Saturday, 16th September, 2023.” “The driver of the shuttle bus that hit the policeman took him to the hospital in Enugwu Ukwu before he…

President Bola Tinubu on Sunday appointed Dr. Jamila Ibrahim to serve as the Minister of Youth, pending her confirmation by the Nigerian Senate. The President has further approved the nomination of Mr. Ayodele Olawande to serve as the Minister of State for Youth, pending his confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A statement by the President’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale read, “President Bola Tinubu has approved the nomination of Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim to serve as the Minister of Youth, pending her confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “The President has further approved…