Author: David Great

Jaylen Smith, an 18-year-old college student in the state of Arkansas has reportedly become the youngest black mayor to be elected in the US. Smith just left high school in May. On Tuesday, he was voted in to lead the rural town of Earle, 30 miles (48km) west of Memphis, Tennessee. He’s not the first 18-year-old mayor in US history, but that hasn’t stopped his family celebrating the major win. “My mom can’t stop crying,” Mr Smith told the Washington Post on Wednesday. A Democrat, he won in the town of 1,800 residents as most US political watchers were tuned…

A Reuters investigation published on Wednesday revealed that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast since at least 2013. The programme has involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters. Here are some reactions to the report: NED PRICE, US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON “My reaction to it in the first instance was a personal one in that I read it and was deeply disturbed by it. It…

Two women, Osunabi Fatimoh and Olayinka Eniola were today convicted and sentenced to 24 months imprisonment by a Lagos Federal High Court, for human trafficking. Justice Hadizat Rabiu-Shagari, who presided over the court, gave the two women the jail-term, after pronouncing them guilty on two of the three counts charge of conspiracy and trafficking in person, made against them by the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP). In convicting and sentencing the two women who are residents of No. 5 Itun-Oloja Street Poka, Epe, and, 6 Odoroga Street, Odoragusin-Epe, Lagos State, Justice Rabiu-Shagari…

Nigerian music star, Oladapo Oyebanjo known as D’Banj has denied allegations of fraud in N-Power, a government scheme designed to help fresh college graduates. D’Banj through his lawyers frowned at the media trial against their client, noting that, he was never arrested by the The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) instead he honoured an invitation to appear for questioning. His lawyers noted that D’Banj had no contractual or incidental relationship whatsoever with any group or persons within or outside government in relation to the disbursement, operations, access or control of the operation in respect to N-Power.…

A self-proclaimed prophet in the US had more than 20 wives, some of them younger than 18, the FBI has said. Samuel Rappylee Bateman claimed it was God’s will for him to engage in sexual acts with his wives, the FBI said. Bateman, 46, was charged in September with destroying records and obstructing justice in an investigation into whether children were being transported across state lines for sexual activity. The details come from an FBI affidavit filed on Friday. Bateman was a former member of a branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) -…

Elon Musk has criticised San Francisco Mayor London Breed over an investigation into offices turned into bedrooms at Twitter’s headquarters. The city’s Department of Building Inspections is investigating potential violations of the building code, local reports say. Musk accused the city of attacking companies providing bedrooms for “tired employees”. The new Twitter boss recently demanded staff committed to long hours or left. A Department of Building Inspection official told local public-radio station KQED: ‘We need to make sure the building is being used as intended.” In a reply to KQED journalist Ted Goldberg’s twitter thread, Musk posted the city should…

Belgium playmaker Eden Hazard has retired from international football at the age of 31. Hazard, who is an attacking midfielder or winger, made his Belgium debut in 2008 at the age of 17, and went on to win 126 caps, scoring 33 goals. His decision comes after Belgium were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages. “A page turns today,” said the Real Madrid player. “Thank you for your love [and] for your unparalleled support.” He added on social media: “Thank you for all this happiness since 2008. I have decided to put an end to my…

The faces of 108 Nigerian girls who are still missing eight years after they were kidnapped in Chibok, Borno state by Boko Haram insurgents have been sculpted in clay in a collaboration between an artist, a group of potters and university students. The artwork, titled “Statues Also Breathe” and conceived by French artist Prune Nourry, consists of 108 life-size clay heads, made by 108 students from all over Nigeria, and now on display at an art gallery in Lagos. Boko Haram militants abducted around 270 teenage girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. The mass…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has commenced the auction of a total of 435 cars, which are subjects of final forfeiture orders in Lagos, in line with the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004; Public Procurement Act 2007 and the Proceeds of Crimes (Recovery and Management) Act 2022. The exercise scheduled to take place across the Commands of the Commission, started on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 in Lagos with inspection of items by members of the public, while the auction exercise began today, Wednesday, December 7 and continues on Thursday, December 8, 2022. The items are available in four locations:…

A case challenging the candidacy of Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been dismissed by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja. It is the fourth case to be dismissed by the courts in recent weeks. In the latest case, suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/854/2022, Justice Fadima Aminu Muritala described the plaintiff, Elder Ngozika Ihuoma as a “meddlesome interloper having no locus standi to institute the suit”. He therefore dismissed the case for being speculative after APC’s counsel, Julius Ishola from Babatunde Ogala & Co had urged the court to dismiss it with heavy cost…