Author: Opalim Lifted

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two top leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group, suspected of masterminding the 2022 Kuje prison break, to life imprisonment. Justice Emeka Nwite sentenced the two men to life imprisonment on Monday after they pleaded guilty to the charges. The convicts are Mahmud Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Malam Mamuda). During the proceedings, Bala Dakum, counsel to the defendants, said his clients had decided to change their earlier pleas on the 32-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS). Counsel to the…

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of 26 persons to the boards and management of 10 federal government agencies and commissions. The appointments, announced in a statement on Monday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, take immediate effect. Among the appointees is Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State, who was named chairman of the board of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). Fayose will head the REA board alongside Ahmadu Abubakar and Ilyasu Makinta as members and non-executive directors. Abba Aliyu, the agency’s director-general, and three previously appointed executive directors will also serve…

Andy Burnham has officially become the United Kingdom’s prime minister after Keir Starmer formally stepped down, marking another leadership change in British politics. Buckingham Palace confirmed that Burnham met with King Charles III, who invited him to form a new government following Starmer’s departure from office. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street in his first address as prime minister, Burnham described his appointment as “a moment for reflection and new resolution”, while acknowledging public dissatisfaction with the government. “I hear you. We have not been good enough and we need to be better. We will be,” he said. Burnham pledged to…

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has interrogated Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, over his alleged role in the emergence of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC). According to Jiti Ogunye, Gbajabiamila’s counsel, the President’s Chief of Staff appeared at the ICPC headquarters on Monday, where he was questioned over the PFIPC controversy. Ogunye said Gbajabiamila gave his testimony and responded to questions before returning to his duty post. “In full cooperation with the ICPC, acting as directed by the President of Nigeria, I hereby confirm that my client, Femi…

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Esther Walson-Jack, has told the House of Representatives that the office space occupied by the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja was officially allocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), not the council. She made the disclosure on Monday while appearing before the House ad hoc committee investigating the PFIPC controversy and the N1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act. The PFIPC has been at the centre of a growing controversy involving…

The trial of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido, was stalled on Monday at the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, following the absence of the lead defence counsel, Joe Agi, SAN. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the defendants on a 37-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering, kickbacks and fictitious contract awards amounting to N1.35 billion. According to the anti-graft agency, the alleged offences were committed while Lamido served as governor of Jigawa State between 2007 and 2015. At the commencement of proceedings, EFCC counsel Chile Okoroma,…

The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to Bello Bodejo, president of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, in the alleged money laundering case against him. Ruling on Monday, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, admitted Bodejo to bail in the sum of N2 billion, with two sureties in like sum. On July 9, Bodejo was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on charges bordering on alleged money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all counts. According to the charge, the EFCC alleged that Bodejo, on January 21, 2022, accepted $200,000 in cash from Sa’idu Abubakar, a former…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Jimoh Yisawu, former Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC), before a Federal High Court in Abuja on an eight-count charge of alleged money laundering. Yisawu pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read before Justice Inyang Ekwo on Monday. After the defendant entered his plea, Ekele Iheanacho, counsel to the federal government, asked the court to fix a date for the commencement of trial. Wale Balogun, counsel to Yisawu, informed the court that he had filed a bail application on behalf of his client.…

Former England captain and manager Kevin Keegan has died at the age of 75, his former club, Newcastle United, announced on Monday. Keegan’s family and Newcastle revealed in January that the two-time European Footballer of the Year was undergoing cancer treatment, without disclosing details of his illness. In June, Keegan, who was nicknamed ‘King Kev’ and ‘Mighty Mouse’ and was one of the most influential figures of his generation in English football, revealed he had stage four cancer. “We are devastated to learn of the passing of Kevin Keegan, one of the most iconic, influential and deeply loved figures in…

A massive Spain wildfire near Madrid has forced about 700 residents to flee their homes after scorching around 13,000 hectares of land in Guadalajara province. According to AFP, around 300 firefighters, backed by 26 water-dropping aircraft, continued battling the blaze on Sunday after it erupted on Thursday during an intense heatwave. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government was closely monitoring the situation and praised emergency workers for “working tirelessly” to protect lives and bring the wildfire under control. Regional authorities described the blaze as “difficult” to contain because it is burning through the mountainous forests of the Sierra…