Author: Opalim Lifted

Armed bandits have abducted more than 50 people in fresh attacks across Zamfara state, plunging rural communities into fear and uncertainty. At dawn on Monday, gunmen stormed a mosque in Gidan Turbe, Tsafe LGA, and kidnapped about 40 worshippers during morning prayers. According to counter-insurgency platform Zagazola Makama, the attackers surrounded the building around 5:30 a.m. and forced worshippers into the nearby Gohori forest at gunpoint. The incident came barely a day after reports of a “peace deal” involving community leaders and armed groups in Katsina and neighbouring states. A source told Makama that the attack reflects the lack of…

Tobi Amusan has won a silver medal in the women’s 100m hurdles at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Tokyo. The world record holder could not reclaim her world title in Tokyo on Monday despite running a 12.29-second race. The Nigerian athlete surrendered the gold medal on the finish line to Switzerland’s Ditaj Kambundji, who won the race in 12.24 seconds and set a national record. Grace Stark of the USA won the bronze medal in 12.34 seconds. The Ijebu Ode native becomes the first Nigerian athlete to win a medal at the ongoing world championships. Amusan shook off a…

Tobi Amusan qualified for the 100m hurdles final race after winning her semi-final heat at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships on Monday. The world record holder in the event crossed the line in 12.36 seconds to win heat 2 ahead of Nadine Visser, the world number two-ranked sprinter, with both athletes taking the automatic qualification slots. Amusan had the third-best start. The Nigerian stormed off the block in 0.172s, caught up with Visser before moving ahead of the Netherlands sprinter and relaxed at the home stretch for the easy win. She had the overall best qualification time in the…

Nigerian sprinter Samuel Ogazi says officials asked him to compete in the 400m race at the World Athletics Championships despite informing them he was injured. The 19-year-old said the injury affected his performance on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. Ogazi lined up at Japan’s National Stadium in Heat 3 of the 400m race, but finished in fifth place, ending his participation in the championships. Speaking with journalists after the race, the youngster said the Nigerian officials insisted on his participation, adding that he informed them of his hamstring injury. “I told Team Nigeria officials I wasn’t prepared for this race because…

Kanyinsola Ajayi missed out on a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo after finishing sixth in the 100m men’s final on Sunday. The 21-year-old clocked 10.00s, falling well short of a podium finish in a race won by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville in a personal best time of 9.77s. Kishane Thompson completed a Jamaican double with a silver medal in 9.82s, while Noah Lyles settled for bronze with a season’s best 9.89s. Ajayi could not replicate his semi-final exploit, where he grabbed automatic qualification and made history as the first Nigerian athlete in the men’s 100m final in 18…

Kanyinsola Ajayi qualified for the 100m men’s final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday. He becomes the first Nigerian to achieve the feat in 18 years since Olusoji Fasuba in 2007. Ajayi finished in second position in Heat 1 of the semi-final race, clocking 9.93s to claim one of the two automatic qualification spots. He ran a sub-10-second race for the sixth time in his career, qualifying for the final on his birthday. The 21-year-old finished a 100th of a second behind USA’s Noah Lyles, the reigning 100m Olympics champion, who won the heat. Nigeria’s Okon,…

The Niger State Government has introduced a policy requiring religious preachers to submit their sermons for approval before delivering them publicly. Governor Umar Bago confirmed the new measure during an interview on TVC’s Politics on Sunday. Bago explained that the measure is aimed at ensuring that sermons do not contain messages that are harmful to the people or the government. “I didn’t ban evangelism… For everyone going to sermon on Friday, he should bring his scriptures for review, and it’s normal. Even in Saudi Arabia, this is done,” Bago said. “We cannot say because you have been given the opportunity…

The Transparency Network has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to conclude its investigations into allegations that rocked the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in early 2024, leading to the exit of Dr Betta Edu as minister and other senior officials of the government. The group, in a statement yesterday, alleged that the suspense in the investigations nearly two years after the alleged scandal has left a cloud of suspicion over many other career civil servants and politicians, who, it claimed, suffered collateral damage on account of the alleged scandal. Among those mentioned was the suspended Executive Secretary…

Muhammad Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the removal of the petrol subsidy saved Nigeria from bankruptcy. Sanusi recently spoke at the second edition of the Kano International Poetry Festival (KAPFEST), organised by the Poetic Wednesdays Initiative. Sanusi backs subsidy removal, says it saved Nigeria from bankruptcy The monarch said the subsidy regime was unsustainable, noting that it placed the burden of fluctuating global oil prices, exchange rates, transportation costs and refining expenses entirely on government coffers. “Subsidy was simply the government saying, ‘If the price of petrol is N100,…

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) says the ban on shea nut export exposes exporters to legal and reputational risks. On August 26, President Bola Tinubu directed a six-month temporary ban on the export of raw shea nuts. In a statement on Sunday, Muda Yusuf, CPPE’s chief executive officer (CEO), said the policy has triggered market disruptions and affected farmers’ income. “Shea nut prices have fallen by over 30% since the ban, eroding incomes of farmers and aggregators,” he said. “Existing export contracts face potential default, exposing exporters to legal and reputational risks. “Loan defaults loom large,…