Author: Opalim Lifted

A passenger has died aboard a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to Lagos, the airline has confirmed. The passenger became unresponsive about 20 minutes before the aircraft landed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday. In a statement on Wednesday, Kenya Airways said its crew administered first aid and followed all emergency procedures after the passenger became unresponsive. “Our crew administered first aid as per their training and followed all emergency procedures,” the airline said. The aircraft landed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 9:41pm, where medical personnel were waiting. Kenya Airways apologises to Nigeria for mistreating…

The Presidency has rejected a recent report by The Economist suggesting that growing public discontent could threaten President Bola Tinubu’s chances of securing re-election in 2027. In a statement on Wednesday, Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, described the publication’s assessment as inconsistent and politically motivated. Dare said the report “smells of opposition and is riddled with inconsistencies”, accusing the international magazine of presenting a distorted picture of Nigeria under Tinubu. The Economist, in a report published on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day, said Tinubu could still win the 2027 election despite what it…

A director in the Federal Ministry of Finance has told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama that the ministry and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) were unaware of the withdrawal of N124.86 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). At the proceedings on Tuesday, Ali Mohammed, who testified as the 10th prosecution witness (PW10) in the trial of Godwin Emefiele, former CBN governor, told the court that the transaction was classified in the ministry’s records as a direct debit by the apex bank. Mohammed was led in evidence by Abbas Mohammed, counsel…

Mikel Arteta has signed a new contract with Arsenal that will keep him at the club until June 2030, the English champions announced on Wednesday. The Spaniard has been central to Arsenal’s transformation since taking charge in December 2019, helping the club regain its place among Europe’s leading teams. “It’s a privilege to commit my future to the club and to continue to work with exceptional people who want the best for Arsenal,” Arteta said in a statement. “This club is unique, its character and the way it makes you feel, and I have a great sense of privilege that…

Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa says the pilot of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft that crashed in Igbokoda may have prevented a bigger tragedy by steering the plane away from the community before it went down in a swamp. The ATR-42 aircraft, with registration number NAF 931, crashed on Monday during a routine flight from Benin City to Lagos, killing all 25 people on board, including five crew members and 20 passengers. Aiyedatiwa spoke on Wednesday when he visited the crash site, where recovery efforts entered their second day. According to the governor, residents who witnessed the incident said…

There is an old African wisdom that says when a child eats from a communal pot and grows thin, the elders should not be too quick to blame the child for not eating enough. They must investigate the distance between the pot and the child’s bowl, asking what happened to the food that was supposed to reach him. A hungry child is not always evidence that there was no food; sometimes, it is evidence that somewhere between the pot and the child’s bowl, somebody took more than his share. The wisdom goes deeper than hunger. It carries the weight of…

Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has blamed poor public awareness on food safety on what she described as widespread ignorance among Nigerians. Adeyeye said many Nigerians do not read or understand information and guidelines designed to protect them from unsafe food and other regulated products. She made the remarks in an interview with BusinessDay published on Monday. “We are ignorant in this country. We are very ignorant, we don’t read, we don’t understand,” Adeyeye said. The NAFDAC boss explained that several government agencies are responsible for regulating Nigeria’s food chain,…

The House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify candidates whose names are not contained in their political parties’ membership registers. In a letter to INEC, the committee chairman, Bayo Balogun, cited Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026 and urged the commission to enforce the provision across all registered political parties. Balogun said the directive followed a recent Supreme Court judgment which restored key provisions governing party membership registers and candidate nominations ahead of the 2027 general election. The committee chairman referred to an earlier position by INEC dated July…

Lagos, Kano and Kaduna top the list of states with the highest number of registered voters ahead of the 2027 general election, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Joash Amupitan, INEC chairman, also said Nigeria is the largest democracy in Africa, with more than 103 million registered voters. Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, Amupitan said the figure covers the three phases of the commission’s registration process. “The national register of voters now stands at 110 million, making Nigeria the largest democracy in Africa,” Amupitan said. “The top 10 states by number of registered voters are Lagos State in…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged operators in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector to strengthen due diligence and report transactions involving politically exposed persons (PEPs) to help curb corruption and financial crimes. EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, gave the charge at the maiden Rivers State Mining Summit, themed, “Repositioning the Mining Sector in Rivers State for Optimal Beneficiation of All Stakeholders.” According to a statement posted on the EFCC’s X account on Monday, October 5, Olukoyede was represented at the event by Audu Suji, Head of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate. EFCC…