Author: Vincent Osuwo

A fire that occurred in the Ogbosisi Timber Market in the Onitsha area of Anambra State late Wednesday night has left several goods worth millions destroyed. An X user identified as Omaletocracy shared videos of the inferno incident in a post. The video showed some traders trying to salvage their goods while the inferno rages. He captioned the video as “Head bridge mkt Onitsha is on fire 18/12/2024.” Ikenga mentioned that the area was cordoned off to prevent hoodlums from looting. Ikenga said, “The swift response of the police and fire service operatives to the outbreak at Ogbosisi on 18/12/2024…

Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, has expressed sadness over the gas explosion that rattled the house of his supporter. In a statement on his verified X page on Tuesday, an avid Obi supporter simply identified with his X handle as @Uptownoflagos and shared the news of a gas explosion at his residence, leaving three of his siblings hospitalised. ”A dark December for me was the last thing I envisioned. ”Ghastly gas explosion at my family house yesterday; 3 of my brothers critically down in ICU. All has been moved down to FTH…

Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has described as ”devastating” the death of children at a school funfair in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital. Chronicle NG reports that no fewer than 30 children have reportedly lost their lives in a stampede that occurred during a children’s carnival organised at Basorun Islamic High School. Describing the death as ”heart-wrenching,” Obi, in a statement on his X page on Wednesday, attributed the incident to ”the systemic failures that plague our nation today.” Obi, who lamented that while ”this calamity exposes the deep inequalities, pervasive poverty, and desperation afflicting our nation,” condemned…

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday disclosed that the Federal Government is earmarking N4.91tn for defence and security for the 2025 fiscal year. Tinubu presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly in Abuja, stating that Infrastructure, Health, and Education will receive N4.06 trillion, N2.48 trillion, and N3.5 trillion correspondingly. The Appropriation Bill is titled “The Restoration Budget, securing peace, building prosperity.” He explained, “The highlight of the 2025 budget allocations: Defense and security, N4.91tn. Infrastructure, N4.06tn. Health, N2.48tn. Education, N3.5tn. “As we embark on implementing the 2025 budget, our steps are deliberate, our decisions…

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited provided inaccurate and misleading information about the details of its $1 billion investment in the refinery’s operations, emphasising that the facts were misrepresented in a way that misled stakeholders and the general public about the nature and scope of the investment.  The refinery highlighted that the $1 billion crude-backed loan represents only 5% of the total expenditure in establishing the 650,000 barrels per day refinery. Mr. Olufemi Soneye, NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, stated on Monday at a stakeholders engagement meeting that the national oil company has…

No fewer than 30 children have reportedly lost their lives in a stampede that occurred during a children’s carnival in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, on Wednesday. Dotun Oyelade, the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, acknowledged in a statement made on Wednesday that the stampede took place at Basorun Islamic High School’s private children’s funfair. According to Oyelade, the administration immediately organised a fast reaction team once the situation broke out. The commissioner noted that victims were quickly transported to various hospitals in the Ibadan metropolis for medical treatment. While thanking the Commissioner of Health, Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, for swiftly…

China on Tuesday executed Li Jianping, a former official in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who was convicted in the largest-ever corruption case in the country, totalling more than $421 million. The death sentence of Jianping, the former secretary of the ruling Communist Party working committee of the Hohhot economic and technological development zone was initially issued in September 2022 and upheld on appeal in August 2024. Jianping’s execution followed the approval of the Supreme People’s Court and was carried out by a court in Inner Mongolia, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. “Li (64) was found guilty by an…

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, said that the Federal Government aims to stabilise the exchange rate at N1,500 to the dollar to ensure the smooth implementation of the 2025 budget. This is a decrease of almost N200 from the current rate of N1,700 to the dollar. Tinubu stated this while presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the 11th National Assembly in Abuja. He said, “The budget projects that inflation will decline from the current rate of 34.6% to 15% next year, while the exchange rate will improve from approximately N1,700 per dollar to N1,500. The base…

Russia’s security service has apprehended a 29-year-old Uzbek man in connection with the killing of senior general Igor Kirillov and his aide in Moscow.  Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, commander of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was outside a residential block early Tuesday when an explosive device placed in a scooter detonated remotely. According to official media outlets, the Russian security service claimed the anonymous suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence. According to a source speaking with the BBC on Tuesday, Ukraine’s security service had already claimed responsibility for the death. The Ukrainian source claimed Kirillov, Russia’s chemical…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state has condemned the suspension of the 18 local government chairmen. Describing the suspension as unconstitutional, the Edo PDP Caretaker Chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, in a statement, said the chairmen and their vice were not given the opportunity to defend themselves. Chronicle NG reports that the Edo State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, passed a resolution suspending the chairmen and vice chairmen of the 18 local government councils of the state. The council chairman and their deputies were suspended following a motion proposed by Isibor Adeh, member of Esan North East 1, and seconded…