Author: Agency Reporter

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Babatunde Ogala has dismissed allegations that legal luminary Chief Afe Babalola is being used to target activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi for his anti-Tinubu stance during the 2023 general elections.Speaking on the matter during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Ogala described the claims as “ridiculous and insulting” to the 95-year-old Babalola, a revered figure in Nigeria’s legal and educational circles.Afe Babalola, at 95, being used by whom; to achieve what? I think it’s ridiculous for those who say such. That is most ridiculous and insulting on Chief Afe Babalola, a revered icon, a…

As Asma Assad and deposed dictator husband arrive in Moscow where family ‘owns £30m portfolio of luxury flats’ – after pair fled Damascus through secret tunnels President Assad, his British-born wife and their three adult children have left behind their Syrian palaces and will begin a new life in Russia after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.Asma Al-Assad, a London-born doctor’s daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has become accustomed to a life of luxury, with reports that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on home furnishings and clothes during her husband’s reign of terror.The US state…

An economist, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to leverage existing infrastructure and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to address delays in verifying bank transactions.Chukwu, the Chief Executive Officer of Cowry Asset Management Ltd., raised the concern at the annual workshop of the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMAN) in Lagos.The theme of the workshop is: “Banks’ Recapitalisation: Bridging the Gap Between Investors and Issuers in the Nigerian Capital Market”.He noted that leverage existing infrastructure and BVN was to ensure speedy conclusion of the verification process.According to him, the delay in the apex bank’s verification…

As teams investigate ‘hidden underground cells’ Thousands of people, including women and children, have been released from Syria’s infamous prisons – as civil defence teams work on freeing those who may still be detained in hidden underground cells.After insurgents swept across the country in little more than a week to topple the Assad family’s half-century rule, families wept as they reunited with inmates held on political charges.At Sednaya prison near Damascus – a facility dubbed the “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International – women screamed with their children as their cells were opened.”Don’t be afraid… Bashar Assad has fallen,” one of…

Rachel Fatuma, a young Congolese woman, could be mistaken for one among thousands of youths in the Democratic Republic of Congo trying to find their feet in an evolving and demanding world.But she isn’t just another face in the crowd.As someone nurturing an unbridled passion for science, this final-year engineering student at Ruwenzori University in Kinshasa is always challenging herself to achieve something that reflects her strength of character and ambition to make a difference.At 24, Rachel has developed a unique system that enables energy generation by stepping and dancing on tiles made from cheap and easily accessible materials.”The system…

At least 20 people were injured in clashes with police in Mozambique at the weekend as violent protests against the disputed presidential election of October 9 continued, with two state buildings in the capital Maputo set on fire by arsonists, a senior police official said.Presidential candid ate Venancio Mondlane has called for a week-long new phase of protests across the country, beginning on Wednesday.National police spokesperson Orlando Mudumane told the media that the demonstrators cut off part of Maputo by blocking any moving traffic with burning tyres, stones, and containers.He added that the protesters used homemade bombs to burn down…

Vice President Kashim Shettima says the Federal Government is working to establish a national youth development bank and a youth data bank.He said this at the 60th anniversary celebration of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) in Port Harcourt.Shettima, represented by his Technical Adviser on Women and Youth Engagement, Hauwa Liman, said that the youth development and data bank would ensure that young Nigerians had the resources, information and access they needed to succeed.He said that the celebration was a moment to reflect on the opportunities before the youths and affirm a commitment to a Nigeria where the youths…

JBS S.A. a Brazilian multinational company, one of the largest meat processing firm, will visit Kebbi on Dec. 9, to evaluate potential areas of collaboration and investment on livestock enterprise.The Kebbi Commissioner for Animal Health, Husbandry and Fisheries, Alhaji Kabiru Usman-Alaramma, made this known while briefing newsmen in Birnin Kebbi on Sunday.“Today, I am here to share exciting development, which is a result of a trip earlier this year to Brazil by a delegation from Kebbi, led by our Deputy Governor, Sen. Umar Abubakar-Tafida. During that trip, discussions centered on investment opportunities in livestock development.“We are now poised to bring…

Syria’s armed opposition says they have captured the capital, Damascus, and that President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country.The announcement comes after rebels seized the city of Homs in a lightning offensive hours earlier. “The tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled,” the armed opposition said in a statement. “We declare Damascus free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad.”Syrian rebel sources tell Al Jazeera Arabic that government forces have withdrawn from the Defence Ministry headquarters in Damascus. According to Al Jazeera Arabic, citing opposition sources, the rebels have taken over the public radio and television building in the Syrian capital. The public radio…

By Reno Omokri If the people now agitating for the release of Dele Farotimi really cared for liberty and freedom, ask them what they did for Leah Sharibu, the girl who was abducted by Boko Haram, who released all of the 110 girls they abducted from Dapchi (except those who died) and refused to release Leah Sharibu because she did not give up her faith in Yeshua (Jesus Christ). Leah was not accused of criminally defaming anybody. She was a brilliant student whose father was a policeman and her mother a schoolteacher. At the tender age of fourteen, she was…