Author: Alade Adisa

A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf, was on Monday remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja. Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu gave the order after Yusuf was arraigned and took his plea. The ex-NHIS chief is accused of abusing his office to confer undue advantages on himself between 2016 and 2017. He is also alleged to have awarded contracts without adhering to the due procurement process. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Yusuf on five counts amended charge bordering on alleged fraud. However, Yusuf…

American tech billionaire, Elon Musk has called United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a “criminal organization” and said that it is “time for it to die.” In a post on X, Musk wrote, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.” He made the statement in response to a post which mentioned that USAID senior officials were put on leave after they physically tried to stop Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officials from accessing agency systems. Musk’s statement comes amid mounting reports that US President Donald Trump wants to abolish USAID, an independent federal agency, and fold…

The US military has conducted coordinated airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorists in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term. “This morning I ordered precise military airstrikes on a high-ranking IS attack planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia,” President Donald Trump wrote on social media. “These killers we found hiding in caves threatened the United States and our allies.” Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by US Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government. An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that…

The governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal has said that, with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) having learnt cogent lessons from the numerous crises that have plagued the party in recent times, the leading opposition party will come out stronger and more united. Speaking through a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media), Dr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, and made available to newsmen in Ibadan, Governor Lawal said, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the PDP, even though the party is enmeshed in a lingering crisis, adding that it is important that every member of the party, especially leaders must learn…

Former pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief Bisi Akande, has reopened the controversy surrounding the unsolved murder of an ex-governor of Oyo State, Bola Ige, emphasising that Ige’s murder was politically motivated. Akande, a former Osun State governor, who spoke in an interview with Edmund Obilo in Ibadan, which was released at the weekend, said, ”He was killed in anticipation of what he might become in the future. It was a state murder. The government killed him. The government can kill anybody.” The APC chieftain also maintained that former Oyo State governor, Rashidi Ladoja may have…

Does cutting back on booze really benefit our health in the long term? Many years ago, I gave up drinking alcohol for a month, and was so impressed with myself, I felt I’d cracked the Da Vinci Code. Of course, once the arbitrary 30 days were up, I returned immediately to my normal drinking pattern of “most nights”. I didn’t think about it again until five years ago, when a combination of nagging headaches and peri-menopausal facial flushing drove me to give up. I’ve barely had a drink since. According to Alcohol Change UK, 24 per cent of adults in England and…

US stock futures drop and oil prices rally as president says measures could cause ‘pain’ Donald Trump’s tariffs shook markets on Monday, with the dollar surging and global equity markets sliding as investors rush to assess how the levies will affect the US and its biggest trading partners. The US dollar surged as much as 1.4 per cent against a basket of currencies before trimming its gains to 1.3 per cent. The Canadian dollar hit its lowest level since 2003, Mexico’s currency tumbled by almost 3 per cent and the euro slid 1.3 per cent. Asian stocks dropped while US…

Rand falls after president singles out Brics nation over expropriation of properties Donald Trump has vowed to halt all future US assistance to South Africa over its land expropriation policies, triggering a fall in the rand. The US president claimed recent measures enabled the government to confiscate property unfairly and accused South African authorities of treating “certain classes of people VERY BADLY”. He added: “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump’s comments, made on Truth Social, sparked a 1.6 per cent fall in the South…

Some 60 per cent of Britons are getting no more than six hours of sleep a night, despite NHS guidelines suggesting that a healthy adult usually needs between seven and nine hours, a survey suggests. More than four fifths of people (83%) say that getting a regular, good night’s sleep is the most important factor in their general wellbeing, the poll for wool bedding firm Woolroom found. Two fifths of those polled (40%) reported heightened stress levels after a bad night’s sleep and 36% said they felt anxious, with 40% saying they felt this way one to two times a week and…

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could take upwards of 60 seats from Labour if a general election was held now, alarming polling has found. A survey of over 17,000 voters, commissioned by Hope Not Hate, suggested the hard-right party would win 76 seats – and the number could be far higher. The campaign group said the findings must be viewed as a “wake-up call”. Projections released by Hope Not Hate found Mr Farage’s party could take 60 seats from Labour, 10 from the Tories and one from the Lib Dems. Since the General Election polling has suggested Reform has overt taken the Tories and is closing…