Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

The federal government has continued to pay members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) the old N33,000 stipend, despite promises to increase corps members’ monthly allowance to N77,000 starting February 2025. Several corps members confirmed receiving their February allowance on Friday night, only to find out that it remained unchanged at N33,000 — less than half of the new amount that was supposedly approved. The development contradicts the assurances given in January by the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, who had publicly stated that the allowance increment was a done deal, only awaiting the passage of the 2025…

A Lagos State High Court, presided over by Justice Sherifat Sonaike at Tafawa Balewa Square, has sentenced Benjamin Ogundero to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of his wife, Chinyere Ogundero, and her brother, Ifeanyi Joseph in April 2022. The court found Ogundero guilty of setting both victims on fire while they slept in their home in Abule Ado, Lagos, following a heated domestic dispute. Delivering the judgment on Friday, Justice Sonaike ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ogundero deliberately planned and carried out the attack. Describing the act as “wickedness of the highest…

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, on Friday unveiled the TA Lagbaja Cantonment in memory of the late immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja. The TA Lagbaja Cantonment, formerly known as Ikeja Military Cantonment in the Maryland area of Lagos, was renamed after Lagbaja in commemoration of his 57th birthday and first posthumous birthday. Among those at the ceremony were the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede; Lagbaja’s widow, Mrs. Mariya Lagbaja; and other top military officers, as well as soldiers and traditional rulers, among others.…

The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has thrown out a suit that was brought against the Federal Government over the assassination of Mrs Kudirat, wife of the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola. The suit, marked: ECW/CCJ/APP/62/22 was brought before the Court by three Applicants— Khalifa Abiola, Moriam Abiola and Hadi Abiola— who sued on behalf of themselves and the estate of late Mrs Abiola, whom they alleged was murdered in cold blood by some gunmen in Nigeria. The Applicants told the court that the late Kudirat was the…

Three hundred couples were on Friday joined together in marital union in a Kebbi State Government-funded mass wedding. The government also provided financial and material support to help the new couples start their new lives. Coordinated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje and the Emir of Gwandu, the ceremony took place at the Emir’s Palace in Birnin Kebbi on Friday. This is the second mass wedding organized under Governor Nasir Idris’s administration. The beneficiaries, drawn from the 21 local government areas of the state, received ₦180,000 each as dowries during the ceremony. The solemnization of the…

…As officials meet with Trump team More than two dozen drug cartel suspects from Mexico — including the man charged in the 1985 slaying of a U.S. drug agent — are in U.S. custody after Mexican officials agreed to send them to the United States, four sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. The 29 people accused of violence and drug trafficking were deported as the Trump administration has turned up pressure on Mexico to curb illegal immigration, cartel activity and fentanyl production with a promised 25% tariff on all Mexican imports set to start next week. “For those…

Skype will ring for the last time on 5 May as owner Microsoft retires the two-decade-old internet calling service that redefined how people connect across borders. Shutting down Skype will help Microsoft focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings, the office software giant said on Friday. Founded in 2003, Skype quickly disrupted the landline industry in the early 2000s with its audio and video calls, making the company a household name boasting hundreds of millions of users at its peak. But the platform has struggled to keep up with easier-to-use and more reliable rivals such as…

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he is concerned about the “arbitrary detention” and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria. On Tuesday, Pen America issued a statement calling for the immediate release of 75-year-old Sansal, noting that “his hunger strike adds to grave concerns for his wellbeing.” In November, the writer was arrested on national security charges and subsequently hospitalised. A group of prominent writers including Salman Rushdie, Annie Ernaux, Wole Soyinka and Leïla Slimani signed a statement calling for his release. Macron has spoken out about…

An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate and a response to the Israel-Hamas War. Joseph Czuba was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crimes in the Oct. 14, 2023, killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, who was stabbed 26 times, and in the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, who was stabbed more than a dozen times in suburban Chicago. The jury deliberated for just over an hour. The mother and son…

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has declared Saturday, March 1, 2025, as the first day of Ramadan in Nigeria. He said the declaration was based on the sighting of the moon in almost every part of the country earlier on Friday, which is the 29th day of the Month of Shaban and thereby signifies March 1 as the first day of Ramadan 1446. He said, “We got the information from Muslim leaders across the country and we accept the sighting of the moon accordingly.” Abubakar called on the entire Muslim community in the country to start the Ramadan fast…