Funke Akindele, a popular Nollywood actress, has found herself in a confusion after her film A Tribe Called Judah grossed a record-breaking N1.2236 billion.
This is coming few days after Funke Akindele made headlines as she shattered box office records with her movie A Tribe Called Judah after hitting N1B in cinemas.
Following the announcement of the milestone by the filmmaker’s production partner on the movie, FilmOne Entertainment, the actress has received words of congratulations from President Tinubu, Governor Sanwo Olu, and other notable members of society.
Funke Akindele said on her verified Instagram profile today, January 12th 2023, that her film A Tribe Called Judah is now N1.236B in theaters and, by extension, N2B on the road.
The latest development left Funke Akindele in a speechless state as she is so overexcited by the success of her movie.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed the election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro, dismissed, as lacking merit, two separate appeals that challenged his return as winner of the governorship election held in the state on March 18.
The Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, on Tuesday arrested two persons in connection with digging of a grave and removal of a fresh human head from a graveyard in Saki, Oyo State.
Saki is a town in Oke Ogun geo-political zone in the State.
We gathered that one of the suspects went to the graveyard on Monday evening to dig the grave and remove the head of the deceased buried on the same day.
His accomplice, who sent A source in the town who spoke with Newsmen on Wednesday said that the perpetrators live in Oba Abimbola layout in Saki.
“The perpetrators live at Oba Abimbola layout, off Ogboro Road, Saki
“The middle-aged man was apprehended by Amotekun with the possession of two human heads
“It happened yesterday afternoon. Watch the video for further information on the accomplices,” he said.
State Commandant of Amotekun, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (rtd) confirmed the arrest of the suspects to newsmen on Wednesday.
“It is true. Yes it is true,” he said in a telephone chat.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 arraigned a former Minister of Power and Steel Development, Olu Agunloye before Justice J.O Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Apo, Abuja.
He was arraigned on seven count charges bordering on fraudulent award of contract and official corruption.
One of the count reads: “That you, Olu Agunloye, whilst being the Minister of Power and Steel on or about the 22nd of May, 2003 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court awarded a contract, titled “Construction of 3,960mw Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited without any budgetary provision, approval and cash backing and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(4) of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000.”
Another count reads: “That you, Olu Agunloye, on or about the 10th of August, 2019 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, corruptly received the sum of Three Million Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N3,600,000.00) through your Guaranty Trust Bank account no.0022530926 from Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL) and Leno Adesanya for having conveyed the “approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the construction of the 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station” in favour of SPTCL which you did whilst serving as the Minister of Power and Steel without the approval of the Federal Executive Council contrary to and punishable under Section 8(1)(a) and (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges when they were read to them.
Thereafter, prosecution counsel, Abba Muhammed prayed the court for a trial date and to remand the defendant in a Correctional Centre. Defence counsel, Adola Adedipe, SAN, informed the court that he has filed a bail application for the defendant and prayed the court to grant him bail and commit him to the custody of the EFCC.
Justice Onwuegbuzie ruled that the defendant be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre and set Thursday, January 11, 2024 for hearing on the bail application.
Grammy-nominated afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti has called on both the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Federal Government to implement significant measures against the military in order to prevent a coup d’état.
In response to insults directed at the Governor by certain unidentified soldiers due to the arrest of one of their comrades for a traffic violation, the outspoken singer expressed his concerns.
He emphasized that failure to curb the military’s excesses would result not only in the suffering of civilians but also of politicians.
Kuti additionally ridiculed the soldiers for their threat to “humiliate” social media influencer VeryDarkMan for supporting Sanwo-Olu’s actions. He remarked that the military tends to bully civilians while avoiding confrontations with terrorists.
Speaking during an Instagram live session with fans, the singer said: “I didn’t want to speak on this very matter, but when I open my Instagram this morning, I saw a video of one of the unruly soldiers threatening to humiliate VeryDarkMan for making comment on Sanwo-Olu’s arrest of one of their colleagues. Imagine, in a free country.
“Sanwo-Olu and co, you people don’t understand anything. You think you [politicians] are protected from this [military], boys? Have you forgotten what military coup is? If you guys don’t do your job now, stamp down on this impunity in the armed forces, keep them to their barracks, treat their fckups anytime they fck up… If any soldier misbehaves, make sure the commandant of the barrack he is attached to is removed.
“If you don’t treat them like that, do you think it is only Fela’s family they will kill? You don’t understand as the government claimed that it was unknown soldiers that killed my grandmother, Fumilayo Kuti… They killed my grandmother threw her from the window because they were acting based on government order.
“The government protected all of them, saying they were unknown soldiers. Now, they are threatening you, Governor. The table has turned from civilians now; they’re now threatening politicians, too.
“Now, let me address the soldier that was threatening VeryDarkMan. I, Seun, is telling you guys that if you do anything to VDM, you guys, too won’t have peace. It’s only for civilians that you can show your power, but when it comes to Boko Haram, you run away. If Boko Haram open fire, you beg Nigerians; civilians to support you in your fight against terrorists.” Or
The lawmaker representing Iseyin, Itesiwaju, Kajola and Iwajowa at the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Najemdeen Oyedeji, popularly called ‘O’Shine’ has announced that the rehabilitation of Okeho-Iganna road in Kajola local government will commence in March 2025.
The road, according to him will ease the traveling burden of residents of Okeho, Iganna and other communities bordering the local government and assist business interests get their goods to the cities in good time.
The Honorable stated this on Tuesday morning during an interactive session he had with media practitioners at Okeho, Kajola local government, saying that the plan to turn various big farms across the federal constituency to farm estates has reached implementation stage.
Oyedeji pointed that his plan for his constituents is to build on the success of Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde’s agenda of turning big farm settlements to farm estates, thereby promoting the efforts of farmers to increase their yields and attract more youths into agriculture.
“I want to expose the major farm areas in our federal constituency to to development, this is why we have done all necessary to start work on the rehabilitation of the Okeho-Iganna road, which will start by March this year.
“In the next three and a half years, we are going to be putting in many incentives to make our farmers not to have any reasons to abandon their farms anymore, we have gathered enough data about the sizes of major farms in the four local government areas that constitute this constituency and we will start by making the incentives like portable water, financial empowerment, motorable farm roads available in earnest.
“We will capitalize on opening up the feeder roads, fix many moribund water projects so that our farmers will not drink from the same source with cattle again.
“In the area of security, we know that the security agencies have their control bases from the top at Abuja but we will work with stakeholders to pre-empt crisis between farmers and herders with frequent dialogues among farmers, herders, community elders and other stakeholders, with this in place, there will be no crisis.”
On education development, Hon. O’Shine declared that 138 students from the constituency will benefit from his special scholarship scheme in the next three years.
He hinted that a scholarship award board that will have no political coloration will be given the task of screening beneficiaries, who he said will be those in genuine need of the support.
He went further to state that he has concluded plans to give forty-two students scholarship to study at the SAF Polytechnic, Iseyin, annually while each of the University of Ibadan, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) and the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo will have a candidate each annually as well.
“In the next three years, we will be giving scholarships to forty-two students annually at SAF Polytechnic, one each for University of Ibadan, Polytechnic Ibadan, LAUTECH and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, giving the total of 138 beneficiaries in the three years, by God’s grace.”
While promising to put 80% of solar boreholes in the farm settlements, he said 20% of the projects will be sited at towns around the federal constituency, while a cooperative farmers society will be established to give financial assistance to farmers.
The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has lamented over the state of human capital development in Nigeria.
Obi asserted that the inadequate attention being paid to human capital development is the root cause of most investment challenges.
Speaking via his X account, the former Anambra governor expressed shock that 2024 budget had a sum of N5 billion budgeted for student loans while a larger sum of N6 billion was budgeted to build a car park for the legislators.
He lamented that if Nigeria does not cut cost of governance and strictly prioritizes expenditure on areas of growth and development, the country will not achieve any tangible and lasting development.
Obi said it is shocking that Nigeria’s budget was signed and released to the world without prioritizing the critical areas of investment for the people.
According to him, “Today, in this country, the inadequate attention being paid to human capital development is at the root of most investment challenges. This malaise has become a recurring decimal in our political life due to poor governance and persistent leadership failure.
“It is therefore shocking that our budget was signed and released to the world without prioritizing the critical areas of investment for the people.
“A sum of N5 billion was budgeted for student loans, while a larger sum of N6 billion was budgeted to build a car park for Legislators, who recently used 12 times the amount of student loans to buy official cars. Now we are using an amount more than was budgeted for student loans to provide legislators with car parks. Nigeria remains a country without a national library.
President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive investigation to verify the accuracy and validity of the claims regarding payments made by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated that the government is determined to uncover the truth in this matter, and appropriate action will be taken to address any breaches and infractions, emphasizing the administration’s dedication to public accountability and due process.
He ordered that the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC begin investigation immediately to unravel the mystery surrounding the allegations leveled against her.
A senior military officer has criticized Governor Sanwo Olu for detaining a lance corporal who was caught going against one-way traffic on the Lagos-Badagry expressway.
In a viral video, the governor and his team encountered some motorcyclists who were going against traffic. Upon seeing the governor, the riders abandoned their motorcycles and fled. However, a lance corporal who pleaded with the governor to let him go was arrested.
In response to this incident, a high-ranking officer, who claimed that the lance corporal had previously served under him, took to social media to chastise the Lagos State Governor for ignoring the soldier’s pleas.
He expressed his disappointment, saying, “The action of the motorcyclist was wrong, no doubt about it! They were going the wrong way, and as a governor, your response was appropriate. But when a serving military officer, a young soldier who was running an errand and unfortunately took that motorcycle, pleaded with you, Mr. Governor, saying, ‘I am sorry, sir, I am a soldier, I am sorry’. What else could that young man have said? But because you are an arrogant governor, you ignored his pleas. You yourself have been caught going against traffic in Lagos State. So, are you now above the law?
In addition, he said that the lance corporal arrested by the governor has been injured in Borno with a metal rod in his arm. He also accused the governor of sponsoring terrorism.
“These are the people that fight the terrorists—the bandits that you and your co-workers are sponsoring. He was begging you, and you were insulting his father. I don’t blame you, Sanwo Olu; Idont blame you at all,” he stated.
Continuing, he said, “Christmas Day, people were killed in Bokkos; none of you said anything, but a soldier that did a mistake by climbing Okada that went the wrong way, and he was begging you.
“Are you the first governor? You have not arrested your touts around Lagos; you are arresting a soldier. You should be ashamed of yourself. But let me remind you, your four years will soon be finished. Do whatever you like; torment the people of Lagos State.”
The body of the late former Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, has arrived Nigeria.
The plane conveying the body arrived at the private wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State about 3:39 p.m on Friday, January 5.
The late Governor’s remains were brought into the country from Germany, where he passed away.
The body was received by his wife, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, his children, and siblings led by Prof. Wole Akeredolu, the immediate younger brother.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Tayo Ayinde; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tokunbi Talabi; and representative of Osun State Governor, Senator Demola Adeleke also joined in receiving the body.
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Engr. Ade Adetimehin; a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Gboyega Adefarati, and some members of the Ondo State Executive Council, led by the Secretary to the State Government, Princess Oladunni Odu, were also present at the airport to receive the body of the former Governor.
Family members, followers, friends, and associates could not control their emotions as the body of the late Governor was being lowered from the plane.
Late Governor Akeredolu passed away in Germany on December 26, 2023.
His remains have been deposited at the morgue until the final burial.
Details of the burial arrangements will be announced by the family at a later date.
