Man, 33, in court for allegedly removing neighbour’s scrotum (Vanguard)
A 33-year-old man, Dominic Kenneth, who allegedly caused grievous harm to his neighbour by removing his scrotum, on Wednesday, appeared in an Ikorodu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
Kenneth, whose address is not provided, is facing a count charge of causing grievous harm.
The defendant however, pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him. Read more
Tinubu congratulates AfDB President, Adesina, for winning Awolowo Prize for Leadership (Tribune)
Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has congratulated the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on the award of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership.
Tribune Online reports the announcement of the former Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture last December, by the selection committee led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku , as the winner of the prestigious biennial global prize in celebration of the democratic and development-oriented ideals of a foremost Pan-African nationalist, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Adesina, who is expected to receive the award at the ongoing programme for the 115th posthumous birthday of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Lagos, has joined past winners like the Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka; former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and lawyer-educationist, Chief Afe Babalola. Read more
Zamfara guards arrested as murder of Chief Imam sparks controversy (DailyTrust)
The murder of the Chief Imam of a Juma’at mosque in Mada town, Gusau local government of Zamfara state, Imam Abubakar Hassan Mada, has sparked controversy.
A source close to the family of the late chief Imam who preferred anonymity, said the deceased was arrested on Sunday by five personnel of the CPG that came to the village on motorbikes.
The source added that the personnel ordered the Imam to climb one of the motorbikes, drove a few metres away from Mada town and then killed him. Read more
Nigeria Records 2.5m Drug Related Deaths Annually – NDLEA (Leadership)
No fewer than 2.5 million Nigerians lose their lives annually from issues related to drug abuse, the Officer-In-Charge of Drug, Demand and Reduction of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Ebonyi State Command, Mr. Godwin Erepa, has disclosed.
Erepa made the disclosure at the Christian Ecumenical Center in Abakaliki during the 2024 International Women’s Day celebration with the theme, “Count Her In: Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress”.
The NDLEA official said Nigeria also recorded 14.4 million drug addiction annually, regretting that Ebonyi State is among the few states in the country without a single center where drug addicts can be rehabilitated. Read more
Edo Assembly serves Shaibu impeachment notice (Punch)
The Edo House of Assembly on Wednesday commenced impeachment proceedings against the state Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.
The Majority leader, Charity Aiguobarueghian, who announced the impeachment notice during plenary, said the petition dated March 5, was signed by 21 out of the 24 members against the deputy governor.
Aiguobarueghian stated, “The petition against the deputy governor came in on March 5 and was signed by 21 out of the 24 members. The number of members who signed the petition was more than the two-third requirement stipulated in the constitution.” Read more
767 manufacturing firms shut down in 2023 – MAN (Sun)
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said 767 shut down in 2023, while 335 manufacturing firms became distressed as a result of the multidimensional challenges confronting the sector.
The Director General of the association made this known yesterday while expressing concern over the Expatriate Expansion Levy (EEL) introduced by the federal government.
He lamented the unintended negative consequences of the levy on the manufacturing sector, which he said cannot be accommodated at this time of evident downturn in our economy. Read more
Troops bust IPOB camp, kill armed ESN fighters in Imo (Channels)
A team, composed of Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy personnel, has neutralised five armed fighters in a firefight with members of the Eastern Security Network in Imo State.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, said this happened on Tuesday at Ejemekuru in Oguta Local Government Area when the team raided a camp belonging to the Independent People Of Biafra/Eastern Security Network.
“On overpowering the armed separatists’ resistance with overwhelming firepower, the gallant troops recovered a significant cache of dangerous weapons,” Major General Nwachukwu said in a statement. Read more
N7.6b fraud: Appeal Court dismisses attempt to retry Orji Kalu (Punch)
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has rejected the Federal Government’s attempt to retry the former governor of Abia and the senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, in the N7.6bn fraud case preferred against him.
Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court had on December 5, 2019, sentenced the former governor to 12 years in prison for allegedly stealing public funds while in office.
Also, the Abia State Government House Director of Finance and Accounts during Kanu’s tenure, Ude Udeogu, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the offence. Read more
Kylie Minogue and Shania Twain among women honoured with Barbie doll tribute (NME)
Kylie Minogue, Shania Twain and Helen Mirren are among eight women that have been honoured with their own Barbie dolls for International Women’s Day.
The “global storytellers” have been chosen by Mattel to have Barbie dolls modelled after their likeness to kick off the brand’s 65th anniversary celebrations.
The toymaker said that Minogue’s “glittering career has kept her firmly rooted in the present whilst defining and celebrating much of our collective past”, while praising Twain for being one of the “renowned trailblazers breaking down barriers for women in country music”. Read more
Cardi B & BIA seemingly trade shots as beef rumours heat up (HipHopDx)
Cardi B and BIA appear to have traded shots at each other, fueling rumours that the two are feuding.
The drama seemingly stems from both rappers sampling Missy Elliot’s 1999 hit “She’s a Bitch.”
Cardi dropped “Like What (Freestyle)” last week while BIA released “I’m That Bitch,” which actually features Missy’s close collaborator Timbaland, in 2023.
Adding to accusations that the Bronx rap star is biting her Massachusetts-bred contemporary, the video for “Like What (Freestyle)” contains a snippet of another new Cardi B song that shares similarities with BIA’s 2023 track “Fallback.” Read more
Sex offender gave other paedophiles points for sharing child abuse images (Metro)
A sex offender who helped run a forum on the dark web where he awarded points to other paedophiles for sharing child abuse images has been jailed.
Brett Saunders, 50, was the ‘Global Moderator’ of the site, enforcing the rules and advising its 2,000 members on how to avoid detection by the police.
Users gained ‘reputation points’ for uploading abuse images and videos, with new members held in a guest portal before gaining at least 10 by sharing what Saunders called ‘interesting material’. Read more
Bride makes tough decision to sell Taylor Swift-signed guitar to pay for wedding — but Swifties rally to help (People)
A Florida bride — and Taylor Swift superfan — made the difficult decision to sell a prized possession to pay for her upcoming wedding. But her fellow Swifties quickly rallied together to help.
Emily Harris owns a very special red guitar, given to her by her father for her 16th birthday and signed by the pop star herself, according to Inside Edition. As she began planning her November 2024 nuptials with fiancé Jacob McDaniel, she discovered just how expensive weddings are and made the heart-wrenching choice to part with her beloved guitar.
“It was very hard,” Harris, 30, told local news outlet WTSP. “But I felt like it was the responsible thing to do, you know, to try and afford everything because we’re paying for our wedding ourselves.” Read more
Israeli attacks kill 86 Palestinians in a day (AlJazeera)
People in Gaza are waiting for the outcome of ceasefire talks amid continued Israeli attacks, our correspondent reports.
The World Food Programme says an aid convoy is denied entry to northern Gaza by Israel’s military. The UN agency says “to avert famine”, there must be road access to Gaza’s north.
Hamas says ceasefire negotiations are ongoing but “the ball is in the Israeli court” while the US says obstacles to a truce are “not insurmountable”. Read more
South Africa narrowly avoids recession in Q4 amid sluggish growth (AfricaNews)
South Africa’s economy narrowly avoided a technical recession in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the latest data released on Tuesday.
Figures unveiled by Statistics South Africa showed that the economy grew by just 0.1 per cent on a quarterly basis, following a 0.2 per cent contraction in Q3.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of falling economic output, so it was averted by the narrowest of margins. Read more
Microsoft engineer warns company’s AI tool creates violent, sexual images, ignores copyrights (NBC)
On a late night in December, Shane Jones, an artificial intelligence engineer at Microsoft, felt sickened by the images popping up on his computer.
Jones was noodling with Copilot Designer, the AI image generator that Microsoft debuted in March 2023, powered by OpenAI’s technology. Like with OpenAI’s DALL-E, users enter text prompts to create pictures. Creativity is encouraged to run wild.
Since the month prior, Jones had been actively testing the product for vulnerabilities, a practice known as red-teaming. In that time, he saw the tool generate images that ran far afoul of Microsoft’s oft-cited responsible AI principles. Read more
Super Falcons star Rasheedat Ajibade wins Atletico Madrid POTM Award (Soccernet)
Super Falcons forward Rasheedat Ajibade has won the Player of the Month Award at Spanish Laliga Femeni side Atletico Madrid, Soccernet.ng reports.
Ajibade has been an important player for Atletico Madrid since she joined the club in 2021. The Nigerian forward has been consistent for the Spanish club, and has been a regular first team player.
This season, she has registered four goals and three assists for Atletico Madrid, helping the club climb up to fifth in the league. Read more
Ex-Napoli Forward criticises Osimhen for missing too many penalties (CompleteSports)
Former Napoli striker Stefan Schwoch has advised Victor Osimhen to exempt himself from penalty duties at the club.
Schwoch believes the Nigeria international is not skilled at taking penalties.
The forward missed from the spot in Napoli’s hard-earned 2-1 victory against Juventus last weekend. Read more
Joshua vs Ngannou: Tyson Fury confronts Francis Ngannou about ‘coward’ claim after arriving in Saudi Arabia (SkySports)
Tyson Fury has already confronted Francis Ngannou about a ‘coward’ claim after he arrived in Saudi Arabia to watch the MMA star’s fight with Anthony Joshua.
Fury has flown in as a special guest ahead of Joshua vs Ngannou on Friday night, live on Sky Sports Box Office, and traded words with the Cameroonian when they crossed paths at a pre-fight event, which was also attended by Joshua and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Britain’s WBC champion was sensationally floored by Ngannou before he claimed a split-decision win in October. Read more
Aston Martin F1 appoints Bob Bell as executive director-technical (F1i)
Aston Martin has announced that former Renault and Alpine man Bob Bell has joined the Silverstone-based outfit as its new executive director-technical, a new role that further strengthens the outfit’s senior leadership group.
A veteran F1 engineer who first made his name with McLaren in the early 1980s, Bell enjoyed successive stints with Benetton and Jordan before moving back to Enstone and to the renamed Renault team.
The Briton later spent three years as technical director at Mercedes during the inception of the hybrid era before once again returning to Renault in 2016 as the outfit’s chief technical officer. Read more
Jude Bellingham ban: Real Madrid midfielder suspended for 2 games (BBC)
Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham has been banned for two La Liga games for his red card after the 2-2 draw at Valencia.
Bellingham, 20, thought he had scored the winner six minutes into stoppage time at the Mestalla on Saturday.
But referee Gil Manzano had blown the full-time whistle as the cross was delivered. Read more
Florida gymnastics coach accused of sexually abusing 2 underage students (NBC)
A South Florida gymnastics coach is in jail following accusations that he had sex with two girls when they were underage.
Oscar Olea, 38, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of sex crimes with minors over 12 but under 18 while under familial or custodial care, the Miami Herald and NBC South Florida reported.
Olea sexually abused the two students around 2011 while he was their coach, prosecutors said. Arrest warrants showed that the victims were 14 and 16, though the younger victim told the Herald that she was 13 when the abuse started. Investigators said Olea developed a brother-sister relationship with both victims, which later turned sexual. Read more