Hope you have had a good week. Enjoy the usual selection below.

Nigerian Media

Egg selling is now a thing?

Weekend Trust gathered that fertility clinics have quietly become a destination for young women, especially students. Some who spoke to our correspondent claimed they sold their eggs to pay tuition fees, just as they are others who embarked on it to buy wigs, clothes among others. There are also among them single mothers who said they sell their eggs to feed their children.

What was once viewed primarily as an act of reproductive altruism is, for many, becoming an economic lifeline. Behind the promise of payments ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of naira lies a little-discussed industry where financial desperation, medical intervention and ethical questions increasingly intersect.

The practice, popularly known as “egg selling,” involves stimulating a woman’s ovaries with fertility drugs before retrieving multiple eggs for use in assisted reproduction. Fertility specialists maintain that the procedure is generally safe when carried out under proper medical supervision. However, like any medical intervention, it carries recognised risks, including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), bleeding and infection, making thorough counselling, informed consent and post-procedure monitoring essential.

Yet interviews conducted by Weekend Trust with egg sellers, women considering the procedure, fertility specialists, legal practitioners, psychologists and gender advocates suggest that many young women embark on the enterprise with little understanding of the potential complications. While some described the experience as a worthwhile means of earning income and helping families struggling with infertility, others recounted severe physical complications, emotional distress and unanswered questions about the information they received before agreeing to participate.

The issue first came to this newspaper’s attention during a conversation at a salon in Abuja, where discussions about egg selling and surrogacy had become surprisingly commonplace. Salon owner Hussaina Yusuf said economic hardship has made both options increasingly attractive to young women.

Daily Trust

Meanwhile Nigerian fertiliser producers are making a killing right now. Why? Because Nigeria was dropped on its head as a child. (See more here):

Farmers in Taraba State are increasingly turning to melon (egusi) husks (chaff) as organic manure as the rising cost of fertiliser has become beyond the reach of many.

The sharp increase in fertiliser prices has forced many farmers to seek cheaper alternatives to improve crop yields.

Daily Trust gathered that the high cost of fertiliser has driven the growing adoption of melon husks as manure in communities where the crop is produced in commercial quantities.

In Sabon Gida, one of the state’s major melon-producing areas, farmers no longer burn melon husks after processing the seeds. Instead, they collect and apply the husks on their farms as organic manure.

Mukhtari Ajuji, a resident of Sabon Gida, told Daily Trust that farmers had found melon husks to be highly beneficial for crop production.

According to him, only a few farmers initially experimented with applying melon husks on their farms and recorded improved yields. Their success encouraged many others in the community to adopt the practice.

Another resident, Sani Haruna, said that a few years ago melon husks were regarded as waste, with many people burning them after processing the seeds.

“However, farmers later discovered that the husks serve as effective organic manure, which is why they are now collected and applied on farms,” he said.

Daily Trust

Why did an Ifa priest set himself on fire? Because he was suffering from something a lot of Nigerians are in denial about:

Shock and confusion gripped residents of Adebiopon Village in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State on Wednesday after a 50-year-old traditional priest, Muritala Shodiya, allegedly set himself ablaze.

PUNCH Metro gathered from multiple sources in the community on Thursday that the incident occurred on Wednesday evening when Shodiya reportedly doused himself with petrol inside an uncompleted building before setting himself ablaze.

The residents, PUNCH Metro gathered, quickly extinguished the fire and rushed him to the General Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, where doctors pronounced him dead on Thursday morning.

Before the incident, Shodiya, popularly known as “Ifa,” was widely known for fortune-telling and Ifa worship.

He had reportedly practised in Ijaye for several years before relocating to Adebiopon village.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident, a community source alleged that Shodiya had set himself on fire after showing signs of depression.

“We learnt that he set himself on fire. He had not been himself since his wife left him for another man. He had been showing signs of depression,” the source said.

Punch

Not even judges are safe from this menace:

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukayode, has decried the activities of internet scammers popularly known as Yahoo Boys, revealing how over N7.2 million was wiped from the account of a serving judge at midnight.

Speaking during the public presentation of two books authored by a retired high court judge, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, the EFCC Chairman said he was woken from sleep around 1am by a distress call from a judge in one of the South-South states who had fallen victim to scammers.

“What was the problem? She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school.

“She said it was alerts that woke her up. She received debits at that time of the day. Was it that the bank was at work, or what could be going on?

“Before she knew it, she had been scammed of about N7.2 million. So she put a call through to me that I had to do something.

“Incidentally, it was the state where they got an order against the EFCC from investigating certain crimes. And she said, ‘My lord, I have an order, an injunction not to investigate financial crimes in that state.’

“She said, ‘No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!’

Vanguard

In case you think being a kidnapper is easy work:

Some persons, who were kidnapped at their farms in Estako West Local Government Area of Edo State, said they escaped after their kidnappers slept off.

They narrated their ordeal at a briefing in Benin on Friday. According to the kidnap victims, their abductors were tired after making them to walk all night.

One of the victims, Destiny Braimah, who spoke on behalf of the victims, said he was returning from the farm when he ran into six men armed with guns and cutlasses.

Braimah said the kidnappers abducted 10 other persons and took them into the forest. He said they heard police shooting, while being marched into the forest.

According to him, “I was coming from the farm when I met six of them armed with guns and matchet. They also captured others, making us 11 victims.

“They took us from one bush to another. It was around 6 p.m. that we heard police shooting. They made us walked throughout the night.

“We got to a place, and they told us to hide. They were very tired. So they slept off.

“That was how we helped ourselves and ran away. We ran to the police station, and went to meet the police. The kidnappers beat us and maltreated us.”

Vanguard

I do not even know what to say to this. I am completely speechless:

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has conferred a chieftaincy title on Nollywood actor Olanrewaju Omiyinka, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, and also presented him with a brand new car.

Baba Ijesha disclosed the development in a Facebook post late Thursday, where he expressed appreciation to the monarch for the honour, warm reception and gifts extended to him and his wife, Afolashade Omiyinka, popularly known as Luminee.

He also revealed that he was bestowed with the chieftaincy title of Baba Awada Konge Oduwa.

The latest development comes weeks after the actor and his celebrity stylist partner, Luminee, welcomed a baby boy named King Kagar Omiyinka.

Baba Ijesha announced the birth of their son in an Instagram post where he thanked God for the child and described the newborn as a blessing to his family.

Tribune Online recalls that Baba Ijesha was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment in July 2022 after he was convicted for sexually assaulting a minor.

He was, however, released in November 2025 after spending more than three years in prison.

Tribune

One of those only in Nigeria stories where if you try too hard to understand what is going on, you may land in hospital:

A man, identified as ‘Kano thug’ has issued a stern warning to bandit kingpin, Kachalla Maha, and sponsors of terrorism to steer clear of Kano State.

In a viral video on X sighted by DAILY POST, the visibly angry man cautioned that anyone nursing the idea of taking banditry to Kano state should have a rethink and stay away.

According to him, Kano is not like other places, noting that they do not tolerate bandits and terrorists in the state.

“Any fool planning to bring harm to Kano, starting with the notorious terrorist, Kachalla Maha, should think again and stay far away.

“Kano is not like Katsina, Zamfara, or Sokoto. We don’t tolerate bandits or terrorists here.

“Our people rose up, fought Boko Haram, Mai-Tatsine and crushed them completely in this state. Any terrorist who tries to enter Kano will find his final destination right here.

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

The backlash to African governments borrowing with derivatives has begun:

A backlash against governments using derivatives to borrow against their debt is gathering strength, after the IMF cracked down on a multibillion-dollar loan to Nigeria as risky and opaque.

The $5bn credit line, arranged through a “total return swap” between Nigeria and First Abu Dhabi Bank, has raised concerns at the fund and among rating agencies and investors about developing countries using these opaque mechanisms to take on new forms of debt. They say the deals leave borrowers exposed to risks that are hidden from other lenders and conceal the true extent of their debt obligations.

The Nigerian deal has become a lightning rod for such warnings after years of effort to make emerging market sovereign borrowing more transparent. “The use of opaque borrowing has grown to a point where it presents a significant risk to that advancement, and the industry will respond,” said Samy Muaddi, debt portfolio manager at T Rowe Price. “To the extent these structures proliferate, there will be a Darwinian adaptation to respond to them.”

Financial Times

Impersonating a Dubai Prince is crazy work:

Maria believed she was romancing a prince from Dubai, captivated by his flirtatious smile and declarations of affection he showered on her during live video calls. But the suitor was an AI deepfake, making her yet another victim of an online romance scam.

The case illustrates how fraudsters posing as the real-life crown prince of Dubai ensnare victims by cultivating online relationships before swindling them out of money, with researchers tracing some of the scams to crime syndicates in Nigeria.

Maria met the scammer impersonating Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed, also known by his pen name Fazza, on a dating site before the conversation moved to a messaging app where he bombarded her with romantic messages.

“He kept on messaging me even when I was sleeping,” the Filipino domestic worker told AFP, requesting that her real name and age be withheld.

“It felt like there was a love spell that connected our minds.”

In one recording of a WhatsApp video call seen by AFP, the scammer, appearing lifelike as the prince, flickered on the screen. His words matched his lip movements, but not the prince’s voice.

“Hello beloved,” the voice told Maria. “I really appreciate your love and support.”

Maria, who was initially too lovelorn to suspect fraud, lost a year’s worth of savings.

The scammer manipulated her into paying 100,000 pesos ($1,625) for what he claimed were a marriage certificate and a “royal membership card,” which he said would help her secure a job in Dubai.

Her suspicion arose when he proposed meeting her at a hotel and demanded another 60,000 pesos ($974) for the booking. When she scrutinized his Facebook page, which has since been taken down, she noticed the account was based in Nigeria.

She cut off communication, sending one final message: “Go to hell, scammer.”

Daily Mail

Meanwhile over in Florida:

A Florida woman had her driveway ripped up and taken away as part of an alleged scam carried out by someone in Nigeria, according to a report.

Luz Lenzi returned to her home in Sanford, about 30 miles north of Orlando, in February to find a mountain of rubble where her driveway once was.

“I didn’t hire them, I didn’t need to have my driveway redone,” Lenzi told News 6.

Police say someone claiming to be from a real estate company hired a contractor to update the driveway. However, the contractor abruptly stopped working on the driveway when a $15,000 check provided to pay for the job bounced.

The check was written by New Mexico-listed company “SOIL Realty LLC,” which investigators later tracked back to Nigeria.

Authorities said the contractor did not meet with the client and did not file a permit to do the work on the driveway.

However, police uncovered the true origin of the scam by tracing bank transactions and Google records tied to an email address used in the deal, leading them to internet addresses in Nigeria.

“I said, Nigeria, like in Africa? And he said, yes,” Lenzi recalled. “I said, how? I was shocked.”

Independent

Viewing centres as social spaces:

Benson Eze has owned the same viewing center at the White House Bus Stop in Lagos for 11 years. He can tell you, without checking a notebook, how many plastic chairs he has (94), what he charges on a regular match night (200 naira). What he cannot tell you is how many will walk through the door on any given day.

“With World Cup,” he says, glancing toward the entrance as the first spectators claim their chairs, “You stop predicting. You just prepare.”

Across Nigeria, preparation is well underway. The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is deep into its group stage, and viewing centers in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Benin City are running at full capacity. These low-cost, communally organized spaces are where the vast majority of Nigerian football fans actually watch international football. During a World Cup, they become something harder to define: part sports venue, part open-air cinema, part informal town square.

The Lagos State Sports Commission estimates there are more than 3,000 registered viewing centers in Lagos State alone, with thousands more operating informally across the country.

Eze’s ₦200 ($0.15) entry fee is calibrated to exclude almost no one. Revenue comes from volume. On a full house during a popular group-stage fixture, he clears between 15,000 and ₦25,000 ($18) at the gate before generator fuel, cable subscriptions, and maintenance costs take their share.

Okayafrica

News about AI from Australia:

Elii Emeghebo is suing a company he modeled for after an AI-generated image appeared to closely resemble him.

ABC News Breakfast reports that the Nigerian-Australian spotted an image while walking past the window of Peter Jackson’s Pitt Street shop in Sydney. He had modeled for the brand in the past, yet recognized himself not in the original campaign images but in an image he described as his “white twin.” He claims it was an AI-generated image of his likeness.

“My nose was reshaped, my skin tone and my eye colour was significantly lightened, and there’s some reshaping around my eyebrows and my eye shape to be more Eurocentric and a lot less black,” Emeghebo told ABC News Breakfast. “It’s not a good thing when you go from a shoot, something you’re really proud of … and you walk past the shop and see basically you, but without your identity there. It was really confronting and really unfair.”

Emeghebo has filed a lawsuit against Peter Jackson Australia at the Australian Human Rights Commission, alleging it whitewashed his image, which he said was proof of racial discrimination, per the outlet. Additionally he said that the company failed to compensate him for the use of the images. He claims that the images were intended only to promote the brand on its digital channels.

Afrotech

ICE arrested a Nigerian nun in Texas:

The arrest of a Catholic nun from Nigeria by federal immigration officers in southern Texas on Sunday made for an unlikely alliance on Capitol Hill as lawmakers from both parties demanded her release and asked the question: Why aren’t border officials focused on real threats to public safety?

Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, 56, was walking the block between her home and the Catholic Church where she attends Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas, when she was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agents arrested her, taking her rosary, and brought her to a nearby detention facility.

As reports of Ugboaja’s arrest spread, demands for her release from members of southern Texas’ congressional delegation flooded social media.

“My team and I are working with DHS to gather details regarding the detainment of Sister Letty Ugboaja of Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy,” Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a Republican who is running to defend the Texas border district she won in 2022, wrote in a post on X. “I have elevated this to the highest levels and will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

MS Now

More Benin Bronzes returning to Nigeria. I wonder if anyone is keeping score and what the count is now:

Benin Bronzes from collections at the Museum of Ethnography Geneva, the University of Zurich Ethnographic Museum, and Museum Reitberg were returned to Nigeria this week. (Benin Bronzes are linked to a British raid on Benin City in 1897, and in the aftermath, the looted treasures made their way into museum collections around the world.) In addition, Switzerland also returned five other objects to Nigeria, including a bronze bracelet, that had been seized during criminal proceedings.

Per a joint release from museums, “The restitution follows several years of collaborative provenance research carried out under the Benin Initiative Switzerland, which showed that the objects were most likely looted from the Kingdom of Benin during the British attack in 1897. They would then have entered the art market and found their way into museums around the world. The ceremony also included the restitution of a bronze bracelet and four archaeological monoliths from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region seized in Switzerland as part of criminal proceedings and subsequently transferred to the state. Switzerland has now fulfilled its legal obligation to return them to their country of origin, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Town & Country

The technology that was supposed to ‘leapfrog’ the need for wires in the ground is itself now being ‘leapfrogged’ by Elon Musk’s constellation of satellites in space. Unhappy is the land that finds itself constantly in need of ‘leapfrogging’:

Ekiti, a state in south-western Nigeria, is named after the Yoruba word for hill. In the 19th century, its rocky terrain was useful for self-defence. It is less ideal for 21st-century commerce, as Akin Oyebode has found. The state commissioner wants to boost the economy of Ekiti. But that goal is being hampered by terrible network connections. Connecting mobile towers or getting fibre cables up the hills from the landing point 250km away in Lagos, the commercial capital, is expensive, and he has struggled to persuade internet providers to bring more of their infrastructure closer. But recently the government’s connection, at least, has improved—thanks to Starlink, the satellite-internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Mr Oyebode is not alone. Maddened by poor connections, more governments and rich Africans are turning to satellite terminals. For now, it is an expensive stop-gap. But in the coming years it could boost connectivity, both by providing internet to more Africans and by spurring broadband providers to improve.

Africa’s internet infrastructure is not fit for purpose. During a communications boom in the early 2000s, the continent eschewed fixed-line internet for cheaper mobile broadband; today more than 400m Africans, the bulk of the continent’s users, gain access to the internet this way.

But the technology has not kept pace with the rapid increase in data demand from streaming and AI-powered applications. Even in big cities like Lagos and Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, WhatsApp video calls can be glitchy. And things will get worse. Traffic is expected to at least triple by 2030. Cabled fibre internet, which has much higher capacity, is used by less than 1% of Africans and is being expanded too slowly. Nigeria alone “has a shortage of 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic network”, says Bosun Tijani, the digital-economy minister. Africa as a whole is probably short by hundreds of thousands.

All this made the continent fertile ground for Starlink when SpaceX started the service there in 2023. Starlink relies on satellites, not cables or mobile-phone towers. It is useful for programmers trying to supplement the patchy network in a co-working space in a city and for aid workers in far-flung areas with no cables. Starlink is most active in Nigeria, where it first launched, and Zimbabwe. But it offers its services in 27 African countries and it is likely to have 1m customers on the continent by early next year, says TMF Associates, a satellite-industry analysis firm (today some 12m people subscribe globally, according to SpaceX).

Economist

This story about Christopher Harborne, Reform UK’s biggest donor, carries an interesting angle and graphic on Nigeria. Sadly the graphic is too long to share:

AML is a fuel broker, meaning that it buys fuel at airports to supply to flight operators at airports across the globe. It is a major supplier of fuel to the US military and has signed live contracts worth up to $108 million (£82 million) between 2023 and 2026, at more than 30 airports across Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

US transparency records show that AML has eight active contracts with the US Defence Logistics Agency, responsible for securing fuel supplies for military operations, covering refuelling services for US military and government aircraft.

According to 2024 US court documents, the company had received $39 million in contracts from the US Department of Defence since 2018.

One of these contracts was for the supply of fuel at Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport, which serves Abuja, Nigeria.

US transparency procedures mean that the contracts must identify the refuelling companies working with AML Global to provide the fuel, along with the refineries that supply it.

The contract for Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport shows that fuel provided by AML under its terms would be supplied by Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat, India.

The Times

Over in India:

The Anti-Narcotic Wing (ANW) of CCB has arrested four people, including three Nigerian nationals, in two cases of drug peddling in the city. Sleuths of ANW seized 10.27 kg of MDMA crystals and 2.044 kg of hydroponic ganja, worth around Rs 23 crore from the accused. Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths raided a house in Madanayakanahalli police limits and arrested Ambemo Jela Victor, 37, Chime Ndubunsi Moses, 36, and Karikari Ames, 33, from Nigeria. The sleuths seized 10.27 kg of MDMA crystals valued at Rs 21 crore from their possession.

The accused had come to India on medical and tourist visas. Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused procured drugs from another Nigerian national based in Delhi. In another operation, the police arrested Mohammed Marel Fecoge (25), a native of Kerala and a private firm employee in the Banaswadi police station limits for allegedly possessing and selling hydroponic ganja.

They seized 2.044 kg of hydroponic ganja valued at Rs 2 crore from him. He came to the city four months ago and allegedly procured drugs from a person in Kerala, who in turn sourced the drugs from Thailand.

The New Indian Express

This week on main, Tobi argued that Africa’s development depends on building competitive, capability-growing firms within a political economy that rewards productive risk-taking over rent-seeking. I wrote a response to the FT piece celebrating Aliko Dangote as an industrialist pointing out what has so far been missing from the story. And in keeping with the same theme, a new Chinese cement giant has arrived in Nigeria. I trace their journey from technology acquisition to mastery and why it is a test for Nigeria.

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

Sachetisation eventually comes for everything in a poor country. It is the turn of powerbanks:

With electricity shortages and limited charging points frustrating residents in some areas of Kano State, and the country in general, a group of youths in Kwanar Ungogo have innovatively devised a new way to ease the burden on residents while earning a living. Backed by Mopo Company, a team of young agents under the supervision of Area Manager Zainab Shuaib now operates a power bank rental service in the community. At the outlet visited by our reporter, three agents manage the day-to-day rental operations, each equipped with more than 70 power banks, while a dedicated charging station located within the neighbourhood ensures that returned devices are recharged and made ready for the next customer.

For just N300, customers can rent a power bank for 24 hours long enough to charge a mobile phone four or five times. What initially appeared to many residents as an unfamiliar innovation has quickly gained acceptance, attracting customers not only from Kwanar Ungogo but also neighbouring communities such as Dawanau and Rijiyar Lemo.

A visit to the outlet by Weekend Trust showed a steady stream of customers tropping to the place. Some came to return power banks borrowed the previous day, while others waited patiently to rent a fully charged power bank. Before handing over a device, one of the agents verifies the customers’ details and activates the power bank through a mobile application. Without that activation, the device can’t be used. Returned units were later taken to the company’s charging station, where they were recharged before being returned to circulation.

Daily Trust

I’m guessing he posted the video online to make some Elon money?

The Anambra State Police Command has said that the man behind the viral security claims circulated on social media, alleging that a military helicopter dropped unknown items in a bush between Nimo and Adazi-Nnukwu communities in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state, has been arrested.

Recall that the claims, which spread rapidly on Thursday, raised concerns among residents and triggered public anxiety over possible security threats in the area.

In response, the police dismissed the report, describing it as a “false alarm” capable of causing unnecessary panic and undermining public confidence in the state’s security network.

However, in a statement issued on Friday, the command’s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the suspect behind the claims was arrested by residents of the affected communities, led by the President-General, on Thursday.

Ikenga said the suspect is currently in custody, adding that investigations revealed he recorded the video from a house.

He said, “The individual who recorded and circulated the video has been arrested and interrogated. He is currently being held in custody.

“Investigations revealed that he recorded the video from a house near CKP and was nowhere near the location he claimed in the video.

“During interrogation, he admitted that he never saw any helicopter land and that he fabricated the story based on hearsay.

Punch

Buildings collapsing are now so frequent that the only place you will find the stories below the headlines. And note the highlighted part below for added effect:

Tragedy struck in Lagos when a three-storey building located in the Alakija axis, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, collapsed, which has thrown the entire area into panic mode.

As of press time, the number of casualties could not be ascertained, as there are victims said to be trapped under the rubble.

According to reports, the incident occurred unexpectedly and sent shockwaves through the community, as residents and passers-by rushed to the scene in fear of possible casualties and further structural failure.

An eyewitness account stated that the building suddenly collapsed at about 11:40 a.m. on Thursday. The incident disrupted normal activities in the neighbourhood, with people fleeing surrounding buildings for safety.

Vanguard

How much do pistols cost in Okrika?

The Rivers State Police Command has thwarted an alleged attempt to transport an illegal firearm in Port Harcourt, arresting a suspect after officers discovered a Browning pistol concealed inside a loaf of bread during a routine stop-and-search operation.

The unusual recovery, described by the police as evidence of the increasingly sophisticated tactics employed by criminal elements, occurred along Azikiwe Road near the Red Cross Junction in Port Harcourt.

According to a statement issued on Friday by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Agabe Blessing Kaborlo, the operation was carried out by operatives of the command acting on the directives of the Commissioner of Police, CP Olugbenga Adepoju.

The statement explained that officers intercepted a vehicle during a routine security check and conducted a thorough search of the occupants.

During the search, a Browning pistol was allegedly found ingeniously concealed inside a loaf of bread belonging to one Braya Nanas, a male resident of New Road, Borikiri, who was travelling as a passenger in the vehicle.

Police said preliminary investigations revealed that the firearm had no visible serial number, a development that has raised concerns over its origin and possible intended use.

The suspect was said to have admitted ownership of the weapon during interrogation, allegedly telling investigators that he purchased the pistol in Okrika for the sum of N800,000.

Guardian

This is the problem with podcasts (yes, I’m aware I’m also a podcaster). Once people see a Shure microphone and are given a comfortable chair to sit on, they start saying all sorts. I propose that podcasts should be recorded standing as a way of curbing this menace:

Nigerian lawyer and businessman Olufemi (Femi) Afolabi-Brown, has explained why he believes a man who intends to practise polygamy should wait about 25 years before marrying a second wife.

Afolabi-Brown, who is married to media personality Morayo Afolabi-Brown, shared his views during an episode of The Brown Couch Podcast, where he argued that a significant age gap between wives could help reduce rivalry and conflict in polygamous homes.

According to him, a man who marries his first wife at 25 should ideally wait until about age 50 before taking a second wife.

He said such a gap would ensure that the children from both marriages belong to different generations, making it easier for them to coexist peacefully.

“Your first wife ought to be a lot older than your second wife. You can marry your second partner at age 50 if you first marry one at age 25.

“So the first child’s children become like the older brothers, uncles and aunts to the younger ones. They are not of the same generation, so there will never be rivalry between them,” he said.

Afolabi-Brown argued that marrying a second wife only a few years after the first often creates unnecessary tension within the family.

Tribune

Stuff like this shouldn’t be funny so why then am I laughing?

A United Kingdom-based Nigerian, Emmanuel Opeyemi Makinde, has a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court that his travel agent, Mr Waliyu Aderibigbe Shitta, fraudulently added an unknown woman to his visa application in 2022 as his wife.

Opeyemi, while testifying in his evidence-in-chief before the court presided by Justice Ademuyiwa Oyeyipo, stated that the travel agent added one Miss Dolapo Afusat Yusuf, as his legally married wife without his knowledge.

He disclosed that the agent was introduced to him by his pastor, Mr Aregbesola Sanyanolu of Celestial Church of Christ, Jerusalem Parish, Ado-Ekiti.

Opeyemi further informed the court that your information provided by the agent later created serious problems for him with the UK authorities when he decided to bring his wife to the United Kingdom.

The travel agent, Shitta, is standing trial before the court for allegedly arranging a fraudulent marriage for Miss Dolapo Afusat Yusuf in order to facilitate her travel abroad, using Opeyemi’s identity.

Opeyemi told the court, “Throughout my dealings with the defendant, I consistently informed him (Shitta) that I was single for the purpose of my UK student visa application. After my wife completed her studies in 2024, I submitted an application for her to join me in the United Kingdom.

“One day while I was at work, I received an email from the UK Home Office requesting that I provide official evidence demonstrating that my partner’s previous marriage had been officially dissolved by the relevant court.

“I immediately sent a voice note to the defendant together with a screenshot of the Home Office email, explaining the consequences of the message I had received. After viewing the message, he blocked me on WhatsApp.

“I then contacted my pastor and informed him that we needed to report the defendant to the authorities. However, my pastor stopped responding to my messages and calls.

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

File this under incredible things are happening:

Twin Nigerian brothers have married identical twin sisters with matching names, and said each couple now hopes to give birth to twin children.

Taiwo and Kehinde Oguntoye married sisters Taiwo and Kehinde Adediran in the south-west city of Ibadan.

The match was made confusing for onlookers and guests because under local convention twins are given set first names, meaning the sets of siblings bear the same monikers.

The older child is called Taiwo, meaning “the one that tests the world”, while the younger is called Kehinde, meaning “the one that came after”, the BBC reported.

Guests celebrated as Taiwo Oguntoye married Taiwo Adediran and Kehinde Oguntoye married Kehinde Adediran.

“We know many twins, but this marriage feels like it was arranged by God. We have always dreamed of marrying twins,” Taiwo Oguntoye told BBC Yoruba on his wedding day.

“With God’s grace, we pray for twins in our first and second children. That is our heart’s desire.”

The brothers are fraternal non-identical twins, who are online travel influencers and style themselves as the most famous twins in African tourism.

The Yoruba people, who live in south-west Nigeria, are said to bear an unusually high number of twins and they are highly prized in families.

The couples reportedly met a decade ago, when all four were studying at the University of Ibadan.

Telegraph

Who was Diezani Allison-Madueke’s lawyer in her recent corruption trial?

Mark Bowen, a solicitor at Shearman Bowen, represented Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Nigerian oil minister. His client was cleared of taking bribes from oil and gas industry figures seeking contracts in Nigeria to fund what the National Crime Agency alleged was a “life of luxury”. After a six-month trial a jury at Southwark crown court in London found her not guilty of six charges.

What were the biggest hurdles you had to overcome in this case?

The evidence served by the prosecution in the UK’s biggest bribery trial was vast. Getting on top of it and ensuring my client’s defence was properly presented was a huge and difficult task.

The Times

The ghastly garri is now enjoying some obviously paid for PR in the New York Times. Sad:

Across the African continent and its diaspora, a swallow is a starch that often begins as a grain, tuber or root that’s steamed, then crushed and pounded into an elastic dough. This process renders the starch pliable enough to mold and use for scooping broth or sauce from bowl to mouth. This version, known as garri or ẹ̀bà in Yorùbá, relies on cassava, a staple root vegetable across tropical regions of West and Central Africa, the Caribbean and South America, Among the many ways cassava is prepared, it’s milled into white flour, also called garri (or gari) across West and Central Africa, and farofa in Brazil, with granules ranging in size from fine to coarse. Yellow garri is a variety from the coastal Niger Delta region of Southeast Nigeria, where the garri is toasted with red palm oil to lend a unique pop of pale orange. Although most swallows are served unseasoned, this recipe has been enriched with a bit of red palm oil for a mild, floral taste. Enjoy garri alongside eru, okra soup with shrimp and greens, ègúsí soup and topped with ọbẹ̀ onírù or any braised meat.

NYT

You really have to wonder what on earth is going on in Nigeria and West Africa:

Not much remains today of the walls, ramparts and moats that once surrounded Benin City in southern Nigeria. Yet for centuries these giant earthworks—second in length only to China’s Great Wall among man-made structures—bespoke a mighty civilisation whose authority extended across much of west Africa. By the standards of pre-colonial Africa, the Benin state was exceptionally strong: erecting the wall in a single dry season might have required mobilising as many as 5,000 men, each working ten hours a day. But as the empire withered and eventually succumbed to British invaders in the late 19th century, most of the earthworks vanished. So did those of many other fortified towns across west Africa.

Now they are returning. Since the mid-2010s, as jihadist insurgencies have spread across northern Nigeria and the Sahel, defensive earthworks have risen up around towns and cities. Many are so extensive they are clearly visible in satellite images. According to new research by Olivier Walther and Steven Radil, geographers at the University of Florida, all urban centres in north-east Nigeria with populations of more than 10,000 are now secured by trenches. Most big towns there and in the Lake Chad basin are surrounded by sand berms up to three metres high.

Unlike those of the former Benin empire, the new walls and moats are a sign of state weakness. In Nigeria, the army began digging trenches with the help of the American government shortly after the notorious “Chibok Girls” kidnapping by jihadists in 2014. The goal, says an American contractor involved in the initiative, was to protect civilians and “hold the line” against jihadist advances. Militants in the Sahel typically carry out attacks using light vehicles such as motorcycles or pickup trucks. Trenches and berms are a simple, low-tech way to slow them down.

Economist

A Scotsman went to Nigeria and came back a believer:

I arrived in Lagos with a mixture of curiosity and expectation, but nothing quite prepares you for the scale and energy of Nigeria until you experience it first-hand. From the plane, Lagos stretches endlessly, a vast expanding landscape that mirrors a country growing rapidly in both population and economic ambition.

That ambition is immediately visible. Nigeria remains rich in natural resources, with oil and gas dominating revenues and exports, yet there is a clear shift under way. Increasingly, the conversation is moving towards minerals, agriculture, and most notably, technology as the drivers of future growth.

This shift was on full display at the Bluechip Data & AI Summit 2026. The event opened with the national anthem, sung by thousands of attendees with a genuine sense of pride and a collective statement of the belief in the country’s future.

[…]

Yet what stood out most was not the presence of these challenges, but the response to them. The resilience and optimism in Nigeria felt distinctive. The country’s young population is energetic, digitally connected and increasingly well educated.

That conviction was evident throughout the week. Founders spoke confidently about competing in global markets. Engineers discussed scaling infrastructure solutions, and entrepreneurs described ambitions to build businesses capable of lasting impact. There is a strong desire to succeed and create enduring value.

The Scotsman

News from Germany:

A German court jailed 12 members of a Nigerian organized crime ring on Thursday for their part in so-called “love scams” and money laundering.

The court in Munich said those convicted were aged between 34 and 55 and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years and four months to eight-and-a-half years.

They were found guilty of involvement in an international network that was used to run romance-related scams and then illegally launder the proceeds.

The scammers used fake identities, for example posing as a U.S. soldier stationed in the Middle East, to approach victims on social media or dating apps and dupe them into believing they were in a personal or romantic relationship.

The victims were then asked to make money transfers to help with fictitious medical, travel or customs costs.

The court said the victims were mostly “women, elderly people or people with disabilities.”

The money was then transferred to an organization called “Neo Black Movement of Africa,” also known as “Black Axe,” based in Nigeria but active worldwide.

CTV News

The origin story of Yikodeen:

A delayed national service assignment prompted Nigerian entrepreneur Yinka Atunde to pivot from a planned career in technology to launch a safety footwear company, Yikodeen, which recently secured a $1.5 million investment to expand its operations across West Africa, according to Business Insider Africa.

Lagos-based Yikodeen received funding from Aruwa Capital Management in 2025. The investment will support the company’s growth as demand for locally manufactured industrial products in sectors including construction, manufacturing, oil, and gas increases.

Atunde, a computer science graduate of Babcock University, told the outlet that his career plans changed in 2015 after delays to Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps program gave him time to reconsider his next steps.

“I literally had nothing going on, and I kept asking myself what I actually wanted to do with my life,” Atunde said.

Instead of pursuing graduate studies abroad or accepting a technology role, Atunde enrolled in footwear production courses in Italy and later gained experience working in Nigerian factories before launching Yikodeen in 2016.

The company initially produced about 20 pairs of shoes a day using refurbished equipment, the publication reports. Atunde said one of the company’s earliest challenges was convincing customers that Nigerian-made safety footwear could meet the quality standards of imported brands.

“We were spending heavily on testing and certification without knowing if it would even lead to orders. It was a long, uncertain process, but we just kept pushing.”

Yikodeen has since expanded its manufacturing capacity to approximately 500 pairs of safety footwear per day and now employs more than 150 workers.

Black Enterprise

You may recall the story of Franklin Nwadialo (BTH - 90) who went back to the US in 2024 knowing he had committed fraud there:

A 42-year-old Nigerian national was sentenced late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to five years in prison for his scheme to steal some $3.5 million from eight different victims via an online romance scam, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo was arrested at an airport in Texas upon his arrival in the U.S. in 2024. He was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud connected to his romance fraud scheme. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright called the crime “devastating,” noting that it is “not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives—not only financial lives” but also from the nonmonetary harms the victims endured, such as “shame, depression, and isolation from their own family.”

“This defendant preyed on those already suffering from the loss of loved ones or other heartbreak. For some 15 years he upended the lives of people he never met,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “He spun tale after tale to gain the victims’ trust and their money – even claiming to run a non-profit providing services for autistic children. No scheme was too low for these conspirators.”

“For years, Mr. Nwadialo preyed on vulnerable victims looking for relationships online, gained their trust, and told them lies to steal their life savings totaling millions of dollars,” said W. Mike Harrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Fortunately, although he operated his romance scams from overseas, Mr. Nwadialo ultimately traveled to the United States where he could be arrested and held accountable for his crimes here in the Western District of Washington.”

United States Attorney’s Office

And a quick stop in Seattle:

A 48-year-old former Bellevue, Washington woman was ordered into custody yesterday to serve five months in prison for stealing the Social Security benefits intended for a disabled minor – a member of the Snoqualmie Tribe, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Akeatha Diane Akintola pleaded guilty yesterday to theft of public funds for the $17,638 she stole from the tribal member. At the sentencing hearing, Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan said she was struck by the fact that Akintola “targeted a vulnerable victim” – there is “no one more vulnerable” than the victim in this case. The crime was an “ethical breach beyond imagining,” Judge Vaughan said.

According to records filed in the case, Akintola became a social worker for the Snoqualmie Tribe in January 2023. In September 2023, Akintola applied by telephone to be the Social Security Representative Payee for a minor child with intellectual disabilities who was a ward of the Tribe. The child’s mother had died leaving survivor benefits to the child. The Tribe prohibits its social workers from becoming a representative payee for any child under its care. Nevertheless, Akintola used the child’s Social Security number and her own to apply to be the minor child’s representative payee and, once appointed as such, had the benefits intended for the child deposited into a bank account she controlled. Akintola spent the money that was deposited in the account for her own benefit, including a purchase at a North Bend retailer.

In July 2024, after Akintola had been collecting the benefits for at least five months, she went with her supervisor to the Social Security Administration to determine what had happened to the victim’s funds. When Social Security reported that Akintola was the representative payee, Akintola denied it to her supervisor. She resigned from her position with the Snoqualmie Tribe the next day.

United States Attorney’s Office

Get a copy of the book if you can. It comes with my highest recommendation. My WSJ review here.

Enjoy the week’s selection below.

Nigerian Media

What does one say to this?

Farmers in parts of northern Nigeria are increasingly turning to the use of oxen for ploughing their farms as soaring diesel prices drive up the cost of tractor services ahead of the current farming season.

Some farmers who spoke to Daily Trust said the high cost of diesel, coupled with declining prices of agricultural produce, has made tractor services unaffordable, forcing many to reduce the size of land under cultivation or return to traditional methods of land preparation.

A farmer in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Alhaji Sani Sulaiman Saminaka, said tractor operations had declined significantly this year because operators could no longer charge what they did last year.

He said a farm that was ploughed for about N50,000 last year could no longer be serviced at the same rate because diesel prices had risen sharply.

“Last year, a litre of diesel sold for about N1,000, but this year it costs more than N2,000. I used cattle to work on my farms this year, whereas last year I spent more than N1 million on tractor services.

“This year, some farmers have abandoned tractor services because of the cost. You will see tractors everywhere looking for work because only a few farmers can afford their services,” he said.

Another farmer, Alhaji Lawal Abubakar, said the cost of tractor ploughing had risen considerably due to the increase in diesel prices.

According to him, a farm that cost N100,000 to plough last year now costs about N150,000, while one that cost N40,000 now attracts about N60,000.

Daily Trust

The first red flag for me would have been a prophet named ‘Koboko’. For those who doubt that “remote control” is real:

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced an investigation into a self-acclaimed prophet, Godwin Sunday Ajuluchukwucheya, popularly known as Prophet Sunday Koboko, over allegations that he defrauded members of his ministry of N70.39m.

The anti-graft agency disclosed this in a statement posted on its official X handle on Wednesday.

According to the EFCC, operatives of its Enugu Zonal Directorate are investigating allegations that the suspect obtained money from church members through various schemes and promises of spiritual interventions and investment opportunities.

One of the petitioners, identified as Okey Uwakwe, alleged that Ajuluchukwucheya collected N6.23m from him for spiritual works aimed at persuading his brother, who had lived abroad since 1997, to return to Nigeria.

The petitioner further alleged that the suspect received N3.25m to perform spiritual works to help his childless sister-in-law conceive after over 15 years without a child.

The EFCC said Uwakwe also claimed that the cleric announced to members of his ministry that he had won N33bn in a lottery and encouraged them to contribute financially with assurances that they would receive dividends from the purported winnings.

According to the commission, the petitioner contributed an additional N3.35m to the scheme and another N500,000 towards a rice-processing business the suspect allegedly claimed was worth N1bn.

The EFCC said the petitioner claimed to have paid a total of N13.33m to the suspect without receiving any benefit.

Punch

The state of the Nigerian economy is bringing out the absolute worst in people:

The greed to make more profit in an excruciatingly biting economy that Nigerians are now witnessing is rising by the day. In the local Nigerian markets unscrupulous spice merchants are now exploiting the food inflation to heavily adulterate daily kitchen staples.

Some of the usually tied ground food items like egusi, pepper, pepper soup spices, turmeric powder, ginger powder and the likes are now pure poison. Some greedy food merchants now adulterate them with additives that are dangerous to health.

Economy&Lifestyle has discovered that even fresh tomato-pastes are also being adulterated with industrial powdered colouring.

This is as food ingredients like ground pepper are mixed with rejected plant husks, and finely milled wood charcoal to replicate authenticity and artificially inflate product volumes for maximum profit.

The new trend which wasn’t the case years back are said to be triggered by economic hardship coupled with low purchasing power.

For the traders, these dangerous, non-food additives help them mask low-grade produce and deceive shoppers.

Eye witness reports at grinding points in some markets showed that merchants gather cheap, low-quality, or rejected components, including rotten chilli seeds, fibrous plant straws, dried pear leaves, and starch powder as base materials to ground food staples.

Vanguard

The last paragraph is the worst part of this story:

The Chief Magistrate Court 2 sitting in the Adamawa State capital, Yola, has ordered the remand of two young boys for allegedly stealing a generator belonging to a mosque.

The court also remanded a scavenger, Auwalu Bashir in prison custody for allegedly receiving stolen property.

The minors who were ordered to be kept in a juvenile remand home are 14-year-old Saidu Alhassan, and 13-year-old Mamman, both of PZ Roundabout area of Jimeta, Yola North LGA.

The boys and the older defendant were arraigned before the court by the police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Paul,, for alleged “criminal conspiracy, theft and receiving of stolen property.

The prosecutor told the court that a resident of Jambutu Primary School in Yola North LGA, Murtala Isa, reported the incident of theft at the Jambutu Police Station on the 13th June, 2026, after which investigations led to the defendants.

Arraigning the defendants on First Information Report, Inspector Emmanuel Paul, alleged that the minors at different times made away with the Perso Power Generator valued at N600,000 and sold it to the scavenger at N50,000 each.

Daily Post

Something really disturbing I see in stories about job scams is that everything would have been fine if the person took money and delivered the job as promised. I feel like I’m losing my mind sometimes:

Grace Enyidiya Awo, a nurse with a Lagos State primary healthcare centre who once worked with Seraphic Hospital & Maternity on the side at Ago Palace, Okota, collected N400,000 from former colleagues in 2024 and failed to deliver the primary healthcare jobs she promised each of them.

FIJ learnt that each person gave N100,000 to Awo without the knowledge of the other person. According to the victims, Awo approached them separately, presenting a claim that she could help them secure a healthcare job with the state government. All the victims preferred to be identified by first names only.

Onyinye, one of the nurses who paid N100,000, told FIJ that she discussed the possibility of getting a government job as a nurse with Awo and she said she could assist her.

Onyinye mentioned that she believed in Awo’s capacity because she was a civil servant attached to a primary healthcare facility in the state.

“She told me she had someone at Alausa [Lagos State Government Secretariat where many ministries and agencies operate from]. A few days later, she told me to forward my credentials and N100,000 if I was serious about the job,” Onyinye said.

“There is nothing you need to do that she would not say she has someone to assist you. Her usual remark that everyone came to discover was ‘I know someone at Alausa’ to create the impression that she’s influential within the system.”

FIJ

Non-Nigerian Media

Bobby Ologun is in trouble in Japan. His Wikipedia is here:

The Chiba Prefectural Police arrested television personality Bobby Ologun on Sunday on suspicion of nonconsensual sexual intercourse with a female acquaintance.

Ologun, 60, whose real name is Bobby Konda, has denied the allegations. “The facts are completely different,” he was quoted as telling investigators.

He is suspected of sexually assaulting the woman at a house in the prefecture, which neighbors Tokyo, around 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on April 21.

According to the police, the woman entered the house alone with Ologun after being called by him and then she was assaulted.

On the following day, she consulted with authorities. Ologun was identified as the suspect through an investigation, including through security camera footage.

Ologun, who lives in the city of Saitama, also near Tokyo, was arrested upon arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from overseas.

Japan Times

A different kind of Jollof war between Nigerian and Ghana:

Nigerians and Ghanaians have a long, lively debate about whose jollof rice is better. (Senegalese thieboudienne, which gave birth to jollof, arguably trumps both.) A more pressing question is whose is cheaper? The Jollof index, issued quarterly by a Lagos-based consultancy called SBM Intelligence, tracks the prices of 12 ingredients used to make the staple in both countries, from the tinned tomato purée that gives the dish its renowned orange hue, to the oil used to sauté the onions and spices.

In both countries ingredient prices have risen during the war over Iran. After the conflict began, in Nigeria, a pot of jollof for a family of five was soon going for n30,435 ($22.4), a whopping 40% of the monthly minimum wage. This 20% jump since October came mostly from diesel costs for the lorries moving tomatoes and peppers from north to south. In Ghana, tomatoes now cost 56% more than before the war; the average price of rice is up by 29%. The cost of cooking gas has risen by 31%, adding to the cost.

But the picture then diverges. In Ghana, where the government has steered a rocky return to single-digit inflation from a peak of 54% in December 2022, this average pot still works out in dollar terms cheaper than it was three years ago. Though its jollof basket depends more on imports, a stronger currency has cushioned families from the worst shocks. But in Nigeria that same pot is up by 50% in dollars terms over the same period. Though headline inflation has slowed over the past year, Nigeria’s bureau of statistics has just noted that prices are up by 16% on last year, the third monthly rise this year.

Economist

Who is Ayoade Bamgboye?

The success of the UK version of Saturday Night Live was in no way guaranteed. When the series’ arrival was confirmed in 2025, it was met mostly with groans, with the cynical British public proclaiming that SNL UK would be “too American” and “embarrassing”. As the first show crept closer, you could sense the 11 newly announced cast members steeling themselves.

Given the talent involved — and with the backing of the legendary Lorne Michaels, who pioneered the original US format — the cast understood that the project had potential, SNL UK star Al Nash tells me. Whether they’d be allowed to prove themselves was another matter. The 33-year-old first came to attention making comedy sketches for Instagram and TikTok, and knows better than most that “you will get clicks if you go, ‘Here’s 10 reasons why it’s going to be a flaming pile of shit’.”

But then the first episode dropped, with Tina Fey as a guest host, and the reviews were better — much better — than expected. Hype accumulated as the season progressed, with Michaels declaring that the UK show “keeps getting better every week”. A 12-week second season was commissioned for September before the first was even out.

[…]

Young isn’t the only cast member to have rapidly returned to the comedy circuit. Five days after the finale, Ayoade Bamgboye, 31, whose first season on SNL UK saw her in roles ranging from a pirate radio MC to Kemi Badenoch, had a UK tour to kick off. These dates, for her 2025 Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning debut hour Swings and Roundabouts, were booked in before the Nigerian-British comic was even cast in SNL UK. Bamgboye is speaking to me over video call having just returned to London from Glasgow. She has gigged in Newcastle, Leeds and Bristol over the past two weeks and is appearing on two different line-ups tonight, just to “get the juices flowing”.

Financial Times

Meet Silas Adekunle:

After a 25 year-old Silas Adekunle landed a global distribution deal with Apple in 2017 for his toy robots, he thought it was set to keep growing, but two years later, the company was dissolved.

Bristol-based Reach Robotics was founded by Adekunle straight after he completed his robotics degree at the University of West England. The company was creating Mekamon “battle robots” that players could control from their smart phones.

The agreement with Apple was struck after a presentation of his robots to a senior executive. The meeting, originally scheduled for 15 minutes, was extended to an hour when the executive was impressed by the spider-like robot.

“For the next phase of the business, we would have had to put quite a lot of operating capital into it. And at that time, the appetite of investors just didn’t quite match,” Adekunle, 34, said. “It was a lot of cutting your teeth, figuring out the complexity of the market, and then realising we weren’t quite a fit.”

Adekunle admitted that the price of the robots, which sold for £250, was also likely too high for the average consumer, saying he should have raised the price further to attract a smaller market of higher-end consumers before building the brand out further.

By 2019, Adekunle had started a separate educational company, Awarri, in Nigeria, where he was born. Without the cash to keep going, he wound down Reach Robotics, letting 30 people go, while the existing robots were sent to Awarri in Nigeria. The educational company, which Adekunle operates from the UK, has gone on to develop a Large Language Model (LLM) in collaboration with the Nigerian government and now has 150 employees.

The Times

More details on the conjoined Nigerian twins who were separated in the UAE last year in a groundbreaking operation. Includes photos which I find difficult to share. You may visit the link if you wish to see them:

Twins conjoined at the head have been separated by British surgeons in a “groundbreaking” operation.

The surgery, performed last year in the United Arab Emirates by a team from more than 20 countries, showed humanity coming together “to defy all odds”, medics said. It also employed pioneering techniques using artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

The girls, Mercy and Goodness, were born in Ekiti, southwest Nigeria, in June 2023 with fused skulls and intertwined brain tissue and blood vessels.

At six months old they were referred to the British charity Gemini Untwined, the only organisation in the world that focuses on research and operations for craniopagus twins.

Mercy and Goodness were separated at 19 months old, and have made full recoveries. They have now returned to their home in Nigeria.

[…]

Professor Noor ul Owase Jeelani, from GOSH, who was the lead paediatric neurosurgeon for the operation, said: “The separation of Goodness and Mercy is a landmark case planned and executed with a precision not encountered before. Building on the experience of our previous eight cases, using novel techniques and strategies, we are able to give these girls and their families a new future, where they can enjoy their childhood as intact but separated twins.”

The team used several groundbreaking techniques to make the operation at the PureHealth SEHA Sheikh Khalifa Medical City a success.

Usually in cranial separations, surgeons use traditional steel retractors on the skull to prevent brain collapse. In this case, they used an “open book” technique, essentially positioning the twins so that gravity would do this work for them — limiting potential injury.

The procedure was also meticulously planned beforehand by creating 3D models of the twins’ anatomies in virtual reality, with technology provided by the British firm XRLabs.

Before the final 12-hour surgery, doctors inserted silicone skin expanders into the twins’ heads. This allowed their skin to grow large enough to cover their new skulls. With the help of AI modelling, the team inserted the expanders earlier than in previous operations, removing the need for skin grafts.

The Times

An interesting tax story from Israel:

An Israeli District Court has ruled that an individual with a double life and two permanent homes – one in Israel and one abroad (Nigeria) – was resident and taxable in Israel on worldwide income. This followed a detailed examination by the court of his center-of-living indicators over many years (Chaim & Yona Zach vs Large Enterprises Assessing Officer, June 1, 2026, Judge Y. Seroussi).

The case reads like a textbook on Israeli fiscal residency and hence Israeli taxability. What’s in the textbook?

The main facts: The case mainly concerns a husband who was born in Israel in 1948, traveled to England in 1985, and to Nigeria in 1993, where he set up successful agricultural and chicken-breeding companies. He had a home in Nigeria and a home in Israel.

He allegedly separated from his wife. He filed tax returns for 2009-2017, the years in question, showing no income, as he claimed to be a foreign resident. The Israel Tax Authority (ITA) disagreed and claimed Israeli tax on his worldwide income.

Israeli residency: For Israeli tax purposes, an Israeli resident is defined as an individual whose center of living is in Israel, taking into account the individual’s overall family, economic, and social links. A rebuttable presumption of Israeli residency applies if: (1) the individual is present in Israel at least 183 days in a tax year ending December 31; or (2) the individual is present in Israel at least 425 days in any three years, including 30 days in the last year.

[…]

Fifth, he claimed he had “adopted” two children of his Nigerian CFO. The court ruled he was merely like a godfather to them. He gave his own Israeli children far more money.

Sixth, his business interests were only in Nigeria, but due to instability, he moved as much cash as possible out of Nigeria, meaning less economic interests there.

Seventh, his economic ties: Overseas bank accounts (some in Switzerland and Lichtenstein) reflected his Israeli home address and Israeli cellphone number, rather than those of, say, his parents or brother in Israel.

Eighth, his social life: His social ties to friends were stronger in Israel. He and his wife entertained people in Israel and traveled with Israeli friends on holidays abroad.

He had a Maccabee Tel Aviv basketball subscription. He had an Israeli driving license and two luxury cars in Israel. But he had a driver and chef in Nigeria. He donated to Israeli and Nigerian causes. He couldn’t remember if he voted in Israeli elections.

He had valuable works of art at his Israeli home. In Nigeria, he had more art in his office but not his home.

Jerusalem Post

I came across an obscure book recently that explained the founding of this community. I bought it and for the life of me I can’t find it or even remember the name of the book anymore:

In the early hours of 15 February 2019, the Atlantic Ocean came for Arowo Victoria’s livelihood. The 60-year-old retired midwife was asleep when neighbours began banging on her door, shouting that the sea had started covering buildings along the nearby coastline.

By the time she got to her small shop, she discovered that the Atlantic had already swept it away, destroying the business she had built with borrowed money after retirement.

“There was nothing I could save,” she says, staring at the shoreline where her shop once stood. “The sea took everything away.”

After retiring from decades of helping women give birth, Victoria had taken out a loan to start a business that she had hoped would see her through retirement. Instead, the sea has left her with mounting debts and no business to help her repay it.

“I am paying for something that doesn’t exist any more,” she says. “They come to collect their money every month.”

Ayetoro was once known as Nigeria’s “Happy City” after it was founded by a Christian group in the 1940s who wanted it to operate on the basis of a communist-style society. Now, the historic coastal settlement, located in Nigeria’s south-western Ondo state, is gradually being eroded by tidal surges that people say have grown more severe over the past decade.

The Atlantic Ocean, according to people living there, has already swallowed more than half of the community, washing away hundreds of homes and other buildings, including schools and churches, over the past two decades.

While big cities such as Lagos are often in the headlines as some of the world’s most vulnerable coastal places, small settlements like Ayetoro are already vanishing. Those who live here can’t rely on money for infrastructure such as sea walls – they simply rebuild each time they are flooded.

Guardian

Nigerians doing a wheat tour of the US:

One of the biggest buyers of Kansas wheat was in the state this week to check out this year’s crop and future growth.

Two leaders from one of Nigeria’s largest flour milling companies are going on a wheat tour of the United States.

They made stops at the Kansas State University IGP Institute, the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center and the Great Plains Analytical Laboratory.

The Kansas Wheat Commission said the representatives wanted to see the harvest, discuss global wheat trade relationships and check out advancements in wheat breeding technology.

Domenique Opperman, the U.S. Wheat Associates’ regional program and marketing specialist for the Sub-Saharan Africa Region, said the visit is beneficial for both the buyers and producers.

“In competitive markets like Nigeria, there is nothing more valuable than connecting the leading flour mills directly with the people working in the U.S. wheat supply chain,” Opperman said. “These face-to-face interactions allow global buyers to gain firsthand insights that reinforce the value that U.S. wheat brings to their operations.”

KSN

That Grenada matter (we covered it last week) is ongoing:

The Government’s recent decision to grant visa-free entry to Nigerian passport holders has been promoted as a measure designed to strengthen trade, tourism, investment, and diplomatic ties with Africa.

At first glance, these are noble objectives.

Grenada should absolutely pursue stronger relationships with Africa. We share historical, cultural, and ancestral ties that should be nurtured and respected. Africa presents opportunities for trade, investment, education, and cultural exchange.

However, responsible governance requires that we evaluate not only the potential rewards of a policy but also its potential risks.

Therefore, the issue is not whether Grenada should engage Africa. The issue is how.

Africa is comprised of 54 internationally recognised sovereign states.

Yet Nigerian passport holders currently enjoy visa-free access to only approximately 18 African countries, while Nigeria itself grants visa-free access to citizens of approximately 18 African nations, largely through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrangements.

In other words, the overwhelming majority of African states have not adopted unrestricted visa-free arrangements with Nigeria.

This reality should not be ignored. It should cause policymakers to ask a simple question:

What do dozens of African governments know or understand that Grenada appears willing to overlook?

NOW Grenada

This week I wrote about the life and journey of a ship that sparked a love of reading across the world, including Nigeria.

Podcast should return next week. Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

There might be a reckoning happening with the longstanding culture of ‘househelps’ across Nigeria:

A growing number of Nigerian families are raising the alarm over troubling experiences with domestic workers, with reports ranging from theft and negligence to allegations of abuse and violent incidents. While house-helps remain an essential part of many homes, a review of recent cases and personal accounts reveals a pattern of distrust and fear.

“Over a period of two months, I noticed that lots of my kitchen utensils had broken and appliances around the house had gone bad. When I asked, Sarah told me that it was my children and I ended up scolding them. I caught her breaking a plate, and when I asked, she blamed it on my kids, not knowing that I witnessed the incident.

“Sarah did not only make me scold my children, she stole from me. While searching her bags on the day I asked her to leave, I saw a pair of my nightwear, one of my wigs and a small clutch bag. These were items I had been looking for all around the house and she claimed she had no idea of their whereabouts,” Mrs Seyitan Adeyemi said while sharing a harrowing experience with her housemaid.

Mrs Adeyemi further said that when she was asked why she had been lying on the children while stealing from her boss, Sarah said, “I didn’t think my madam would notice the things I took because she has many of the wigs and bags.”

[…]

Data collated by Weekend Trust showed that between 2022 and 2024, many high-profile cases involving house-helps, drivers and other domestic workers made headlines, creating a public concern about safety within Nigerian homes.

In December 2022, a Lagos-based hotelier, Mr Gbenga Adeshina, accused his Togolese house-help of stealing jewellery and other valuables from his residence in Magodo. Just two months later, another employer in Ajah reported that a domestic worker allegedly disappeared with valuable household items.

In 2024, a house-help identified as Blessing Effiong was arrested for allegedly stealing $51,000 from her employer just three days after being employed in Lekki, Lagos State. Blessing commenced her duties as a domestic staff on December 23, 2023. However, within three days of her employment, she reportedly absconded with the substantial sum belonging to her employer and fled to Cross River State along with her husband.

Daily Trust

New renting technology just dropped:

Many landlords in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos state, are making life a living hell for tennants. These days they have abandoned the usual practice of renting out a whole apartment like flats to a single individual. The new method they devised is that of renting out a 3-bedroom apartment, for instance, to three different individuals who will share the rooms and live together as direct tenants to the landlord. This is now making it difficult for some people who do not have jobs or capability of renting their own apartments to squat with friends and families. It is also denying families the opportunity of renting apartments to stay together because landlords are said to make more money renting to different tenants than to a family bloc.

Economy & Lifestyle discovered that this dramatic shift is upending Nigeria’s housing market.

Driven by skyrocketing inflation, soaring building material costs, and a punishing cost-of-living crisis, this dual-occupancy rental model is transforming how young professionals and students survive in cities and off campus apartments.

The practice, locally referred to as “per-person leasing” or structured “co-tenancy,” means two people sharing a standard two-bedroom flat or a room no longer pool funds to pay one unified lease.

Instead, each occupant must sign an independent agreement with the landlord to pay a fixed, individual rate for their specific room and occupancy.

Vanguard

A small clue in the insecurity puzzle plaguing Nigeria:

A staff of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and two other suspects have been intercepted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged money laundering.

The suspects, identified as Ali Baffa, an Inspector in Aviation Security section, Aushabu Nasidi and Mukhtar Muhammad Dan Zaria, were said to have been apprehended during a surveillance operation by the EFCC at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano

According to source in the EFCC, the suspects were allegedly involved in the smuggling of gold and foreign currencies into the country through the Kano Airport.

The the anti-graft agency, the revealed the arrests were made on 11 June 2026, following a directive by the commission’s chairman to all zonal directorates to intensify efforts against the smuggling of mineral resources and bulk cash through Nigeria’s international airports.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Baffa allegedly concealed 22.2 kilograms of unprocessed gold bars valued at more than N4.4 billion inside his trousers in an attempt to evade security screening and facilitate the illegal export of the precious minerals through international passengers.

Guardian

The most low stakes crime ever? Posing as an Airforce officer just to rob a PoS agent really tells you something about Nigeria:

According to the complaint, the incident occurred on June 1 after the suspect allegedly visited Ogunpa Market where he bought some items, including a cooking gas regulator and air freshener, from a trader within the market.

“The suspect allegedly introduced himself as a sergeant in the Nigerian Air Force and convinced the complainant to hand over N150,000 in cash on the pretext that he would transfer the money electronically alongside payment for the items he had purchased.

“After collecting the cash and the items, he allegedly disappeared without making the promised transfer,” the source said.

Police sources said the suspect was later tracked and arrested on June 9 at about 1:40 p.m. while still wearing military camouflage.

Investigations further revealed that the suspect had allegedly been arrested previously by the same police division over a similar offence before he was handed over to the Nigerian Air Force Base in Akobo, Ibadan, for prosecution and disciplinary action.

Daily Post

This is a really bizarre story (assuming the suspects are not lying):

Members of an online networking group allegedly specialising in luring unsuspecting victims, particularly from Francophone countries, have claimed they work for a Malaysian national whom they have never met physically and communicate with only through the internet. Hundreds of victims within and outside Nigeria are believed to have fallen victim to the group’s activities.

Their modus operandi, according to investigators, involves luring victims with false business prospects. They promise non-existent wealth through participation in a marketing network scheme.

For this particular group, whose members were arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Olubode Ojajuni in Ifo Local Government Area of the state, the scheme was known as “Ignite”. The suspects allegedly went as far as creating false kidnapping claims to extort money from relatives of their victims.

A source at the Ogun State Police Command, who spoke to Saturday Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the gang members lured a Mauritanian national, Cheikh Mhedy, through one of their female members, Sole Nata. The victim was allegedly kept in a building in the Agbado area of Ifo while the suspects demanded 6.5 million CFA francs from his father after claiming he had been kidnapped.

Thirty-four-year-old alleged gang leader, Zadariah Sawadogo, a Burkina Faso national who relocated to Ivory Coast, claimed that the group worked for a Malaysian national operating from overseas and that none of them had ever met him physically.

Tribune

Non-Nigerian Media

Anola Johnson lost $850,000 to a Nigerian romance scammer who she met on Linkedin (of all places). She has now started a romance scam podcast:

In early 2023, Anola Johnson had just returned from a trip to Paris and life was good.

She had a job she loved, two adult sons with whom she was close, and a group of friends.

She was also in a healthy financial position—she not only had around $300,000 in retirement accounts, but her home north of Salt Lake City was only two years away from being paid off in full.

Then in March, she received a “hello” message out of the blue from a man on LinkedIn. “Pedro” was a handsome, well-dressed, bespectacled gentleman in his mid-to-late 50s, and his profile said he was a freelance oil rig engineer.

“He had a great smile,” Johnson tells Realtor.com®. “Like somebody you could totally trust. It was all very benign at first. I thought LinkedIn was safe.”

From that benign start on a professional platform, Johnson would become ensnared in a highly sophisticated international romance and investment scam of the type that steals at least $2.1 billion a year from unsuspecting victims, an eightfold increase since 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Realtor

A report on how Nigerians on student visas are violating the terms of their visas by applying for full time jobs:

Elspeth McPherson, Journey’s chief executive, claims its recruitment procedures uncovered numerous applicants who submitted allegedly fraudulent CVs, including qualifications from Nigerian universities that could not be verified. It also raised concerns about the ability to carry out robust background checks on some applicants.

One applicant, from Nigeria, applied for a permanent full-time post despite studying a BSc at Teesside University and having a background in construction. His CV suggested he had worked in “operational management” for a London social care provider despite having no prior experience.

Another, a postgraduate Nigerian student at Gloucester University studying an MA in international relations, also applied for a permanent full-time post in breach of his student visa. Despite living in Tyne and Wear, within two months of starting his course, his CV suggests he was working in social care in Hemel Hempstead, Herts. He provided a reference from a non-existent organisation in Nigeria.

Telegraph

My mayor is muslim, my bagel is Jewish, my Christian’s Dior, my wing’s Nigerian. Knicks in 5:

Anunoby was born in London to Nigerian parents of Igbo descent. He purchased a minority share of the London Lions of Super League Basketball, the men’s pro league in Great Britain, and has spoken about his desire to inspire young players there.

However, in the Raptors’ locker room at Scotiabank Arena, where the flag of a player’s home country is beside the name at his stall, Anunoby’s featured the green-and-white Nigerian flag. His mother, Grace Ndidi Okereke, was a track and field athlete for the Nigerian team before dying of cancer when OG was just one. His father, with whom he shared a name, Ogugua, was a finance professor who moved the family to Jefferson City, Mo., when OG was just four to take a job at Lincoln University, a historically Black school in the city. Ogugua Anunoby Sr. died in September 2018, just before OG’s second season began. He missed two stints with the Raptors because of the loss — one for memorial services in Jefferson City, and another for the burial in Nigeria.

Ogugua roughly translates to “the one who brings peace” in some translations. Chigbo Anunoby, OG’s older brother by eight years, spent time with five different NFL franchises over four years as a defensive lineman, but was out of the league by the time the Raptors drafted OG with the 23rd pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Chigbo was with OG when the latter met the Toronto media for the first time after the draft, and helped his younger brother with the transition to the league. However, OG showed he was ready for the league quickly, starting 62 of his 74 games for the Raptors, who went 59-23 and finished first in the Eastern Conference.

New York Times

Bizarre story:

A Nigerian man who won €500,000 in an Italian lottery – but was barred from collecting his windfall because he was undocumented – said the hardship of his more than decade-long immigration journey had been eased after he was finally granted a residency permit.

“I’ve been praying for this moment ever since I arrived in Italy,” said Imagbe Ehizomwengie, 36. “It’s a huge relief. You might think it’s incredible, but receiving the permit means more to me than winning the money. I want to work and contribute to society.”

Ehizomwengie bought the €5 Gratta e Vinci – Italy’s official instant scratchcard lottery – last October with money scraped together from selling handkerchiefs and begging outside a supermarket in Turin.

He cried tears of joy and relief when he discovered he had hit the jackpot, only for the win to be overshadowed by his bureaucratic quagmire.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ehizomwengie said he had arrived in Italy in 2016 after a treacherous journey across the Mediterranean from Libya, where he had been held captive for two years and was only released after a ransom was paid.

Guardian

How Stears gathers data in a place where there is no data:

Few foreigners are willing to do the legwork, which helps explain why Africa gets around 5% of the world’s foreign direct investment and accounts for less than 1% of the market capitalisation of its listed companies. Stears, a nine-year-old Nigerian company, offers to go the extra mile. At the Nigerian bourse, one of its executives even cosied up to the stock exchange’s librarian, begging him (in the name of God) to release a USB drive where he was rumoured to store company details as a pastime.

The company’s co-founders dreamed up the idea in the mid-2010s while studying in London.“We saw Bloomberg and thought it was sexy,” recalls Preston Ideh, the chief executive. They initially copied the American company’s mix of news and data. Yet when subscriber growth turned out to be insufficient to support the media operation, they focused squarely on financial information.

Not all of it is as inaccessible as Nigerian stock-market secrets. But little is readily available. Stears analysts have, among other things, had a loose-lipped employee slip them a ballpark figure of an undisclosed deal; monitored podcasts with startup founders who might share a bit too much; reverse-engineered the website of Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics to scrape it for historical macroeconomic data; and even become citizens in countries where, as in Kenya, a domestic passport eases access to official repositories (and where hiring a local would cost more).

The firm can afford to go to such lengths because a lot of the data it gathers is for bespoke projects where customers such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or private-equity firms interested in Africa’s sports-betting market pay up to $100,000 a pop. But further information, plus contacts collected in the process, feeds its digital platform, where the volume of data added increased fivefold last year. This is available to clients on a subscription basis similar to Bloomberg and other Western rivals such as S&P Global’s Capital IQ and PitchBook (from which Stears has poached staff).

Economist

Jollof now available in San Jose:

When Folake Adewole first moved to San José in 2017 to take a job as a travel nurse, there wasn’t a single Nigerian restaurant in the area. For the past 10 years, whenever she was craving beef suya or jollof rice, she had to drive up to Hayward — or, more likely, just cook it herself.

In March, Adewole finally decided to take things into her own hands: She opened FolaFela, a small Nigerian restaurant tucked into a strip mall in East San José. It’s the South Bay’s first proper brick-and-mortar Nigerian restaurant.

The shop has only a handful of tables, along with a mini African grocery store in the back. But the menu is surprisingly expansive, featuring dishes like gizz dodo (fried gizzards and plantains) and asun coconut rice. The main draw is the assortment of fourteen Nigerian soups, served with starchy dough balls known as swallows or okele. Already, the thick, complex soups have been a hit, drawing flocks of diners from as far away as Santa Cruz.

Adewole didn’t have any restaurant experience before opening FolaFela, but she has been selling Nigerian dishes since her youth. Growing up in the city of Ile-Ifẹ, in Nigeria’s Osun state, Adewole would help her mother prepare and sell ofada rice — a rice dish topped with a crayfish and pepper stew that now serves at the restaurant, using the same recipe. Soon after she settled in San José, she decided to fill the culinary void by making Nigerian plates to share with coworkers and friends from church. By 2021, she was catering for events with as many as 300 guests. So, after much encouragement from her customers, she decided to open the restaurant while still juggling her day job as a registered nurse at the Stanford hospital.

KQED

How Nigerians are adapting for EVs in a country with no ‘E’:

”When it comes to the electricity supply in Nigeria, it’s, I would say, location-based, because some sides (of town) have more light than others,” said EV owner Khalifa Abubakar Alhassan, speaking diplomatically.

Some 90 million Nigerians -- a third of the nation -- don’t have access to electricity at all, according to the World Bank. In May, a former energy minister was jailed for 75 years for money laundering linked to two failed hydropower projects.

But the government is pushing forward, aiming to make the country a hub for EV manufacturing while signing zero emissions pledges to slowly phase out new sales of autos with internal combustion engines.

For 22-year-old Alhassan, his neighbourhood in Abuja typically has “light”, the Nigerian English term for grid power, consistently overnight -- perfect for charging his sleek, black sedan from China’s Neta Auto.

“I enjoy not buying fuel,” he added -- not a small expense in a country where pump prices have jumped some 650 percent since 2023, following the removal of a fuel subsidy, rampant inflation and shocks from the Iran war.

According to the International Energy Association, more than one-in-five new cars sold worldwide in 2024 were electric, though almost all of that occurred in China, Europe and the United States.

But Mosope Olaosebikan, CEO of NEV Electric, a manufacturer specialising in buses and three-wheeled tuk-tuk or “kekes”, is bullish on the sector’s growth: the charging station he is building will be capable of charging 3,000 vehicles a day -- the largest on the continent, he reckons.

Challenges remain. Nigeria’s GDP is the fourth largest in Africa, but after years of mismanagement and corruption, its grid is often shakier than that of neighbouring, poorer countries.

When Olaosebikan was starting his company four years ago, a nagging question was, “Oh, there’s no ‘E’. So where would they charge?” he told AFP.

AFP

Let’s check in on what is going on in Grenada:

The NDC-led government in Grenada has decided to grant visa-free entry to Nigerians.

This has sparked some debate, especially on social media, with a small, but vocal minority yelling loudly and making noise condemning the government’s action. This is particularly disturbing given the serious and unfounded stigmatisation of Nigerians as a whole, and by extension Africa specifically. I want to believe that this is based simply on ignorance and race-bias that is the end-result of years of colonial conditioning that relentlessly portrayed Africa as primitive, backward, unintelligent, and in the case of Nigerians, a nation of schemers, con-artists and terrorists that kill Christians.

Yes, Nigeria like any emerging economy does have its own problems and challenges related to internal social-economic and political situations. But to lump all Nigerians in one basket of “bad people” is not just stupid but demonstrates a marked level of ignorance that is embarrassing for Grenada and Grenadians. For starters, the government’s decision is best understood as an economic and diplomatic strategy, not a random foolish, erratic gesture. Based on the reporting available, the policy is being framed to boost trade, tourism, education, investment, and wider Nigeria–Grenada relations, with implementation said to begin in July.

Grenada Now

Barbing and mentoring in Kano:

In a narrow room that smells of talcum powder and aftershave, four boys are crowded around a chair. With electric clippers buzzing in one hand, Abdulmajid Bala tends to a customer, who sits with his eyes closed in complete trust.

Suddenly, the clippers stop. Nothing is wrong; the barber just wants the boys to take in the lesson.

“You see what I did there?” Mr. Bala says in Hausa, the local language, as he tilts the clippers toward the curve behind the customer’s ear. The boys inch closer. Mr. Bala adjusts his grip and continues.

“Soft hand,” he says quietly. “Always soft hands near the skin.”

Mr. Bala has plied his trade in Kano’s Brigade neighborhood for more than two decades, and many say he is one reason that some boys here have not been swallowed into a life of crime. When a boy first wanders in from the streets lacking direction, Mr. Bala sits him in a chair, gives him a haircut, and talks. Then, when the boy keeps coming back, Mr. Bala puts clippers in his hand and teaches him a skill with which he can build a life.

“When a boy has a skill,” Mr. Bala says, “that life of crime is no longer attractive.”

Kano is Nigeria’s second-most populous city and the commercial capital of the country’s north. It is also a place where many young men grapple with unemployment and substance abuse.

The city has one of Nigeria’s highest concentrations of almajiri, boys who have been sent away from home for Quranic education but often end up on the street with no supervision. These boys, and others like them, provide a steady supply for gangs that have long terrorized neighborhoods across Kano.

Christian Science Monitor

Update on the cocaine ship of 6 months ago:

A Nigerian court has convicted 11 Indian sailors and their vessel over the trafficking of cocaine into the country, imposing fines totaling $6 ​million, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Thursday.

The ‌Federal High Court in Lagos found the crew of the merchant ship MV Aruna Hulya guilty after authorities discovered 31.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed aboard the vessel at Apapa ​port earlier this year.

The case forms part of a broader crackdown ​by Nigerian authorities on drug trafficking through key commercial entry ⁠points such as Lagos..

Nigeria has been working to strengthen enforcement against drug ​trafficking networks, which often use the country as a transit route for ​illicit substances destined for Europe and other markets.

The crew, including captain Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 10 other Indian nationals, were arrested on January 2 after NDLEA operatives found the ​drugs hidden in one of the ship’s storage compartments, the agency said.

In ​its ruling, the court convicted all 12 defendants – including the vessel itself – under Nigeria’s anti-drug ‌laws. The ⁠ship, which transported the drugs, is also tried under the local law. A spokesman of the drug enforcement agency said the defendants had agreed the terms of the conviction and it was presented to the judge for the ​seal of the court.

Reuters

A German Nigerian wedding in Australia. Lots of great photos at the link:

Hamilton and War Machine actor, Victory Ndukwe, and human resources advisor, Nina-Louise Dean-Ndukwe, née Dean, had their first date in a boardgames bar in Melbourne, back in 2020 after they connected over Hinge—but they didn’t end up playing many games. “The conversation just flowed from the get-go,” Nina-Louise tells Vogue of their instantaneous connection, the pair so happy chatting that the cards and parlour games on the table went largely untouched. “Within just a few dates,” she confirms, “we were inseparable.”

Four years later, Victory proposed in Spain at the hotel Terra Dominicata, during a trip to Europe to visit Nina-Louise’s family in Germany. The morning of the proposal, which Victory had planned with a picnic in the vineyards, it was raining. Fortunately, the clouds parted, and the rain stopped just before they headed off. “We had the most beautiful view across the vineyards and mountains,” Nina-Louise recalls. “We had lunch together and then Vic put on our song by Leif Vollebek, and went down on one knee,” a custom sapphire ring in his hand. (“My mum also has a sapphire engagement ring,” Nina-Louise adds, “so it felt like a really meaningful choice.”) “It was my dream proposal: intimate, just the two of us, surrounded by nature,” the bride muses.

With their loved ones set to travel all over the world for the wedding, the couple planned a multi-day celebration—with the help of wedding planners Paloma Events—that honoured both their German and Nigerian heritages, in a place where everyone could stay together for the weekend. “Mona Farm has so many beautiful corners across the property, which meant every event could take place in a different location and feel like a completely new setting,” the bride explains of the beloved Braidwood estate that blends farm, garden and contemporary open-air art gallery.

Vogue Australia

Who was Joseph Ana?

My friend Joseph Ana, who has died aged 73, spent the best part of two decades in the UK working for the NHS as a urologist and then as a GP. But his heart was always in his native Nigeria, to where he returned to become a health commissioner. He used the knowledge and experience he had gained in the UK to help rebuild faith in the local healthcare system, overseeing, among other things, improvements in vaccination rates and the introduction of a state-wide ambulance service.

Joseph was born in Zaria in Nigeria, to Onun Onebieni Uguana Ana, who worked on the railways, and Ubu Ana, his first wife. The family compound was in Ikot-Ana in Cross River state, and his family were kingmakers, choosing a king from among the two royal families.

Joseph fought in the Biafran war as a teenager, and his schooling was interrupted as a result. After the war he restarted his education at Duke Town school in Calabar. Following the death of his two older brothers, he became the head of an extensive family.

He graduated from the University of Nigeria Medical School in 1978 and worked as a junior doctor at St Margaret’s hospital in Calabar. He then had a surgical residency at the University of Calabar teaching hospital from 1980 to 1982 before deciding to travel to the UK to extend his knowledge.

His wife, Arit Akak, a public health nutritionist, whom he had married in 1977, and their three children joined him in 1984, and he worked for his first 10 years as a doctor and urologist in various hospitals in the south-east of England. He became a GP in 1992, joining a practice in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, where he was mindful that his work in primary care would be useful on any return to Africa.

Guardian

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

Daily Trust went to investigate the aftermath of an airstrike on a market in Borno in April that killed hundreds of people:

One of the most emotional accounts came from Ibrahim Mohammed, a survivor who said he nearly lost his entire family in the strike. Standing amid the ruins, he recalled arriving at the market after the attack in search of his relatives.

“I discovered that my siblings had been killed. My father and brothers had gone to trade that day. I saw many dead bodies, tea sellers, bean cake vendors and traders all lying there.

“People like Shoni, Bamori, Babari Chonlu, Umaru, Warsu, Gimsimi, Abubakar, Modu Bukar, Bulama and many others were killed,” he said, describing the situation as unforgettable.

Mohammed also said the tragedy was not only personal but deeply political.

“For over 10 years, we have been fleeing from Boko Haram and ISWAP. But now, even the military meant to protect us is bombing us,” he said.

He strongly rejected claims that insurgents were present in the market, saying,

“We confirmed from the bodies that no one had a gun. These were ordinary villagers. The military only said these things to defend themselves,” he alleged.

A visit to Jilli revealed a landscape of destruction as burnt wooden stalls stand where traders once gathered. Charred remains of structures are scattered across the sand. The silence is heavy, broken only by the wind moving through the ruins. The market is barely recognisable.

Daily Trust

Nigeria Police and their favourite money earner:

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has impounded more than 30 vehicles for operating with tinted glasses, obscured number plates, and improper registration as it commenced the enforcement of the ban on tinted vehicles across Abuja.

Addressing journalists at the command on Friday, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, said the operation was aimed at tackling the growing use of such vehicles by criminals involved in one-chance robberies, kidnappings, and other violent crimes within the territory.

According to him, the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has given the command the go-ahead to enforce the ban.

Sanusi said intelligence reports indicated that criminal elements deliberately use tinted vehicles and concealed number plates to hide their identities, evade detection, and frustrate law enforcement efforts.

He said: “The IG has given us the mandate to begin the enforcement of the ban on the use of tinted vehicles and other offences as earlier stated.

“Intelligence reports at the disposal of the command indicate that many criminal elements deliberately use such vehicles to conceal their identities, evade detection, and frustrate law enforcement efforts. This poses a serious threat to public safety.”

Punch

I feel like I have an article to write about this:

Fresh panic gripped residents of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, on Wednesday following another reported gas leak at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Epe Garage, and Anglican Girls Grammar School, Obalende, leaving scores of students and staff requiring medical attention at the General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode.

The latest incident marks the third occurrence of the mysterious gas leak within two months, heightening concerns among residents over its potential health implications and environmental impact.

The first incident, recorded in April, reportedly left about 40 students hospitalised, while another gas leak last month affected nearly 100 students who were subsequently treated for exposure-related symptoms.

The state government had earlier disclosed that monitoring equipment deployed to the area detected the presence of methane gas, which officials identified as the substance responsible for the recurring incidents.

A resident, who spoke with newsmen on condition of anonymity, said the latest episode occurred during school hours when students and teachers suddenly perceived an offensive odour that triggered panic across the school premises.

“The gas leak incident occurred again during school hours when students and teachers suddenly perceived an offensive smell, causing discomfort, breathing difficulties and panic within the school premises,” the resident said.

“Some of the affected students and staff members were subsequently taken to the General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode, where they received medical attention. Some of the students were still on admission. The general complaints were discomfort and weakness, while some of them even fainted.”

The resident urged the government to urgently investigate the recurring phenomenon and provide a lasting solution.

Vanguard

Please note that, on behalf of all well meaning accountants everywhere in the world, we categorically reject this fella as one of us:

The collaboration between the Nigeria Police Force Zone 2 Command and the International Criminal Police Organisation, INTERPOL, has resulted in the arrest of a 50-year-old accountant, Olusola Ajayi Joshua, nearly a year after he allegedly left the country while under investigation for a high-profile burglary case.

Joshua was apprehended following investigations into a petition dated July 11, 2025, submitted to the Office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, by a woman who reported a burglary at her residence on Sesayon Street in the Government Reserved Area, GRA, Ikeja.

The petitioner alleged that unknown persons broke into the property and made away with household items and other valuables estimated at over N150 million.

She reportedly suspected Joshua, who had worked as an accountant in her late father’s company for more than 17 years, along with six other individuals, of having links to the incident.

According to the complainant, she had entrusted Joshua with a spare key to the apartment in 2022 to enable him gain access to the property when necessary, particularly during the rainy season, to assist in clearing water caused by roof leakages.

She stated that upon visiting the apartment in July 2025, she discovered that it had been broken into and several valuable items were missing.

Following the complaint, detectives attached to the Zonal Servicom Team, formerly known as the Zonal Strike Force Team, launched an investigation that led to the arrest of six suspects who allegedly had access to the residence.

The six suspects were later arraigned in court after investigations were concluded.

Police, however, said further inquiries revealed that Joshua, who also had access to the property, had travelled to Canada in July 2025 shortly after the alleged burglary and was subsequently declared wanted.

Daily Post

“Only”:

THE police in Lagos State have recorded a major success in the fight against the rising wave of violent killings and attacks by rival cult members in Ishashi, Shibiri, Ajangbadi and Ilogbo, all in the Ojo area of the state. More than ten people have been killed during attacks and reprisal attacks by rival cult groups. One of those arrested is Emmanuel, alias Oblo, chairman and one of the leaders of the Neo Black Movement, popularly known as the Aiye Confraternity.

Emmanuel has claimed that he was only involved in the killing of four members of rival cult groups, but his gang has been linked to the killing of more than ten people around Ajangbadi, Shibiri, Ishashi, Ilogbo and other communities.

Emmanuel, who holds the position of chairman in the cult group, and three other members of his gang – Ayoola, Ebuka and Chinedu – were arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command Tactical Squad in Ajangbadi on the order of the state Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Tijani, following the incessant cult clashes in the area. The police are also on the trail of other leaders and members of the group, including David, Emma, Paragon, Fela, Santa and AB, alias Awilo.

Tribune

Non-Nigerian Media

Tomi Adedeji has been doing a YouTube series on the history of Christianity in Nigeria. For the final part on the Nigerian church going global, I sat down with him to share some of my thoughts.

Quarter of a century divorce battle now over:

A mum-of-three embroiled in what is believed to be Britain’s longest-running divorce has been awarded £6.6 million from her fraudster ex-husband’s fortune, concluding a 24-year battle.

Varsha Gohil, 61, from north London, first filed for divorce from her solicitor ex-husband Bhadresh Gohil in May 2002, citing adultery and unreasonable behaviour. She had at the time accepted a financial settlement from her then-husband, a £270,000 payout and the family’s Peugot, but had suspected Gohil was hiding the true extent of his wealth.

She was proven right over the following two decades, and has now been handed a major court victory after multiple battles exposed her ex-husband’s concealed fortune.

[…]

Bhadresh, a former solicitor who previously acted for associates of James Ibori, the controversial former Nigerian governor, was the central figure in a significant fraud and money-laundering scheme. Lawyers prosecuting the case said he had helped aid the scheme by laundering millions through his firm’s client accounts, and the Crown Prosecution Service subsequently froze assets amounting to approximately £28 million.

The funds were found stashed away among a network of companies and entities around the world, sparking a new round of legal battles that in 2015 reached the Supreme Court. Justices at the UK’s highest court ruled then that Mrs Gohil could challenge her original settlement, finding that spouses who failed to provide full financial disclosure should not be able to offer deceptive settlements.

Mirror

A sad story that seems to involve two people of Nigerian origin:

A man has been charged with murder after an assault in Lewisham.

Police were called at around 04.40hrs on Sunday, 24 May to Lewisham High Street following reports of an altercation.

Officers attended the scene and discovered a 41-year-old man with a serious head injury. He was treated at the scene by colleagues from the London Ambulance Service and taken to hospital. On Saturday, 30 May he was sadly pronounced dead.

He can now be named as Taiwo Ekerin. His next of kin are being supported by specialist officers.

Maxwell Oguanaya, 32 (21.07.1993), of Eastfield Road, Enfield, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday, 4 June. He was charged on Friday, 5 June and appeared at Ealing Magistrates’ Court on the same day. He was remanded in custody and will next appear on Tuesday, 9 June

Metropolitan Police

Éwèdu and ìlá in the NYT:

In West and Central Africa, many soups and stews are built on vegetables, fruits or seeds that add an elemental viscosity, an incredible (and sometimes startling) stretchiness described as “draw.” Éwèdu soup, for example, uses a leafy green vegetable with a sublime pull. There’s ogbono soup, which uses àpọ̀n, a type of ground wild mango seed with a similar heft, and ìlà àlàsèpò, which uses the okra fruit and means “okra cooked together.” All possess this magnificent quality.

Growing up in Lagos, I knew okra as just ìlá, its name in Yorùbá, which can also refer to any soup from southwest Nigeria where okra is the star ingredient. For this take on draw soup, I let okra lead. With that in mind, you’ll want to find the freshest okra, which is essential to this dish’s success. But if you can’t find it — or don’t have time to get the plump, ripened pods from farm stand to pot before they start turning woody — then frozen will do just fine.

The dish begins with okra pods, chopped into confetti-like bits and releasing their fragrant grassy notes with every cut. They’re then brought to a simmer over low heat. Whole bean írù or dawadawa powder (both fermented locust beans) and dried crayfish season the broth with a robust umami.

Of course, okra loves balance, and here, plump, saline shrimp accentuate its heft. Fresh chopped spinach leaves wilt lovingly into the soup when added. A finish of red palm oil melts, slicking and coating all in the path of its gentle flow and complimenting okra’s springy bounce. It’s also essential for adding a creamlike richness to the soup. This recipe guides you toward an essential balance of textures and a layering of flavors that are evident within each spoonful. When served with a starchy swallow or a simple steamed grain, the soup is a delight, a full meal to ease you into the next moment in your day.

Your ìlá can be yours to define. Add meat, tripe, smoked fish or roasted mushrooms. Your goal is to understand okra’s flexibility, to grasp what it can or can’t do. Whether okra is new to you or a staple of your spring and summer soups, with this recipe it’s yours to discover multiple times over.

New York Times

Nigerian Christians are lobbying MAGA:

Thousands of people, both Christians and Muslims, are killed in attacks in Nigeria every year, mostly in the north, where the state is weakest. The violence stems from jihadism, banditry and conflicts between herders and farmers. Only a small fraction of incidents involve Christians being directly targeted for their faith.

Yet pressure groups claim that Christians are systematically persecuted and demand American intervention. “If international attention is what is required to spur decisive governmental action, then the Christian community in Nigeria welcomes it,” says Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who leads the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The archbishop and others echo a narrative forged in America that resonates with officials in the Trump administration. MAGA-friendly missionary groups argue that “mainstream media” underplay the threat to Nigerian Christians. To counter this, the groups package violent scenes into videos for social media to show “the truth” about persecution. “Not every video we see is doctored or manipulated,” says Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank, “but at some point, you find it impossible to tell the difference.”

One source of viral content is Equipping the Persecuted, an Iowa-based missionary group that runs a website called Truth Nigeria. The site says it reports on violence in Nigeria “with fearless honesty”. But it pursues a clear narrative of Christian victims and Muslim perpetrators, mixing reports of attacks in Nigeria with MAGA-minded content such as reports on supposed mass vigils in Africa for Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing activist who was murdered last year.

Christian activists approve of the country’s re-designation by America late last year as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom. They have also welcomed American air strikes against terrorist groups in northern Nigeria and the dispatch of American soldiers to help the army fight militants.

Other benefits may come in the form of money and power. The bill making its way through the House recommends that some funds be dispensed to “faith-based organisations”. Nigerian groups may get a slice of this pie, as well as a bump in donations from sympathetic American Christians. They may also hope for America to boost their influence vis-à-vis prominent Muslim politicians from northern Nigeria.

Economist

The National Museum in Lagos has had a quite snazzy makeover:

Gazing at two large engraved 16th-century elephant tusks on display at Nigeria’s National Museum Lagos, a guide surprised visitors by telling them: “You can touch them gently”.

One of the three galleries at the museum in Nigeria’s cultural and entertainment hub has been remodelled to allow visitors to interact with some artefacts, reversing the typical ban on touching exhibits, as well as take unrestricted photographs in an effort to engage younger audiences, curator Nkechi Adedeji told AFP.

As the group felt the texture of the elephant tusks to the tune of Afrobeats softly playing on overhead speakers, a young photographer was busy snapping away, likely for a social media post.

According to Tinuke Odunfa, the interior designer of the gallery, the plan was to modernise the space and present Nigerian history in an “intentional” and “immersive” environment.

“Everything was intentional in terms of how the space should be experienced, in terms of the colours, how the space leads you,” Odunfa told AFP.

AFP

I wonder if Nigerians even know some climate groups are fighting to stop a multibillion dollar investment in the country:

What if one of the world’s biggest meat companies expanded into Africa with a multibillion-dollar plan, but offered few details about what it would actually build, where it would go, or who would benefit?

That question is driving a growing backlash against JBS, the world’s largest meat company, over a still-murky proposal to build at least six slaughterhouses in Nigeria.

According to Inside Climate News, environmental groups and civil society advocates have said the company’s secrecy is raising urgent questions about pollution, land use, and the real impact on local communities.

The proposed $2.5 billion investment would mark JBS’s first major move into Africa, but critics have said it could deepen climate and food-system problems rather than solve them.

JBS said in 2024 that it had reached an agreement with the Nigerian government as part of a broader $6 billion global expansion plan.

But advocates said the company shared few details about what it intends to build, how the projects could affect nearby communities, or where the meat would ultimately go.

That lack of transparency is now at the center of a legal challenge. In April, Greenpeace International sent JBS a formal letter arguing that the company’s reincorporation in the Netherlands could subject it to a legal “duty of care” over environmental and human rights harms.

Scrutiny intensified after protesters gathered outside JBS’s first annual meeting in the Netherlands, holding a banner that read, “JBS: Keep your bloody business out of Africa.”

Greenpeace’s letter also asked the company to turn over information about its Nigeria plans, but JBS declined, saying it complies with the law and is helping support food security.

The Cool Down

Remember the couple who fled to Nigeria after their child died?

A couple who fled the country while under investigation for the murder of their eight-month-old son have been jailed over his death.

Devaun Rose-Turner, had suffered more than 80 separate injuries during the eight weeks leading up to his death in Biggleswade in December 2021.

On Wednesday his father Emmanuel Turner was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years for the murder of his son.

Devaun’s mother, Shandies Rose, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter, and was jailed for 12 years.

In sentencing the pair, the judge, the Honourable Mrs Justice Farbey KC, said: “Both of you knew about his pain. Both of you decided to keep it hidden so he received no medical help.”

Luton Crown Court heard that emergency services were called to the family home at around 7am on 11 December 2021 after Turner reported Devaun was not breathing. He was taken to hospital but died later that morning.

Medical examinations found that the youngster, of Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, had suffered extensive injuries during repeated episodes of physical abuse which took place over several weeks, including just hours before his death, prompting a murder investigation.

Detectives also established that Devaun had been in the sole care of his parents throughout that period.

The pair were arrested on suspicion of murder in 2022 but were released under investigation as detectives continued to build the evidential case.

However, in August 2022, officers learned Turner and Rose had travelled to Nigeria, despite the investigation remaining ongoing.

They eventually returned to the UK on 10 May 2025, where they were met by arresting officers at the airport and subsequently charged and remanded into custody.

iTV News

News from Saskatoon:

Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today, the StarPhoenix spoke with Olugbenga and Oluwatoyin Fakoyejo who recently opened Royal Premium Restaurant Pastries and Lounge in Stonebridge.

The couple came to Canada from Nigeria about eight years ago and started catering events in both Saskatoon and Calgary about five years ago. They decided to open their own restaurant, offering the flavors of Nigeria and West Africa, as well as Caribbean and American Cuisine.

We opened our restaurant based on our client’s request. They wanted more of the quality and menu style we offer, on a daily basis. We got the encouragement from our client base to open and offer them something exciting.

We were able to look at what would be our contribution to the province in terms of also promoting trade and tourism by bringing the best of African flavors to Saskatoon. We have variety with quality and an upscale restaurant to have your dinner and your lunch and breakfast, that will also be affordable. More importantly, we are able to offer different segments of the Saskatoon community the best tastes of Africa.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Oriyomi did not end up living up to his name:

Neither the TSA nor United Airlines is answering questions about how a man managed to sneak on board a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport last month.

According to a criminal complaint, Abdulrahman Oriyomi’s flight reservation had been canceled, and the boarding pass he had appeared to be a forgery.

Police say surveillance video showed him speaking with a TSA agent the morning of May 18. He was then escorted to another TSA booth where his picture was taken, and he was allowed to pass through security.

Michael Matranga, a former Secret Service agent who now runs the consulting group M6 Global Defense, said TSA agents should never have allowed Oriyomi through security without a valid boarding pass.

“I think this is a pretty significant breach, not just because of the fact that he ended up on the plane; it’s the multiple layers and failures to even get on the plane,” Matranga said.

Police say Oriyomi then approached a gate and tried twice to scan the fake boarding pass, but to no avail.

More than an hour later, they say he showed up at another gate where United gate agents were scanning boarding passes.

Police say Oriyomi walked right past the agents while they were busy with other passengers.

“They’re not paying attention to his diversionary tactics. They’re distracted, they’re not situationally aware,” said Matranga.

Police say Oriyomi hid in the plane’s restroom as it taxied to the runway, and that a passenger alerted flight attendants to his presence.

Once the flight crew realized he wasn’t supposed to be on the plane, it returned to the gate where it was met by police, an explosive device unit and the FBI.

ABC

We should be back with another podcast episode soon. Plus the next chapter of The Whispering Class drops on Monday. This time we are going to Tivland.

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

Things are happening in the Canadian Loud market:

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese woman for allegedly attempting to smuggle a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.

The suspect, identified as Ting Kiong, who naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, 2026, upon arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, from Thailand via Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.

This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.

According to the agency, NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall intercepted her after she was found with two large travel boxes containing 31.0 kilograms of the illicit substance.

“During an interview, the 63-year-old suspect, who claims she works as a carer in Malaysia, stated that her daughter sponsored her trip from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria.

“She further disclosed that she spent two weeks in Thailand before she was handed the illicit consignment at the Thailand airport to deliver in Nigeria,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the NDLEA also announced the interception of another major drug shipment at the Lagos airport import shed.

“Following close monitoring of the consignment by NDLEA operatives since its arrival from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, the 29 large cartons containing 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, worth N2,190,852,000, were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs Service on Friday, 22nd May 2026,” it said.

Punch

There are now ‘ajo’ cows:

Mr. Idris Garuba, a trader said: “I can hardly take care of my bills. School fees, rent and other expenses this year.

“I just bought a bag of rice and 25 litres of vegetable oil, which I sent home to my mother. Myself and my extended family recently held an emergency financial meeting to plan for the upcoming festival.

“Instead of the three rams typically purchased by different households within the family, ten members contributed N100,000 each to buy a single medium-sized cow.

“If you look at the economy right now, individual sacrifice has become a luxury that honest salary earners cannot afford.”

“We had to be realistic. Food prices are rising weekly, electricity tariffs are high, and transport fares have eaten up our disposable income.

“By coming together, we ensure that our children can still enjoy the spirit of Ileya without plunging our households into deep debt.”

Vanguard

More on Canadian Loud:

OPERATIVES of the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force have uncovered a major drug trafficking syndicate in Lagos, seizing suspected illicit drugs estimated at ₦7.8 billion and arresting several suspects, including the alleged kingpin, Eke Henry Ifeanyi.

The operation, carried out by officers of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) in collaboration with divisional police detectives, followed months of surveillance and intelligence gathering coordinated by the Zone 2 Headquarters.

The raid, which took place in an apartment within an estate in Mende, Maryland, Lagos, led to the recovery of hundreds of bags of suspected Canadian Loud, allegedly stored in the residence of the prime suspect.

Addressing journalists at the scene on Saturday, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, AIG Olohundare Jimoh, disclosed that the suspect was apprehended on May 19 after weeks of strategic monitoring by operatives.

According to him, the operation was executed with technical support and guidance from the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, alongside coordinated efforts between the SPU and divisional police teams.

Jimoh revealed that during the operation, the suspect allegedly attempted to bribe the SPU commander with ₦500 million to compromise the mission and allow the movement of the drug consignment.

He said: “The suspect offered ₦500 million to the SPU commander in an attempt to make the team stand down and allow him to contact his associates to move the consignment elsewhere. The offer was rejected immediately and properly documented for further investigation.”

Vanguard

The Helen Ukpabio story rumbles on:

The High Court of Cross River State sitting in Calabar has heard extensive testimony on alleged witchcraft-related abuses in the N200 billion libel suit filed by Helen Ukpabio and her daughter against singer Bloody Civilian.

Justice Ukpai Ibitham adjourned the matter to July 6 and 7 for continuation of hearing after arguments by counsel to both parties.

A human rights advocate and religious studies scholar, Leo Igwe, testified for the defence, alleging that Ukpabio’s teachings, films and ministry activities contributed to witchcraft accusations and abuses against vulnerable persons, especially children.

Igwe told the court that he had spent nearly three decades researching and campaigning against witchcraft accusations across Africa, adding that some evangelical teachings fuel fear, suspicion and violence against persons accused of witchcraft.

He referenced Ukpabio’s film End of the Wicked and several church programmes centred on deliverance from witchcraft, arguing that such messages reinforced harmful stereotypes associated with Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.

Guardian

A most unusual divorce case. Or should that be un-divorce:

A 40-year-old businessman, Auwal Musa, has prayed a Sharia court sitting in Magajin Gari, Kaduna, Kaduna State, to order his ex-wife, Hauwa, to return to their matrimonial home.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Auwal, in his petition, said that his ex-wife forced him to divorce her after a year of getting married to her.

“I signed the divorce papers under duress. I gave one pronouncement of divorce to her and later went to their house to cancel the divorce before she finished the Iddah, but she refused to come back.

“She had left with my plasma TV, gas cylinder, electric kettle, two caps and documents belonging to my father. I want them back,” he said.

In her defense, Hauwa said he came back too late.

She explained that she had already finished her waiting period (Iddah) before Musa asked her to come back.

“I only took his plasma TV and gas cylinder. I am keeping the items pending when he pays me the N31,500 he owes me.

“He gave me the electric kettle as a gift while we were courting.

“I have no idea where his caps and father’s documents are,” she said.

The judge, Malam Murtala Nasir, advised Musa to go home and search for the documents.

He then adjourned the case.

Tribune

Amazing how much people will pay for ‘Hajj slots’:

The Kebbi State Police Command has arrested four suspects for allegedly defrauding two intending pilgrims of N9.290 million under the guise of securing Hajj slots for the 2026 pilgrimage.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Bashir Usman, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

According to the statement, the suspects identified as Aminu Hassan Zauro, Tabiu Abubakar, Usman Attahiru and Mustapha Sani Zauro were arrested following a complaint lodged by the Kebbi State Pilgrims Welfare Agency.

Usman said four other suspects identified as Bello Jos, Atiku Stores, Umar Gimba and Usman Bunza are currently at large.

He explained that the principal suspect, Aminu Hassan Zauro, allegedly collected N8.6 million from one of the victims with a promise to secure two Hajj seats for the 2026 pilgrimage.

The police spokesperson added that the suspect also allegedly received N690,000 from another victim as deposit for a Hajj slot and later presented fake pilgrimage materials, including bags and medical records, to the victim.

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

Latest Nigerian export:

Nigeria is the second most popular place for parents in England who use foreign surrogates to have babies, official figures reveal.

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) disclosed that the number of applicants applying to become parents of children born to Nigerian surrogate mothers rose from 6 to 59 between 2015 and 2025.

This data, released under freedom of information laws, places Nigeria second only to the United States in its popularity among English “intended parents” having babies through international surrogacy arrangements. Last year, 125 court applications for legal parentage of babies born in the US were recorded.

Previously, Georgia and Ukraine were the second and third most popular places for international surrogacy with people in England. In 2023, the number of parental order applications for children born to surrogate mothers in these countries stood at 42 and 27 respectively.

These latest figures reflect a growing trend of people turning to foreign surrogacy to have children. In 2018, there were more than 150 applications for parental orders for children born to surrogate mothers abroad. By 2024, this number had increased to more than 300.

Family lawyers say Nigeria’s rise in popularity is being driven by “intended parents” with family ties to the country and the lower cost of the surrogacy process compared with the US.

Louisa Ghevaert, a surrogacy law expert, said: “For some, they have personal connections and family in Nigeria, providing them with a ready-made support network and help with logistics.

“Given limited availability of African donor eggs and surrogates in the UK, Nigeria can also offer more options for ethnically matched donor eggs and surrogates for people of African heritage. The costs of surrogacy in Nigeria are also lower than in other places, particularly the US, making it more affordable.”

However, both Ghevaert and other family lawyers warned “intended parents” to guard against unethical and unregulated surrogacy practices in Nigeria.

The Times

Hammed Danmole is a hero:

The heroic bystander who broke up a machete brawl in a London park in broad daylight explained he risked his life because he ‘wouldn’t have forgotten’ if ‘one of those boys died’.

Hammed Danmole ran towards the blade-wielding teenagers while others scattered in horror at Burgess Park on Sunday, May 17.

The 45-year-old Nigerian south Londoner had been playing his weekly Sunday league football match when he saw the youths take out the massive knives and start hacking at each other.

Instead of recoiling in fear, Mr Danmole couldn’t help but imagine his own teenage son in that situation and raced towards the fray.

He had noticed two black-clad hooded youths come into the park while taking a break behind the goalposts.

Another boy arrived on a scooter five minutes later but then an argument broke out, and two of the boys pulled out machetes, Mr Danmole said.

A video of the fight shows the first two slashing at each other and then a third pinning one of the boys to the ground while both chop at him with their knives.

‘I’ve got a 17-year-old boy and when I looked at them, I saw him. I would do anything to stop these young boys from killing each other,’ he told The Times.

While others cried out in fear or recorded the fight on their phones, Mr Danmole ran in to stop the brawl and forced them to separate.

Footage shows him running in and shouting: ‘Oi, stop that, what are you doing?’

He managed to get the boy pinning his victim to the floor off him and two of the knifemen run one direction while the third runs the other. Mr Danmole shouts at them to ‘Go away’.

Three teenagers were arrested at the scene and a fourth on Sunday, all aged between 16 and 17. They were charged with several offences, including possession of a bladed article, affray and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Mr Danmole - a property investor living in Beckenham after arriving in London from Nigeria - said: ‘After I did it, people said I shouldn’t have done that and I should have left them.

‘But if I didn’t stop it, and one of those boys died, I wouldn’t have forgotten it for the rest of my life.’

Daily Mail

Meanwhile on Masterchef Australia:

Throughout his time on MasterChef Australia, Olaolu Olorunnimbe has been determined to put Nigerian cooking front and centre.

Born and raised in the country’s bustling city, Lagos, the 34-year-old has always considered it home.

While he has been showcasing his culture throughout the competition, the turning point came when cooked beef efo riro with semo (semolina). The traditional Nigerian stew, which usually features spinach, was one of his late father’s favourite dishes.

The dish also earned him the $10,000 prize during Nostalgia Week, where the contestants were tasked with showcasing their family trees.

When asked how it felt to win that prize with a dish that was close to his heart, Olaolu exclusively told New Idea that it “feels like something from a movie”.

“I’ve had an up and down time in the kitchen, and I’ve often found myself overawed by the amazing chefs around me,” he explained.

As for what he’d spend the money on? He isn’t sure yet, but it’ll “almost certainly be food related”.

New Idea

This sounds like a crazy idea. I will be there:

A romantic comedy spanning Nigeria, the U.K. and Hong Kong was unveiled at the Cannes Film Market, with A13 Films founder Chidozie Christian Ahaiwe and U.K.-based Hong Kong creative Hiu Man Chan attached as executive producers on “My Nigerian Fiancé.”

The project follows a successful London-based Nigerian man who enlists an Asian dancer to pose as his fiancé at a family anniversary celebration in Lagos. When the arrangement gives way to genuine feeling, both characters are forced to confront family pressure, ambition and identity. The film will draw on Nigerian music and fashion throughout.

“This is a rare opportunity to take a global relatable romantic comedy and reinterpret it through the richness, humor, complexity, and emotional energy of both Nigerian and British culture,” Ahaiwe tells Variety. “The themes of love, identity, family pressure, migration, and cultural collision are deeply universal, but we also believe there’s something fresh, commercially exciting, and globally relevant about telling this story from both a Nigerian and U.K. perspective.”

Variety

A new arrival into Nigeria from Britain:

A migrant sex predator who attacked lone women avoided deportation for almost a decade through ‘impermissibly speculative’ human rights judgments about what could happen to him back home, a court has found.

The man, 40, who came to Britain illegally, is finally being deported after lengthy legal wrangles dating back to 2017.

The hiatus continued despite a mental health tribunal concluding the paranoid schizophrenic still posed ‘a serious danger’ to the public after an incident with a knife three years ago.

The Home Office successfully overturned the most recent rulings allowing the man, named only as OSB, to stay on the grounds that if he is deported he may forget his medication, commit further offences and end up in prison in his homeland.

Appeal Court judge Mr Justice Bean said of the most recent previous ruling, by a first-tier immigration tribunal judge and backed by an upper tier panel of judges, said: ‘This is in my view impermissibly speculative.

‘It is not a sequence of events for which the UK can sensibly be held responsible. The consequences which are said to breach Article 3 (which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment) are too remote.’

The Nigerian national, granted anonymity by the immigration courts and known only as OSB, had committed attempted rapes in 2009.

At Southwark Crown Court later that year, he was convicted of three attempted rapes and kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offence, and detained in hospital due to his mental condition.

Daily Mail

A sad story:

A driver and passenger who filmed themselves at speeds of over 130mph (209kmh) in a 30mph zone have been jailed over the death of a man they crashed into.

Uways Hussain and Usmon Mahmood filmed themselves inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon, running red lights and weaving through traffic before hitting 50-year-old Sylvester Abayomi, who was on his way to work.

Hussain was jailed for 11 years and eight months for causing death by dangerous driving, while Mahmood was jailed for 12 years and nine months for aiding and abetting causing death by dangerous driving.

Greater Manchester Police said the crash on Manchester’s Kingsway was “one of the worst disregards of speeding” officers had seen.

Sentencing at the city’s crown court earlier, Judge Nicholas Dean said the collision on 9 March was “wholly unnecessary and entirely avoidable”.

“It was a sustained, deliberate and escalating course of highly dangerous conduct over a prolonged period,” he said. “It was terrifying.”

The victim’s partner Denise Doyle described him as “the most caring soul and gentle person you could ever meet”.

“Sylvester was simply on his way to work,” she said. “An ordinary hard-working man. He should have returned home to me safely that day. Because of your actions he never did.”

BBC

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

A story that contains every social ill:

A male adult identified simply as Golden has been confirmed dead after he was shot by unknown assailants in the Igando area of Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt from a police source on Thursday that the incident occurred on Tuesday in the Fatoki area of the community.

It was gathered that the assailants, numbering about two, rode into the community on a motorcycle in search of the deceased.

The assailants thereafter located him in the area and allegedly shot him in the process.

“We got a report that someone was shot on Fatoki Street, and when our men were deployed to the scene, the deceased was found lying lifeless in a pool of blood. He was taken to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead and later taken to the morgue,” the source disclosed.

The police, however, could not disclose the cause of the incident, noting that an investigation was ongoing.

Meanwhile, an anti-cultism advocacy platform, Confra Naija, in a post on Thursday, noted that the incident was business-related.

It wrote, “The victim in that incident was identified as Golden. Although two cult groups (Aye and Vikings) were mentioned in this incident, sources confirmed that the attack was not cult-related but rather a case of a business dispute involving Yahoo money.”

Punch

The silliest story I’ve read in a while but you can get anything published in Nigerian papers these days:

A shocking scandal is currently unfolding in Lagos after a popular billionaire businessman from Southern Nigeria (names withheld) was allegedly caught with his lover’s used sanitary pad hidden inside his pocket.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the wealthy man had reportedly been in a relationship with the lady for over seven years with the businessman reportedly sponsoring her lavish lifestyle, trips, and even purchasing a house for her in Lagos.

Trouble, however, started early this year after the businessman said to be a highly influential player in Oil and Gas ecosystem in the country visited the lady at her residence in highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos state while she was on her monthly period.

Sources claim that after the man, who reportedly lives in Banana Island, Lagos left the house, the lady slept off, only to wake up later and discover that the menstrual pad she had discarded in the waste bin inside her bathroom the previous night had mysteriously disappeared.

Suspicious, she reportedly contacted the billionaire and asked him to return to the house immediately.

When confronted over the missing sanitary pad, the businessman allegedly denied taking it. But the terrified woman reportedly searched his bag and allegedly discovered the soiled sanitary pad hidden inside one of his pockets. She claimed that the circumstances surrounding the incident led her to strongly believe it was connected to ritual purposes and she questioned the chief why he took the pad but his explanation was unsatisfactory.

Vanguard

This is the lowest price I’ve seen in many many years of tracking such prices:

An Akure Magistrate’s Court in Ondo State, has heard how two minors were allegedly sold for N18,000 each and forced to hawk goods on the streets of Benin City, Edo State.

Two men, John Ushie, 32, and Innocent Ushie, 50, along with a woman, Evelyn Innocent, 38, were arraigned on charges of child trafficking, abduction and slave.

Police prosecutor, Augustine Omheneimhen told the court the offences occurred about 9 a.m., at 1, Chama Street, Ute, Ondo State.

The defendants allegedly lured two boys, aged 15 and 17 at the time of trial, from a riverbank in November 2025 when they were 14 and 15.

They said the men deceived them by claiming their father wanted to see them in Ogbese.

The victims were first taken to Utesi, where they spent a night, before being transported to Benin City, Edo State.

They were allegedly sold for N18,000 each to the wife of one of the defendants’ brothers and given trays to hawk goods on the streets.

The victims testified that they spent about four months in captivity and were separated for two months before being resold to another person for N76,000.

The defendants later contacted their parents and collected N10,000 before police traced and reunited the boys with their families, the court heard.

Vanguard

Interesting article on tomato growing in Nigeria. It is a very stressful and high maintenance crop, attributes which make it really hard to grow successfully in a country that loves jollof rice and stews. I believe this to be another manifestation of Psychological Dutch Disease:

However, the Chairman, National Association of Tomato Growers and Processors and Marketers of Nigeria NATPAN, Kano Sani Danladi Yakadawari said the severe weather conditions with excessive heat are not conducive for tomatoes to grow in an open field.

He said even farmers with greenhouses must be equipped with heat extractors to be able to grow tomatoes under the prevailing extreme weather conditions.

“Every year between April and July tomato production is low because of the heat. Tomatoes do not thrive in hot weather and excessive water.

“What is happening is that the dry season cultivated tomato is gradually ending and farmers are getting set for Wet season cultivation, so scarcity is manifesting because only areas with moisture continue to grow tomato though not in a large quantity.

“In essence it is the excessive heat that is responsible for the shortage and the surge in price. It’s not a question of improved variety. Tomatoes cannot grow where there is excessive heat nor does it like too much water,” Yadakwari explained.

[…]

“Instead of using fresh tomatoes to prepare sauce or stew, I mix dried tomatoes with fresh ones and then add tomato paste so that the taste will satisfy our customers. Every year we experience the same shortage and rising prices of tomato but people must eat with or without tomato,” Hamza noted.

Muhammad Suji, a civil servant, said he only buys Tomato paste with onions which he said is cheaper for his wife to prepare meals while noting that the current price isn’t affordable to people like him.

Another consumer Abu Ammar said currently his wife prepares Jollof rice and local soups with fresh Tomato worth N1000 mixed with tomato paste weekly pending when price reduces and supply increases.

Daily Trust

‘Monarchs’ in Osun are complaining about their allocations:

Traditional rulers, Baales, and elders in Ife North Local Government Area have appealed to the Osun State Government and relevant agencies to ensure proper administration of the statutory 5% local government allocation meant for traditional and chieftaincy institutions.

They added that some traditional functionaries reportedly receive as little as ₦1,000 monthly, a situation they said does not reflect the purpose of the allocation.

The call was made during a press conference convened by concerned custodians of cultural heritage in the council.

Speaking on behalf of the group, the Lodifi of Ipetumodu, Chief Orosanya Kehinde, said the briefing became necessary due to growing concerns over the transparency and disbursement of the funds under the local government autonomy framework.

The stakeholders cited the Supreme Court’s July 11, 2024 judgment in Attorney-General of the Federation v. Attorney-General of Abia State & 35 Others, which reaffirmed the financial autonomy of local governments and stressed accountability in the management of allocations.

They noted that traditional institutions play vital roles in peacebuilding, cultural preservation, security support, and community development at the grassroots.

The group expressed concern that the 5% allocation meant for traditional rulers, Baales, and chieftaincy affairs is not being fully and equitably administered within Ife North.

Tribune

Funny story from Delta state:

Peaceful protesters in Enhwe Community, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, have said they are not in support of the blockade of Urri Road and the alleged illegal collection of levy from a businessman, Victor Wayles Egukhawhore, purportedly by the son of the traditional ruler of Enhwe Kingdom.

The protesters, including Enhwe community’s elders, women and youth, led by the Secretary of the Elders’ Council, Michael Akpakpa, entirely condemned the act by the monarch’s son and the denial that the arrest of the King.

Their protest placards read, “Prince Larry Eduvie Efekodha is not representing Enhwe,” “Enhwe does not belong to Efekodha family,” “Prince Larry Eduvie Efekodha you are too greedy,” “Efekodha Children should let Enhwe breath,” “High Chief Victor Wayles Egukhawhore has done well for us,” and “High Chief Victor Wayles Egukhawhore is our beloved son”.

The forceful collection of development fees (popularly called deve) is specifically prohibited under the Delta State Public and Private Properties Protection Law, 2018.

Under this law, it is a crime for community leaders, youth groups, or individuals to demand or forcefully collect any levy, fee, or rates (such as 10% land sales fees) from property owners and developers.”

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

Despite the current restrictions, Samuel Ugberaese has been able to obtain a visa to the US:

The FBI arrested Samuel Ugberaese after the US extradited him from Nigeria on charges relating to cross-border romance scams that targeted victims in the United States and elsewhere. A federal grand jury returned the indictment in the EDNC on January 22, 2021. United States Magistrate Judge Brian S. Myers ordered Ugberaese detained pending trial.

According to the indictment, Ugberaese and his co-conspirators used romance scheme techniques, including false stories and promises, to exploit and defraud victims into transferring money on their behalf. The indictment further alleges that Ugberaese conspired with a co-defendant Oluwadamilare Kolaogunbule, a naturalized U.S. citizen, to conduct financial transactions through his bank account network, including accounts registered to purported export companies, to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the criminal proceeds.

Ugberaese is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

United States Attorney’s Office

Where does the zombie drug known as kush, that’s ravaging parts of West Africa, come from?

They come in blister packs of 10 like any normal painkiller, and you can buy them easily in roadside kiosks and street pharmacies across west Africa.

Millions of tapentadol tablets from India are helping drive a deadly opioid epidemic ravaging the region, with officials and researchers saying that they are also being added to the “zombie drug” kush.

The cheap pills are so strong that no regulatory authority in the world has approved them.

Yet an investigation found Indian pharmaceutical firms were flooding west Africa with the pills despite New Delhi vowing to crack down on the trade. Some shipments were even labeled “Harmless Medicines for Human Consumption.”

Customs records show millions of dollars’ worth of the high-strength synthetic opioid being shipped from India every month to Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana, where even low doses of the drug are not permitted.

With opioids now heavily regulated in wealthier nations after being linked to 1 million deaths in the United States alone, some manufacturers in India — the world’s biggest producer of generic drugs — are pushing hard into Africa.

And in a frightening development, tapentadol is now being added to the “zombie drug” kush, health chiefs and researchers said.

Kush, infamous for the speed with which it hollows out its victims, has already been declared a national emergency in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Japan Times

News from Ireland:

Uruemu Adejinmi, Ireland’s first black female mayor and a Fianna Fail councillor in Longford, said constituents contacted her to express concern after Bertie Ahern’s comments about African migrants. Adejinmi, who was born in Nigeria, said Ahern’s remarks “were not good to hear” but she was pleased he had apologised and made clear that he was “against victimisation of migrants”.

She said the former taoiseach’s comments caused anger among people in her constituency and across the country but she hoped they would accept his apology.

“I have accepted it,” she said. “I hope others will accept it. The focus should return to addressing the issues in the community — housing, healthcare, infrastructure — and supporting everyone to live with dignity.”

“Constituents are commenting from all walks of life, migrants and natives alike,” she added. “I’ve heard from people who are upset by it and who called for an apology. People are entitled to react in whatever way they see fit.”

Ahern singled out people arriving from the Congo as a particular concern for him. He also said he was worried about “the next generation of Muslims” during a doorstep conversation with a voter while canvassing with John Stephens, Fianna Fail’s candidate in the Dublin Central by-election.

After his remarks, which were secretly recorded by the voter, became public, Ahern said he had been wrong to single out Africans, but defended his right to speak about immigration, even if his words had not been “careful or polished”.

Adejinmi said the comments did not reflect the man she had encountered in her dealings with him.

The Times

Clarissa generated a lot of buzz at Cannes this last week:

One of the most exciting movies playing during the Cannes Film Festival this year isn’t in the official lineup. Instead, “Clarissa” — a bold and wrenching adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” set entirely in Nigeria — is in Director’s Fortnight, the most prestigious of several smaller programs that run alongside the main event.

Independently run and housed in a theater several blocks from festival headquarters, this parallel event has a long history of showcasing new talent before the festival does. This is where the international film world first discovered Martin Scorsese, Chantal Akerman and Bong Joon Ho.

Since its premiere on Saturday, “Clarissa,” which stars Sophie Okonedo in the title role alongside David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri, has been rightly received with a chorus of wows. Directed by the filmmaking brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri, the movie counts as one of the few genuine discoveries in what has been a generally lackluster year.

[…]

If the American distributor Neon has its way, you will be hearing much more about Arie and Chuko — as they are billed in the film — who are 40-year-old fraternal twins. (Neon hasn’t set a date for the theatrical release, but “Clarissa” will be in rotation on the fall festival circuit.) Written by Chuko, this is the brothers’ second feature following “Eyimofe (This Is My Desire).” That critically lauded drama, about two Nigerians hoping to better their lives by emigrating to Europe, had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. It was there at a screening with a festival moderator, and shortly before the world started to shut down, that Arie first learned what he and his brother were going to direct for their follow-up project.

New York Times

Over in Sunderland:

Sunderland's Nigerian community is planning a peaceful protest as new councillors are inaugurated at City Hall this afternoon. The community is calling on Glenn Gibbins, who was elected to represent the Hylton Castle ward for Reform UK in local elections earlier this month, to resign after comments made on social media in 2024.

In the now-deleted post, Coun Gibbins complained about the "amount of Nigerians in the town", adding "should melt them all down and fill the potholes." He has been suspended by Reform UK, the party confirmed last Monday, and he is now standing as an independent councillor.

Sunderland Nigerian Community are planning to protest the inauguration of new councillors this afternoon. Chair Godwin Ejeh, who stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the Pennywell and South Hylton Ward but was unsuccessful, said that an apology issued to ChronicleLive by Coun Gibbins was "not remorseful" and that he "must resign".

Chronicle Live

Good feature on Nollywood past, present and future. Covers some of the themes we covered in our recent podcast recording with Chris Ihidero. Should be out in a couple of weeks:

Economic challenges and a low subscriber base saw the streaming giants pull funding for original content, a decision that left filmmakers pivoting and many observers asking: What’s next for Nollywood?

The answer lies in streamlining distribution. “We are encouraging regional sales,” says Ude. “If you are a filmmaker ready to work with sales agents and distributors to sell your films regionally, it’s more work, but you will make a lot more than you even made with the streamers coming on board. That way, when the streamers do come back, asking for your worldwide rights, it’s going to be a different story. We just have to take the hit now and work hard towards elevating ourselves.”

For Ude, the shift is a positive development, but “My Mother Is a Witch” and “Colours of Fire” director Niyi Akinmolayan, whose Anthill Studios was among those to ink a deal with Prime Video, warns of potential hurdles. “I’m gonna shock you,” he says. “Even in West Africa, it’s hard to sell a Nigerian film to Ghana, or to the Republic of Benin. They don’t get some of our jokes or subtleties. It’s also difficult to sell our films in South Africa. We may all look alike to the typical American or European, but culturally, we are very different.” His answer? Producing stories that close the gap. “I’ve told Nollywood filmmakers that one way forward is to develop films where you have a lot of cross-culture influences. When you do that, people might be excited because they can see someone like them in the story.”

Increasing access to cinemas is another effort, with the number of screens growing from 218 to 369 between 2019 and 2025. The ratio of Hollywood to Nollywood productions on those screens has shifted from 62-38% to 47-53% over that same period — highlighting the demand for local stories. “We didn’t have a lot of cinemas then as compared to now,” says Victoria Ogar, the head of distribution at FilmOne Entertainment, West Africa’s largest distributor. “We had Hollywood dominating our space, but then over time, we noticed that people started to react to Nollywood films. They speak to the value of the people, the culture.”

Los Angeles Times

A leading Australian politician has found herself in a very interesting type of scandal:

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws also reveal Ms Allan’s office spent almost $128,000 in taxpayer funds boosting her social media posts on Facebook and Instagram over eight months, outpacing the digital advertising spend under her predecessor Daniel Andrews.

The internal documents shed light on a dramatic surge in followers in late February and early March, which inflated the Premier’s Instagram audience from about 34,500 to more than 100,000, with many suspected fake accounts still remaining.

“Analytics compiled by the Premier’s office show that following the surge, just 37.3 per cent of followers were based in Australia, with large cohorts in Bangladesh (18.6 per cent), Nigeria (7.3 per cent), Jordan (2.8 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (2.1 per cent), pointing to the likelihood of fake accounts.

Only 26.4 per cent of her followers were from Melbourne, compared with 4.7 per cent from Dhaka in Bangladesh, 4 per cent from Abuja in Nigeria, 2.8 per cent in Amman in Jordan and 2 per cent in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

There is no evidence in the material that Ms Allan or the Labor Party purchased followers, with a trail of emails instead revealing the extent of alarm inside the Premier’s office when the surge in followers began.

On the night of Saturday, February 28, a senior staffer in Ms Allan’s office emailed a Meta representative alerting him about the suspicious activity and seeking an urgent intervention.

“In the past hour, our followers have increased by more than 40,000 – and these accounts are all ‘new’ accounts,” he wrote. “Can this please be escalated for us? Conscious this activity could see our account suspended.”

The Australian

If you have not signed up to the Berklee in Nigeria: Tiwa Savage Intensive Music Program, what exactly are you waiting for?

Tiwa Savage wants to ensure the next generation of Nigerian artists are well-equipped for the music industry.

Savage is a 2007 alumna of Berklee College of Music in Boston. Starting out as a backup singer at 17 for George Michael and many others, Savage attended the University of Kent in England to pursue a career in business administration. From there she landed a job at Royal Bank of Scotland, according to information shared by Berklee. But music was calling her back, and she returned to her first love.

“When I came to Berklee and saw a lot of the younger students, their drive and their passion, it recharged my batteries,” Savage told the college at the time she was attending. “[They’re] not thinking, ‘I’m going to save about $10,000 before I move,’ no, ‘I’m just going to get my backpack and move.’ I needed that fresh air, that atmosphere. I kind of felt like a 19-year-old.”

Savage is now recognized as a superstar, forging her own lane in the afrobeats genre. While she is grateful for her success over the decades from countless performances and awards, she admits that success has a different meaning to her nowadays.

“It’s great to perform in front of hundreds and thousands of people to win awards, but at some point, the thing that’s really gonna fulfill you is what’s going to outlive you or outlive your career,” she told CNN. “It was literally about 20 years ago when I walked through the halls of Berklee College of Music, but when I got to Berklee, I didn’t see many African students, and it was at that moment I knew that I was either going to bring Berklee to Nigeria or find a way to get more African students to be able to have this opportunity.”

She is now partnering with the college to establish the Berklee in Nigeria: Tiwa Savage Intensive Music Program, a four-day, no-cost program in Lagos, Nigeria. From a pool of more than 2,000 applications, 120 emerging musicians were selected nationwide, according to TRT Afrika.

Afrotech

Edikan Adiakpan (see BTH 100) has pleaded guilty:

A 34-year-old Nigerian national living in Houston pleaded guilty Tuesday to operating an illegal money-transmitting business that funneled proceeds from a sophisticated international email scam.

Edikan Adiakpan admitted in federal court that he used a company he controlled, Akama Lifestyle, to move funds for fraudsters between 2020 and 2022 while keeping a percentage as a fee. Federal prosecutors stated the funds originated from “business email compromise” (BEC) schemes that targeted more than 10 victims across at least eight states.

Among those targeted was a California research group dedicated to developing treatments for U.S. veterans.

The fraud relied on “spoofed” emails designed to mimic legitimate suppliers and creditors. Victims were tricked into diverting payments to bank accounts controlled by the fraudsters rather than their actual business partners.

According to court documents, the scope of the operation became clear when one victim wired $927,080 to the fraudsters. A portion of those proceeds was then sent to Adiakpan, who redeemed a $60,000 cashier’s check for himself as a kickback for his role in the scheme. The laundering process involved conspirators moving money rapidly between multiple bank accounts they controlled before converting the funds into cashier’s checks to be cashed by Adiakpan.

FOX26

Update on John Fashanu:

The daughter of veteran Gladiators host and England footballer John Fashanu is set to marry a billionaire African businessman in a lavish wedding held over three days and spanning two continents.

Bride Amal Fashanu patched up a bitter feud with her famous father on the eve of her wedding that will see him walk her up the aisle when she marries Ghanaian tycoon Mohamad Odaymat.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the planned epic event, Ms Fashanu revealed how her wedding to an heir to one of Ghana’s most influential billionaire families will take place in both Africa and Europe assisted by private jets.

And thanks to her making up with her famous father, he is now set to play a prominent role in both legs - despite concerns about his declining health.

Amal, 37, told how she was moved to patch things up with the former England and Wimbledon striker when his health took a turn for the worse.

Amal revealed John, now 63, has been laid low by a mystery condition which she believes may be connected to him heading thousands of balls during his 17 years at the top of the professional game - as other former pro footballers have suffered.

Now she is hoping that John - who has been living in Nigeria for the past 13 years - will be fully recovered in time to be one of the guests of honour on the biggest day of her life.

Amal said more than 600 guests will be invited to their celebrations - exactly a year after their legal wedding - which will be held in Nigeria, where her father lives, and Spain - which is home to her mother, former model Marisol Acuna Duenas.

Daily Mail

We have been able to get a few more tickets made available for Frontiers Matters Live in Lagos with Funsho Doherty on May 11th. Tickets cost N50,000 each but you get a N25,000 food voucher from the venue included in that. Get your tickets HERE.

The regular podcast should return with a guest next week.

This newsletter may or may not get to your inboxes for the next 2 weeks.

Enjoy the week’s selection below and see you in a few weeks, maybe.

Nigerian Media

If you have cash to spare, invest in Vigilante services. It is a booming business. Don’t say this newsletter does not give you business tips:

For residents of Tungan -Maje, Pegi, Abattoir extension, which cuts across Abaji, Kuje and Gwagwalada Area Councils of the territory who have suffered various kinds of crimes, especially kidnapping in the past, making local internal security arrangements remained the alternative means of safeguarding their homes and property.

In the same vein, residents of Unguwar Idris, Unguwar Toka, Ungwan Sarki and New site in Tungan -Maje community in Gwagwalada Area Council of the territory said they pay heavily to engage the services of vigilante groups to provide security in their areas.

Mrs Patience Malachy, a resident of Unguwar Toka, in Tungan -Maje, said that due to rising insecurity in the area, they were forced to organise a meeting and resolved to contribute N2, 000 monthly per tenant in order to engage vigilantes to safeguard their houses.

She noted that prior to coming up with the local security arrangement, some miscreants usually invaded homes to steal valuables when people have left for work.

She said when the trend continued unabated residents of the area decided to come up with the idea of contributing money to engage the services of local vigilantes.

Malachy, said while it wasn’t easy for them to make such a contribution, the initiative had helped in reducing the rate of insecurity in the area.

She said for over two years, there has been no case of kidnapping around the area because of the vigilantes’ effort who are always on ground day and night.

A resident of an estate in Pegi community in Kuje area council of the FCT, Kolawale Benjamin, lamented how hoodlums always invaded the estate, especially after tenants have left for work, a development which forced them to engage services of local vigilantes.

He said each tenant pays N1,500 monthly for vigilante service in the area.

“Before now, there’s a provision shop where my wife sold things in front of the estate. Any time she closes, hoodlums come overnight to burgle the place. Until when we decided to come up with the initiative of engaging the services of the vigilantes before they stopped”, she said.

Daily Trust

Are we going to blame hunger for this one?

Consequently, the Archbishop directed that the Blessed Sacrament must never be left unattended during exposition.

The letter partly read, “It is with great sadness that we inform you of the desecration of the Chapel of Adoration of St Mulumba Parish, Wetheral Road, Owerri.

“As reported by the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr Raymond Madu, unknown persons opened parts of the roof, gained access through the ceiling, and made away with the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament.

“It is alleged that this incident occurred during rainfall in the early hours of Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Following this act of irreverence, the Archbishop, His Grace, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, hereby directs all parishioners of St Mulumba Parish, Owerri, to observe a one-week prayer of reparation from Friday, May 1 to Friday, May 8, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily.

“All priests in the Owerri Archdiocese are reminded to strictly adhere to the norms and directives regarding the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration to avoid any recurrence.

“We emphasise that exposition is to take place only when a fitting attendance of the faithful is assured (cf. Can. 942). The Blessed Sacrament must never be left unattended during exposition.”

Punch

How Rabiu Shuaibu went from Almajiri to entrepreneur:

He was born into a modest family in Kebbi State, the second of six children: three boys and three girls.

In a household where Western education was neither a priority nor a shared dream, Rabiu stood

alone, nursing a quiet but stubborn desire to go to school.

His parents did not believe in that ambition. For them, the path was clear: the Almajiri system.

At a tender age, he was sent far from home to Minna for Islamic education. It was meant to shape his future.

But Rabiu, even as a boy, knew he wanted more: Western education! There was no financial support, no encouragement, no safety net but there was resolve. He refused to be broken by neglect.

Instead, he chose defiance,not loud or con frontational, but steady, deliberate, and deeply personal. Out of sheer determination,

Rabiu wangled his way into acquiring elementary education in Minna. It was a fragile start, but it lit a fire he would not allow to die.

Not satisfied, he proceeded to a secondary school in Minna, but like many dreams built on thin air, his ambition soon hit a wall.

At the Junior Secondary School level, the journey came to an abrupt halt: no money, no support, no way forward.

Where many would have surrendered, Rabiu pivoted. He turned to the streets, not to beg, but to learn. He became a cobbler.

Today, with just one machine, his hands produce sandals of various sizes, elegant hand bags, and purses that rival imported goods, each piece a proof of resilience shaped by hardship.

Vanguard

Interesting data point on cow valuations here. I did not know things had gone this far?

Operatives of SWAT, Ogun State Police Command, on Thursday arrested two suspects for theft and recovered a stolen cow valued at N1.7 million.

The suspects, Muhammed Monsur and Olaseinde Olatunji, who are part of a four-man gang, allegedly invaded a dairy farm located at Omitoro, via Coker in the Ifo/Ibogun axis of the state at about 2:30 a.m and rustled the cow.

According to a statement made available to DAILY POST by the police spokesperson, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, the arrest was made following a distress call.

Babaseyi stated that upon receiving the call, operatives of SWAT acted swiftly and mobilised to the scene where the suspects were nabbed while attempting to flee the farm in a mini bus popularly known as ‘Korope’.

He noted that the cow, a knife and their operational vehicle used in the commission of the crime was also recovered.

Daily Post

Oba Fabiyi is on self-imposed exile from his community:

Olowa of Owa Onire, in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Oba AbdulRahman Fabiyi, currently hibernates in the outskirt of Ilorin, Kwara State capital.

One is likely to miss Oba Fabiyi’s royalty based on where he currently resides, which is about four hours journey from his kingdom. In fact, none of the passers-by who greeted us recognised him.

Interviewing him was also tedious and stressful because the interview was conducted with both of us sitting on a pavement under the scorching sun, in the downside of a bad road.

The monarch was already sitted on the pavement while giving directions to Vanguard correspondent.

When I arrived, he asked me to sit down beside him under the sun. It was obvious he didn’t want me to know where exactly he resides among the surrounding old bungalows.

The Olowa of Owa-Onire in Ifelodun local government area of Kwara state, Oba AbdulRahman Fabiyi, in this interview said, among others, that he won’t return to the palace until government provide security in his community.

Speaking with Vanguard correspondent, the monarch said he abandoned the palace since January 1, 2026, day after terrorists attacked him in his palace.

According to the monarch, “Eight terrorists broke the gates and doors of my palace on December 31, 2025. They collected my phone and that of my Olori and some money I had with me at gunpoint. But they didn’t order me to follow them. Though they later went away with two of my palace aides.

“Though I remember they kidnapped me about a year earlier when they took my Jeep away. I spent about seven days with them until I was released after my community paid them N5 million.

“I guess that was why they didn’t ask me to follow them at gunpoint on December 31, 2025. But they eventually went away with two of my palace aides.”

Vanguard

Not to rain on Opay’s IPO parade (see below) or anything:

Jennifer Ogbodo, the owner of ‘Ody-Best Point Collections N More’, a Point-Of-Sale (POS) business, mistakenly sent N150,000 to Olamilekan Abdulkareem, an OPay customer, on April 17. Immediately after she noticed, she called Abdulkareem to resend the money, and he promised to do so.

Ogbodo told FIJ that since then, Olamilekan has only returned N80,000 and has blocked everyone who has contacted him to return the balance.

FIJ

Apologies if this story lowers the tone of what is a very serious newsletter, but we try to cover all important stories without discrimination or snobbishness:

Popular social media personality and herbal products vendor, Eniola Fagbemi, popularly known as Sisi Alagbo, has apologised following a viral video involving herself, her husband Adesola Hakeem, and another woman.

The intimte video, which surfaced online on Monday, has sparked widespread reactions on social media, with many expressing disappointment while others questioned the circumstances surrounding it.

In a post shared via her verified Facebook page on Wednesday, Fagbemi expressed remorse and opened up about the emotional toll the controversy has taken on her.

“I own my mistakes, and I apologise with all sincerity for the video circulating online. I am deeply sorry to everyone who felt disappointed in me.

“This is a great phase for me, and I pray for God’s forgiveness and my fans’ forgiveness. Please let’s move on past this because this media is where I get little support to feed, pls don’t condemn me or castigate me am already passing through a lot,

‘I can’t eat or sleep for days, even sleeping meds aren’t working for me anymore, I am deeply sorry, everyone. Please forgive me, I don’t want to injure myself, it’s only the little strength I have.”

Fagbemi, who rose to prominence for promoting herbal remedies and her grandmother’s business locally and internationally, including in China and Qatar, has built a significant online following of nearly 400,000 followers on Facebook.

Tribune

Non-Nigerian Media

One of the “biggest” ones we have covered in this newsletter. Hopefully the key to where they are locked up goes missing:

After a four-day trial, a federal jury found two men and a woman guilty of involvement with an international email hacking scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 victims out of approximately $215 million. The scheme spanned 47 states and 19 countries.

On April 24, 2026, a jury in Toledo, Ohio, convicted Oluwafemi Michael Awoyemi, 40, of Romeoville, Illinois, Aruan Drake, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Peter Reed, 35, of Oak Forest, Illinois, of Wire Fraud Conspiracy. Additionally, Awoyemi and Drake were convicted of a Money Laundering Conspiracy. U.S. District Judge James R. Knepp II presided over the trial.

In total, 25 defendants have been convicted for their roles in this fraud and money laundering scheme, commonly referred to as a “business email compromise.”

According to court documents and evidence presented in court, individuals, businesses, and other organizations in the United States, were targeted and hacked by Nigerian-linked fraud organizations. Their objective was to gain access to e-mail accounts held by individual users. The co-conspirators would then monitor the communications, and other activities of the individual email users to learn about their business practices and contacts. After gaining sufficient intelligence about the nature of a hacking victim’s activities, the co-conspirators would send a fraudulent e-mail to either the hacking victim, or to someone communicating with the hacking victim, requesting payment. Because the co-conspirators were familiar with the victims’ activities, the fraudulent e-mails were crafted in a way to convince recipients that the request for payment was for legitimate business activities. Once members of the conspiracy obtained payment from victims, conspiracy members used a web of fraudulently created bank accounts and cash transfer systems to launder and distribute the funds.

United States Attorney’s Office

Nigerians in limbo caught by the partial US travel ban:

Loss of opportunity is a common theme. M, who lives in Virginia and is from Nigeria, first came to the U.S. in 2011 for her undergraduate and master’s degrees. She then pursued her medical degree and last month got into, or matched, with a surgery residency program in Oregon. But because of the hold, her visas and work permit processing are frozen. That means she may not be able to start her residency at all.

“I cried so much the day after my match, because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I worked so hard to get to this point. And I look around me and all my classmates are celebrating because they are celebrating with certainty,” M said. She said her work permit had been pending for a month by the time matches for residency were announced.

“I had so much anxiety and uncertainty around me that, yes, I did take the pictures and I was very happy to match,” she said. “But just because of my place of birth and my citizenship — that’s taking it away from me.”

Some immigrants said they paid up to $3,000 for what the USCIS calls premium processing, meaning their renewals and transfers should be decided in a matter of weeks, not months. No matter the payment, everyone from the list of travel ban countries have been left waiting.

“I really cannot move on with my life. And I really cannot contribute to the United States because I am from Nigeria,” said P, who lives in Texas. He came to the U.S. in 2023 and graduated with an engineering masters degree in December. He said he had to turn down multiple job offers because his work permit cannot be processed. “I barely can feed [myself]. I barely can pay bills. It is overwhelming and sad.”

NPR

Meanwhile over in Switzerland:

Suspected members of the Nigerian-linked Black Axe crime gang have ​been arrested in Switzerland accused of ‌involvement in romance scams and cyberfraud, Europol said on Tuesday.

Black Axe grew out of ​a student fraternity in the late ​1970s called the Neo Black Movement ⁠of Africa, and it has since ​evolved into a structured, violent criminal organisation ​often dealing in financial cybercrime.

“The suspects are accused of numerous crimes. This includes romance scams ​and other cyberfraud offences causing millions ​of Swiss francs in damages, as well as ‌money ⁠laundering,” said Europol, which is headquartered in The Hague, in a statement.

The pan-European police body said 10 people - most ​of whom ​are of ⁠Nigerian origin - had been arrested in the operation that ​also involved German police.

Reuters

OPay goes to the stock market:

Opay Digital Services Ltd. is working with Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the Nigeria-focused payments platform prepares for an initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed company is planning to list in the US and is seeking a valuation of about $4 billion, said the people, who asked to not to be identified as the information is still private. The company may sell the shares later this year, they said.

Bloomberg

Foreign media coverage of the never ending war on fake drugs in Nigeria:

Across Nigeria, flames are consuming towering piles of seized drugs – but not cannabis or heroin.

Hidden in warehouses are millions of doses of counterfeit and substandard medicines, now being burned in highly visible operations that have become the hallmark of an intensifying government crackdown.

In one of the largest raids, officials in Lagos seized 10 million doses of fake and banned drugs in February.

“What we seized from that warehouse alone could kill three million Nigerians if it reached the markets,” said Martins Iluyomade, director of investigations at Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

Such raids – and the resulting bonfires – are being repeated nationwide as authorities target a trade blamed for thousands of deaths.

The approach, experts say, could offer a blueprint for other developing countries grappling with the global crisis of falsified and substandard medicines.

“Nigeria is regarded as a model for the global south,” said Dr Harparkash Kaur, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s bioanalytical facility and lead investigator into the university’s drug quality project. “Their regulator has been doing a brilliant job… they’ve gone from strength to strength.”

In the last year alone, NAFDAC has conducted six large-scale raids of open-air markets, seizing millions of doses.

Telegraph

Janice Okoh’s debut novel is getting good reviews:

Fans of atmospheric thrillers won’t want to miss Janice Okoh’s debut novel.

Girl Number 8 promises “Tana French–level atmosphere meets the cultural resonance of Black Cake and The Girl with the Louding Voice,” according to an press release shared with PEOPLE.

“It means so much to me to share this book with you,” Okoh tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “I began writing it when I was partway through my 10-year infertility journey and found it cathartic to explore my feelings around motherhood and to discuss it in all its forms through a story about a missing girl.”

Set in Nigeria, where Okoh’s family is from, the book “pairs a propulsive investigation with rich cultural insight and emotional depth,” per the press release.

The novel follows fictional Detective Sola Adeyemi of Nigeria’s real-life Department of Ritualistic Murders and Human Sacrifice as she investigates the disappearance of a 4-year-old girl, who vanished from the home of a powerful politician.

“I love writing about older female characters and can’t wait for you to meet 50-year-old cop Sola Adeyemi,” Okoh says of her lead character. “She’s the badass I’d love to be and she’s menopausal, too!”

People

The Guardian review Iyabo Ojo’s new movie, The Return of Arinzo. 3 stars out of 5:

This Nigerian thriller unfolds mostly in the bustling city of Lagos but it makes excursions to Ghana and Tanzania and casts actors from all three countries, making for a diverse, textured tale that is thoroughly entertaining. That said, there are still plenty of imperfections, especially in the editing, and the acting ranges from professional and polished to amateur and awkward, so it’s a bit of a bumpy ride. Still, it is yet more evidence that the increasingly well-financed Nollywood industry can hold its own internationally, and grow audiences beyond Africa.

Even if a male character’s run for president is a major engine of the story, this is very much a female-centric film, encompassing women across several generations in an assortment of configurations, often far from harmonious. That comes across very clearly in an early scene in which we see bossy matriarch Aisha Williams (Mercy Aigbe), wife of aspiring politician Marcus Williams (William Benson), having a screaming match with her sister-in-law as members of the household look on aghast. A complicated character to say the least, Aisha can turn on the charm when she needs to, for example when her son, aspiring actor Mandla (Enioluwa Adeoluwa), brings home his fiancee Simisola (Prisca Lyimo) to meet the family. But as soon as Aisha meets Simisola’s aunt Bridget (Bimbo Akintola), a devout preacher, the hospitality spigot is abruptly turned off. By degrees, we learn that there’s a long history between the two older women who are connected through familiarity with Simisola’s birth mother Arinzo (played by director Iyabo Ojo) who everyone thought had died years ago.

While the storytelling is jittery and slapdash in places, the cinematography is stylish and crisp, full of umbral shadows and backlighting that add to the noir feel. And while the story is about particular families who hate each other, there is a strong sense of the wider social context through the many crowd scenes in the streets and in church, complete with drone shots that bolster the sense of place.

Guardian

What’s in store for Uar Bernard and how do the Eagles plan to use him?

The Philadelphia Eagles are giving Uar Bernard a chance.

The supreme athlete from Nigeria is part of the NFL’s International Pathway Program, and the Eagles made him a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Bernard has never actually played football, only learning the game through the pre-draft process.

But he’s so athletically impressive that Philly believes he can become a contributing NFL player.

“It’s a dream come true for me because I’ve worked hard for this,” Bernard said after being selected. “I’ve not played football, but I’ve gone through some drills that made me believe that I’m going to get better every day. I thank God for everything. I thank God for life. I thank God for the opportunities given to me to be drafted by the Eagles.”

The reality is that it could be a long journey for Bernard, but it starts at rookie minicamp.

That’ll be his first chance to get real coaching from the Eagles’ staff, and he’ll have to grow even in simple areas of the game that lifelong football players have known for a long time.

The Eagles will be patient if they have to be, and Bernard will surely stick around through training camp and the preseason.

From there, it’s very possible he ends up on the practice squad, but as long as he keeps working, he’ll eventually get a chance to break through.

Sporting News

Police are looking for Ifedapo Adeyeye:

A British-Nigerian man who abducted his five-year-old son from his mother was mistakenly released from prison last month and remains at large.

Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was released from HMP Pentonville in London on April 21, with prison staff not realising until April 23 that he was due to serve an additional 12-month sentence and be extradited to France upon its completion.

Last June, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that Adeyeye, a dual British-Nigerian national, had abducted his son, Laurys N’Djosse Adeyeye, from his mother in France in July 2024 and took him to Nigeria, saying the abduction was ‘in the most serious class of cases’.

Adeyeye, an engineer, was arrested upon his return to the UK and was jailed for six months in January for contempt of court after failing to return Laurys to his mother, Claire N’Djosse, who has not seen her son since he was abducted.

On April 20, the day before he was due to be released, Adeyeye was jailed for a further 12 months for further contempt of court offences, but the High Court heard on Friday that he was mistakenly released from HMP Pentonville the following day.

Lawyers for Ms N’Djosse said there was then a ‘two-day gap’ between Adeyeye’s release and an alert being issued to prevent him from leaving the UK.

Barrister Tori Adams, for Ms N’Djosse, asked the court in written submissions to allow reporting of Adeyeye and Laurys’ identities in a bid to locate them, adding that the case was of ‘the utmost seriousness’ and that Adeyeye’s whereabouts ‘remain unknown’.

Mr Justice Hayden allowed the reporting and said ‘the state has failed’, adding that there was an ‘alarming lack of urgency’ from prison staff and that he was ‘not even sure if the police have any impression of the seriousness’ of the case.

Daily Mail

News from Korea:

Rising Afrobeats artist Para (PARA) meets global listeners with his first mini album.

At 6 p.m. on the 7th, Para’s mini album ‘Ola (Ola)’ will be released on various online music sites.

Ola, which means wave in Spanish, is the album title that conveys the idea that music, which starts with one person, spreads to the world like a small ripple growing as it crosses the sea.

The title track of the album, also called “Ola,” is a song that expresses the thrill of falling in love over rhythmic drums and a smooth melody. Para’s distinctive vocals blend with a relaxed groove to create a sophisticated Afro-fusion sound.

The mini album also includes a total of five songs, from “Better,” which captures a global Afrobeats sensibility, to the cheerful and distinctive “Chihuahua (feat. Emarshal),” “Change (feat. Kriss killz),” which adds hip-hop sensibility to Afrobeats rhythms, and the addictive-hooked “Loco (feat. Insane chips).”

Collaborations with Nigerian artists are another notable point. From Emarshal to Kriss killz and Insane chips, local artists working in Afrobeats, hip-hop and other genres participate as featured artists, raising expectations that they will show unique synergy with Para.

Para, who performs Afrobeats, a modern African popular music, plans to announce his new beginning through his first mini album. He aims to present a single wave that connects different rhythms and emotions of Korea and Africa through music and deliver resonance to listeners around the world.

Chosun

Police in Thailand raided an unlicensed school and arrested 10 members of staff:

Authorities have raided an unlicensed international school in Prawet district of Bangkok, arresting 10 foreign teachers and staff found working without permits.

Investigators from the Immigration Bureau joined officers from the Prawet police station and officials from the Department of Employment to inspect the premises on Wednesday following reports of suspected irregularities.

The team found the school had been operating without a legally required licence for more than a year, offering kindergarten and primary-level classes to over 100 students.

Investigators said they found 10 foreign nationals from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria who were working as teachers and staff without valid work permits.

Bangkok Post

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

Abuja has been experiencing water problems for a few weeks now. They were the last bastion of public water supply in Nigeria and now you can see signs of them coming down to the lowest common denominator of Nigeria:

The African Natural Resources and Mines Limited (ANRML) has dug solar-powered boreholes to its host communities in Gujeni, Kagarko Local Government of Kaduna State.

The projects, delivered in Gujeni and Chakwama communities, include four solar-powered boreholes designed to provide potable water to settlements where access has remained a daily struggle.

Weekend Trust had reported how the communities were neglected following vandalism of boreholes constructed by the company, with the stream they rely on contaminated.

Also, one of the communities, Marabaun Babu said the company did not extend its community project to them despite sitting in its opposite direction and feeling the negative impact of its operations.

Speaking during the commissioning, Director of the company, Professor John Ndanufa Akanya, said the intervention followed direct engagement with host communities and an assessment of urgent needs.

“We met with them to identify their priority needs,” he said. “They initially wanted a classroom, but I insisted that water must come first because survival depends on it.”

The District Head of Gujeni said the population relying on the borehole remains high, especially in Babu settlement where a large number of workers live.

“The queue is too much,” he said. “This community is very large, and many people depend on this water.”

Daily Trust

The confrontation between humans and nature in Nigeria is often very unpleasant:

One person has been confirmed dead and another declared missing following an attack by a wild elephant in Innayin Community in Oyo State.

PUNCH Online learnt that the incident occurred around 3:30 pm on Thursday when residents reported the elephant’s sudden appearance.

The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Ayanlade Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement.

He said operatives, in collaboration with local vigilantes and hunters, responded promptly after receiving a distress call from the community.

“The Oyo State Police Command wishes to inform members of the public of an unfortunate incident that occurred on Thursday, 23rd April 2026, at about 1530HRS, involving the invasion of Innayin Community by a wild elephant.

“Upon receiving a distress call, police operatives, in collaboration with local vigilantes and hunters, swiftly mobilised to the scene. On arrival, the lifeless body of one Ibrahim Tijani ‘M’, aged 45 years, was discovered in a nearby bush with injuries consistent with an animal attack,” the statement read.

Olayinka added that the victim’s remains had been evacuated to the General Hospital, Iwere-Ile, for examination and preservation.

He said another resident, Alhaji Muhammadu Bingin, 50, was reported missing after an encounter with the animal.

“During ongoing search operations, another individual, identified as Alhaji Muhammadu Bingin ‘M’, aged 50 years, was reported missing after an encounter with the same animal. Intensive efforts are currently underway to locate him,” the statement added.

Punch

We talk a lot about the way babies are sold in Nigeria in this newsletter. Now here is an unexpected but predictable consequence: orphanages running out of children:

A quiet but disturbing shift is unfolding in Nigeria’s child welfare system – one that is leaving orphanages emptier and raising fresh concerns about an underground trade in human lives.

At first glance, the reduced number of children in some orphanages might suggest progress — fewer abandoned babies, stronger family structures, improved social responsibility. But beneath the surface lies a far more troubling reality.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Holyland Homes, Owerrinta, Abia State, Dr Gideon Ijeoma Nwandire, the decline is not a sign of societal improvement but evidence of a dangerous trend: the commercialization of newborns.

“What we are hearing is that many young girls who get pregnant now sell their babies. It has become a business,” he said, his voice heavy with concern.

For decades, orphanages relied largely on infants abandoned due to poverty, stigma, or unwanted pregnancies. Those children, though victims of circumstance, often found refuge in care homes where they were nurtured, educated, and sometimes adopted into new families.

Today, that pathway is shrinking. Instead of abandonment, babies are increasingly being diverted into informal and often illegal networks, where they are exchanged for money — out of desperation, exploitation, or greed.

The result is a troubling paradox: orphanages are running low on children even as economic hardship deepens across communities.

“This is not because things are getting better,” Dr Nwandire stressed. “It’s because something worse is happening quietly.”

In fact more teenage girls are now into baby factory craze where they are impregnated and harboured in illegal baby homes popularly known as baby factories.

When they give birth, they sell off their babies to the operators of such illegal homes often at ridiculous amounts. The innocent babies are sold out to buyers for different purposes including rituals.

Vanguard

And elsewhere but related:

The Edo State Government said it has arrested one Grace Uwadia for operating an illegal orphanage, “Uwadia Children Home,” in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Area.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Euginia Abdallah, who confirmed Uwadia’s arrest on Thursday, said it was prompted by an alleged adoption scam.

She said Uwadia had been handed over to the Edo State Police Command for further investigation and prosecution, while ministry officials had begun efforts to extend the search for similar illegal facilities in other parts of the state.

She explained that the incident was triggered by a formal complaint from a victim, identified as Monday Akpaduma, who approached the ministry after noticing irregularities in an adoption process.

A senior official of the ministry, who did not want to be mentioned because of a lack of authorisation, said Akpaduma alleged that he initially applied to adopt a child through the orphanage and paid N250,000 as a processing fee.

“After prolonged delays, he was allegedly informed that the adoption fee had been increased to N2m by the ministry, a claim that raised his suspicion and prompted him to report directly to the ministry,” the official said.

Punch

News from Mapo Customary Court:

A man identified as Tijani has taken his wife, Nafisatu, to Grade A Customary Court, Court 2, sitting at Mapo in Ibadan, Oyo State, for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Tijani accused Nafisatu of being quarrelsome and had failed to show him love or care.

He further claimed that she betrayed his trust by engaging in extramarital affairs, which, according to him, caused a breakdown in their relationship.

He added that tensions in their marriage got to a peak when one of Nafisatu’s lovers publicly slapped him.

Tijani also stated that the same man, on another occasion, attempted to hit him with a car.

The plaintiff stated that he walked out of their marriage after concluding that the defendant and her lover wanted him dead.

Tribune

Can you just change your birth date because of a quarrel with your twin brother? It would appear so:

Hours after announcing that he would officially change his date of birth, Nigerian music star and one-half of the defunct P-Square fame, Peter Okoye, made good his promise, signaling their long dispute may have now assumed perpetuity.

Early this week, the 44-year-old singer had declared in a post on X, that he will now celebrate his birthday on November 30 — abandoning November 18, the date he has shared for decades with his twin brother

“Dear Family, Friends, and Fans, I’m making it official. November 18th is no longer my birthday celebration date. Please note that I will not be accepting any messages or gifts on that day,” he wrote.

“My birthday will now be celebrated on November 30th. This is a personal decision, and I truly appreciate your understanding. Thank you all.”

His post sparked widespread reactions, with many fans, observers online questioning his decision. He immediately fired back, insisting the outrage is misplaced.

In a post shared on Tuesday via his X handle, the former member of P-Square expressed surprise at the level of backlash trailing what he described as a personal choice.

The singer who now goes by Mr. P has been having a running battle with his twin brother, Paul Okoye, aka Rudeboy, and elder brother cum manager, Jude. In June 2025, Peter explicitly stated that he had severed ties with his family, especially his brothers.

“We are no longer family at this point! Family is blood-related, but the real family is loyalty. Like I said, ‘don’t let family be the reason you’re drowning in silence.

ThisDay

Non-Nigerian Media

Yewande Komolafe is now in a wheelchair and is rediscovering New York all over again:

In December 2023, I endured a long hospitalization marred with medical errors. I returned to my Brooklyn home in late June 2024 as a bilateral below-the-knee amputee. My only remaining digit was my left thumb. A wheelchair has been my primary means of engaging with the world since.

From the moment I left the hospital, I felt like a tourist in my body and in New York, my home of nearly two decades. Creating connections and seeking belonging feels like navigating a foreign landscape governed by new rules.

Even when I couldn’t travel because of an existing chronic illness, before my hospitalization, I found adventure in my backyard. I spent my days off practicing Arabic at Sahadi’s, a Middle Eastern grocer on Atlantic Avenue; picnicking on a blanket in Prospect Park; or riding a bike along the East River, seeking novelty and thrill in my everyday. New York had always made sense to me, having been raised in Lagos, Nigeria — another audacious, crowded, loud and overstimulating city.

Travel begins for me now by powering on my electric wheelchair with my residual thumb. My palm moves back to rest on its joystick, and the chair ever so gently propels me forward. Just as I learned to drive my first car, a 1996 white Honda Civic coupe with a manual transmission, I am learning to put faith in a new way of moving through the world.

But there is much that impedes my forward progress. Steps. Thresholds. Ledges. Closed doors. The gap between the platform and the train? An uncrossable chasm.

Whole neighborhoods I once frequented, obstructed with craggy sidewalks and never-ending construction, are impossible to steer through. When I leave the house, I run a mental list of the establishments I can access.

New York Times

Yinka Ilori has an installation at Milan Design Week:

In Milan, his installation — designed for Veuve Clicquot, the champagne house famous for its yellow branding — is bedecked with a pair of sofas beneath an enormous sphere, with upturned hands grasping orbs of light reaching towards a mirrored ceiling, all drenched in a vivid, egg-yolk yellow. “It’s a colour that says, we’re in this together,” Ilori’s recorded voice booms into space. “You might catch a glimpse of yourself in the reflection and others too. Strangers, maybe? But for the moment, you’re sharing the same light, the same space, the same energy.”

In person, Ilori recalls how he used to imagine the council estate where he lived painted hot pink, with chequered bollards and bouncy speed bumps. The theme of chasing the sun immediately sparks memories of his London youth. “I spent my summers chasing the sun with my siblings and my friends in the estate… going on our bikes to Tower Bridge to watch David Blaine in a box.” This referring to the magician who spent 44 days suspended above the Thames in 2003.

Ilori’s overflowing optimism is a product of his upbringing. Born in north London to Nigerian parents, he shared a bedroom with three siblings in a tiny flat on Essex Road, in a home where negativity was off-limits. “It was forbidden to speak ill of anyone or anything,” he says. “[My parents] really believed in energy — what you put out is what you receive. This idea of affirmation, joy and community was something I was very much encouraged to embody as a young kid.”

The Times

You may have seen on Instagram the two fellas who drove across Africa on a three-wheeler:

Sheila, the silver three-wheeler — one of the last Reliant Robins to be built — was acquired specifically for the adventure. Jenks and Scott set off in October with a can of fuel and a few essential supplies strapped to Sheila’s small roof, and a large amount of blind hope that they would somehow make it to Cape Town, South Africa, near the bottom of the world.

“No power steering, no air con, and it doesn’t do well up hills or down them. It is the most unsuitable car for probably any journey,” Jenks said in an unkind assessment of Sheila’s abilities. “We made friends with the designer of this car, and he’s scared to take it any more than 20 miles.”

Jenks and Scott ignored all the advice and took Sheila on the epic journey over four-and-a-half months that cost in the region of $40,000 to $50,000, Jenks said. They had help from sponsors and crowd funding, and documented the journey on an Instagram page that pulled in nearly 100,000 followers under the title: “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, 0 common sense.”

They arrived in Benin during an attempted coup. They skirted through northern Nigeria as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Islamic State targets. They were given a military escort for about 300 miles (480 kilometers) through a region of separatist violence in Cameroon.

“Imagine this car in a military convoy,” Jenks said.

Washington Post

Food & Wine have released their top 10 global restaurants list and the winner is none other than…

Set into the corner of a Brutalist building on the Strand, Ikoyi calls what it serves “spice-based cuisine.” The phrase doesn't adequately describe the cooking, yet it’s hard to think of an easier way to sum it up. One thing Ikoyi is not, as co-founders Iré Hassan-Odukale and Jeremy Chan have often had to explain, is a West African restaurant — at least not entirely. It’s named after the Lagos neighborhood where Hassan-Odukale grew up, and you’ll find that region’s fingerprints all over the tasting menu: sorghum, ogbono seeds, palm wine, baobab, and, of course, those spices, like uda pods and alligator pepper. But chef Chan uses these flavors as a framework for seasonal British produce and proteins — rhubarb, shell peas, Scottish scallops, Devon beef — all while throwing in more than occasional nods to East Asia. Aged turbot is paired with egusi miso; sweetbreads with heirloom grits. Suya spice, the nutty, aromatic blend that coats Nigeria’s most iconic street food, makes its way into everything from smoked squab to rich chocolate ganache. One signature course is a rendition of jollof rice done only how Ikoyi can: smoked with oak chips and draped in lush shellfish custard.

Listen to our podcast with Iré Hassan-Odukale from last year.

Food & Wine

British teenagers being blackmailed by Nigerian scammers online is back in the news. I will remind you over the coming weeks but Carlos Barragán’s upcoming Yahoo Boys is a must-read on this topic. You can preorder on Amazon:

The boy told them he only had £20, and they forced him to buy an Apple Gift Card. Easy to buy, harder to trace. They can be spent quickly on phones, accessories, games or subscriptions – or sold on.

Despite that, the threats continued. The £20 was not enough.

The criminal demanded £50, so the boy went to his mother for help. She describes him as “distraught” in that moment.

“Thankfully, the panic was stronger than the embarrassment, which meant he told me as soon as it happened,” she said. “Every child is different, my other child might not have shared this and might have internalised it. But he came to me immediately.”

His mother sprang into action, blocking the scammer and contacting Nationwide, the local police force and Apple.

She said she mainly contacted authorities because she wanted them to understand the number of teenagers who might be affected.

While she says that Apple did not respond, the police and Nationwide took it “seriously”, she says, tracing the email address to a user in Nigeria.

Recent data suggest that her son’s experience is far from unique.

Polling of more than 2,000 consumers from Nationwide suggests that secondary school and university students are targeted by scammers nearly twice a week on average.

Telegraph

Malik Afegbua is doing something after my heart:

Malik Afegbua is a Nigerian filmmaker using AI to preserve history for future generations by recording conversations with older generations.

NBC News

Inside Demas Nwoko’s self-built home in Delta state:

At 90 years old, Nigerian architect Demas Nwoko’s legacy extends beyond his art—it’s embedded in the walls of his rural sanctuary in Idumuje-Ugboko, a historic town in the north of Nigeria’s Delta State. To get there, one must drive through a landscape marked with red laterite, palm groves, and low, spreading trees that cast uneven shadows. Houses rise modestly from the earth, some coated in clay, others bare, revealing sunbaked brick and timber. Bold geometric patterns mark some walls, and carved wooden doors hint at the pride of their makers. Off of a curved path, Nwoko’s home comes into view.

Architectural Digest

News from Kentucky:

Officials in Mt. Sterling reported on Tuesday that a man was arrested for allegedly scamming a Kentucky woman for years out of more than $500,000.

The Mt. Sterling Police Department (MSPD) posted on Facebook that on April 20, a search warrant was carried out on the 200 block of Richmond Avenue in Mt. Sterling with ties to “an investigation that began in New York.”

Authorities said that “an elderly woman” had been the victim of a “romance scam.” When her son, who lived in Clayton, New York, reported it to the police, the romance scam escalated to an extortion attempt where the alleged scammer said he’d hired someone to kill her son and demanded money in exchange for his safety.

Mt. Sterling law enforcement wrote that the romance scam was reported to New York investigators, and the suspect, Ephraim Udouso, identified as a Nigerian national in an arrest citation, was arrested Monday on Richmond Avenue with the help of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Udouso, 43, was charged with extortion of more than $10,000, in addition to an unrelated warrant out of Jessamine County. He’s set to appear in Montgomery County District Court at 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 23.

FOX 56 News

Nigerian doctors in America do an annual outreach in Jackson, Mississippi:

The Association of Nigerian Physicians in America held its annual medical and social outreach event in Jackson on Saturday.

The nonprofit event offered attendees free medical care, including dental, vision, family medicine, pediatrics and mental health services. Organizers say the goal is to help those in need, especially those who may not have health insurance or who are underinsured.

“We have social workers that can guide them, housing evaluations, employment screenings — things that they need,” said Tobe Momah, a University of Mississippi Medical Center family physician and the event organizer. “We have opportunities for them to even sign up for medical insurance here today from different companies that are coming.”

The event also provided free food, clothing and shoes. Legal guidance was also available for attendees. Organizers say the annual event is designed to remove barriers to care while addressing broader community needs.

The outreach was held at Mount Galilee Missionary Baptist Church on Julienne Street. Momah said event partners included UMMC Family Medicine, the Jackson Free Clinic, the Magnolia Dental Association, and the Magnolia Bar Association. He said more than 100 people came to receive assistance.

WAPT16 ABC

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

What is going on with pepper farming in Nigeria?

Farmers who produced dry-season scotch bonnet and habanero peppers, as well as dealers who purchased the peppers in the North and moved them to markets in other parts of the country, lost a lot of money this year.

Due to the decline in the prices of agricultural produce, those who farmed during the previous wet season and grain merchants in the agricultural sector are still suffering significant losses.

Alhaji Muhammed Sani Sulaiman, a farmer from Saminaka in Kaduna State, told the Weekend Trust that many farmers who produced these pepper varieties this year did not profit from their efforts.

He said producers of scotch bonnet and habanero peppers spent a lot of money on seeds, fertilisers, irrigation fuel, chicken manure and pesticides but the prices of the spicy crop dropped below their expectations.

“Like me, I invested almost N7 million in growing spicy peppers. I bought seeds, fertiliser, chicken manure and other things with this money. The market was good when we initially started planting because we could sell a bag for up to N30,000, but eventually, it dropped to N3,000. We never received N200,000 for all the harvesting done on my farm.

“In fact, farmers in the dry season have lost a lot of money this year—something they have never done before. Additionally, majority of farmers took the commodities they grew during the wet season, sold them at a low price and invested in growing these peppers. It turned out that there were two failures: the first occurred during the wet season and the second occurred during the dry season,” he said.

Another farmer, Haruna Idris, said the cost of a hot pepper bag began at N30,000 but the price later collapsed to N4,000.

He said it became evident that farmers’ earnings from the production of spicy peppers would be extremely low despite spending lots of money on production.

“Pepper farmers are currently in a terrible predicament. I know people sold their lands and others sold their houses. I also know someone who sold his car to invest in pepper cultivation, but all of them are counting heavy losses.

Daily Trust

I try not to cover stories like this in BTH (there are so many of them every week) but I will make an exception for this one buried at the end of a longer story about all sorts of criminals arrested:

He also confirmed the arrest of one Hamza Woru in Kaiama for unlawful possession of a human skull. Investigations revealed that the suspect allegedly exhumed the remains of a deceased relative for ritual purposes.

Describing the incident, the commissioner said, “The suspect attempted to sell the human skull before he was apprehended, while his accomplice is still at large.”

He added that the case has already been charged in court under the Kwara State law prohibiting dealings in human parts.

Punch

It is perhaps an easy mistake to make to confuse Mali with Malaysia:

Three Nigerian young girls trafficked under the guise of overseas employment have exposed a cross-border human trafficking syndicate that lured them with promises of jobs in Malaysia but ended up forcing them into prostitution in Mali.

The victims, Bella Boluwatife, Linda Zainab and Amoke Joy, who spoke to Vanguard reporter, said they were deceived, transported across multiple borders and held in debt bondage before their eventual rescue through coordinated intervention by authorities and anti-trafficking groups.

According to one of the victims, Bella: “Our journey began on February 17, 2026, when an agent identified as Peter Osas arranged what appeared to be legitimate travel plans to Malaysia with our parents. He assured us of employment in a bar or as a housekeeper to their parents. The process initially appeared credible, with a video call arranged with our supposed sponsor, identified as ‘Angel,’ during which they were coached to respond positively to all questions.”

“From Ogun State, we were taken to the Seme border and moved into Cotonou in Benin Republic. Our clothes were changed, new identities were issued, and passports were processed in less than an hour. We were told to lie about where we were from if questioned,” she said.

The journey, however, took a different turn as they were transported by road for six days through several checkpoints en route to Mali.

“At that point, we realised we were not travellers but cargo. There were armed officers at checkpoints, and money was exchanged to secure our passage,” Bella added.

“There were no houses, only makeshift shelters in a bush. We saw condoms everywhere and young girls, some as young as 13. That was when it hit us, this was not Malaysia. It was a brothel,” she said.

The victims said they were immediately forced into sex work and informed that each of them owed 1.5 million CFA francs, a debt they had to repay to regain freedom.

Vanguard

When the Lipman brothers invented the handheld PoS machine in 1995, I don’t think they ever envisaged this use case. But the nature of inventions is that they very often go on journeys that surprise the inventor:

The Delta State Police Command has commenced disciplinary proceedings against two officers captured in a viral video allegedly collecting money from a motorist through a Point of Sale (PoS) machine within the premises of the ‘C’ Division Police Station in Asaba.

The command’s spokesperson, Mr Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a statement, describing the incident as embarrassing, unprofessional, and conduct unbecoming of police officers.

He said the incident occurred on January 13, 2026, and drew public outrage after the footage surfaced online.

Edafe said the Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Mr Yemi Oyeniyi, aligned with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, prohibiting extortion and the use of PoS machines or any electronic payment platforms within police formations.

Guardian

Is poverty enough grounds for divorce? We go to Ilorin to find out:

An Area Court at Centre-Igboro, Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the Islamic marriage between a couple, Toyin Ajibola and Bashirat Mohammed on grounds of lack of money.

The presiding judge, Hammad Ajumonbi, while delivering ruling said that even though Toyin did not want to divorce his wife, she still had the needed to move on not be left stranded.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), he, therefore, dissolved their marriage and granted custody of the three children from their union to the wife.

The court also ordered the woman to observe the three months iddah (waiting) period before remarrying.

Ajumonbi ordered Toyin to be responsible for the feeding of their children.

“The defendant should have unrestricted access to their children, while the plaintiff should always make their children available any time the defendant requested to see them,” the judge said.

Earlier, Bashirat had applied for divorce saying that she was tired of her marriage to her husband due to paucity of fund and her husband’s irresponsibility.

“I want the court to grant me divorce so that I can have rest of mind,” she said.

The husband, however, told the court that he was still interested in his wife even though he was financially handicapped.

“I have been trying hard to get money to feed my family, but couldn’t.

“It is so painful that I can’t get money to visit her and the children when they left home,” he said.

Tribune

Ok, that’s enough internet for today. We end the Nigerian section with this story as there is nothing more to add after a story like this:

A mortician named Amaobi, in charge of a mortuary in Agwabi, Buruku local government area of Benue State has been arrested by operatives of the Benue State Police Command.

DAILY POST learnt that the mortuary attendant was arrested after he was caught on Friday morning using the leg of a dead person in the morgue as a walking stick.

It was gathered that Amaobi took the dead person’s leg he was using as a walking stick to a retailer’s shop to buy some items when he was caught.

This unusual act, according to reports, drew the attention of the community, and it eventually led to his arrest by the youths.

Upon the arrival of police officers, Amaobi, in his confession, claimed that his action was a demonstration meant to draw people’s attention.

According to him, he was trying to get support so he could appeal to the government for help, especially to evacuate over 18 criminal dead bodies reportedly killed last year by security operatives and deposited in his mortuary.

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

A husband and wife joint venture has ended in prison for both:

A husband and wife who stole the personal data of more than a hundred TfL workers and claimed false tax rebates worth £650k have been jailed. Luciana and Femi Akanbi's fraud was described by a judge as the 'worst ever' data breach in Transport for London's history.

A court heard Luciana Akanbi, 38, worked in HR for the capital's transport company and accessed her colleagues' private, personal information. Prosecutors said she and her husband, 51-year-old Femi Akanbi, used the passport number, national insurance numbers and bank details of 40 TfL employees to submit 139 false tax rebate claims to HMRC.

Woolwich Crown Court heard the fraud, carried out between September 2021 and January 2022, led to a loss of £433,000 from the public purse. The pair, who live in Dartford, have now been jailed for three years and nine months each for their part in the sophisticated fraud.

Kent Live

Meanwhile over in Atlanta but on a much bigger scale:

Indictments were unsealed today in the Northern District of Georgia and the Western District of Texas charging a Georgia man and a resident of the United Kingdom and Nigeria with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and other crimes arising out of a scheme to defraud the IRS using stolen identities.

According to the indictment, Akinade Adedeji Raheem, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Abayomi Quadri Eletu, 42, of the United Kingdom and Nigeria, conspired together and with others to claim fraudulent tax refunds using the stolen identities of accountants and taxpayers. Over the course of their scheme, the co-conspirators allegedly filed more than 300 false tax returns claiming over $100 million in refunds from the IRS.

Between 2018 and 2023, Eletu, Raheem and others allegedly obtained identifying information for tax professionals and taxpayers, including their names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, by creating online accounts with the IRS and requesting private taxpayer information. As part of the scheme, they changed the addresses of taxpayers to an address controlled by the co-conspirators, so the IRS would correspond with the co-conspirators instead of the taxpayers. They also submitted “change of address” requests to the U.S. Postal Service to cause the mail of some taxpayers to be forwarded to a co-conspirator’s address. Using the personal identifying information of others, Eletu, Raheem and their co-conspirators electronically filed tax returns claiming fraudulent refunds, then allegedly directed the IRS to split the refunds among several prepaid debit cards. Before issuing some of these tax refunds, the IRS sent verification letters to the addresses controlled by the co-conspirators, who, pretending to be the taxpayers, fraudulently verified the taxpayers’ identities and instructed the IRS to release the refunds.

Department of Justice

Diezani Alison-Madueke says she’s a scapegoat:

The only woman to head the Opec oil group has told her corruption trial she “stepped on the toes” of powerful men and was warned she would be made a political “scapegoat”.

Diezani Alison-Madueke denies living a “life of luxury” in the UK including having the use of seven homes, spending £2 million at Harrods and taking private jet trips funded by bribes from the oil industry.

The former executive for the Shell oil company was appointed Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. She was president of Opec, the world’s largest grouping of oil producers, between 2014 and 2015.

“For the first time in history, a woman had been put in charge of the nation’s most powerful sector,” Alison-Madueke told Southwark crown court. “This was not something that went down very well.” She added: “Obviously I had stepped on the toes of all the people and the groups in the petroleum sector.”

Alison-Madueke, the daughter of the late King Ogbotom Edede of the Atissa clan, described Nigeria as a “very parochial society” and that a “woman sitting at the helm was a major no-no.”

The Times

Mama Brazil is a Nigerian in Johannesburg proselytising Nigerian food:

Some people are born into their passions, while others discover them over time. For Loretha, the love of cooking was inherited. Known to many Joburgers as Mama Brazil, she traces her culinary journey back to the 1980s, growing up in a bustling household where her mother worked tirelessly to feed and support their family.

From a young age, Loretha was drawn to the kitchen. Before heading to school, she would help her mother prepare meals, unknowingly laying the foundation for what would become her life’s calling. Out of eight siblings, she is the one who followed her mother’s footsteps most closely, continuing the family’s food business legacy alongside her brother, who now runs a restaurant in Brazil.

Loretha arrived in South Africa in 2005 with a completely different plan. Initially, she intended to start a shoe business, importing footwear from Brazil. But life had other plans. Her passion for cooking proved stronger, gradually pulling her back into the world she knew best. She opened the first female-owned Nigerian restaurant in one of South Africa’s busiest neighbourhoods, Kempton Park, just 10 minutes away from O.R Tambo International Airport.

[…]

Life wasn’t always easy. After helping her mother’s business, Loretha worked as a domestic worker, hoping it would lead to educational opportunities. When that promise didn’t materialise, she carved her own path, working across the globe in countries such as Iran, Dubai, and Brazil.

It was later when she left Brazil and came to Johannesburg that she was recognised by someone who had met up with her in Brazil and referred to her as ‘Mama Brazil’. That is where the name of her restaurant comes from.

Despite her international experiences, South Africa holds a special place in her heart.

“This country is blessed,” she says. “There is peace here, and there are opportunities. You don’t have to wait for someone to give you a job, you can create something for yourself.”

TimeOut

A feature on the Kano Durbar with some great photos too:

It was around 500 years ago that the Emirate of Kano’s reign was challenged by a neighbouring kingdom in northern Nigeria. At the time, explains Nasiru Wada Khalil, a Kano-based researcher on Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritages of Kano Palace, the Emir of Kano was king of one of the most important trading cities and kingdoms in Sub-Saharan Africa. And the neighbouring Emir of Katsina had decided to wage war at Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan.

In an exuberant show of support in Kano, thousands of local leaders dressed in their turbans and rode out on their gilded horses – decked in leather saddles made from the region’s skilled craftsmen and silver stirrups from local metalworkers – next to their emir. The display of strength and solidarity worked, and the Emir of Katsina backed down, says Khalil. From that time forward, each and every Sallah (Eid) day, the Durbar is staged. ‘The Durbar in Kano has been in existence for 500 years plus,’ Khalil continues, ‘and our local leaders pledge their allegiance to the emir by taking an oath that they are not going to retreat in case of warfare.’

The World of Interiors

Quite rare to see an extradition from Nigeria to the UK. Typically it’s America that demands it:

A man has been extradited from Nigeria and charged with the 2018 murder of a 23-year-old in London.

Matthew Adebiyi, 25, arrived in London on Wednesday and was charged with the murder of Joshua Boadu.

Boadu, known as SJ, was attacked in broad daylight on Linsey Street in Bermondsey, south London on June 11 2018.

He was taken to hospital in a critical condition with injuries to his chest, neck and arm, but suffered a heart attack on the way to hospital and his life support was turned off ten days later.

Adebiyi has been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court later on Wednesday.

Two others have previously been convicted of SJ’s murder, with Denilson Davis, 27, and a 16-year-old boy from the Southwark area sentenced at the Old Bailey in September 2019.

The Standard

News from Oakland, California:

What began as a City Council hearing on a nearly $1 million fine for a man who city arborists said cut down protected trees on his Claremont Avenue property escalated into a heated debate about whether Oakland’s leaders would enforce their own laws.

It ended without a decision — and the council will take it up again next month.

The Tuesday hearing centered around Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner, who city arborists say chopped down 38 mature trees without permits in 2021 and 2022 across their land, an adjacent city property and on neighbors’ lots. One arborist called it “the most egregious illegal tree removal case” in decades.

Bernard, who was born in Nigeria and immigrated to the United States in 2001, said he and Warner wanted to build a future home for their family on the Oakland hills lot, and did “everything in their willpower” to respect the city’s laws. He said that he had acted on advice of an arborist to remove trees at risk of falling, or igniting during a wildfire. Bernard’s neighbors have also sued him over the trees that he cut on their property.

The Oakland City Council was split — with some aligning with environmental advocates who felt the city needed to show it would not allow trees to be removed without consequences, and other council members expressing sympathy for a couple trying to navigate city permitting.

[…]

“I have to express my confusion about how a Black man should be the first to receive consequences for things that white people have been doing for centuries,” Fife said. “The hills were built up for white Oaklanders, that nobody else had access to — not Asians, not Mexicans, not Black people.”

The council weighed whether to impose a smaller fine of $411,000. The vote came down along the same lines — with those who had voted for the full fine refusing to approve the smaller amount.

With no consensus, the council agreed to continue the matter at its May 5 meeting, marking the second time the council has deferred the decision since the matter was first brought before it in December.

SFChronicle

Long feature on ‘Pastor’ Tobi:

Stepping out of a black Lamborghini, dressed in a two-piece Under Armour tracksuit with dark sunglasses and a cap pulled down tightly over his face, Tobi Adegboyega looks more like a movie star than a church pastor.

In a video he shared on Instagram on March 25 this year, the Nigerian founder of the Peckham-based Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church (SPAC Nation) is being mobbed by adoring young fans as he attends a charity running event in central London organised by his church.

However, despite the incongruity of a clergyman having this Hollywood appearance and celebrity status, what’s most surprising is that he is in this country at all.

For in December 2024, Adegboyega lost an appeal against deportation after it emerged he’d been living in Britain illegally for more than 20 years, having first arrived from Lagos in 2005 on a six-month tourist visa.

When questioned about this in an interview with the BBC, the pastor claimed he had simply ‘lost track of time’. Regardless, it appears that 16 months after the immigration tribunal, the 45-year-old continues to live in the UK.

[…]

One 18-year-old whistleblower known as Lovis had a £5,000 loan taken out in her name by a company associated with the church, without her permission, after she had shared her bank details with a minister while suffering from kidney cancer.

A second, Gracy, joined the church in 2017 aged 21. A minister soon offered to apply for Universal Credit on her behalf. Weeks later she received a benefits payment for £1,200, significantly more than she was entitled to. It emerged that her application had falsely disclosed she had two children, increasing her entitlement. The church told her to deposit £900 across two church accounts, allowing her to keep the remainder.

‘I am convinced that SPAC Nation is a cult,’ declared Labour MP Steve Reed in Parliament in January 2020 before criticising the leadership’s outrageous displays of wealth. The Streatham and Croydon North MP then alleged – using parliamentary privilege – that some male SPAC Nation pastors were engaging in sexual relations with young female followers.

Daily Mail

Who is The General?

A notorious London gangster dubbed ‘The General’ has been jailed again - after repeated Home Office attempts to deport him failed.

Serial offender Joland Giwa, 36, was caught with around £17,000 worth of drugs when police raided his home in Risca, South Wales.

Giwa grew up terrorising the streets of Croydon as part of the ‘Don’t Say Nothing’ gang, or ‘DSN’ for short, after arriving in the UK aged ten.

He boasted on YouTube about his life of crime including ‘shanking’ his rivals - slang for stabbing.

Giwa was first jailed in 2009 for a string of offenses, and later moved to Newport in the hope it would sever his crime links with the capital - but failed to stay on the right side of the law.

The UK government has repeatedly tried to deport the criminal, believed to be from either Nigeria or Sierra Leone, but has been blocked for 17 years because neither country would take him.

Giwa and his twin brother landed at Heathrow in 1999, aged ten, without any parent, guardian or documentation.

He was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2005 - but that was withdrawn after his first conviction, and the deportation process began in 2009.

Daily Mail

Somehow Nigerians have been entering Britain on visas created for Ukrainians:

Thousands of Asian, African and Middle Eastern migrants have come to Britain under the Government’s Ukrainian free visa scheme, The Telegraph can reveal.

Nearly 3,500 visas have been granted to migrants from 112 countries – including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, India and the Palestinian territories – under the two schemes offering sanctuary to Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

They were eligible as family members of Ukrainians in the schemes, which allowed applicants to come to the UK either because they had family in Britain or had been offered accommodation by Britons under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship programme.

The schemes were set up by the previous government, but have continued under Labour as the war between Russia and Ukraine drags into its fifth year.

The 3,464 visas for non-Ukrainians represent one in every 80 of the 279,223 granted under the schemes, according to Home Office data analysed by The Telegraph.

Russians account for the biggest number of non-Ukrainian nationals to have come to the UK under the visa scheme, at 588. They are followed by Nigerians (408), Afghans (294), Iraqis (161), Moldovans (152), Turks (149), Indians (124), Belarusians (107), Iranians (107) and Egyptians (106).

Telegraph

Who the hell is that kid?

And the final stop of Max Iheanachor’s whirlwind pre-draft tour? San Francisco.

Since April 1, the former Arizona State tackle has crisscrossed the NFL universe in meeting with 12 teams for “Top 30” visits, which is some kind of clue underscoring his rising stock as the NFL draft looms.

“It’s a business, with teams bringing in all the guys they like or are interested in,” Iheanachor, 22, told USA TODAY Sports this week, on the eve of a visit with the 49ers that came on the final day when teams could conduct such sessions.

“You just kind of talk to them eye-to-eye. The O-line coach, teaching you in a room, seeing how you retain information. They want to learn about your character as a player. It’s definitely been an awesome experience.”

Maybe this winding journey leads to Iheanachor, ranked 27th on the big board for USA TODAY Sports, getting picked in the first round on Thursday. Regardless, that so many teams during the draft process have wanted a closer look at a prospect who has played football for all of four years – Iheanachor moved to the U.S. from Nigeria when he was 13 – seems to add value.

[…]

Listen to Saga Tuitele, Arizona State’s edgy offensive line coach, provide a snapshot. Tuitele, who was then at Fresno State, discovered Iheanachor when he went to check out another junior college player at East Los Angeles College (ELAC).

“Then, all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Who in the hell is that kid?’ Tuitele tells USA TODAY Sports.

USA Today

David Ojabo has been mentioned here before (BTH - 45) but this is a fuller story of his journey. There is an Ojabo ko fo joke playing in my head. I’m very sorry:

David Ojabo likely has one of the most unique journeys in the entire NFL. He was born in Nigeria but primarily grew up in Scotland. He hooped for on the U-14 Scottish National team. And he didn’t touch a football until his late teens after moving to New Jersey. That, however, didn’t stop Ojabo from being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Now, the Miami Dolphins edge rusher has a chance to prove that his choice of football wasn’t in vain after an injury-riddled start to his career. “You can’t even script this up, all those stops, man,” Ojabo said. “It’s been a wild journey, the ups and the downs, but it just made me into the man I am. I’ve met a lot of cultures, a whole lot of people, and I just feel almost like ready to take anything on, because I feel like there’s nothing I really haven’t seen with the international background and coming to America and being kind of all over the place leading up to now.”

Football, it would seem, found the 25-year-old by mistake. Ojabo moved to America at 17 where he began to flourish as a soccer and track star, even running a 10.8 second 100-meter dash. He set a Blair Academy school record, something that first put him on the map.

Miami Herald

Obe ata is a foundational sauce. You heard it here first:

Obe ata is a foundational sauce in Nigerian cooking, made from tomatoes, peppers, onions, and chiles simmered until richly flavorful. The sauce forms the base of many dishes, from rice preparations like jollof to stews served with meat, fish, or vegetables. In this skillet dish, it becomes the base for gently poached eggs, creating a vibrant meal that works equally well for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.

Eggs are cracked into small wells in the sauce and covered so they can poach gently in the steam. This method allows the whites to set while the yolks remain soft and creamy, creating a rich element that blends into the sauce when broken. The technique is similar to dishes like shakshuka, but the flavor profile here is distinctly West African thanks to the bold, peppery depth of obe ata.

Fresh parsley and basil are scattered over the skillet just before serving to deliver brightness and aroma. A sprinkle of crumbled feta adds a salty contrast that complements the savory sauce and eggs.

FOOD & Wine

Professor Ahmed Ahijo’s very simple solution to extreme heat in Nigeria’s north:

At less than a year old, the papayas are already fruiting outside the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) in the capital of Borno State, northeast Nigeria.

The fruit is joined by other crops – bananas and plantain – though they were still small and not yet ready to be eaten when The New Humanitarian visited in December 2025. Dotted among less edible plants like young baobab trees, the fruits fill up 26 plots, each 25 metres in length. Together, they form a 1.75 hectare orchard of roughly 826 trees – all selected for their ability to withstand extreme heat and arid conditions.

Inaugurated at the beginning of 2025, the hospital’s orchard was a direct response to one of the most pressing challenges doctors and staff are facing: rising temperatures caused by climate change.

Extreme heat is a global challenge with major implications for humanitarians. As the climate crisis intensifies, it won’t be uncommon to see emergency responders like doctors and nurses forced to take up adaptation measures like the orchard at UMTH.

Such projects can come with co-benefits, according to Ahmed Ahijo, chief medical director of UMTH. The hospital is a major healthcare institution, which caters to patients from across Borno, a region which has long grappled with a deeply entrenched conflict. A bombing in Maiduguri on 16 March killed 23 people and injured more than 100 others, a violent incident said to be indicative of a resurgent Boko Haram.

“Apart from helping to reduce and abate the temperature and mitigate climate change, we can also provide fruits for our patients and our staff at subsidised rates,” he told The New Humanitarian on a tour of the gardens.

The orchard is not yet complete, with many areas still empty, but fountains and benches have already been installed. The fountain water is intended not only for irrigation and for patients to enjoy, but also for animals like birds and bats. Some of the plots are named after real people, including Ahidjo, who has one dedicated to him.

The New Humanitarian

A NYT feature on Kannywood, thriving in the face of censorship:

Hollywood and Bollywood may be the two biggest “-woods,” but in Northern Nigeria there is a scrappy, thriving filmmaking industry, nicknamed Kannywood. The name comes from Kano, both a city and a state, where moviemakers with modest means churn out an amazing number of productions, all while dealing with strict censors.

Nigeria’s film industry is perhaps better known globally for its bustling Nollywood industry, based in the economic capital of Lagos. But Kannywood, to the north, is a genre that focuses on different cultural aspects.

Mansura Isah, an actress, filmmaker and producer in Kano, is a leading figure who has worked in the business since 2001. Today, at 40 years old, she is particularly proud of “Jodha,” a film she finished making late last year. The film touches in part on social issues including H.I.V. awareness and early marriage.

But when Isah took the final cut to the Kano Censorship Board in January, a process every Kannywood filmmaker must go through before a movie can be released, she broke down in tears over the ruling. The officials ordered her to cut out most of a birthing scene.

“They just told me that the way I lifted my legs was not OK, that men can have a fantasy,” she said. She had spent a lot on the movie and especially on that scene, she said, because it’s “the core story.”

“Without that scene,” she added, “that movie can never be the movie that I want people to see.”

[…]

According to Adamu, Kannywood productions started addressing social issues when AREWA 24, a U.S.-funded, Hausa-language TV station, was created in Kano more than a decade ago.

He said creation of the station was one of two defining moments of modern Kannywood history.

“The first one was the introduction of censorship, which has altered the story lines and everything. And then the second one was American funding to initiate” AREWA 24, he said.

AREWA 24 was created in 2014 at a cost of about $6 million and initially financed by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. At the time, American officials said the channel was crucial to countering the extremism of violent militant groups such as Boko Haram.

It took about four or five years for Kano filmmakers to incorporate social issues into their productions, Adamu said. What helped, he said, was seeing “the success of the TV shows that were inspired by American funding but not American story lines.”

The station was founded, he added, immediately after what he referred to as “the dark period” of censorship.

New York Times

Frontier Matters podcast should be back next week.

Enjoy the usual selection below

Nigerian Media

Very good article on wildcat gold mining in Niger state and the damage it is doing to communities and the environment. With lots of excellent photos too:

For about five years now, the silence of his neighbourhood has been broken not by the laughter of children or the bustle of new shops, but by the metallic clang of shovels and the chaos of hundreds of illegal miners, mostly youths.

Illegal miners had occupied lands within the community. Armed with weapons, cutlasses, and knives, and emboldened by impunity, they dig through residential lands in search of gold, carving scars into the earth and into the lives of those who lived there.

At first, Ike thought it was a case of young people constituting a nuisance, but when he confronted the miners who closed onto his property, his worst fears materialised. The same day he confronted them in late 2024, his home was attacked. During the attack, miners rained insults, calling him an enemy of progress and telling him to mind his own business while they focused on theirs.

[…]

An illegal miner who simply identifies as Rugged explained that the practice began as a response to constant power struggles among young people in the state capital.

“Miners who are stronger or have the numbers tend to attack the weak ones to collect their gold or money. So, we decided to also come with our weapons in order to protect ourselves and avoid intimidation,” the illicit miner told HumAngle.

Over time, the weapons were not only used against rival miners but also against residents and security personnel. Confirming what residents told HumAngle, Rugged admitted that when community members tried to stop them, they were chased away with threats.

HumAngle

If you don’t want us anymore, we don’t want you too either:

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service to immediately withdraw and deactivate passports held by persons who have formally renounced their Nigerian citizenship.

The directive, contained in a statement issued on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media, Alao Babatunde, covers Nigerians whose renunciation requests have been formally approved by the President.

Tunji-Ojo said the ministry, saddled with the responsibility of citizenship integrity, derives its authority for the directive from Section 29(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The statement quoted the constitutional provision as stating: “(1)Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.

“(2)The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria.”

According to the statement, the minister said once a person ceases to be a citizen, they can no longer hold any sovereign document of Nigeria, including a passport.

Punch

Abuja’s trees are disappearing. The inability to build around nature remains one of the saddest things about Nigerian construction:

Across the Federal Capital Territory, chainsaws hum where trees once stood, and bulldozers carve through forests that once cooled the city and absorbed its floods.

But beyond the rising skylines and luxury estates lies a more troubling reality: as green cover disappears, temperatures climb, floodwaters surge faster, and climate risks intensify. What was once a gift from nature, has not been sapped by man in his quest to build more structures for pecuniary gains. Thus, with more houses springing up here and there, fetching millions for their owners, Abuja is gradually being turned into a scorched earth and rendered bare by builders. The effect comes back to hurt every city dweller.

When Abuja was chosen as Nigeria’s capital in 1976, it wasn’t just a political decision — it was a bold vision. Planners imagined a city that would rise in harmony with nature: rolling hills, lush forests, and wide green belts that would shield residents from the harsh African sun and unpredictable rains. Every street, park, and estate was mapped with an eye toward balance — a capital that would breathe, not just function.

Architects and urban planners dubbed it a “green city,” a symbol of modernity intertwined with ecology. Protected forests and buffer zones were deliberately integrated into the master plan, meant to absorb floodwaters, moderate temperature, and sustain biodiversity. Abuja was meant to be more than concrete and steel; it was meant to be a living city, where nature and development coexisted.

Today, that vision is under siege as rapid population growth, sprawling estates, and unrelenting construction are erasing the very green spaces that were meant to define the capital. The dream of a climate-resilient Abuja is fading, replaced by heat, dust, and the creeping threat of floods — a stark warning that Africa’s showpiece city may be paying the price for unchecked urban ambition.

From the air, the changes are undeniable. Satellite images show forested hills around Gwarimpa, Kubwa, and Jabi shrinking year by year, replaced by sprawling housing estates, highways, and commercial complexes. Where once thick greenery cushioned the city against heat and floods, now bare patches of land and dusty roads dominate the landscape.

Vanguard

That thing Fela sang about….

Three people were killed when an ambulance conveying the corpse of an old woman home for burial ran into a tricycle.

The accident which happened in the Big Gutter area of Aba road in Umuahia on Thursday, claimed the lives of two Keke passengers on the spot while the third victim died in the hospital.

The ambulance which was driven by a woman, was alleged to be speeding when it hit the tricycle that was coming from the Ubakala-Old Umuahia axis.

A crowd of sympathisers who gathered at the scene after the incident, alerted some police officers who arrived the scene and helped in evacuating the injured victims to the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia for immediate attention.

No official statement has been issued by relevant agencies in the state about the accident but some residents who witnessed the incident claimed that it could have been caused by over speeding on the part of the ambulance driver.

An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity, said that the ambulance was conveying the corpse of a 77-old-woman to the Isi Court area of Umuahia for burial when the accident occurred.

Daily Post

Daniel Bwala wants you to know what happened to him after his car crash of an interview with Mehdi Hasan:

The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has said he underwent throat surgery days after his widely debated interview with Al Jazeera journalist Mehdi Hasan.

Bwala disclosed this on Friday during an appearance on News Central’s programme, 60 Minutes with Mr Kay, while reacting to the interview and the backlash that followed online.

“Eight days after the interview with Mehdi Hasan, I underwent surgery on my throat. I don’t know whether it is the ‘Obidient’ people that threw that African thing, but in any case, I’m back and strong,” he said.

He criticised a group of social media users he identified as “Obidients,” accusing them of placing political loyalty above national interest.

“I know the environment I come from; it’s an environment where there exists a species of ‘Trojans’ of social media called the ‘Obidient,’ who do not care about the national interest or the security of Nigeria and will do everything possible to achieve the aim of their hero, no matter the cost,” Bwala stated.

Tribune

Nigeria’s disorder and coordination problems in miniature:

Zuba, a major commercial hub in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is grappling with the absence of a functional central motor park despite hosting about six strategic markets.

Located along key highways linking northwestern states and the southern part of the country, the town falls under Gwagwalada Area Council. Its strategic position earned it a pioneer motor park, reportedly built in 1986 by then FCT Minister, Hamza Abdullahi.

Findings by Abuja Metro show that the once-bustling motor park, constructed alongside shops that added commercial vibrancy to the facility, has gradually lost its relevance due to the emergence of parallel roadside terminals within the community.

As a result, most drivers have abandoned the park, leaving it largely occupied by mechanic workshops, makeshift stalls and a few struggling businesses.

Stakeholders who spoke to Abuja Metro attributed the decline to the park’s location, which they said is far from major roads where passengers typically alight.

An official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Abubakar Bello, explained that passengers arriving in Zuba often prefer boarding onward vehicles directly from the roadside rather than hiring motorcycles to access the motor park.

“Passengers come into Zuba from different parts of Abuja, but once they drop, they are reluctant to take motorcycles to the motor park. Instead, they join vehicles heading to places like Kaduna or Lokoja along the roadside, often at cheaper rates,” he said.

According to him, this trend has forced many drivers to relocate their operations to the roadside in search of passengers.

Daily Trust

Revenge theft is officially added to the lexicon:

The Airport Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old man, George Ikpe, over the alleged theft of equipment valued at about N15 million from his former workplace, Vovida Communications Limited, an IT solutions company.

According to the statement issued by the Command, the suspect was apprehended on April 3, 2026, by operatives of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Police Division after what authorities described as careful intelligence gathering and investigation.

Police said preliminary findings showed that Ikpe allegedly gained unauthorised access to the company’s premises located along the Murtala Muhammed International Airport axis and carted away key equipment.

A review of the company’s CCTV footage was said to have captured the suspect’s movements, helping investigators confirm his identity.

Items reportedly stolen include two custom-made Vovida Central Processing Units (CPUs) valued at ₦10,357,000 and a high-end printer valued at ₦4,715,000, bringing the total value to approximately ₦15,072,000.

Further investigation led to the recovery of the stolen CPUs after the suspect provided useful information. However, the high-end printer had already been sold before his arrest.

The suspect reportedly told investigators that he carried out the act as revenge after his employment with the company was terminated.

Daily Post

Non-Nigerian Media

The intrepid Ruth McClean goes undercover in a erotica WhatsApp group. Journalism ensues:

On a recent morning in northern Nigeria, some thousand women’s phones pinged. The latest chapter from “Nymphomaniac King” had just dropped on a women-only WhatsApp group.

I had been silently observing in the group, Oum Hairan World, for months, after the author let me in. The prose was explicit, using Hausa words for body parts that would never survive the region’s Islamic censors. The group of Muslim women responded in kind, in a hilarious, emoji-laden discussion of who could handle the king’s appetites.

“His Majesty’s great staff is what impresses you all,” posted Oum Hairan, the author, teasing her raucous readers.

Then, just as “Nymphomaniac King” reached a tantalizing climax, she slammed the paywall down.

“You will pay 300 naira (about 20 cents) for the regular group,” she wrote to the women begging for more pages. She added that “V-VIP” access cost 1,500 naira, dropped her account number and waited for the payments to roll in.

[…]

But then, in 2021, the Hisbah called her into their office in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city. When she presented herself before three women from the Hisbah, she said they told her to make her writing less erotic.

“They told me I was committing a very big sin,” she said, laughing. She said she shot back, how could they know that — unless they were reading her books?

When they admitted that they had read a few, she explained her philosophy. Her books were targeted at married women, she said, and the point was to convey messages about society. She was a mother, trying to raise upright children, she added, so she wouldn’t do anything to corrupt young people. Indeed, in a kind of foreword to each book, Mrs. Umar forbids young, unmarried women from reading them.

The Hisbah seemed to accept her explanation.

“I told them I couldn’t promise to stop, and they let me go,” Mrs. Umar said.

New York Times

I hope Moby does not plan to visit Nigeria anytime soon. Lest he becomes the thing he sniffed out:

A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) detector dog sniffed out 40 kilograms of undeclared beef and chicken that was stashed in a travellers’s luggage at Toronto Pearson Airport late last month.

CBSA tells CityNews their dog, Moby, caught scent of the meat in a traveller’s luggage arriving from Nigeria on March 27.

“The food products were seized and the traveller was fined,” CBSA said while reminding travellers that they are required by law to declare all food, plant and animal products coming into Canada.

Toronto City News

If you are on a provisional licence in the UK, you need to take extra care:

A coroner has called for the government to look into a loophole in UK driving laws after a Nigerian man who had twice failed his test caused the death of a pensioner.

Timothy Kusemi, 41, killed Susan Whittles, 70, in a collision in the East Riding of Yorkshire while driving unsupervised on an provisional licence.

Kusemi failed to give way at a crossroads and hit the side of Whittles’ vehicle, which had right of way in Bridlington, on November 24, 2023. Whittles died at the scene and her husband, a front seat passenger, was seriously injured.

A coroner has now called for the government to close a loophole that allows foreign motorists to drive unsupervised for a year without L-plates. This rule does not apply to British learner drivers.

Kusemi held a Nigerian driving licence which was valid in Great Britain for 12 months from the date he became resident. He was issued with a provisional British licence and was required to pass a driving test before September 14, 2023.

Kusemi, who had moved to the UK 14 months before the crash, had passed his theory test but failed his practical driving test twice before the collision. He failed his practical test four further times before passing on March 21 last year. The coroner noted that Kusemi continued to drive beyond the 12-month limit despite failing his test.

After pleading guilty on June 10 last year to causing death while unlicensed and uninsured, Kusemi was given an interim disqualification. He went on to plead guilty on February 23 to causing death by dangerous driving and while unlicensed, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for six years and banned from driving for 11 years, after which an extended retest will be required.

The Times

New documentary about Nigeria’s female film directors out in the UK today:

7.30pm, Channel 4
There’s a reason why this Friday evening buzzkill of a documentary strand is approaching its 50th season: it does a brilliant job of finding essential, often bleak stories from around the world and offering a potted guide. This new run begins in Nigeria and the conservative city of Kano, which is home to a prolific film industry. Anja Popp meets Mansurah Isah, one of its few female directors, and explores her battle to elevate women’s perspectives.

Guardian

Helen Ogbu is running for office in Ireland:

At the top of the staircase in Helen Ogbu’s home in Galway is a large picture of her late husband Sunny Ogbu, a man who she always described as the “light of my life”.

In 2010, Sunny Ogbu was poised to make a big announcement about plans to run for the People’s Democratic Party in Nigeria in the country’s national assembly. The day before his announcement, he spotted what he thought were stranded locals on the roadside. They were waving for help, and despite his driver’s reservations, they pulled over. In fact, it was a team of suspected hired assassins.

“His driver slowed down and the next thing, they put the gun to his head and shot him,” Ogbu, 53, said this week, speaking from her home in Galway. Ogbu, who was the first person of colour to be elected to Galway city council in 2024, has now been selected to run for Labour in the Galway West by-election, following Catherine Connolly’s election as the president of Ireland.

For the first time, she is telling the full story of how she came to Ireland from Nigeria, where she was born and grew up as part of a family of nine children; how she lost her husband in a killing that she had feared would happen for years; and how she is facing down racist and anti-immigrant sentiment in a bid to win a seat in the Dail in this May’s election.

The Times

Incredible things are happening in Ireland:

A Nigerian national who insists gardaí mixed him up with one of his nine identical brothers is the first person in the State to be prosecuted for obstructing deportation.

Alleged “decuplet” Sam Okwuoha (28) was originally brought before Dublin District Court on Tuesday, following a Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) investigation.

He claims a case of mistaken identity has led to him being charged with a single offence contrary to the Immigration Act 1999.

According to court documents, he is accused of obstructing Det Gda Graham Dillon at Dublin Airport on March 6th during an effort to deport him from the State.

The accused, who had previously lived in Dublin, replied, “I am not the person” when the charge was put to him.

Bail was denied on Tuesday, and his case continued before Judge Alan Mitchell at Cloverhill District Court on Friday.

The accused, who appeared via video-link, spoke several times during the procedural hearing, at first repeating his contention that “I am not the person named on the charge”.

The judge noted the allegation was a “summary only” offence, dealt with at the District Court level, and punishable by a maximum 12-month sentence and a fine of up to €2,500.

“It is the first time we have ever used it,” Dillon told the court.

Irish Times

Your flight from Lagos to Barbados that you have been waiting for will depart next month:

Nigeria’s Air Peace will restart once-monthly flights from Lagos, Nigeria to Antigua and Barbados starting May 24 using a Boeing 777.

Sean Mendis says Air Peace has threatened to sue him for questioning the wisdom of this service. I’ve known Sean for more than 20 years, when we co-moderated the Delta Air Lines forum together on FlyerTalk. He’s former COO of Ghana’s Africa World Airlines and he wrote on LinkedIn,

The airline argues this service makes sense based on “previous ad-hoc charter flights to Antigua and Barbuda in 2023 and a landmark Lagos-Montego Bay charter flight to Jamaica operated in 2020.” A single ‘landmark’ charter flight six years ago. There were some services beyond this. And it’s just… weird.

There’s not a lot of traffic West Africa and the Caribbean. So daily or even Saturday-only service would bleed horribly. So the one thing that monthly service has going for it is fewer flights means losing less money.

Boarding Area

My Father’s Shadow still getting love and if you’re in Houston you can still see it:

The Nigerian/British co-production “My Father’s Shadow” arrives in Houston on a wave of acclaim that has made it one of the most celebrated movies from the African continent over the last year. It won outstanding debut honors at this year’s BAFTA Awards for filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr., nabbed the British Independent Film Awards’ best director nod, was given the Golden Camera Special Mention title at Cannes and was the UK’s official entry in the international category for this year’s Oscars, though it didn’t make it to the final five. Throw in a multitude of nominations and wins at various global film festivals and “My Father’s Shadow” is a low-key, indie juggernaut.

Not bad for a movie made for around $3 million by a guy directing his first narrative feature with a 16mm camera and a hope and a prayer. Co-written by Davies with his brother, Wale, “My Father’s Shadow” is a moving, semi-autobiographical remembrance of family and fatherhood, set against the chaotic backdrop of Nigeria’s disputed 1993 election in which the ruling military junta annulled the results, sparking violence and protests.

Yet the film, playing twice on Saturday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and streaming on mubi.com beginning Friday, opens quietly, with 11-year-old Remi (Chibuike Marvellous Egbo) and his eight-year-old brother Akin (Chibuike's real-life brother, Godwin Egbo), playing in their village, waiting for their mother to come home from work. Their father, Folarin (Sope Dirisu, "Gangs of London"), is working far away, and they don't know when they might see him again.

Houston Chronicles

Aso-oke is God-ordained and there is nothing anybody can do about it:

Artisans work for hours setting threads on looms to create narrow, tightly patterned strips, which are later sewn together into wider cloths for garments and accessories.

“This is what Iseyin is known for,” Kareem Adeola, 35, said from behind his loom. “We inherited it from our forefathers.”

While many weavers in Iseyin are middle-aged men, younger people like Waliu are entering the trade, bringing new ideas and skills.

Some engage graphic artists to develop new designs.

- ‘Meant to be handwoven’ -

Despite rising demand, the craft has largely stuck to its rudimentary roots.

Attempts to mechanise production have been limited or largely failed.

“If you use a machine to weave aso-oke, it won’t come out as nice as if it was handwoven,” said Adeola, weaving a yellow-and-olive piece.

“People have tried it before and it did not work. It is meant by God to be handwoven.”

Daily Mail

Which one of you brought bushmeat into Peckham?

A Russian crypto firm has opened an office in Lagos:

A recent vacancy posted on a Russian recruitment site sought a project manager to build a business “from scratch” in Togo, west Africa. The employer would be A7, a Russian cryptocurrency network under western sanctions, run by a fugitive oligarch and a state defence sector bank.

The advert is the latest sign that Moscow is seeking to build an alternative payments system after its banks were cut off by the west in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The company’s eye on Africa tracks with Moscow’s expanding influence across the continent. Russia has strengthened its presence in several African countries in recent years, making new political inroads following a string of coups in the Sahel region and in Madagascar, and signing a series of trade and military deals.

A7 and its backers may be seeking to “integrate their operation into the Kremlin’s larger strategic machine in Africa,” according to Elise Thomas, senior investigator at the Centre for Information Resilience, a London-based non-profit research group. The payments network opened an office in Nigeria last autumn, videos showed, and also announced a new branch in Zimbabwe.

[…]

“The project is being implemented with the comprehensive support of government financial agencies of all parties,” Mikhail Dorofeev, deputy chair of PSB, said about the Nigeria and Zimbabwe openings, according to state news agency Interfax. He spoke of “a shared interest in . . . scaling a stable and sanctions-resilient cross-border settlements system”.

Financial Times

Update on the Australian lithium play in Nigeria. Note that the company is putting a lot of sponsored reports (including this one) into Australian media:

Chariot Resources has confirmed the presence of valuable spodumene in all six of its previously announced high-grade lithium samples taken from its green Fonlo and Iganna projects in Nigeria.

Independent quantitative mineralogical analysis, completed by the University of British Columbia, identified easily processable spodumene, accounting for between 28.4 per cent and a whopping 75.3 per cent of the overall weight in crystalline phases.

The confirmation is a serious boost for the company’s Nigerian ambitions, with the presence of the simple, recoverable spodumene being a major contributing factor for any hard-rock lithium hopeful.

Spodumene is far more amenable to conventional processing methods than other lithium-bearing minerals, such as the common lepidolite, which is complex and full of impurities. Notably, lepidolite was not identified in any of Chariot’s test results.

The six samples also returned impressive lithium oxide grades between 2.66 per cent and 5.96 per cent, with management insisting that the new mineralogical data now provide the necessary technical input for its development plans to eventually produce a direct-shipping lithium ore.

Test work also identified the caesium-rich mineral pollucite, with one sample from Iganna notching up 9.5 per cent of the mineral. The company says this explains the elevated caesium values previously reported and strengthens its interpretation that Fonlo and Iganna are the most favourable lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite systems.

Notably, the confirmation of mineralogy has substantially cleared the metallurgical pathway for Chariot’s Nigerian assets, allowing high-confidence planning to accelerate technical studies and field programs.

The Fonlo and Iganna projects form part of a four-project portfolio in southwest Nigeria in which Chariot is currently acquiring a 66.67 per cent interest. The portfolio covers 254 square kilometres and has a documented history of artisanal lithium mining.

The West Australian

Getting hot in here:

Azeez Akanni hopped on a yellow bus heading for the central business district on Lagos Island, beads of sweat rolling down his neck and arms.

The 32-year-old clothier regularly navigates chaotic traffic to deliver luxury clothes and footwear to customers across the megacity of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.

But his and millions of others’ commutes have been snarled by brutal temperatures as Africa’s most populous country fights a heatwave.

Adding to the pain, a spike in fuel prices from the Iran war has sent costs for air conditioning and back-up generators shooting up alongside the mercury.

“The sun is too hot,” Akanni told AFP, wedged between two equally sweaty passengers.

High temperatures are nothing new in the west African nation, perched just above the equator

But according to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), things are getting worse: it warned in a 2025 report that in the decade from 2016-2025, nine out of the 10 years were “among the 12 warmest on record”.

Last week, UK-based Korean DJ JinseoulMusic, who is currently touring Nigeria, shared her struggles in a post on Instagram to her more than 430,000 followers.

“Surviving Nigerian heat with no light,” she wrote, using the colloquial term for electricity. “Heat woke me up in the middle of the night.”

AFP

Hope you’re enjoying the Easter break and this week’s selection does not spoil it for you.

Nigerian Media

Competition for DHL and the likes is coming from motor parks:

Nigerians are increasingly turning to motor parks as a cheaper and more accessible alternative for sending packages across the country. The shift, which has become more pronounced in recent months, is reshaping the way goods are moved between cities, with transport parks now handling more deliveries than passengers.

Unlike the conventional logistics firms, such as DHL, FedEx and GIG, motor parks offer a more flexible and affordable system that connects senders, drivers, storage handlers and motorcycle dispatch riders in a chain that ensures packages reach their destinations.

With fuel price high and conventional logistics firms charging more, the informal network of drivers, storage handlers and motorcycle dispatch riders has become the backbone of intercity logistics.

At Jabi Motor Park in Abuja, a fully loaded vehicle is no longer a sign that passengers are ready to go; it often means that it is packed with parcels.

From bags of cloths to live animals, drivers now move more goods than people as Nigerians increasingly turn to motor parks for faster and cheaper delivery.

Parcels wrapped in nylon or sacks sealed with tape and marked with phone numbers now compete for space with passengers. In some cases, they take over entire vehicles.

Weekend Trust findings show that many Nigerians are turning to commercial vehicle drivers at motor parks to send goods, citing lower cost and faster delivery despite the absence of formal tracking systems.

At Jabi Motor Park, a booking agent, Musa Ali, said the volume of parcels, locally referred to as waybills, has grown so much that they sometimes outweigh passenger traffic.

Daily Trust

A strange and terrible story:

A 15-year-old boy, identified simply as Gift, has died from suspected complications arising from a drug overdose reportedly taken in an attempt to gain weight.

The Delta State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, disclosed details of the incident in an interrogation video shared on X on Thursday.

According to him, the boy ingested multiple tablets of a drug identified as dexamethasone, which was allegedly given to him by his friend, Destiny Akpofure, who claimed it could make him gain weight.

He noted that Gift fell ill days after taking the medication and later died from the resulting complications.

Edafe wrote, “A very sad case of a 15-year-old who took sachets of dexamethasone tablets and swallowed several tablets at once.

“Asked why they were taking the drug, his friend, from whom he got it, said they were taking the drug to make them gain weight and eat more.

“The boy fell sick days later and was told by the suspect not to disclose that he had taken an overdose. He died four days later.”

Recounting events leading to the incident, Akpofure said he had obtained the drug from another friend at a party.

Speaking in Pidgin English, he explained that Gift had asked about the purpose of the drug, and he told him it could make a person sleep, eat more, and gain weight.

He added that the deceased requested to see the drug.

Akpofure said he had earlier taken some of the tablets himself before handing them over.

He said, “I collected the drug from a friend at a party. I asked him to introduce me to a medicine that would make me gain weight, and he gave me the drug, saying it would make me eat, sleep, and get fat. I took four tablets.

Punch

Baby price watch:

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has secured the conviction of a couple for baby trafficking in Cross River State.

The convicts, Esther Ini Udo, 32, and Eyo Stephen Udo, 34, were sentenced by the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar to a total of 30 years’ imprisonment.

PUNCH Metro reports that each of the convicts is to serve 15 years in prison.

According to a statement issued by NAPTIP on Thursday, the couple was arraigned on a four-count charge bordering on the buying and selling of babies for exploitation, contrary to the provisions of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

The statement read, “Today, April 1, 2026, the Cross River State Command secured two convictions in FRN v. Esther Ini Udo & Eyo Stephen Udo, Charge No. FHC/CA/19C/2025.

“The convicts were charged with four counts bordering on the buying and selling of babies for exploitation, contrary to Sections 13(4)(a), (c) and (e), 21, and 27 of the TIPPEA Act, 2015.

“The first convict sold her newborn baby to one Oluchi Judith, who is at large, for the sum of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira).

“Also, the two convicts bought a one-year-old baby boy for the sum of N150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) from Blessing and Uduak (both convicts) and resold the baby to the same Oluchi Judith for the sum of N400,000 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira).”

Punch

What does one even say to this?

In apparent effort to cushion the effects of high cost of tomatoes, the average Nigerian family has returned to the long abandoned habit of buying boiled tomato mix.

Economy&Lifestyle findings revealed that the tomato mix is a combination of tomatoes, habanero pepper and onion blended to paste and boiled.

The paste is allowed to cool before being portioned in cellophanes sachets and sold within the ranges of N200 to N500.

Mrs. Ramota Abdul, a vegetable seller, said she had to include it to her business, as there is hardly electricity in their area for residents to use their electric blenders.

“For months now we had no light.

“The increase in the price of fuel has created a rise in the cost of blending things in the market.

“My vegetable business is crawling with bills piling up. So I saw the opportunity to introduce blended tomato mix paste for sale to make profit to foot my bills.

“At first I thought people wouldn’t patronize me but they did.

“At times I sell up to a basket of tomato paste mix in a day.

Vanguard

The violence is real but the security is fake:

The Nigerian military has disclosed that its troops arrested two people posing as security operatives and prevented fresh attacks in parts of Plateau State.

A statement signed by Captain Chinonso Polycarp Oteh, media information officer of the Joint Task Force Operation Enduring Peace, described the development as a major step toward restoring peace in the state.

“In a significant breakthrough aimed at restoring the desired peace in Plateau State, troops of Joint Task Force, Operation Enduring Peace, achieved remarkable success in the late hours of Thursday during a targeted operation at Dutse Uku in Jos North Local Government Area,” the statement said.

“At approximately 11:45 pm, vigilant troops responding to a distress call on sporadic shooting at Dutse Uku general area intercepted and apprehended two individuals masquerading as security operatives. These impostors, dressed in tactical black uniforms, were caught actively participating in the arson of residential properties and the orchestration of violence within the community,” the statement added.

It said further, “Those arrested are currently in custody, while two persons who sustained gunshot wounds were moved by troops to a medical facility for attention, and they are in a stable condition. This pivotal arrest serves as a direct rebuttal to recent allegations suggesting military complicity in the Jos North unrest, effectively proving that the atrocities previously attributed to official personnel are being committed by criminal elements using deceptive attire to sow discord and defame the Armed Forces.”

Daily Post

This is the first case of Indomie fraud we have covered here at BTH:

In another development, the EFCC on the same day arraigned one Ibrahim Mohammed Tungushe before Justice Kumaliya on charges related to alleged fraud involving N1.25 million.

One of the counts read: “That you, Ibrahim Mohammed Tungushe on or about November, 2025 in Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly misappropriated and converted to your own use the aggregate sum of N 1,250,000.00 ( One Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) only, being proceeds from the sale of 100 cartons of indomie instant noodles, belonging to one Bukar Babakura which you received under the guise that you will supply same to your customers and make payments for it within 24 (twenty four) hours and thereby committed an offence contrary section 296 and punishable under section 297 of the Borno state penal code Law and other matter connected therewith (No. 3 Vol. 48 Law 2923) respectively.”

Daily Post

A strange story of a couple going through a divorce who are fighting over one of their 3 children:

The Family Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday, extended the interim custody of an eight-year-old boy to the state’s Ministry of Social Welfare, pending the determination of a dispute between his parents.

Justice Blessing Egwu gave the order during proceedings in a suit marked HC/FC/13/2026 involving a Deputy Registrar in the state’s judiciary, Edmund Ujong (applicant), and Ms Wofai Bassey Etim (respondent).

The dispute centres on the custody of the child, with both parents who have two other children together accusing each other of abducting the boy.

At the resumed hearing, each of the parties urged the court to grant them custody of the child.

However, the judge expressed displeasure with counsel to both parties for filing fresh motions on the eve of the hearing, a development the court said delayed proceedings and stalled progress towards a resolution.

[…]

The court further ordered that both parents be granted access to the child at least twice weekly, subject to conditions set by the Welfare Department, and adjourned till April 28, 2026, for continuation of trial.

Guardian

Human beings are complicated beings with needs that can never be fully met:

“My husband used to cheat when we first started dating. I would suspect him and he would usually beg and beg and beg till I forgive him. Then we got married. My husband was cheating all through the first year, second year.

“In fact, every day we were fighting. Every day we were having an argument, from one argument to another. After we finished fighting, we would make up and everything would go smoothly.”

She admitted confronting other women involved, sometimes issuing threats.

“I remember calling the friend ladies, threatening them to leave my husband. I remember telling them to leave him or else I would post their pictures online. And they would insult me and I would insult them back.”

“All those things was what made our marriage sweet. It used to make me very, very happy. Our marriage was very, very interesting.”

The woman said her husband’s life changed after a spiritual encounter.

“But look, I don’t know what happened and how God encountered my husband or my husband encountered God. Now, my husband is a saint. To even cheat on me is a problem. Work will close, my husband will come back immediately.”

“I’ve asked him so many times if he’s going through midlife crisis. He will keep telling me that no, that he has found the purpose and he has known that there’s nothing out there again. And it is left for him to be faithful to his wife.”

She said the absence of conflict has made her marriage dull.

“I don’t know how to tell him to go back to the streets. I don’t know how to tell him to bring up all those things that used to make our marriage interesting. Now our marriage is just a one-way street. Very boring. Cook, sleep. Even to argue with me is a problem.”

“To me, I feel like every marriage needs a spark. Spark can be a cheating partner or an abusive partner or a violent husband. Something that just keeps the marriage going. Something that just makes it interesting. But my husband is boring.”

She also said she is unsure whether she should take drastic steps herself.

“Me now, I don’t know if I should start cheating on my husband to bring back the spark. But I know that many men don’t forgive cheating. And I don’t want to be caught cheating on him. Because I don’t want to go back to my parents’ house.”

Tribune

Non-Nigerian Media

Who is Uar Bernard?

Uar Bernard (pronounced “ooh-are”) measured in earlier this week at the NFL’s HBCU showcase at 6-4 1/2, 306 pounds with 11-inch hands and almost 36-inch arms. Other people who have spent their lifetimes in football say Bernard looks like a Marvel creation. Bernard’s body fat: 6 percent. He vertical-jumped 39 inches and broad-jumped 10-10, which was 14 inches more than any other defensive tackle did at this year’s combine. His 40-yard dash: 4.63.

“Hands down, he is the most explosive athlete I’ve ever seen in my life,” Luallen told The Athletic. “He broad jumped 10-10, and it was effortless. At 306 pounds. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Longtime quarterback coach George Whitfield was helping lead the offensive positional drills at the HBCU showcase at the Washington Commanders facility. After his work was done, the defensive players took the field. Whitfield couldn’t take his eyes off Bernard. He’d never seen anyone like that, either.

“It’s like watching (Victor Wembanyama),” Whitfield said. “The numbers don’t even do him justice. He’s 6-5, 310, and he’s got 6 percent body fat on him. NBA players don’t have 6 percent body fat on them.”

[…]

Bernard has come a long way in three years. He grew up in a small village in Nigeria, where most people are farmers, he said. His father was a policeman but passed away when Bernard was 16.

He wanted to do something different from most people in his area. “I wanted to go into real estate,” he said. But after getting noticed while playing basketball and told by a coach he should try American football, Bernard attended several camps in Africa before getting selected for the NFL’s IPP program. In the past decade, the program has put numerous players on NFL rosters. Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata is the most notable IPP alum.

The Athletic

Not been a good couple of weeks for NIgerian dieticians:

A dietician has been struck off the UK register after using ChatGPT to give ‘textbook’ answers during a remote NHS job interview while she was in Nigeria.

Aiwanehi Aigbokhaevbo was caught using AI to provide real-time answers to impress interviewers during a video call for a job at an NHS hospital.

The registered dietician kept asking the interview panel to repeat the question, before ‘slowly and deliberately’ repeating the question back herself, in an effort to buy time until she had ‘model’ answers, a tribunal heard.

Nigeria-based Miss Aigbokhaevbo raised suspicions when she was spotted reading off a screen and managing to speak ‘very eloquently’ despite her considerable hesitation before answering.

One of the panel members subsequently put the interview questions into ChatGPT and noted significant similarities to the answers she had provided.

It was heard that the use of AI had been a particular problem with candidates from Nigeria applying for jobs.

Three different members of the panel suggested she was cheating both while answering questions in the interview and while completing a subsequent case study question.

Miss Aigbokhaevbo has now been struck off following a hearing at the Heath and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS).

The tribunal heard that she undertook the job interview for an oncology dietician role at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in March 2024.

Daily Mail

The work of Tolù Adẹ̀kọ́:

In a world filled with cookie-cutter interiors, there is an element of comfort and joy in embracing spaces that skew from the norm, or so thinks Nigerian-born, London-based British interior designer Tolù Adẹ̀kọ́.

As the founding designer of multidisciplinary practice Adẹ̀kọ́ & Co., he is equally acquainted with imagining exclusive hospitality and gastronomy destinations that stand out for their moody atmosphere and artisanal flair, as he is used to dreaming up homes that reflect the breadth of experiences, passions, and stories that make up his clients’ universe.

I sat down with Tolù to understand why, in his own words, personality, not trends, is the hottest new thing in decor, and why today, the best designs — the ones that stick with us, standing the test of time — are those that not only look beautiful but capture the nature of those who inhabit them.

Livingetc

Electric vehicle assembly from kit in Lagos:

A growing number of Nigerian companies are turning to kit-based assembly to bring electric vehicles to market in Africa. Lagos-based Saglev Micromobility Nigeria recently partnered with Dongfeng Motor Corp., in Wuhan, China, to assemble 18-seat electric passenger vans from imported kits.

Kit-based assembly allows Nigerian firms to reduce costs, create jobs, and develop local technical expertise—key steps toward expanding EV access. Fully assembled and imported EVs face high tariffs that put them out of reach for many African consumers, whereas kit-based approaches make electric mobility more affordable today. Saglev’s initiative reflects a broader trend: CIG Motors, NEV Electric, and regional players in Côte D’Ivoire, Ghana, and Kenya are also leveraging imported kits to build local EV ecosystems, signaling that parts of West Africa are intent on catching up with global electrification efforts.

CIG Motors operates a kit-assembly plant in Lagos producing vehicles from Chinese automakers GAC Motor and Wuling Motors. These vehicles include the Wuling Bingo, a compact five-door electric hatchback, and the Hongguang Mini EV Macaron, a microcar with roughly 200 kilometers of range aimed at ride-share operators looking for ultralow-cost urban transport. NEV Electric focuses on electric buses and three-wheelers for urban transit and last-mile delivery.

Saglev’s CEO, Olu Faleye, emphasizes that Nigeria’s EV transition addresses both practical economic needs in addition to environmental goals. Beyond passenger transport, electric vehicles could help reduce one of Nigeria’s persistent agricultural challenges: postharvest spoilage. Nigeria loses an estimated 30 million to 40 million tonnes of food annually because of weak logistics and limited refrigeration infrastructure, according to the Organization for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa.

IEEE Spectrum

Elizabeth Adeagbo has been found guilty of assault:

A toddler was grabbed like a ‘bag of rubbish’ by an ‘experienced’ nursery worker after the ‘happy-go-lucky’ child grabbed her trouser leg wanting her attention, a court heard.

Nursery worker Elizabeth Adeagbo, 29, was found guilty of assault by beating after a trial before magistrates.

The mother of the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the incident meant she had ‘lost trust’ in leaving her child with others.

She said: ‘Leaving your children at nursery for the first time is a significant and emotional step. No family should have to fear that their child will come to harm. It’s shaken our confidence.

‘They’re looking after the youngest, most vulnerable children, what happened has made me so wary.

‘It’s vital that standards of care for children are upheld so that those entrusted with their care cannot be given free rein do what they see fit with our children.’

Sefton Magistrates’ Court heard the incident happened at a nursery on the Wirral, which also cannot be named.

The incident happened at around 9.30am on April 16, last year, when the ‘happy-go-lucky’ child grabbed her trouser leg, wanting her attention.

[…]

The teaching assistant, who moved to the UK from Nigeria, where she was a teacher, in 2023, then lifts the child by his left upper arm and carries him across the room. At the end of the CCTV clip she grabs him by both arms and lifts him up.

Adeagbo, who had a 17-month-old son at the time of the incident, said her intentions were to remove the ‘wet apron’ with her other arm, while carrying him.

Daily Mail

Nigerian gig workers training robots in Nigeria:

When Zeus, a medical student living in a hilltop city in central Nigeria, returns to his studio apartment from a long day at the hospital, he turns on his ring light, straps his iPhone to his forehead, and starts recording himself. He raises his hands in front of him like a sleepwalker and puts a sheet on his bed. He moves slowly and carefully to make sure his hands stay within the camera frame.

Zeus is a data recorder for Micro1, a US company based in Palo Alto, California that collects real-world data to sell to robotics companies. As companies like Tesla, Figure AI, and Agility Robotics race to build humanoids—robots designed to resemble and move like humans in factories and homes—videos recorded by gig workers like Zeus are becoming the hottest new way to train them.

Micro1 has hired thousands of contract workers in more than 50 countries, including India, Nigeria, and Argentina, where swathes of tech-savvy young people are looking for jobs. They’re mounting iPhones on their heads and recording themselves folding laundry, washing dishes, and cooking. The job pays well by local standards and is boosting local economies, but it raises thorny questions around privacy and informed consent. And the work can be challenging at times—and weird.

Zeus found the job in November, when people started talking about it everywhere on LinkedIn and YouTube. “This would be a real nice opportunity to set a mark and give data that will be used to train robots in the future,” he thought.

Zeus is paid $15 an hour, which is good income in Nigeria’s strained economy with high unemployment rates. But as a bright-eyed student dreaming of becoming a doctor, he finds ironing his clothes for hours every day boring.

“I really [do] not like it so much,” he says. “I’m the kind of person that requires … a technical job that requires me to think.”

Zeus, and all the workers interviewed by MIT Technology Review, asked to be referred to only by pseudonyms because they were not authorized to talk about their work.

MIT Technology Review

A tragedy in London:

A 14-year-old boy shot dead in south-east London has been named as Eghosa Ogbebor.

Officers received reports of a shooting on Lord Warwick Street, Woolwich, at about 15:40 BST on Thursday. The boy was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. His family has been informed, the Met said.

Two boys, aged 14 and 16, and an 18-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Detectives leading the inquiry have urged anyone with information about the incident to come forward as well as appealing for anyone who may have relevant CCTV or dashcam footage.

Customers sitting outside a nearby pub, The Greyhound, are said to have run inside in panic as they heard gunshots.

Pub worker Sofia Pereira said she heard someone fall on one of the bins on the pub’s patio at the time of the shooting.

Pereira said she then saw a teenager run through the patio towards Woolwich Church Street.

She said: “I just heard like a big ‘bang’, like a big, strong ‘boom’, which was obviously one of the kids, I think, jumping on the wall, through the bin, and then obviously the bin fell and broke, then he just ran off.”

She said about 10 customers who were on the patio ran inside “panicking”, adding the atmosphere in the pub was “very overwhelming”.

“Everyone got scared because they heard shooting and they could see one of the guys had a machete, or something like that.

“So everyone just ran inside, said ‘lock, lock all the doors and everything’, because obviously we didn’t know what was going on.”

BBC

Enjoy the usual selection below

Nigerian Media

A story about unoccupied government houses in Bauchi:

Findings by Weekend Trust revealed that at least four sets of about 6,000 housing units in Bauchi State are either completed but unoccupied or abandoned halfway through construction. Several of them have now been overgrown with weeds and taken over by reptiles.

The housing schemes include the 1,000 Unity Estate located along Jos Road, the 1,000 Isa Yuguda housing units at Hakan-Yafi village, the Federal Government 1,000 housing units along Ningi-Kano Road and the 2,500 Governor Bala Mohammed housing units across the six Bauchi emirates: Katagum, Jama’are, Dass, Bauchi, Misau and Ningi.

Weekend Trust gathered that the construction work for the Unity Estate started sometime in 2007, but the project was abandoned halfway. While a significant portion of the first phase was 100 percent completed over 15 years ago, other units were abandoned at various levels of completion.

Further investigation also indicated that some residents of Bauchi, suspected to have applied for the houses but got tired of waiting for formal allocation, sometimes in 2014, moved into some completed portions of the houses. The uncompleted structures in the estate have been left at the mercy of vandals, reptiles and criminals using them as hideouts.

It was also observed that while several walls of the abandoned structures have collapsed, others are replete with cracks.

The second 1,000 housing units project, located about 3 kilometers away from the Unity Estate, was initiated and completed by the former Governor Isa Yuguda-led administration. Although it was fully completed, not a single house has been officially allocated, years after completion. The structures have been taken over by hoodlums who converted them to criminal sanctuaries.

Multiple sources at the Bauchi State Ministry of Housing, who craved anonymity, confided in this paper that the houses have not been allocated to occupants due to the change of governments.

One of the sources said former Governor Yuguda completed the estate towards the end of his second tenure in May 2015, but had left the office by the time they were ready for allocation.

“His successor, the present administration, hasn’t paid much attention to the project. I later learnt that the terms for occupying the houses were also reviewed and the applicants found it difficult to own them. I don’t know if the present administration will review the terms again to simplify the processes to enable the applicants to own the houses,” the source said.

Daily Trust

The most annoying thing about mining stories in Nigerian media is they never tell you what they were mining. That is the most important part of the story!

Troops of 176 Guards Battalion under Operation MESA have arrested 98 suspected illegal miners during a raid on an illegal mining site in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

This was made known in a post on X by Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency and security expert in the Lake Chad region.

Makama stated that the operation was conducted at about 5:55 p.m. on March 23, following intelligence on illegal mining activities in the area, noting the troops stormed the site and apprehended the suspects without resistance.

The source further revealed that items recovered during the operation include one vehicle, eight motorcycles, five pumping machines, 27 shovels, seven sledgehammers, 22 diggers, three head pans, five mining mats, and a sack of charcoal.

“The arrested suspects have been handed over to the Guards Brigade Provost Group for further investigation and necessary action,” he said.

Daily Post

Even by Nigerian standards this whole attempt at rehabilitating a convicted paedo has been shocking:

Controversial Nollywood actor Yomi Fabiyi has once again ignited public outcry after doubling down on his defence of convicted actor Olanrewaju Omiyinka, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, claiming the 2021 incident was a matter of “play” rather than a criminal attempt at sexual violence.

During a recent live session that has since gone viral, Fabiyi sought to downplay the gravity of the assault that led to Baba Ijesha’s imprisonment. Fabiyi claimed in the Yoruba language that “there was no intention to rape. Baba Ijesha just wanted to play with the girl and kiss her quickly because he knew the homeowner would be back soon.” He further added, “He just wanted to kiss the girl and play with her breasts.”

The case, which first shook the Nigerian entertainment industry in 2021, involved the sexual assault of the 14-year-old foster daughter of comedienne Damilola Adekoya, professionally known as Princess. The incident was captured on CCTV, providing key evidence that led to a high-profile trial.

In July 2022, a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja convicted Baba Ijesha of sexual assault and indecent treatment of a child. He was sentenced to five years and three years’ imprisonment, respectively, to run concurrently.

Tribune

And another story that just leaves you speechless:

Chaos erupted in Southern Ijaw on Wednesday after a 47-year-old man, identified simply as Emi, collapsed and died while undergoing a traditional punishment for the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl in Ekeowe.

According to community sources, the victim was returning from a farm with her aunt when Emi allegedly ambushed and assaulted her in a nearby bush. Under a longstanding local custom, the punishment for such an act involves receiving 10 strokes of the cane from each of the community’s 12 families, totaling 120 lashes.

Tensions mounted as some residents offered alternatives to the brutal flogging, with one proposing N50, 000 and another N15, 000 to spare the suspect. However, the wider community rejected the offers, insisting that the full traditional penalty be enforced as a deterrent.

During the marathon flogging session, Emi collapsed and lost consciousness after receiving just 40 strokes—a third of the prescribed punishment. He was later confirmed dead upon arrival at the community hospital.

The death sparked immediate pandemonium, with angry youths flooding the streets.

Armed soldiers from the Ogboinbiri base were deployed to restore order, following fears that the situation could escalate further.

Vanguard

This shouldn’t be funny but I couldn’t help myself especially at the highlighted section:

Panic gripped residents on Tuesday after a truck loaded with sand rammed into the main gate of the Gombe State Government House, damaging the structure.

The incident, which occurred around 12:55 p.m., involved a gate reportedly constructed as part of ongoing renovation projects at the Government House under Governor Muhammadu Yahaya. The gate has yet to be officially inaugurated.

Eyewitnesses said the truck lost control before crashing into the multi-million-naira facility.

“I was standing across the road when I saw the truck approaching at speed. Suddenly, the driver seemed to lose control, and the vehicle veered off and hit the gate,” said a trader, Musa Abdullahi.

Another witness, a commercial motorcyclist, Ibrahim Sadiq, said the incident could have been more tragic if pedestrians had been nearby. “It happened very fast. People started running when they saw the truck coming. Thankfully, no one was injured,” he said.

A security aide in the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the impact caused significant damage to the newly installed gate. “The gate is part of the ongoing renovation. The force of the crash bent parts of the structure,” he added.

Punch

Non-Nigerian Media

Interesting or weird story:

A serial criminal jailed for drug dealing has won a reprieve against deportation because immigration courts cannot decide whether he is a British citizen.

Isaac Bramwell was set for deportation to Nigeria after being sentenced for possessing class A drugs, an asylum hearing was told.

The 28-year-old had previously lodged an appeal but committed another offence while waiting for the decision and was jailed for more than five years – a sentence he is currently serving.

However, his deportation case will now be reconsidered because it is unclear whether he is a British citizen.

Although Bramwell was born in Britain, his mother is Nigerian and was adopted by parents in Nigeria who had UK settled status.

The dispute over Bramwell’s citizenship centres on whether his mother acquired UK settled status when she was adopted.

Bramwell was born in south London in 1997 and has never left the UK, but he qualifies as a foreign criminal and was thought to be eligible for deportation because of his mother’s Nigerian heritage.

The Home Office has insisted that, despite living here from birth, Bramwell is not a British citizen because his Nigerian mother did not have settled status in the UK when he was born.

His mother was adopted in Nigeria in 1987 by parents who did have UK settled status, but the Home Office contends that this did not mean she had settled status when the family returned to the UK.

Telegraph

And a similar sort of story:

A Nigerian with a 30-year criminal history can be deported after the overturning of an earlier ruling that it would be “unduly harsh” to separate him from his children.

Sydney Igbanoi racked up 22 convictions over three decades for drug offences, assault, harassment and cruelty to animals.

However, the 48-year-old was allowed to stay in the UK because an immigration judge had ruled that it would be unfair on his children if he were deported.

Home Office officials appealed against that ruling after Igbanoi was recently handed a 42-month jail sentence for possession with intent to supply cocaine and MDMA, supplying cocaine and MDMA and the supply of a class B drug.

The appeal tribunal was told that before his latest sentence, Igbanoi had a long history of offending, comprising 22 convictions for 33 offences primarily in relation to using and dealing drugs, that stretched back to 1997.

Igbanoi came to the UK as a 14-year-old in 1991, having travelled on a settlement visa to join his father, and has held indefinite leave to remain status since.

The tribunal was told that Igbanoi had four British children aged from ten to 26. A 17-year-old daughter lives in Finland with her mother, but she was said to have a “strong relationship” with Igbanoi.

A 16-year-old daughter was said to have been estranged from her father, while a ten-year-old son was said to be living in Italy, although the tribunal was told that the boy had been in touch with Igbanoi.

A letter from Igbanoi’s probation officer said that his expulsion from the UK “would harm his relationship with his children, who depend on his presence and support … with continued support and the stability provided by remaining in this country [he] will continue to make positive contributions to society and uphold the law”.

Igbanoi said he “had been “socially and culturally integrated” into the country. A first-tier tribunal agreed, but a deputy judge at the appeal level has overturned that ruling. Paving the way for Igbanoi to be deported, Judge Mark Symes, said he would not face significant obstacles to integration in Nigeria because he still had family there, including a mother and siblings.

The Times

The state visit is still generating content:

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s daughter-in-law had royal watchers doing a double take at the Nigerian state banquet by rocking a gown that looked much like one in Kate Middleton‘s closet.

On March 19, Layal Jade Tinubu shared a glamorous video on Instagram that showed off her style from the state banquet at Windsor Castle the day prior.

Tinubu, who is married to the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu, attended the diplomatic dinner at Windsor Castle on March 18.

President Tinubu’s daughter-in-law sported a dark green velvet gown for the special occasion, and the frock’s fitted style with a folded neckline was reminiscent of the deep green Talbot Runhof gown that Princess Kate wore in November 2025.

People

Why do people in Ejigbo speak French?

Ejigbo is located north of Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos and more than 350 kilometres from its French-speaking neighbour, Benin.

In the streets here, where the official language is English, one can hear what is called “petit français”: a mix of words in Yoruba and Baoulé, interspersed with French.

Although surrounded by French-speaking countries such as Benin, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, Nigeria has very few French speakers, even though teaching the language is in theory compulsory up to secondary school, although there is a severe shortage of teachers.

Since the early 20th century, the inhabitants of Ejigbo have been migrating to French-speaking countries such as Benin and Togo, but above all to Côte d’Ivoire.

Many residents hold dual nationality and divide their time between the two countries. Three times a week, buses cover the 1,200 kilometres between Ejigbo and Abidjan.

It is common for shopkeepers and restaurant owners to accept CFA francs to pay for a bowl of attiéké – fermented cassava semolina – a typical Ivorian dish frequently found in Ejigbo.

Akanbi Mudasiru Ilupeju is a professor of French and a sociolinguist at the faculty of arts at the University of Lagos, and hails from Ejigbo.

“In Ejigbo, people don’t just speak one type of French. It is, let’s say, a slangy French or a more relaxed French. There is standard French, the kind that everyone can understand well, which is reserved for the elite – those who have been to school, students, or nationals from French-speaking countries living in Ejigbo.”

But, he added: “There is also street French: a mix of the national languages of the country the speaker has lived in. Especially in Abidjan, where local languages such as Baoulé are mixed in.”

RFI

Excerpt from a new (critical) book about Meghan and Harry:

In 2024, Harry and Meghan travelled to Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games, a trip that caused criticism after it was styled as a quasi-royal tour despite the fact the Sussexes were no longer working royals.

Bower claimed that the pair believed Nigeria was “the perfect battleground on which to weaponise a portrayal of the royal family as racist”.

The director of Invictus was reported to have told Harry that the majority of Nigerians were convinced Meghan was a victim of the royal family’s racism, according to the book.

The Times

Who is Neff Giwa?

Neff Giwa has never played in a football game and has only watched highlights of the sport, but over the past two weeks, the 6-foot-7, 295-pound rugby player from Ireland has become one of the hottest commodities in college recruiting.

Miami was the first to offer Giwa, who projects as an offensive lineman, a scholarship after coach Mario Cristobal saw a video posted on X just last week. Several other Power 4 conference schools quickly followed with offers.

In that post, Brandon Collier, who runs Germany-based Premier Prospects International (PPI), predicted Giwa “will be a 1st round pick one day! Remember this tweet!!!”

Over the past decade, Collier, a former defensive tackle at UMass, has helped place approximately 100 international athletes at major college football programs. Many have been former track and field athletes, soccer players, basketball players and some were even alpine skiers and tennis players. PPI produced eight players who started in the SEC last season. Valdin Sone, a 6-3, 315-pound elite shot putter-turned-defensive tackle born in Sweden, became the organization’s first five-star recruit and signed with Georgia in December.

In early January, Collier received a tip from a former rugby player in England. “I got a kid you’re gonna love.”

[…]

Neff Giwa was born in Ireland. His father, a physiotherapist, and his mother, a nurse, emigrated from Nigeria. He grew up in Cashel, about two hours from Dublin, and started playing soccer when he was 4. He played for his local team, Cashel FC, in the U12 and U13 divisions, but as he started getting a lot bigger, his friends introduced him to rugby.

The Athletic

More Benin Bronzes on their way, this time from Zurich:

Zurich’s Museum Rietberg has transferred ownership of eleven objects from the Kingdom of Benin held by Museum Rietberg to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Museum Rietberg won’t be sending them all back to Nigeria; two will be repatriated, while nine will remain on loan in the musuem’s collections. The items are just a few of the thousands linked to a British raid on Benin City in 1897, and the looted treasures made their way into museum collections around the world.

Among the objects are those pictured above: a bracelet with horseman and animal figures (called a Ikoo akon’eni), a mask (Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ), and a carved ivory tusk from an ancestral shrine (Akon’eni Elao). All originate from the Kingdom of Benin.

Per a City of Zurich press release, the city is “acting in response to a restitution claim filed by Nigeria as the body responsible for colonial-era collections. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) filed an official restitution claim in July 2024 on behalf of the Nigerian government and the Kingdom of Benin for the eleven Benin objects held by Museum Rietberg.”

“This decision made by the City of Zurich will indeed go a long way in healing certain aspects of our fragmented colonial past and I have no doubt that the Benin Royal Palace, the Benin people, and all Nigerians will truly appreciate the symbolism of this significant return,” NCMM Director General Olugbile Holloway said.

Town and Country Magazine

Feature on a Nigerian ballet school:

Ayomi Tsalu’s love for dance all began with the 2001 film Save the Last Dance. The movie was Tsalu’s first introduction to classical ballet at age 12, and he was hooked—dreaming of one day studying dance but having no opportunities in his hometown in Nigeria.

Tsalu first stepped into a studio in 2010, when he attended university and discovered the local studio where he would begin his journey as a teacher. The studio’s instructors had little to no formal ballet training, which Tsalu says is common for teachers in Nigeria, and this ignited in him a passion for offering quality ballet instruction to Nigerian students.

Tsalu began Above Ballet Company in 2015, teaching classes around the country and creating cohorts of dancers for performance opportunities, while simultaneously seeking out more extensive training for himself. In 2019, as the founding director and CEO of Nigeria’s Above Ballet Company, Tsalu attained Level 3 certification in the Cuban Methodology of Ballet with Alicia Alonso’s Dance Foundation. In 2022, he began training with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and attained his diploma in dance and ballet education the following year. In June 2024, Tsalu opened the Above Ballet Company Academy in Lagos, where he trains students through nine grade levels and presents them for ISTD graded examinations. In 2025, he completed American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, which qualified him to teach pre-primary to grade 3.

The name “Above Ballet Company” comes from Tsalu’s desire to “be above the standard” and raise the bar of the ballet training that currently exists in Nigeria. “I know that there are a lot of ballet students who are in search of quality ballet training,” he says. “My vision is to bring [professional] ballet training to Nigerian students, trained entirely in the country by a Nigerian.”

Pointe

We come back to this story first picked up in June last year in BTH 100:

A 26-year-old man who was in the United States on a Green Card has been sentenced for laundering fraud proceeds through an unlicensed money transmitting business, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.

Ayobami Omoniyi pleaded guilty Aug. 19, 2024.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen has now ordered Omoniyi to serve 32 months in federal prison and pay $202,273.80 in restitution. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to be removed from the country following his imprisonment. At the hearing, the court heard additional information that Omoniyi had been committing crimes since arriving in the United States and that he had been a recruiter for the scheme.

In 2021, Omoniyi and others operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that received and transferred funds from business email compromise victims, including a fishing company in Australia. Victims received spoofed emails that appeared to come from legitimate businesses and were tricked into sending payments to accounts conspirators controlled.

As part of his plea, Omoniyi admitted he moved money through multiple bank accounts. The funds originated from fraudsters involved in a business email compromise wire fraud scheme.

Omoniyi also acknowledged receiving victims’ funds and, for a fee, transmitting the fraud proceeds to others.

United States Attorney’s Office

News from Ireland:

Two directors of a criminal gang have been jailed for what was described in court as “a worldwide, highly sophisticated money laundering scheme on a breathtaking scale”.

Elike Francis Ogbuefi, aged 42, from Clonard Road in Crumlin, Dublin was jailed for nine years while his co-accused 32-year-old Steven Silvester from The Paddocks, Morristown in Newbridge, Co Kildare was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

The men were arrested and charged following a long running investigation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.

Both men had denied the charges but were convicted by a jury following a trial last month.

Over €6 million was stolen and laundered in a variety of scams including romance frauds and smishing schemes and moved through a variety of accounts.

The two men were in charge of supplying and monitoring accounts where the stolen money was deposited. They received repeated requests worldwide for accounts to be used for all types of fraud.

The requests came largely from Nigerian phone numbers and details on Ogbuefi’s phone, which gardaí managed to access, included the type of jobs required, the amounts going through the accounts and specifications as to the type of accounts required.

Ogbuefi gave instructions that the type of account sought had to be in an Irish name, not an African name, to avoid suspicion.

He was the contact for those outside the country and a nine minute instruction video on how to engage in this activity was also found on his phone.

RTE

Enjoy the week’s selection below.

Nigerian Media

Report into how nature reserves and tourism spots have turned into criminal hideouts:

The forest thrived as a game reserve during the colonial period and was used for safaris in the 1970s, with a large population of leopards, lions, elephants and hyenas for tourism. In 1991, the Borno State government incorporated the reserve into the national park of the Chad Basin. But as years rolled by, poor management upended the operations of the reserve until Boko Haram insurgents who fled from Maiduguri town hijacked it in 2013.

Since then, terrorists have carried out a series of attacks from the forest and resisted military raids targeted at flushing them out of the zone. They frequently ambushed Nigerian military convoys and patrols operating around Sambisa, using roadside bombs, snipers, and hit‑and‑run attacks. In April 2021, the terrorists reportedly shut down a military jet, though the Nigerian Air Force insisted the Alpha Jet crashed. Its wreckage was eventually recovered from the forest one year later.

At the peak of a supremacy battle between Boko Haram and ISWAP members in May 2021, a fight broke out as the latter sought to take control of the forest in a fierce encounter.

In an article titled ‘Once Upon a Game Reserve: Sambisa and the Tragedy of a Forested Landscape,’ a political scientist at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof Azeez Olaniyan, traced the descent of the reserve to a terrorists’ fortress to corruption and poor leadership of the military era.

“As was the case with several sectors of Nigerian life, corruption reared its head in park management to the extent that funds budgeted for the game reserve were mismanaged. The number of forest guards and range managers was not only inadequate, but they were also poorly trained and funded. The neglect resulted in an invasion of the reserve by hunters and poachers without many restraints. This was to have effects on the wildlife in the space.

Daily Trust

Another fake kidnapping:

The Anambra State Police Command has arrested two suspects after uncovering a case of conspiracy and staged kidnapping done in collaboration between the victim’s boyfriend, after extorting the victim’s parents of ₦240,000.

In a press statement released on Saturday, the spokesman for the command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the arrest was made after a significant breakthrough in several reported cases under investigation in the command within the last two weeks.

Ikenga said the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, carried out the arrest on March 14 and also recovered several items, including cash, from the suspects.

The statement read, “The Anambra State Police Command has recorded significant breakthroughs in several reported cases under investigation within the last two weeks.

“Among the feats recorded, the notable ones include the following: The operatives of the Rapid Response Squad Awkuzu on March 14, 2026, uncovered a case of conspiracy and staged kidnapping with the arrest of two suspects, namely: Chinedu Chineye Nwobi ‘M’, aged 25 years and Okwudili Nweke ‘M’, aged 25 years, respectively.

“The victim, Miss Mmesoma Ifediora, aged 18 years, was rescued unharmed in a forest popularly known as ‘Malaysia Forest’ located at Iruayika, Awkuzu.

“Upon interrogation, the rescued victim confessed that the kidnapping was staged in collaboration with her boyfriend, Obiora Okoye, with the intent to extort the sum of ₦3 million from her parents.

Punch

Story that’s gone under the radar:

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has secured the conviction of 10 Filipino sailors and their merchant vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, over the importation of 20 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria through the Apapa seaport in Lagos.

The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed on Wednesday that the Federal High Court in Lagos also imposed fines and restitution totaling $6 million, alongside an additional N1.1 million penalty on the convicts.

The vessel and its crew were arrested on November 16, 2025, following the interception of the cocaine consignment concealed onboard the ship, which originated from Santos, Brazil.

Subsequently, the NDLEA filed a four-count charge against them in suit number FHC/L/1232C/25 before the Federal High Court 2, Lagos, led by the agency’s Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Theresa Asuquo.

The defendants, however, pleaded guilty and entered into a plea bargain agreement.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji found the vessel guilty under Section 25 of the NDLEA Act and ordered it to pay a N100,000 penalty and $5.35 million in restitution to the Federal Government.

Three principal officers of the vessel—the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants—were each fined N100,000 and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution, while the remaining seven crew members were fined N100,000 each and $50,000 in restitution apiece.

In total, the vessel and its crew are to pay $6 million and N1.1 million as fines and restitution.

Vanguard

Why would anyone do this to a cocoa research institute:

The Member representing Oluyole Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Tolu Akande-Sadipe, has expressed deep concern over a reported security breach at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria headquarters in Oluyole, Ibadan.

According to verified reports, the incident occurred on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, when unidentified armed individuals attacked the nursery section of the facility, resulting in injuries and the abduction of several persons.

Hon. Akande-Sadipe strongly condemned the act, describing it as a senseless attack on innocent individuals.

She disclosed that security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant authorities, have been swiftly mobilised to the area to restore order, secure the facility, and ensure the safe rescue of those abducted.

Tribune

What a horror story:

Tragedy struck Uli community in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State on Sunday night as a man identified simply as Gozie allegedly killed his lover’s only son for opposing their relationship.

The victim, said to be in his 20s, was reportedly attacked in his room following repeated disagreements with his mother’s lover over his frequent visits to their home.

Residents told PUNCH Metro on Thursday that tensions between the deceased and the suspect had persisted for some time, often resulting in heated altercations.

According to an eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Somto, neighbours became suspicious after not seeing the occupants of the compound for days.

“The incident happened on Sunday night at a compound near the Uli campus of Anambra State University. Neighbours said they heard unusual noises that night, but it was when no one was seen for about two days that they decided to check,” he said.

He explained that residents searched the rooms in the compound and discovered the victim’s lifeless body in a pool of blood.

“When they entered the young man’s room, they found his corpse with deep machete cuts on the head and other parts of the body. This drew a crowd, and youths in the area immediately launched a search for the suspect and the boy’s mother, but they had fled,” Somto added.

The incident was subsequently reported to the police, while the remains of the deceased were deposited in a morgue.

Punch

Non-Nigerian Media

Yours truly was in the FT this week with an opinion piece on the Dangote Refinery and what it means for Nigerians:

Nigeria has had a troubled relationship with crude oil since the first commercial well flowed at Oloibiri in 1956. Time and again, the promise of easy money has resolved into a pattern of windfalls that enrich the state without strengthening it.

The “cement armada” — the mid-1970s oil-boom-generated fiasco when Nigeria ordered far more cement for public works than it could handle, leaving hundreds of ships stranded offshore — is only one, vivid example. From the mismanaged windfall of higher prices pushed up by the 1990-1991 Gulf war to perennial controversies over what the national oil company collects, spends and remits to the treasury, straightforward national progress has not transpired.

Yet the most corrosive and lasting aspect gets less attention: the humiliating inability to add value to the barrel before it leaves Nigeria. The embodiment of this is the state-owned refineries that stand idle for long stretches, despite repeated turnaround plans.

Financial Times

Everyone embellishes their CV but this is taking it to a completely different level:

A dietician who bluffed her way into a senior NHS job by exaggerating her experience has been struck off after colleagues found she did not know ‘basic anatomy’ and could have put patients at risk.

Ifenyinwa Chizube Ndulue-Nonso was hired as a dietician at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2024.

Having moved from Nigeria, she claimed to have experience working with a range of different health problems and nutrition-related diseases as well as working with people with eating disorders and cancer.

However within days of beginning her role, colleagues quickly discovered worrying gaps in her knowledge and inconsistencies with her application.

They found she could barely answer questions about dietetics, struggled to calculate BMI and had only a ‘basic understanding of human anatomy’- even mixing up the small and large intestine.

Mrs Ndulue-Nonso also could not identify a feeding tube, explain what coeliac disease was and believed radiology was used to treat heart failure.

Concerned by her lack of knowledge, the Trust launched an investigation and suspended her within weeks, fearing she was unsafe to practice.

At a disciplinary hearing, the Trust found her guilty of gross misconduct. She was sacked and her appeal failed.

Daily Mail

Christianah Ebenezer took photos during this week’s state visit:

A new portrait of the Prince and Princess of Wales taken by a British-Nigerian photographer on Wednesday at a state banquet was released on Thursday night by Kensington Palace.

The photograph was taken by the photographer Christianah Ebenezer, 34, in Windsor, when members of the royal family welcomed Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, and his wife Oluremi Tinubu on a state visit to Britain.

The Princess of Wales showed her skill for diplomatic dressing, wearing a dress by Andrew Gn in the evening in the green of the Nigerian flag and a coat dress during the day by Tolu Coker, a British-Nigerian designer.

Ebenezer also took the Duchess of Edinburgh’s 60th birthday portraits last year, and photographs of the actresses Michaela Cole and Letitia Wright that have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery. She was born in Lagos, Nigeria, before moving to London as a child.

The Times

The story of Kauna Luka who sent 8 years in Boko Haram captivity:

One night four years ago a group of young soldiers were manning a checkpoint along a remote road in northern Nigeria when a figure began to emerge from the forest. Nervously they raised their weapons, fearing an attack from the terrorists who plague the region.

But as the figure came nearer they saw that it was a woman with a toddler strapped to her back. What was she doing in the forest all alone, they shouted to her. “I’ve been lost for eight years,” she called back. “I’m one of the Chibok girls.”

Abducted from their school in April 2014 by the Islamist militia group Boko Haram, the 276 teenage girls quickly became an international cause célèbre. Known as the “Chibok girls”, after the town in Borno state from where they were snatched, their plight was taken up by prominent figures including Michelle Obama, Angelina Jolie and Pope Francis.

Kauna Luka was one of them. At 16 years old she had been on the verge of going to university and beginning her adult life when the course of her future was suddenly diverted in the most savage way imaginable. For almost a decade she lived as the captive of men whose guiding principle was their rejection of secular education and female emancipation. She subsisted on leaves and rainwater. She was married and gave birth to one of her captor’s children. And then, eventually, she escaped.

Now aged 27, Luka has just begun university. Having spent the four years since her escape going through rehabilitation and relearning much of what she had forgotten from her schooldays, she has this year embarked on the public administration course at Maiduguri University that she had been due to take up before she was kidnapped. She hopes to become a journalist one day.

The Times

Who is Zuby Ejiofor?

The minute news broke that Michigan’s star big man, Hunter Dickinson, was transferring to Kansas, Andy Philachack decided he had seen and heard enough. He rented a U-Haul truck that day and drove 500 miles from Dallas to Lawrence, Kan., for the sole purpose of extracting his son from Bill Self’s program.

Zuby Ejiofor did not want to leave. In fact, nearly everyone in Ejiofor’s life outside of the father figure and mentor he calls “Pops” and “Dad” wanted the barely used freshman to stay.

“I had not one person on my side,” Philachack said. “I had to do this myself.”

So, while Ejiofor was taking an exam on this May day in 2023, the AAU coach, chiropractor and professional poker player who first saw him play in middle school entered his apartment, packed up his possessions, and loaded them into the truck. Zuby was stunned when he returned home to find a bare mattress and nothing else.

“We’re leaving,” Philachack told him.

“What do you mean we’re leaving?” Ejiofor responded.

“You can’t make this decision,” Philachack said. “I’m making it for you.”

The 5-4 coach born in Laos and the 6-9 forward raised in Texas and Nigeria met with Self for an hour. According to Philachack, the Kansas coach offered Ejiofor a $200,000 NIL deal for his sophomore season. Philachack explained that money couldn’t solve their problem. He had repeatedly watched Zuby cry on the floor of his room after sitting out entire games.

The Athletic

Fred Akinsanya and Daniel Raji are going to jail:

A predator and his accomplice have been jailed for a total of 21 years after raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was plied with alcohol and drugs.

Nigerian national Fred Akinsanya, 34, and 29-year-old Daniel Raji targeted their victim after buying her drinks at Irish pub Paddy’s Yard in Brixton, south London, on February 8 last year.

They invited the girl and some of her friends back to Raji’s flat to smoke cannabis and dance.

The victim’s friends tried to persuade her to leave with them as they felt uncomfortable but she started blacking out and collapsed, Inner London Crown Court heard.

The defendants then put the girl through a prolonged ordeal, with Raji filming her.

Prosecutor Diana Wilson read to the court the victim’s impact statement, in which she told of now finding it ‘hard to trust people’.

The schoolgirl described her attackers as ‘disgusting’, while also rejecting the offer to watch the footage of what happened because it was ‘too stressful’.

Akinsanya, from South Croydon, denied but was convicted by a jury of rape and has now been jailed for 10 years.

Daily Mail

Remi Tinubu gets a glowing profile in Tatler with plenty of photos too:

Born in 1960, she has served as Nigeria’s First Lady ever since her husband, Bola Tinubu, was elected President in 2023. No stranger to politics, Oluremi served as the senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District at the Nigerian National Assembly between 2011 and 2023, as a member of the All Progressives Congress party.

Prior to that, she had been the First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, during the period that her husband was the Governor of the Nigerian capital. During her tenure in the role, she set up the New Era Foundation, which aims to support the ‘all round development of young ones and promote public awareness on environmental health and community service.’

[…]

This latest trip to Britain will be another display of the First Lady’s diplomatic prowess, as well as her impeccable style. She will also deliver a sermon at the Lambeth Palace Chapel and join a reception with representatives from the Church of England.

With decades of experience in the political arena, hers is a star that has long been on the rise. Now, it’s time for Brits to get to know the First Lady of Nigeria.

Tatler

Why are Nigerian archives being buried in the Arctic?

A decommissioned coalmine near the north pole is the last place you’d expect to find Indigenous stories from rural Nigeria, but deep below the Arctic permafrost of Svalbard a storage unit contains a cache of cultural and literary records from the West African country.

The Arctic World Archive (AWA) is a data storage unit where organisations and individuals can deposit records kept on specialist digitised film called Piql that lasts up to 2,000 years. On 27 February, Nigeria became the first African country to place archives at the facility 300 metres beneath a mountain where the cold, dark, dry conditions are perfect for preservation.

Inspired by the nearby Svalbard global seed vault, a collection of more than a million seed samples stored as an insurance policy against catastrophe, AWA was established to hold the “world’s memory” for future generations. Started in 2017 by the Norwegian technology company that developed Piql, it contains an eclectic range of historical and creative records originating in 37 countries, from sources including the Vatican Library and the European Space Agency, and works as diverse as Chopin’s manuscripts and the work of Belgian photographer Christian Clauwers, who has documented the Pacific’s disappearing Marshall islands.

The Nigerian records are a mix of social and cultural history, and archives from its creative industries, drawn from 12 Nigerian organisations, including private art foundations, museums and libraries.

The collection was initiated by historian Nze Ed Emeka Keazor when he was appointed chair of Piql’s first Africa office in Lagos in 2022, and started to approach cultural organisations in Nigeria to encourage them to preserve their records.

“It took me a year and a half of going to Abeokuta in Ogun state to speak to the head of archives at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library,” says Keazor who travelled to Svalbard last month with colleague Esona Onuoha to hand over the archives.

The Guardian

New mocktail (if you’re a mocktail connoisseur like me) just dropped:

A mocktail inspired by a classic Nigerian beverage has been specially created for the King’s banquet as the monarch hosted the first state visit by a Muslim leader during Ramadan in nearly a century.

Guests at the opulent dinner held in honour of Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is Muslim, and his wife, first lady Oluremi Tinubu, will be offered a non-alcoholic after dinner tipple called Crimson Bloom.

England rugby captain Maro Itoje and his wife Mimi, Olympic 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu, former Lioness and football pundit Eni Aluko, space scientist Dame Maggie Aderin, broadcaster Ade Adepitan, singer Tiwa Savage and the UK’s first black female Michelin-starred chef Adejoke Bakare were among the 160 guests who gathered with the King, the Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The special mocktail is one of a number of adaptations made at the banquet in St George’s Hall in Windsor Castle because it falls during the holy month of Ramadan.

For the first time in living memory, canapes will be offered ahead of the dinner to offer sustenance to Muslim guests who were unable to partake in iftar – the breaking of their fast – earlier at sunset.

Independent

Quite the escalation in punishment here. This guy is having his citizenship revoked for fraud:

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has filed and served a civil denaturalization complaint in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland, against Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, a native of Nigeria who organized a vast conspiracy to steal identities and file fraudulent tax returns. In 2017, he was convicted of 19 counts of mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and sentenced to 15 years in prison. But in 2024, then-President Biden commuted his sentence after only six years.

“The Trump Administration will not permit wrongdoers to retain the U.S. citizenship that they were never entitled to in the first place,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “U.S. Citizenship is a privilege, and we will continue to ask courts to revoke a status that was obtained through fraud and deceit.”

The newly filed denaturalization complaint alleges that Kazeem’s fraud scheme, which he committed in the years before and after his naturalization, along with his concealment of his crimes, precluded him from obtaining his naturalization lawfully. The complaint also alleges that Kazeem had, prior to his fraud scheme, engaged in a sham marriage to obtain permanent resident status and then married a second woman, further disqualifying him from naturalization.

According to court documents and evidence presented at Kazeem’s criminal trial, in May 2013, a victim in Medford, Oregon, notified the IRS that false federal and Oregon state tax returns were filed electronically using her and her husband’s personal identifying information (PII) including social security numbers and dates of birth.

An IRS investigation led to search warrants of residences in Illinois, Maryland, and Georgia and to numerous email and instant messenger accounts used by Kazeem and other co-conspirators. At a Chicago residence, agents seized approximately 150 prepaid debit cards and $50,000 in money orders. In Maryland and Georgia, agents seized more than 50 electronic devices, 40 money orders in amounts exceeding $29,000, $14,000 in cash and numerous prepaid debit cards containing over $12,000 in fraudulent tax refunds. The search warrants helped agents identify Kazeem as the leader and mastermind of the scheme.

DoJ Office of Public Affairs

Fingers crossed, the podcast should return next week. In the mean time, enjoy this week’s selection.

Nigerian Media

And they say manufacturing is not thriving in Nigeria:

In a quiet community in Jos, north-central Nigeria, a middle-aged blacksmith uses an axe to scrape a tree branch into the shape of a rifle buttstock. Behind him, two young apprentices pump manual bellows and hammer glowing metal into form. Around the workshop lie iron scraps, unfinished gun parts and crafted stocks, evidence of a traditional craft quietly evolving into an illicit activity.

Bitrus Pam, known locally as Oga, has long forged his craft as a blacksmith. But apart from farm tools, he now often designs and fabricates firearms, a more lucrative but illegal venture that has become an increasing concern in conflict-plagued Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) is statutorily responsible for weapons production, but the law also allows licensed private firms, such as Proforce. Yet, alongside this official and lawful system, a shadow industry has taken root. Illegal networks, drawing on traditional blacksmithing skills and modern electric welding, are producing arms beyond regulatory control.

[…]

“In Kwan Pan LGA of Plateau State, we uncovered a blacksmith who once specialised in crafting farming tools but later turned to producing firearms without a license,” said a military source who asked to remain anonymous because he had no clearance to speak on the issue.

He said recent arrests in Plateau State suggest a broader trend: “Electric welders are increasingly shifting into clandestine weapons fabrication, selling their work to criminal networks. Also, among the suspects we have arrested are graduates of technical schools where they learn electric welding and are now applying it illegally.”

Investigators say materials are sourced from everyday markets.

“They use metals, iron water pipes, gas cylinders and welding equipment, most of it purchased where building materials are sold,” another military officer said, adding that in some cases, gunsmiths repurpose motorcycle exhaust springs to assemble pistols. “Some construct weapons from scratch, while others adapt original components, such as the skeletal frame of a foreign-made AK-47, modifying it into a new firearm.”

Daily Trust

A very confusing story. It’s not clear why the “youths” carried out the abduction other than that it was an opportunity too easy to pass up to make some money?

A mortuary attendant at NKST Hospital located at Jato Aka, headquarters of Kwande Local Government of Benue State, MT Tiga, was on Thursday abducted by thugs who wanted to prevent a planned mass burial for the victims of bandit attack on Tyungu Jam and Mbaav communities.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the abduction prevented families of the victims from access to the corpses which had been deposited at the mortuary as there was no official to attend to them.

Bandits had invaded Tyungu Jam and Mbaav in Yaav and Mbadura Council wards of Kwande LG on March 5, killing several people and injuring many others.

The State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, described the killings as “senseless and barbaric” in a statement issued by his media aide, Solomon Iorpev, and called on security operatives to apprehend the attackers.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that 11 victims were scheduled for mass burial on Thursday, an event that had drawn people and priests from within and outside the state.

However, the process was disrupted when some thugs allegedly invaded the hospital, abducted the mortuary attendant, and sealed the mortuary, denying families access to the bodies.

[…]

When contacted, Chairman of Kwande LG, Neji Terhile, said those mobilising for the mass burial did not consider the volatility of the area.

He added that some victims had already been buried.

“You are aware that these people slept in their houses and were attacked by Fulanis. Mobilizing a mass burial in such a community is a death trap,” the chairman said.

Punch

A rant of an article about the menace of Yahoo boys and what they are doing to young girls:

Every money these boys make is almost wasted on girls, booze, hair plaiting and maintenance, and looking dope like yankees; nothing meaningful. However, the police will not allow them to enjoy the stolen money. It’s like by their appearance yee shall know them – once you are a boy with ear and nose rings, plaited hair, no belt and bogus attire, the police come unto you. Most often, we see them being pushed into police vehicles after their phones and bodies were searched. They are released after they settle. How do we move forward like this?

Now, they are not only taking over our girls but communities. Once they blow, they rent rooms in virgin areas in the cities. The place becomes their ‘hideouts’. Greedy landlords now use the opportunity to jack up house rents, making rents very exorbitant for the common man. And, of course, the young girls flock around them like vultures. They actually serve as live-in lovers. They are not ashamed of street fights. So disrespectful. So spoiled. We are losing these girls, honestly. With them in any community, there’s always a party. Whatever they’re celebrating is unknown to other community members. But you can’t be unaffected by the heavy sounds from the speakers. It gets worse if you despise the lyrics of the music. It’s possible for you to absent-mindedly spend more than two minutes listening to ‘Omblee, Omblee, Omblee’. Whatever that means. After partying, the area is left littered with disposable cups, pure water satchets, and bottle water containers. Indeed, these boys are becoming a nuisance to society.

It will shock you to know that boys in secondary schools are now also into Yahoo business. It’s no longer for jobless people. At a CBT Centre recently, after filling out his JAMB form, a boy ran back to the coordinator and begged him to allow him to make changes in his form. Guess what? The boy said he mistakenly put his Yahoo Yahoo email instead of the one he uses for school purposes. This is the level of moral decadence amongst the youth.

Vanguard

New police campaign just dropped:

As part of effort to wage war against cybercrime, the Ogun State Police Command, has launched the Nigeria Police Force-National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), tagged “Real Odogwu No Dey Hide Face”.

The move is to safeguard the digital cyber space, an initiative of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu.

The IGP, in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, was represented at the introduction by the Director NPF-NCCC, CP Ifeanyi Uche Henry.

He said that the Real Odogwu No Dey Hide Face campaign is being introduced across the Commands, to address the borderless nature of cyber threats, including Identity Theft, Romance Scams, Phishing, Business Email Compromise(BEC), among others.

Tribune

A truly funny story from Anambra:

Nnewi-based native doctor, Ikechukwu John Paul, popularly known as Aka Mmuo has pleaded with the Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo for pardon.

DAILY POST reports that following his arrest, the native doctor was on Friday taken by operatives of Agunechemba to the river where he allegedly performs rituals.

He was accused of performing rituals, including bathing internet fraudsters, Yahoo Boys to scam their victims.

Speaking after he was paraded by the local security operatives, Aka Mmuo begged the governor for forgiveness, stating that he will not indulge in such activities again.

He said, “I want to plead with our able governor, Professor Charles Soludo and all citizens of Anambra State. I didn’t know how the law works.

“I will never go to the River to make sacrifices again. I’m pleading with the governor and the Anambra government that there is a means of forgiveness, they should forgive me. I will never do it again”.

Daily Post

The decade old menace of tuta absoluta may finally be over?

Tomato farmers in parts of northern Nigeria are reporting improved pest control and higher yields following the introduction of a new pest management initiative designed to tackle the destructive Tuta absoluta pest that has devastated tomato production in recent years.

The initiative is being implemented by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) under the coordination of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

The programme is being carried out in collaboration with international partners, including Razbio UK and the Federal University of Lavras in Brazil.

According to the lead researcher on the project, Dr Oke Abiola, the programme is funded by Innovate UK Business Connect and is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s food security by protecting tomato production across the value chain.

Abiola explained that the invasive pest, Tuta absoluta—locally known as “Sharon”—has remained a major threat to tomato farms since it first appeared in Nigeria in 2015, causing severe losses for farmers across the country.

To address the problem, NIHORT developed an indigenous Integrated Pest Management (IPM) package designed to control the pest while reducing farmers’ reliance on chemical pesticides.

The package includes two patented bio-pesticides—NIHORT-Lyptol and NIHORT-Raktin—solar-powered Tuta trap trays and an improved tomato seed variety known as HORTITOM 1.

Daily Trust

Non-Nigerian Media

Ije Nwokorie is the only black boss of a FTSE 250 company:

Nwokorie joined the board as a non-executive around the time of the IPO, became chief brand officer and then chief executive. He is the only black chief executive on the FTSE 250.

Before there is time to ask whether Dr Martens might have been better off listed in New York, he answers the question pre-emptively. “People ask if we want to list in America. We’re in Britain. Why would we not big-up our own markets?”

He continues: “I don’t find any limitations on growing this business because we’re listed on the British stock exchange. When I look at the reality of where we are and where we need to go, there’s nothing broken here.”

Nwokorie finds the broader national pessimism towards business baffling. “Why are we in Britain not more excited about the companies that we have?” he asks. “The default position is cynicism as opposed to optimism.”

The waitress interrupts with the first dishes: green plantain chips (his wife’s favourite), aubergine sauce, crispy onions, rice cakes with black-eyed bean hummus, and both prawn and short-rib akara fritters.

Nwokorie, 55, was born in the United States and grew up in Nigeria. He studied architecture at Columbia University in New York before moving to London to follow his then-girlfriend, who had relocated for work. He expected it to be a short stint, but it turned into a permanent move — and a marriage.

“The mythology of Britain in my family wasn’t positive,” he says. His father had spent time in London after getting stuck there during the Nigerian civil war. “He [was in a] bedsit in Cricklewood putting a 5p coin in the heater every two hours. He was freezing himself to death. Growing up my dad never said anything positive about London.”

The Times

Big report on the children who have been taught to fight in Nigeria’s north east:

Yusuf is 15 years old. He is small for his age. His shoulders are narrow and his voice has yet to fully break. But all across his body there are scars. A deep gouge on his shin where he was struck by a piece of burning shrapnel. Another above his right hip where a bullet entered and remains lodged to the day. Marks that will forever remind him of the years he spent serving in Isis’s army of child soldiers.

One night a decade ago, a group of men arrived on motorcycles at his village in Nigeria and abducted him. They carried him off to their stronghold in the bush where they spent the next few years filling his mind with extremist doctrine and training him how to kill. By the time he was ten years old, he was regularly involved in raids against the Nigerian army and skirmishes with rival jihadi groups.

Now, after five years of relentless fighting, he considers himself an experienced soldier. “I should be the one training them,” he said with a smirk when asked what it was like for him to fight against trained military professionals. He may well be right.

The men who kidnapped and groomed Yusuf, whose name has changed to protect him from reprisals, belonged to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which since Isis’s defeat in Syria in 2019 has emerged as the pre-eminent branch within the group’s global network and the torchbearer for its ambitions of re-establishing an Islamic caliphate.

Headquartered on the shifting islands of Lake Chad in Nigeria’s northeastern borderlands, ISWAP is estimated to comprise more than 10,000 fighters, making it by far the largest of any of the group’s provinces.

That the group could have expanded to such a size is more remarkable for the fact that unlike other Isis provinces, such as those in the Middle East and East Africa, almost none of its members are foreign nationals, due to the remoteness of its location. Instead, ISWAP recruitment relies heavily on a programme of mass abductions and forcible conscription. And like Yusuf, many of those who are abducted are children.

The Times

Tech Bros in Lagos be doing too much:

Tunde, determined to impress, once planned a “tech-forward” romantic gesture. He hired a drone to deliver grilled skewers of suya to my balcony because “flowers are too analog.” The drone misread the GPS, crashed into the neighbor’s laundry line and scattered spicy beef across their freshly washed bedsheets. The ensuing shouting match involved three households and one irate landlord waving a broom like a machete.

I laughed until my ribs hurt. Tunde called it “an unexpected product pivot.”

Later, over drinks, he asked if I thought we were “scalable.” I told him love isn’t a start-up. He countered that neither is Lagos, which has an established tech industry. Yet here we are.

A month later Tunde came with me to a cousin’s wedding in Ibadan — a high-stakes mission, as weddings are where aunties sharpen their matchmaking claws. He survived the onslaught of “When is your own wedding?” questions with a polite smile and several small bottles of stout.

During the after-party, as Fuji music vibrated the ground, he whispered, “Your family is like a lively app — no off button.”

I almost kissed him then, swept up by the absurd tenderness of the moment. But my mother appeared, armed with more questions about our future plans, and the spell broke.

New York Times

The race to save Pangolins and other wildlife in Nigeria and Africa:

Last year, I traveled to Nigeria to report on the trafficking of apes out of Africa — a growing problem, driven in recent years by social media videos of chimpanzees and gorillas being kept as pets. While there, I learned about Bili, a baby gorilla who narrowly avoided such a fate. But the selling of chimps, gorillas and bonobos makes up only a small portion of the illegal wildlife business. These images, captured by the Congolese photojournalist Arlette Bashizi, show the breadth of the trade in Nigeria, as well as the efforts to police it.

Above, staff members at the Nigeria Customs Service’s storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, weigh bags of pangolin scales seized by officers from the agency’s Special Wildlife Office. In one of the largest such seizures, officials intercepted 196 bags filled with scales, possibly representing as many as 38,000 pangolins, which are also known as scaly anteaters. A major factor behind the demand for wildlife products is an array of beliefs about their medicinal powers: The perceived health benefits of rhino horn, for instance, made it more valuable than gold a decade ago, fetching around $30,000 per pound at its peak. Pangolin scales, in traditional Asian medicine, are believed to have the power to treat a variety of ills, from abscesses to cancer.

Some 350 miles to the east, in Calabar, officers from the Nigeria Customs Service lay out animal parts seized from traffickers near the border with Cameroon. The crossing there is part of a route often used by animal traffickers to bring illicit wildlife products and live animals from Cameroon and other African countries into Nigeria, where they are then smuggled to other parts of the world. Last March, customs officers arrested a person entering Nigeria from Cameroon with parrot heads, packs of parrot feathers, heads of African hornbills and chimpanzee parts including hands, feet and heads.

New York Times

Princess of Wales will play a major role in next week’s state visit:

The Princess of Wales is set to play a major role in the upcoming Nigerian state visit, Buckingham Palace has revealed. Between 18 and 19 March, the President of Nigeria, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, will make their way to Britain at the invitation of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

In a sign of their ever-growing influence within the royal family, however, it is Prince William and Catherine who will be the first Windsors to welcome the couple ahead of a dazzling state banquet.

The President and First Lady are scheduled to arrive at London Stansted Airport on the afternoon of 17 March. There, the couple will be greeted by Mark Bevan, Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, on behalf of the King, as well as Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, the Acting High Commissioner of the Nigerian High Commission.

The following morning, the Prince and Princess of Wales will officially welcome the President and First Lady at the Fairmont Hotel Windsor. Their Royal Highnesses will accompany the couple to Datchet Road in Windsor, where they will receive a Ceremonial Welcome before a formal welcome from the King and Queen at the Royal Dias. A Royal Salute will be fired at Windsor Home Park and the Tower of London, ahead of a Salute from The Sovereign’s Escort and the playing of the Nigerian national anthem.

Tatler

News from Kano:

As the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei takes over as Iran’s supreme leader after the assassination of his father in a United States-Israeli attack, hundreds of mourners gathered in a mosque far away from the war in the Middle East to grieve the late leader.

The adherents in northern Nigeria’s Kano State solemnly chanted prayers. At one point during the recitations, the voice of the religious leader that carried over the microphone to all corners of the hall, cracked with grief. Among the crowd, one young man wiped his eyes.

On Sunday, Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as his father’s replacement. In Kano, the community sees it as a move ensuring the “continuation of his father’s resistance”. The assassination of the elder Khamenei last week in an air strike has stirred deep emotions among Nigeria’s minority Muslim Shia, a group that sees its faith and identity intertwined with that of the larger Shia community in Iran.

For 60-year-old academic Dauda Nalado, the elder Khamenei’s killing was not merely another event in foreign politics; it was the silencing of a revered spiritual teacher.

“Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not only a leader of the Shiite community or even Muslims alone. He is regarded as a leader of oppressed people across the world,” the university professor told Al Jazeera. “If you look at Iran’s involvement in issues concerning Gaza and Palestine, you will understand why many people admire his leadership.”

Al Jazeera

We’ve covered this company on BTH in the past:

Shares in Chariot Resources soared as much as 55 per cent to a high of 15 cents in early trade after the government approved the transfer of six licences into a joint venture with local partners, clearing a significant regulatory hurdle for its Nigerian lithium portfolio.

The approvals cover four exploration licences and two small-scale mining leases previously held by Continental Lithium, which will now be incorporated into a new company called C&C Minerals.

The company says that only routine administrative steps now remain to finalise the transfers, which will allow Chariot and its partner to move straight into active field programs at the projects.

Chariot will hold 66.66 per cent of C&C Minerals, with local partners Continental Lithium retaining a 33.33 per cent stake.

Chariot says it will now move swiftly to systematically validate drill targets in the field so it can get the rods turning across the largely undrilled ground as soon as possible.

The company says the ground already carries a documented history of artisanal production and represents the first time an ASX-listed pure-play lithium company will ever drill for lithium in Nigeria.

The joint venture’s 254-square-kilometre portfolio spans four project clusters dubbed Fonlo, Gbugbu, Iganna and Saki in the Nigerian states of Oyo and Kwara.

The West Australian

One of those stories forever seared in my memory. It happened a few years before I moved to the UK but the investigation was still a big topic when I got here. I recall the Met Police spent something like £6m on the investigation at the time:

The longest unsolved child murder case in modern UK history could still be answered because ‘someone out there knows what happened’, a retired detective has said.

‘Adam’ was a name given by Scotland Yard to a young boy whose dismembered body was discovered floating in the River Thames in London on September 21, 2001.

The child’s identity remains unknown 25 years later with no one ever charged despite an investigation that took police to South Africa, Holland, Germany and Nigeria.

Adam, who is thought to have been a Nigerian boy aged five or six, is believed to have been trafficked to the UK via Germany then murdered in a ritualistic killing.

His body, which had the head and limbs severed, was discovered near the Globe Theatre and numerous high-profile appeals followed, including by then President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.

Now, a new Channel 5 documentary called ‘The Body in The River’ which aired last night has re-examined the heartbreaking and disturbing story of Adam.

Despite a series of people being arrested, there has never been a charge over his murder - but police still believe the evidence they need is somewhere in London.

Andy Baker, a former Metropolitan Police commander who worked on the investigation, has told the programme that the case could still be solved.

Daily Mail

Oxtail and jollof are now available in Oakland:

At 9jaGrills, a newish Nigerian spot near Oakland’s Jack London waterfront, the main dining room follows the standard blueprint for today’s shiny, Instagram-optimized restaurants: the lush faux greenery wall, the neon-lit catchphrase (“Food 🔥, Drinks & Vibes”) in glowing pink cursive. The space is tidy, bright and perfectly pleasant — but, at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, it was also totally empty.

Instead, a couple dozen people had crowded out on the small tented patio in back, which was a distinct ecosystem unto itself: a haze of hookah smoke, disco lights, cheap furniture and mystery drinks in red plastic cups. On the big-screen TV, two identical twin DJs from Nigeria spun Afrobeats on stage in Lagos. Everyone else on the patio appeared to be West African, and apart from one table of middle-aged gentlemen dipping fufu into a big bowl of stew, no one else seemed to have come for the food at this hour.

It was more of a backyard party vibe. A kick back with a couple of cold Trophy Lagers vibe.

Not that we were going to let that deter us from our mission. We had made the trip because we had a wicked craving for oxtails, and we’d heard on good authority that this food-truck-turned-brick-and-mortar-lounge was the spot in Oakland for Nigerian-style oxtails and jollof rice — and maybe the only spot where you can reliably score those dishes until midnight on the weekend.

KQED

Enjoy the week’s selection below

Nigerian Media

Remember that disease that ravaged Nigeria’s ginger crop? It has done a crazy number on prices as expected:

Our correspondent gathered from various major markets across the North that a bag of dried ginger, which used to sell at N180, 000, now costs N600,000 to N610,000. Three years ago, a measure (mudu) was sold at N2, 700, but today, it costs N28,000.

However, the price of ginger varies based on the type and its purity, in terms of dust and other unwanted particles. Although some people prefer fresh ginger, most users and exporters depend on the dried type.

Alhaji Isah Garba, a major player in the Yankaba spice market and a ginger farmer in Kaduna State for decades, said the surge in ginger price was due to increased global demand.

He also said the discovery of numerous health benefits associated with ginger was another factor contributing to the commodity’s price increase.

Garba explained that pest infestation, which started in 2023, significantly reduced ginger production, resulting in a severe scarcity of the commodity in Nigerian markets.

Daily Trust

Baby price watch:

The Police Command in Lagos State has arrested a 30-year-old man who allegedly sold his sister’s one-month-old baby for N2 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the suspect, a resident of Igbogbo in the Ikorodu area of the state, claimed that he sold his younger sister’s baby to fund their mother’s burial.

The mother of the baby reported the incident to the police leading to the arrest of the suspect.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Olohundare Jimoh, has ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, for further investigation.

Speaking with NAN on Friday in Lagos, the suspect who confessed to the act, blamed poverty for his actions.

The suspect claimed that he met the woman who bought the baby on Facebook.

“Hardship pushed me to commit the act. My sister agreed to the idea.

“I met the woman who is in need of a child on Facebook, and after negotiations, she asked me to bring the baby to Mile 2.

Punch

A very sad story of nominative determinism:

A 56-year-old civil servant, Mrs Cordellia Onuwabagbe, yesterday narrated before a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere how a romantic relationship between her daughter and Benjamin Best Nnanyereugo, popularly known as Killaboi, allegedly ended in the death of the young woman.

Nnanyereugo is standing trial before Justice Ibironke Harrison over the alleged murder of Miss Augusta Oseodion Onuwabagbe.

Testifying as a prosecution witness, Onuwabagbe told the court that she first met the defendant in 2021 after her daughter introduced him as her boyfriend. According to her, Augusta had sent her a message on December 1, 2021, informing her that she was in a relationship with him.

“As a single mother trying to be safe, I asked her to bring him home. She brought him on December 8, 2021,” she said.

She added that she accepted him as part of the family after meeting him. “I saw him, and my daughter said she loved him. I accepted him as a son. He used to come to the house often. We would talk and sometimes eat together,” she said.

Onuwabagbe told the court that her daughter was a 400-level student of Medical Laboratory Science at Lead City University and was on course for a first-class degree.

According to her, the relationship later showed troubling signs. She recalled that on November 22, 2022, Augusta and the defendant travelled abroad for a holiday. She said she had questioned him about the source of the funds for the trip, to which he claimed he won a sports bet.

However, about a week into the trip, she received a disturbing video from the defendant. In the video, Augusta appeared angry following an alleged quarrel between the couple.

“He did not record the part where he beat her. My daughter later told me he abused her, smashed her phone, pulled her hair and beat her,” she said.

“But when she became angry and threw pillows at him, he recorded that part and sent it to me.”

Guardian

A story from Ilorin. See if you can count the number of failures that led to this tragedy:

Details emerged on Monday on how a man died in a fire incident which occurred at Lafia Hotel, in Ilorin, last Thursday.

The fire outbreak occurred at about 23:38 hours at the hotel along Coca-Cola road in the state capital, in an apartment used for short-let purposes.

The unidentified man was burnt beyond recognition according to graphic pictures on the incident.

Details of the incident indicated that the man allegedly lodged in the room of one of the female occupants engaged in commercial sex to probably pass the night.

Findings by DAILY POST revealed that before the fire outbreak, the lady who went out to buy some items, locked the man inside the room as it was against the rules of the hotel management for women to keep men overnight in the facility.

Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have commenced investigation into the incident, as all the sex workers have deserted the facility.

The fire incident which was reportedly triggered by power surge involved a building comprising two flats with three bedrooms each, all of which were affected by the fire.

Daily Post

Really don’t want to sound harsh but why are you patronising a ‘cleric’ for a passport?

A wave of indignation has swept through the Nigerian diaspora in the United States following allegations that a Texas-based man, identified simply as “KO”, has defrauded numerous citizens of thousands of dollars under the guise of a Nigerian passport intervention exercise.

The suspect, who presents himself as a clergyman and “Prophet of the Most High God,” reportedly operates under the company name Global Tours and Partyride LLC through which he runs what he calls a “Passport Intervention Program”. The phone number on a flyer advertising his services – +1(682) 717-3360 did not connect as of the time of filing this report. He did not also respond to a message sent to his Facebook Messenger. Interior Ministry officials in Nigetia said they were analyzing the complaints and actively looking into the case.

‘Not one of us’

The Nigeria Immigration Service NIS has however denounced activities of the said cleric, saying he is neither their personnel nor vendor.

A senior official of the Service who spoke to Saturday Vanguard but begged that his name should not be mentioned because his brief does not include speaking to the Press, said the fraudster was being tracked.

He however admitted the difficulty in tracking him for now because he has discarded his known telephone line and vacated the address he gave to his victims.

The official also blamed the development on the usual attitude of many Nigerians to seek “quick fixes” even in situations where government has provided a seamless, legal route for certain services.

“Most of our processes are digitized. Payments can be made online after filling the necessary forms online.

“People have been using this option including Nigerians resident in Nigeria. It is a simple, do it yourself process. You just visit our website and follow the necessary prompts.”, he said.

Vanguard

Same energy:

Seventy-five Nigerians are counting their losses after being scammed out of over N100 million by fake visa agents, promising them Canadian visas. The victims, desperate for a better life, sold their assets, rented out apartments, and even borrowed money to meet the N3 million to N12 million demanded by the scammers.

One of the victims simply identified as Mr. Promise, allegedly paid N11 million and resigned from his job, only to realize that it was a scam. He’s not alone; many have been left with nothing, and refunds seem unlikely.

Mr. Promise sold his available property and also convinced his younger brother to “utilize this golden opportunity” to relocate to Canada. A source close to him said, besides losing his job, “the man is in a dire strait as he cannot afford his children’s school fees and he is also very sick as a result of the loss of his money. He shuttles between Port Harcourt and his village just to make ends meet”.

At the center of it all is Dr Nekebari Nathan Dambere, a self- acclaimed travel trainer, a medical doctor who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, over an alleged N39.1million visa scam in Port Harcourt.

When contacted, Dambere admitted that he is not a travel agent but a travel trainer. He said, “sometimes people pay money through me to the middlemen some of who are in Nigeria while others are outside the country”. He owned up to the fact that money paid through him so far “is about N100million”, adding that the agents involved are “talking of paying back the money in percentage”. He appealed that both the EFCC and the Nigeria police are working hard to ensure that the money is collected from the agents and paid back to the owners. He didn’t give a specific time frame for the refund.

Vanguard

Non-Nigerian Media

As you must know by now, this letter is a fan of Joke Bakare and Chishuru. Here she is hosting a West African dinner for friends at her home. Warning, the article may leave you seriously hungry (gift link below):

The funny thing about my approach to hosting is that when I have my Nigerian friends over, I don’t often make Nigerian food, I’ll usually make something else. So the people I’ve usually invited for a traditional west African meal aren’t always as familiar with the food, and they’re often surprised, not having realised it can be this nuanced and layered.

The typical representation of west African food tends to be that it’s mainly one-pot dishes. This couldn’t be further from the truth. There aren’t courses as such, but there are distinct elements; the food is far more elevated and complex than people sometimes give it credit for.

That’s true of the dishes specifically, but also more broadly speaking in the foodways. I’m Nigerian, but I always say my cooking and restaurant are west African. Moi moi is a Nigerian dish, but you’ll find similar steamed bean puddings across other west African countries. Mburu fass is a Senegalese dessert, yet there’s a variation of it made in northern Nigeria, where I grew up. Different countries have their own interpretations of the same foods.

I don’t get to host dinners at home as often as I once did, so I really enjoy when I get the chance to welcome people into my home. The most important thing for me is that everyone has a good time and that they’re fed and watered.

Financial Times

You may have heard there’s a war going on in the Middle East:

A tanker carrying liquefied-natural gas to Europe has changed course, according to data platform Kpler, an early indication that a bidding war for energy between Asian and European buyers is underway.

The BW Brussels, carrying 71 kilotonnes of LNG from Nigeria, was signaling France as its destination but U-turned on Tuesday. The vessel is now heading toward the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, according to Kpler, suggesting it is on route to Asia.

Ships are increasingly diverting around Africa to avoid the Suez Canal.

WSJ

Nine women talk to The Times about their approach to leadership. One of them is 31 year old Eva Chisom Chukwunelo from Abuja:

How She Leads: An amputee who has used a prosthetic leg since 2013, after having osteomyelitis, a bone infection, Ms. Chukwunelo is a disability advocate who speaks globally about disability inclusion and feminism. She is also the founder of The Body as Canvas, an initiative that stages art exhibitions celebrating disabled bodies and the stories behind them.

What has been hardest about bringing lived experience and storytelling into policy conversations?

In Nigeria, where disability is often discussed at a distance from the lived realities of disabled people, the obstacle is that stories are welcomed for inspiration but resisted when they challenge power, funding priorities or existing systems.

As a woman with a disability, I have spoken in cultural, advocacy and leadership spaces about navigating inaccessible environments, exclusion from creative and professional opportunities and the cost of visibility as a disabled woman. In many of these rooms, my story is received with admiration. The response is often emotional and affirming, but it stops there. What rarely follows is structural action: no reconsideration of access, no shift in programming, no reallocation of resources. It shows how systems fail in real life.

NYT

Feature on raves in Lagos rewriting the rules of nightlife. This is a topic we discussed on our podcast with Odun Eweniyi last year (LINK):

On a recent Friday night, thousands of mostly young people trooped into a large auditorium in Lekki, an upscale part of Lagos.

Inside, it was hard to discern the faces of people just meters away. The whole hall was dark, lit only by flashing green strobe lights from the stage. Those gathered had come together for therapy.

But this was Group Therapy, a popular rave in Lagos, where revelers come seeking a different party scene they wouldn’t find anywhere in Nigeria’s commercial heart of Lagos.

Lagos’ nightlife scene had, for decades, been dominated by table culture, a club experience that prioritizes how much people spend on drinks and prime seating. The party environment encourages a competitive atmosphere that young people who live in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, say has shut them out amid skyrocketing inflation.

At Group Therapy, there are no tables. Revelers in Lekki danced shoulder to shoulder. There was only one small bar, selling drinks for much less than the typical Lagos nightclub.

“At raves, the dance floor is present. You go to a usual Lagos party, and there is no dance floor,” DJ Aniko, the founder of Group Therapy, told The Associated Press. “We barely have spaces to just dance, spaces you can just go to literally have a nice time. Most places you have to make a reservation, or book a table, it is a lot more complicated.”

Independent

Long time no Tems:

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m like this today…” Tems confesses with an awkward giggle. What she’s referring to is the spirit of evangelism that seems to take over her during our call. Within minutes of getting on the phone, she’s instructed me not to truncate my name from ‘Solomon’ to ‘Sol’ because “if you have a king’s name, you mustn’t shorten it,” declared that the secret to happiness is submitting yourself to God, and stated that “Seek God first” is the best advice she’s ever been given. “I became Tems after that,” the 30-year-old Nigerian singer reflects.

Given that Tems’ warm and earthy vocal tones have captivated listeners around the world in the six years since her breakout feature on Wizkid’s “Essence” in 2020, these aren’t words to be taken lightly. Over the years, the alté pioneer has transformed from a self-described “quiet child” whose only dream was to be heard, to shattering records in every direction. With her feature on Future’s 2022 single “With U”, she became the first Nigerian artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 100, and in 2025 she became the first female African artist to accumulate over one billion streams. Most recently, she topped charts once more with Dave collab “Raindance”, presented at the Brits, and was named Hennessy’s latest brand ambassador. Whatever Tems is doing, it’s working.

DAZED

Update on this story we covered here last year. Kindly note that I had nothing to do with this:

A drug dealer has admitted beating a vulnerable former chef to death after allegedly forcing him to sleep beside dogs.

The body of 55-year-old Dimitrios Tsavdaris was found in a foetal position inside a “cuckoo” flat in Hackney, north London, after he succumbed to weeks of violent attacks, the Old Bailey was previously told.

He had been taken there from the home of Bamidele Fawehinmi in Wickford, Essex, where he allegedly slept on a mattress in a garage beside American pitbull cross-breed dogs.

Weighing just over eight stone, the victim was a frail “vulnerable person” who may have been dead or dying for several days before his body was found on January 29 2024, jurors heard.

He had suffered multiple fractures to his ribs, face and breastbone as well as old and new bleeding on the brain and internal injuries.

On Thursday, partway through his retrial at the Old Bailey, Fawehinmi, 33, from Haringey, north London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged the jury from returning a verdict on a third charge of servitude.

He was remanded into custody to be sentenced on May 8.

Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Dimitrios must have gone through in the final weeks of his life, enslaved by Bamidele Fawehinmi and living in fear for his life.

“Dimitrios was a frail man who did not pose a threat to Fawehinmi. His initial claim in police interview that he acted in self-defence is utterly preposterous, and the words of a coward.

“Fawehinmi is a violent bully, who preyed on vulnerable people to exploit them for his own gain. His conviction will not erase the pain felt by Dimitrios’s family but I hope the fact he will spend a significant period of time behind bars brings them some small sense of justice.”

Daily Mail

Kano’s female keke riders:

Sporting a pink knee-length veil, Umma Hani Yusuf Khalid has recently found financial stability as a rickshaw taxi driver, a trade that was unthinkable for her in Nigeria’s conservative Muslim city of Kano two years ago.

As more women are having to fend for themselves amid economic hardship, they are increasingly venturing into trades previously dominated by men.

Khalid’s pink three-wheeled electric rickshaw stood out on the frenetic streets of the region’s commercial hub, as she pulled over to pick up women passengers.

The 35-year-old divorced mother of two is one of 100 women rickshaw taxi drivers plying the city’s chaotic roads under Mata Zalla, a cooperative promoting women’s empowerment.

“As a female rickshaw operator, you need to be strong because you made the resolve to go through all kinds of challenges,” Khalid told AFP.

AFP News

The coming week is going to be a busy one on 1914 Reader. Tomorrow (yes, Sunday) morning, the next chapter of The Whispering Class will go out. This one is about murder. A lot of murders. On Monday, we publish our next read-along of How Africa Works and on Wednesday you’ll get our podcast with Dan Wang. I also have a meditation on fish I hope to sneak out sometime in the week. Stay with us and don’t go anywhere else!

I make a deliberate choice not to include stories about ritual killings in this newsletter because I find them unsettling and they are of course easy fuel for stereotypes. But I see them in the papers all the time and while I will still not include them, I really hope that this is a problem that will go away.

Enjoy the usual selection below.

Nigerian Media

Some goats immigrated to Nigeria and farmers are happy:

But today, a quiet revolution is unfolding within Kano’s livestock sector and it is being driven not by cattle, but by rare, foreign-bred goats that are turning small-scale farmers into high-value livestock entrepreneurs.

For many farmers, small ruminants were once considered secondary livestock, often raised for domestic consumption or modest income.

Today, foreign exotic goats are becoming prized assets that attract wealthy buyers, commercial breeders, and livestock enthusiasts alike.

For Malam Sunusi Ali Musa, the journey into exotic livestock breeding began accidentally, as he claims to have started it as a passion.

“We started with breeding luxury birds and noticed that people showed intense interest in animals that are not commonly found in this region. We then decided to explore exotic goat breeding, not for business purposes, but as a passion,” he said.

The farmer noted that his first investment was acquiring Saanen goats from the Middle East, a decision that would later redefine his business fortunes.

“Widely regarded as one of the world’s most productive dairy goat breeds, Saanen goats are known for their exceptional milk yield and adaptability. These goats produce large quantities of milk daily, and are relatively resistant to diseases. Some buyers keep them for commercial milk production as the milk is said to be highly medicinal, while others keep them as luxury animals in their homes or farmhouses,” he explained.

Daily Trust

You read a story like this and you really really just wonder…

The Federal High Court sitting in Gombe and presided over by Justice H.I.O. Oshomah on Thursday sentenced 51-year-old Hamidu Damisa to prison for child trafficking offences.

Damisa, a resident of Putuki Pargale in Balanga Local Government Area, was accused of selling a one-year-old boy, identified as Destiny, from Bogar Degri in the same local government.

The prosecuting counsel, Musa Yila Kopyo, told the court that the defendant was arraigned on a two-count charge related to child trafficking.

According to him, “The first count is contrary to Section 13(1) and (2) of the Child Trafficking Law, 2015.”

He added that the second count alleged that Damisa attempted to sell the same child, an offence “contrary to Section 29 of the Child Trafficking Law, as amended in 2015, and punishable under Section 21 of the same law.”

When the charges were read in court, Damisa pleaded not guilty.

During the trial, the prosecution presented two witnesses, including the convict’s wife, who testified in the matter.

After considering the submissions and evidence presented, Justice Oshomah found Damisa guilty and sentenced him in accordance with the provisions of the Child Trafficking Law.

Punch

A recurring story, this time from Calabar:

There was pandemonium in the early hours of Thursday as commercial drivers in Calabar blocked major roads in protest against alleged multiple taxation, harassment, and extortion by both authorized and illegal enforcement agents in the state capital.

The protest, which affected major routes in Calabar, including areas around the University of Calabar, caused a gridlock as drivers barricaded roads to drive home their demand, as well as seek for urgent government intervention.

Speaking with journalists, Mr Etim Asuquo, a minibus driver, said in addition to the daily ticket payment of ₦700, operators are still harassed and fined under different subheads on a daily basis.

“We buy tickets every day, even on Saturdays and public holidays, yet they won’t allow us to work freely. If you stop briefly to pick a passenger, they accuse you of wrong parking and fine you between ₦60,000 and ₦100,000,” he informed.

“It is sad that in Cross River we buy ticket everyday including public holidays and Saturday for 700 naira which is one of the most expensive in the country. This is not so in our neighboring States,” Asuquo said.

Vanguard

As you know, we like to keep an eye on fake things here. This is not an easy task since it can be very difficult to distinguish between what is fake and what is real. Take for example this story about fake miracles:

The Ondo State Police Command has arrested six persons accused of posing as pastors to defraud residents through staged miracles in Idanre, Idanre Local Council.

The suspects, identified as Fadahunsi, Kolade, Tijani, Iyanuoluwa, Arijesulola and Ademola, were apprehended during a coordinated operation by tactical teams of the command in collaboration with Community Safety Officers.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Abayomi Jimoh, said the suspects allegedly operated as a group, assigning roles to create a façade of legitimacy and win the confidence of their victims.

He said preliminary investigation showed that they posed as pastors and religious leaders, staging fake miracles and spiritual interventions to deceive unsuspecting members of the public.

“They allegedly exploited the faith, emotions and vulnerabilities of individuals by promising divine solutions to financial difficulties, health challenges and other personal problems, only to defraud them through various forms of obtaining by false pretence and related scams,” he said.

Guardian

Three people have been killed by hippos in Adamawa:

Kiri community in Shelleng Local Government Area of Adamawa State has raised concern over frequent attacks by hippopotamuses, which have resulted in the deaths of three people.

The attacks have occurred on different occasions, killing residents and injuring others.

The latest incident, which took place on Friday, led to the death of 65-year-old Yakubu Galadima, popularly known as Yakubu Kuri, while he was fishing.

A source close to one of the deceased told DAILY POST, “This particular person was a household man; he has about eight children. Yesterday, after Asr prayer, he went to the river to catch fish, as it is his means of livelihood, when he met his end.

“The incident happened when he was inside his fishing boat; the hippo appeared. At first he did not see it, and people outside saw it and tried to alert him, but he couldn’t hear them calling him.

“Before he noticed, it had already reached his boat. He got scared by its sudden appearance and jumped into the river, leaving his boat, and that is how the hippo got to him and caught him by his leg, then dragged him into the deeper side of the river.”

He added that the hippopotamus belongs to the government and cannot be killed without official approval.

Daily Post

News from Mapo Customary Court:

GRADE A Customary Court, Court 2, sitting at Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, has ruled in a divorce suit brought before it by a woman, Apeke, who dragged her husband, Kamoru, before the court, claiming that he was irresponsible, not loving and caring, brutish in behaviour and also fetish in nature.

Apeke told the court that she experienced woe and pain in almost all the 19 years she was married to her husband.

The plaintiff explained that the defendant was a barber when they met and got married.

According to her, the defendant later gave up his career as a barber and became a herbalist.

Apeke further said that Kamoru then became involved in fetish practices and kept disturbing and frightening objects in their house, which made her feel uncomfortable at home.

She also stated that her husband was indifferent to her well-being.

The plaintiff said that the defendant regularly burned substances that produced strong odours which she claimed were affecting her health.

She added that her condition was worsening day by day.

According to Apeke, she solely bore the burden of running their home because Kamoru regularly dodged his responsibilities towards her and their children.

Tribune

A report on the aftermath of the Singa Market fire in Kano:

On Saturday, Feb. 15, around 4 p.m., a fire broke out at Gidan Glass, a plaza at Singa Market. Witnesses say the fire spread quickly, leaping from shop to shop before traders could salvage much. It burned for two days. By the time it was contained, dozens of shops had been reduced to charred frames.

Sulaiman and his brother’s shop was among them.

When he sat in the mosque that morning, he was mourning years of hard work — the savings, the small profits he reinvested, and his mother’s inheritance. “After his grandfather died, the inheritance was shared,” his close friend, Abba Abubakar, told HumAngle. “His mother gave him her portion to grow the business.”

Now, everything is gone.

The fire that tore through Singa Market is the latest in a long line of infernos that have become almost routine in Kano markets. Within 48 hours, early estimates placed losses in billions of naira. But beyond the figures lies a deeper story: how recurring fires, weak emergency infrastructure, and structural neglect continue to threaten the livelihoods of thousands of small-scale traders who form the backbone of the city’s informal economy.

Sulaiman’s story is that of hundreds of traders whose stalls were destroyed. In markets like Singa, capital is built slowly from daily turnover and rarely backed by insurance. Many traders rely on family contributions, cooperative loans, or personal savings. A single disruption can undo a decade of effort.

HumAngle

Non-Nigerian Media

News from Saskachoon:

Black physicians make up 1.5 per cent of the physicians in the country, according to Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka, president of the Black Physicians of Canada group. Statistics Canada figures shows about 4.5 per cent of Canada’s population identifies as Black.

“There is a gap in the number of required Black physicians; there should be enough to provide care for the Black population,” Ndubka said.

Black Physicians of Canada unites Black doctors across the country and offers mentorship and supports. It also actively encourages Black people to study medicine.

Ndubuka says immigration programs aimed at recruiting internationally trained doctors to work in Canada have helped increase the number of Black doctors in the country.

The SHA does not measure the number in the province, but Ndubka estimated there are 25 Nigerian doctors and specialists in Prince Albert and about 200 in the province. The Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists has about 2,000 members across the country.

CBC

And in another piece about family doctors in Canada, Nigerian doctors feature as well:

Another new physician, Dr. Godwin Agbonkhese, 42, said he received offers from five different communities in Alberta but chose Stettler because of the warm welcome.

“One of the major deciding factors was the recruitment team,” said Dr. Agbonkhese, who came from Nigeria with his wife, a nurse, and their four children.

Word about Stettler had spread among Nigerian doctors relocating to Canada. Of the seven new physicians, six are from Nigeria.

While Mr. Lovell was pleased, he said Canada should produce more medical school graduates and family doctors so it need not rely on international physicians, especially from developing nations.

“It does leave Nigeria in a terrible situation,” Mr. Lovell said. “They’re training all these doctors that are phenomenal doctors and that are leaving to go to other places in the world.”

New York Times

News from West Yorkshire:

Hachikaru Prosper Nyesom admitted fraud by false representation at Leeds Crown Court this week, along with her sister-in-law, Veronica Odey.

Odey did not initially know her work documents were being utilised but failed to stop the crime once she became aware.

The court heard that both women had come to the UK in the spring of 2024, with 22-year-old Odey acquiring a work permit for skilled employment.

Nyesom, 35, only had a permit to work in unskilled jobs.

Both had applied for work in the care-home sector.

The scam was uncovered in May 2024 when a picture of Nyesom sent to a recruitment agency “did not tally”, prosecutor Carmel Pearson said.

An investigation was launched and it was found that Nyesom had set up an email address in Odey’s name.

It was also found that Odey had paid £6,565 to Nyesom - the wages for the jobs Nyesom had secured under her sister-in-law’s name.

A probation report into Nyesom found that she had a nine-year-old son in Nigeria whom she was supporting with her wages.

Mitigating on her behalf, Erin Kitson-Parker said her fraud was “not sophisticated” but conceded it was serious.

She said: “She was not doing it to drive fast cars or have holidays, it was to send it to her son.

“She was mis-advised in her decision making.”

Nyesom, of Hepworth Gardens, Wakefield, has no previous convictions in the UK or Nigeria.

Odey, of Marion Grove, Wakefield, also has no previous convictions.

Mitigating on her behalf, Kristina Goodwin said: “She had no knowledge of this fraudulently activity until she confronted Nyesom.

“But she did continue to let her use them because the money was going back to her child”

Yorkshire Evening Post

Leslie Mba is going to prison for 19 years:

A man who was in Houston illegally has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison for his role in a romance scam and business email compromise scheme that defrauded victims of more than $4 million.

40-year-old Leslie Chinedu Mba pleaded guilty on Dec. 4, 2025, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit false statements in immigration documents. Mba was ordered to serve 228 months in federal prison.

Prosecutors said that from April 2018 through Dec. 2023, Mba and others, inside and outside the United States, carried out business email and romance scams targeting individuals and businesses.

According to court records, the scams often began overseas, where co-conspirators gained unauthorized access to business email accounts and redirected payments to fraudulent bank accounts.

Victims believed they were sending money to legitimate businesses, but the funds were instead funneled into accounts that were controlled by Mba and others.

Federal authorities said Mba and his co-conspirators acted as “money mules,” opening or using existing bank accounts to collect and move money from the fraud.

FOX 26 Houston

Who is Aleti Crystal? She beats men for a living:

A professional man-beater is in the business of vigilante justice, particularly against abusive men.

Aleti Crystal appeared on the TUBTS podcast to reveal her thought-provoking venture. Crystal is a modern-day superhero for the beaten and battered. She detailed her business to the podcast host, with the clip going viral on social media.

“I recently started a business where I beat men who beat pregnant women, underage girls, or rape victims,” she shared. “I will start working with the police, and my goal is to beat at least 1,000 men before 2027.”

The business has already turned a profit, one more valuable than her content creation. Crystal uses social media to promote her business, gaining many of her clients through platforms like TikTok.

However, according to the Nigerian Bulletin, Crystal does not do it all alone. She works with a team for her vigilante mission, as the women clients task them with teaching men the hard way.

“I beat them up properly,” added Crystal. “I have a group of people that I work with to beat them into shape.”

Black Enterprise

A feature on Temi Coker and his work in Dallas:

Duality is at the heart of artist Temi Coker’s work. The Dallas-based artist was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria until the age of 12, when his family came to America. “The idea of duality is something I still struggle with,” Coker says. “If I leave here and I go to Nigeria, they see me as ‘You’re kind of one of us, but you talk different.’” But these complicated ideas of identity and duality have always been embraced in Coker’s art.

As an introverted pastor’s kid, Coker grew up playing the keys at church. He says music was his first exposure to creativity and self-expression. “I could see how it could make people feel something, and it was also for me to express whatever I was feeling,” he remembers. He went to college originally pursuing a biomedical engineering degree, but switched to a degree in digital media. After graduating college, Coker taught photography and design at his old high school. He was especially passionate about encouraging high school students that careers in creative industries were possible.

[…]

The collection officially launched online in January, but Coker isn’t trying to put too much pressure on performance. One of the most meaningful purchases was by the mother of a longtime friend who’d seen him struggle with the decision to change his college degree. He tells another story of a big group chat with people from Nigeria with the last name Coker. Someone from the group chat texted about Temi Coker’s collection, saying, “We don’t have a Walmart in Nigeria, but this person has our last name. Let’s support him any way we can.” Coker says, “It was really cool to see that this collab is reaching back home.”

D Magazine

Suya is now available in Charlotte, North Carolina

Like the lamb mafé, suya reinvigorated my on-again-off-again yearning to dig deeper into my Pan-Africanism bag.

I’m serious. After the first plastic forkful of beef suya, I was ready to trade in my Ralph Lauren polo shirt and cargo pants for a long, flowing royal blue and gold agbada, listen to more Fela Kuti, read more Frantz Fanon and maybe even dump my European name from something like Ajala Babayaro like when rapper Mos Def changed his name to Yasiin Bey.

To tie this back to the beginning, my favorite barbecue in Charlotte is located on the edge of a vacant parking lot on West Carson Boulevard in an itty bitty food trailer hidden from street view behind another food trailer on the side of a hookah lounge. And it’s called Suya King.

The Charlotte Observer

Enjoy the usual selection below

Nigerian Media

This story left me somewhat speechless:

Residents of Madalla, Zuma, and Chachi—communities situated along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway in Niger State—are flocking to a major road construction site to mine what they believe are precious stones.

Abuja Metro reports that the amateur miners, including children, youth, and married women, are scavenging for minerals within the gravel deposits supplied for the road project.

The residents claim to be extracting valuable minerals, which some have identified as silver or even gold.

From mechanics to miners

One of the miners, Musa Ibrahim, said he has spent the past week mining and purchasing the stones.

He intends to take the minerals to Ilesha in Osun State, a town where he has been engaged in the mineral business for years.

Similarly, Abubakar Ibrahim, a motorcycle mechanic in Madalla, has partially abandoned his trade for this newfound venture.

He told our reporter that since the discovery roughly two weeks ago, about 500 people from various communities along the highway have been participating in daily mining activities from dawn until dusk.

Our reporter found Ibrahim inside his mechanic workshop, using the same hammers he employs for repairs to extract minerals from the rocks.

He described the business as a lucrative, albeit temporary, opportunity that earns him about N15,000 daily.

“Most of the people you see mining will later sell their finds to merchants at rates between N3,000, N5,000, or more, depending on the quantity and the seller’s experience in the trade,” Ibrahim explained.

Daily Trust

You can now get motorcycle transport for an additional 4 hours in Gombe to celebrate Ramadan. Don’t mention:

The Gombe State Police Command has announced the extension of the relaxation of motorcycle movement restrictions from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. throughout the holy month of Ramadan and beyond.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Buhari Abdullahi, said the decision followed “extensive security consultations” and was aimed at accommodating increased religious and social activities during and after Ramadan.

According to the statement, the adjustment “reflects the Command’s commitment to accommodating the increased religious, social, and communal activities taking place during Ramadan, as well as the period following the month when festive and community engagements remain high.”

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Umar Chuso, reassured residents of the Command’s readiness to maintain law and order despite the relaxed movement window.

“The Command remains unwavering in its commitment to maintaining peace, protecting lives and property, and ensuring that the relaxed movement window does not compromise public safety,” he said.

Punch

Update on Makoko:

Relative peace has returned to Makoko after weeks of protests by aggrieved residents following the demolition of the waterfront settlement by the Lagos State government. The area was, before now, under the grip of hostility, tension and uncertainty until the arrival of truce, thanks to a five-point agreement reached between the residents and representatives of government.

Recall that members of an ad-hoc committee set up by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, on Monday, visited Makoko for an on-the-spot assessment of the demolished area. A stakeholders meeting between the residents, the House ad hoc committee led by its chairman, Mr Noheem Adams, and the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on E-GIS and Urban Renewal, Dr Babatunde Olajide later gave birth to the agreement signed by all parties.

According to Hon. Adams who read the agreement: “Our decisions as a House after deliberations by all is that Makoko community should stop all building on the demolished properties; Makoko community should set up a 10-man committee to deliberate on the remuneration for the compensation of displaced residents; the SA on E-GIS should set a boundary on where to stop the regeneration plan; we agree that the regeneration plan, that is the water-city project, will be for Makoko; and lastly, there is no plan for the elimination of Makoko“.

Vanguard

Only in Nigeria will a story like this make perfect sense:

The Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, is set to commission the newly built Mosque by Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Saturday, February 21, 2026.

The mosque, which was unveiled on Saturday, February 14, 2026, was named after Madam Abibatu Mogaji, the late mother of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Madam Mogaji was the grandmother of the Iyaloja-General; therefore, commissioning the mosque would be a great honour for the President’s daughter.

During the unveiling, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo sent several Iyaloja and Babalojas to represent her due to her unavoidable absence, while promising to be physically present at the commissioning scheduled for Saturday.

Speaking on Saturday about his decision to build the Mosque and name it after President Tinubu’s mother, Primate Ayodele stated that it was a decision borne out of divine direction, adding that it also serves as a message of unity across religions.

“Building this mosque isn’t because I want attention or anything from anyone; it was a divine instruction that I cannot ignore.

“I am only answerable to God, so whatever anyone says doesn’t matter to me as long as God is pleased with me.

Tribune

Useful public health intervention by the Kano State government and gives you a sense of the scale of the problem:

The Kano State Government has approved the sum of ₦99 million for the implementation of Phase I of its Anti-Rabies Control Programme in a renewed effort to strengthen public health and boost livestock development across the state.

The approval was granted under the leadership of Abba Kabir Yusuf as part of the administration’s commitment to protecting residents from preventable but deadly diseases.

The programme, which will be coordinated by the Kano State Ministry of Livestock Development, aims to vaccinate at least 10,000 dogs in the first phase.

The press release was signed by Halima Sani Gadanya, Director of Public Enlightenment at the Kano State Ministry of Livestock Development.

The Honourable Commissioner for Livestock Development, Aliyu Isah Aliyu, will oversee the exercise.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects both animals and humans and is most commonly transmitted through dog bites.

Health experts warn that once clinical symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal, making prevention through mass vaccination the most effective control strategy.

Speaking on the initiative, Dr Aliyu described the programme as a critical intervention to safeguard public health and improve animal welfare in Kano State.

He stressed the ministry’s determination to work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure successful implementation.

Tribune

Non-Nigerian Media

Wunmi Mosaku on Sinners and being nominated for an Oscar:

When Wunmi Mosaku arrived at Rada aged 18, she expected to study Shakespeare. “Instead, they gave us a year’s membership to London Zoo and sent us off to look at the animals so we could pretend to be them,” she says, still sounding perplexed more than 20 years later. “I thought, ‘What am I doing? I cannot be getting into debt for this.’ I’m from a family of academics; I want some hard facts.”

She “didn’t really enjoy” drama school. “I found it very difficult. It was my first time away from home, everyone mimicked my Manchester accent, I was the only black girl in my year and I didn’t get any parts. It felt isolating. I spent all my student loan on going home every weekend in my first year.”

Thankfully, things improved. Mosaku, 39, has just been nominated for an Oscar for her role in the refreshingly original southern gothic vampire film Sinners. Born in Nigeria and brought up in Manchester, she started her career in British TV — she played the straightforward detective Catherine Halliday in Luther and won a Bafta for her poignant performance as Damilola Taylor’s mother, Gloria, in Damilola, Our Loved Boy in 2016. She moved to Los Angeles in 2018 when she met her husband, who is African-American, and has gone back and forth for work.

The Times

Tolu Coker opened London Fashion Week:

The King appeared at London Fashion Week on Thursday, hours after the announcement of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest.

Amid applause from the audience inside — and a heavy police presence outside — the King took his seat at the British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker’s show next to Stella McCartney and the chief executive of the British Fashion Council, Laura Weir.

These front row benches are used to accommodating royalty of a sort, but this was a VIP of rather different magnitude — the King was provided with a special chair and silk cushion instead. Queen Elizabeth was the first monarch to attend a fashion week show in 2018 when she sat on the front row at Richard Quinn.

Coker, 32, was previously a recipient of funding from the Prince’s Trust. The King’s attendance was part of his focus on homegrown and sustainable craftsmanship: Coker works with remaindered deadstock fabric and low-chemical dyes.

Her autumn 2026 collection, which was rather appositely named Survivor’s Remorse, was inspired by her childhood in Notting Hill — its community, carnivals and culture. The catwalk space was decorated as a mock street scene, complete with murals, lampposts and a London Underground roundel.

The Times

And staying with Nigerian fashion:

The soundbite went viral before the full track had been released. “I’m gonna marry a Nigerian and you’re gonna wear gele to my wedding,” goes the line from Keys the Prince, a British-Nigerian rapper and producer. For the past few months, it has been used on TikTok to accompany videos of women, Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, getting cinched into flamboyant outfits, complete with a perfectly pleated gele, or headtie.

Nigeria’s population is among the most fashion-forward in Africa. Its 230m people may spend as much as $6bn a year on apparel (mostly imports), according to one investment firm. For a long time, local styles did not travel beyond the country’s shores. But thanks to its large and growing diaspora, Nigerian fashion has lately begun to spread around the world. Pop-up events in cities such as London and Houston, the appearance of Nigerian brands in the world’s biggest department stores and the burgeoning international interest in the fashion scene in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, are all putting Nigerian styles on the map.

In one sense, Nigerian fashion has always been global. For centuries local artisans imported foreign techniques and materials and fused them with their own work. The colonial era brought British-mediated imports of silky threads used in woven fabrics like aso oke (pronounced “asho-okay”) by the Yoruba people in the south-west. Akwete, another woven fabric made by the Igbo people in the south-east, shows signs of Indian influences. The damask used in women’s headties was originally Austrian (the priciest fabric still is). Delicate lace was usually French and Swiss, or more recently Chinese and Korean. But in the past few years the direction of travel has shifted. From beadwork by southern coastal communities to adire, cotton that is resistance-dyed with cassava starch and indigo by the Yorubas, Nigerian techniques and textiles are finding new markets in unlikely corners of the world.

The Economist

News reaching us from Grenada:

Citizens of the United States of America were in the first 5 positions of people who gained Grenada citizenship in the last quarter of 2025, according to data released by the Investment Migration Agency (IMA).

The data shows that 2025 was the first time since 2021 that Grenada approved less than 1,200 new citizens through the citizenship by investment programme (CBI). In 2024, there were 5,443; in 2023, there were 4,794, and in 2022, there were 1,396.

In his presentation of the 2026 budget statement, Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall said that in 2025, the IMA delivered another strong and credible performance, reaffirming the CBI Programme as a major driver of foreign investment and fiscal stability.

[…]

While citizens of the USA rank 4th, the top positions for CBI citizenship are held by citizens of Nigeria and China, with Iraq in 3rd and Pakistan in 5th.

NOW Grenada

Black Book 2 is coming. If Editi does not change it to Blackest Book, I’m not even going to watch it:

Nicholas Weinstock, the Emmy-nominated producer of Severance, is on board to produce The Black Book 2 – Old Scores, the sequel to Editi Effiong’s 2023 Nigerian revenge thriller that smashed records worldwide.

The original Black Book, made for just $1 million, hit no. 3 on Netflix‘s global charts in 2023, ranking in the top 10 in more than 69 countries and racking up more than 20 million views worldwide. It stars Richard Mofe-Damijo as Paul Edima, a former hitman and deacon, who takes revenge after his son is framed and killed by a corrupt police unit.

Weinstock’s Invention Studios is producing The Black Book 2 along with Effiong’s Anakle Films. Effiong returns as writer and director on the sequel. The feature picks up where Black Book ended, with Paul Edima continuing his assault on the corrupt system. A blurb for the film says the second installment will “delve deeper…into themes of justice, redemption, and societal unrest in contemporary Nigeria.”

“The Black Book showed us that local stories can spark global conversations,” said Effiong, in a statement. “With Old Scores, we’re not just continuing a story, we’re continuing a movement — one that affirms the power of African voices to shape cinema worldwide.”

“What Editi’s created with The Black Book is unique in its power: not just a great action film but a film franchise of extraordinary skill, ambition, and worldwide commercial appeal,” added Weinstock. “It’s a phenomenal time for African and international creators to be delivering work at the quality level of traditional Hollywood and actually beyond – and to be stunning global audiences with sheer imagination and excellence. And there’s no better example of that than Old Scores and its game-changing potential.”

The Hollywood Reporter

A story we previously covered in BTH - 98 has now reached the extradition stage:

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Afeez Olatunji Adewale, 26, was extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face charges related to the sexual extortion and death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Adewale is charged by indictment with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. He appeared in federal court in Philadelphia before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski yesterday.

Adewale was arrested in Nigeria on August 17, 2023, as part of a wider operation with the FBI to apprehend sexual extortionists targeting minors in the United States. He was extradited to the United States on Friday, February 13, 2026, with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja, and the FBI, who took him into custody. The support and assistance of Nigerian security authorities was essential to this effort, notably that of Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Justice Cooperation Department, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

United States Attorney’s Office

Meanwhile, oin Australia, news of a “Trump-style” list has leaked:

The Liberal Party has proposed banning immigrants from terror-controlled regions in 13 countries, including Egypt, Palestine and the Philippines.

The proposed policy could result in up to 37 regions under the control of 15 listed terror organisations being designated.

This could include regions in Afghanistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, Gaza, Somalia and Yemen.

The policy was prepared under former opposition leader Sussan Ley, shadow immigration minister Paul Scarr and shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam.

Sky News Australia

No one seems to know what it was they were mining:

A toxic gas leak at a mine in north-central Nigeria killed 37 people and led to the hospitalization of 26 others, according to police.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in Kampani Zurak community, located in the Wase area of Plateau state, police spokesman Alfred Alabo said in a statement.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the miners were affected due to a sudden discharge of lead oxide and other associated gases like sulphur and carbon monoxide which are toxic and poisonous to humans, particularly in a confined or poorly ventilated environment,” he said. “The corpses of the deceased victims have been released to their families for burial according to their religious practices.”

The Nigerian government has closed the mining site and an investigation into the leak is underway.

The miners were unaware of the toxic nature of the emissions and continued their operations, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dele Alake said in a statement.

It’s not clear what was being mined at the site and whether the mine was operating legally. Nigeria is trying to rein in illegal gold mining operations across the country that have killed hundreds of people over the years.

AP News

From the warfront in Ukraine:

The bodies of two Nigerians fighting for Russia have been found in eastern Ukraine, the country’s authorities said Thursday.

Hamzat Kazeen Kolawole and Mbah Stephen Udoka both served in the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, according to a statement from the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.

It said the deceased men signed their contracts with the Russian military in the second half of 2025 — Kolawole on Aug. 29 and Udoka on Sept. 28.

Neither man received any military training. Kolawole is survived by a wife and three children in the West African country.

The bodies were found Luhansk, an area in the Donbas region of the eastern part of Ukraine.

“Both Nigerians were killed in late November during an attempt to storm Ukrainian positions in the Luhansk region. They never engaged in a firefight — the mercenaries were eliminated by a drone strike,” the intelligence organization said.

Washington Post

Adeleke Adelani has received an additional 9 year sentence on top of the 7 year one he was already serving:

Adelani had been due to stand trial in November 2025 but pleaded guilty before a jury was selected.

In a victim impact statement, which the woman had read to the court during proceedings, she said: “I have forgiven the defendant. The forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable. It means I refuse to let what he did continue to control my heart and my life.”

She added: “When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom.

“He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love.”

The court was told the woman had become pregnant by Adelani in 2019 but they both decided to terminate the pregnancy.

She became pregnant again in 2020 and had decided to keep the baby, the court was told.

Adelani had invited the woman to his home in Donegal on Valentine’s Day 2020, the court heard, under the belief that he too wanted to keep the baby.

The court heard that after they spoke face-to-face, he forced her to take tablets normally prescribed by medical professionals in a controlled environment.

The court was told Adelani told her that he would beat her nine-week-old foetus out of her if she did not take the abortion tablets.

After forcing her to swallow the tablets, Adelani left to buy a pregnancy test, the court heard.

The woman, who Adelani had met on Snapchat, then phoned gardaí (Irish police) and officers arrived at the house at 14:20 on 14 February 2020.

Adelani was arrested at the scene and his phone was seized. It remained locked for four years, as he would not provide the pin.

BBC

Enjoy the week’s selection below.

Nigerian Media

A story that left me astonished. Wells claiming lives in Kano. Everything is connected - if you are constantly defaulting to sub-optimal solutions and postponing the hard yards, you will always get stuff like this:

Findings by Weekend Trust show that between June 2024 and February 2026, no fewer than a dozen, many of them children and young adults, lost their lives in separate well-related accidents across nine local government areas of the state.

From Nasarawa to Danbatta, Dawakin Tofa to Gwale, the pattern is disturbingly similar: an uncovered or poorly secured well, a fall, sometimes accidental, sometimes during an attempted rescue and a desperate race against time that often ends in death.

One of the earliest recorded incidents within the period occurred on June 4, 2024, in Kawon, Alhaji Sani area of Nasarawa Local Government Area.

A 33-year-old man identified as Muhd Sagir reportedly fell into a dry well. Reports at the time noted that operatives of the Kano State Fire Service responded swiftly after receiving a distress call of the incident. Sagir was pulled out of the well unconscious and rushed for medical attention but was later confirmed dead.

The tragedy underscored the dangers posed, not only by water-filled wells but also by abandoned or dry wells left uncovered in residential areas.

In early November 2025, two families were thrown into mourning within 24 hours as two children died in separate well accidents. In Kashirmo village, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, an eight-year-old girl, identified as Zara’u Muhammad, reportedly slipped and fell into a deep well. Residents and local responders attempted rescuing her, but she was later confirmed dead.

Barely hours later, another tragedy struck in Dala Local Government Area, where a six-year-old boy fell into a well. He was rescued unconscious but did not survive.

Daily Trust

In Edo, pineapple has last out to palm oil:

Two weeks ago, more than 400 pineapple growers in the Aduhanhan community of Uhunmwonde Local Government Area protested against Edo State’s purported intention to take over their farms in order to make way for an investment in palm oil.

Weekend Trust reported that the chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Edo State, Alhaji Bako Dogwo, alongside leaders of other organisations, spearheaded the farmers’ protest on behalf of the Aduhanhan Taungya Farmers Association.

Speaking to reporters, Alhaji Dogwo said the farmers had been cultivating the land for over 60 years, and that the proposed eviction went against all levels of government’s efforts to combat food insecurity.

He said that when the government gave the community the forest reserves, they were required to grow only food crops – cassava, yams, maize, pineapple, etc – rather than cash crops.

Noting that Nigeria is the continent’s top producer of pineapple and the seventh in the world, Dogwo clarified that the ranking was attained because Edo State is the country’s top producer.

“If the plan to illegally evict the over 400 farmers from over 10 communities from the land is possible, it would amount to land grabbing, injustice, oppression of farmers and governments’ lip service to agriculture.

Daily Trust

From Osun to Luxembourg? Anything can happen I suppose:

The Osun state Police Command has arrested a travel agent for allegedly defrauding two clients of N3.6 million under the pretext of securing Luxembourg visas.

This is contained in a statement by DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, the spokesperson for the command, in Osogbo on Thursday.

Ojelabi said in January 2025, the two victims were introduced by one of their friends to the suspect, who presented himself as a travel agent.

He said the victims thereafter gave the suspect the sum of N3.6 million to help them process visas and tickets to travel to Luxembourg in Europe

“Instead of processing the visas for them, the suspect absconded with their money.

“In the course of investigation, it was discovered that the suspect had also duped other victims to the tune of N4.8 million, totalling the sum of N8.4 million collected by the suspect from his victims.

Punch

The Paraga Lobby fought back really hard (with all sorts of wild claims about jobs and investment) and now seem to have won the fight against sachet alcohol. They are now raising their ambition by calling for the head of NAFDAC’s leadership:

The Coalition for Nigerian Change Movement has called for the immediate removal of the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, over alleged abuse of public office and unlawful enforcement actions.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Abuja, the coalition’s leader, Comrade Ogo Lincoln Otekevwe, accused the NAFDAC boss of enforcing an “arbitrary and illegal” ban on sachet alcohol and 200ml PET bottle alcoholic products in defiance of existing directives.

The group argued that the agency’s action contradicts the National Alcohol Policy approved by the Federal Ministry of Health and a presidential directive restraining NAFDAC from disrupting the operations of affected companies pending the outcome of a joint committee’s review.

According to the coalition, the enforcement also runs contrary to a resolution of the House of Representatives referenced as NAS/10/HR/CT.33/77c of March 14, 2024, which reportedly restrained NAFDAC from implementing the ban after a public hearing with key stakeholders and described the move as anti-people.

Otekevwe said the situation has created confusion among industry operators who are faced with conflicting directives from different arms of government.

Guardian

A very strange story. My initial thought was an old undetonated bomb from the Civil War but that does not appear to be in consideration. There is a photo of the device in the article:

Residents of Ogbor Hill, Aba, Abia State, have been gripped by fear and confusion, following conflicting accounts over the alleged discovery of an explosive device at the United Evangelical Church, Ehere/Umuola.

The controversy erupted after eyewitnesses said a bomb was unearthed on January 30, 2026, while labourers were excavating a foundation for a new perimeter fence, following a government directive for the church to set back its structure due to road expansion.

However, the Abia State Police Command swiftly denied the claim. In a statement, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Maureen Chinaka, said no explosive was recovered at the church.

“I can authoritatively confirm that no bomb or explosive was recovered from the said area,” the statement read, adding that what was removed by soldiers was merely an iron rod from a church pillar during compliance with road construction directives.

But the church has strongly countered the police narrative, insisting that the incident was not a ruse.

When Vanguard visited the church, the Associate Pastor, Eleazar Onyenweaku, insisted that an explosive device was indeed exhumed and evacuated by the Army.

He expressed shock that the police dismissed the incident without initially visiting the church.

Vanguard

An ethical kidnapper?

A man accused of kidnapping four-year-old Muhammad Haruna in Kano has admitted that he carried out the crime to secure N100,000 to pay his debts.

The suspect, Aminu Tukur, who is still in the custody of the DSS, insisted that he acted alone and without influence from anyone else.

“I alone did what I did because I needed money to pay my N100,000 debt, although I requested for N15 million ransom, but I told myself that if they didn’t pay I would return the boy home without hurting him,” he said.

He explained that he went to the boy’s home in Minjibir Local Government Area under the pretext of measuring him for new clothes, and that was how he kidnapped him.

“I used my relationship with his father to go to the house to get the boy and I took him to my sister house, convincing her that his mother is sick and has gone to hospital. That was how I kept him for four days with me,” he added.

The boy’s father, Haruna Hamza, expressed relief and gratitude to the DSS for rescuing his son just four days after the abduction.

According to him, “I received my son who was rescued by the DSS on 12th February 2026 after being kidnapped and he is in good health.”

Daily Post

EFCC continues to defend the Naira’s honour:

A federal high court in Kano has sentenced Saadatu Mohammed Inuwa, the Kannywood actress popularly known as Samha Inuwa, to six months in prison for abusing the naira notes.

S.M. Shuaibu, the judge, delivered the judgment on Friday after the actress was convicted on a one-count charge of naira mutilation, an offence contrary to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act of 2007.

The charge against Inuwa stated that she tampered with a N1,000 note by soiling it with her nose in 2022.

The charge against the movie star reads: “That you Saadatu Mohammed Inuwa sometime in 2022 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court tampered with Naira currency in the sum of N1000 (One Thousand Naira) note issued by Central Bank of Nigeria by soiling same using your nose and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 21 (1) of the CBN Act. 2007”.

The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to her in court.

Following her plea, Musa Isah, the prosecuting counsel, presented the facts of the case and urged the court to convict and sentence her accordingly.

The Cable

Non-Nigerian Media

I had never heard of Oreoluwa Osoba, never mind his dog Duke, before reading this article:

On TikTok and Instagram, @Ogaduke feels less like a pet account and more like a tiny family sitcom, starring one very serious dog and his very devoted dad. It’s the kind of feed you start watching for a minute and before you know it you’re twenty videos in. Behind the camera is Oreoluwa Osoba, whose videos with his dog, Duke, have become beloved for their affectionate “Nigerian dad” energy, gentle scolding and laugh-out-loud timing.

Osoba says that voice wasn’t something he ever sat down and planned. It was already there. “Duke and I have always had that bond,” he said. “I have always been a Nigerian dad with him… Growing up in Nigeria I was raised with the ‘Nigerian tone,’ the funny yet very loving and protective tone, so I guess it just grew on me naturally.” With Duke, he added, “I am an African father who just wants to love, care and protect him.”

Most of Osoba’s videos follow a familiar setup. He and Duke are usually on the couch, sitting close, the camera facing them straight on. It looks simple. Almost accidental. And then Osoba starts talking, launching into affectionate, mock-serious “lectures” that feel equal parts parenting and buddy comedy routine.

In his most popular video, which has been viewed more than five million times, Osoba gently scolds Duke for eating his chicken while he was on the phone in the other room. Duke is wearing a pink collared shirt and sits very still, like he knows he’s in trouble. Osoba reminds him, with exaggerated seriousness, that he “pays the bills in this house” and is disappointed in him. Duke lowers his head. Then he places a paw on Osoba’s knee. Then, eventually, he leans in for a hug, as if offering a formal apology. In the caption, Osoba jokes that this was the moment he realized he had fully become an African dad, giving his “son” a lecture about responsibility.

Los Angeles Times

Who are the 5 women changing fashion according to the NYT?

Olivia Ozi-Oiza Chance, 32, has been fascinated by textiles since childhood, when she’d go to markets with her mother and aunts while on visits to Nigeria (her maternal grandparents live in Jos). “The process of touching fabrics and imagining what they could become made craft feel alive and immediate to me,” says Chance, who grew up in Chichester, England. She went on to study fashion design at Middlesex University in London, where she developed a labor-intensive practice that embraces both her Nigerian and British heritage, and founded her brand, Oiza, in 2022.

Lace figures prominently in Oiza’s offerings, which always include floor-scraping gowns composed of individual panels that are stitched together by hand. Several appeared in her spring 2026 collection, which she designed and developed while pregnant. For Chance, working on it was “a way of translating personal transformation into design, with emotion and instinct leading form,” and she considered the results a sort of tribute to Oshun, the Yoruba deity of fertility and love. One of the lace dresses was an alabaster hue, and had a mock neck and hand-applied florets made out of cowrie shells. There was also a long halter top that was worn over lace pants and made from meters’ worth of pendulous tassel trim, whose movements Chance thought of as symbolizing both the unpredictability and rhythm of motherhood. For her next collection, she’ll assemble a small group of intricate couture pieces.

New York Times

Love is in the air in Kano, just in time for Valentine’s:

Aisha adjusted her beige veil over her circular-shaped headgear as a matchmaker scrolled through rows of dozens of pictures on a computer to find a man she could be interested in as a potential match.

Many young women in northern Nigeria’s conservative Muslim city of Kano marry as early as 18.

After waiting for years for a suitor, Aisha is frustrated and has turned now to enlist the services of an online matchmaker site to find a husband of her dreams: rich and educated.

Matchmaking websites are booming in Kano, blending traditional methods with artificial intelligence.

“This is the right place to ask for help in finding a person to marry,” Aisha, using a pseudonym, told AFP inside Northern Halal Marriage online matchmaking office. ”

“”It is not every man who sees you that will express his love,” said the soft-spoken college graduate, adding online is “the best way to find true love”.

She’s trying her luck after some of her friends found their dream husbands through online matchmaking.

The five-month-old site, one of several that have sprung up in the city, has attracted 1,000 clients and garnered around 10,000 followers across social media platforms, said Jaafar Isah Shanawa, its 27-year-old CEO.

With four staff, the platform accords clients privacy by modifying their pictures using AI and changing their real names.

The concealed details are only shown to interested clients when they visit the office in person after paying a registration fees.

AFP

I don’t think it was a good idea for Remi Tinubu to go on The Free Press as pat of her US lobbying tour.:

Father Galmi recalls a child he was helping who had witnessed his father’s hands being cut off. “This boy is struggling with coming to terms with the fact that his father has no hands because he’s a Christian, and he watched his father suffer that brutal attack by this Islamic terrorist,” he told me. To speak to him, it’s clear how soul-crushing it is to witness the suffering of the victims he works with. “They are not just traumatized,” said Father Galmi. “They are broken forever.”

I asked the First Lady if she had visited any sites of Islamist atrocities to speak with survivors, and she told me she had traveled widely across Nigeria, including to Plateau State, where Christians have been displaced and massacred by Islamist Fulani militants.

There, she said, she spoke to the elders of the community, who showed up in the hundreds, she said, and gave them over $1 million to rebuild their homes.

“I told them: ‘This will be the last time. . . . Why are you killing each other? I can’t be bringing money here, and then you’re squandering it,” she said.

[…]

Tinubu, however, insists on optimism. “You know, Nigerians are quite resilient. All these communities are still springing up. They believe in the faith. And we as a government, what we are supposed to do is to give them protection, and that is what this administration is trying to do.”

Tinubu says that the president “is working day and night to secure lives.” And “they’ve done a lot.”

But, she suggested, it’s not as simple as #BringBackOurGirls. “Even those girls kidnapped during Chibok, they are still trying to rescue them,” Tinubu said, “until they learned recently that most of them fell in love with their abductors, so that’s quite difficult. You know, they refuse to come back.”

The Free Press

The Economist covers the MOWAA fiasco:

Things came to a head in November, when protesters stormed a glitzy preview event for officials and foreign guests. The intruders, echoing the oba, demanded that the museum be suspended pending an “investigation” into its provenance, funding and legality, prompting an inquiry. But the dispute goes back further.

It begins with Benin’s famous bronzes, a stunning collection of plaques and statues looted by the British and bought by museums (and private collectors) across Europe and America. On February 8th the University of Cambridge became the latest institution to say it would return its collection of bronzes to Nigeria as part of a global drive for restitution. In 2018 Godwin Obaseki, then the governor of Edo state, which includes Benin City, announced plans for a new museum that could house them. That undercut the argument, made by opponents of returning the bronzes, that Nigeria has nowhere to keep them safe and on view for locals.

Yet not everyone was happy. In 2021 Ewuare II, the current oba, accused the team behind the project of attempting to hijack the restitution process. He was particularly exercised by the museum’s new name, which he believed severed the link between the bronzes and the palace. “It started as the Benin Royal Museum, not MOWAA—that is the foundation of the argument,” says his spokesman. In 2023 Muhammadu Buhari, then Nigeria’s president, declared the oba “the original owner and custodian of the culture, heritage and tradition of the people of Benin kingdom”. Any returning bronzes were to be handed to him rather than the government.

The Economist

Nigerians are choosing chatbots for therapy, so says The Guardian:

On a quiet evening in her Abuja hotel, Joy Adeboye, 23, sits on her bed clutching her phone, her mind racing and chest tightening. On her screen is yet another abusive message from her stalker – a man she had met nine months earlier at her church.

He had asked Adeboye out; when she declined, he began sending her intimidating, insulting and blackmailing messages on social media, as well as spreading false information about her online. There were even death threats.

The experience is taking its toll on her mental health, leaving her struggling to cope. Family and friends she confided in did not take it seriously, and she cannot afford in-person therapy or counselling. As the feeling of panic rose at the sight of his words, she turns to an alternative: a WhatsApp chatbot called Chat Kemi.

“Good evening, Resilient Joy,” the bot types. “How are you today?”
Adeboye hesitates, then starts typing: “Someone is defaming me online and threatening to kill me, because I refused to date him. I am depressed and confused. What should I do?”

The chatbot, which Adeboye had heard about at an event on gender-based violence run by an NGO, advises her to deactivate her social media accounts and provide all necessary information about the person making the threats to someone she trusts.

For the first time in months, Adeboye says, she felt less alone.

Guardian

Who is Tolu Coker?

Rather than present her spring/summer 2026 collection on the runway, the British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker made a short film. Codirected with her brother, Ade Coker, Unfinished Business sees Naomi Campbell and a cast of upcoming Black models quietly inhabiting a bedroom full of wooden toys and family photographs. The soundtrack is a recording of an intimate conversation that Campbell and the Coker siblings had about childhood and motherhood. “The story we wanted to tell wasn’t a story of spectacle,” explained Coker, who has previously directed music videos. “It was about the intimacy of mundane moments, like a family video.” Outfits from her namesake label, such as a butter yellow top with a fitted bodice and a voluminous, 1950s-style skirt, are worn by both Campbell and the younger models, as if they were heirlooms being passed down.

When we spoke on a Friday afternoon, Coker’s atelier at 180 Studios, a creative hub for artists in Central London, was in full flux. The hats usually pinned on the wall behind her desk—all of her collections include sculptural headwear, from towering bowlers to dramatic takes on traditional African filas—were en route to red carpet events and editorial shoots. Books as diverse as bell hooks’s All About Love and Issey Miyake monographs were haphazardly stacked on windowsills, beside family photos. “The British Fashion Awards are on Monday,” explained Coker. The 32-year-old had been nominated for the Vanguard Award, and she had also designed a look for the rapper Little Simz, who was nominated for—and ultimately won—the Cultural Innovator Award. To receive it, Simz wore a Tolu Coker tailored skirt suit in houndstooth, done in forest green as a nod to their shared Nigerian heritage.

W Magazine

Access Bank bought a UK fintech:

London-based fintech Zempler Bank has been snapped up by Nigeria’s biggest bank in a deal that has slashed the firm’s valuation, City AM can reveal.

The small business lender – formerly known as Cashplus – has been acquired by The Access Bank UK with a price tag of around £3.45p per share.

The sale represents a dramatic haircut for Zempler, which netted a valuation of £80m in its 2020 fundraising round.

The raise had priced shares at just over £9, with Access’ acquisition taking a mammoth chop to the fintech’s value.

In Zempler’s latest Companies House filing for the year ending March 31 2025, the digital bank’s profit grew 58 per cent to £5.2m.

City AM

I love the way celeb stories are written. This one made me LOL:

Jennifer Meyer bared her blossoming baby bump in a casual crop top when she was seen stepping out for lunch in Beverly Hills this week.

The 48-year-old, who is the daughter of movie mogul Ron Meyer, is expecting her first child by her fiancé Geoffrey Ogunlesi, whose father is the Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi, known to the press in his native country as ‘The Man Who Bought Gatwick Airport.’

She already shares two teenage children with her ex-husband Tobey Maguire, whom she split from in 2016 - her daughter Ruby, 19, and son Otis, 16.

Meyer ecstatically announced her current pregnancy in mid-December, gushing on Instagram; ‘Hey baby girl, We love love love you!!’

When she was glimpsed Tuesday emerging from a gleaming black SUV for lunch in the 90210 zip code, she radiated a blissful glow.

Meyer teamed her blue crop top with a set of navy maternity sweats, accessorizing with a gleaming pair of large black sunglasses.

Daily Mail

Next week, Tobi and I start a read-along of Joe Studwell’s highly anticipated new book - How Africa Works. And on Wednesday our next podcast episode drops with a special guest. And it’s even a video episode this time!

Enjoy the week’s selection below.

Nigerian Media

A story that could have been written anytime in the last 10 or 20 years:

From fields to the market, large quantities of tomatoes produced by dry season farmers in Alau and other parts of Borno State are rotting away.

The scenario, a sad and devastating one, is what thousands of farmers in Borno State are currently experiencing. The farmers have called on the government to intervene in the situation by establishing tomato processing industries to save them from post- harvest losses as a way of coming to their aid.

Our correspondent, who went around irrigation farms in Alau, Maiduguri and Jere, reports how the situation is creating havoc, leaving a majority of the farmers in distress.

While tomato growers in Alau have suffered huge losses due to high cost of transportation, tomato farmers within Maiduguri town say they can’t get buyers or a minimum support price for their produce which continues to flood major markets across the state and beyond.

In an interview with Weekend Trust, most of these farmers said they make bountiful produce, but they continue to experience common challenges of inadequate or lack of proper storage and preservation facilities to avert waste which has become a perennial issue for tomato and vegetable farmers in the state.

Daily Trust

Interesting story from Yobe. Someone has to defend the environment. A poor country with a depleted environment is the worst of all worlds:

The Yobe State Police Command has arrested 26 suspects over alleged criminal conspiracy and illegal tree felling in Tarmuwa Local Government Area of the state.

The suspects were accused of engaging in the unauthorised cutting of trees in bushy areas of Garaji village, an activity said to be contributing to desertification in the area.

Confirming the arrests, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Dungus Abdulkarim, told PUNCH Metro on Wednesday evening that the suspects were apprehended following a complaint from local authorities.

Abdulkarim said the arrests were made on February 2, 2026, after the suspects allegedly invaded the forest and felled a large number of trees without approval from the relevant local government officials.

“The suspects, all male residents of Damaturu Local Government Area, were arrested for unlawfully cutting down trees in violation of Yobe State laws prohibiting deforestation,” he said.

Punch

Education update:

According to a teacher, Mr. David Ogbebor: “We the teachers are going through tough times in this economy, due to the fact that our pay can hardly purchase a fraction of our needs. To worsen the situation, my school management asked for my Bank Verification Number, BVN, saying that they want to start deducting tax from the N35,000 they are paying me, which is not even up to the mandatory minimum wage of workers in the country.

“So, now, I am combining my tailoring business with the teaching job, so that I can get something substantial to cope with the demands of the economy.”

Recall that in July 2024, Nigeria’s national minimum wage was increased to N70,000 per month from the previous N30,000, following agreement between the government and labour unions to combat the rising living costs.
The new wage is for organisations with 25 employees and above.

Mrs. Lilian Osakpamwan, a former teacher, said: “I taught three subjects in a private school, and they didn’t pay me in 2024, with long hours standing. I had a passion for teaching. When it was time to pay salaries, which always comes few weeks after month end, the proprietor will rain abuses on staff.

“Lesson fees are paid in the following terms, and that is if the teacher returns. This made my love for teaching to vanished.

“I wasted my money and time to upgrade my curriculum vitae in academics, just to augment my love for teaching. I had to go get a job in an organisation that pays better.

Vanguard

If not that Nigerian sociologists have gone on strike, they would have been able to tell us why exactly Nigerian politicians like building hotels so much. I guess we will never know:

Ebonyi State Government on Friday sealed a three-star hotel, Golden Synergy Apartments and Suites, belonging to a top politician from the state, for failing to comply with urban development and physical planning regulations.

Guardian learnt that the sealed hotel belonging to the Chairman of Ezza North, Chief Moses Ogodo-Ali, is located at 4 Anikpe Street, off Udensi Road, Abakaliki

Our correspondent reported that the action was carried out by officials of the Ministry of Capital City and Urban Development, following reports that the hotel management had commenced construction of an additional multi-storey structure on the same premises without statutory approval.

Briefing journalists after the enforcement exercise, the State Commissioner for Capital City Development, Chief Sunday Elechi Inyima, disclosed that while the hotel initially received approval for its existing four-storey main building, the developers allegedly proceeded to erect another structure in clear contravention of the state’s development control laws.

Guardian

The unspeakable horror of the recent massacre (one of many) in Kwara. This part of the story really stood out to me. So many people are just sitting ducks for violence even when they can see it coming from a mile off:

A local who preferred not to be mentioned told Saturday Vanguard that the bandits who were not strangers to the community had visited Woro a few times in the past under the guise of coming to preach to members of the community, to renounce the Nigeria constitution and embrace their own ideology.

It was also gathered that early last month,the bandits reportedly wrote a letter to the village head of Woro, Alhaji Umar Saliu Tanko informing him that they were coming to preach and that he should communicate the information to the residents to assemble.

Already, the village head who had been uncomfortable with the previous sermons in the community reported the communication to the security agencies. A local government staff who craved anonymity said, “on the appointed day, soldiers and other security agents had assembled at the venue with the intention of arresting the bandits for interrogation on the toxic nature of their planned sermon.

“Expectedly, the bandits visited Woro community on the fateful day, but on sighting the security agents from afar, they retreated and from that day, they planned the invasion. It was further gathered that after this aborted meeting, the bandits sent a voice note to the village head, expressing their anger accusing him of trying to set them up for arrest by the soldiers. They then vowed to wipe out the residents of the community any time soon.
The village head reportedly went and informed the security agents of the voice note, but nothing was done to prevent the invasion as no particular date was mentioned until the Tuesday evening attack.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that over fifty bandits invaded Woro community around 5pm on Tuesday killing every resident in sight and indiscriminately setting houses, shops and offices on fire.

Vanguard

Non-Nigerian Media

A piece on the rugby legend, Martin Offiah, and his son, opened with this about his father:

My parents came over to England from Nigeria in the late 1950s, Dad to study law, Mum to study teaching. I was born in 1965, the youngest of three, in Hackney Hospital, a true Cockney. Dad was called to the Bar in 1970 but went back to Nigeria a few years later. He became a chief magistrate there, but in March 1999 he was murdered — killed by car thieves. I was devastated. I was 33 by then, playing professional rugby league for London Broncos.

The Times

What to do if you have 36hrs in Lagos. Here’s how to start on Friday evening:

After navigating the hectic Murtala Mohammed International Airport, recover in the peaceful garden of NOK by Alara, in a cube-shaped building with geometric latticework in the Victoria Island neighborhood. The restaurant, a local institution, offers a wide variety of dishes from across Nigeria: Try the whole tilapia (34,000 naira, or about $24) and grilled plantain (7,500 naira), perfectly charred on the outdoor grill. Jollof (rice cooked in a flavorsome tomato stew) is an obsessed-over regional favorite, with much discussion over which West African country is home to the best version. NOK’s jollof (10,000 naira), topped with spicy dried and shredded beef, is excellent and will quickly make the airport a faint memory.

New York Times

Western view of China in Africa:

China is encircling Africa with strategic ports that can service its warships as part of its strategy to expand its navy and military presence.

Satellite images shared exclusively with The Telegraph show how Beijing has transformed ports across the continent over the past decade – from Lekki in Nigeria to Mombasa in Kenya.

The civilian ports, which are often run by Chinese state-owned firms, are designed not just for trade but also to accommodate warships.

Defence experts warn the expansion has created a network of potential naval bases capable of landing warships near key maritime routes, such as the Suez Canal.

The ports also give Beijing access to critical materials like copper and cobalt – vital for modern technology, ranging from fighter jets to smartphones.

[…]

The deep-sea Lekki port in Lagos, Nigeria, has become one of West Africa’s largest ports thanks to £660m of Chinese investment.

Its huge docks and cranes can take the container-laden behemoths of global maritime trade, and handled more than $9bn (£7bn) of cargo in the first nine months of 2025. Images show how the site was transformed from a beach and fields into a regional mega-port in just five years.

Lekki, which began operations in 2023, is just one example. Over the past decade, China has been building, upgrading, and running ports across the continent.

Telegraph

This video about a Nigerian scammer posing as the Crown Prince of Dubai who managed to scam a woman out of $2.5m is darkly funny in a way because they were able to trace him from an Instragram post. The urge to ‘flex’ for these scammers simply cannot be resisted:

An unspeakably sad story:

In a last message to her friends, Ifunanya Nwangene wrote: “Please come.”

The 26-year-old singer and former contestant on The Voice Nigeria had been bitten by a snake while asleep in her flat in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and was in hospital, anxiously awaiting treatment.

Despite rushing to seek care, Nwangene died a few hours after being bitten, as her friend waited at a pharmacy to buy the antivenom she needed.

As the news of her death on 31 January has spread, it has sparked a fierce row over the ready availability of drugs needed to treat deadly snakebites in Nigeria’s hospitals.

Nwangene, also known by her stage name Nanyah, had appeared on The Voice Nigeria in 2021 and was preparing for her first solo concert later this year according to friends. In a tribute, her choir said she was a rising star “on the cusp of sharing her incredible talent with the world”.

Guardian

One of the more bizarre revelations from the Epstein files:

In another email the same month, which was forwarded to Epstein, Andrew discussed with banker David Stern about someone being ‘the ghost for me’ when making an investment.

He talked about the possibility of an investment in a company called The Green Park Group. Andrew asked about an unidentified person he called ‘the guru’, writing: ‘I know you will have spoken to the guru…it might be that he and you are the Ghost for me in the upside of this entity.’

Mr Stern, a Hong Kong investor with ties to Epstein who became a director of Andrew’s Pitch@Palace initiative, wrote to Epstein in September 2010 describing Prince Andrew’s latest financial wheeze.

His email read: ‘PA has asked me to see a guy who has access to Nigeria oil and when selling it to China (or somebody else) F [Sarah Ferguson] can make around $6m.’

Even Mr Stern said: ‘This seems very fishy.’

Daily Mail

A very sad story:

A criminal prosecution could be launched over the death of a boy, 17, who died on a school trip after getting into difficult in the sea, an inquest has heard.

Samuel Oluwagbenga was on a school trip from Uxbridge College to the seaside village of West Wittering, West Sussex, in July 2024.

At around lunchtime, Samuel was spotted struggling to swim and lifeguards raced to save him.

He was pulled from the water and airlifted to St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester where he sadly died soon afterwards.

Today, Samuel’s family were told at an inquest hearing that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could result in a criminal prosecution.

They were told the timing of the full inquest into his death would depend on the outcome of the investigation.

The court heard if the HSE decides to take enforcement action then there maybe a delay.

Penelope Schofield, coroner for West Sussex, said: ‘Much will depend on whether there’s a prosecution and what the prosecution is for.’

Samuel, who was born in Nigeria, had only been in the UK for a year but had adapted quickly.

In an interview after the tragedy his mother, Taiwo, said her son was adapting to life in the UK and was making friends at school.

He was attending church every weekend and had become a five-a-side football coach in his spare time.

Daily Mail

News from India:

The Gurugram police arrested two Nigerians for allegedly extorting money from the employees of a company by posing as fake directors of the company. Two mobile phones and three SIM cards were recovered from their possession.

On January 31, during technical analysis by the team of Cyber Crime East Police Station, information was received about a suspicious mobile number. The police traced the mobile number and arrested two accused from Nathupur village area on January 31.

The arrested accused were identified as Nigerian nationals Ojo Uyiosa and James. They were produced in a city court on Monday and the police have taken them for three days remand for questioning.

“During interrogation, the main accused Ojo Uyiosa revealed that he came to India on a student visa in 2014. The accused James came to India on a tourist visa in 2023. Together, they posed as directors of a fake company, gained the trust of employees, and defrauded them by transferring money. Police found the accused had defrauded them of approximately Rs 10 lakh and transferred it to a Bandhan Bank account. Two cyber fraud complaints had already been filed against that account. A further probe is underway”, said a spokesperson of the Gurugram police.

Tribune

A very nice review of a movie that is a getting a lot of rave reviews - My Father’s Shadow:

One of the most powerful and original aspects of “My Father’s Shadow” is the richness of its context: the civic and social setting isn’t just a backdrop but an integral part of the drama, not explanatory but constitutive. At one point, the bus runs out of gas. Most of the passengers are content to wait for the driver to figure things out, but Folarin persuades a passing truck driver to take him and his sons the rest of the way. The boys don’t know Lagos at all, and Folarin, who grew up there, introduces them to the city proudly. The brothers gaze upon commonplace sights of crowds, peddlers, and buskers with fascination and wonder. But they also catch their father’s wariness when trucks filled with soldiers pass by. “Stupid people,” he says. It’s the first time that the regime’s enforcers make their presence felt but not the last, and even when they’re not in sight the menace that they represent weighs heavily on the story. It hangs over the boys’ experience of Lagos, both in their silent observation of distant events and in closeup encounters with their father’s friends and associates.

Most of the movie takes place in the span of a single day, and two clocks, political and personal, seem to be ticking out of synch, urgently and discordantly. Folarin’s political engagement emerges by chance when he runs into a long-unseen friend (Olarotimi Fakunle), whose nickname, Corridor, reflects his size and his ability to open paths through crowds. Corridor, who addresses Folarin as Kapo and “my leader,” is pessimistic about the chances for democracy. He thinks the regime is digging in and says that it has killed four of their fellow opposition supporters. The boys soon see another headline—“Military Deny Deaths at Bonny Camp”—and, when a fight breaks out in the street, Folarin hustles them away.

New Yorker