Below The Headlines - 89
Shoutout to Baale No-Nonsense and good news for Nigerian pet owners
Here’s the usual selection for you to enjoy this week. Nigerians, you will not be surprised to learn, have been at it again
Inside Nigeria
Baale No-Nonsense is my new favourite Baale. He knows what’s going on in the community of which he is Baale and that’s the job description right there (regardless of what his underlying motivation might be):
Fresh controversy has trailed the recent incarceration of popular crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, as a traditional ruler in Lagos has accused officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service of aiding the socialite’s alleged bribery scheme to secure VIP treatment during his stay in prison.
The Baale of Kirikiri Town, Chief Babalola Shabi, popularly called “Baale No-Nonsense,” alleged that Bobrisky smuggled eight Automated Teller Machine cards into the Kirikiri custodial facility and used them to funnel a total of N35 million through Point of Sale operators in the area — reportedly to grease the palms of prison officials for preferential treatment.
Shabi made the revelation during a town hall meeting organised by the Lagos State Police Command on Saturday, as part of events marking the National Police Week.
According to him, the crossdresser never fully served his sentence behind bars but was instead housed in a private apartment outside the custodial centre, allegedly arranged by complicit correctional officials.
He said, “Before the truth came out, everyone believed he was in Kirikiri serving his time. But the reality is that Bobrisky was living comfortably outside the prison walls, thanks to a criminal collaboration involving some officials.”
Shabi stated that it was through his intervention that the scandal was unearthed, adding that he had invited all POS operators in the community to his palace, after which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission swooped in on the matter.
“I personally called in the EFCC after I summoned the POS operators to my palace. From there, they were able to trace the transactions and decode the money trail,” he said.
The traditional ruler explained that the clandestine arrangement involved correctional officers approaching POS vendors to withdraw funds from the crossdresser’s ATM cards.
Posted without comment:
Once upon a time, it was a rarity to see female commercial drivers even in our major cosmopolitan cities. These days, the tables are turning, with several women now driving commercial cars, buses, tricycles and even trucks. But for the women, it is an intriguing life full of all sorts of challenges that characterize the transport business as narrated by some of them in this piece. Despite the challenges, however, some of them find solace in the “supportive community of female drivers”. “The agberos have a soft spot for women drivers,” one of them noted, saying the no-nonsense agberos (motor park touts) charge women less than men for daily fees — N1, 000 compared to N3, 000 for men.
Incredible things are happening at the Lagos Central Mosque:
Worshippers at the Lagos Central Mosque on Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Lagos Island, have decried the forceful closure of the mosque by some individuals.
The closure reportedly stems from a dispute over the conduct of the annual Ramadan lecture.
PUNCH Metro gathered on Thursday that the dispute centres around who should be responsible for organising the mosque’s Ramadan lecture series.
While some members of the congregation believe this responsibility lies with the chief imam, others argue that it should be managed by the mosque’s administrative head.
The controversy prompted the Federal High Court in Lagos to intervene earlier in February, ordering all parties to maintain the status quo and avoid actions that could escalate tensions or disrupt public order.
However, worshippers expressed shock when the chief imam, accompanied by unidentified persons, allegedly sealed the mosque, effectively halting regular prayers.
A worshipper and chairman of the mosque’s board of mission, Rafiu Ebiti, in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Thursday, criticised the move, questioning the legality of the closure.
He said, “If it was a court order, it must specify what is to be done. There’s what is called an enrolment. Is the chief imam taking laws into his own hands? We don’t want a breakdown of law; that is why we are not confronting him.”
Another immigration clamp down in Nigeria:
The Federal Government has announced that beginning August 2025, travellers who overstay their visas in Nigeria will face a daily fine of $15 and risk being banned from re-entering the country for up to five years.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ engagement session held on Friday at NECA House in Lagos.
The engagement focused on ongoing immigration reforms spearheaded by the Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), including updates to the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2025 and the Expatriate Quota system.
According to the minister, although the new penalties will technically take effect in May 2025, a grace period will be observed until August to allow affected individuals ample time to comply.
This, Mr Tunji-Ojo said, “will allow visa holders time to adjust to the new policy before the full enforcement begins in August.”
An internet fraudster in Benin voluntarily handed himself to the EFCC. Here was his confession:
“I tell my victims that I am from China and that I work as a medical doctor in a war-torn country.
“My victims are foreigners who I deceive into love relationships. I communicate with them in Chinese using a mobile app translator.
“I profess love for them by telling them how beautiful and attractive they are,” he added.
This shouldn’t be funny but the Area Boy Economy (create no value yourself but extort when you see value) can be truly amusing:
The Taskforce on Illegal Levies and Other Illicit Activities in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State has apprehended four members of the Yion Youth Association for extortion during a routine patrol operation led by its Coordinator, Hon Moses Vangeryina.
The suspects Tersur Adekaa, Terkula Adzer, Terlumun Iorver, and Achin Terhemen were caught red-handed at a construction site in the Akahan Adi community, near the residence of the late Ter Gboko.
DAILY POST gathered that the group had demanded N300,000 from a builder as a so-called “marching ground” fee before permitting further development on the property.
Outside Nigeria
We go over to Namibia to check what Nigerians are up to there:
A NIGERIAN billionaire’s use of Namibia’s presidential airport terminal has triggered a high-level investigation into alleged bribery and protocol breaches.
The authorities have identified Benedict Peters as a person of interest in a case involving bribery and the unauthorised use of the country’s presidential airport terminal.
The terminal is also referred to as the ‘VIP Lounge’ or ‘Terminal One’.
The presidential terminal is reserved for the use of Namibia’s president, vice president, prime minister, deputy prime minister, speaker, members of parliament, the judiciary and Cabinet ministers.
Diplomats and foreign dignitaries visiting the above offices also have access to the terminal.
‘Terminal One’ is run by both the Presidency and the Ministry of International Relations and Trade.
Also pinpointed in the saga alongside the Nigerian oil businessman is medical supplies tender magnate Shapwa Kanyama, who appears to be Peters’ business associate.
Government sources also identify state chief of protocol Leonard Iipumbu as one of Peters’ close associates in Namibia. Iipumbu has not responded to questions about his relationship with Peters. A senior government official familiar with the investigation has likened the case to the South African 2013 Waterkloof scandal, during which the controversial Gupta family was able to land an aircraft at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in South Africa. The plane was carrying guests from India attending a Gupta wedding at Sun City. Foreign civilians landing at a military base was considered a national security breach. The Indian guests of the Gupta family were seemingly considered too important to brave OR Tambo International Airport’s long queues and processes. Government officials were accused of allowing the breach because the Gupta family was closely associated with then president Jacob Zuma.
Who is Lani Adeoye?
Lani Adeoye is a globe-straddler.
The designer moves between teaching design at her alma mater, Parsons School of Design in New York City, and managing projects at her company, Studio-Lani, in her hometown, Lagos, Nigeria.
This week, Ms. Adeoye, 35, will be somewhere in the middle, having curated “Craft West Africa,” an exhibition at SaloneSatellite, the annual showcase of emerging designers at the Salone del Mobile fair in Milan whose theme this year is “New Craftsmanship: A New World.”
“I fiercely believe in this rich yet undervalued area of design,” she said of handmade objects.
Marva Griffin Wilshire, the founder and curator of SaloneSatellite, said that once she had settled on Africa as a focus of the 2025 edition, she asked Ms. Adeoye to participate.
“With her strong links to the region, I wanted Lani to be a part of the project, to conduct research and bring the insights to the fair,” she said. Ms. Adeoye obliged with a roster of artisans from Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Nigeria, who will be exhibiting contemporary pieces made with traditional methods, including stools and tables.
The products from Burkina Faso, for instance, are bronzes fabricated through lost-wax casting, a technique of pouring molten metal into a mold, while the items from Cameroon are hand-carved in wood.
Ms. Adeoye herself designed objects covered in a woven material made from dried and dyed plant stalks, which is typically used in Nigeria to create mats.
In February, Ms. Adeoye returned to Nigeria to finalize preparations for the show. While there, she visited her 88-year-old grandfather, Remi Odubanjo, who had inspired an award-winning walker she designed named RemX.
In the middle of the detail of the biggest bankruptcy in UK history we learn this:
A steel tycoon who became the UK’s biggest bankrupt is accused of secretly diverting £63 million to his family rather than paying his company’s debts.
Pramod Mittal came to prominence in 2013 with the nuptials for his daughter, Shristi, in what was considered to have been the world’s most expensive wedding that cost £50 million.
The businessman, who lives in Mayfair, central London, was declared bankrupt seven years later, claiming to have debts of £2.7 billion. Mittal, 68, his wife and children are being sued at the High Court in London by one of his former companies which claims it is owed $216 million (£167 million).
Global Steel Holdings, based in the Isle of Man, was given permission on Thursday to add Mittal to an existing legal claim for “fraudulent and schematic asset stripping”. The court was told the company and its subsidiary shared a $496 million settlement from the Nigerian government between September 2022 and February 2023.
Global Steel claims Mittal and his family “siphoned away” $180 million it is due from the subsidiary. It says that $81 million was transferred to Mittal’s wife, Sangeeta, and their adult children Vartika, 40, Shristi, 37, and Divyesh, 35.
Meanwhile the fate of the pangolin rests in the hands of Nigeria, somewhat:
Demand for pangolins in Asia, where populations of these scaly mammals have dwindled, has driven traffickers to Africa, the only other continent where the increasingly endangered animals can be found.
Nigeria has become a hub for pangolin trafficking and other illegal trading of wildlife. But authorities have been cracking down, recently arresting a Chinese national suspected of being a high-level pangolin trafficker and targeting a supply network in a market in Lagos this month. The latter investigation led to five more arrests and the seizure of 8,300 pounds of pangolin scales — prized in Asia for their perceived medicinal value — from an estimated 1,900 slain animals.
Michael Awe, the regional customs chief, said the investigation sends “a strong signal” that the Nigeria Customs Service “will not relent in its efforts in fighting wildlife crime to a standstill.”
The arrests are part of a enforcement push that shows Nigeria’s increasing focus on combating animal trafficking is paying off, experts say.
Nigeria’s Customs Service made the arrests with intelligence from the Wildlife Justice Commission, a Netherlands-based organization that supplies global law enforcement with evidence on criminal wildlife trafficking rings. The Chinese national detained in Lagos in February was connected to nearly 16,000 pounds of pangolin scales seized in August after a six-month investigation.
“The operation shows the value of long-term intelligence gathering and international cooperation — and it reflects a calculated effort to go beyond low-level busts,” said Dr. Meganne Natali, a lawyer and legal consultant specializing in wildlife crime.
It’s Don Jazzy Again. Moving to where the real money is:
Leading Nigerian record label Mavin is trying to unlock Africa’s music-touring potential by developing regional performance circuits and breaking into a global market dominated by Western nations.
The global rise in popularity of African music in recent years has seen successful homegrown artists gross tens of millions of dollars in touring revenues — mostly in markets outside the continent, particularly in North America and Europe.
Mavin, in which Universal Music Group last year acquired a majority stake in a deal estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, partnered with Nairobi-based online ticketing platform HustleSasa and African entertainment media company Trace to begin an East African tour. The ‘East Side’ tour — spanning Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania — kicked off in Nairobi with several prominent artists on the Mavin roster including Magixx, Bayani, and Boy Spyce.
Speaking to Semafor, HustleSasa founder Peng Chan described the Mavin tour as a “proof of concept” meant to offer a blueprint for regional tours in Africa and, ultimately, a continental touring circuit. Their strategy entails building “an ecosystem of trust” between promoters, labels, venues, and ticketing companies to support sustainable touring in Africa.
He said the biggest challenge faced by major artists looking to tour in Africa was in booking multiple stops, due to the fragmented nature of the touring ecosystem. “They (artists) are like, look, if I’m coming all the way here... losing two days of travel just to do one show and then two days of travel back, it has to be worthwhile,” he explained.
Meet Reuben Chinyelu:
“A message I would give to a 21-year-old me,” Rueben Chinyelu said before pausing for thought.
“I would say, just remember the reason why you are there. Look back home and look back to Africa and keep working to fulfill all the promises you keep to yourself. It’s just the beginning.”
Speaking to Olympics.com in 2022 from the NBA Africa Academy in Saly, Senegal, a fresh Chinyelu didn’t know what his future would hold, but his excitement as he spoke about it was tangible.
“Hopefully when I commit, my plan is to get a championship,” he said smiling. “Winning the conference too, then win freshman of the year, defensive player of the year. I have a lot and hopefully, I will start ticking off those and like, yes I've done that, I've done that. That's the plan.”
Remarkably, just as he envisioned, at the age of 21, Chinyelu has achieved his number one goal on the list.
On Monday 7 April 2025, the Nigerian center was part of the Florida Gators team that saw off the Houston Cougars 65-63 to return the program to the summit of men’s college basketball in the US for the first time since 2007.
Chinyelu, who only joined Florida as a sophomore in 2024 after transferring from Washington State, chipped in three points, one block and five rebounds in his 19-minute stint in the final, helping Florida to the win.
Nigeria has very high quality ginger but ginger blight is destroying up to 90% of crops:
Nigeria is renowned for the superior quality of its ginger, making it one of the world's largest producers. A ginger blight outbreak has led to a devastating 74% drop in Nigerian ginger exports, according to Ingredients Network.
Fungal infections and high production costs have left Nigeria's ginger industry on the brink of collapse, affecting the global supply chain.
Nigerian farmers reported losses of up to 90%. Despite the government allocating $1 million in support, many growers are struggling due to rising costs and surging seed prices.
Ginger is used as a spice in foods and beverages, and medicinally for its anti-inflammatory and digestive benefits.
Nigerian ginger is known for its intense flavor and aroma, making it a preferred choice for importers. However, the outbreak has forced buyers to turn to other sources, like China, India, and Peru, for lower-priced ginger.
The loss of market share has forced some Nigerian farmers to abandon growing ginger in favor of turmeric.
Rising temperatures have triggered extreme flooding in Nigeria, costing human lives and spreading illnesses. This same extreme weather has been linked to the fungal outbreak.
Meanwhile here’s a story about ginger in South Africa. This is how trade advantages shift:
Ika Cronjé, operations manager at Jan-Tak Boerdery in Makhado, Limpopo, has tried her hand at farming just about every vegetable she could think of. However, with limited land and a hot and humid climate, profit margins were low.
She found that crops like peppers and tomatoes, which can be grown in climate-controlled tunnels, attract more pests and diseases in the humid heat, resulting in low yields.
“All the research I did to find a crop better suited to this climate pointed to ginger, but it is very susceptible to soilborne diseases, which means you can only plant a field to ginger every four to 10 years. This means you need a lot of land to produce sufficient volumes, while always keeping a portion of the field ginger-free,” she says.
Since the farm already had a tunnel erected for tomatoes and peppers, Cronjé decided to go the hydroponic route for the ginger, planting in sawdust-filled bags that could be replaced after every cycle. This way, she didn’t need vast tracts of land to maintain production.
Today, she produces between 70t and 100t of ginger a year on 1,5ha. Her father, Braam, has joined the business as her partner, and they employ six permanent workers, with an additional 12 employed during the planting and harvesting seasons.
Good news, Ukrainian pet food will now be available to the denizens of Lagos and Nigeria:
Kormotech Group of Companies announced its expansion into the markets of Qatar and Nigeria, making its pet food products now available in 46 countries.
According to the company, it supplies 1,065 tons of product annually to the Middle East and African (MEA) markets and plans to gradually increase this volume. In Qatar, Kormotech supplies its Club 4 Paws cat food, while in Nigeria, both cat and dog food from the Club 4 Paws brand will be available in pet stores.
Kormotech attributes this expansion to steady growth in the pet food market within the MEA region, as well as projections that this growth will continue. This growth is attributed to an increase in pet ownership, particularly among young people and the middle class, as well as a rising focus on animal health, according to Kormotech.
“Compared to developed markets, the competition in Qatar and Nigeria is lower, but these markets are growing rapidly,” said Mykola Deviatov, head of strategic business for South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia & Middle East at Kormotech.
More on the Israeli national who was freed by Nigerian forces in Nigeria. This time from the Israeli media. The term ‘strategic pressure’ is so interesting and could mean absolutely anything:
An Israeli citizen was kidnapped for ransom in Nigeria's Tabara State in the northeast of the country on Thursday and freed approximately 24 hours later, Israeli media reported on Sunday.
Nigerian police claimed the Israeli was abducted while under military escort, but the Nigerian army, who conducted the operation to free the Israeli citizen, denied this, stating that he was travelling alone.
Ynet added that the Nigerian military 'succeeded in rescuing him in good health without gunfire and without paying a ransom.'
Ynet reported that the foreign ministry and the Israeli embassy in Abuja worked with Nigerian authorities.
The Nigerian military reportedly applied 'strategic pressure' to village chiefs and local youth leaders, producing 'critical intelligence' that led to the Israeli's release.
People in Glasgow no longer have any excuse not to eat peppered fish and plantain:
A thrilling new restaurant from a top London chain is set to launch in the city centre for the first time offering authentic Nigerian cuisine.
Taking over the former Hummingbird site, Enish, which opened its first restaurant in South London in 2013, is coming to Bath Street this month following up opening across the UK and even in places like Dubai. It's also loved by stars like Hugh Jackman, who surprised diners at the chain's restaurant Enish in London’s Oxford Street in 2023, after his children recommended it.
Set to open on April 17, the Enish team say they will be offering a "night of entertainment, music and of course complimentary food and drinks". Describing the Glasgow restaurant as "an Enish like no other", the new restaurant will be the follow up to their successful launch in Manchester.
News from Brisbane (one version of the story described it as ‘chaotic scenes’ while another said ‘colourful scenes’):
It was a colourful and lively scene at Brisbane Airport on Thursday as Nigerian Royalty made a grand entrance — and the crowd was excited to greet him.
His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr) Ajibade Ogunoye III, the paramount ruler of Owo Kingdom and Chairman of the Council of Obas in Ondo State, Nigeria, was welcomed with music, dancing, and plenty of excitement as he touched down in Queensland for his first visit to Australia.
The international terminal came alive with energy as members of the local Nigerian community cheered, danced and celebrated.
One of the royal entourage, a devoted member of the Oba’s court, stood out as he twirled a huge white umbrella above the Oba’s head throughout the entire 30-minute procession, adding a touch of flair and royal tradition to the atmosphere.
“Lots of of our people around here, so primarily I am here to see them, see how they are feeling and to tell them that our minds are always with them here.”
The Oba is in Queensland until Monday for a special celebration in honor of one of his chiefs residing there.
During his stay, he will also meet with community leaders and take a trip to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast.
Among the savings DOGE is claiming to have made is this:
An $84,000 grant for a business incubator for spa and wellness entrepreneurs in Nigeria and $240,000 grant for marketing pineapple juice in Benin were also canceled.
The trailer for the documentary on Anthony Madu, the Nigerian ballet dancer, is now out. Looks good: