Category: Happenings

Black Saturday: At least five people confirmed dead, over 70 cars destroyed as Tanker explosion causes fiery carnage on East-West road, Rivers State.

A massive, fiery carnage on the East-West Road in Rivers State has destroyed more than dozens of vehicles, scourged goods worth estimated billions & claimed at least five lives.

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who visited the scene of the devastating tragedy on Saturday, confirmed 5 deaths & 120 burnt vehicles. It is expected that emergency officials will provide more details subsequently on the full extent of the damage caused by the raging inferno.

The devastating incident happened on Friday night along the Eleme axis of the road, which has long been neglected, increasing motorists’ risks. Reports suggest that the tragedy was tr+ggered when a tanker, navigating the dilapidated road, was hit by another heavy-duty vehicle, igniting flames & an explosion.

It was a black Saturday in the ancient city of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, as a gas tanker exploded due to brake failure.

Tribune Online reports that the incident happened at about 5.30pm at Ita-Oshin end of the Lagos- Abeokuta Expressway. An eyewitness account informed that the gas laden tanker driver rammed into the road divider in order to reduce the impact of the accident.

It was gathered that many lives were lost in the inferno caused by the explosion, while many buildings and shops were razed. The prompt response by men of the State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service Department, Federal Road Safety Corps and security personnel were on ground to provide essential services at the scene.

Anambra State Police Command has arrested 16 suspected cultists and declared 21 others wanted in its continuing move to end the resurgent cult-related killings in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Tochukwu Ikenga said the arrested cultists were nabbed during a series of intelligence-led manhunts in Awka.


According to Ikenga, the arrested suspects have been detained on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye.

“The CP has vowed that the cultists responsible for the spate of killings after the state capital had enjoyed tranquillity for an unbroken six months period must pay for their crimes.

“He has also charged the Special Anti Cult Squad (SPACS) to redouble its effort and hunt down those who are still at large among the identified cultists,” the PPRO said.

The school said that it has nothing to hide in the matter and has been cooperating with the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to address the matter as part of its respect for the national institutions in the country.

The statement read:

“Statement from the American International School of Abuja Re: Recent media reports regarding AISA and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“Recent media reports have highlighted issues between the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), AISA and a family with children enrolled at the school, stemming from an investigation carried out in 2022.

“As a school, we did accept an advance payment for school fees, and duly documented these fees in our records. Upon learning that the school fees we accepted in good faith were, in fact, part of an ongoing case with the EFCC, we turned over these funds in compliance with this federal commission’s request. Our compliance to remit these funds underscores our commitment to upholding institutional integrity and our respect for the national institutions of Nigeria.

“At no point has the school been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to this case, and we are cooperating fully with the EFCC to address matters currently before the courts.”

“As these legal matters are being resolved within the Nigerian judicial system and involve one of our families, we will refrain from making any further comments at this time.”

“As an institution, we remain committed to providing excellent service to our school community in line with our core values, vision and mission.”

Operatives of the EFCC, attached to the Taskforce on Currency mutilation, Dollarization of the Economy and Forex Malpractice, have arrested 34 suspected currency speculators  for alleged foreign exchange fraud.

They were arrested on Friday, April 26, 2024 in a sting operation following credible intelligence about illegal sales of dollars at the Wuse Zone 4 area of the FCT Abuja.

The suspects are :Usman Mohammed, Abdullahi Nasir, Abubakar Saleh, Mohammed Kabir Ibrahim, Abubakar Ghadafi, Muktar Usman, Umar Abubakar Abba, Yakubu Sani, Aminu Abubakar, Muhammed Suleman Abara, Yusuf Tahir, Usman Lawal, Usman Lawal, Usman Umar, Amina Garba Rola, Muhammed Aliyu, Murtala Haruna, Sani Mohammed, Umar Farouk, Muhammed Sagiuru, Aminu Salisu, Lawal Bello, Munzali Hashim, Jamilu Suleiman, Mustapha Umar, Mubarak Tanimu, Adamu Garba, Mohammed Usman, Bello Musa, Saleh Mohammed Naseer, Zaharadeen Yau, Musa Umaru Adamu, Usman Machido & Abdulaziz Abubakar Abba.

In a tragic incident on Friday, April 26, 2024, an unidentified number of workers were trapped when a building collapsed in the Kuntau area of Gwale local government area of Kano State.

According to initial reports, at least 11 individuals were caught under the rubble of the building, which was under construction. Emergency responders from the FRSC and the State Fire Service have been on the scene working to rescue those trapped.

Two people have been successfully rescued and rushed to the hospital for immediate medical attention.

Excavation efforts were underway, with responders tirelessly working to locate and rescue any remaining trapped individual. So far, some corpses have been recovered from the site, though the exact number has not yet been confirmed.

The cause of the building collapse is still unknown, & local authorities were investigating the incident. Further details are expected as the situation unfolds.

An American International School in Abuja on Friday Agreed To Refund Over $760,000 From Money Paid By Kogi Ex-Governor Yahaya Bello For Children’s Tuition.

An 8-year-old girl identified as Rhodiyat Adetumobi has narrated how her uncle b+at her after accusing her of selling cans to sc+vengers in Ijaiye Ojokoro, Lagos State.

According to the victim, her uncle assaults her regularly leaving her with bruises on her body.

“My uncle did this to me. His children were picking cans and selling them to scavengers but they lied that I did and he pounced on me with his cane. He beats me regularly with sticks and wires. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this inhumane treatment. My dad is dead while my mum is sick and he has been the one looking after me,” she said.

Meanwhile an eyewitness, Princess Adeshewa on TikTok reveals that Rhodiyat has been handed over to the Lagos State Government, Alausa, Ikeja, while the suspect is walking around freely

The 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices by the US has revealed that Nigeria’s last year’s general election reflected the will of the electorate despite widespread irregularities.

According to the report, the supporters of the APC intimidated voters & suppressed their votes in Igbo-dominated areas of Lagos during the March 2023 governorship election.

This was revealed in the report published by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labour, US Department of State, stressing human rights practices & violations in different countries.

“National elections were widely reported to have reflected the will of voters, despite technical & logistical difficulties & some irregularities,” the report stated. Many independent observers assessed the results of the presidential, legislative & state-level elections during the year reflected the will of voters, despite reports of voter suppression & vote buying, campaigning at polling stations, lack of ballot secrecy, violence & intimidation.

An Air Peace flight made an emergency landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) on Thursday in Lagos State.

The Air Peace aircraft with number 5 NBVE, is one of the new flights to London, the United Kingdom.

“An Air Peace flight makes an emergency landing in Lagos. The flight aircraft number is 5NBVE. It landed successfully but it was an emergency landing.”

“It is not clear if the aircraft was leaving the airport or arriving. But the passengers are yet to be evacuated as of this time.”

“The fire service and other agencies have been deployed there. The aircraft stopped working at the spot where other aircrafts will need to maneuver.”

A tragic incident occurred at BrickHall Schools in the Cadastral Zone B11, Kaura, Abuja, when a four-year-old pupil, Miguel Ovoke, died during the school’s feeding hours on Wednesday.

The boy was pronounced dead upon arrival at Excel Specialist Hospital, following complications during lunch.


According to the death certificate issued on April 24, 2024, Miguel was brought into the hospital around 11 am by his teachers in an unconscious state.

The medical report from Excel Specialist Hospital detailed that the young boy had aspirated on meat while eating at school.


Upon examination, doctors noted that Miguel exhibited severe symptoms, including fixed and dilated pupils, unresponsive to light, absence of peripheral pulses, unrecordable blood pressure, and no signs of cardiopulmonary activity.

Dr. Akinwande Ajayi, who signed the medical report, indicated that despite exhaustive resuscitation efforts by the medical team, Miguel was ultimately declared “Brought in Dead.”

The sudden and distressing nature of the death has prompted Miguel’s parents to suspect foul play.


They have enlisted the services of lawyer Deji Adeyanju to pursue legal inquiries and actions regarding the circumstances of their son’s untimely demise.

According to Mr Majaliwa, the main plant, which is Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone has already generated enough electricity to power major cities, including the country’s main commercial hub, Dar es Salaam.

“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from the state-run power company, Tanesco, said.

The 2,115 MW Julius Nyerere hydropower dam is said to be almost full of water, following heavy rains that began earlier in the year. A current spell of extreme weather has led to at least 58 deaths in Tanzania and devastated other East African nations like Kenya.

It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations as a result of excess production.

No fewer than 119 inmates of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Niger state have escaped, following hours of heavy downpour which destroyed parts of the facility on Wednesday night.

Spokesman of the FCT Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS, Adamu Duza disclosed this in a statement on Thursday morning. He said, “A heavy downpour that lasted for several hours on the night of 24 April 2024 has wreaked havoc on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Niger state, as well as surrounding buildings, destroying part of the custodial facility, including its perimeter fence, giving way to the escape of a total of 118 inmates of the facility”.

According to him, the Service has immediately activated its recapturing mechanisms & in conjunction with sister security agencies has so far recaptured 10 fleeing inmates & taken them into custody, while still in a hot chase to recapture the rest.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to arraign former Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, for approving the printing of N684.5m notes at the rate of N18.96bn.

In the fresh 4 count charge filed against him, the EFCC alleged that Emefiele disobeyed the direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public during his implementation of the naira swap policy of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The anti-graft agency also accused Emefiele of unlawfully approving the withdrawal of N124.8 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

Channels Television gathered that the former CBN governor will be arraigned on these counts before Justice Maryann Anenih of the FCT High Court, Abuja on April 30. This arraignment will bring to three the number of charges pending against the former CBN governor. On Nov. 17, 2023, Emefiele was arraigned before Justice Hamza Muazu on a 6-count charge of procurement fraud to which he pleaded not guilty.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering totaling ₦8,069,176,864.00.

According to Punch Newspaper, Sirika presented himself at the EFCC’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command on Tuesday, April 23, around 1:00 p.m.

At present, Sirika is being interrogated by EFCC investigators concerning purportedly fraudulent contracts he sanctioned for a company named Engirios Nigeria Limited, owned by his brother, Abubakar Sirika.

Emmanuel Victor, who is a 500-level Optometry student at Abia State University, has admitted that he was the one in the viral video where another final-year student Emmanuel Uche, was killed in March 2024.

Victor stated this while being paraded alongside 110 others in Umuahia on Sunday by the Abia State Command of the Nigeria Police.  When asked by newsmen, the suspect said, “I am here because I committed murder. I killed Emmanuel Uche,” stating that he is from Mbaitolu in Imo State and based in Port Harcourt.

“I am a student of Abia State University, Uturu, and studying Optometry, level 500. I called him. He is a member of another cult group that came to pick up a phone from us. After we finished talking, we told them that they should come back later in the day to pick up the phone. One of Emmanuel’s members, that is the one I shot at, escalated, and then I shot him in the leg.

I do regret the action. A day before that day, they come looking for one of my members. That night, my member was walking around their lodge and saw one of them. Then he took the phone from them and brought it to his lodge. The next day, when they came back to take their phone, the thing happened”

He pleaded for a second chance, stating that this was his first time killing somebody. According to the Police, “On 11/3/2024, a viral video surfaced depicting the murder of Emmanuel Uche, a 500-level student of Abia State University, in front of Miracle Lodge, Uturu.

Acting on credible intelligence, on 18/4/2024, at about 1100hrs, a team of police detectives from Abia State Police Command apprehended the principal suspect at Isiukwuato who was captured in the viral video committing the murder of Emmanuel Uche at Miracle Lodge, Abia State University, Uturu. The suspect, identified as Emmanuel Victor, has confessed to the crime. He is currently in lawful custody and will be charged to court”.

The Nigerian government has claimed that terrorists ravaging the country have been finding it hard to kill because AK47 firearms & other weapons have become too costly for them to afford.

This assertion was made by Nuhu Ribadu the National Security Adviser who maintained that there was a dramatic decline in terrorism-related d£aths & the availability of AK-47 firearms in the country lately

Ribadu made the statement while emphasizing developments in Nigeria’s fight against terrorism at the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting in Abuja on Monday. He further stated that the price of the AK-47 has risen from less than N1 million to more than N5 million over the last year. “We are working & I think we’ve done fairly well

One of the things that we have seen as an indication that things are beginning to look different is the cost of, for example, AK47.”

A video of female students of Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, Abuja, assaulting their classmate, Bwala Namtira Daniel, has gone viral.

In the horrifying clips, the victim was seen being slapped repeatedly (over 30 times) by another female student while asking “Who broke my heart?”. In another video, the victim was seen sitting next to a male classmate who was heard saying “I spoilt her relationship”.

It is reported that the video of the assault was shared on Snapchat by the bullies to embarrass the victim. Meanwhile, an X user, sadiqGsadiq, posted a screenshot where it was alleged that the school has a bullying problem.

Nigerians have now taken to social media to express their displeasure over the ugly incident calling for the arrest of the girls who bullied the victim.

The former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stated his readiness to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja to address the 19-count charge filed against him by the EFCC.

Although Bello was not present for his arraignment, his legal team represented him in court on Tuesday. Adeola Adedipe, SAN, a member of his legal team, informed the court that Bello would have attended the proceedings himself but was apprehensive about a pending arrest order.

Adedipe, SAN, urged the court to revoke the earlier issued ex parte arrest order against the former governor. He argued that when the arrest order was issued, the charges had not been officially served to his client as required by law.

It was only during the Tuesday session that the court approved the service of the charges to the defendant through his lawyer. “The defendant wants to come to court but he is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head,” Adedipe, SAN, submitted.

The federal government has directed that admission to tertiary institutions should not be given to candidates less than 18 years old.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman gave the directive on Monday during a monitoring exercise of the ongoing 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Bwari, FCT.

He decried the activities of some parents pressuring their underage students to get admission into tertiary institutions.The minister said the 18-year benchmark is in line with the 6-3-3-4 education system. “The minimum age of entry into the university is 18, but we have seen students who are 15 or 16 years old going in for the entrance examination.

Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards too much. Mostly, it is the pressure of parents that is causing this. We are going to look at this development because the candidates are too young to understand what the whole university education is all about,” he said.