Ogiame Atuwatse III, the Olu of Warri, has deposed the kingdom’s prime minister (Ologbosetsere) Ayiri Emami and installed a new one.

But the deposed Ologbotsere said he did not submit his authentic beads and sword to the Warri monarch.

Mr Emami disclosed this through his spokesman, Alex Eyengho, on Sunday in Warri.

The monarch had formally invited Mr Ayiri and the Ologbotsere family on Sunday to his palace for a reconciliation meeting.

“What happened at the palace today is part of the script that has been ongoing in the past two years or thereabout. After meeting with the Ologbotsere family, I had the premonition that something like this would happen,” stated the deposed Warri prime minister.

He added;

“I can say it loud and clear that the beads and sword I submitted at the palace are fake. I suspected that something like this would happen, and I prepared myself. The real beads and sword are here with me.”

He said the beads were given to him by Ogiame Atuwatse II and Ogiame Ikenwoli.

“I speak on behalf of the Ologbotsere descendants worldwide that when someone is given the title of Ologbotsere, it is till death. As of today, I am still the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom,” added Mr Emami.

Mr Emami, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta, said several reconciliatory committees were constituted to resolve the issue, all to no avail.

He noted that the last committee that led to the formal invitation was headed by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the founder of the Word of Life Bible Church.

Mr Emami quoted Atuwatse III to have said in the invitation notice that all Ologbotsere chiefs should bring their beads to the palace.

“Atuwatse III said that he had dreams on two separate occasions, and in one of the dreams, my father asked him to give back to me the Ologbotsere title. In the second dream, Ikenwoli told him that what he did in secret, he should help him to do it in the open by reconfirming Emami as the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom,” the embattled Warri chieftain stated.

Mr Emami stressed that having held the title of Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, he could not be cajoled with a lesser title of Eyela that his father held in the interest of peace.

“You cannot move forward and start going backwards in the interest of peace as such peace can be that of the graveyard, and we do not want that,” he said.

Before hundreds of sons and daughters of the Warri Kingdom at his palace, Atuwatse III said he was not interested in what would divide the Iwere (Itsekiri) nation.

Mr Ogiame noted that he had had several dreams on the issues, hence the move to reconcile with the Ologbotsere family in the interest of peace and development of the Itsekiri nation.

He told the people that the Ologbotsere title remained the highest in the Warri kingdom.

An officer of the Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Popoola Olasupo, was on Sunday abducted at Fidiwo axis on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

It was gathered that Mr Olasupo was kidnapped at about 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning while going to his duty post.

The police and local vigilantes are on the trail of the kidnappers.According to a witness, the kidnappers suddenly emerged from the bush and opened fire on a commercial bus with the intention of kidnapping.

Eventually, none of the passengers was kidnapped, but the TRACE officer was unlucky.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the police in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident to journalists in Abeokuta, saying that the state anti-kidnapping team is already after the kidnappers.

“Our anti-kidnapping squad are already after them, we are combing the forests, and we know that they will all be arrested. Ogun state is not a ground for criminals to settle. It is either they leave, or we smoke them out of this state,” the police officer said.

British rapper, Stefflon Don, has said that a woman is not entitled to half of a man’s earnings if she didn’t struggle with him.

The ex-girlfriend of Nigerian singer, Burna Boy, stated this on Twitter on Saturday, April 15, 2023.

Eight people who were killed by suspected bandits in Takjei, Ungwa Gaiya Ward of Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have been laid to rest.

The attackers who stormed the community around 9:pm on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, also left many others injured.

In a statement, the Executive Chairman of Zangon Kataf Local Government Council, Rt. Hon. Francis A.

Sani described the incident as an “unprovoked killing of innocent and peaceful people”

The Chairman lamented the inability of security agencies to make a single arrest or bring perpetrators to justice after several attacks.

The Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, says no approval was given for the construction of the seven-storey that collapsed in Banana Island on Wednesday evening, April 12.

The construction workers were said to be on the sixth floor of the building attempting to lay the seventh floor when the building caved in, trapping so many of the workers. Thankfully no life was lost in the incident.

In a statement released by its Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Mukaila Sanusi, the Lagos state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development said an investigation has commenced into the incident.

“An unapproved seven-floor building under construction has collapsed in Banana Island, Lagos State, this evening. Few who sustained injuries are being treated. There is no fatality. This unfortunate incident happened while casting was being done. The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, was immediately on site to assess the situation and flag off the investigation. We ask members of the public to remain calm and expect further information from the ministry as we know more.”

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has opposed the proposed five-year compulsory service for medical and dental practitioners.

Last Thursday April 6, a bill seeking a minimum of five years for doctors to practice in the country, before being granted a full licence passed second reading at the House of Representatives.

Concerned about the mass exodus of healthcare workers leaving Nigeria for greener pastures abroad, Honourable Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos) who sponsored the bill said it seeks to amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004, to address the brain drain in the Nigerian health sector.

The bill, if passed into law, will mandate medical and dental practitioners trained in the country to practice for at least five years before they are granted a full licence.

Speaking on Wednesday April 12, the NMA President, Dr Ojinma Uche (pictured above), said the bill is not the solution to the pending crisis in Nigeria’s healthcare system.

“That is not the solution.” He told Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“You will discourage young medical students from reading Medicine. My own fear now is that it may have spooked the doctors that will be planning to leave in a year to start leaving immediately, before they are clamped down,” he stated.

“If you now decide that Nigerian doctors cannot have full or permanent licence for five years after graduation, automatically, you have made them house officers for five years.”

Men of Ogun state Police Command on Wednesday, April 12, successfully repelled an armed robbery gang that invaded a popular phone market in the Okelewo area of Abeokuta.

The armed robbery gang numbering about eight, stormed the market popularly known as “TARMARC” at about 5:30 p.m, and started shooting sporadically and carting away expensive phones.

A distress call was quickly made to the police at Ibara divisional headquarters. The DPO Ibara division, CSP Abayomi Adeniji, quickly mobilized his anti-robbery and surveillance teams in collaboration with men of Amotekun corps and moved to the scene.

On sighting the policemen, the robbers engaged them in gun battle, but due to the superior firepower of the policemen, the hoodlums took to their heels.

However, they were hotly chased and with the assistance of the market men, one of the robbers later identified as Adeniji Sakiru, 32 years old, was apprehended.

Unfortunately, a trader in the market identified as Dayo Bankole, was shot by the robbers during the incident. He gave up the ghost while receiving treatment at General Hospital Ijaye Abeokuta.

Items recovered from the arrested robber include one double barrel locally made gun and assorted Criminal charms.

Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the state police command, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the outgoing Commissioner of Police now AIG, Frank Mba, has directed that the suspect be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation.

‘’He equally ordered a massive manhunt for the remaining members of the gang with the view to bring them to justice. He therefore appealed to members of the public, especially hospitals, to inform the police if anybody with gunshot injury is seen in their area.” Oyeyemi said.

The Federal Government on Wednesday April 12, approved N6.28bn for surface maintenance of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, stated this while briefing State House correspondents after this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa.

He said the move aligns with Executive Order 11 signed by the President Muhammadu, in April 2022, which gave legal backing to the country’s national maintenance policy.

Fashola also revealed that the 24-month repair will cover 11 kilometres, including interchanges, ramps, and critical links on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The announcement comes barely two weeks after the Lagos State Government said it would undertake rehabilitation works on the 32-year-old bridge to repair failed and peeled asphaltic sections and substructure.

“Council approved a fresh contract for the maintenance of the pavement of the third mainland bridge and this was approved in the sum of N6.28 billion for a period of 24 months.

“I have been asked about the works that have been done on the bridge before. The works are concentrating largely on the substructure of the bridge; the underwater piles, the pile caps, and also the replacement of the expansion joints and the bearings.

“These are maintenance works that are critical to the structural integrity of the bridge.” What we’re dealing with now is different. It is the driving surface and also the aesthetics. Some of the rails have been stolen.

“Some of the pleats are misaligned at the routes that lead you on and off the bridge.” Fashola added that there are no anticipated prolonged closures during the works.

Gunmen have abducted Chief David Obadofin, the traditional ruler of Aghara community in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State. The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, April 11, 2023.

The monarch was abducted alongside one other person, while a domestic worker in the palace, identified as Toyin Onare, was killed during the attack.

Spokesperson of the State Police Command, SP William Aya, who confirmed the incident said the gunmen stormed the palace around 3am when residents were sleeping and shot indiscriminately.

“In the process, Chief Obadofin, a major cashew farmer and a traditional ruler, with one of his boys, were seated in front of the house enjoying the cool breeze when a staccato of gunshots jolted them to alert,” he stated.

“Toyin, a widow who had gone to lend a hand in the farm, received a bullet. Promptly, the gunmen whisked the traditional ruler, Temitope, another farm hand to the bush, abandoning the poor widow in a pool of blood. One person, however, escaped to tell the story,”

Toyin was rushed to a hospital in Kabba, the headquarters of the LGA, about 35 minutes drive away where doctors confirmed her dead on arrival.

“On hearing the report, the state Commissioner of Police, Hekeem Yusuf, deployed a tactical team of officers to the area to fish out the perpetrators and rescue the victims,” the PPRO added.

Former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, held an open casket viewing ceremony for his late wife, Ifeoma Ada Kalu, at McEwen Funeral Service-Pineville Chapel, North Carolina, in the United States.

Kalu shared pictures from the open casket viewing via his Facebook account on Wednesday, April 12.

He wrote:

“Ahead of tomorrow’s service of songs for my late ex-wife Mrs Ifeoma Ada Kalu , we had an open casket viewing at McEwen Funeral Service-Pineville Chapel, North Carolina, USA.

“We will miss our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, Sister and Aunt.

“We would miss a compassionate, selfless, wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. A woman who taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination.

“May her soul rest in perfect peace in the bosom of the Almighty until the Last Day of the Resurrection when we shall meet again.

Recall that Orji Uzor Kalu announced his late wife’s death on April 3, 2023.

Three men, Solomon Aondowase, Friday Samuel, and Austine Kumaiin, on Wednesday, appeared before a Makurdi Upper Area Court charged with criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and illegal possession of firearms.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Rachael Mchiave, told the court that on March 19, complainants Gundu Torkwase and Alfred Ada reported the case at Daudu Police Station in Guma Local Government Area.

She said that the complainants on March 18 while in transit on the Makurdi-Daudu road were robbed at gunpoint apround Tse-Acha village.

The robbers blocked the road and armed with pistols robbed the complainants of two Android phones valued at N193,000 and two power banks valued at N29,500, the court heard.

Other items allegedly stolen included an Access Bank and Opay ATM Cards, a police identity card, two wrist watches valued at N27,000 and one dress valued N4,500.

Ms Mchiave said that after the robbery, the robbers withdrew the sum of N298,000 from Alfred Ada’s account, adding that the total value of properties stolen stood at N527,700.

The prosecutor said that investigation by the police led to the arrests of Solomon Aondowase, Friday Samuel and Austine Kumaiin, who all confessed to committing the crime.

She said that the police recovered one locally made pistol used in commission of the crime from the defendants and a bag snatched at the scene of the robbery.

The prosecutor said that one Navy Atama, a member of the gang, was still at large.Ms Mchiave said the defendants contravened Sections 6(b), 1, 2 (a)(b), 3 (1) of the Robbery and Firearm Special Provision Act 2004.

She said that investigation into the matter was still ongoing and requested for additional time to complete it.

However, when the case was called for mention, the pleas of the defendants were not taken by the magistrate because he lacked jurisdiction to hear an armed robbery case.

The magistrate, Vershima Hwande, remanded all the accused at the Federal Maximum Correctional Centre Makurdi and adjourned the case to May 9 for further mention.

The Tapshin community in the Tafawa Balewa council area of Bauchi has conferred the title of ‘Jagaban Tapshin’ on Suleiman Bogoro, former Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) executive secretary.

According to its traditional ruler, Dauda Godit, the honour is in recognition of his efforts toward national and community development.

Mr Bogoro was decorated with the regalia and title during the area’s 2023 cultural festival held at the Community Secondary School, Tapshin, on Tuesday.

Mr Godit praised the former TETFund chief for impacting the lives of the community in the past 20 years.

According to the ruler, Mr Bogoro assisted the community with educational facilities and student bursaries.

“He also initiated other developmental projects even before he was appointed to lead TETFund in 2014,” Mr Godit stated, commending Mr Bogoro for lifting the tertiary education level in Nigeria while serving as the TETFund executive secretary.

Mr Godit said almost all public tertiary institutions benefitted from infrastructural developments and capacity-building programmes when Mr Bogoro led the agency.

The ruler praised the innovative policies initiated by Mr Bogoro in research and development and his efforts in bringing together people across tribes and religious divides in Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal constituency.

“His focus is always on development and progress. He has done so well,” Mr Godit said.Mr Bogoro noted that it was his deliberate policy to ensure that all ethnic nationalities and religions live harmoniously.

“My policy is that if you eat in your house, you should also assist your neighbours to eat because if they are hungry, it means you are also hungry,” he said.

Mr Bogoro, who noted that his assistance to the Tapshin community dated back to when he was a senior lecturer at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, promised to do more.

Nollywood actress, Abiola Adebayo, professionally known as Biola Bayo, has welcomed her first child.

The actress, who remarried Oluwaseyi Akinrinde over a year ago, is now a mother of a baby boy.

She shared the news on her official Instagram page on Tuesday.

She revealed that the baby was born through surrogacy after a failed IVF, one cancelled surrogate circle and three failed surrogate attempts within two years.

“After one failed IVF, one cancelled surrogate circle. After three failed surrogate attempts in two years, God has finally blessed my husband and I with a great son through our surrogate mum,” she wrote.

“Through it all, God has been so good to us and we’re grateful for this great testimony. Thank you, Abba Father. God bless our doctors, God bless our surrogate mom. It’s a new dawn! Welcome to the world Baby “TA”, she added.

She also promised to use her story to encourage all parents trying to conceive.

“I’ll be glad to share my story to encourage all the TTC parents out there. May God answer your prayers and bless you with good children from the throne of Grace and mercy.”