The Delta State Police Command has arrested a suspected cultist negotiating to buy an AK-47 rifle for N1.3 million.

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

The Police image maker said the suspect, who is a member of the Vikings Confraternity, has confessed to the crime.

Edafe said, “He said he belong to Vikings Confraternity and was vying for number 1 position and the condition to get the position is to own an AK-47 rifle.

“He was arrested while negotiating to buy the AK-47 rifle for N1,300,000.”

The Kano State Hisbah Board has declared the suspended Jigawa Commissioner of Special Duties, Auwal Sankara, wanted for failing to honour an invitation for reconciliation on Monday.

Commander General of the Board, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa, announced this while addressing journalists, stating that Sankara violated his bail conditions by not showing up after being invited.

“Sankara was granted bail on the condition that he would appear before the board whenever requested.

“However, despite being invited today, he refused to comply,” he said

Daurawa explained that the board’s intent was to mediate a reconciliation between Sankara and the complainant, Nasiru Bulama, due to their shared responsibility for two children.

“We had agreed on reconciliation, and if he had appeared today, there would have been no need to take him to court.

“But by all indications, he has no interest in resolving this matter, so we will proceed with legal action,” he added.

The Hisbah boss disclosed that Sankara and a woman were arrested together in a controversial incident where she injured five Hisbah personnel while trying to flee in her car.

“We have videos and other evidence of the incident. I personally called him several times today, and he promised to come. But later, he switched off his phone. He is now declared wanted, and our operatives will arrest him wherever he is found,” Daurawa said.

Following the press briefing, Bulama said he had agreed to the reconciliation for the sake of his two male children with the woman involved. However, with Sankara’s refusal to attend, he said the matter would now be resolved in court.

The poverty rate across the Palestinian territories will almost double this year to 74.3 per cent after months of fighting in Gaza, according to a report by the UN Development Programme released Tuesday.

“The immediate consequence of the war, not just in physical infrastructure destruction, but also in terms of poverty, livelihoods and loss of livelihoods, is enormous,” Achim Steiner, head of the UNDP, told AFP.

The poverty rate had been 38.8 percent at the end of 2023 but another 2.61 million Palestinians fell into poverty this year, bringing the total to 4.1 million.

“It’s quite clear from this socio-economic assessment, that the level of destruction has set back the state of Palestine by years, if not decades, in terms of its development pathway,” Steiner said.

The study estimates that this year unemployment in the Palestinian territories could rise to 49.9 percent and that GDP will be 35.1 percent lower than without the war in Gaza.

He said that even if humanitarian aid is delivered each year, the Palestinian economy will not return to its pre-crisis levels for a decade or more.

Recovery will also require support to rebuild destroyed capital and the lifting of “stifling economic conditions”.

The study says Israel’s bombing campaign created 42 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza, creating major health risks. The destruction of solar panels is particularly dangerous given the lead and other heavy metals they release.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 last year which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel’s bombing and ground offensives in Gaza have killed 42,603 people, a majority of civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers reliable.

The Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, says it is educating its members about the benefits and dangers of using Compressed Natural Gas.

Its Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Azeez Istijabah, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos, said this would help members take precautionary measures during their operations.

NAN reports that the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Lagos State chapter, on October 16, unveiled its first 3,000 CNG commercial tricycles worth N10.2 billion to ease transport challenges.

Istijabah said: “Though there are economic advantages in converting petrol tricycles to gas, there are precautionary measures needed to be put in place to operate effectively.

“At first instance, operators must not smoke or operate in a naked fire environment.

“Smoking is highly prohibited while operating CNG tricycles because anything gas is highly inflammable.”

The union leader also urged members to avoid overloading their tricycles, urging them to always maintain three passengers at a trip.

“Operators should not allow passengers in the front seat.

“Overloading the tricycles is very dangerous, operators need to be very careful and take cognisance of various precautionary measures,” he added.

The association’s branch chairman in Abule-Egba, Mr AbdulAkeem Sabiu, also told NAN that the new development would improve and encourage the operators in the transport business.

According to him, many of the operators are lamenting the high cost of petrol.

He said that the new cheaper CNG initiatives by the Federal Government would bring succour to the transporters and commuters.

Sabiu urged the Federal government and Lagos State government to create easy access refilling depots for commercial tricycles using CNG.

He said that tricycles were prohibited from operating in the Agidingbi area of the state where the CNG refilling station is situated.

He said, “We want the government to create easy access for us to enable us to refill our tricycles with ease.”

The Ondo State Police Command on Monday warned residents of the state against spreading fake news ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

The command, in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, stated that it had observed a trend of old videos with misleading content being shared, allegedly with the intent to incite unrest within the communities in the state.

The command cited some recent viral videos, which were found to be fake, saying such acts were risky, particularly during election periods.

The statement read, “Recently, a video depicting flooding in Ore from August 2013 was irresponsibly circulated by individuals whose motives remain unclear. Such actions are not only misleading but also pose significant risks, especially during this crucial electoral period, as the spread of misinformation can undermine public trust, incite violence, jeopardise public safety, and threaten the integrity of our democracy —ultimately depriving the people of a level playing field for the exercise of their civic rights and responsibilities.

“In a similar incident, a story alleging the amputation of fingers from a corpse at a mortuary in Ajowa-Akoko was found to be false, as confirmed by the Divisional Police Officer who visited the morgue.”

The command stressed the importance of verifying information before sharing or reposting, stating that constructive engagement was essential for fostering a peaceful environment during this pivotal time in the history of the state.

While assuring citizens of the command’s readiness, in collaboration with sister security agencies, to ensure a free, fair, and safe election, the command stated that it would not hesitate to deal with anyone caught in any act capable of causing a disruption of peace before, during, and after the election.

“The command will not hesitate to respond appropriately and within the law to any kinetic or non-kinetic threats to the peace of the elections,” the statement stated.

A married man from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Moses Remayi, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after violently assaulting his girlfriend, leading to her death.

The attack, triggered by Remayi’s suspicion of infidelity over a missed phone call, left the victim suffering for days before she succumbed to her injuries.

The tragic incident unfolded when Remayi became enraged after his girlfriend refused to answer a call from an unknown number. He believed the call was from another man, sparking an argument that quickly turned violent. Testifying in court, Remayi admitted his anger intensified when he dialed the number and a man answered.

“I dialled the number using my phone, and a man answered. This made me angry, as I suspected she was cheating on me,” Remayi told the court.

Remayi’s brutal assault on his girlfriend included beating her with a steel chair, fists, and feet. According to witnesses, he locked the door and continued the attack for nearly an hour. A co-tenant, Evidence Denhere, testified that despite hearing the victim’s screams and attempting to intervene, Remayi refused to stop.

“No one could stop him as he had locked the door,” Denhere said.

After the attack, a neighbor, Cynthia Chaleka, found the woman severely injured and half-naked. Despite being rushed to the hospital, the victim succumbed to her injuries days later.

Remayi was arrested by the police, who recovered the iron bar used in the attack. In his defense, Remayi claimed that the violence began after his girlfriend bit him during their argument. However, the court rejected his explanation, finding him guilty of murder.

Appearing before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Evangelista Kabasa, Remayi was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crime, despite pleading not guilty.

The senseless killing has shocked the local community, with many expressing outrage over the brutality of the attack. Remayi now faces nearly two decades in prison for his actions.

In a shocking incident at Masvingo in Zimbabwe, an 18-year-old student has been arrested for kidnapping his 10-year-old neighbour with the intention of using him for a money ritual.

The young boy, named Tawana, disappeared for three days, only to be found after a police investigation led to the arrest of the suspect, a Form 4 student at Vision Academy, identified as Peter.

Peter admitted during a police interrogation that he had planned to take Tawana to clients in Chipinge, who had requested the child’s head for ritual purposes.

In a disturbing confession, Peter said; “When I took this child, they had told me to find a head and bring it.”

The confession, recorded on video, shows Tawana’s grandmother wailing in the background as the child’s mother, filled with shock and rage, confronts the suspect. She demands answers from Peter, questioning his motives.

“So, you wanted to sacrifice my child? Peter, did you really plan to do this? What did Tawana do to you? What did we do to deserve this? You have no shame!”

In the same video, Tawana’s mother also reprimands her son for ignoring warnings about befriending older individuals like Peter,”Tawana, you hear what your friend was up to? We always warned you not to play with this older guy. Look what he wanted to do—he wanted to get you killed.” she said

The video ends abruptly, but the incident has left the local community in shock, raising concerns about the safety of children and the people parents trust with their well-being.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has said that the country supplies 24-hour electricity to neighbouring countries such as Niger, Togo and Benin Republic.

TCN said electricity supplies are consistent and stable in those countriesdespite the fact that Nigeria could not boast of constant supply of power.

TCN Chief executive officer, Sule Abdulaziz, who appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, said that Nigerians know there’s improvement in power supply now.

“We suply power to Togo, Benin and Niger. We supply them power consistently. They get power from Nigeria on 24-hour basis and they’re paying.

“Nigerians are getting 24-hour electricity supply. Not everybody. Those people in Band A. You’ll see that they get 20-22 hours.

“Some Nigerians are getting 24 hours. Every distribution company has Band A and that is their priority.”

The electricity sector in Nigeria generates, transmits and distributes megawatts(MW) of electric power that is significantly less than what is needed to meet basic household and industrial needs of the country.

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has called on Nigerian youths to join politics to decide their fate and make a difference.

Otti made this call during Church Service at The Transforming Church, TTC, on Sunday in Abuja.

He pointed out that every society needs the leadership it deserves, sitting back with the notion that politics is for politicians, the politicians will decide everything for the people.

Quoting Psalms 62:11, the governor said that power belongs to God and advised the youths against shying away from power

“I am challenging all the young people here. Don’t shy away from politics. That is where decisions about your future are made.”

“You can make a lot of changes if you have power, and that is what politics will give you to create the changes you want to see in the lives of your people.

“This is because, holding a political office affords people the opportunity to affect the lives of more people than one can imagine,” he said.

Otti said that he left the banking sector in 2014 and joined politics to make a difference by doing things differently.

According to him, as the governor of Abia, he could affect the entire population of the state by just one action, urging Christians not to pray alone but compliment it with hard work, which would bring their dreams and aspirations to come through.

Russian strikes late Sunday on the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded at least 12 people and cut power to part of the city, local officials and police said.

The latest barrage came as Ukrainian officials prepare for a new wave of bombardments they think will target the country’s energy network ahead of winter, as Moscow has done the last two years.

Russia has targeted the country’s power supplies to make the harsh winter harder to endure for the country’s civilian population in an effort to put more pressure on the authorities.

Police said in a statement on Telegram that Russia had launched strikes on three districts of Kharkiv at around 10:00 pm. (1900 GMT), injuring seven women and five men.

Among the buildings hit were residential buildings, garages, service stations, houses, and cars, the statement added.
Medical services were mobilised to help the injured, but the strikes cut power to parts of the city, said police.

Regional governor Oleg Synegubov and Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov confirmed on Telegram that parts of the city were without power.

The two officials did not detail the exact extent of the damage or specify what power infrastructure had been affected.

Kharkiv, the main city of the northeast region of the same name, is a regular target of Russian strikes. It lies less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Russian border.

In May, Russia’s army tried to push forward in this border region, officially to create a buffer zone to limit Ukrainian attacks against military and industrial targets on Russian soil.

But the offensive has not succeeded in stopping Kyiv from targeting Russian territory on a daily basis.

In Kryvyi Rig, the southern hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, an overnight missile strike also wounded three people and damaged homes, according to city mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.

On the other side of the front, two people were wounded in Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s Belgorod region, according to governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who also reported damage to civilian infrastructure

In a shocking twist, a pastor from the End Time Messages church in Chiredzi has been ordered to pay child support after DNA tests revealed he fathered two children with the woman whose wedding he officiated.

The marriage of Eunice Mururi and Farai Hatirarami crumbled after it was confirmed that Hatirarami is not the biological father of the children Fatai had believed were his. Mururi recently took Pastor Vhetu to Chiredzi Magistrate Court, seeking US$700 in monthly child maintenance for her two children, aged 8 and 4.

In a surprising turn of events, Pastor Vhetu admitted in court to fathering the children but pleaded for a lower maintenance payment. He argued that his income as a pastor comes primarily from tithes and offerings, often in the form of food hampers rather than cash. Represented by Farai Chauke of F. Chauke and Associates, Vhetu claimed that he had no regular salary and could only afford 150 ZiG per child as maintenance.

Aside from his pastoral duties, Vhetu revealed that he is also a farmer and already has eight other children to support. He informed the court that he has no bank account, only an EcoCash account, and pledged to cover the children’s school uniforms and fees. However, he controversially suggested that new clothes should only be bought in June or December, sarcastically stating, “only Elon Musk’s children receive new clothes every month.”

Magistrate Diana Musiiwa was unimpressed by Vhetu’s arguments, calling his offer “insincere” and ruling that he must pay US$175 per month for both children. The case has left the community stunned, with many shocked by the pastor’s actions and the collapse of the marriage he once officiated.

The Principal of the Abuja Rehabilitation Center, Bala Tsoho Musa, has been tragically killed by an unknown assailant.

Musa, popularly known as “comrade,” was discovered dead late Friday night at the center located in Kuchiko, a community in the Bwari Area Council of Abuja.

The Abuja Rehabilitation Center was established by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to provide skill acquisition training for beggars and individuals detained for public nuisance within the territory. The shocking murd£r has left the community in distress.

Sources who spoke with Daily Trust said Musa’s lifeless body was found along with his wheelchair, and a piece of wood, believed to have been used in the attack. It was also reported that two of his mobile phones were missing, suggesting a possible motive for the attack.

“No one from the deceased’s house was aware of the incident, perhaps due to the sound of the power generator there, until a deaf female that usually assists the family as a maid raised an alarm on her way back to the hostel,” a source told the publication

The authorities have launched an investigation into the murder. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Bwari, CSP Babayola Muhammad, confirmed the incident, though further details have yet to emerge as the investigation continues.

Unknown Gunmen have kidnapped two key stakeholders of the ruling Labour Party (LP) in Abia State.

It was gathered that the heavily armed gunmen invaded a Labour Party meeting in a hotel in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

The masked men reportedly claimed they were acting on orders “from above” without giving further explanation.

Those kidnapped include the Deputy National Chairman, Ceekay Igara and the Acting State Chairman, Prince G. O. Ndubueze.

Ndubueze was forcefully whisked away in an unmarked vehicle, a development that has since raised concerns.

Following the development, Labour Party members attending the meeting erupted into solidarity chants, condemning the act as “anti-people” and decrying the security situation in the state.

Nigeria’s national grid has collapsed again.

This is the third time this will happen in just one week.

The latest collapse occurred early Saturday morning, with many states reporting total blackouts.

Data obtained from the Nigerian System Operator’s portal (niggrid.org) and it revealed that the grid recorded zero megawatts (MW) as of 9.20am today.

This latest failure comes on the heels of two other collapses earlier in the week, further straining the already fragile power system.

Businesses and households continue to suffer over the nation’s unreliable electricity supply amid the high cost and unavailability of fuel.

France Football, the organizers of the Ballon d’Or, have listed the criteria they use in deciding the winners of the award.

This was posted on their official X handle on Friday night.

The first criteria is “Individual performances, decisive and impressive character”.

Secondly, they will consider “team performances and achievements”.

The last criteria is “class and fair play”.

A shortlist of 30 nominees was released in September.

It includes Vinicius Junior, who is regarded as favourite to win the prize this year, Rodri, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Bukayo Saka.

The winner will be unveiled at a ceremony on October 28.

Team Lagos won the maiden edition of the South-West Basketball Showdown, after beating Team Oyo 65-63.

In the final match of the competition held at the Indoor Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State the host lost despite finishing strong.

Oyo dominated early to win the opening quarter 20-18, but Lagos pulled ahead of the host in the second quarter after winning 22-8 to lead 40-28 by the long break.

But Oyo braced up to the fight as they returned for the third quarter, gaining 11 points without dropping any in the early minutes of the third quarter.

They won it 18-17, even as Lagos fought back, reducing their opponent’s lead to turn the game into a tight contest by then.

They went into the final quarter at 57-46 in favour of Lagos, but the eventual winners knew they only needed to hold the game to run down the clock.

Oyo won the quarter 17-8, but it was not enough to stop Lagos from beating then the second time in the competition and returning to base with the title.

Lagos played six matches in the competition and won all, while Oyo State lost two out of their six matches. Team Ekiti won the third-place match to finish third in the competition which also had teams from Ogun, Osun and Ondo states participating.

Speaking about the competition, Head coach of Team Oyo, Taiye Sobogun, said it was still a good outing for them in spite of losing.

He said this was because his players really tried their best as it was not easy playing against a team that had been training since January.

He stated, “The players we played against are on Lagos State payroll, and they have been training for quite some time. During the break after the second quarter, I had to speak extensively with the players because they lost concentration after leading in the first quarter. So, I can only attribute this loss to lack of concentration, and I don’t blame them, though. This team was assembled in three days.’’

The Head coach of Team Lagos, Dossou Mensah, said the game ended as a close contest because they had a lot of turnovers and mistakes.

He said, “We didn’t take care of the major aspects of our game when the match started, and for two to three minutes in the first quarter we conceded several points. I had to secure a break to restrategise, and I must say Oyo State gave us a run for our money. Also, I must say it was a very good outing for us as we played six games and won all. But we still have a lot to work on as a team, and we are hoping to get better over time.”

Mr Mensah however warned that with this being the fifth competition they had won this year, any team meeting them should know they would not be easy nuts to crack.

“My team is fully ready for the 2024 National Sports Festival qualifiers and the League, and we will keep working to improve on our skills and style of play,” he said.

The competition was sponsored by the former national captain, Olumide Oyedeji. with the provision of feeding, kitting and accommodation for all participants.