Nigerian actress Iniobong Edo has reacted to the rumours about her getting married soon.

In September, Ini Edo ignited excitement and speculations online by sharing what appeared to be a wedding announcement. 

Many people quickly assumed she was engaged and preparing for her wedding because she was dressed in a traditional Efik bridal gown in the photo.

Ini Edo further fueled the speculation with her caption, which bothered on love and advising her fans not to give up hope in finding happiness.

Although it was later discovered that it was all a ruse to promote her upcoming 4-part movie.

The Nollywood star got married to a Nigerian-American businessman, Philip Ehiagwina, on November 29, 2008, in the United States, but they divorced in 2014.

In a recent interview with Premium Times, Ini Edo said that marriage is no longer a priority in her prayers or expectations. She however noted that the public stunt was a promotion for her upcoming four-part series, My Fairytale Wedding.

When asked if she is looking forward to a true fairytale wedding in the future, Ini Edo’s stated:

“I’m not crazy about marriage; I’m crazy about having a solid relationship. I’m not hoping, and it’s not any of my prayer points.”

Popular Comedian, actor, and filmmaker Basketmouth has shared his insights on the movie industry and the importance of budgeting for films.

In a recent interview, he emphasized the need for a sufficient budget to produce high-quality movies, highlighting the pitfalls of mismanaging funds.

Basketmouth recounted a personal experience where he had to secure 300 million Naira for a movie project within 24 hours, which he successfully accomplished.

He stressed the value of collaboration between older and younger filmmakers, noting that both generations can learn from each other.

Basketmouth also addressed the practice of soliciting funds on stage in the comedy industry, deeming it dishonorable and urging his colleagues to focus on delivering exceptional performances instead.

Maverick singer Seun Kuti has opened up about how he truly felt, when he wasn’t invited to Davido’s highly publicized wedding.

The event, which took place on June 25, 2024, was attended by numerous dignitaries and celebrities.

In a recent interview on ‘Curiosity Made Me Ask‘ with Bae U Barbie, Kuti shared his disappointment and frustration about not receiving an invitation.

He revealed that he struggled to sleep for a week due to the snub, which he found particularly hurtful given their past relationship.

Seun Kuti explained that Davido and his entourage would often visit his family’s bar, the African Shrine, and enjoy free drinks.

He felt that their past connection made the exclusion from the wedding guest list even more painful.

“Davido would come to the African Shrine with 100 guys, and he would drink without paying, but when it was time for his wedding, I didn’t get IV. I was pained, I didn’t sleep for one week,” he said.

Faisal Makarfi, the eldest son of a former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, is dead.

According to a family source, he died in a motor accident along the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway on Saturday evening.

The source said that the deceased after the accident was taken to a hospital where he was confirmed dead.

The late Faisal Makarfi was until his death a trained engineer.

He attended Kaduna International School and Adesoye College, Offa, Kwara State for his secondary education.

He also attended the University of Greenwich, London, for his undergraduate and master’s degrees, and later enrolled for his PhD programme at the same institution.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has approved a minimum wage of ₦73,000 for civil servants in Ondo State.

Aiyedatiwa announced the new minimum wage during the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign flag-off held in the Ondo West Local Government Area on Saturday.

Recall that in September, the federal government and organized labour reached an agreement establishing a new minimum wage of ₦70,000 for government employees nationwide.

Accompanied by his deputy, Chief Olayide Adelami, and prominent party officials in preparation for the off-cycle governorship election scheduled for November 16, 2024, Aiyedatiwa stated that his administration, which took office ten months ago following the passing of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, has been actively transforming governance in the state, particularly by enhancing the welfare of civil servants.

Aiyedatiwa, who is the APC candidate for the upcoming governorship election, emphasized that the state government is committed to motivating its workers through training opportunities and promotion initiatives while also ensuring the timely payment of salaries and any outstanding arrears.

“Our civil servants are being motivated through different training programmes, and their salaries are being paid regularly. We do not owe, but let me announce to you that this administration has decided to implement the new minimum wage.

“Even though the minimum wage is supposed to be N70,000, ours is going to be N73,000. We will continue to improve on your welfare and advance further. By November 16, 2024, come out en mass and vote for APC,” the governor said.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors Forum has called for an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss various concerns regarding the party’s crisis.

Recalls that since Umar Damagum became the acting National Chairman following Senator Iyorchia Ayu’s court removal, he has faced increasing criticism from party leaders over the ongoing crisis in the PDP, resulting in calls for his resignation.

Damagum’s indecisiveness has contributed to the tense political situation in Rivers State between Governor Sim Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.

On Friday, in a surprising turn of events, Damagum’s faction of the NWC, through the party’s National Director of Publicity, Chinwe Nnorom, announced the suspension of National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba and National Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN) for alleged insubordination and anti-party.

Shortly after, a statement signed by Ologunagba indicated that the NWC had suspended Damagum and National Secretary Sen. Samuel Anyanwu for alleged disloyalty to the PDP, appointing National Treasurer Yayari Ahmed Mohammed as the acting National Chairman.

As the crisis rocking the party persists, the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has charged the factional acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, to revert to the status quo.

In an interview with PUNCH, a senior party member revealed that PDP stakeholders were considering the establishment of a caretaker committee to guide the party toward a National Convention to elect a new National Working Committee.

The source, who was in the meeting between the Bauchi Governor and Damagum’s faction of the NWC, said that the chairman of the PDP Governors forum urged for calm and called for an emergency meeting to tackle concerns in the party.

He said, “Governor Bala Mohammed is worried about the situation. During his meeting with Damagum’s team on Friday, he welcomed them and called for calm. The governor urged them to restore the status quo to keep the NWC unified and allow the NEC to address the issues at its next meeting.

“To tackle these concerns, I understand that the governors have called an emergency meeting for Monday. Some stakeholders are discussing the possibility of appointing a new caretaker committee to manage the party’s affairs and organize an elective national convention in 2025 to usher in new NWC.

“These stakeholders believe that reconciliation efforts will not lead to the current NWC members collaborating for the party’s benefit. However, they are also cautious due to the ongoing litigation surrounding the Damagum and NWC situation. Therefore, the governors will convene to consider all these issues.”

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) on Saturday decried that most people in the North cannot afford a single square meal per day as a result of the lingering insecurity and socio-economic hardship plaguing the region.

The groups disclosed this in a one-day community engagement held in Katsina under the chairmanship of Professor Sani Abubakar Lugga, the fifth Wazirin Katsina.

The theme of this engagement is: “Imperative of Popular Participation in Tackling Socioeconomic Challenges Bedeviling Nigeria Through Community Solutions.”

The National Coordinator of the Coalition Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi told reporters insecurity in the Northern Region is walking with its two legs hence the need to find a lasting solution to the problem.

According to Charanchi, the time of lamentation is over as virtually all Nigerians know that the country is in a serious problem.

“People can no longer afford three square meals. We are not even talking about the three square meals, people cannot afford a single square meal per day.

“Insecurity is walking with its two legs in the North. So these are the reasons we have seen, and we have come to realize that, the leaders are not even ready to address the problems and to some extent, not only the leaders but even ourselves we have a contribution to do so that at least we can get ourselves out of this quagmire.

“So, the CNG decides after the stakeholders roundtable held in Abuja to engage community people so that each and every member or stakeholder in the community will get to know how to contribute their quota towards alleviating insecurity, economic hardship, and all other crises bedeviling the North.

“The main target here is the community to know how they can contribute to alleviate the problem bedeviling the region. The participants mostly leaders of various organizations are carefully selected. After this meeting, we will mandate the leaders to go back and summon their members and tell them all the information they have gotten here,” he said.

Charanchi while talking about corruption in the country believed that all the problems facing Nigeria ranging from corruption itself, insecurity, economic hardship, and dilapidation in the infrastructure in the education sector, and health sector among others show there is a crisis of leadership.

“In as much as we can get it right, we can get the right leaders, we can get the leaders that have the country at their heart, we can get the leaders that have human feelings, we can get the leaders that act like messengers of God, we can get the leaders that will treat this country as they are going to treat their family definitely we will get it right.

“It’s very unfortunate we don’t have leaders in this country. All we have in this country are politicians and the problem with politicians. They always care about how to secure the next election. But a true leader cares about how to secure the next generation.

“It’s a waste of time to call on leaders to change because I doubt much if our leaders have fear of God. I doubt much if our leaders believe there is something we call hereafter, I doubt much if our leaders have something we call humanity, and I doubt much if our leaders believe that service to humanity is a service to God.

“We have self-centered leaders that believe in enriching themselves and looting the treasury.

“So, the only solution is to let the community come together to believe that, we are the government not somebody as the government, and let’s get it right from our constituency,” Charanchi added.

In his remarks, the Special Guest of Honor and Governor of Katsina State Dikko Radda, commended the organizers of the meeting, stating that, the State Government has done a lot in tackling the issue of insecurity.

The governor who was represented by the State Commissioner for Information and Culture Bala Zango said that Katsina has become a role model in the North in terms of tackling insecurity.

He, however, advised the youth to learn from the bad experience witnessed during the recent nationwide Hunger/End Bad Governance protests where he said bad elements took advantage by turning the demonstrations from peaceful to violent.

“Issues of insecurity and other issues that hindered the development and progress of the North and Nigeria as a whole have been discussed in this community engagement.

“Katsina State Government has done well not only on security and economy but also in every sector.

“I am advising the youth to learn from the bad experience during the recent nationwide hunger/End Bad Governance protest where bad elements took advantage by turning the protest to violent instead of peaceful.

“Rather than protest, let us resort to dialogue which is the best solution to problems. We have seen the lives that have been lost and property destroyed as a result of the protest,” he stated.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has advised President Bola Tinubu to seek help from former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on the economic crisis plaguing the country.

Recall that there has been outrage in the country following the fuel price increase.

The retail stations of NNPC raised the price of petrol to ₦1,030 from ₦897/litre in Abuja and from ₦868/litre to ₦998/litre in Lagos. Other locations witnessed similar price hikes.

Reacting to the development during an interview with Punch, the National Secretary of the NNPP, Dipo Olaoyoku, said the current administration has shown that it does not have what it takes to save Nigeria.

He said, “As far as Nigeria is concerned, nothing shocks us anymore. This present government has no iota of solution to the problem of this country. When there is a crisis in the country, and you have a government that only looks for the easy way out, it means that Nigeria is on a long journey.

“How can a president announce the removal of subsidy on his first day on the job without ascertaining the extent of the subsidy and the people receiving it? Within the same week, you announced the floating of the naira. At that time, Nigeria was solely dependent on imported fuel, with the prices being determined by the naira

“This government is bereft of ideas. Unfortunately, if you look at the people he has appointed into offices, you cannot identify a competent one among them. I just pity Nigerians. After surviving the hurricane of Buhari, see what Nigeria has been reduced to. It is catastrophic. This government has no compassion for any Nigerian.”

The NNPP scribe also decried that rather than recruit technocrats from different walks of life, the President surrounded himself with his political friends and associates.

Olaoyoku suggested that unless Tinubu sought the help of experienced political administrators like Jonathan, the masses would continue to wallow under the yoke of hardship.

“Again, they can beg Dr Goodluck Jonathan for help on how he was able to retain the rate of the naira to the dollar at ₦200 before the APC came on board. Let them go and beg him” he added.

Armed bandits on Saturday blocked the ever-busy Gusau-Funtua highway and abducted an unspecified number of travellers. 

The bandits blocked the highway between Kucheri and Magazu communities in Tsafe Local Government Area of the state, shooting at moving vehicles.

The spokesperson of the Zamfara State Police Command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, confirmed the incident to Channels Television via a telephone conversation.

He said an unspecified number of travellers were abducted during the attack, adding that the police and other security agencies are currently on joint rescue operations in order to rescue the abducted victims.

“The incident happened this afternoon. The bandits blocked the road and started shooting at the commuters, they kidnapped some of them,” Abubakar said.

“The command in collaboration with other security agencies are working hand in hand to make sure the kidnapped victims are rescued.”

Abubakar, however, denied the report that five mobile policemen were abducted during a shootout with the bandits

Recently, armed bandits have carried out a series of attacks along the highway.

Zamfara is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria terrorised by heavily armed gangs, who carry out mass abductions for ransom as well as burning and looting homes.

The gangs, who maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states, have also undertaken large-scale kidnappings of pupils from schools in recent years.

Bandits have recently stepped up attacks, particularly in Katsina and Zamfara states.

Last month, the gangs raided four villages in Katsina state’s Sabuwa district, killing 25 people, mostly local vigilantes, in apparent reprisals over military offensives on their hideouts, according to a local official.

Bandits have no ideological leaning and are motivated by financial gain. But analysts and officials have expressed concern over their increasing alliance with jihadists waging a 15-year armed rebellion in the northeast.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima says the federal government is working to reverse Nigeria’s growing unemployment rate.

Shettima said this on Saturday at the launch of the Nasarawa state human capital development strategy document and gender transformative human capital development policy framework in Lafia.

He said the government is committed to empowering Nigerians with globally competitive skills which would enable them excel anywhere in the world.

Shettima said the human capital development (HCD) programme is designed to help Nigeria achieve a productive workforce.

“Enough of the distressing data on our education system—whether it is the mean years of schooling, the high pupil-to-teacher ratios, or the staggering number of youths not in employment, education, or training,” he said.

“The unemployment rates, the growing informal sector, and low labour force participation must be reversed. This is the dystopia our Human Capital Development Programme is designed to avert, under the mandate of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“For so long, at the National Economic Council, we have debated the ideal nation we wish to build and the pathways to achieve it.

“Our partnerships with the private sector are critical in achieving this. By facilitating access to resources, expertise, and innovation, we aim to make human capital development the cornerstone of a more prosperous and competitive Nigeria.”

He added that the unveiling of a blueprint for Nasarawa’s human capital challenges reaffirms the administration’s commitment to tackle the unique realities of each state.

“Nasarawa state’s commitment to the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme, a lifeline for our nation, is built on the collective realisation that enough is enough,” he said.

“Enough of the cycles that have held us back. Enough of the legacies of unplanned high fertility rates and alarming maternal and under-five mortality rates. Enough of our vulnerable populations facing low life expectancy.

“Rather, it is an invitation for every country, and indeed sub-national entities, to rise to the challenge. Every child must have access to quality education, equitable healthcare, even as the nation’s workforce must be equipped with the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st-century economy.”