Veteran Nigerian actress Lanre Adesina Hassan, famously known as Iya Awero, tearfully recounted the heartbreaking tragedies that marked her lengthy acting career.

In a riveting recent interview on actress Doyin Kukoyi’s talk show,  Iya Awero delved into the darkest corners of her life and career.

When asked by her junior colleague to share an unforgettable experience that almost led her to abandon acting, Iya Awero recounted ordeals fraught with pain and resilience.

Iya Awero shared a gripping tale of her early marital struggles, revealing how she initially faced stiff opposition from her husband, who pressured her to quit her acting career to focus solely on their family.

The Nollywood Veteran recounted how her husband’s demands created a tumultuous period in her life, leaving her torn between her passion for acting and her responsibilities at home.

Determined to pursue her dreams, Iya Awero said she stood her ground with unwavering resolve. Her determination was bolstered by the unwavering support of her colleagues in the industry, who rallied around her and interceded on her behalf.

In a tearful recollection, She recounted the devastating day when one of her children, who had accompanied her to a stage performance event, suddenly collapsed and died. This shocking loss, according to her, left her in a state of profound grief and disbelief, was unable to face her husband in the wake of such a tragedy.

Iya Awero then went on to recount that soon after, her son accompanied her to a funeral, where they stayed overnight at the bereaved family’s home. Tragically, the next morning, she woke to find that her son had passed away in his sleep.

These deeply painful experiences and the overwhelming grief, she revealed, led her to question her own ability to continue acting. However, she expressed gratitude to God for granting her the strength to persevere until this day.

Moved by her tearful anguish, Doyin prayed earnestly for her, asking that God would continue to comfort her and that she would not have to mourn any more of her children.

A General Overseer (GO) and founder of a new generation church simply identified as Bishop Godfrey has been apprehended, the police in Delta State have said.

He was arrested over an alleged attempt to kidnap a fellow bishop in Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the State.

According to the police, Godfrey, was arrested along with his wife, an Assistant Pastor, elders and others who are currently detained at the Ughelli Police A’ Division.

It was also gathered that the Police recovered three Army uniforms and over 20 Sim cards at residence of the GO while executing a search warrant.

It was further learnt that the General Overseer, whose church is located in Agbarho, was traced to a hideout, where he escaped to after getting wind of the arrest of his wife and others.

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Edafe Bright confirmed the report, saying that investigation was on to unravel the incident.

Former Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has tackled the President for asking Nigerians to make sacrifices for their country. 

 President Tinubu while speaking to newsmen after observing Eid prayers in Lagos on Sunday, June 16, called on Nigerians to show more care for their neighbours and extend charity to all in the spirit of Eid-el-Kabir.

According to him, some level of sacrifices will be required to move the nation forward.

“We have been told by the Chief Imam how we can follow the path of sacrifice. The sacrifice required of a good citizen. Citizenship comes with responsibilities. As citizens, what do we need to do to be committed members of our society? Yes, that is sacrifice; loving your country. Loving your neighbours. Sharing what you have with each other. And to always be thankful to Almighty God”.

Reacting to the President's comment, Dalung in a post shared on X today, June 17, said the sacrifice should begin with the President and his govt. 

He wrote;

‘’I listened to @officialABAT calling on Nigerians again to sacrifice, love, and believe in the country. Could this be mockery of the suffering of the masses, or he genuinely believe in what he was saying? If President Tinubu is sincere about what he's saying, then it's confirmation that his government is under siege by the notorious cabal.

 

The president's body language betrayed him completely from the social reality. He is in his own world distinct from the hardships confronting Nigerians. From my analysis of the speech, Nigeria is on auto pilot dangerous navigating turbulence.

 

Does President Tinubu knows that Nigerians are suffering? Certainly not, his reckless economic policies, wasteful expenditures, plundering of resources, insensitivity to plights of citizens, boastful and egoistic squndering of goodwill, adoption of corruption and nepotism as state policies are the characteristics of this ignoble regime. Sacrifice should begin with @officialABAT and his jumbo size government, then Nigerians can take him serious, but for now it's mere rhetorics and propaganda.''

Media personality Gbemi has stated that marriage and kids are not for everyone. 

The media personality who noted that people should be left alone if they want that, also disclosed that she has friends who don’t want romantic relationships and they are wonderful people. 

Gbemi tweeted; 

“Leave people alone . Marriage and kids are not for everyone . I have dear friends who don’t want romantic relationships and they are wonderful people . A man or woman deciding not to marry or have children does not harm you in any way.”

One Ayandare Modupe, a finally year student of Adekunle Ajasin University, AAUA, Modupe Ayandare, has allegedly committed suicide.

The student was said to have taken her own life on Monday after she returned from a church vigil.

The tragic incident happened in Akungba-Akoko, headquarters of Akoko South West local government area of Ondo State where the university is located.

The deceased, who was the president of her department, Agronomy, was said to have taken her own life in an uncompleted building.

Noble Olaogbebikan, the Public Relations Officer of the institution’s student union, confirmed the incident. 

He disclosed Ayandare committed suicide in the early hours of Monday around 4 am at an uncompleted building that was close to the white garment church where she attended the vigil.

“We express in strong terms our dissatisfaction and agony with respect to the death of one of our students, Ayandare Modupe. A 500-level student of the Department of Agronomy (Agronomy Departmental President).

“The incident happened beside the church she attended around Sportless Villa. The law enforcement agency has already been informed, and all hands are on the desk to get to the root of the situation.”

Also, in another statement, the deceased’s department said: “We have lost one of our own, Comrade Modesty, who served as the President of the Department of Agronomy. Her passing, by suicide at Onireason Street’s permanent site, is a profound loss to us all.”

The Ondo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, also confirmed development.

According to him, the deceased left a suicide note in her bag before the incident.

According to the police spokesperson, detectives had commenced an investigation to unravel the development

The Edo State Peoples Democratic Party has lambasted ex-deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, for describing the party’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, as an outsider.

The PDP said it was contradictory for Shaibu to remain in the PDP and be demarketing the party’s governorship candidate, urging him to rather resign his membership.

Shaibu, a PDP member, declared on Sunday that he would be supporting the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo, in the September 21 governorship election in the state.

He said while Okpebholo was a homeboy, who understood the challenges in the state, the PDP candidate, Ighodalo, was an outsider and a product of godfatherism.

“We don’t want an outsider. We have experimented with an outsider and it is not working, so this time, we want a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties; one is in the Labour Party and one is in the All Progressives Congress.

“I chose to follow the homeboy in the APC. The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo. The man the PDP is parading is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way a godson can be governor of Edo State again,” Shaibu had said.

But reacting on Monday, the Deputy Director General of the media arm of the Edo PDP Governorship Campaign Council, Rev. Olu Martin, described Shaibu’s reason for supporting the APC candidate as baseless.

“Because the candidate didn’t grow up in Edo, doesn’t make him a stranger in his own state.

“I thought Shaibu would tell us that the candidate he wants to support has the capacity, intelligent, knack for excellence and smartnees, which are the hallmarks of a great leader,” Martin said in a voice note sent to journalists on Monday.

Martin added that it was contradictory for Shaibu to remain in the PDP and be working against the candidate of the party.

“The honourable thing he should have done is to resign from the PDP like others and support the APC candidate. His argument is that of weak people,” he said.

Shaibu contested but lost the PDP governorship ticket to Ighodalo, who has the backing of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen would rather join one of his Premier League suitors that moved to PSG League, as the 25-year-old is set to leave Napoli this summer.

Arsenal and Chelsea have emerged as frontrunners for his signature, and the former Lille striker is eagerly awaiting calls from the duo, according to reports in Itlay.

PSG initially earmarked him as a replacement for Kylian Mbappe, who is on his way to Real Madrid, but according to Monday’s Corriere dello Sport, Osimhen is not interested in joining the French giants, being unconvinced about playing in Ligue 1. Instead, he considers the Premier League his dream destination, making Arsenal and Chelsea the favourites to land him ahead of the 2024–25 season.

Osimhen, who won the Serie A Golden Boot award in the 2022–23 season, signed a new contract with Napoli in December, which has a release clause reportedly set at €120–€130 million (£101 million).

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the air component of operation Hadarin Daji has killed 80 terrorists in Gidan Kare village under Faskare LGA of Katsina state.

In a statement on Monday, Edward Gabkwet, the NAF director of public relations, said the airstrike was carried out on June 15, adding that 15 motorcycles belonging to the terrorists were burned.

Gabkwet said the air raid followed intelligence that over 100 terrorists were burning houses at a settlement about five kilometres away from Gidan Kare Village.

He said at about 8:30pm on Saturday, several houses were observed to be on fire, with the entire village in pandemonium.

Gabkwet said 12 motorcycles were later seen departing the village, adding that they were trailed along a footpath to a location near Gidan Kare Village and Kuka Shidda camp, where they joined up with a large number of their cohorts.

“Other terrorists were also observed arriving at the location from different directions, an indication that the location was a massing up point with the terrorists likely planning to further attack nearby villages,” the statement reads.

“Having been presented such a rare opportunity, authorization was sought, obtained and the location was immediately struck at exactly 9:40pm, with over 80 terrorists confirmed eliminated and about 45 motorcycles burnt down, while few surviving terrorists were observed fleeing or limping off.

“Further intelligence received after the strike also revealed that the terrorists were closely linked with notorious terrorist kingpin Yusuf Yellow and his close associate Rabe Imani.

”These strikes, along with others before now, have no doubt disrupted terrorists’ activities in the area.”

The NAF spokesperson said Hasan Abubakar, chief of air staff, commended the efforts of the air component in diminishing the capabilities of terrorist elements in the north-west.

He urged the troops not to relent in their efforts and dedication to the fight against terrorism and all forms of criminality in Nigeria.

“As we continue the fight against insurgency and banditry bedevilling our dear nation, I want to commend and appreciate your resoluteness and gallantry,” Gabkwer quoted the air chief as saying.

Residents of Idekan Farm Settlement in the Ijebu-Ode area of Ogun State were left shocked when a man named Matthew James killed his 55-year-old wife, Etim Mary, due to suspicions of her having an extramarital affair.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the incident took place around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Our correspondent learnt from several community and police sources that the suspect, now in police custody, committed the crime after suspecting that his late wife was having an extramarital affair with another man in the community.

An eyewitness, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the police operatives from the Ijebu-Igbo Division had taken the suspect into custody.

The eyewitness further told our correspondent that the suspect claimed he and the deceased woman had a “blood covenant” not to betray each other.

The source said, “They had a blood covenant that they would not leave each other. He suspected the wife was having an extramarital affair. The woman had been married before she met James. He married her when the woman was already ageing. She had grown up with children before James married her.

“James is claiming they both had a blood covenant not to leave each other for any reason. He just returned one morning with a machete and hacked the woman to death. He didn’t run away after committing the crime. He just stood beside her after.”

The spokesperson for the state police command, Omolola Odutola, commenting on Monday’s shocking incident, stated that the wife was pronounced dead by the attending doctor after being rushed to the hospital by other residents.

She said, “She was found lying in the pool of her blood just in front of the house about 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. She had deep cuts on her forehead, shoulders, and other parts of her body. The husband was found with the blood-soaked machete he was believed to have used to commit the crime.

“The body was taken to a general hospital in Ijebu-Igbo, where she was certified dead by a doctor on duty. Her corpse has been deposited at the Alayangbe Private Mortuary in Oke-Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo, for the autopsy.

“We will move the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Abeokuta as soon as the preliminary investigation is concluded.”

PUNCH Metro reported a similar incident in April in Ekiti, where a suspect named Dare Onipede allegedly killed his wife, Arinola, during a dispute over accusations of her having an extramarital affair.

The suspect allegedly stabbed his wife, the mother of three, to death during the incident.

The Federal Government through the Nigerian Customs Service has begun a fresh move to clamp down on operators of improperly imported private jets into the country, findings by The PUNCH revealed.

Consequently, no fewer than 80 operators of private jets are expected to appear at the headquarters of the NCS in Abuja with their aircraft import documents.

The special aircraft import verification exercise, which begins on Wednesday (tomorrow), is expected to last for 30 days, according to a public notice issued by Customs.

The notice, sighted by one of our correspondents, read in part, “The Nigeria Customs Service announces a verification exercise for privately owned aircraft operating in Nigeria. This exercise aims to identify improperly imported private aircraft without documentation, ensuring proper imports and maximum revenue collection.”

According to the notice, owners and operators of private jets in the country are to come with some relevant documents.

These include aircraft Certificate of Registration, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Operation Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Maintenance Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Permit for Non-Commercial Flights, and Temporary Import Permit (if applicable).

The latest plan to clamp down on operators of improperly imported private jets came more than one year after the Federal Government suspended the action.

In the past three years, the government had planned to recover import duty running into billions of naira from some private jet operators who had used certain technical loopholes to evade the payment of import duty.

A few private jet owners paid the mandatory import duty after the Hameed Ali-led NCS took some significant steps to recover the revenue. However, several owners and operators of private jets in the country have yet to pay the statutory duty.

Many private aircraft operators in the country have allegedly explored technical loopholes in the regulation to fraudulently obtain a Temporary Import Permit from the Nigeria Customs Service instead of paying the statutory import duty on their imported aircraft.

The TIP, which is valid for an initial period of 12 months, can be extended by six months twice, according to the regulations.

However, several operators of private jets in the country have continued to extend the TIP indefinitely, a development that prompted the Customs to effect past clampdowns.

According to new findings by our correspondents, no fewer than 80 private jet operators are expected to present their aircraft import documents for verification during the one-month exercise.

“Based on the data we have, we are expecting no fewer than 80 private aircraft operators for the verification exercise. These include operators of about 20 private aircraft that have been imported since the last verification exercise,” a top official close to the verification exercise told The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter

The exercise is expected to lead to the payment of the mandatory import duty, while aircraft operators who fail to pay may have their jets grounded.

The TIP has been described by some stakeholders as a fraudulent means of evading the mandatory import duty. Importers of private jets, especially foreign registered private jets, are expected to pay five per cent of the value of the private jet as import duty.

However, due to the high cost of private jets, some owners often prefer not to pay the import, according to Customs officials.

Instead, the operators prefer to obtain a TIP under the guise that the aircraft is coming into the country for a temporary period, quoting the International Civil Aviation Organisation Convention Article 24 which focuses on Customs waiver for commercial aircraft operating in a country temporarily.

But the new leadership of Customs appears poised to get all operators to pay the import duty.

Unconfirmed sources said the government might get close to N100bn in unpaid import duty on imported private aircraft due to the high exchange rate.

This analysis is however dependent on whether the Customs chooses to implement the 25 per cent penalty fee such aircraft owners are meant to pay for delayed payment. The 25 per cent penalty fee is in addition to the statutory five per cent import duty.

It is unclear If the private aircraft operators will be willing to cooperate with the government to pay the duty.

Some operators had in the past gone to court to stop the government from collecting the revenue.

Meanwhile, National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, on Monday, confirmed the verification exercise, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

In response to enquiries by The PUNCH on what actions the agency would take after the verification exercise, Maiwada simply said, “All we are doing is to ensure maximum revenue collection for the Federal Government. Relevant sections of our extant laws and regulations will guide our actions and inaction during and after the exercise.”

Sometime in 2021, about 17 owners of foreign-registered private jets, comprising top business moguls, leading commercial banks, and other rich Nigerians, dragged the Federal Government to court, seeking to stop the grounding of their planes over alleged import duty default.

This came after the Federal Government approved the decision of the Nigeria Customs Service to the ground about 91 private jets over their alleged refusal to pay import duties running to over N30bn.

The NCS had in a letter directed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency to ground the affected private jets with immediate effect.

However owing to issues bothering on inter-agency rivalry and disagreements, the relevant government agencies could not ground the private jets.

The jet owners who sued the government were seeking a judicial review as to whether it was lawful for them to pay the controversial import duty on their private jets or not.

They had sued the government using the foreign shell companies and trustees through which the foreign-registered jets were purchased.

Oftentimes, Nigerians and corporate bodies buy their foreign-registered private jets through foreign shell companies and trustees. Experts believe Nigerians prefer to register their jets in foreign countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Isle of Man, among others, to preserve the value of the aircraft in the event they want to sell it. This also helps them to pay cheaper insurance premiums.

According to the court document, the 17 applicants, which are mostly foreign companies of the Nigerian jet owners are Aircraft Trust and Financing Corp Trustee, UAML Corp, Bank of Utah Trustee, Masterjet AVIACAO Executive SA, and Cloud Services Limited.

Others are MHS Aviation GmbH, Murano Trust Company Limited, Panther Jets, SAIB LLC, Empire Aviation Group, and Osa Aviation Limited.

The list also includes BUA Delaware Inc., Flying Bull Corporation Limited, Air Charter Inc., Sparfell Luftahrt GmbH, WAT Aviation Limited, and ATT Aviation Limited.

The NCAA and Customs were listed as respondents to the suit.

However, in a written address in support of the first respondent’s objector notice of preliminary objection, the court paper had read in part, “The brief facts of this case are that the first respondents, having discovered that some operators of aircraft imported them under the guise of Temporary Importation Permit, were permanently imported into Nigeria and given TIP status to evade payment of lawful customs.”

The NCS had in 2021 embarked on a review of import duties paid on private jets brought into the country since 2006.

Following the alleged discovery that several private jet owners, under the guise of Temporary Import Permit, had failed to pay the statutory import duty to the coffers of the government, the then CG of Customs, Hameed Ali, set up a verification panel to review all TIPs and the relevant aircraft import documents of all private jets in the country.

At the end of the 60-day exercise, 57 private jets, which had licences for commercial charter operations, were cleared and issued Aircraft Operators Certificates by the Customs.

However, 29 private jets, whose owners came for the verification, were found to be liable to pay the import duty.

The Customs also compiled a list of another 62 private jets whose owners failed to appear for the verification exercise but were found liable for import duty payment.

However, other private jet owners seeking to pay their import duty were given a 14-day ultimatum to clear the debts.

The number of jet owners who later paid the duty is still unclear. It is still unclear to what extent the new management of Customs is willing to get the powerful private jet owners to pay their import duty.