TikTok has permanently banned the account of a Nigerian user, Young C, following his controversial 24-hour challenge in which he was buried alive. The stunt, which drew significant attention and concern, led to the removal of his profile from the short video platform.
Naija News reports that Young C’s daring act involved being enclosed in a coffin for an entire day, a feat he undertook on Wednesday and broadcast live to his followers.
The stunt, intended as a challenge, echoes a similar endeavour by American YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who famously spent 50 hours buried alive to highlight environmental issues.
MrBeast recently aimed to break his own record by enduring seven days in a coffin, a test of both physical and mental fortitude.
Cheks on TikTok confirmed that Young C’s account is no longer accessible, indicating a permanent ban.
The platform, which has policies against content that could promote harmful or dangerous activities, likely found the nature of Young C’s challenge in violation of these guidelines.
The incident raises questions about the boundaries of content creation and social media platforms’ responsibilities to curb activities that could endanger lives or encourage risky behaviours among viewers.
While creators often push limits to gain views and engagement, the implications of promoting such extreme challenges are a growing concern for both content platforms and regulators.
[NaijaNews]
Experts and stakeholders in the blockchain industry have blamed the ongoing events around crypto trading in Nigeria on the policies and actions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which tends to distance the regulator from the market.
According to them, the stance of the banking regulator could create a Pandora’s box of challenges that could open doors for bad actors.
They claim the ban may now allow those bad actors who were involved in currency manipulation through crypto trading to even inflict more damage on the economy.
The activities of the bad actors is believed to be denting the image of several legitimate players in the industry.
This comes as concerns mount over plans by the government to ban peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading in the country. Although some experts believe that banning P2P may not be feasible as people can exchange money under any guise, players in the industry are concerned that an outright ban would affect several platforms built to facilitate legitimate transactions.
Speaking on the current developments in the industry, the Co-founder of Convexity, a blockchain solutions company, Adedeji Owonibi, said the CBN under the former Governor, Godwin Emefiele, created the P2P market when he shut out banks from crypto transactions.
“The former CBN Governor sent everybody away to P2P because people could use the banking rates. P2P is a creation of the central bank and directly so because as a matter of fact if they had not stopped it, people would have been trading within different cryptocurrency exchanges that are interacting with the banking system. This opened the doors for all kinds of people in the P2P market.
“Now, we have a lot of bad actors that are giving everybody a bad name. The industry players operating legitimately will need to expose the bad actors and let the government know them,” Owonibi said.
Failure to regulate
Owonibi’s thoughts aligned with that of the President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), Obinna Iwuno, who argued that if the CBN had regulated the industry, there would have been no rise in P2P because everybody would have been trading through regulated agencies and exchanges.
According to him, with accusing fingers pointed at P2P as sabotaging the economy, there might be more troubles for the industry, except the government sees the need to regulate it.
“What we are seeing currently is not the action of our industry, but because certain things have been made to look as though this is what our industry represents.
“Accusing fingers are being pointed at us when we are not guilty and it is one that we have to deal with because if we don’t deal with it, it has the possibility of spreading even further than it is now and hurting the industry more than it is already,” he said.
P2P and KYC
For the founder of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Mr. Chuta Chimezie, the major issue in the blockchain industry is CBN’s inability to look into what the players are doing. He believes the exchanges handling P2P transactions are doing adequate KYC that could help the regulator in regulating the industry.
“Every exchange that I know that does p2p transaction does 100% KYC and they comply maximally to all the standards that the financial reporting standards outline for them to operate. But the problem here is that the industry is still like a ghost to the central bank.
“So, because they are not interfacing with that industry, they don’t even know the effort the people are putting in place. How will the CBN know if they don’t allow them to come under their regulation?
“These guys are dealing with financial services. They are dealing with financial instruments, so bring them into the regulatory environment, make them your friends, make them part of the financial system, and it will be easy for you to know who is doing what,” he said.
Banning P2P
On plans to ban crypto P2P trading in Nigeria, Chimezie said the P2P market in Nigeria has now grown to become an extension of the forex black market. According to him, an outright ban would not help the country because people would always find ways around it by leveraging technology.
But he agreed that there has to be an intervention from the government to save the nation’s currency.
“First of all, we are all Nigerians before being traders and the spirit of patriotism will drive us to agree that no responsible government will fold its hands and allow its national currency to be determined by the agreed level of traders in any platform.
“So, we agree that something needs to be done about that. We agree that there should be regulation and everyone who is involved in issuing, transmitting, or driving any aspect of digital assets should come into a regulatory environment.
“But it doesn’t have to be an outright ban because we’re dealing with a different kind of asset class because when you outrightly ban it, people will find a way to transact it and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said.
The backstory
Recently, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) classified cryptocurrency trading as a national security issue. Following this, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed four fintech startups operating in the country—Opay, Moniepoint, Paga, and Palmpay—to block the accounts of customers engaging in cryptocurrency transactions and to report those transactions to law enforcement agencies.
Earlier in February this year, crypto trading platform, Binance, had to disable its peer-to-peer feature for Nigerian users as it came under the searchlight of the Nigerian government over allegations of currency manipulation and money laundering.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), during a virtual meeting with the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN), called for a new cryptocurrency measure that aims to remove the naira as a currency pair from cryptocurrency peer-to-peer platforms.
The Acting Director General of the SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, who made the call, emphasized the need to clean up the virtual assets space from illegal trading activities and safeguard the integrity of the Nigerian capital market. Agama noted that the recent surge in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading has reportedly impacted the Naira’s exchange rate, prompting the SEC to consider delisting the Naira from P2P platforms to curb market manipulation.
[Nairametrics]
Nigerian singer, Simisola Kosoko, aka Simi, has explained that relationships between female artists are not so cordial because they are often pitted against each other.
In a recent interview with Angela Yee, the ‘Men Are Crazy’ crooner admitted that fans pitting female artists against each other put pressure on their relationship.
Simi said, “Fans pit women against each other in the music industry. It’s so intense sometimes. Sometimes it can be really distracting because there are not as many of us in the [music] industry compared to the guys.
“When a new female artist breaks into the industry, they [fans] just pit her against us with all forms of comparisons.
“We can all thrive. I have spoken about women several times even in my songs. But because I’m an artist people assume that the only way my talking about women can be valid is by featuring women in my songs. It’s just so weird because there are women in different walks of life.
“They do pit us against each other a lot and I think sometimes that puts some pressure on the kind of relationship that we would have otherwise.”
[DailyPost]
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has secured the conviction of a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Commandant, Christopher Oluchukwu, for defrauding individuals seeking employment for their children.
According to a statement posted on the website of the ICPC on Thursday, Oluchukwu was found guilty on all nine counts filed against him at Katsina State High Court 3.
The charges stemmed from allegations that he collected a total of N900,000 from three separate individuals under false pretences of securing them jobs within the NSCDC.
The statement partly read, “In the case filed by ICPC at the Katsina State High Court 3, the convict was accused of receiving the sum of N200,000:00, N300,000:00 and N400,000:00 respectively, from three individuals under the pretext of securing jobs for their children with the NSCDC.
“The victims had reported the matter to ICPC after the convict failed to procure the said job and refused to refund their money.”
During the trial, counsel to ICPC, Ibrahim Garba, in a 9-counts charge told the court how the action of the convict negates Sections 8,10 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
One of the counts read, “That you Christopher Oluchukwu Ugwubujo on or about 25th and 28th day of November 2014 within the jurisdiction of this Court while being a public officer with the NSCDC conferred a corrupt advantage upon yourself by obtaining a total sum of four hundred thousand naira (N400, 000. 00) from one for a job placement for her daughter into NSCDC and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.”
In his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Abbas Bawale was reported to have found Oluchukwu guilty on all nine counts and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment without the option of fine.
“Similarly, the trial judge pronounced that the sentences were to run concurrently. He also held that even though the defendant was at large (he jumped bail), his sureties should be arrested and kept in custody for further investigation,” the statement added.
PUNCH Online reported in January that the Nigeria Customs Service has arrested one Abdul-Rahman Ibrahim, in his fifties, for his involvement in fraudulent activities and the impersonation of the Comptroller-General of Customs and other high-ranking government officials.
The suspect was reported to have fraudulently lured numerous unsuspecting citizens to pay him money for the issuance of ‘job appointment letters,’ thereby extorting over N1 million from them.
Cleric Arrested For Allegedly Defiling 3 Minors and Forcing Victims to Swear by Bible Not to Tell Anyone
AFOLABIMinimum Wage: ‘If Subsidy Was Not Removed, We Would Have Suggested ₦80,000 – NLC Boss Ajaero
AFOLABIThe Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) national president, Joe Ajaero, has explained why they proposed ₦615,000 as the minimum wage to the federal government.
According to Ajaero, the union would have probably suggested ₦80,000 if the fuel subsidy was not removed.
Naija News recalls that the NLC President noted that governors can afford to pay the proposed ₦615,000 minimum wage if they get their priorities right.
During a courtesy visit to The Nation headquarters in Lagos on Thursday, May 9, Ajaero emphasized that the proposal to the government was influenced by the economic realities in the country.
He said though there were misconceptions about the proposal, the NLC arrived at the figure to make lives better for the workers.
Ajaero stated: “There are misconceptions about the proposed ₦615, 000, but we don’t have choice and if we are asked to represent it today it will increase. The tarrif was not there when we made the proposal but things are hard now.
“We looked at food, medicals, education, and other utilities. We didn’t make provision for communication, offering and the likes. Those are some of the things we took into cognisance before we arrived at ₦615,000.
“We think it is better for us to explain to Nigerians for them to understand us better. The removal of subsidy also affected everything. Probably, if the subsidy was not removed, we would have suggested ₦80,000.”
I Challenge You To Fish Out Sponsors, Perpetrators Of Insecurity In Nigeria – Gov Yusuf To Security Agencies
AFOLABIKano State Governor, Abba Yusuf has challenged security operatives to fish out those financing insecurity in the nation.
He highlighted the essential role of proactive strategies in addressing the daunting insecurities, cautioning that mere discussions would encourage idea sharing, but substantive progress relies on stakeholders’ active involvement in gathering information and taking real actions.
The Governor made these remarks during the Northwestern High-Security zonal conference organized by the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) in Kano.
Governor Yusuf, said, “I challenge you to use intelligence data gathering to locate the whereabouts of those perpetrating the crimes, are they Politicians, Traditional Leaders, Religious or Business Community, do more to unravel those sponsoring and conducting attacks on innocent lives for the Country to be peaceful.”
Nigerian man, Young C, has been successfully exhumed after spending 24 hours buried alive in a coffin. Young C began the challenge on Wednesday, May 8 and has completed it. At several intervals, Young C gave updates from inside the coffin. His challenge however led to TikTok permanently banning his account.
After he was ‘’exhumed', he cautioned viewers against attempting similar stunts due to the inherent dangers involved.
Watch a video of him being exhumed below
Media
A Kaduna Chief Magistrates’ Court, on Thursday, sentenced a 23-year-old student, Rabiu Garba, to 12 strokes of the cane for stealing a laptop and two cell phones.
The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, sentenced Garba after he pleaded guilty to the two count of trespass and theft.
The convict, who resides at Badiko in Kaduna, had pleaded guilty earnestly and prayed for leniency from the court, vowing to reform his ways.
The magistrate held that the court was lenient to Garba because he did not waste the court’s time by his admission of guilt.
He, however, advised the convict to be of good behaviour and desist from crime in the future.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Chidi Leo, told the court that one Yusuf Usman, reported the matter at Gabasawa Police Station on May 3.
According to Leo, Garba trespassed into the complainant’s room and made away with his laptop valued at N220,000 and two phones valued at N342,000.
The Prosecutor said that the offences contravened the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.
(NAN)
Nollywood actress Bimpe Akintunde has addressed the challenges of being a single parent, emphasizing the huge toll it can take on women.
During an interview with Biola Bayo on her podcast, Talk To B, Akintunde shared her view, stating that single parenthood is not a situation anyone hopes for, but rather a circumstance that can arise unexpectedly.
Bimpe advised men to take responsibility whenever they put a woman in a family way.
“Single mum isn’t what anyone prays for; there is nothing that kills a woman faster than single parenting. Men are polygamous in nature. Any man that puts a lady in a family way, whether knowingly or unknowingly, should take responsibility”.
Bimpe further revealed that whenever people meet her, they are surprised at how calm and nice she is, unlike her movie characters.
The mother of one made it known that Wasila Coded is just a character, and Bimpe Akintunde is her name.
“When people meet me, they are like they don’t know I am this calm nice and think I am always breaking bottles, but I told them Wasila Coded is just a character, Bimpe Akintunde is my name”.
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Nigerian actor and film producer Yomi Fabiyi has provided an update on the legal proceedings surrounding his colleague, Baba Ijesha, who stands accused of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
Baba Ijesha, known for his work in the Nollywood industry, was previously arrested and handed a five-year sentence for allegations of assaulting a minor, who happens to be the foster daughter of another colleague, Damilola Adekoya, popularly referred to as Princess.
In a recent interview with Kolaolootu Live, Yomi stated that there exists no concrete evidence to support the claim that Baba Ijesha engaged in any inappropriate behavior with the minor.
He suggested that this lack of evidence led to the judge’s decision not to impose a life sentence on the embattled actor.
According to Yomi, Princess had called Baba Ijesha to shoot a skit, and her foster daughter affirmed the statement in court.
Yomi further claimed that the man who slept with Princess’ foster daughter is walking freely, adding the victim is not 14 years old as widely speculated.
He said,“Baba Ijesha’s appeal process is still ongoing in court. There was no evidence that he slept with the girl; that was why the judge didn’t sentence him to life imprisonment. He was called by Princess to shoot a skit, and the girl also said in court that she was called to shoot a skit. The person who actually slept with the girl is walking freely. The girl’s age is not 14. They never gave the court her birth certificate. We are waiting for the appeal court judgement.”
The Benue State Government has disclosed that the state ranks among the highest consumers of alcohol, particularly lager beer, with an estimated monthly consumption of about N1 billion worth of beer.
During a tour of the proposed state-owned brewery, water, and bakery factories in Makurdi on Tuesday, May 8, 2024, Raymond Asemakaha, the Managing Director of Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), revealed this to journalists.
He emphasized that upon completion, these factories would play a crucial role in curbing capital flight to other states.
Asemakaha explained that the decision to establish the brewery stemmed from recent findings highlighting the substantial amount of money leaving the state monthly due to staggering beer consumption.
According to him, the study indicated that N850 million worth of beer is consumed monthly from January to November, with December witnessing an even higher consumption, totaling over N1 billion annually.
“Basically, when we came on board, we understood that the rate of alcohol consumption in the state is around N850m-N870m per month.
“We understand that the people who sell these beers are taking this money out of Benue State.
“So, we concluded that all we need to do is float a new company that can be able to retain the cash flow in the state. That is why we are embarking on beer production.
“This N850m to N870m is a monthly sale of beers in the state and, in December, the sales were over N1bn. So, one of the things we are doing is to help retain the cash flow within the system.”
In a recent announcement, the Felabration Organising Committee has unveiled ‘Look and Laugh’ as the theme for Felabration 2024.
‘Look and Laugh,’ originally released by Fela Kuti in 1980 as part of his album ‘Coffin for Head of State,’ holds a special place in the hearts of many fans, as it remains a true and derisive reflection of the various faces of modern-day corruption. The lyrics subtly condemn self-serving actions and satirically call on listeners to open their eyes to the truth and act against oppression.
Yeni Kuti, Head of the Felabration Organising Committee, expressed her excitement for this year’s theme, stating, “With ‘Look and Laugh,’ we honour Fela’s legacy by embracing his message of resilience and expression. In a country grappling with record levels of inflation, currency devaluation, and rising food and fuel prices, this year’s theme takes on renewed significance. Felabration 2024 aims to ignite conversations, provoke reflection, and inspire action, carrying forward Fela’s legacy of social consciousness and innovation through entertainment.”
Felabration, the annual celebration of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s life, music, and legacy, has long been a cultural touchpoint for music enthusiasts, activists, artists, and fans worldwide. Each year, the festival serves as a rallying point to commemorate Fela’s enduring impact on music, politics, and culture.
The unveiling of the logo and theme marks the beginning of the journey towards October’s festival, promising an enriching experience for attendees.
Drawing from the success of the Festival’s expanded format in recent years, Felabration 2024 will feature staple activities like ‘The Fela Debates’, Afrobics Dance Competition, Secondary School Debate, Art Competition, the Dress Fela Fashion Competition, and the 7-day Music concert.
The festival is slated to run from Monday, October 14 to Sunday, October 20
Raoul John Njeng-Njeng, the popular Nigerian singer, who is better known as Skales, has revealed that he has been in a romantic relationship with over 100 women.
The ‘Shake Body’ crooner disclosed this in a recent episode of Drip Check.
He said, “I feel like I’ve been a dad all my life. I’ve been taking care of women all my life [laughs].
“I have dated over 100 women.”
Skales explained that he was a toxic boyfriend to most of the women he dated earlier in his career because he was young and reckless.
“I did a lot of childish things. What do you expect from a teenager who is famous and has access to everything including women? There are a lot of good women that I have lost because of my childish behaviour. But because of experience, I’m becoming a better man now.”