Nigerian chef, Damilola Adeparusi, has set out to beat Hilda Baci’s unofficial record, who is awaiting the confirmation of her 100hrs record-breaking cook-a-thon from Guinness World Records.

Recall that Hilda made headlines in May after beating Indian chef Lata Tondon’s 87 hours and 45 minutes record achieved in September 2019.

Here are the things you should know about the young chef Chef Damilola Adeparusi.

Damilola, who is attempting to break Hilda’s record, began her journey on June 9, 2023, and as of today, she has been cooking for over 30 hours.

Born Damilola Adeparusi, the young chef now fondly addressed as Chef Dammy is an Ekiti indigene and is attempting to break the record in Ilupeju, Ekiti.

Besides being a chef, Damilola is also a poet, songwriter, and editor. Her official social media pages carry these titles as well.

Damilola is a vivaciously curious person, noting via her official pages her love for researching and learning about new things.

She is representing a church, Spirit Word Global Mission, in the cook-a-thon currently in Ekiti State and is attempting to break Hilda’s 100hrs record with her 120 hours goal.

Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, on Saturday appealed to the emotions of the senators-elect by urging them to vote for the stability of the country and not their individual pockets.

Shettima made the appeal during Saturday’s valedictory session which brought the 9th assembly (Senate) to a close as the presiding officer, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, adjourned sitting sine die.

This would pave the way for the new assembly to be convened on Tuesday 13 June with a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly from the president.

The All Progressives Congress, with a slim majority (59) in the Senate, is racing against time to produce the president it has anointed.

The National Working Committee of the party had announced former Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, as its preferred choice.

This has not gone down well with other aspirants like Orji Uzor Kalu, Abdul-Azeez Yari, and Osita Osinazu who have maintained that they would not bow to any external interference and manipulation of the second organ of l government.

Although there has been a lukewarm approach to cement the preferred candidates from the leadership of the APC, Shettima maintained a middle ground on Saturday when he urged the senators-elect to look hard and make a choice for the survival of the country.

“To my incoming colleagues, I will leave you with a parable, ‘the stability of this nation is superior to the stability of our pockets’. On Tuesday, let us vote wisely, let us vote for the Nigerian nation,” he said.

Describing them as “friends who have become an integral part of my history,” he added that, “We have served shoulder to shoulder in the face of adversity and worked relentlessly for the betterment of our Nation.”a

It was a moment of absolute silence and emotion as the Senate Whip and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, APC, Abia North delivered his 9th Senate valedictory speech at the floor of the red chamber, stating that he is not a thief.

Sen. Kalu at the start of his speech said that his speech would be a little bit emotional, and other members of the Senate were close to tears as he narrated how has been treated politically, especially by those he helped build and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he spent his money to nurture.

Kalu who went through psychological torture a few months ago following the death of his beloved wife, Ifeoma extended his gratitude to members of the Senate who were there for him even at the time he was dragged before the court.

Kalu said, “I believe we are dispersing, not separating from ourselves.

“I went through one of my best times in life in this senate and also went through one of the difficult periods also in this Senate.

“Before I came to the Senate before I came into politics, I can buy anything anybody can buy. I am not a thief.

“I am not a thief. Those that put me in prison know the reason why they put me in prison.

“They took over all my businesses and wanted to kill me. But I survived it. And today, I am in the senate with you people.

“It is not the end to what we have done; it is not the end to united Nigeria; it is not the end to being one’s brother’s keeper, but the senators I mentioned (earlier) were with me. I never lacked.

“When the PDP that I was their governor for two terms was being formed, I brought every money they used in forming that party.

“Every penny in 1997 and 1998 and I later became a thief and people I gave transport money from my house in VI (Victoria Island, Lagos) became agents. This is what Nigeria represents.

“I want to thank my colleagues for giving me these four years of uninterrupted support. This is because this country is not fair to so many of us.

“I helped build this country. I employed more than 13, 800 workers. Other people employed nobody and nobody asked them about the source of their wealth.

“I have three factories in Lagos Nigeria, I have two factories in Otta manufacturing, I have three factories in Aba manufacturing and I am a thief and people that cannot explain where their source of wealth came from, are not thieves. I leave everything in the hands of God”.

Sen. Kalu, who is the 10th Senate President hopeful has the support of majority of Nigerians, the Senate and the House of Representatives, past federal lawmakers and non-lawmakers.

The Police have dared ex-Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State to prove that his cars were stolen.

After the raid on his residences in Gusau and Maradun, Matawalle had claimed he was robbed.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the former governor had said, “I have never seen this kind of stupidity where someone’s house will just be entered without any permission as if we are in a lawless country.

“I am in Abuja and nobody told me that any court gave that order or invite me and I refused to answer. The saddest thing is that, in my Gusau house, all my wives’ rooms were broken, even hijabs have been taken away. Stoves were all put in a car and taken away.

“In my Maradun house, they took away all campaign cars that people gave us as contributions, including those I bought in United States even before becoming governor, you know I was a car seller. I will not ask them to bring the cars back, everybody knows that I have cars. This is robbery, they entered everywhere in my houses, even my daughter’s wedding clothing materials (Kayan Lefe) were not spared.”

But in a statement on Saturday evening, ASP Yazid Abubakar, Police Public Relations Officer in Zamfara, challenged anyone who felt his items were stolen to come forward with evidence.

“The Command is currently investigating a Complaint of missing Zamfara State Government vehicles. Members of the public who have useful information about these missing vehicles are humbly requested to come forward with such information to assist the Investigation.”

“Persons who feel their vehicles were wrongfully attached while executing search warrants during the course of this investigation are advised to produce proof of ownership to claim such vehicles.

“Members of the public will be duly informed of the outcome of this Investigation and are further advised to desist from spreading false information to mislead the public which is capable of inciting disturbance that can attract arrest and prosecution.”

The fate of Nigeria's decaying democracy is staring at us. 

Nobody can escape the numerous holes disfiguring it while all kind of anxious questions it is throwing also to our feet. Because history is back with a vengeance. Asking: what have you done so far since the Nigerian nation teetered on the brink of its demise when it fell flat on her face thirty-years ago.

On this day, on a fateful June 12, in 1993, while all Nigerians, across all geographies and her Diaspora, were bracing for the advent of a great, sunny day, on our long-battered land, heralding the maturing of a new, strong, democratic culture, a brutal curtain, an iron curtain, fell on us with the annulment of the very transparent presidential election held that year.

We had thought, naively, that "militics", the military version of civilian rule that long was in charge of the destiny of the leading African country would deliver on its promise -a peaceful transition to power from them to a new, civilian, leadership brought about by what was one of the most competitive polls in recent history!

Observers from around the world, voters, the media, academics and the ordinary citizenry had come to the conclusion that Moshood Abiola, the media and industrial magnate turned politician, had roundly defeated his rival, Bashir Tofa, in a two men's race hailed throughout the nation as fair and just.

When the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamassi Babangida declared null and void the election, the whole country was literally in turmoil. Its image dented. The world looking down at Nigeria as the sick nation of an Africa that was already going South. And no wonder that Babangida was welcomed to the Economic community of West African States (Ecowas) Summit, held a few days later, in Cotonou, Benin Republic, was humiliating for the most populous and wealthy of all member States making-up the 15 nations community...I witnessed it all in my then capacity as Ecowas's communication Director.

The blow was terrible. Since then, Nigeria has been fighting to restore its lost democratic credentials. To be true, progresses have been recorded, as testified by the end of formal Khaki, military, rule even though, dressed in Agbadas, two of its leading representatives, namely Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, occupied the highest seat of the land, as Presidents, during the past thirty-years along other civilian rulers.

The road has been rocked with all sorts of hurdles but being the ever-resilient nation, one must observe that Nigeria has come a long way from the brink. And despite its still lingering democratic shortcomings, it is justified to salute Nigeria's recovery -at least in words and papers- in its embrace of democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and opinion, media pluralism and trade unions voices...

That more and more citizens are feeling the need to get involved and speak-up provide further comfort, regardless of the many travails it is still facing, including with the lack of acknowledgement thus far that nothing can be achieved to entrench democracy therein as long as the citizen is not a the center of its deployment, the fact is that we no longer live in a time of vertical, authoritarian, leadership.

Let us be blunt: Nigeria could, and must, have fared better, especially on the economic and social fronts in light of the fact that democracy without justice and shared-prosperity is an empty shell. 

What missed further, and has been strikingly highlighted, is the failure of its institutions to meet their promise to roll-out a credible supervision of the democratic proposition for such a great country. 

Witness only the utter treason by the Independent Electoral National Commission (Inec), including the various blunders it covered, considering that the elections it organized in March, this year, were, to cast them mildly, catastrophic, without electronic transmission of the results nor an uncontested overall outcome, the courts being up till now reviewing the complaints of key political, aggrieved, figures of the process..

June 12 being celebrated as democracy day reminds us that much is yet to be done to take us to the holy grail. One of the key deliverables that must be met, as soon as possible, is the emergence of a powerful, ethical, with character, competence and capacity, credibility, class of new leaders poised to transforming politics as we know it until now as a dirty and fraudulent, corrupt, project to the great loss of Nigeria and other African nations.

In the midst of this darkness still clogging its societal prospects, let us not be pessimistic. Lighting up a candle is the urgent action to maintain hope in the spirit of what mobilized the Nigerian people following the June 12 disaster when all Nigerians coalesced with a motto: Never again...

Out of that chaos started off the current, soul-searching and pragmatic, evidence-based, attempts at democracy consolidation. We got a long way to go but, like a Chinese proverb posits, the "the longest journey begins with a first step". That is where one should heed the calls following an in-depth academic and empirical research by Doctor Obiageli Ezekwesili, the former Nigerian Minister of Education and World Bank Africa Vice-President, the new FixPolitics Movement, started off in Nigeria, now reaching my own Senegal, before being deployed on a Panafrican level, comes in not just as a response to Nigeria's democratic deficits but to the whole of Africa's...

The future is not of doom and gloom despite the hard times we are in. It is bright. For, in democracy, we trust, and yes, while the whole continent of Africa is watching, Nigeria has no other option but to put on track its democratic ambitions. We can do that...

Adama Gaye, a Senegalese Author and media practitioner, former Director of Communication of Ecowas, coined the concept Nigeria, Democracy Day, in many international newspapers, on May 29, 1999, as he acted as the media Adviser for the Transition to civilian rule in Nigeria. Gaye is the Convener of FixPolitics Senegal.

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has called two additional witnesses to further prove his allegation of malpractice at the Feb. 25 election.

The two make a total of 18 witnesses he has so far called out of 100 witnesses planned for the exercise.

Abubakar and his party filed their petitions against the election of President Bola Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and INEC at the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja.

They are challenging the outcome of the election on the ground that INEC, the electoral umpire, did not conduct the election in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

At the resumed hearing on Saturday, one of Abubakar’s new witnesses, Ms Alheri Ayuba, said she was unhappy at her inability to upload results from her polling unit unto INEC’s Result Viewing Portal.

“There was a form that I filled at the ward centre where I stated that I was not happy at my inability to transmit the result.

“I could not log into the INEC portal. If I had logged into the system and posted the result perhaps it could have “pending’’ status and when network is restored, it would upload,’’ she said.

The witness also told the court that she was not induced or influenced by any politician before or during the election.

The second witness, Ms Sadiya Haruna, told the court that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine she used malfunctioned.

Haruna told the court that the result she entered manually at her polling unit was what she took to the ward collation officer and that party agents assigned to the unit monitored the entire process.

She said she took a photo shot of the result as collated manually on the result sheet with the BVAS machine, but that she couldn’t ascertain whether it was retained in the machine or not.

Earlier, INEC’s counsel, Mr Kemi Pinhero (SAN) and Mr Akin Olujimi (SAN) counsel for President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, objected to the admission of the witnesses’ statements in evidence.

Mr Abiodun Fashanu (SAN), counsel for APC aligned with their objection.

The counsel submitted that their reason for objecting to the admission of the witnesses’ statements on oath would be advanced at the stage of final addresses.

They, however, did not oppose the invitation of the witnesses to testify before the court as well as the presentation of their letters of employment as Presiding Officers for the election by INEC.

Abubakar’s counsel, Mr Chris Uche (SAN) who led both witnesses in evidence prayed the court to discountenance objections by the respondents and admit the witnesses’ testimonies.

Presiding Justice Haruna Tsammani reserved ruling on the objections until the final judgment.

Justice Tsammani also adjourned further hearing in the petition till June 13.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has said the suspended Central Bank Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, is now in custody.

Spokesman of the Service, Dr Peter Afunanya, confirmed this in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

Afunanya said: “The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby confirms that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is now in its custody for some investigative reasons.

“The public, particularly the Media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this.”

Emefiele was suspended by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday. Reports emerged he had been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon there was uncertainty over his whereabouts.

He was reported to have been arrested in Lagos and flown to Abuja by the Service allegedly over terrorism-related allegations among other issues.

Unconfirmed reports had it he was trying to leave the country.

The Department of State Services initially kept mum over the development.

Late on Friday, Afunanya, in a WhatsApp message said: “Inundated. I may not be able to make any confirmations NOW, please.”

He did not categorically state if the suspended CBN Governor had been arrested or not.

On Saturday morning Dr Afunanya dropped another one-sentence response to the situation in a WhatsApp message.

He said: “Currently, Emefiele is not with the DSS.”

Emefiele had been accused by the DSS of offences bordering on terrorism.

In February, it said preliminary investigation revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by Emefiele and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.

The DSS had attempted to arrest Emefiele but a Federal High Court in Maitama, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja issued an order restraining the Service from arresting him.

This ruling, delivered by Justice M.A. Hassan also applied to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who were listed as defendants.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declined an application filed by the DSS to arrest and detain Emefiele over the allegations against him.

In declining the motion ex parte filed by the secret police, Justice J. T. Tsoho, the Chief Judge, said the DSS did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.

When Emefiele returned to Nigeria after some time away, military personnel and intelligence officers were deployed to ensure that he was not arrested by the DSS.

He had gone to his office after his return with massive security, specifically military protection.

Contrary to speculations making the round that President Bola Tinubu has directed the suspension of Mallam Mele Kyari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, there is no such directive from the President.

Presidency sources on Saturday night stated that the President has not given such directive for the suspension of Kyari as NNPC Boss.

Social media platforms were abuzz on Saturday evening with several posts claiming the President had directed the immediate suspension of Kyari as NNPC GCEO.

The social media posts of the purported suspension of Kyari gained traction as it was coming barely 24 hours after the Presidency announced the suspension of Godwin Emefiele from office as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Multiple sources in the Presidency however disclosed that there is no such plan to suspend Kyari as the GCEO of the NNPC.

One of the sources said, “We got to know about the purported suspension through social media posts. But I can confirm to you that there is no such directive coming from the President. Nigerians are known to play a lot with trends and someone may just have sat down somewhere to make such posts.

“There is no iota of truth in that post claiming that the President has suspended the NNPC GCEO. There is nothing to be worried about because the Petroleum Industry Act is clear on how the NNPC GCEO or any member of the NNPC Board could be removed.”

An aide to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation noted that they have not received any of such directive from the President.

“Please disregard those reports because they are fake news. We don’t have such directive from the President to suspend Kyari,” the aide said.

The source said the Presidency will not dignify rumour mongers with an official response.

The former governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has blasted his successor, Governor Daura Lawal over the Friday raid on his residence.

Operatives of the state’s police command had invaded Matawalle’s country home on Friday in search of alleged looted public properties.

The officers reportedly acting on a court order, recovered 40 vehicles from Matawalle’s residence located in the Maradun area of the state.

Reacting to the incident, Matawale said he was astounded at the “stupidity” of the new administration to have raided his residences, in Gusua, the state capital, and his country home.

He said, “I have never seen this kind of stupidity where someone’s house will just be entered without any permission as if we are in a lawless country.

“I am in Abuja and nobody told me that any court gave that order or invite me and I refused to answer.

“The saddest thing is that, in my Gusau house, all my wives’ rooms were broken, even hijabs have been taken away. Stoves were all put in a car and taken away.

“In my Maradun house, they took away all campaign cars that people gave us as contributions, including those I bought in United States even before becoming governor, you know I was a car seller.

“This is robbery, they entered everywhere in my house, even my daughter’s wedding clothing materials (Kayan Lefe) were not spared.”

Matawalle mocked the new administration for chasing shadows and creating more crises rather than tackling issues ravaging the state.

“He knows I have my people and they will not fold their hands”, adding, “I will not ask them to bring the cars back, everybody knows that I have cars,” he said.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) had also reacted to the situation describing the raid as an “unlawful, barbaric, and brutal trespass” by the state governor.

“The unlawful invasion is a gross violation of the sacred provisions of sections 34, 35, 37, 41, 42, and 43 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“What exactly might have warranted the invasion still remains a mystery to the good people of Zamfara state. If the government thinks it has any case against the former Governor, why not charge him to court instead of resorting to such barbaric and uncivilized means?,” the APC said in a statement on Friday.

The Zamfara government had accused Matawalle of looting public properties from the government house including vehicles purchased with billions of naira.

Governor Lawal said he had notified his predecessor and also issued an ultimatum for him to return the public assets in his custody, but all were ignored.

Two ad-hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Saturday, denied participating in the alleged manipulation of results of the 2023 presidential election.

The INEC ad-hoc staff members, Alheri Ayuba and Sadiya Haruna testified before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, as witnesses in the petition of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.

While Ayuba gave his evidence as the 17th Petitioners’ witness, Haruna testified as the 18th witness.

Led in evidence by lead counsel for the petitioners, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the duo, who were subpoenaed to appear as witnesses, adopted written statements they deposed on oath before the court.

The PW-17, Ayuba, told the court that she served as a Presiding Officer in Garki, Abuja, during the presidential election that held on February 25.

She told the court that the electoral process went smoothly, until it got to the time that she wanted to upload the result of the election to INEC’s I-Rev portal using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, device.

According to the witness, every effort she made to electronically transmit the results as she was trained to do by the Commission, failed.

The INEC ad-hoc staff, who is a former youth corps member, said her inability to upload the result from her polling unit, to the result viewing portal, made her to be unhappy.

“After sorting out the ballot, I announced results to everybody’s hearing and diligently entered the scores to form EC8A and handed the original to the ward collation officer. Party agents present equally signed the result sheets.

“I however had problems of transmitting the result from BVAS machine to IReV.

“There was a form that I filled at the Ward Centre where I stated that I was not happy at my inability to transmit the result.

“I could not log into the INEC portal. If I had logged into the system and posted the result, perhaps, it could have ‘pending’’ status so that when network is restored, it would upload,’’ she added under cross-examination.

Asked if she was bribed to rig the election, the witness, said she was neither induced nor influenced by any politician, before or during the election.

In her own testimony, the PW-18, Haruna told the court that she served as Presiding Officer at the City Centre, by Green Garden, FCT, Abuja.

She told the court that the BVAS device malfunctioned at her polling unit and thus made it impossible for her to transmit the results of the election from her polling unit.

The witness told the court that the result she entered manually at her polling unit was what she took to the Ward Collation Officer, with agents of political parties monitoring the entire process.

Haruna said she had after the BVAS device failed, she activated the offline transmission process, but could not ascertain if the results she snapped with the device eventually uploaded or not.

She told the court that she was not in a position to know what made the INEC BVAS machine malfunction, saying she was only instructed on how to use the machine.

The witness equally told the court that she was not induced to rig the result of the presidential election.

Meanwhile, all the Respondents- INEC, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the All Progressives Congress, APC- opposed the admissibility of statements of the witnesses, saying they would adduce reasons behind their objections, in their final written address.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel adjourned further hearing on the petition till next Tuesday.

Atiku, who came second in the presidential poll, is among other reliefs, praying the court to declare that he was the valid winner of the presidential contest, even as he applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to President Tinubu by INEC.