Prominent Nigerian singer, M.I Abaga, has made a surprising revelation about the 2023 general elections.

In a recent interview, M.I disclosed that he and fellow singer, Wizkid were approached with substantial monetary offers from political parties to influence their decisions during the election period.

M.I admitted that he received a payment from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to support their candidate in the presidential election. 

However, Wizkid declined his own offer, opting to remain neutral in the political process.

M.I commended Wizkid, stating that his(Wizkid) decision reflected the sentiments of many Nigerians who were seeking change and tired of the status quo.

Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, the ace Nigerian musician, who is popularly known as D’banj has spoken out on the moral disparity between his generation of musicians and the present crop of musicians.

The ‘Koko Master’ noted that there is a huge difference between the moral compass of the times his generation of musicians held sway and now.

He disclosed that sometimes he calls his colleague 2Baba who was engulfed in scandals for having children out of wedlock years back, to jokingly chide him for not encouraging him to do the same.

D’banj noted that, unlike his generation where having a child out of wedlock could end one’s career, celebrities are now being celebrated for having children out of wedlock.

Speaking in an interview with The Beat FM, Lagos, the Koko Master said, “Our generation was so hard. If you had a child out of wedlock, your career could just end. But now everybody is just embracing it.

“I am angry. Sometimes I call 2Face to chide him for not encouraging me back then because it is something different when you now see them celebrating with their kids. They are in their 30s and their kids are teenagers.

“But I think it goes beyond people, it goes to your state of mind: Are you mentally and financially ready? You don’t have to have everything in the world, if you’re ready to embrace what is coming to you, I think that is the best.”

Anita Alaire Afoke Asuoha, the Nigerian comedienne and actress, who is popularly known as Real Warri Pikin, has revealed she underwent weight-loss surgery.

Recall that Real Warri Pikin flaunted her new looks on social media last year after undergoing weight-loss surgery.

Speaking at a recent function, the comedienne explained that she made the decision after she was embarrassed with an automated bank security.

She said, “When I was plus-sized, one of the reasons I decided to do weight-loss surgery was an embarrassing situation at the bank. I entered into the bank door and the next thing I heard was, ‘Step back, one at a time, one at time’.”

She, however, admitted that she is suffering from the side effects of the surgery.

“Everyone is saying I look better and younger after the surgery but they don’t know what I am passing through. My breasts have become sloppy,” she lamented.

A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress, Joe Igbokwe, has slammed Nigerian activist Aisha Yesufu for what he perceives as disrespectful behaviour towards the new national anthem.

Yesufu, known for her activism, refused to sing the national anthem “Nigeria we hail thee” at an event, opting to sit down while others stood up to honor the anthem.

In a video she posted on X on Friday, the co-convener of the BringBackOurGirls advocacy group, could be seen seen sitting while the new national anthem was being recited.

Captioning the video, she wrote: “#NotMyNationalAnthem.”

Reacting, on his Facebook page on Saturday Igbokwe criticized Yesufu’s behavior as “nonsensical” and warned that her actions may harm her and her family.

He wrote, “Aisha Yesufu cannot respect the National Anthem. Let us see where all the nonsensical behaviour will take her to.

"She may not understand the damage she is doing to herself and her family. Continue.”

President Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill 2024 into law on Wednesday, restoring ‘Nigeria we hail thee’ as the national anthem.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the superstar player for Al Nassr, was overcome with emotion and burst into tears as his team suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 defeat on penalties against Al Hilal in the King's Cup final last Friday.

The defeat means Ronaldo will not win any trophy this season.

Al Hilal have now also completed the league and cup double.

The match in Jeddah ended 1-1 in regulation time and extra time failed to provide a winner.

Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Al Hilal the lead in the seventh minute, before Aiman Yahya levelled the game in the 88th minute.

A feisty game saw the referee produce three red cards, with David Ospina sent off for Al Nassr in the 57th minute before Ali Al-Bulayhi and Kalidou Koulibaly followed late on for Al Hilal.

Al Hilal goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou was eventually the hero as he saved Al Nassr’s final two penalties to secure the trophy.

The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, has disclosed that electricity distribution companies have disconnected over 100 manufacturing firms.

In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH at the annual general meeting of the MAN’s food, beverage and tobacco sector, on Thursday in Lagos, he revealed that 10 of the association’s members had been disconnected in Kano.

“We do not favour legal action against the Discos and NERC. We do not want to go there. One of our branches has done so, and that subsists. The Disco in Kano is still disconnecting our members despite the injunction. As an association, we do not want to engage in such (legal action) but it comes as a last resort.

“You can imagine that as of today, more than 100 of our members have been disconnected, which means that their workers have been asked to go home. It means that their production processes have been halted. It means that they are not able to fulfil their obligations to their suppliers, and they have started to lose money,” he explained.

According to the MAN DG, the crux of the matter is that manufacturers are asked to pay electricity bills that will take manufacturers out of business.

“A company told me that it was paying N7-8m before, now it is paying N32m. The calculation is that the profit you could have made, you are not able to make it. So, you need to decide to go ahead and produce and pay an electricity bill that is more than the profit you would have made or shut down.

So, we are gradually seeing a situation where more and more industries are shutting down, because if you disconnect an industry that does not have an alternative source of power, it practically goes out of business,” he declared.

Meanwhile, the immediate past Chairman of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Sector of MAN and Managing Director of Intercontinental Distillers Limited, Patrick Anegbe, stated that the spate of insecurity in the country was hampering backward integration in the food industry.

“How do you backwards integrate when you are talking about insecurity? The insecurity in the country poses a very serious threat to backward integration,” he averred.

He added that multiple taxes had also eaten deep into the profit margins of manufacturers, noting that production costs had continued to skyrocket.

“Multiple taxation is really affecting our business. Taxes here and there. The cost of production has gone up very high to the extent that margins are so low. We are just barely surviving.

“The government should look for a way of reducing these multiple taxations and eliminating some of them,” he asserted.

He revealed that the food, beverage and tobacco sector’s production value rose by 68.2 per cent or N614.0bn in the first half of 2023 compared to N900.45bn recorded in the second half of 2022.

“The sector’s local raw material sourcing for the period under review saw a decline from 70 per cent in H2 2022 to 66.8 per cent in H2 2023, though this is an improvement from 62 per cent in H1 2022 (MAN H2 Economic Review),” he explained.

The newly elected Chairman of the sector of MAN, and Managing Director of La Casera Company, Chinedum Okereke, noted that the importance of the food sector cannot be undermined, as it guarantees the country’s food security and plays a vital role in job creation.

“We will collaborate and engage more with the government. Most time, the government may have good intentions but the lack of engagement with stakeholders is a problem. So, we will not sit back and wait for them to engage with us, but we will proactively go to them for engagement,” he stated.

The Deputy Director of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Olugbenga Aina, who was one of the speakers at the AGM, advised manufacturers not to see regulation as a burden.

He noted that the best form of regulation is self-regulation, adding that manufacturers must be innovative.

“Fostering competitiveness in the food, beverage and tobacco industry with regards to ensuring that local content production meets international best practices for increased export demand and national revenues, is key to the Renewed HOPE Agenda and revitalising the Nigerian economy.

“The significance of the food, beverage, and tobacco sector in Nigeria cannot be overstated. Food, beverage and tobacco is the greatest contributor at N3,814.50bn or 52 per cent of the Nigerian manufacturing sector total in 2013, according to National Bureau of Statistics,” he stated.

According to Aina, aligning with global standards opens up new export opportunities and enables manufacturers to tap into new markets and contribute to Nigeria’s economic diversification.

Also, the Head of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Rite Foods Limited, Ekuma Eze, who was one of the speakers at the event, stressed the need for food industries to invest in research and development to create innovative technologies and solutions that differentiate.

He added that they must build strong partnerships to combine strength and resources to create value-adding products.

She’s a septuagenarian. She was sighted comfortably sitting beside her wares of biscuits, sweets, groundnuts and other articles under a broad canopy right opposite the popular Traffic Light, Ikpa Road, Akwa Ibom State.

From a distance, one could see the widow gazing at the vast, endless, and ever-changing canvas of the sky colors. Her eyes were locked onto an imaginary object. She was simply lost in deep thoughts. Thoughts of life after her husband departed, thoughts of the good old days and thoughts about what life has apportioned her since inception and a drab business atmosphere flooded her subconscious!

The mother-of-three thus appeared idle, as she had no customers in sight to patronise her when Saturday Tribune walked up to her for a chat.

Like several struggling folks across the Niger Delta, the current economic debacle has taken its heavy toll on her. She has three mouths to feed! Life is simply tough; her voice betrayed this assertion. However, in the midst of the distressing atmosphere, she still betrayed some smiles and was willing to engage in a chat with our correspondent. She obliged a slice of her eventful life story and how she’s navigating the present reality:

“My name is Ekaite Akpan from Okono Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State. I am 60 years old and my mother is still alive at Ikono.

“I am a widow, as my husband died some years ago when I was in Lagos, hustling. When my husband died, I left Lagos for Port Harcourt.

“I have three children. Before my husband died, I was selling cooked food at an Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos.

“Everything changed when my husband died because even though I was hustling to take care of some of the family bills, he was a support system; but when he died, the responsibility of training my three children fell solely on me.

“It was during that period that my family members asked me to come back to Port Harcourt where my children started and finished secondary school.

“When I was there, I was selling the same petty things I am selling here, but the difference is that the business was booming there and it was the proceeds I used in training them through secondary school.

“However, I left Port Harcourt because my first daughter wanted to start a job here. She complained of the discomfort and risk of Port Harcourt life as she was kidnapped twice when we were there.

“She was kidnapped because her paternal grandmother was a white woman and she got her complexion so the kidnappers thought that she was an American.

“She was taken to Aba from Port Harcourt by her kidnappers but by the Grace of God, she was brought back to Port Harcourt through prayers and fasting without paying a dime.

“It was because of this that my family insisted on us relocating back to Akwa Ibom State.

“So when I came back here, I started my business selling sweets, biscuits and other petty things because that was what I was selling in Port Harcourt.

“But the market here is very bad as people hardly patronize me. I think the problem is with the location so I have told my daughter to look for another place for me.

“The challenges I am facing here is lack of sales. Two of my children are in the university and if not that my eldest daughter is working to support us, I have no idea how I would have coped with life here. Sometimes, I still think that it is because I am just starting.

“Another challenge is the continuous increase in the prices of foodstuffs. If the prices of foodstuffs remain as they are, people working honestly to make money won’t complain, but imagine you are making N20,000 from your business at the end of every month and a basket of garri is N3,600, how much are you going to spend for feeding in taking care of yourself and your children in a month?

“The country is suffocating us; they want to choke us out of this life, we’ve never had it this bad, but with God, we will pull through.”

Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has cancelled Civil Service jobs approved by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, ordering a fresh recruitment process.

Making the announcement on Friday, May 31, Fubara claimed the beneficiaries of the scheme which he phased out were smuggled in for political patronage. He added that a more transparent process would commence soon.

The Rivers state Governor said; 

“On the 10,000 jobs, when we came on board, we already had details that were submitted to us from the 23 local government areas. You will agree with me that when we subjected those names to proper scrutiny, most of those names, in fact, 60 per cent of those names were over-aged. They were names that people brought for political patronage.

“But what we are talking about today is employment for the future. I, personally after the analysis of those things, said ‘How will you employ somebody who is 52 years old as a civil servant?’

“How many years is the person going to work before retirement?

Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, has been released from the Kuje Custodial Centre in the Federal Capital Territory after spending 27 months in detention.

Naija News reports that Kyari was detained after being arrested on February 14, 2022, by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for his alleged involvement with an international drug cartel.

Alongside four members of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Kyari was arraigned on March 7, 2022.

Two suspected drug traffickers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, who were apprehended at Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, were also charged.

While Kyari and the IRT members pleaded not guilty, Umeibe and Ezenwanne pleaded guilty and were convicted.

However, despite numerous applications, Kyari’s requests for bail were consistently denied until a recent ruling by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

On May 22, 2024, Judge Emeka Nwite granted Kyari bail to allow him to complete the burial ceremonies for his late mother, Yachilla Kyari, who passed away on May 5. As part of his bail conditions, Kyari was required to surrender his passport to the court and report to the nearest NDLEA office during the bail period.

The court has scheduled a hearing on Kyari’s primary bail application for drug trafficking charges for May 31, 2024.

In a statement, the mouthpiece of the Nigerian Correctional Service for the Federal Capital Territory Command, Adamu Duza, told journalists that on Friday evening, Kyari fulfilled his bail requirements and was set free.

“DCP Kyari has perfected his bail conditions, and has since been released today,” Duza told The PUNCH.

The Gombe State Police Command, on Friday, paraded a 13-year-old suspect over the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State.

The police also paraded 18-year-old Usman Husseini and 45-year-old Mohammed Yaya for allegedly defiling their victims on different occasions.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Buhari Abdullahi, during a press briefing at the command’s headquarters in Gombe, the 13-year-old suspect was said to have dragged the victim to a lonely path where he had his way.

He said, “On 24th May 2024, a formal complaint was received at Akko Division that on the 22nd May 2024, the suspect dragged an eight-year-old girl to a corner and had canal knowledge of her.

“On the 26th May 2024, a formal complaint was received from one Musa Saleh of Hammadu-kafi quarters Gombe that Husseini carried his daughter aged 4 to a corner near his house and put his finger inside her private part.

“On receipt of the complaint, detectives from Pantami Division rushed to the scene and arrested the said suspect and took both the suspect and victim to Specialist for medical examination. The case is still under investigation and will be charged to court upon the completion of investigations.

Abdullahi said Yaya from Tumu Akko Local Government Area of Gombe allegedly defiled a 10-year-old girl after offering her N100 and N50 on two different occasions.

He said, “On the 27th of May 2024 the suspect lured a 10-year-old girl into his house and had canal knowledge with her. Upon preliminary investigation, the suspect confessed to having carried out the act on two separate occasions. He disclosed that he gave her 100 and 50 naira respectively. The case is under investigation and will soon be charged to court for prosecution.”

Commenting on the implementation of the Child Protection policy in the state, Abdullahi said “Issue of rape has serious attention of the government. The Department of Public Prosecutions is taking it up on itself to tackle rape and other forms of abuses.”