Shatta Wale opened up on his emotional turmoil following his parents’ separation in a heartfelt social media post.

He revealed how the breakup affected him deeply, leaving him with lasting emotional scars that carried into his adult years.

The singer spoke about the challenges of growing up in a separated home, emphasizing the instability and emotional upheaval it brought into his life.

He spoke of the impact the lack of a stable family unit had on his sense of security and self-identity during his formative years.

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Sharing his struggles to cope with the aftermath of his parents’ split, Shatta Wale disclosed feeling lost and vulnerable as a result, stating that the emotional wounds inflicted by the separation seeped into his relationships and overall well-being, shaping his behavior and responses to difficulties in life.

Recalling moments of feeling misunderstood and labeled disrespectful by his parents, Shatta Wale revealed his decision to leave home in pursuit of peace, facing homelessness as a consequence.

He detailed nights spent sleeping on the streets, seeking refuge in unlikely places like Nkrumah Circle and Adabraka.

“You know what my parents put me through? Because of them, I slept on the streets, I slept in front of stores. Those days, it was the prostitutes at Nkrumah Circle who were watching over me. I slept at filling stations at Circle including the one that got burnt. I slept on the streets of Adabraka and so on” Shatta said

Speaking on a coping strategy of distancing himself from stress and negativity, Shatta Wale shared how he learned to cut off toxic relationships without hesitation.

He stressed the importance of prioritizing his mental well-being by removing individuals who bring negativity into his life.

“As a result, I started running from stress, running from people who would stress me. That’s where I learned how to cut people off because I don’t want stress. I cut people off without thinking twice. I am the chief cutter. I have learned that in life, it is important to cut off anyone who wants to bring negativity into your life” he added.

The former presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from Abia State, Chief Cosmos Ndukwe, has announced his resignation from the PDP.

Chief Ndukwe posted his resignation letter on his official Facebook page on Monday.

Chief Ndukwe was once a Councillor, Deputy Local Government Chairman, Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Abia state, Deputy Speaker of Abia 6th House of Assembly, and also a presidential aspirant under the PDP umbrella.

Stating his reasons for leaving the party, he wrote, “My decision to resign as a member within the party stems from personal reasons and my reflection on my current commitments and aspirations.

“After careful consideration, I have concluded that porting out of PDP is the best course of action for me now”.

However, in his letter, he did not state if he was joining another party or quitting politics.

He also thanked Abia state PDP for their support and expressed appreciation for all the role the party played in his political career.

Dufil Prima Foods Ltd has announced reduction in price of indomie.

The producer of Indomie Instant Noodles explained that its product costs have decreased forcing a reduction in the price of indomie.

Mr. Temitope Ashiwaju, the company’s Group Corporate Communications and Event Manager, confirmed this in an interview with the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.

Ashiwaju underlined the necessity of clarifying any misconception about the product’s recent price modification. He also said that economic realities had an influence on the firm, which had previously resulted in increasing costs for Indomie noodles.

He said: “For a listening company such as ours, we felt at some point in time, against our operational cost to adjust when things started to improve.

“We are not here to rip people’s out. Of course, if you starve people and make the products out of reach, it will also affect us.

“Reduction in prices came when the operational cost started to go down. “We don’t have a choice than to adjust to realities of times and other indices as they improve because serving people are at the centre of our core value.

“The moment we realised that things started to stabilise, we all hope and pray the economy gets better, as a responsible company, we felt it was time to do a further price reduction.”

Ashiwaju highlighted that the company has been operating in Nigeria for over two decades, with factories and installations across the country.

Burkina Faso has suspended a swathe of international news organisations, some indefinitely, for airing accusations of an army massacre of civilians, with the communications regulator CSC adding more outlets over the weekend.

Among those named are French newspaper Le Monde, British publication The Guardian, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and French broadcaster TV5 Monde.

They were suspended for reporting on a Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement accusing soldiers of killing at least 223 people in revenge attacks on two villages on February 25.

Other news media named by the CSC in an order dated Saturday, were French regional newspaper Ouest-France, African website APAnews and the Swiss-based Agence Ecofin.

Already on Thursday, the CSC announced it had directed internet service providers to suspend access to the BBC, VOA and HRW from Burkinabe territory for two weeks.

The military rulers of Burkina Faso have dismissed as “baseless” the HRW report on the massacre, which found 56 children were among the dead.

“The killings at Nodin and Soro led to the opening of a legal inquiry,” communications minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said in a statement late Saturday.

He expressed his surprise that “while this inquiry is underway to establish the facts and identify the authors, HRW has been able, with boundless imagination, to identify ‘the guilty’ and pronounce its verdict”.

HRW described the massacre as “among the worst army abuse in Burkina Faso since 2015”.

“These mass killings… appear to be part of a widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with Islamist armed groups, and may amount to crimes against humanity,” the New York-based group said on Thursday.

– ‘Grave and abusive decisions’ –

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned what it called “grave and abusive decisions” from the junta.

In an email sent to AFP, the defender of press freedom said it “reminds the authorities that the publication of general news on the country’s security situation must not be a pretext for the worst attacks recorded against the media in recent months”.

According to the Burkina statement, “The media campaign orchestrated around these accusations fully shows the unavowed intention … to discredit our fighting forces.”

“All the allegations of violations and abuses of human rights reported in the framework of the fight against terrorism are systematically subject to investigations” followed by the government and the UN high commissioner for human rights.

The latest suspensions against media come after a series of similar moves, both temporary and indefinite, that have been taken since Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power in September 2022.

Under Traore, the junta has distanced Burkina Faso from France, which ruled the country until 1960, and has already targeted a number of French media outlets.

The West African nation has been battered by a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

Thousands of civilians, troops and police have been killed, two million people have fled their homes, and anger within the military at the mounting toll sparked two coups in 2022.

AFP

The United Kingdom (UK) government has announced a crackdown on criminals such as terrorists, drug dealers, and fraudsters who use cryptocurrency to raise and hide money.

According to the UK government, over £1 billion illicit transactions occur via cryptocurrency annually.

The UK Home Office made this known in a recent post on its X official page declaring that the law enforcement agencies have been given the greenlight to go after those involved.

Vanguard reports that the UK has embarked on diverse policies bordering on immigration, economic and financial matters.

“Over £1 billion in illegal crypto transactions take place in the UK each year,” the UK Home Office said. “Drug dealers, fraudsters and terrorists use crypto to hide and raise money.

“We’re giving law enforcement new powers to seize, freeze and destroy crypto assets,” it added.

This clampdown on illegal cryptocurrency operators in the UK is coming weeks after major stakeholders are found culpable of criminal activities.

In late March, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States, for the securities fraud conspiracy that doomed his cryptocurrency exchange and a related hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried also was ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture at the sentencing in Manhattan federal court.

In another development, five days ago, the US prosecutors wanted Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former chief executive of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to serve three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to violating laws against money laundering.

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In February, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Olayemi Cardoso, said that over $26 billion in illicit flows has passed through the crypto platform Binance in the last year.

The revelation led to the arrest and detention of two Binance executives by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The two officials detained were Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is a regional manager for Africa.

According to the ONSA, the duo were charged with four counts of tax evasion and with laundering over $35 million.

Meanwhile, Anjarwalla escaped from the custody of the security operatives, but was arrested by Kenya authorities, days later.

The Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, has refuted claims that he has a hand in the impeachment of the state’s former Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.

Ighodalo who described the allegation as fake, added that the claims was cooked up to tarnish his reputation.

This was contained in a statement released by his media team on Monday.

The statement read, “While we would not usually join issues in response to every passing comment, it has become imperative to address the recent spurious allegations by former Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu.

“It is necessary for the record, to state in no uncertain terms, that Mr. Asue Ighodalo has had no role or involvement in any form whatsoever in the very public process leading to Mr. Shuaibu’s impeachment and subsequent removal from office by the Edo State House of Assembly.

“These claims are completely without merit, and Mr. Ighodalo categorically denies any such involvement. These allegations are a clear attempt to unjustly tarnish his reputation and divert attention from the actual issues at hand.”

He, however, called on the public to disregard the claim, saying, “We urge the public and the media to regard these false statements with well-deserved skepticism.”

Ighodalo had earlier said he remained focused on running a governorship campaign based on issues and devoid of distractions.

On April 8, the state House of Assembly impeached the embattled state deputy governor after the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the state Chief Judge to probe allegations of misconduct against Shaibu.

Shaibu was probed on allegations of perjury and leaking of government secrets

The Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, that the Chinese market is always open to foreign-funded firms.

China’s number Two official disclosed this on Sunday after an unannounced meeting in Beijing with Musk, who doubled as the Executive Chairman of X.

“China’s very large-scale market will always be open to foreign-funded firms.

“China will stick to its word and will continue working hard to expand market access and strengthen service guarantees, ” said Li Qiang.

On his part, Musk said in a post on X that he was “honoured” to meet Li Qiang.

“We have known each other for many years, since early Shanghai days,” Musk said.

Musk’s meeting with Li Qiang comes as Chinese carmakers promote their latest electric vehicles at the Beijing Motor Show from April 25 to May 5.

President Bola Tinubu on Sunday meet with Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist, Bill Gates, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting President Tinubu spoke extensively about the role technology will play in ensuring his government delivers its promises to the Nigerian people.

Below are five major things the President told Bill Gates during their meeting.

1. Technology is the enemy of corruption

Tinubu told Bill Gates that technology will play a pivotal role in his government’s fight against corruption that has for too long left Nigeria trailing in the community of nations.

According to him, technology is a potent weapon against corruption and financial impropriety in public service. “Technology is the enemy of fraud, corruption, and irregularity,” the President stressed.

2. We are investing in Technology to ensure transparency

Tinubu also assured Mr. Gates that his administration is extensively investing in Technology, especially that which is tailored towards ensuring transparency and accountability in government and accelerating public-sector performance and service delivery to the Nigerian people.

According to the president work is ongoing to improve the technology architecture that exist at the moment as to serve the people effectively.

3. Reliable tech will support new government interventions

President Tinubu further asserted that the tech being improved upon at the moment will be made very reliable as to support a national consumer credit system and many other critical new government interventions for all Nigerians.

4. we will bend the curve and Nigeria will receive the benefits

While noting that resistance is often expected when efforts are made to strengthen systems and forestall malfeasance, the president said Nigeria will at last benefit greatly from the investments being made in technology as it will help birth the promises upon which his administration was voted into power.

“There is always the initial resistance. Corruption, self-interest, and fraudulent activity will always be an enemy, but when you bend that curve, you will receive the benefit. The nation will receive the benefit,” the President buttressed.

5. There is no shortcut

President Tinubu in recounting how he deployed technology to enhance the revenue base of Lagos State while serving as governor, emphasized that there is no other shortcut to improving the economic situation in Nigeria, than to invest in technology, remain focused, diligent, and hardworking.

Tinubu who said  he ensured the collection and utilization of essential data, creating an efficient tax system for Lagos State, further noted that it is no news that he began his governorship tenure with just N600 million and ended up with over N8 billion.

The president underscored that with the use of technology, Lagos is now targeting a trillion naira, a feat which he believes can be replicated on a larger scale, now that he serves as Nigeria’s leader.