A popular Lagos traditional ruler, the Osolo of Isolo Kingdom, Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka, Adeola Olushi III died suddenly on Wednesday after observing the Eid prayer.

The popular Lagos monarch died at the age of 64.

His death was announced by the Chairman, Isolo Local Council Development Area, Olasoju Adebayo on Wednesday.

Adebayo, in a statement said he has the instruction of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos to announce the death of the monarch.

He said Oba Agbabiaka would be buried by 4.00pm today at his palace in accordance with Islamic rites.

“I have the instruction of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to formally announce the passing of the paramount ruler of Isolo Kingdom, Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka, Adeola Olushi III, today April 10, 2024. He was aged 64.

“He will be buried today by 4pm at his palace, 3/5 Akinbaye Street, Isolo, according to Islamic rites. May his soul rest in peace,” Adabayo said.

It was learnt that the traditional ruler had spent 20 years on the throne.

A tragedy occurred on the newly-rehabilitated 3rd Mainland Bridge on Wednesday, when a fully-loaded 20-seater commercial bus hit the railings, sending two passengers into the Lagoon.

This occurred on a day Nigeria’s Muslim faithful joined the rest of the world in celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Eid-el-Fitri.

According to an eyewitness, who identified himself as Akinola Adeniyi, the tragedy occurred at about 11.30 am.

He said the commercial bus en route to the Island from Iyana-Oworo suddenly hit the railings on the bridge.

Adeniyi attributed the cause of the accident to excessive speeding on the part of the driver of the ill-fated vehicle.

A rescue team, including men of the Lagos State Emergency Management LASEMA, and the Police, among others raced to the scene.

The incident led to traffic gridlock on the 3rd Mainland Bridge, inward the Island.

Director of Public Affairs of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Taofik Adebayo, confirmed the incident.

He said LASTMA personnel, in collaboration with other rescue teams, particularly the Marine Police, were carrying out the rescue mission.

According to Adebayo, 18 passengers were immediately taken to hospital for treatment. He added that they were seriously injured.

According to reports, he said, preliminary investigations revealed that a 20 fully-loaded LT commercial bus, with registration FKJ 872 YA while on a high speed, lost control as a result of a brake failure.

The bus was about to fall inside the Lagoon before it was stopped by the railings of the 3rd Mainland Bridge.

Adebayo added that the truck driver ran away after the accident. He noted that policemen from Adeniji Adele Police Station provided security backup during the rescue of the 18 passengers by LASTMA officials.

One LASTMA Alpha, Zone 1 Lagos Island, Ojo-Oniyun Olamide, led the recovery operations. He confirmed that his team immediately evacuated the bus off the road for free vehicular movement inward Adeniji Adele area of Lagos Island.

“Meanwhile, the Marine rescue team is already inside the Lagoon on a search-and-rescue mission to see if any of those passengers that fell inside could be rescued.

However, the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, warned the motoring public to stop overspeeding.

He also urged them to ensure their vehicles are properly checked, including the braking system, before embarking on any journey within or outside the state.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu joined the Muslim Faithful across the country for the Eid-el-Fitr prayers on Wednesday, April 10.

The prayers were held at the Dodan Barracks Eid prayer ground in Obalende, Lagos.

He was joined at the prayer ground by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat; the Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola; former Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola, and the Private Secretary to the President, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, among others.

After the first week under the new electricity tariff system, data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reveals that more than 20 percent of consumers classified under Band A lack prepaid meters.

This absence significantly impacts the accurate measurement of consumption, crucial for billing purposes, Vanguard reports.

Consequently, the consumers would be made to pay on estimated billing, a practice largely discredited by both the consumers and the NERC as subject to manipulation and shortchanging of the consumers.

Band A customers are those who enjoy a minimum of 20 hours of electricity daily, who are supposed to know and control their bills in a transparent process, according to the NERC.

This category of consumers have been subjected to a 230 percent tariff raise in the recently announced tariff structure putting the new rate at N225 per kilowatt-hour, from N68 per kilowatt-hour.

Apparently referencing this challenge, the Vice Chairman, NERC, Dr Musiliu Oseni, has directed the Electricity Distribution Companies, DisCos, to prioritize the metering of the Band A customers.

Vanguard also learnt from industry sources that many DisCos would be unable to deploy the meters immediately as the prepaid meters are not readily available.

Affected consumers, especially small businesses are already contemplating rejection of any estimated bill and are ready to shut down in the event the DisCos disconnect them on account of unsettled bill.

Meanwhile, indications also emerged yesterday that the Organised Labour is planning to present a new minimum wage demand following the recent hike in electricity tariff by the Federal Government, claiming the 300 percent jerk up in electricity tariff has made nonsense of its earlier benchmark wage demand.

The Labour groups under the aegis of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, had last month presented a joint minimum wage demand to the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, TCNMW, through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, which is the secretariat of the TCNMW.

The joint presentation is contrary to what they (NLC and TUC leaders in the zones) proposed during March 8, 2024, zonal public hearings organised by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, TCNMW, across four of the six geo-political zones of the country.

Speaking to Vanguard in confidence yesterday, one of the labour leaders who is a member of TCNMW stated: “The recent hike in electricity tariff has made nonsense of the demand we presented to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, which is the secretariat of the minimum wage committee.

“Both centres had met last month to harmonise our different demands as seen during the public hearing and made a joint demand. But with the 300 percent increase in the electricity tariff, our demand is no longer realistic. Therefore, we plan to adjust our demand to accommodate the new tariff hike.

“As you are aware, our demand was based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground at the time we made the demand. But things have changed as typified by the 300 percent hike in the electricity tariff by the government. So, we have to adjust our demand by 300 percent in line with the electricity tariff hike.”

Recall that while the TUC had earlier demanded a uniform figure of N447,000 across the zones, the NLC demanded different figures for each zone of the country with the highest being N850,000.

In the South-West, while leaders of the NLC, proposed N794, 000, those of the TUC proposed N497, 000.

While in the South-East, the NLC said it preferred the new minimum wage to be N540,000, TUC suggested N447,000.

However, South-South workers proposed N850,000, with their North-West counterparts angling for N485,000 minimum wage.

A 37-year-old woman who was allegedly in possession of 317 live ammunition, has been arrested by the tactical team of the Operation Zenda Joint Task Force in Benue State.

The Commander of Operation Zenda, SP Felix Nomiyugh, confirmed the arrest on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Makurdi.

He said the suspect was arrested at Ayati Junction in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.

The commander said that the suspect was an associate of a dreaded bandit operating in the local government area.

He confirmed that the task force recovered from the suspect 200 live ammunition of General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) and 117 rounds of 7.6mm ammunition

Media personality, Shade Ladipo has advised Nigerian men to stop talking about DNA tests because they put their women through a lot.

She shared this opinion in an episode of the Bahd and Boujee podcast with Tolani Baj and Moet Abebe.

She claimed that most men like to believe that they are best in cheating and have multiple partners and children outside their marriage.

Shade believes that even though men usually think they are getting away with infidelity, the women act unaware and also retaliate.

While she admits that some women who engage in paternity fraud are actually wayward, some others do it because of their husband’s infidelity.

She advised men to stop talking about DNA tests as it is a repercussion for how badly they have treated Nigerian women.

See the video of her speaking below;

Popular socialite Madame Mystique has opened up on why her relationship with Nigerian singer, Asake ended.

She spoke while responding to a curious fan on her Instagram page.

Mystique explained that she broke up with the ‘Lonely At The Top’ crooner because he wanted to let the “devil use him.”

The fan wrote, “Why did you break our national sweetheart’s heart? Our Asake.”

She replied, “Cuz he wanted to go let the devil use him.”

Responding to another fan who berated her for not protecting Asake from the devil instead of walking away, Mystique explained that the singer is a God-fearing man, stressing that “the devil” was just a trickster.

She wrote, “Chill, he’s very much a man [of] God. The devil is just a trickster nonetheless.”

Asake and Madame Mystique sparked relationship rumours last year after their lovey-dovey photos and videos surfaced online.

In March 2024, reports emerged that their relationship has hit the rocks.

37-year-old Simon Harris emerged as Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister on Tuesday, April 9, while pledging to bring new ideas.

Harris replaces Leo Varadkar who abruptly quit last month citing personal and political reasons.

On Tuesday, Ireland’s parliament voted 88 to 69 in favour of Harris who was then officially installed at a ceremony with President Michael D. Higgins.

The centre-right Fine Gael party selected Harris as its leader following an uncontested election after Varadkar resigned but the young politician faces key elections within months as well as domestic pressure to tackle crises over housing and opposition to migration.

Harris told parliament:

“This is very much a partnership government and I intend to lead us in the spirit of unity, collaboration and mutual respect,” he said, watched by his wife and two children.

“I want to bring new ideas and new energy and, I hope, a new empathy to public life. Time is certainly short, and there’s a lot to do,” Harris added.

Varadkar quit last month saying that at the age of 45 he no longer felt he was the “best person” to lead the country. Varadkar, the youngest prime minister when first elected in 2017, said Tuesday said he “always knew” Harris would fill the top job.

“This has perhaps come a little bit sooner than he might have planned or expected. But I know he will rise to the occasion,” Varadkar said.

“He has the empathy, energy, experience, campaigning skills and political antenna to take us forward.”

Harris joined the youth branch of Fine Gael at the age of 16 and quickly rose through its ranks.

A county councillor at the age of 22, he was elected to parliament in 2011 as a 24-year-old.

At the time he was the youngest MP and was nicknamed “Baby of the Dail” (Irish parliament).

He was appointed health minister in 2016 aged just 29 and higher education minister in 2020.

Also, Harris’ prominence on social media, especially TikTok, has made him one of the most visible politicians in Ireland.

A South African Electoral Court has cleared a former president, Jacob Zuma, to contest the upcoming election.

In a judgement delivered on Tuesday, April 9, the court upturned the decision made by South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission, SAIEC, last month, barring Zuma from contesting elections.

SAIEC had barred Zuma from contesting the forthcoming elections due to his criminal record.

In 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission.

The probe was centred on corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during Zuma’s presidential term from 2009 to 2018.

However, in a brief court order, the electoral court said an appeal by Zuma and his party was successful, noting that the objection against his candidature had been dismissed.

“The decision of the Electoral Commission is set aside,” the court wrote.

Following the clearance, Zuma is expected to run for the presidency on behalf of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which he founded last year after leaving the African National Congress, ANC.

The election is set to take place on May 29

The impeached Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has begun the process of filing a formal petition against the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Daniel Okungbowa.

Following his impeachment by the Edo State House of Assembly, Shaibu, through the legal representation of B.I. Dakum and Co., has contacted the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, for a complaint form.

The request, dated April 8, 2024, comes in the aftermath of the seven-man panel’s investigation into misconduct and perjury allegations against Shaibu, which led to his impeachment.

The panel, constituted by Chief Judge Okungbowa, has faced scrutiny over its procedures and conclusions.

Shaibu’s legal move, articulated in a letter signed by Adaze A. Emwanta, a former Commissioner for Information and Orientation under Governor Godwin Obaseki, alleges that Justice Okungbowa abused his office, engaged in official misconduct, and violated his oath of office.

The letter underscores Shaibu’s intention to formalize these accusations by filing a petition under the Judicial Discipline Regulations 2017.

The letter titled “Re: Notice to obtain a complaint form to file a formal complaint against Hon Justice Daniel Okungbowa, the Chief Judge of Edo State for abuse of office, official misconduct and desecrating his oath of office,” reads in part, “We write as Solicitors to Rt Hon. Philip Shaibu, who until this morning was Deputy Governor of Edo State.

“Rt Hon Philip Shaibu has instructed us to file a formal complaint to your council against Hon Justice Daniel Okungbowa, the Chief Judge of Edo State for abuse of office, official misconduct and desecration of his oath of office.

“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to formally request a complaint form prescribed under the Judicial Discipline Regulations 2017 to enable our client to file his complaint against the subject Judge.”