Nigerian actor and singer, Adams Kehinde, popularly known as Lege Miami, on Sunday, hosted a ‘Singles Hookup Matchmaking End-of-the-year Party’ at the Raddison Blu Hotel, in the GRA Ikeja area of Lagos State.

The free-entry event saw a large turnout of singles eager to mingle and potentially find a connection as the year came to a close.

The event quickly became a trending topic on social media, with attendees and followers expressing their surprise at the large turnout.

#abdullahayofel in a post on X.com on Monday said, “Lege Miami Single Matchmaking End of the Year Party 2024. See how the ladies are plenty.”

Meanwhile, #Alice_Blondelle tweeted about the event’s success, stating, “Lege Miami recently hosted an exclusive party catering specifically to single individuals, and it seems the event was a resounding success. The guest list was filled with eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, all looking to mingle and potentially find that special someone.”

Others, like #KingDiamondplus, shared their frustration at being unable to enter the venue due to the overwhelming crowd, stating, “Lege Miami show was so hilarious than painful yesterday. After preparing for days and not still yet unable to enter the premise because of crowd.”

#the_lateefah also commented saying, “Lege Miami doesn’t joke with this his matchmaking business. Man even threw an event. The turnup of people at the event wasn’t small too.”

Lege Miami, known for his commitment to matchmaking, expressed his gratitude on Monday for the support he received.

In a post shared on Instagram, he thanked his fans saying, “See crowd. 2024 singles hookup matchmaking end-of-the-year party. Thank you, lovers.”

“Thank you, Nigerians, I’m grateful. I want to thank all the people that supported me for this last event. I thank all the givers that brought out money to support me,” he added in another video post.

He also acknowledged the high turnout and promised improvements for future events.

He revealed that Radisson Blu could not accommodate everyone who came saying, “We got a massive crowd that Radisson hotel couldn’t contain everybody. Next year, I’ll get a bigger place in GRA Ikeja.”

He added in Yoruba, “I apologise to the singles who were present but couldn’t come in. We won’t host the event at Radisson next year, but it’ll be in GRA on the mainland.

In a previous interview with PUNCH, the actor confirmed the seriousness of his matchmaking business, stating that his services go beyond just the public, extending to well-known figures as well.

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Joe Igbokwe, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has stated that the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari was a successful leader.

Igbokwe asserted that Buhari created a good foundation for President Bola Tinubu to build upon.

Igbokwe said Nigerians should disregard assertions that Buhari was a failure since his imprints and achievements are obvious to all.

He made this known on his Facebook page: “Let nobody living or dead run away with the thinking that PMB is a failure. Perish the thought.

“He laid the solid foundation for PBAT to build on. We are seeing the footprints and the gains today.”

This comes after former presidential Special Adviser on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, claimed Buhari was not a visionary.

Ojudu claimed that Buhari’s lack of vision led him to oppose former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s presidential bid.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has again urged Nigerians to be patient with President Bola Tinubu as he grapples to fix the nation’s economy and touch the lives of Nigerians across the ethnic divide.

Akpabio said Nigeria was on life support before Tinubu was elected the president in 2023, adding that despite the ugly situation, the president was determined to fix the battered economy.

Akpabio revealed this at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State during his Constituency Briefing/ Empowerment on Monday.

“President Tinubu met a very bad condition on the ground, nobody envied him, he said he was determined to change the situation, let us encourage him to change the situation. We believe that at the end of the day, we will move the country forward, he did it in Lagos before and he will do it again in Nigeria, just give him time he will take us to our El Dorado.

“I want us to know that Nigeria was on life support when the people voted Tinubu to become the president. One day I asked him, Mr President, after becoming the president and seeing the level of the economy that Emefiele left behind, are you excited? He said, well, I’m determined to change the situation,” Akpabio stated

The Senate president also noted that the president has touched many lives through continuous constituency projects across the country, adding that the regional commissions set up across the country aimed at the development of the regions and empowerment of the people.

He further noted that Tinubu has shown so much love to the South East by giving a key ministry- the Ministry of Works to them and signing the South East Development Commission into an act of parliament even as he explained that every other regional development Commissions would be signed in no distant time.

His words, “The president has shown the South East love, he has signed the South East Development Commission into an act of parliament, in addition, key ministries have been allocated, not on the basis of votes but on the NEEDS basis.

“The South East has a lot of ecological problems, the South East has very poor roads, just like the South South and Mr president decided to give us the Ministry of Works in addition to other key Ministries even the petroleum and gas Ministry.

“Akwa Ibom is sitting on gas, all the way from Utapete down to Ibeno. Above all, the president, allowed our State to produce the No. 3 Citizen, the Senate President, the last time we had such an opportunity was in 1979. President Tinubu deserves all our support.”

While distributing items such as bags of rice, fleets of cars, generating sets, deep freezers, tractors, Tricycle vans, Tricycles and Mini-buses, Motorcycles, sewing machines, Make-up kits, Two Hundred Thousand Naira cash transfers to 2000 undergraduates among others, Akpabio said the gesture was supported by the president to thank the people for their votes and supports.

He commended governor Umo Eno for his peaceful disposition saying he would reciprocate the kind gesture of the governor during Christmas when he sent 1000 bags of rice to APC in the state by sending 1,500 bags of rice to the PDP even as he directed that the PDP Chairman should get the rice immediately for his members

“I want to appreciate the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, without peace, there will not be development, the governor has decided to embrace all Akwa Ibom people irrespective of political lines even during Christmas, the governor sent 1000 bags of rice to APC in the state and because of that, I request that the PDP chairman should come forward and take 1500 bags of rice for his members.

“We are touching all local governments, they will receive Keke Napep, generating set, deep freezers to store their fish and other things, tricycles for those bringing palm produce from the villages, those in fashion we have sewing machines, makeup kits, etc For beneficiaries, use your items well,” he said.

Petrol has become unaffordable to ordinary Nigerians despite the availability of two facilities refining the nation’s crude oil. This has spiked inflation, making life difficult for the citizenry whose hope of cheaper fuels depended heavily on local refineries, DARE OLAWIN reports

Years ago, Nigerians were made to believe that the only road to affordable petroleum products was to have local refineries processing the country’s crude oil. It was argued that the price of premium motor spirits, otherwise known as petrol, would crash if the product were produced in the country, but that seems not to be the reality at this time.

When former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove petrol subsidies in 2012, he faced strict resistance. There was a violent protest tagged ‘Occupy Nigeria.’ Then, the organised labour and members of the opposition rejected the decision, saying Nigerians could not pay N141 for a litre of petrol. One of the requests made by the protesters in 2012 was a revamp of the nation’s refineries and stop the importation of petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, and others. The anti-subsidy removal protesters, many of whom are in the current government, said the locally refined petroleum products would be cheaper than the imported ones, so subsidy removal would not impact the price as envisaged. Jonathan bowed to pressure over his inability to revamp the refineries immediately, but   reduced the price to N97 instead of taking it back to N65 per litre.

In 2015, Muhammadu Buhari took over with a promise to fix the refineries before removing fuel subsidies. Though the prices of PMS went up close to N200 per litre under his watch, Buhari was very reluctant to remove subsidies because of the hardship this could inflict on the masses. The former president secured a $1.5bn loan to revamp the Port Harcourt refinery, which was not ready before he left office. However, the ‘clever’ Buhari shifted the subsidy removal burden to his successor as he made no provision for the same in the budget from June 2023.

When the incumbent Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, he wasted no time declaring that “the fuel subsidy is gone.”

No sooner had Tinubu made the pronouncement than the country’s economic situation began a downward slide, changing for the worse. Filling stations, including the ones owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, raised the pump price of petrol above N500 per litre at the time. Some Nigerians, who had hoped that the new administration would turn around the situation positively, began to feel uneasy, though they were persuaded by the president, who stated that there would be gain after pain.

To the average Nigerian, petrol means more than what it is in other countries. The country’s economy depends almost solely on fuel. Both the rich and the poor need petrol for vehicles or to run engines for commercial activities.

In a country where over 85 million people have no access to electricity, petrol has always been the hope of the people, both the rich and the poor alike, to avoid darkness. Nigeria is also one of the largest markets for power generators in the world. With the current high cost of petrol, access to electricity has been reduced, especially in rural communities. According to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, with the high cost of petrol, an individual would need about N750 to generate 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Similarly, those who don’t have reasons to buy petrol feel the impact of the price hike whenever they intend to use public transport because commercial drivers have repeatedly jerked up  transport fares, provoking a rise in the prices of items in the markets.

The masses’ worry was compounded about two weeks after Tinubu’s inauguration when he also floated the naira as the cost of petrol rose again upon the devaluation of the exchange rate. However, the NNPC quickly introduced subsidy payment through the back door. While the landing cost of petrol was around N1,200, the NNPC sold it at half the price, based on the promise of the Federal Government to pay the shortfall. For close to a year, the NNPC sold the product at about N600/litre, denying claims that it was paying subsidies.

Recently, however, the energy firm admitted to selling below the cost price. The national oil company admitted that it owed its suppliers. It stated this when there seemed to be no way out of the lingering fuel queues at filling stations in the third quarter of 2024.

“NNPC Ltd has acknowledged recent reports in national newspapers regarding the company’s significant debt to petrol suppliers. This financial strain has placed considerable pressure on the company, and it poses a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply,” Soneye said in a statement in September.

Soon after Soneye’s statement in the ninth month of the year, the NNPC raised the PMS pump price from N600 to N855/litre or more, depending on the location. This significant hike coincided with the unveiling of the Dangote refinery’s PMS, fuelling concerns about what the future held for Nigerians who had hoped that the private refinery would crash the price of the product. The price later rose to N1,100/litre, a development that has forced many vehicles off the road, deepening the country’s economic crisis.

Earlier, crude oil refiners had told The PUNCH that local refineries in Nigeria would crash the price of petroleum products.

The Publicity Secretary of the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria, Eche Idoko, explained in June that what happened to the cost of diesel after Dangote started producing it would happen to petrol prices once it is being produced massively in Nigeria. Idoko had opined that PMS would sell at the rate of N300 per litre when the Dangote refinery came on board.

“If we begin to produce PMS today in large volumes, provided there is adequate crude oil supply, I can assure you that we should be able to buy PMS at N300/litre as the pump price.

“Why make Nigerians buy it at almost N700/litre when you know that if you allow refineries to work, the price will come down? Is it because you want to satisfy the global refiners abroad that are making so much from us?” Idoko said.

According to him, the sale of crude to Dangote would crash the prices of diesel and PMS.

“There is every tendency that before December, diesel prices will drop further. The only reason why diesel is not below N1,000/litre is because of our exchange rate. If the exchange rate drops, diesel will drop below the N1,000/litre price. Now the exchange rate concern is because Dangote imports crude. If he is not importing, the exchange rate may not have so much effect, though he is still buying crude in dollars (in Nigeria) anyway.”

When the Dangote refinery began production, it faced serious crude challenges. The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; his vice, Davakumar Edwin; and other officials of the company repeatedly accused international oil companies of refusing to sell crude to the refinery, thereby impacting its ability to produce cheaper fuels for Nigerians.

The company also accused the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission of failing to effectively enforce the domestic crude supply obligation, saying it was allowing the IOCs to sell crude through their foreign agents at a premium. Officials of the 650,000-capacity refinery told our correspondent in June that crude shortage was the main reason why the refinery kept postponing petrol production.

Dangote also slammed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority for allegedly granting licenses for the importation of dirty fuel. In an attempt to defend the NMDPRA, the Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, irked Nigerians by saying the fuels produced by Dangote refinery and other local refineries were substandard compared to imported ones. Nigerians took to the media to bash the regulator. To the ordinary man on the street, some saboteurs would not allow them to enjoy cheaper PMS from Dangote. The support they gave to Dangote was because they thought the refinery would be a source of succour for them, but the reverse was the case.

To douse tension, President Tinubu waded in, approving the sale of crude oil to Dangote in naira. The President’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, who made the announcement in July, disclosed that the Federal Executive Council approved that the 450,000 barrels meant for domestic consumption be offered in naira to Nigerian refineries, using the Dangote refinery as a pilot.

Onanuga also revealed that the exchange rate would be fixed for the duration of the transaction. Again, Nigerians became optimistic that the pump price of petrol would go down, especially if the Federal Government directed the NNPC to fix the exchange rate for the naira-for-crude deal. Our correspondent gathered that the government did not fix the exchange rate as earlier promised, making Dangote buy Nigeria’s expensive sweet and light crude at the international rate, though in naira.

After much delay, the Dangote refinery started PMS production in September, and the naira-for-crude deal commenced in October. Similarly, the NNPC announced that the Port Harcourt refinery had begun crude processing in November. However, all these have not crashed the price of PMS to N300 or N600 per litre.

PMS expensive in Nigeria—Report

Data released by GlobalPetrolPrices.com recently showed that after the total stoppage of petroleum subsidies, Nigeria now has one of the highest petrol prices on the continent among key oil producers.

 GlobalPetrolPrices.com publishes wide-ranging and up-to-date information on retail energy prices around the world. The new information showed that among the top oil-producing countries in Africa, Gabon’s price came highest at $0.952, while Nigeria sold the product for $0.768 as of December.

Libya reportedly has the cheapest petrol price per litre of $0.031 in Africa and second globally. Angola also has cheaper fuel at $0.329. Egypt sells at $0.335 per litre; Algeria was selling for $0.343 per litre, while Sudan’s was $0.700, followed by Ethiopia at $0.718.

The report added that the average price of petrol around the world as of December was $1.24 per litre but with substantial differences in the prices among countries due to different taxes and levies.

“As a general rule, richer countries have higher prices, while poorer countries and the countries that produce and export oil have significantly lower prices. One notable exception is the United States, which is an economically advanced country but has low gas prices.

“The differences in prices across countries are due to the various taxes and subsidies for gasoline (petrol). All countries have access to the same petroleum prices of international markets but then decide to impose different taxes; hence the retail price of gasoline is different,” it added.

Globally, the report showed that Iran has the cheapest petrol price at $0.029, closely followed by other oil-producing countries like Libya, Venezuela, Angola, Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria, and Turkmenistan, among others, but Nigeria has a higher rate when it comes to petrol pricing.

Meanwhile, countries with the most expensive petrol prices per litre worldwide are Hong Kong at $3.31; Monaco at $2.24; Iceland at $2.20; Denmark at $2.05; Israel at $2.05; and the Netherlands at $2.05.

Dangote, NNPC ‘price war’

Lately, the Dangote Refinery and the NNPC appeared to have engaged in what some stakeholders described as a price war, slashing the ex-depot price of petrol below N1,000 per litre. As of the time of this report, most filling stations sell the product at N1,000, while a few sell above N900. However, this so-called price war did not push the cost to what Nigerians could afford in an oil-producing nation. At the moment, most Nigerians still believe they should not buy petrol above N500/litre.

A senior official of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Chris Onyeka, said the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited did not deserve any applause over the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol. Onyeka argued that the current pricing mechanism did not reflect the true cost of the commodity.

“Do you want us to clap for them? How can we be okay with a price of N935/litre of PMS? This is not the right price for PMS. You cannot base the price on imported products when we have refining capacity in Nigeria,” he said.

It could be recalled that some marketers once threatened to import PMS and sell it at a price far below what was being offered by the Dangote refinery and the NNPC. In early November, marketers under the aegis of the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria said the association had struck deals with some international fuel suppliers to import PMS at a good price, adding that the product would arrive in Nigeria at a price around N800/litre.

Speaking further on the recent price drop, Onyeka argued that the costs embedded in the current pricing framework—including foreign labour, freight charges, insurance, logistics, and profits accrued abroad—unfairly burden Nigerians.

“Products are refined in Nigeria, yet the price you give Nigerians is based on imported products. Why should we applaud that? It is akin to someone stealing your money and returning only part of it, then expecting you to clap. We cannot applaud this,” he stated.

 Chairman, Centre for Accountability and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said the reduced price of N935/litre was still expensive and unsatisfactory, noting that the government and private businesses could still give out free petrol to citizens.

“We believe that if NNPC and the private sector actually give out PMS for free, they will still not run their business at a loss, because the other derivatives of petroleum products can still serve them and can still make them break even. So, even at that N900 and something, it’s still expensive.

“We expected that PMS prices would drop below N200 when Dangote was to come on stream. So, it’s unfortunate that we are still talking about over N900, and they want us to jump up and rejoice for that. That is not satisfactory. They should just let us see the breakdown of their production cost and why it’s still there. I mean, there are countries like Libya under Gaddafi that gave out PMS for free, and they didn’t run anything at any loss. So, I believe that it can still go further down,” he said.

However, CORAN Publicity Secretary Idoko maintained that the price reductions were a testimony that the refineries were on the right path to bring down fuel prices.

Idoko insisted that the price reduction would continue provided the international price of crude remains stable as well as the exchange rate.

“As a matter of fact, we have started seeing the effect of local refining, at least from the refineries with both Dangote and the NNPC announcing a price reduction recently,” Idoko said, adding that “under the economy of scale, this price reduction would likely continue if the international price for crude remains stable and the naira continues to improve against the dollar.”

Asked if the masses should expect a reduction to N500/litre, Idoko retorted, “Well, we cannot tell yet. If the other variables that also affect the pricing of petroleum products reduce significantly, we would see a significant drop in price.”

Aside from the international price for crude oil and the foreign exchange rate, Idoko mentioned another variable as the continuation of the naira-for-crude arrangement, stating that ensuring crude is made available to local refineries will play a significant role in price rebates.

A professor of energy at the University of Lagos, Dayo Ayoade, expressed optimism that more competition is needed to drive the price down. He maintained that the Dangote refinery is more or less the only one producing optimally at the moment, saying the Port Harcourt refinery is yet to be fully on stream.

The don called for patience, saying the price would take time to experience any significant reduction. He maintained that two refineries are not enough to drive the prices down, asking what has happened to the Warri and Kaduna refineries. Ayoade stressed that investors would come to the downstream sector if the sector promised returns on investments.

“To drive the price down, you need competition, and when the local refineries start coming on stream, prices naturally will be low because it is about demand and supply. That’s the general economics of it. We have Dangote and Port Harcourt. The Port Harcourt refinery is not actually really online. Dangote is the one that is really producing, and the price is still high. It will take time for the price to come down; let’s not be in a hurry. In the long term, deregulation is in the interest of Nigerians to avoid the fraud that has been taking place in the downstream sector and to avoid policy flip-flops that have been destroying investments.

“When the sector is stable, we will attract foreign investments. People will invest in the downstream like in the upstream if they are assured of profit-making. So, there will be good news. BUA refinery will be online maybe next year or the year after. People should not worry; they should let other new refineries come on board. The more the refineries, the better for us. Now we can say we have a duopoly—two refineries. That’s not sufficient to drive prices down. What happens to Warri and Kaduna refineries?” the professor queried.

Meanwhile, as Nigerians lament Tinubu’s decision to suddenly remove subsidies, the president has said he had no regrets taking that decision immediately after he was sworn into office. Today, the president believes that the adoption of compressed natural gas would lessen the burden and give Nigerians cheaper and cleaner fuel, but the cost of converting a vehicle to CNG-compliant and the lack of refuelling stations have been a major hindrance. It appears Nigerians would still continue to buy pricey petroleum products except there is a miracle coming soon.

In their advice to the government, local refiners charged the federal government to peg the dollar at N1,000 for transactions done locally in the oil and gas sector, especially for the naira crude sale arrangement. This they said would enhance energy security and affordability.

Nigeria’s principal opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has announced its intention to engage the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to encourage his return to the party that played a pivotal role in his political ascent.

In a recent interview with the BBC, PDP acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, addressed the former Kano State Governor’s recent remarks declaring the PDP as “dead” and incapable of achieving future success.

Damagun underscored the PDP’s openness to welcoming back all former members, including Senator Kwankwaso.

He expressed that Kwankwaso’s comments were somewhat unfair, as the NNPP chieftain had previously secured political victories while affiliated with the PDP.

The acting chairman further asserted that the PDP has maintained its strength over 26 years, continuing to operate under the same name and boasting a presence of governors and senators from all regions of Nigeria.

He contended that even if four other parties were to merge, they would still fall short of the PDP’s formidable strength.

“People are entitled to their opinions, but I want to remind him of the past. When they left the PDP in 2015, if the party didn’t die back then, during a time they thought they had weakened it, I don’t see why anyone would claim it is dead now.

“Let’s not forget that the PDP remains the only party capable of winning elections if you exclude the ruling APC,” Damagun said.

In response to Kwankwaso’s assertions regarding his marginalization within the PDP, which led him to reject any intentions of collaborating with the party for the 2027 elections, Damagun acknowledged that several of Kwankwaso’s concerns were indeed legitimate.

He elaborated that during Kwankwaso’s initial attempts to depart from the PDP, he, as the party’s deputy national chairman for the North at the time, made considerable efforts to address the issues but ultimately could not achieve a resolution.

“That said, there is no party better than the PDP for Kwankwaso. The party nurtured his political career and brought him to where he is today. We still hope he will return to work with us to rebuild our party and confront this oppressive government,” Damagun added.

The PDP chairman stated that God willing, the party will soon reach out to Kwankwaso despite knowing he was angry, adding that his aspirations might not be achievable in his current party.

“The PDP has always been a party that welcomes back any of its members who left in anger. Whenever they return, we give them opportunities just like everyone else,” Damagun concluded.

Renowned music executive and CEO of Kennis Music, Kenny Ogungbe, has dismissed rumours that he was responsible for the breakup of the iconic music group, Plantashun Boiz.

Speculations have circulated that the group disbanded after Kennis Music signed 2Face, one of its members.

However, speaking on a recent episode of ‘The Honest Bunch’ podcast, Ogungbe, popularly known as Baba Keke, clarified that the group had already split before 2Face approached him.

Ogungbe said, “People have been saying l’m the one responsible for the breakup of Plantashun Boiz.

“That’s not true. 2face came to me himself after the group had broken up that he wanted to sign with Kennis music and Eedris Abdulkareem told me to sign him which I did.”

Plantashun Boiz, made up of 2Face, Blackface, and Faze, disbanded in 2004 after releasing their second album, ‘Sold Out.’

The trio briefly reunited in 2007 for their third and final album, ‘Plan B,’ before going their separate ways again.

Meanwhile, famous dancehall singer and ex-member of the defunct Plantashun Boiz, Ahmedu Augustine Obiabo, better known as Blackface, had blamed former bandmate, 2Face Idibia, for the agelong rift between them.

Naija News reported that Blackface, during an interview on the latest episode of ‘The Honest Bunch Podcast’, said he and Faze are on good terms, but 2Face’s inferiority complex is responsible for their rift.

He noted it was time to bury the hatchet, stressing he had forgiven 2Face for all he had done to him knowingly and unknowingly.

Blackface also pleaded with the ‘African Queen’ crooner to forgive him for whatever he has done to him.

He said, “I and Faze are cool. Maybe 2face has inferiority complex towards me.

“It is time to bury the hatchet. I forgive 2face for everything he has done to me, knowingly and unknowingly. He should also make space to forgive me for anything I have done.”

The year is almost over. The year 2024 is ending. In different parts of the world the countdown has begun, with elaborate fireworks heralding the beginning of a New Year 2025. The year 2024 was eventful. And we could all mostly look back and wonder how it passed so quickly.  It was a year of winners and losers, as is the case with every year and as it would be with the years to come, reminding us all of the inexorable march of fate and time. We live. We die. We grow. We wither. We fall ill. We heal.  Man is at the mercy of nature and the environment, his own exertions and his imagination. But whatever is anyone’s individual fortune, life goes on all the same, hanging on to the thread of optimism. Humanity is sustained by the resolve that man, having positioned himself as the master of the universe, can always learn, do better and surpass his own expectations.  

2024 was the year of elections - held at national, general and local levels in more than 100 countries of the world with far-reaching implications for politics and cultural relations at various levels. Elections were held in some of the most populous countries including India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh and the United States, with a total of about four billion eligible voters, about half of the world’s population, and up to 1.7 billion actually turning out to cast their ballots in all the continents. This clearly confirms the continuing strength of the democratic ideal, or the popularity of democracy, but observed patterns differed from one part of the world to the other. For example, most incumbent parties lost their popular standing even if they retained power as in France, South Korea, India, or to start close to home, South Africa, where the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost the majority status it had maintained since the end of apartheid rule in 1994 due in part to growing disenchantment with the ANC and deep-seated divisions within the party which saw former President Jacob Zuma being a decisive factor, with his breakaway MK party. 

Other notable elections in Africa included that of Tunisia in October which brought President Kais Saied back to power with a low voter turn-out of 29%, the lowest since the Revolution. In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame won a fourth term in office in a curious reminder of how African leaders try to sit tight in office beyond constitutional term limits. He manipulated the Rwandan Constitution to remain in power. In Algeria, in September, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was re-elected with 94.7 percent of the vote.  Earlier in April, Togo held its parliamentary elections. The ruling Union for the Republic, won 108 of the 113 seats to tighten President Faure Gnassingbe’s hold on power. The situation was the same in Chad in May with President Mahamat Idriss Deby as winner. In Mozambique, in October, the FRELIMO party which had ruled the country since 1975, also held on to power declaring 47-year-old Daniel Chapo as President. The country subsequently degenerated into chaos and protests. The main opposition leader, Eduardo Mondlane fled into exile and has sworn to get himself into power on inauguration day on January 15, although it remains unclear how he intends to achieve that. The elections in Mozambique were believed to have been rigged and manipulated. There was more positive news, however, from Senegal, Botswana, Namibia, and Ghana. In Senegal in March, Bassirou Diomaye Faye won 54% of the Presidential votes just 10 days after he was released from prison. Senegal’s story was a demonstration of the power of the people.  

In Namibia’s general election, Dec 3, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, incumbent Vice President, and member of the ruling SWAPO party, was declared winner, making her Namibia’s first female President, thus adding to the number of women in Africa who have served as President: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania), Joyce Hilda Banda (Malawi) and Sahle-Woek Zewde (Ethiopia). In Ghana, President John Dramani Mahama defeated the ruling party’s candidate, incumbent Vice President Mahamud Bawumia, who in a manner reminiscent of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s gesture in 2015, conceded defeat even before the results were announced by the country’s electoral commission.  Senegal and Ghana are arguably two of the most stable democracies in Africa.  But whatever successes may have been recorded with democracy in Africa in the year 2024 was sadly abbreviated by the spectre of democratic retreat and the return of military rule in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Guinea. This has disrupted the political order in West Africa.  ECOWAS, the regional economic bloc has also been diminished with the declared exit of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, now forming an Alliance of Sahel States (AES).  In July 2024, the military junta in Burkina Faso further extended their stay in power by another five years. As ECOWAS prepares for its 50^thanniversary in 2025, it remains a divided body, and the region, an emerging landscape for proxy conflicts between major powers: Russia, France, China and the United States. 

In other parts of the world, from India to France, India, Japan and Britain, voters voted for change with concerns about leadership and the economy as major issues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, the BJP, may have survived in India, but not with a majority. Modi’s party had to form a coalition government. Elections led to riots in Georgia. In South Korea, former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s frustration with the domineering presence of an opposition coalition in parliament led him to impose a martial law. The people rebelled.  In Japan, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party also lost its majority status in parliament. In Britain in July, the British voted out the Conservatives, and gave the centre-left Labour Party a landslide victory. In France, Austria, Romania, the European Parliament and elsewhere we also saw the rise of either far-right or far-left tendencies lending the politics of 2024 a toga of anti-immigration sentiments and nationalism if not isolationism. In France, the government collapsed at a point. In Germany, the Chancellor, Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote. But perhaps the most impactful election in the world in 2024, was that of the United States which brought President Donald Trump back to power. Trump survived two assassination attempts, and went on to win a landslide victory. He and the Republicans regained power. President Joe Biden had to step down for Vice President Kamala Harris who put up a valiant and courageous fight, but not enough to dislodge Trump’s nationalistic, America First rhetoric. Given America’s status as a superior power in the world, Trump’s Presidency would be a major determinant of global politics in 2025. Trump has promised to impose trade tariffs and sanctions on not just China, Mexico and Canada, but literally the whole world. He wants to take back the Panama Canal. He wants to buy Greenland. Democracy survived and thrived in 2024, but the global outlook was bumpy.

Nigeria marked the 25^th anniversary of its return to democratic rule. The people’s reflection was one of mixed blessings. There may have been gains in terms of the democratic process, but Nigeria’s democracy has also produced sharp divisions within the polity, and the old fault lines of nepotism, religion and ethnicity are far from disappearing. In the Gubernatorial elections held in Edo State and Ondo state, the country’s challenges with its leadership recruitment process were writ large. In Edo state, the incumbent ruling party in the state, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lost despite having a more accomplished candidate in the person of Asue Ighodalo. Analysts of the Edo state election alleged that the PDP lost to the all-conquering Federal Might of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in power at the centre. In Ondo State, by the same token, it could not have been imagined that the APC would lose power to the PDP. Notably, incumbent political parties won overwhelmingly in all the states where local government elections were conducted in 2024. Twenty-five years after the return to democratic rule, Nigerian politicians remain set in their ways, with little evidence that anyone has learnt any lessons. This has prompted demands from civil society groups that indeed ahead of the 2027 elections, Nigeria’s electoral framework, a permanent work in progress, would have to be further amended.  For a long time to come, the character of Nigerian politics would remain umbilically linked to the character of the people themselves. Not even the traditional institutions are spared, as seen in the interplay of law, community and politics in the city of Kano with the reinstatement of Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Sarkin Kano. The city became divided, with two brothers laying claim to the same throne. 

But beyond power play, perhaps the major concern in Nigeria in 2024 was the general insecurity in the country: physical, economic, and geographical. The government was wont to claim that the spate of kidnappings, banditry and random violence had reduced under its watch, but 2024 was perhaps the year that the pangs of hunger hit the average Nigerian most. The dynamic in the Nigerian economy resulted in high interest rates, unemployment, no money in the banks and the people’s pockets, with more people sliding into poverty.  More than 31 million people, by official estimates, suffered from acute food insecurity.  The figure was probably much higher as the Nigerian economy, inflation at over 34% by November, became a palliatives-economy. Many died while struggling for free food, with the year ending with the death of about 115 persons who lost their lives in Ibadan, Okija and Abuja in food stampedes. The gap between the poor and the rich couldn’t have been wider. Nonetheless, one major winning story of 2024 was the coming on stream of the much-anticipated Dangote Refinery. The Refinery is billed to produce 650, 000 barrels of fuel per day helping to address the problem of energy security, and foreign exchange savings in the country. But the Nigerian middle class had shrunk so much further, that the pump price of fuel, at over N1,000 per litre, was one of the sources of agony for Nigerians in 2024. 

It may be said all things considered, whatever agony or deprivation Nigerians may have gone through in 2024, this was nothing compared to the threat to global peace on the international scene. With the October 7, 2023 escalation of hostilities between Israel and the Hamas in Gaza, that part of the world has known no peace. Its people are victims of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the last decade. Over 40, 000 persons have lost their lives.  Throughout 2024, the world watched as Israel continued with its campaign of total annihilation, and by the end of the year, the conflict had engulfed the entire region. Israel has had to fight on many fronts: the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and even Iran, raising fears of the possibility of World War III. The much-anticipated world war did not happen, but the Middle East remains a zone of horror. The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on December 8, merely added fuel to the crisis. Israel has been on the offensive as it seeks to take advantage of the uncertainty in Syria to establish itself as the dominant power in the region. Israel has reduced Hezbollah, more or less eliminated Hamas and virtually taken control of parts of Syria. Thus, effectively in 2024, Israel managed to shut down Iran’s Axis of Resistance. The Russian-Ukraine war continues, and in all the theatres of war, the victims are the people. Global peace is disrupted, the impact of the disruptions is felt thousands of miles away. Global peace hangs on a balance; the world tetters on the brink. It was also the year that the economic cooperation group -BRICS admitted four new members including Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, as part of the move by the group to create an alternative global payment system, and to change the existing global order.  NATO admitted a new member, Sweden in March 2024, bringing its membership number to 32. 

For happier stories in 2024, we probably should look in other directions, sports for example. France hosted the Paris Olympics, and delivered to global delight one of the most memorable Olympics in modern times. The Nigerian contingent did not win medals at the main Olympics, due to the usual stories of mismanagement and sloppiness, forgetting to register Favour Ofili for the 100 metres race and one of our athletes – cyclist Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye- having to borrow a bicycle from the German team, but the D’Tigress, Nigeria’s women’s basketball team reached the quarter finals, the first African basketball team to do so at the Olympics. The team’s coach Rena Wakama was named the best female basketball coach at the games. Nigeria’s main moments at the Olympics were later recorded in the Paralympics with the stunning performance of the Nigerian contingent winning a total of seven medals. Folashade Oluwafemiayo won gold medals in para-power lifting, while Eniola Bolaji, 18 years old, became the first African to win a medal in para-badminton.  It was also the year of Elizabeth Osoba, Nigeria;’s first female boxing world champion. Nor would anyone forget in a hurry the heroism of Ademola Lookman and his phenomenal achievements. He was crowned the 2024 CAF African Footballer of the Year. In May, he scored a hat trick to win the UEFA Europa League for Atalanta beating Bayer Leverkusen. He was shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or, finishing 14^th on the final list. Internationally, it was also the year of Max Verstappen who secured his fourth consecutive title in Formula One Grand Prix. It was also the year of Rafael Nadal, winner of 22 Grand Slam titles. He retired in November, one of the greats who played tennis in the modern era.  Other standout sporting champions of 2024 include Rodri (Ballon d’Or), Aitana Bonmati, (Ballon d’Or), Lamine Yamal, Vinicius Junior (FIFA Men’s Player of the Year), Keely Hodgkinson, Barbra Banda, and Carlo Ancelotti. 

For many Nigerians, it was by all means an exciting year in entertainment. Nigerian artistes: Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake, Ayra Starr, Tems, Rema and others at every turn placed Nigeria’s name on the global map. In filmmaking, Femi Adebayo, with two movies, Jagun Jagun and Seven Doors stretched the scope of possibilities and creativity in Nollywood. David Oriakhi was brilliant with the film, The Weekend. Funke Akindele ended the year on a good note with her exciting film, Everybody Loves Jenifa, a strong reminder of the enormous value and potential of Nigeria’s creative sector. In Lagos, Bolanle Austen-Peters Terra Kulture, remained the go-to venue for cultural revival. All said, people may have experienced vastly different fortunes in the year 2024, but for surviving the year, we are all winners.  What a year! What a relief! Here is to a new year of hope and better promise…

Nigerian disc jockey DJ Kulet has publicly announced the end of her 8-month marriage to Ohis Emmanuel.

In a Facebook post, she cited several serious allegations as the reasons for their separation.

These allegations include a video confession by Emmanuel, in which he admitted to molesting a 20-year-old cousin and her friend.

DJ Kulet stated that she had initially forgiven Emmanuel for his infidelity but later discovered evidence of more severe offenses.

According to DJ Kulet, Emmanuel’s behavior has shown a pattern of targeting minors, and he continues to engage in infidelity with multiple women.

She also alleged that Emmanuel sexually abused a 13-year-old minor for six months.

DJ Kulet expressed her commitment to exposing people who pose a threat to others, particularly in light of her own experiences as a victim.

In the post, DJ Kulet stated:

“I, DJ KULET, am publicly disassociating myself from my ex-husband, Ohis Emmanuel (aka Benjamin), due to his egregious and reprehensible actions. Despite overwhelming evidence (including chats, photos, videos, and voice notes) of his infidelity, he has refused to change his ways.

“The final straw was the shocking discovery of his prolonged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old minor, which occurred under my roof for six months.

“In our short-lived marriage of less than 8 months, I have treated infections three times. As a VICTIM myself, I feel compelled to expose individuals like him to protect others”.

Nigerian musician Naira Marley has addressed the controversy surrounding his career following the tragic death of his former signee, Mohbad.

In a post shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) page, Naira Marley spoke about being blacklisted by many in the Nigerian music industry and the public, especially after Mohbad’s passing in September 2023.

The Marlian Music boss, once known for having a massive fanbase, has faced significant backlash since Mohbad’s death, with many accusing him of involvement or negligence in the matter.

Despite the intense criticism, Naira Marley wrote on X;

“Only God can cancel me.”

The post quickly went viral, igniting a flurry of reactions from Nigerians across social media.

Some users expressed that Naira Marley’s music no longer resonates with them, with one user, Sir Freddy, claiming that “nobody is listening to Naira’s music anymore.”

Others, like Makana, argued that the singer’s time had passed, while Tobi Akinbo suggested that Mohbad had effectively “cancelled” Naira Marley even before his death.

 
Netizens Reactions…

kinglytie_ said: “Who else no remember this guy >>>>.”

the_real_watife said: “lol ? Who is this one again?”

Dapeterzstudios said: “Well he’s right only God can cancel a man.”

Lilreelex said; “Mugun who dey hear your music before.”

Tush__tush24 said: “U wey heaven and earth don cancel ?.”

patpat_ugwu said: “Who still dey remember this one just dey sale your drugz cos God don cancel you since.”

An_na_bella11 said: “In as much as I don’t support what he did, but this one he said here, he’s actually right, only God can cancel anybody.” Dunsynn: “We are also gods on earth, created in his image.

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