Churchill Choken

Nobel Laureate and iconic playwright, Professor Wole Soyinka, has spoken out about the report making the rounds about dead and cloned President Muhammadu Buhari. The 84-year-old man from Abeokuta, Ogun State explained the need to take the allegation seriously saying he expected President Buhari to do something beyond repudiating the claims during his recent visit to Poland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference for 2018. While in Poland, President Buhari had denied claims that he was dead and cloned, affirming that he is himself. Absconded leader of the proscribed separatist group, the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu originated the claims late 2017, claiming Nigeria is being ruled by a Buhari dead-ringer called Jubril Aminu from Sudan. Soyinka was addressing a cross section of audience at Freedom Park in an event marking the 70th anniversary of human rights and worldwide reading for press freedom in memory of Jamal Khashoggi. He also stress...

Update:: The children of the vice president of Nigeria, Professor Yomi Osinbajo just completed their national youth service.  The daughter of the vice president, Kiki Osinbajo took to Instagram to share their joys in serving the nation for the past one year successfully.  Kiki and her sibling, Laolu who studied law like dad, just completed their national youth service as can be seen in adorable photos posted. See more photos below;

Update:: The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) and son-in-law to Governor Okorocha of Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has said the "era of sitting at home and writing results" in Imo is bygone. Nwosu who recently dumped the All Progressives Congress, APC, for AA, after a guber parallel primaries in the state at the end of which he lost the governorship ticket to Senator Hope Uzodimma, also declared absolute support for President Buhari despite being out of the APC. Nwosu added Thursday in Owerri that nobody would be allowed to rig the forthcoming governorship election in the state. Nwosu said: “In fact, anybody thinking of rigging the 2019 election is making a big mistake because we will resist it. The youths of Imo state will resist it, the women and the leaders of the state will resist it. “If you are not popular, you are not popular and INEC knows that it is not possible to write result in Imo state. People should know that the era of sitting at home ...

Update:: Following Babatunde Fashola's statement that it isn’t the government’s problem if the populace do not have electricity, Femi Fani Kayode Former aviation minister has in a tweet called him a prince of darkness. View tweet below. According to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, power generation & distribution is now aprivately owned business and not the government’s problem.

Update::  passenger plane has had to make a U-turn mid-air after the crew members discovered a human heart on board the flight.  It has been reported that a plane had to make a u-turn midair because someone had left a human heart on board.  The Southwest Airlines flight bound for Dallas, Texas, had to turn around and head back to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after the crew realised someone had forgotten to unload the heart.  Yahoo News UK reports that the captain said the heart should have been left in Seattle after an earlier flight from Sacramento and taken to a hospital. After the u-turn, the flight landed in Seattle and the “life-critical cargo shipment” was unloaded.  Southwest spokesman Dan Landson said the return to Seattle was vital because it was “absolutely necessary to deliver the shipment to its destination in the Seattle area as quickly as possible.”  He said: “Nothing is more important to us than the...

Nigeria’s broadband penetration has hit 30.9 per cent surpassing the 30 per cent recorded before November 2018. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed the data produced by the National Broad Band Plan. Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, in Abuja said that the Federal Government’s National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 has set a target of 30 per cent penetration to be achieved by end of 2018.

Update:: A controversial statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the famed Indian independence leader, has been removed from a university campus in Ghana's capital, Accra. Students and lecturers told the AFP news agency it had been removed from the Legon campus of the University of Ghana overnight on Tuesday. The statue was unveiled by India’s former President Prana Mukherjee in 2016 to celebrate to strong ties between the two countries. The university's professors launched a petition calling for its removal soon after the unveiling, saying Gandhi was "racist" and that the university should put African heroes "first and foremost". In the wake of the row, Ghana's government at the time had said the statue would be relocated.

Update:: A fire overnight at a warehouse in Congo Kinshasa destroyed thousands of voting machines and ballot boxes that were due to be used in the country’s long-delayed Dec. 23 presidential election. Democratic Republic of Congo’s national electoral commission (CENI) said in a statement the blaze had destroyed 8,000 of 10,368 voting machines due to be used in the capital Kinshasa, but said the election would go ahead as scheduled.

Update:: Bananas are the world's most popular fruit. Experts say 100 billion bananas are eaten every year, and 95% of those are the Cavendish banana type. But a new fungus has emerged that attacks this usually resistant variety of banana, and it is rapidly spreading throughout the world's commercial crops. Around 14% of global banana exports are from the African continent, according to the UN food agency It says that up to 80% of production in Africa is of local banana varieties that have been present on the continent for more than 1,000 years. Chemicals can help, but another potential solution is to grow bananas without using soil, as Gert Kema, professor of Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University, told.

Update:: South Africa’s embattled former President Jacob Zuma will have to pay back the money provided for his legal fees. The state has paid between $1m (£792,000) and $2.2m in legal costs for Mr Zuma over the past decade. A High Court ruling has instructed the state attorney to recover the money.

Update:: The Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has threatened to work against the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State, Adebayo Adelabu, at the February elections. Shittu who lost in the race for the governorship ticket said without restitution, there won’t be peace in the APC. The National Working Committee of the APC had raised the Peace and Reconciliation Committee for each of the six geopolitical zones to reconcile aggrieved members ahead of the general elections. The minister joins the list of Governor Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and his counterpart in Imo, Rochas Okorocha, who had threatened to work against the party’s governorship candidates in their states. Speaking during a media chat in Abuja, Shittu accused the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and Oyo Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, of being the brains behind his exclusion from the party’s primaries.

Update:: A young man has reportedly died while he was being baptized by a pastor inside a river in Ghana.  The man died during baptism Yaw Kyeremeh, a 20-year-old man has drowned while being baptised by a pastor in a river south of Ghana’s capital, Accra, BBC reports.  In a video circulating on social media, Yaw Kyeremeh is seen stationed at the banks of River Densu together with a pastor who immersed him in the water.  Then after brief prayers he was immersed a second time but he did not emerge from the waters.  Accra Regional Police Command spokeswoman Afia Tenge told the BBC a junior pastor had been arrested at the scene while police were still searching for the head pastor of the church involved in the baptism.  The drowning, which happened on Sunday, has led many people to question why a life should be lost during a religious ritual. The man’s family is quoted by local media as saying that it does not blame anyone for the drowning....

Update:: Nollywood actor  Ken Erics  has finally decided to succumb the invisible pressure that entertainers claim to have when they want to try something new.  He has decided to combine two very demanding sectors of the entertainment industry releasing a full song he used as an original soundtrack titled  INOZIKWA OMEE .  His new song is available on major music streaming platforms. 

Update:: The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Thursday disagreed with the Majority Leader, Senator  Ahmed Lawan, over the composition of the membership of the upper legislative chamber. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the disagreement played out on the floor of the Senate during plenary presided over by Ekweremadu. Raising a point of order, Lawan (APC-Yobe) had claimed that there were 56 APC senators as against PDP’s 46 in the upper chamber. But Ekweremadu (PDP-Enugu) countered him, saying there was no record to back his claim. Lawan’s point of order was in reaction to two reports on pages 5 and 7 of Daily Trust newspaper of Wednesday which he dismissed as erroneous. He said, “On page 5 of Daily Trust of Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2018, it is reported that the APC senators are 57 and PDP senators, 58. “For the record, Mr President, APC senators are 56 and PDP senators are 46. “On page 7, the Daily T...

Update:: Even as President Muhammadu Buhari conveyed his intention to present the 2019 Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the National Assembly next Wednesday, 19th December 2018, members of the House of Representatives have threatened to boycott the presentation. Buhari made known his intention through a letter dated 12th December, 2018 and addressed to Speaker  Yakubu Dogara. The Speaker read the content of the letter received today on the floor. However, the House is yet to make a commitment on retrieving the President following a purported statement attributed to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma that the budget has not been presented because the executive was waiting for the legislature to give it a date for such. Adamu Chika (APC, Niger) in a point of order said the Minister lied on a national television against the parliament and demanded an apology over the statement. Mark Gbillah (Benue) in his contribution backed his colleague’s...

Update:: A Nigerian man, Abolaji Onafuye, has been convicted for fraud after he lied that his family died in a 2017 massive fire which broke out at the Grenfell Tower, Kensington, London in order to secure an accommodation and money to the tune of  £40,000. The convict had lied his sister and nephew died in the fire which claimed 72 lives with several others injured. The 54-year-old Yoruba man reportedly claimed the cash after telling volunteers he was related to two real victims of the fire and was put up in a hotel for nearly a year before he was moved to a flat.  He continues to deny the accussation, nonetheles, was convicted Tuesday at Isleworth Crown Court of two counts of frauds by false representation.  He is due to be sentenced on 18 December.  Prosecutor Michael Phillips, said: "Abolaji Onafuye had no connections to the Grenfell Tower tragedy but saw an opportunity to benefit himself, both financially and with accommodation. . Our prosecuti...

Young Thug recently opened up about life as an artist in an interview with Interview Magazine.                 Thug confidently approximates that his overall tally of recorded songs currently stands at 15,000. Though the number may feel staggering, the explanation is actually rather logical. "I just stay in there," explains Thugger, referring to the studio. "I keep clothes in the studio. I slept there last night. To be honest, I hate traveling so much, because I’d rather be in the studio." Of course, such dedication to the craft might explain Thugger's prolific run, but it also shows how much of a perfectionist he is.  He also talked about his creative process. When asked about where he draws inspiration, Thugger explains "When I first started [writing lyrics] the topic was real-life situations" He continued "But I now spend maybe 16 hours a day in the studio—I spend almost all my life in the studio—so I try to tur...

Update:: A man of varied tastes, Jay has eyes for some of the year's prominent bangers, including Travis Scott and Drake's "Sicko Mode," Kodak Black's "ZEZE," Sheck Wes' "Mo Bamba," and Gunna & Lil Baby's "Drip Too Hard." He also shows some love for a few deep cuts, including Sauce Walka's "Ghetto Gospel," Westside Gunn, Conway, & Benny's "Brutus," and Mozzy's "Walk Up." Kanye West gets a few looks, with Pusha T's "If You Know,.You Know," Kids See Ghosts' "Free," and Nas & Ye's "Cops Shot The Kid." Overall, the twenty-track playlist features an eclectic and well-rounded collection of songs, and provides a welcome insight into the brilliant mind of The Jigga Man.

Update:: Hollywood actress, Gabrielle Union took to Twitter yesterday, December 10 to share a touching video that gives her fans an inside look into her journey in becoming a mom. The video which features Union and her husband, Dwyane Wade sitting side by side also includes the moment of birth of her one-month-old daughter Kaavia. This is coming after the couple welcomed their daughter via surrogate.  Union and Wade in the video sat down to talk about their baby’s entrance into the world and their feelings about becoming parents. “Every family is unique. How each family is created & comes together is special. Kaavia James Union Wade journey into our arms was long & at times brutal. And then came @KaaviaJames. This is our birth journey. Thank you all for the love ,” Union captioned the tweet containing the sweet video. The video touches upon Gabrielle’s struggles with getting holding a baby to term (she had up to 8 or 9 miscarriages) and her diagnosis of adenomyo...

On December 10, 2005, Nigerians all over the world were shocked at the news of Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 plane crash. The accident led to the death of 107 passengers, including female preacher, pastor Bimbo Odukoya as well as some students going on a school trip. The ill-fated plane left only two survivors, one of whom is 29-year-old Kechi Okwuchi. She happened to be one of the school students on the flight and she was 16 at the time. Kechi has become an icon for many people as her life story has inspired a number of people. Recently, she took to her Twitter handle to remember her friends that she lost on the flight 13 years ago. She tweeted: “To the dearly departed of Dec 10 2005, to the 60 angels, many of whom were dear friends, I want you to know I am doing my very best to keep my promise to you all, to live this gift of life in a way that will best honor your memories & honor the Lord. ❤️.” Life as she knew it, changed for Kechi 13 years ago, but she has managed ...

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, says he never complained about content of campaign billboards erected by the All Progressives Congress in the state - The Kwara State Signage and Advertising Agency had claimed that it received a complaint from the Emir about the campaign advertisements of the APC - The Emir says he is neither a card-carrying member of any political party nor staff of any advertising agency The Emir of Ilorin and chairman of Kwara State Traditional Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has denied complaining about the content of campaign billboards erected by the All Progressives Congress in the state. Punch reports that on Monday, December 10, the traditional ruler said there was no truth in the claim, which was made by the Kwara State Signage and Advertising Agency. The statement read: “KWASAA in a letter dated November 6, 2018 claimed that it received a complaint from the palace of the Emir of Ilorin on the campaign advertisements of the APC causing ...

Update:: Oil fell on Monday, in line with further declines in global stock markets , erasing the gains made last week when producer group OPEC and other key exporters agreed to cut their crude output from January. Brent crude oil futures fell $1.02 on the day to $60.65 a barrel by 1045 GMT, while U.S. futures lost 98 cents to trade at $51.63 a barrel. Prices rose 3 percent on Friday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers including heavyweight Russia said they would cut oil supply by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). “They had one thing in common – none of them wanted to see inventories rise further. They could disagree on prices and upon the size of the cuts, but to really see inventories moving higher? No one wanted that,” SEB commodities strategist Bjarne Schieldrop said. “Firstly, we’ll get some (price) stability, even if oil is weighed down by bearish equities. That really took the glow off oil,” he said. OPEC h...

Update:: A 15-year-old Russian has died after being electrocuted in her bath when her mobile phone fell in the water while she was charging it. Irina Rybnikova, a martial arts champion, was bathing in the Siberian industrial city of Bratsk with her iPhone charging close to the bath. The iPhone then fell into the bath and electrocuted her. She later was found dead in the bath. Irina was a champion fighter in pankration. She won the all-Russian championship two months ago and had been selected for her country’s national team. Friends say she was dreaming of becoming a world champion.  Her sister Tatiana, 25, told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: In August she became the godmother to my little daughter. My child adored her and called her ‘nanny’. And now she is not with us anymore… Our hearts are broken. It is so quiet and feels empty at home without her. She has been described as a "beautiful girl" with "many friends". A friend s...

Update:: Davido has banned popular music blogger, Ayo Jaguda (@AyoJaguda) from Nigeria and Africa after he accused him of buying YouTube views for his recently released music video, “Wonder Woman“. Trouble started when the music blogger made a series of tweets on Twitter where he badly criticized the visuals to Davido’s new song, saying its trash. The criticism comes on the back of a heated review of the song by some Twitter users. A twitter user, Buen Chico (@Monsiuer_T) had said “Wonder woman the video no follow wonder woman the song, love both separately.” Ayo subsequently jumped on the tweet as he quoted it saying “song is trash, video got fair replay value but as e climb 1m views in 24 hours de burst my head.” On seeing this, Davido, who appears cheesed off, fired back with threats saying “If dem born u and ur papa well in fact add ur mama !! Come naija B*****d!! F**k it come Africa !! U go see ! @AyoJaguda.” Ayo wrote: “My personal opinion is what trigg...

Update:: About 100 Christians arrested in China in their homes, from the streets and in illegal church gatherings in the South Western part of the country. Chinese authorities targeted members of the Early Rain Covenant Church across various districts of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, in what appears to be an effort to close down one of the country’s most prominent Protestant house churches. According to Scmp.com, members’ personal accounts and cell group discussions on social media channels were blocked at around 9pm on Sunday while the church’s telephone line was also cut. The homes of the church’s leaders, including pastor Wang Yi, were among those raided. Zhang Guoqing, assistant deacon of the Early Rain Covenant Church, was among two church members who were released on Monday morning after his arrest by Chengdu police in the Sunday night raids. He is now being watched around the clock by “security personnel” in his home. Zhang said he headed t...