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Nigeria’s Ambassador Lola Akande Presents Credentials To Swedish King

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Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sweden, Ambassador Lola Akande, has formally assumed her diplomatic duties after presenting her Letters of Credence to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. The ceremony, held on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, marked the formal accreditation of Akande as Nigeria’s representative to the Kingdom of Sweden. The ambassador was accorded ceremonial honours, including a formal procession and corps marshal, as she proceeded to the palace for the presentation of her credentials to the Swedish monarch. A reception was later held in her honour at the Nigerian House in Stockholm, attracting members of the diplomatic community, Swedish foreign ministry officials, Nigerian residents, business leaders and other invited guests. The gathering also included members of the Corps of African Women Ambassadors and other African diplomatic representatives. The occasion highlighted the longstanding diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Sweden, as well as oppor...

Postmortem Confirms Pelumi Onifade Died From Gunshot Injury

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Late Pelumi Onifade Five years after young journalist Pelumi Onifade died during the #EndSARS era, a postmortem report by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has confirmed that he died from a firearm injury to the abdomen. Onifade, a journalist with Gboah TV, was reportedly shot and arrested on October 24, 2020, while covering the #EndSARS protests in Lagos. According to the nine-page postmortem report submitted to the Coroner’s Court, the cause of death was “massive haemoperitoneum” and “penetrating firearms injury to the abdomen.” The report was signed on July 30, 2026. The examination, conducted at the LASUTH morgue on November 4, 2020, found that a firearm projectile entered Onifade’s body through the lower back, causing extensive abdominal injuries and massive internal bleeding. The report also recorded bony fragments embedded in the abdominal tissue and a fracture of the fifth lumbar vertebra. The projectile’s trajectory was described as posterior-to-anterior, r...

NIPSS Lecture: IGP Disu Proposes Security, Intellectual Property Desk For Creative Economy

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Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has proposed the establishment of an Orange Economy Security and Intellectual Property Coordination Desk within an appropriate existing structure of the Nigeria Police Force. Disu made the proposal on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, while delivering a lecture to participants of Senior Executive Course 48, 2026, at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State. In the lecture, titled “The Orange Economy and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Role of the Nigeria Police Force,” the IGP examined the link between security, entrepreneurship and the growth of Nigeria’s creative industries. He said sectors including film, music, fashion, publishing, advertising, digital content, gaming, tourism, heritage and the arts could contribute significantly to employment, investment and national development if creators and their intellectual assets were adequately protected. According t...

Lagos 2027: Rhodes-Vivour and the Curious Resurrection of a 2023 Argument

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Seye Oladejo                           Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour By Seye Oladejo, Lagos APC Spokesman Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has apparently decided that the road to Lagos Government House in 2027 must pass through the courtroom of 2023. His latest intervention questioning the eligibility of the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, over an alleged United States oath of allegiance is not a new discovery. It is a resurrection of an argument that was already deployed in the litigation surrounding the 2023 Lagos governorship election. There is nothing wrong with asking legitimate questions about the constitutional qualification of a political candidate. Indeed, eligibility for public office is a serious matter and should always be subjected to the law. But there is something decidedly curious about presenting an old allegation as though it were a fresh political revelation. Rhodes-Vivour himself has acknowledged that...

Court Clears Way For UI Students To Resume As CAPPA Demands End To ‘Persecution’

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The Federal High Court in Ibadan has struck out an application by the University of Ibadan seeking to stop three student activists from attending classes pending the determination of an appeal over their disciplinary sanctions. The development has prompted the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) to call on the university management to end what it described as the continued persecution of the students and comply with an earlier judgment ordering their reinstatement. The case, Suit No. FHC/IB/CS/87/2025, involves students Ayodele Aduwo, Mide Gbadegesin and Linus Adaoma, who faced disciplinary action following a 2024 protest against an increase in university fees. On April 15, 2026, Justice N. E. Maha of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, quashed the university’s action against the students and ordered their immediate reinstatement. The university subsequently appealed the judgment and applied for a stay of execution, seeking an order that would prevent the stude...

Kidnapping Economy: How Ransom Became Nigeria’s Largest Informal Industry

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Dr. Victor Adoji By Victor Adoji Kidnapping has evolved into one of Nigeria’s most lucrative criminal enterprises, with ransom payments running into enormous sums and a growing network of financiers, informants, negotiators, logistics providers and other facilitators sustaining the illegal trade. The development has transformed kidnapping from isolated acts of criminality into what increasingly resembles an underground economy, where human beings are turned into commodities and families are forced to pay for the freedom and survival of their loved ones. Available estimates indicate that Nigerians were asked to pay or paid extraordinary sums in ransom in recent years. One estimate linked to National Bureau of Statistics-related reporting put ransom payments between May 2023 and April 2024 at about ₦2.23 trillion. Although the exact amount actually paid remains difficult to independently establish, the figure highlights the enormous financial burden imposed on households and communities ...

Delta Police Raid Criminal Hideouts, Arrest Two Suspects, Recover Guns, Ammunition, Daggers, Battle Axe

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The Delta State Police Command has intensified its crackdown on illegal firearms and violent crime following the arrest of two suspects and the recovery of two pump-action guns, 18 live cartridges and other dangerous items in separate intelligence-led operations. The operations, carried out by operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) and Command Anti-Cult Unit (CACU), were conducted in Obiaruku and Ndokwa West Local Government Area of the state. According to a statement by the State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, in the first operation on September 12, operatives of the VCRU stormed a residence in Obiaruku following credible intelligence that the occupant was in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The suspect, identified as 36-year-old Joel Iwomi of Umuebu, Obiaruku, allegedly resisted the operatives' attempt to gain access to the premises. The police eventually gained entry and conducted a search, recovering one pump-action gun and 18 live cartri...