Folarin Kehinde

The residence of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, located in Lagos, has been destroyed by a fierce fire.

Leading Reporters on Tuesday learnt that the entire building was reduced to ashes, with no belongings or possessions spared.

According to report, the fire is believed to have originated from the roof, preceded by an unusual noise that initially led family members present to mistake it for the sounds of domestic animals foraging.

However, within moments, the building erupted into a massive conflagration, forcing the occupants to hastily flee, carrying only what they could on their backs.

Despite the swift response of both community members and the fire brigade, their efforts proved futile in containing the blaze. Regrettably, the situation continued to deteriorate beyond salvation.

None of the affected family members have released a statement regarding the incident as at press time.

The Ogun State Commander of the Amotekun Corps, David Akinremi, has died.

Akinremi, a retired Commissioner of Police, was said to have died on Monday evening.

The late Amotekun commander was appointed in 2021 by Governor Dapo Abiodun as the pioneer Commander of the newly established Amotekun Corps.

It was gathered that Akinremi had been nursing an undisclosed ailment for quite some time until he breathed his last on Monday.

Confirming his death, the Commander of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps, also known as So-Safe Corps, Soji Ganzallo, described Akinremi’s death as a rude shock.

Ganzallo said this in a statement issued from the office of the Director of Information and Public Relations of the Corps, Assistant Commander Moruf Yusuf.

He said that the death of CP Akinremi (retd.) is indeed a very big loss to Ogun State.

The statement read, “Uncle Dave, as I used to call him, was a very open, blunt, wonderful, large-hearted, intelligent, strategic, adaptable, adept and adventurous person.

“He was a man of integrity, who had passion for the security job, with his love for Ogun State and Nigeria at large.”

Ganzallo noted that until the commander’s last breath, he believed Ogun State would stand out among states in the country, security and safety-wise.

A former Nigerian state governor who is accused of stealing public funds while in office has ‘donated’ millions of naira to residents for Sallah celebrations.

Bello Matawalle, who lost his second term bid as Zamfara State governor and left office on 29 May, is being investigated by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, for allegedly stealing billions of naira of state funds while in office.

Apart from graft allegations, Mr Matawalle’s government also failed to pay workers’ salaries for three months.

However, on Sunday, the state’s Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tukur Danfulani, in a statement, said the ex-governor donated N200 million to his supporters in the state for Sallah celebrations.

Mr Danfulani said the beneficiaries include party members, stakeholders, women, youth groups and organisations in the state.

Mr Danfulani, who is the chairman of the distribution committee, said other beneficiaries of the support were orphans, the less privileged, Islamic scholars, media practitioners, and social media influencers and handlers.

“The gesture is aimed at assisting people to celebrate the upcoming 2023 Eid-el-Kabir festival with ease.

“The committee had already started the distribution of the money to all the beneficiaries,” he said.

Mr Danfulani, who thanked Mr Matawalle for the gesture, described it as timely, saying it will cushion the economic hardship among the citizens in the state, especially at the grassroots.

The party chairman promised that the committee would ensure that all the intended beneficiaries receive the donation before the Sallah celebration on Wednesday.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg ‘agree to Cage Fight’ in Las Vegas

Two of the world’s most high-profile technology billionaires – Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg – have agreed to fight each other in a cage match.

The Twitter and Facebook owners have traded barbs in recent weeks after it emerged that Mr Zuckerberg was planning to launch a competitor to the social media platform Mr Musk bought last year.

But until Wednesday their sparring was purely verbal, as Mr Musk responded to a Twitter post about Mr Zuckerberg’s “Twitter rival” by saying “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb”.

When another user commented that Mr Zuckerberg “does Jiu Jitsu now”, Mr Musk replied:

Mr Zuckerberg quickly replied with a screenshot on Instagram, appearing to throw down the gauntlet with the caption: “Send me location.”

Mr Musk then responded by suggesting the “Vegas Octagon” as a potential venue, referring to the main fighting arena of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In an apparent confirmation that the possible fight is serious, a Meta spokesman said: “The story speaks for itself.”

The smart money might be on Mr Zuckerberg in a fight: he recently boasted of completing a punishing fitness challenge called “The Murph”, while Mr Musk jokingly referred to himself as “the walrus”

President Bola Tinubu has suspended the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

According to report, Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms.

A statement from the Federal Ministry of Information reads:

PRESIDENT TINUBU SUSPENDS EMEFIELE FROM OFFICE AS CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect.

This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.

Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms.

Willie Bassey
Director, Information
For: Secretary to the Government of the Federation

It was cries, tears and woes in National Hospital Abuja on Sunday as many lives were reportedly lost following the sudden and mysterious fire outbreak that engulfed the generator house of the hospital.

According to an eye witness, trouble started few minutes after the death of a young boy simply identified as David Umar. The boy who was allegedly knocked down by a hit and run Hilux driver along Airport Road, was brought into the hospital by a good Samaritan. It was reported that the hospital nurses did not attend to David, claiming that doctors were on strike and insisting on getting a police report.

It was reported that David who has lost so much blood eventually gave up the ghost.

The source said that soon after David gave up the ghost, flames of fire were noticed around the power house of the hospital and all the generators were caught up in the inferno, thereby cutting off power supply to the hospital.

This was said to have led to the deaths of many patients, mostly children kept in incubating machines.

Others hit by the unfortunate incident were those under life support machines and oxygen.

The number of deaths recorded was unknown as at time of filing this report, but unconfirmed report said that no fewer than ten people lost their lives in a single day in the hospital.