DelilahMakinde: BREAKING: 90-Year-Old Opral Benson, Lagos Socialite, Reportedly Found Safe In Liberia After Going Missing
Opral Benson, the Iya Oge of Lagos who was earlier declared missing, has reportedly been found in Liberia.
Her family had announced that the 90‑year‑old socialite’s whereabouts were unknown for more than 48 hours.
“They have located her in Liberia. I think she might be suffering from dementia due to old age,” a source close to the family said on Tuesday evening.
In a notice issued on Sunday, the family disclosed that Benson was last seen on January 13 and had not returned home since.
They described the matter as time‑sensitive and appealed to the public for any information that could assist in locating her.
“The family reports that Mama Opral Benson has been missing since Tuesday, January 13, 2026. She has not returned home and her current whereabouts are unknown,” the notice reads.
“Anyone who has seen her, or has any information, no matter how small, is urged to contact us immediately.
“Call 08037039214. Alternatively, please report to the nearest police station. This is time-sensitive. Please share immediately.”
However, SaharaReporters’ attempts to reach the family through the phone number provided in the notice were unsuccessful, as calls went unanswered and a text message sent to the line received no reply.
Born on February 7, 1935, Opral Benson is an Americo‑Liberian and Nigerian entrepreneur and socialite, renowned for holding the prestigious chieftaincy title of Iya Oge of Lagos.
She married Chief T.O.S. Benson in 1962, a union that lasted until his passing.
A former university administrator, she has played a significant role in Nigeria’s fashion and beauty industry, managing a school in Lagos and serving as director of the Nigerian affiliate of Johnson’s Products.
In 2012, she was appointed Honorary Consul of Liberia in Lagos, further cementing her influence across both nations.
I'm glad that the iconic titled Chief, "Iya Oge" of Lagos is OK. However, what was she doing in Liberia (which is her original country of birth) WITHOUT close family members [based in her husband's ancestral homeland of Ikorodu or elsewhere in Lagos State and in the Diaspora] knowing about her scheduled movements?
She indeed requires the presence of close family members and caregivers to monitor her movementsand overall well being as a nonagenerian in order to prevent a repeat of this kind of incident.
It is a private business and they can locate wherever they like
More than half of the gold in the world is refined in Switzerland
Fact check my claim
Switzerland has zero gold deposits
I don't need to FACT-CHECK you.
I'm on the same page with everything you posted right ABOVE.
Singapore has absolutely NO major oil and gas reserves, yet it's a major hub for the petrochemical industry where billions of USD (way more than Nigeria makes yearly) is generated annually. Value addition is key in every emerging economic ecosystem. Nigeria has NO business being a significant underachiever and past governments from especially the military dictatorships years are clearly to blame for laying the foundations of mass stagnation which those of us who are well-informed and well-traveled have the power of discernment (or the ability) to see a turn around under the current Nigerian Federal Government and some State Governments.
TheRareGem1: Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Tuesday paid an unannounced visit to the Nigerian Immigration Service passport office in Gwagwalada, Abuja, where he criticised delays in passport processing and warned applicants against making extra payments.
The minister inspected operations at the VIP and Children section of the passport office and engaged both officials and applicants, questioning why applicants were still waiting long after the office was expected to commence operations.
During the visit, Tunji-Ojo got feedback from applicants and cautioned them against paying money outside official fees, insisting that Nigerians had already paid fully for passport services.
“I don’t want to hear that you are collecting money for diesel or paper
Nigerians have paid for their passports completely. Serve them diligently,” the Minister said.
He expressed displeasure that only a few applicants had been attended to hours after opening time, despite the section being designated for expedited services.
“So it means that by 9:30am, I expect to see at least one or two applicants here. Because I can see some people waiting downstairs, and our responsibility is to be efficient,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo questioned officials on the pace of enrolment and biometric capturing, calculating that each applicant should be processed within minutes.
“How long does it take to do an enrolment? Three minutes. So three times seven, that is twenty-one minutes,” he said.
Immigration officers admitted that although the office was scheduled to open by 8am, operations began later after the generator was switched on at about 9am.
We are supposed to open by eight,” an official said, explaining that power was put on after applicants arrived.
The minister criticised the practice of completing enrolment for all applicants before commencing biometric capturing, insisting that both processes should be carried out simultaneously to reduce waiting time.
“It doesn’t make sense to me. People are there waiting.
“Some of these people still need to go to work. Some of these people have other things to do,” Tunji-Ojo added. “So why must you wait until you enrol everybody before you do capturing?,” the minister said.
He described the situation as unacceptable, stressing that delays defeated the purpose of service delivery.
“You are wasting people’s precious time. Time is money. Time is expensive. It is unacceptable,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo also faulted the under-utilisation of the VIP and Children section, noting that applicants waiting in other sections could have been redirected to ease congestion.
“It will not cost you anything if you use this place for them,” he said.
The minister reiterated that passport offices must prioritise efficiency and fairness.
“Nigeria has no VIP. When you wear this uniform, you wear a uniform of sacrifice. You are here to work for the people,” he said.
The level of gross inefficiencies in these agencies is unacceptable due to the loss of several man hours. This is largely why Nigeria is still stuck as a significant underachiever BUT that can be reversed with the effective deployment of more advanced automations and e-governance. It's NOT rocket science.
However, Olubunmi Ojo's recorded physical visit is an eye opener and that can boost productivity in many of the agencies he is overseeing as a young Minister.
Cmanforall: I’d do this unannounced visit, without sirens 🚨, if I’m a Governor
Sometimes people in top positions want things to work, but the clerks, secretaries and other lower level staff will be frustrating their efforts
True that.
The bolded in your post is succinctly stated. Such a largely irresponsible set of people at the lower and middle cadres always seek to reap from operational inneficiences and where they didn't sow.
QuinQ: Which goes to prove, perception/packaging matters - what people believe as the truth, not the real truth!
Still, experience and common sense will tell you that tiny people NEED to be aggressive to avoid being bullied - they perfect ways to scare/ psychologically dominate so as to avoid being attacked. They psychologically attack/dominate first to avoid being physically attacked.
So the complex is true even if the Napoleon part is not!
Indeed, having undergone various forms of bullying in their neighborhoods or at elementary schools, naturally MOST vertically challenged people subconsciously become aware of their limitations and become verbally and physically defensive down the road BUT some are fortunate to overcome such defensiveness through self-awareness programs.
That FALSE image of a "very short" Napoleon Bonaparte using the "skipping rope" cracked me up right here. I appreciate the images you attached here and your insights on the subject matter. I didn't even realize that Barack Obama is 6 ft 1 tall... He's tall.
Racoon: Other prominents members of this course include; -Lt Col. Chris Oche. -Colonel Joshua Madaki. -Colonel Sasaniya Oresanya( former governor of Oyo State during the IBB/Abacha military era ). -Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi (Former Chief of Defence Staff).
-Brigadier General Raji Alegbe Rasaki. -Major General Abdulkareem Adisa. -Colonel Tunde Ogbeha. -Major General Timothy Shelpidi. -Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju. -Brigadier General David Alegbe Mark.
Most of them ended up becoming Military Governors, Ministers & Senators etc. How time indeed flies.
An impressive list of easily recognizable Army officers.
I know all of them (they all rose to senior positions) from the General Buhari to the IBB/Abacha military dictatorship years.
Racoon: A passing-out parade photo of the 4th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, taken 58 years ago.
In front of the standing cadets is one of the indigenous commandants of the NDA in the early post independence Nigeria, Major General David Ejoor (Rtd), along with other principal officers of the Academy.
The Regular Course 4 graduated in 1971. Cadet officer Ogbomo won all prizes in academics and military, including the sword of honour, gold and silver wares five in all.
That record has not been broken to this day. Officer Cadet Ogboma; standing middle row first from left. "Pass Out Parade of the NDA Course 4 Regular Cadets in 1971( Who Can You Identify?)."
The Regular Course 4 graduated in 1971. Cadet officer Ogbomo won all prizes in academics and military, including the sword of honour, gold and silver wares five in all.
That record has not been broken to this day. Officer Cadet Ogboma; standing middle row first from left.
AMINDA: Yet, Shettima is not a fula but Tinubu is scheming to replace him with Kwankwaso. Keep the comments coming, I assure you that they are quietly being noted. Meanwhile, when you meet fulas in the North, you try to appease them by antagonising Igbos, your fellow Southerners.
Stay out of my mention with your usual paranoid disinformation here. You're making absolutely NO sense! Dr. Kach Ononuju (who was born in Northern Nigeria and is a close associate of Peter Obi) also stated the same things I posted here about the Fula agenda and he warned Peter to be careful. Get out of my mention this minute!
Jayhome24: And anyone who insult Tinubu mean well for Nigeria ba?
No need to be dragging with you all Deji Adeyanju and Sowore already gave answers to you all.
I have be asking till date for all these losers to show me what obi did in Ansmbra for 8 years I mean any 5 project he obi started himself and finished? I said it categorically I wasn't a toddler when obi was a govenor infact at a point Anambrans rejected him and it was Ikemba who came out publicly and begged for him and said they should give obi the chance to honour him Ikemba so when I see people talking about this Lamba failure I just laughed.
For Atiku I like him before because I atikulated then but got angry with him that when Buhari his fellow Fulani came to power and nearly chewed us raw for 8 years this man dissappeared no single pim from him and obi we suffered helplessly in Buhari and fulani hands and these two were in opposition but left us helplessly and now coming to tell me they are saint they both should f e c k to hell.
Tinubu is 4+4=8 or nobody else....
Before I forget atiku still owing us $600m from Nigeria assets he sold and ran away with the money to Dubai we will ask him soon so let him be ready...
2027 is just a year away e go do you all.lije a movie.
NO Fula should even be elected into any top political positions for years to come based on how they mismanaged Nigeria and oversaw the foreign Fula militia bandits who relentlessly eliminated people from Hausaland and other parts of Nigeria.
The majority Hausas have vowed in videos online NOT to elect any Fula because no single Hausa man or woman has been elected as a President since 1960. Several Hausa States of the North West are actually being governed by the minority Fula Governors.
Kwankwaso is a Fula (his father was the Sarkin Fulani of Kwankwaso village in Kano), Ganduje, El-Rufai, Datti Baba-Ahmed and Hakeem Baba-Ahmed are Fulas from Mauritania, Atiku Abubakar and many more have positioned themselves in ADC as a decoy to get back to power and continue with the Fula political hegemony.
helinues: But anyone who attack president Tinubu must be a real Patriot
Are we sure the opposition are still reasoning like normal human beings sha
I like your intelligent use of dialectics there.
That post from the ADC person is totally irresponsible and this is how these opposition politicians and their minions heat up the polityin order to destabilize Nigeria for their own puerile benefit.
QuinQ: I actually know a case like this and the wife is terrified of the tiny husband who has Napoleon complex
The supposed "domineering or aggressive attitude attributed to short men as a form of "overcompensation" for being physically small or short is often displayed by tall men (above 5 ft 11) as well who can ALSO be very cocky and ruthless. This is based off of credible research by sociologists and psychologists.
Second, Napoleon Bonaparte who's parents were from the Italian-speaking part of France [Corsica] was 5 ft 6 tall (which was an average height for men of his era) so the term "Napoleon Complex" was used as a form of propaganda to demonize him as a "very short man" by satirists from especially Britain which was a military rival of France.
The most important thing is for men and women to develop their "emotional intelligence" and that would enable them to identify people who share common values with them.
Tbh, being of average height or being too tall doesn't determine how successful a long-term relationship would become. My biological father's immediate older brother is in his 80s in terms of age (just like my father) and he's shorter in height than his wife who he married several decades ago and they are still married with several successful children and grandchildren.
Lovelink1991: Do you think the woman will give man the respect he deserve as a husband or this is a red flag that the man has entered? David and Goliath
She's definitely over 6 feet tall and found love in a young man who is way BELOW her height. It's NOT a new phenomenon though as several instances like that have occured in world history.
Tunaji: On 25 September, Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, died aged 78 in Havana, Cuba, according to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cuban officials cited the reason for her death as old age and health conditions. Shakur, a longstanding symbol of resistance and Black liberation, spent several decades exiled in Cuba after she was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1977 and escaped from prison.
“At approximately 1:15pm on September 25th, my mother, Assata Shakur, took her last earthly breath,” her daughter Kakuya Shakur wrote on Facebook. “Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I’m feeling at this time.”
Born JoAnne Deborah Byron on 16 July 1947, in Queens, New York, she was later raised in Wilmington, North Carolina during a time of racial segregation. She dropped out of high school and moved back to New York to work a low-wage job. Her life changed in 1964 when a conversation with African students about communism and Vietnam challenged her views. “We’re taught at such an early age to be against communists, yet most of us don’t have the faintest idea what communism is,” Shakur wrote in her 1987 memoir, Assata: An Autobiography. “Only a fool lets somebody else tell him who his enemy is.”
In the 1960s, she attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and then the City College of New York and became involved with Black activist group Golden Drums society, where she advocated for Black studies courses. She married fellow student activist Louis Chesimard in 1967 and divorced in 1970, the same year that she joined the Black Panther Party.
“One of the most important things the Party did was to make it really clear who the enemy was,” Shakur wrote in her memoir, “not the white people, but the capitalistic, imperialistic oppressors.”
In 1971, she changed her name to Assata Olugbala Shakur to better reflect her identity as an African woman – Assata meaning “she who struggles,” in Swahili, Olugbala meaning “love for the people,” in Yoruba, and Shakur meaning “the thankful,” in Arabic.
Shakur quit the Black Panther Party not long after she joined, citing her dissatisfaction with their lack of knowledge of Black history and the discouragement of criticism toward the party. She later joined the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a Marxist-Leninist Black nationalist group that fought for Black freedom through an armed front. From 1971 to 1973, she was charged with multiple crimes along with other members, including bank robberies, and the murder of a drug dealer, all of which were acquitted or dismissed.
On 2 May 1973, a state trooper, James Harper, pulled over a car she was in for a failed rear light, with another trooper, Werner Foerster, in a second patrol car. Following a gunfire exchange, the Black Liberation Army member Zayd Malik Shakur and Foerster died. Shakur was convicted of murdering Foerster in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, BLA members disguised as visitors helped her break out of Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. She later appeared in Cuba, where Fidel Castro’s government granted her asylum.
In 2013, Shakur was the first woman to land on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists list. While opponents vilified Shakur, her life and memoir inspired racial justice movements for decades.
OLAADEGBU: Nigerian Ex-Petroleum Minister Diezani Appears In London Court Over Alleged £100,000 Bribery Charges
Former Nigerian petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, appeared before the Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday for the preliminary hearing of her bribery case.
The court appearance was part of early proceedings ahead of her full trial relating to allegations connected to her time in office.
Alison-Madueke served as Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 and was the first woman to hold the position, as well as the first female president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The case was listed on the cause list for Court 8 before Justice Thornton.
The preliminary hearing took place ahead of the substantive trial, which is scheduled to commence on January 26, 2026.
Preliminary proceedings, including technical matters and jury selection, began this week, with Alison-Madueke in attendance.
The 65-year-old has been on bail since she was first arrested in London in October 2015. She has denied six charges against her.
She was formally charged in 2023 by the UK’s National Crime Agency with offences of accepting bribes between 2011 to 2015.
“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the NCA said at the time.
According to the indictment, Alison-Madueke benefitted from at least £100,000 ($134,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, and the use of multiple London properties.
The charges also detailed financial rewards including furniture, renovation work, and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees, and gifts from top designer shops such as Louis Vuitton.
The trial is expected to last between 10 and 12 weeks.
Two other individuals are also being prosecuted in connection with the case: Doye Agama, who appeared in court via video link on Monday, and Olatimbo Ayinde, who was present in the dock.
Alison-Madueke was first arrested in London in October 2015 and has been on bail since then. She was formally charged in 2023 by the UK’s National Crime Agency with offences of accepting bribes between 2011 to 2015.
According to the indictment, Alison-Madueke benefitted from at least £100,000 ($134,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, and the use of multiple London properties.
The charges also detailed financial rewards including furniture, renovation work, and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees, and gifts from top designer shops such as Louis Vuitton.
The NCA said at the time, “We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts.”
Richtaiwo: These relics of expired relevance should kindly take several seats and remain firmly glued to them. They parade themselves as “elder statesmen,” yet behave like noisy party mascots who never got the memo that retirement exists.
They’ve had their turns, some squandered it spectacularly, others merely warmed the seat while achieving nothing, and now they hover like political mosquitoes, buzzing around every election with unsolicited wisdom and fossilized opinions.
It’s time they relaxed, sipped their tea, and stopped polluting the public space with interference nobody asked for. Let Nigerians choose their leaders without guidance from political antiques who mistake age for wisdom and nostalgia for relevance.
Moroccans (who are largely Berbers) are NOT ashamed to display racist tendencies towards folks of African descent from the South of the Sahara.
Coincidentally, I posted this video on Moroccan racism right BELOW just yesterday. It's NOT only Morocco that engages in this highly IRRESPONSIBLE Berber/Arab racism where folks of African descent are derogatorily refered to as "abe*d" BUT the ENTIRE North Africa right into Mauritania and Northern Sudan and then into the Arabian Peninsula including the highly IRRESPONSIBLE folks in Arab countries such as Oman in the Gulf region. Some Nigerian women who went to work as domestic staff in Oman and even the UAE have been sexually assaulted and a few even got pregnant in the process. So, people should be WARNED not to seek for fictitious employments in those countries again.
"Racism in Morocco || Black Tourists Narrate Racial Profiling Experiences in Morocco"
I hope Chief Opral Benson who will be 91 years old in 2026 (Born on February 7, 1935) is found on time [or she should have been found by now since she allegedly went missing on January 13, 2026].
She's originally a Liberian citizen BUT when Chief T.O.S. Benson (who is originally an indigene of Ikorodu) went on a visit to Liberia several decades ago, he saw the younger and delectable Opral Benson who eventually married him and she moved over to live in Nigeria.This is the reason why she was appointed the honorary consul of Liberia in Lagos as of 2012.
Newsmills: But the private gold refinery in Lagos,where will the company get the gold from to refine,proximity to raw material and market are crucial to siting of industry.A lying government.
Take note of these FACTS.
Osun and Ogun States for instance have massive gold deposits so there's NOTHING wrong in the private-sector investor setting up the gold refining company in Lagos State.
Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, and Edo States have crude oil and gas deposits and also the second largest bitumen belt in the world after Canada is covered by those four states and there is a plan to rightly set up a bitumen refinery in Ondo State which has the LARGEST deposit of bitumen among the four states of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Edo States. The bitumen reserves or deposit in Nigeria is far more in value than the crude oil reserves.
alphonsoolajide: The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has dismissed claims by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) that the Federal Government is planning to site a gold refinery in Lagos, describing the allegation as false and misleading. Eyes Of Lagos reports,
The NEF, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Prof. Abubakar Jiddere, had alleged that locating a gold refinery in Lagos violated the federal character principle, suggesting government involvement in the project.
However, reacting to the claim in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Segun Tomori, faulted the position of the Northern elders, insisting that the Federal Government neither owns nor established any gold refinery in Lagos.
Tomori clarified that the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, never announced the establishment of a government-owned gold refinery in Lagos or anywhere else in the country.
According to him, the refinery referenced by the NEF is a private initiative undertaken by Kian Smith, a privately owned mining company.
“At no point did Dr Dele Alake state that the Federal Government owns or established a gold refinery in Lagos,” Tomori said.
“The refinery in question is a private venture, and government cannot dictate to a private investor where to locate its business.”
He further explained that the minister had clearly stated that several other gold refineries are in development across the country, all of which are privately owned by different investors.
FG Explains Value-Addition Policy
Tomori noted that the Lagos-based gold refinery reflects the Federal Government’s value-addition policy in the solid minerals sector, which aims to discourage the export of raw minerals and promote local processing and manufacturing.
He described the refinery as an initiative of Kian Smith, led by its founder and Managing Director, Ms Nere Emiko, commending her perseverance and leadership in delivering the project.
“The Federal Government acknowledges the resilience and enterprise of the company’s leadership in bringing a flagship project of this magnitude to fruition,” he added.
The ministry also highlighted other major private-sector investments stimulated by recent reforms in the solid minerals sector, including:
A $600 million lithium processing plant in Nasarawa State
A $400 million rare earth minerals plant also in Nasarawa
A $200 million ASBA lithium plant in Abuja
According to Tomori, these projects have attracted significant foreign investment, created thousands of jobs, and strengthened Nigeria’s non-oil revenue base.
Tomori said reforms introduced by the Ministry over the past two years had created an enabling environment for private-sector participation in mining, adding that projects like the Lagos gold refinery demonstrate the success of those reforms.
He urged the Northern Elders Forum to support ongoing efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to diversify the economy and promote self-reliance.
“The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development will continue to encourage mining companies to establish processing and manufacturing plants across Nigeria,” he said.
“We urge the NEF to join hands with the Federal Government in building a stronger, self-reliant economy that serves the interest of all Nigerians.”
That's a highly impressive response from the Federal Government to those sets of ill-advised and ill-informed so called Northern elders who are actually the minority Fulas. These guys do NOT speak for other ethnicities in the North of Nigeria.
The summary is that GOLD deposits EXIST in Osun and Ogun States for instance and the foreign private-sector investor chose to set up his gold refinery in Lagos State. The gold deposits in Zamfara State are being carted away by Fula bandits and Lakurawa, so, Nigeria hasn't been benefiting from the gold deposits in the North West ethnic Hausa States of Zamfara and a few others where gold is mined.
Politics › Re: Missing Opral Benson Found In Liberia by AlphaTaikun: 8:55pm On Jan 20
