JuanDeDios: I actually get the argument you made about ACCEPTANCE. Yeah, it's politics - brilliance isn't enough. I know politics will win, but I've made my nomination anyway. Hopefully, the godfathers are reading.
Yea, I know nothing about HMO. He could be better than Aganga, for all we know. I only said I don't trust people who conduct their lives like him.
Lol. Yea, I only said what I'd do if it were up to me. I'm not one of THEM, so it's not. I'm one of the masses, but I'm allowed to muse randomly and speak my thoughts aloud, am I not? You're taking this too seriously.
How do you know that I am taking this too seriously? How do you know that I am taking it seriously at all?
But if they're looking for the best (they say Tinubu is good at headhunting the best), I'd personally nominate Aganga. And not that I'd trust someone who hyphenates his father's first name to the last to form a compound so everyone would know whose son he is without asking. But that's just me.
Since you said that he is the best (according to you) and you've told us what you will do, simply create a political party and nominate him for the governorship position and we'll all see how he will win and perform.
JuanDeDios: Isn't Ambode from Osun or something? Aganga was nominated to the federal cabinet from Lagos. What's not in doubt is his brilliance. I followed the news closely in the Jonathan era and he was easily the best minister even though Akin Adesina got all the media spotlight. Arthur-Worrey used to hold important post in Tinubu's Lagos, so I'm a bit bit surprised. Who's HMO?
Aganga is from Edo and Fashola protested against his appointment
Fola Arthur-Worrey was solicitor-general and then chairman of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.
Hakeem Muri-Okunola (HMO) is thr son of Justice Muri Okunola. He was the head of the civil service of Lagos State before Tinubu appointed him as his principal private secretary when he became president.
There have been rumours for many years that HMO will be the next governor of Lagos.
'Not my father': Miss SA finalist Chidimma Adetshina dispels rumours following viral video
⚫️ Miss SA hopeful Chidimma Adetshina has denied any connection to an unidentified man interviewed in viral clip from the Ben Stesh podcast.
⚫️ The interview extract featured a Nigerian man that was mistaken for her father speaking about his time in the UK where he met his South African wife.
⚫️ Kenny Kunene, in his capacity as the deputy president of the Patriotic Alliance, said the party was exploring its legal options to determine Adetshina's citizenship.
Miss South Africa 2024 finalist Chidimma Adetshina who has been at the center of controversy, clarified that her father was not the person featured in the widely circulated clip from an interview on the Ben Stesh podcast.
"It has been brought to my attention that there is an alleged interview going around about my father. The individual in question, claiming and impersonating to be my dad, is not my father," she wrote on social media.
The snippet has added fuel to the ongoing frenzy about the top 11 finalist's eligibility to participate in the pageant because of her Nigerian father and South African mother's Mozambican descent.
In the interview, the unknown man stated he was a Nigerian man with a South African wife whom he met in the United Kingdom.
He said they first came to South Africa for the World Cup in 2010 and left a few weeks later before returning to the country in 2013 and tying the knot with his wife in the same year. The man also said he lived in the country for 10 years, without disclosing the years, and had children who lived in South Africa.
Several people who had heard the clip thinking that they were listening to her father speaking highlighted how his timelines went against what Adetshina shared with Sowetan's SMag and the Miss South Africa Organisation about herself and her parents.
She told the publication that her parents met in Johannesburg in the late 1990s and settled in Pimville, Soweto, at the maternal grandmother's home. The 23-year-old was also born at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in the early 2000s.
Addressing the matter related to Adetshina's citizenship, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza said South African citizenship was obtained by birth, descent or naturalisation earlier this week.
Per the government, one automatically qualified for citizenship if they were born in South Africa to at least one parent who was a South African citizen or South African permanent residency holder and if they were adopted by a South African citizen.
Weighing in on the matter again on Wednesday evening interview with Robert Marawa on 947, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said while he was still waiting for all the facts, no foreign nationals should participate in the Miss South Africa pageant.
"I hold the view that no Nigerian, no Zimbabwean, no Italian and no American should become Miss South Africa," he said.
"Why? There's Miss World for those things, and there's Miss Universe for those things, but Miss South Africa is an ambassador of the country, a person who will export our culture and way of life to the world, a person who will go and make sure people want to visit the country."
Meanwhile, Kenny Kunene, deputy president of McKenzie's Patriotic Alliance, said the party was considering its options to establish Adetshina's citizenship.
"As the Patriotic Alliance, we are therefore pursuing legal avenues to get to the bottom of this matter, including Adetshina's participation, if necessary," Kunene said.
Some Nigerian athletes were disqualified from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because Nigerian officials failed to ensure that they underwent the minimum required drug tests.
Nigeria had been put in category A in the drug testing schedule and this meant that athletes from Nigeria had to meet certain criteria. Specifically, an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than 3 weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event. Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games. Nigerian officials failed to inform the athletes or ensure that they were tested.
Consequently Knowledge Omovoh, Ruth Usoro, Favor Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Glory Patrick, Yinka Ajayi, Tima Godbless, Chidi Okezie, Chioma Onyekwere and Annette Echikunwoke could not participate in the games.
This is what a South African tweeted last week.
Kwena Molekwa @Miz_Ruraltarain
She was set to represent NIGERIA in 2020 Olympics but Her Name Annette Nneka Echikunwoke betrayed her and was disqualified along tribal lines with nine other athletes, The Nigerian Athletic Federation claimed she didn't meet the requirements and omitted her name.
This year 2024, she changed her allegiance to the United States to compete at Paris
Now, she made history for herself, becoming the first woman in America to win an Olympic silver medals in the women's hammer throw. A country so divided along tribal lines can not make headway. Nigerians want to unite in South Africa while tribalism kills their rotten country.
This video went viral in Nigeria during the End Bad Governance Protests. It showed some people eating and drinking. They were speaking in Igbo Language and they said that they were not joining the protest and this (eating and drinking) was their own form of protest.
The video also went viral in South Africa days later. Some South Africans claimed that the video showed Nigerians in South Africa talking about the Miss SA contest and saying that they would protest if Chidimma Adetshina did not win the pageant.
Footage does not show Nigerians planning protest in support of Miss SA contestant
AFP Nigeria / AFP South Africa Thu, August 8, 2024
With only days to go until the crowning of Miss South Africa 2024, much of the talk leading up to the final has centred on the eligibility of Chidimma Adetshina, a contestant who was born to parents from Nigeria and Mozambique. On social media, a video circulated with a claim that it showed a group of Nigerians in South Africa making plans to stage a protest if Adetshina was disqualified. But this is false; the footage is unrelated and shows a group of men speaking in Igbo about demonstrations in Nigeria against President Bola Tinubu and his government. “Nigerians in South Africa say that they are planning to protest and fight if their Nigerian Chidina (sic) is disqualified from entering Miss South Africa pageant, even if it means through blood and sweat,” reads an X post published with a video on July 31, 2024.
The footage, taken at night, shows a group of men, some in West African attire, preparing to have a big meal. A man addresses the group in Igbo and says the word “protest” several times in the short clip.
The post’s caption also claims the men said they had the backing of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — a radical leftist party which won 39 parliamentary seats in the South African presidential elections held on May 29, 2024.
The EFF is often associated with immigration issues because of its favourable stance on pan-Africanism and dismantling borders on the continent.
The party condemned “afrophobic attacks” against Adetshina but it did not announce any support for such a protest
Unrelated footage
AFP Fact Check’s Nigeria correspondent confirmed the men in the video are speaking Igbo and sarcastically lauding Tinubu’s leadership.
“We are protesting against the leadership of Tinubu. We are having our protest here. Protest of one person, one full chicken. His leadership favours us. We Igbos say Tinubu’s leadership is good…The highest protest you can ever see.”
There is no mention in the video of either the Miss South Africa beauty contest or Adetshina.
Igbo people are primarily from southeastern Nigeria and are traditionally subsistence farmers
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – a separatist group pushing for independence in Nigeria’s southeast region – warned Igbo people on July 31, 2024, against joining anti-Tinubu protests planned for August, not as a show of support for the president but rather to further their calls for a referendum on secession from the country.
Nigerian security forces cracked down on rallies spurred by economic hardship after thousands of people began taking to the streets on August 1 to protest government policies and the high cost of living.
Pageant controversy
As reported by AFP, Adetshina, 23, who was due to compete in the Miss South Africa finals this weekend, suffered a torrent of online abuse over her Nigerian heritage.
She previously told local media she was born in Soweto to a Nigerian father and a South African mother of Mozambican descent.
Her participation in the pageant stoked anti-foreigner sentiment in the nation, which has witnessed violent, and at times deadly, attacks on immigrants in the past.
On August 7, the pageant was thrown into further turmoil when the government accused Adetshina’s mother of fraud and identity theft.
An investigation into her citizenship by the Home Affairs ministry uncovered “prima facie indications” that Adetshina’s mother might have committed fraud and stolen the identity of a South African woman after the Miss SA hopeful was born, the ministry said.
“Reasons exist to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by the person recorded in Home Affairs records as Chidimma Adetshina’s mother,” said Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
The ministry said it was obtaining legal advice on the implications for Adetshina’s citizenship, adding the contestant did not participate in the alleged unlawful actions as she was an infant at the time.
A day later, Adetshina announced her withdrawal from the competition.
“I have made the difficult decision to withdraw myself from the competition for the safety of my family and I,” she wrote on Instagram.
Today, Governor @jidesanwoolu received his predecessor in office, HE @AkinwunmiAmbode who came on a courtesy visit. The two leaders held a deep conversation around the development of Lagos State, her economic trajectory and position as socio-political stabiliser in the sub region. Mr. Governor continues to receive support and encouragement of well meaning Lagosians and Nigerians on the way he’s been handling the different vertical of development, including security, economy, culture and tourism.
Today, I welcomed my brother and predecessor, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, back to Lagos House on a courtesy visit.
Our conversation centred around the future of Lagos and building on the solid foundation already in place. I value his perspective as we all work together to ensure that Lagos remains on the path of growth and development.
Look at that airport official clapping and dancing, does she not realize that the international passport is an official Nigerian property and what the lady did is a criminal offence? @BTOofficial @nigimmigration please correct me if I'm wrong.
The Nigerian passport is not a sheet of paper and should never be treated as such. Anyone who tears the Nigerian passport should definitely be jailed! I am happy that the @nigimmigration is making that clear to ruthless Nigerians that this will never be tolerated.
NIGERIA IMMIGRATION SERVICE INVESTIGATES TORN PASSPORT INCIDENT AT MMIA, LAGOS
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has launched formal investigation, following the circulation of a video on social media, showing a female traveler destroying a Nigerian Standard Passport at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The individual involved has been identified as Mrs. Favour Igiebor, holding passport number A11990869.
In a statement, Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kenneth Udo says the Comptroller General of Immigration has directed that Mrs. Favour Igiebor be invited for further investigation.
If the allegations are substantiated, the statement notes, that her action would constitute a breach of Section 10(b) of the Immigration Act 2015 (as amended), with corresponding penalties outlined under Section 10(h) of the same Act.
Udo reiterates that the Nigeria Immigration Service remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding the provisions of the Immigration Act in the interest of national security, and to preserve the dignity and integrity of the nation’s legal instruments.
Nigerian Immigration Service @nigimmigration
PRESS RELEASE
NIGERIA IMMIGRATION SERVICE INVESTIGATES TORN PASSPORT INCIDENT AT MMIA, LAGOS.
naptu2: This same gang kidnapped a popular businessman, Ejike Autos (Ejike Conversion), in Ladipo Market last year and demanded ₦500 million ransom. The incident was reported on Nairaland.
This is a CCTV footage of an attack on a supermarket.
We see the suspect walking out of the supermarket. It seems like he came in to make sure the coast was clear and that their target, the owner, was in the shop.
A few minutes after walking out of the shop, the suspect walks back in, but this time he has another man, who is armed with a rifle, with him. The armed man fires a shot into the ground as they enter the supermarket.
Then we see the two men walk out of the supermarket with the owner.
A few minutes later another member of the gang comes back in. He has some of the shoppers and employees that were outside with him (they have their hands up). The kidnapper stays with them for a few minutes, probably to ensure that they do not alert the authorities or do anything to stop them.
Watch the video here:
Video: Lagos billionaire-kidnappers: Details of final operation before Ladipo Market raid pic.twitter.com/LTTeG2ooeu
The police say that the kidnapper that came to check if the coast was clear was one of the kidnappers that was killed during an operation in Mushin last month.
Lagos billionaire-kidnappers: Police identify another key gang member, uncover details of last operation
August 10, 2024
*Described as the sharpest shooter, marksman in the gang
*Details of final operation before Ladipo Market raid
By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor
Detectives from the Special Squad Unit of the Lagos State Police Command have uncovered the identity of a key member of the notorious gang of billionaire kidnappers killed during their raid at Ladipo Market last month.
Previously, only one gang leader, the prominent Nollywood actor/producer Prince Henry Ode from Port Harcourt, had been identified, together with about four members of his colleagues in the film making industry. who were also involved in the violent confrontation with the police.
Extensive Case Files in Lagos
Recent investigations led by CSP Kehinde Oni revealed a staggering 42 case files related to the gang’s operations across various police stations in Lagos.
“It was a shocking discovery,” CSP Oni remarked. “The sheer volume of evidence against the gang underscores the extent of their criminal activities.”
Details of the Final Operation
Before their raid on Ladipo Market, the gang had kidnapped a wealthy female supermarket owner from Ago Okota, extorting N68 million in ransom.
CCTV footage from the supermarket showed an informant, later identified as Uzoamaka, entering the store to scout the area. “Our investigation revealed that Uzoamaka played a crucial role in this operation,” said a police source. “He was seen in the footage ensuring the coast was clear before the gang moved in.”
Notorious Sharpshooter
Uzoamaka is renowned in criminal circles for his exceptional marksmanship and specialized training in arms handling.
“He was known as one of the sharpest shooters in the criminal world,” said another police official. “His skills were highly regarded, but we had no idea he was connected to the kidnappings in Lagos until now.”
During the Ladipo Market operation, Uzoamaka fired the first shot when a decoy car blocked the gang’s path. “The shot he fired was intended to intimidate and eliminate anyone obstructing their escape,” explained CSP Oni. “It struck the car’s headrest but narrowly missed our officer.”
Ongoing Investigation
Detectives continue their efforts to identify all victims involved in the Ladipo raid. However, families of the deceased have been reluctant to come forward.
“We’re working tirelessly to uncover the full extent of the gang’s operations,” stated a police insider. “It’s clear that many have been hiding information, but we’re confident that further investigation will expose everything and reveal the complete truth.”
Politics › Re: Akinwumi Ambode Visits Babajide Sanwo-Olu At Lagos House, Ikeja by naptu2(op): 8:28pm On Aug 13, 2024
