The Central Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Ghana, Superintendent George Appiah-Sakyi recently reiterated that by law, it is an offense for husbands to reject or refuse to eat their wives’ food because this constitutes a form of “emotional abuse”.

According to the police officer, such reculcitrants husbands could be charged for emotional abuse and which has the possibilities of getting them jailed for a maximum of two years or to a fine of 500 penalty units which is equivalent to GH¢6,000 or both when found guilty.

He said this at whiles addressing a sensitization workshop for Muslim Women. During his speech, he also admonished husbands not to beat or molest their wives in anyway even if they are being insulted. He rather suggests that they report the wives to the police station closest by and not take the law into their own hand since verbal assault is also an offense that can be addressed by law.

“If your husbands refuse to eat your food and make you unhappy and causes you emotional pain, you can also report them to the police. If your husband comes home late and causes you to be unhappy you can make a case at DOVVSU,” he said.

He then went on to add that women who refuse to give sex to their husbands should equally be reported because refusal of sex to a legal partner is also a violation which is grounded in law and amounts to emotional abuse which is punishable under the Domestic Violence Act 732 of 2007.

“If your wife wears jeans to sleep and causing you emotional abuse it’s an offence and you can report her to DOVVSU,” Superintendent Appiah-Sakyi stated.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/ghana-husbands-can-be-jailed-for-up-to-two-years-for-refusing-to-eat-their-wives-food/

Popular Nigerian transgender socialite, Bobriksy, has in a video post said that he/she is finer than the majority of girls in his country Nigeria.

He/she made this statement in a recent video posted on social media.

In the video, he/she is seen saying that he/she is very beautiful and that so many ladies in the country would wish for the his/her type of beauty.

This is not the first time Bobrisky is stating his/her beauty publicly. It is quite obvious that his/her level of self belief is quite sky high.

Watch the video here; https://africaatrandom.com/bobrisky-i-am-finer-than-90-percent-of-nigerian-girls/

The Volta Region is on of the sixteen regions of the Republic of Ghana with Ho as its capital. It situated to the west of the Republic of Togo and to the east of the Lake Volta.

It is one of the most beautiful regions in Ghana and i will personally describe it as a zone of peace, it can be an ideal location when you want to go away from the hustle and bustle of city life and experience the rawness and realness of nature. To provides the right logistics and facilities for you to hike, relax at the beach and be cozy. And in case you choose to experience a culture of ingenious people, indigenous, good food and other natural stuff, the Volta region should be your go-to.

Below are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t miss exploring this beautiful region in Ghana anytime you have an opportunity to, or want a place of tranquility.

Read full article and watch videos here; https://africaatrandom.com/come-lets-tour-the-volta-region-of-ghana/

The People’s Republic of China is reportedly considering setting up military bases in about four African countries.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/china-planning-to-set-up-military-bases-in-four-african-countries/

Some of the prospective countries for these military bases are Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania Angola and a dozen other countries, are being tipped for China’s consideration for bases set up.

The four specifically named African governments are yet to respond to the reports.

The US Defence Department report which was published last week saw wide circulation in the media over the weekend, with some of the countries where the bases are to be set up denying being in discussions with China.

“Beyond its current base in Djibouti, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is very likely already considering and planning for additional overseas military logistics facilities to support naval, air, and ground forces,” the report says in part.

The report categorically mentions that China has likely considered locations for military logistics facilities in Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, and Tajikistan.

It added that China and Cambodia have publicly denied having signed an agreement to provide the plan with access to Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base.

abobote:
She ain't going nowhere

But she did....

Last night and the early hours of this morning, the Big Brother Naija House was one full of drama, and the main player in all of these drama was none other than Erica Nlewedim. The extent of the drama is such that there is a high chance that the housemate would be disqualified later on Sunday.

The highlight of Erica’s issues after the Saturday party was her confrontation of fellow housemate Laycon in the early hours of Sunday. It can be recalled that during the eviction show last Sunday, Ebuka the show host asked Laycon about his claims that Erica had tried to kiss him on a number of occasions. Laycon admitted this but added that Erica was intoxicated the whole time the incident happened. This did not seem to go down well with Erica who confronted Laycon that day, but the male housemate tried to avoid the confrontation.

Erica seemed to still be harbouring this is her heart even after a week of the incident. She appeared quite intoxicated and angered during the party decided to take her frustrations on the rapper of a housemate. She spewed a number of asperaging things about Laycon. She admitted to only trying to kiss him once and that she was only attracted to his brains and that she had no form of sexual attraction to him.

She went on to add that her fellow housemate (Laycon) was skinny and not her type, she also issued some words of harm and threatening death. At a point, she stated emphatically that he [Laycon] would kill himself later in life – this comment has drawn a lot of condemnation on social media as it goes against Big Brother’s rule of threatening violence or harm against a fellow housemate.

Article continued with videos here; https://africaatrandom.com/bbnaija-erica-to-be-disqualified-videos-within/

World football governing body, FIFA, has set up a Committee to look into the ongoing electoral dispute in the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF), of which centre stage is the disqualification of football legend Didier Drogba from contesting the position of President.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/fifa-is-looking-into-didier-drogbas-disqualification-for-fa-presidency/

The Committee will be hearing from all stakeholders, including the former Chairman of FIF’s electoral body, René Diby, FIF’s General Secretary, Sam Etiassé and, possible, Didier Drogba, whose candidacy is at the centre of the upheaval.

René Diby resigned his position after Etiassé accused him of accepting Drogba’s application due to public pressure and some alleged death threats.

The Committee is set to consist of two representatives from FIFA – Rolf Tanner and Sarah Solémalé – two yet-to-be-named representatives from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and one rep from the Union of West African Football Associations (WAFA).

The Background Story

Didier Drogba’s hopes of contesting the Ivorian Football presidency polls appeared to be over just last Thursday after his application was invalidated. However, his aspiration seemed to have been handed a lifeline by football’s world governing body, FIFA who directed that the polls be suspended citing possible “third party interference.“

“Pending your documents and information, we invite you to suspend all actions relating to the electoral process until further notice,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura wrote to FIF’s electoral commission.

“Some say that the commission has been prevented from exercising its activities in total calm and an independent manner because of outside interference.”

Reports are that FIFA has also asked for a full list of Electoral Commission members and the minutes from four meetings, including one in July where the new electoral commission president was elected and one in August involving FIF’s Executive Committee.

Drogba’s candidacy had been initially validated, despite some issues with his application, leading to the suspension of the elections and FIF’s Electoral Committee.

FIFA, however, reinstated the Committee and the elections, with the Ivorian football electoral body opting to rather invalidate the footballer’s candidacy.

This has created a lot of brouhaha in the Football fraternity and casting a lot of shadows on the upcoming elections, it is therefore not surprising that the world football governing body has chosen to step in and straighten things out.

Ghanaian Soul and R&B singer, KiDi has collaborated with popular American producer, Teddy Riley, on a remix to the former’s hit song ‘Say Cheese’.

This comes after the Grammy award-winning producer had expressed interest in working with the Ghanaian artiste in April.

Teedy Riley had an interview with Hitz FM’s Andy Dosty where he had expressed his admiration for the Ghanaian musician’s work after monitoring him on social media.

The two got together and remixed KiDi’s Say Cheese – the first song on his EP Blue.

The producer added new depths to the song using new beats and introducing some backing vocals to the song.

Say Cheese the remix was released on Tuesday September 1, watch the video here; https://africaatrandom.com/video-kidi-collaborates-with-teddy-riley-on-say-cheese-remix/

Bright O, Wathoni and Tolanibaj took their turns at at pidgin-speaking radio station Naija 102.7 FM during their media rounds, and a lot of interesting topics were covered.

There were many questions ranging from their relationships and “situationships” in the house, to how they see their entanglements panning out now that they are outside of the house.

They were also asked about what they thought went wrong in the house and caused their eviction as well as their most memorable moments during the show.

The show hosts also asked them to predict who they thought the eventual winners of the ultimate prize would be.

At a point during the interview, they were asked to nominate who they thought shouldn’t be in the house, and Lucy‘s name featured prominently.

The interview ended with asking about their future plans, to which the three stated what they individually intended to do going forward.

When show hosts EMCEE RNB and Becca Blisse asked Bright O what his plans for Wathoni going forward was, he answered saying, “the future is Bright for Bright and Wathoni.”

Watch the full 30-minute interview here; https://africaatrandom.com/the-future-is-bright-for-wathoni-and-i-bright-o/

Wathoni, one of the newly evicted housemates from this season’s Big Brother Naija house has been speaking with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu.

Ebuka, the show host, caught up with Wathoni in her hotel room after her eviction, and as is the norm with the reality show’s evictees, he sought to poke out some answers from her… and boy did he get answers?

The show host did not waste time in asking the question on many people’s minds. “So what did you see in Bright O that actually that made you eventually go there,” Ebuka asked.

“He’s funny, he listens to me a lot, and I feel like he “likes” me… I don’t know if he likes me the way I like him though,” Wathoni responded.

Ebuka then added that it appeared that she was trying to get with some people before the “situationship” with Bright happened, he mentioned the Kiddwaya, Eric and Prince moments as reference.

She answered saying for Kiddwaya, she had no feelings for him at, she only liked his vibe as a friend. For Eric, she liked how he treated her like she was everything and the way he usually looked at her and pumped her up. “Prince, he’s my spec. I always said it… I liked him and feelings were starting to grow, but at a point I had to cut it off because of Tolani.”

Watch the full video interview here; https://africaatrandom.com/kiddwaya-is-very-unserious-wathoni/

Tolanibaj, one of the recently evicted house mates of the Big Brother Naija Season 5 show has had her first interview outside of the house with none other than the show’s host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu.

Ebuka started off by asking her about her burst out with the “boss lady” Ka3na in the early parts of the reality show. In response, Tolanibaj said that she was also a boss lady herself, but she never sees the need to always have to be in people’s faces and reminding them of who she is. She added that she has no ill feelings towards Ka3na and would talk with her when the need arises.

“So let’s talk about Prince,” Ebuka chipped in, “when did you notice him?”

Tolanibaj flipped her hair, smiled and said, “I think second week, it was actually Neo I noticed at first, but then when we started to have conversations, I realized that he was a very loud person, and I don’t like guys that are too out there, I like my guys reserved…”

She also touched on her friendship with Erica and how she feels that they bonded even right before they entered the house, “I liked her vibe,” she said.

“So let’s talk about Vee, it appeared that you guys bonded, but during the nominations, you kicked her out, what happened there?” Ebuka quizzed, to which she responded, “that was just me being strategic.”

Catch the full video interview here; https://africaatrandom.com/neo-confessed-his-love-for-me-tolanibaj/

One of the newly evicted housemates of the Big Brother Naija Season 5 House, Bright O, has made his views known on his buddy Kiddwaya and Erica‘s relationship.

In Bright O’s opinion, Kiddwaya isn’t in that relationship for all the seriousness it brings, he is just having a good time for the moment. He made this known during his first main interview outside of the house with show host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu.

When asked about his advise to Laycon when he asked the fellow housemate to “apply pressure” in his pursuit of Erica, he replied that he wasn’t deliberately trying to cause confusion, and that his input was a genuine advise to a friend in the hope that the lady of interest would notice the effort and reciprocate accordingly.

Ebuka then quizzed, “let’s talk about Dorathy and Wathoni, how did that happen?”

“I didn’t see that coming… with Dorathy, I think it was when we were playing games, because prior to that we didn’t use to talk,” Bright O said.

“I had no intention of going after Dorathy or even Wathoni as a matter of fact, it was just uhm, along the line, we became very close,” he added.

Catch the full video interview here; https://africaatrandom.com/kiddwaya-isnt-in-love-with-erica-bright-o/

In what appeared to be a fight of lovers last night after the Friday games and activities were over, Erica was seen asking Kiddwaya for more emotional expression.

She asserted that it appeared Kiddwaya was only interested in having a way with her body and nothing more. She was heard saying “I am done with all of these, in fact I am bored”

“All he says and does is, ‘I want to kiss your neck’ and stuff… all sexual stuff… In fact I am bored.”

She went on to call Kiddwaya a spoilt brat and that it is because that they were in the confined space of the Big Brother house that is how come it appears that she has limited options.

She says the sex talks from her supposed now “former lover” (as she indicates that she has broken up with him), was wearing her out and that she needed more.

She disclosed that she had had a 30 minute long talk with Kiddwaya earlier about his lack of emotional commitment and he had practically nothing to say back to her after.

All of this drama played out in front of Trikytee and Prince who were trying hard to be mediators in the ruckus, but all to no avail.

Watch an excerpt of the video here; https://africaatrandom.com/bbnaija-erica-pushes-nonchalant-kiddwaya-for-more/

The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) has invalidated and cancelled the candidacy of former national and Chelsea FC striker, Didier Drogba, who had been in the running for the Federation’s Presidency.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/breaking-didier-drogbas-fa-presidency-bid-thrown-out/

The former footballer’s candidacy had been validated at first, despite some issues that were raised with his application. This then led to the suspension of the elections and FIF’s Electoral Committee.

Global football governing body, FIFA, however decided to reinstate the Committee and the elections, with the electoral body opting to invalidate Drogba’s candidacy so that things could move along.

There had been some doubts as to whether or not Drogba’s application was going be accepted; this was due to certina concerns raised about his ability to meet the electoral requirements.

A few months ago, the Ivory Coast Footballers Association (AFI), which is one of the five main interest groups in Ivorian football had refused to endorse Drogba’s candidacy, drawing a suspension from FIFPro.

However, the former Ivorian national team captain’s application was controversially accepted after he got the endorsements of three Ivorian Ligue 1 clubs, two Ligue 2 clubs, two Championnat Division 3 clubs and an interest group, the dissident referees.

Didier Drogba’s sponsorship from the dissident referees was deemed inadmissible by FIF, hence the invalidation of Drogba’s candidacy.

The elections have now been scheduled for the 5th of September with Sory Diabaté and Idriss Diallo as the only two eligible candidates running for the Federation’s Presidency.

A statement signed by FIF’s outgoing president, Sidy Diallo, had earlier announced the suspension of the election in totality based on what he believed to be a misnomer by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) which is responsible for validating the applications. he statement indicated that the CEI had “violated the electoral code ”

The statement also added that “the electoral process no longer inspires confidence and that the neutrality of certain members of the electoral body was in doubt.”

Lalasticlala Mynd44

Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). The re-elections means that he would be serving another five year term.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/breaking-nigerias-adesina-wins-afdb-re-election-bid/

This was revealed in a tweet by the AfDB President’s media aide, Bashir Ahmad. “Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). With this re-election, he will spend another 5 years supervising the affairs of the Bank. Congratulations!”

The election was done electronically earlier on Thursday during the virtual annual general meeting of the bank.

Adesina’s reappointment on Thursday was seen as a mere formality considering that he was the sole candidate.

The Nigerian former Minister who was recently cleared in an independent probe after allegations of corruption and poor governance had appealed on Wednesday for a second term in office after a months-long storm over alleged corruption and poor governance that ended after he was cleared in an independent probe.

During his speech at the AfDB’s annual meeting on Thursday, Adesina put in a formal request for a second term as president, declaring that he was “doing it with an acute sense of duty and commitment.”

“I do it to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me,” he said, according to a statement issued by the bank.

Akinwumi Adesina, who grew up as the son of a farmer, in 2015 became the first Nigerian to lead the AfDB, which is one of the world’s five biggest multilateral lenders and an important but often unseen player in the economic development of African states.

The AfDB President, mentioned that the number of shareholders of the AfDB had risen to 81, with the recent admission of Ireland. This adds on to the Fifty-four African nations that are already shareholders, and the others from the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Malware, or in other words, certain software that eats up mobile data and registers people for unwanted subscriptions has been discovered to have been pre-installed on thousands of low-cost Tecno Chinese smartphones in Africa. These malware were initially detected about two years ago and it appears that they remain the norm even years after the reveal.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/chinas-tecno-sold-thousands-of-smartphones-with-malware-to-africa/

The Triada malware which seems to be common with Tecno phones, signs mobile users up to subscription services without their permission. It appears to be particularly common with Tecno W2 brand smartphones in countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa.

Secure-D, the anti-fraud platform that conducted the research, recorded 19.2 million suspicious transactions since March 2019 from over 200,000 unique devices. “The fact that the malware arrives pre-installed on handsets that are bought in their millions by typically low-income households tells you everything you need to know about what the industry is currently up against,” Secure-D managing Director, Geoffrey Cleaves said.

“This particular threat takes advantage of those most vulnerable,” he added.

The parent company that manufactures Tecno phones is China‘s Transsion; it appears to largely dominate Africa’s smartphone market with about 41% share – this is according to market research firm IDC.

The Shenzhen-based company got listed on China’s version of the Nasdaq just last year, has been known to totally ignore its home market and instead has chosen to focus almost exclusively on the African market. It sells more affordable handsets than rivals such as Samsung (SSNLF) and Apple (AAPL) under the brand Tecno Mobile.

In a statement issued by the company, it said that the Tecno Mobile problem “was an old and solved mobile security issue globally” for which it issued a fix in March 2018. It added that consumers currently experiencing difficulties should download the fix through their phones or contact after sales support. Transsion has shifted blame for the malware unto an “unidentified vendor in the supply chain process.”

The triada malware which is seen in some Tecno phones automatically installs a piece of code known as xHelper onto compromised devices, and this automatically subscribes users on their blind side to services that consume pre-paid airtime, which is a common way that people in Africa pay for digital products.

Hello guys, today we are going to learn how to make Nigerian Party Jollof Rice… yum yum �

The last time I did a session on jollof, it was about the Ghanaian jollof rice making process – in truth, there isn’t much difference between how Ghanaian or Nigerian jollof is made, there are just a few processes and steps that makes them apart.

For this food episode, I chanced on a tutorial by The Joyful Cook on YouTube. In the video, she takes her time to give a step-by-step teaching process on how to get the best out of your ingredients to make the most sumptuous of meals.

She lists the needed ingredients as follows;

FOR THE RICE

18 standard measuring cups

FOR THE STEW

4 fresh tomatoes

5 large onions

5 shallot

11 red bell peppers



3 scotch bonnet pepper

Oil for frying’

10 garlic cloves

3 thumb size Ginger

2 tea spoons of curry powder

5 tea spoons of thyme

8 tea spoons of white pepper

3 table spoons of smoked paprika

1 table spoon of salt

2 table spoons of all purpose seasoning

FOR THE MEAT STOCK

Goat meat 1500g

2 tea spoons of thyme

2 tea spoons of curry powder

5 tea spoons chicken seasoning

2 tea spoons all purpose seasoning

5 small garlic cloves

2 tea spoons of cloves

1 thumb size Ginger

Half onion

2 shallots

Before we start the coking process, for those who are alien to jollof rice, it was originally a meal of the wollof people in the ‘Sene-Gambia’ (Senegal and Gambia). But over the last couple of decades however, the meal has become practically owned by Ghanaians and Nigerians as they have found a way to “commoditize” it and even do have periodic friendly banter about whose jollof tastes better on social media.

Now let’s watch as she guides us the step by step process on how to make Nigerian Jollof Rice here; https://africaatrandom.com/how-to-make-nigerian-jollof-rice/

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Burna Boy’s newest album, ‘Twice As Tall‘ has made its debut on the Billboard World Album Chart at the number one position.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/burna-boys-twice-as-tall-debuts-at-number-1-on-billboards-world-chart/

The mainly Afrobeat album beat Beyonce’s ‘The Loin King: The Gift’ album which seems to have reemerged on the charts after the release of her visual album.

Twice As Tall which was released on the 14th of August appears to be enjoying some good success. The 15 track album recorded five million streams an hour after it was released.

His album before this ‘The African Giant’ got Grammy-nominated and just like Twice As Tall also makes a lot of references to colonialism, racism and how the African society can survive and adapt to a new world where the continent does not get exploited anymore either by its incompetent leaders or by external actors.

The album features the likes of Chris Martin of Cold Play (‘Monsters You Made’), Stormzy (‘Real Life’), Youssou N’Dour (‘Level Up/Twice As Tall’) and Naughty by Nature among many others.

The album also includes productions from Nigeria’s Spaceship Collective, Mike Dean, Timbaland and others.

Two songs from the album, Real Life featuring Stormzy and Number 23 are at number one and two on the UK Official Afrobeat chart.

The entire album was executive produced by Bad Records Chief, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.

So there is a shocker and a twist in yesterday’s BBNaija eviction show when Kiddwaya as Head of House (HoH) was put in the position to make the final eviction decision.

Apparently Praise and Wathoni had a tie on housemates votes for who should go home next, and the head of house had to be called in to the diary room to make the final decision.

Praise and Wathoni both tied on 6-votes, and when Kiddwaya (who is the current Head of House) was called in by Big Brother on the blind side of the other housemates to break the tie, he opted to have Praise sent home.

Watch how Kiddwaya broke the eviction vote tie here; https://africaatrandom.com/watch-it-was-kiddwaya-who-sent-praise-home-bbnaija/

Adekunle Gold who recently transition to be called AGBaby release his third studio album titled “AfropopVol1” has been creating quite a buzz on the internet – a little bird says we are like to have an AfropopVol2.

Adekunle Gold is a highlife musician who sings mostly in Yoruba and is known for live performances with his band the 79th element. Adekunle Gold has a number of hit songs, some of which are “Shade,” “pick up,“ “Orente,” “Ire,“ “Before you wake up,” “Young love“ among others.

AGBaby released his first album “Gold” in 2016 and his sophomore titled “About 30” in 2018. I will say with no single doubt that AGBaby is an artist with so much talent and this is attested by the recognitions and awards he has won.

With his third album he goes to prove to the world how much bag of talent he holds and also explodes with versatility, showing the universe that he is a complete artist.

AfropopVol1 is a 10 song project, and I will be doing a review of each as follows;

Track 1 – AGBaby
The first song on the Album features Nailah Blackman, a Trinidadian singer and song writer. In this song he is introducing himself as AGBaby (after transitioning from Adekunle Gold) and giving himself accolades. Nailah Blackman on the other hand serves as his hype woman in the chorus. She keeps hailing him on. He is the original dada like he said. He even mentioned going platinum and we can’t wait to witness that. This song was however released on the 7th of August, a few weeks before the main album launch.

Rating : 8/10

Track 2 – Sabina
Sabina is the second song on the AfropoVol1 album and it appears some similarities in vibes with AGBaby’s “Orente,” the beat is however different. In this song he seems to be a remorseful boyfriend or husband who has messed up and asking for a second chance from Sabina to make things right. He is pleading with Sabina and making promises to never leave her again. He also declares his willingness to fight for her love – he finally recognizes what he has and doesn’t want to lose it. AG puts in some French words “Mon bebe Mon bebe” which means “my baby my baby.” This song is definitely worth a live performance.

Track 3 – Pretty Girl
This purely afro beats song features dancehall act Patoraking. This song takes AGBaby out of his normal mode into a party one. In this song they are both telling a pretty girl how beautiful she is, and asking her if her mama knows that “she don spoil”. Patoraking put in some patoi vibes that gives the song some reggae vibes and vibrations. Once again this is totally different from what we are used to coming from the artiste.

Rating : 8/10

Catch the full review here; https://africaatrandom.com/agbaby-afropopvol1-exclusive-album-review/

This has become a regular part of Africa At Random where we do in-depth album or music project review of some selected artists and their album projects on the continent. And for this article, we will be delving into Fireboy‘s latest album titled Apollo – in fact, it would have been a travesty not to do a review of Fireboy’s work, considering how much of a talent he has proven himself to be since the release of his debut.

Fireboy’s debut album titled ‘Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps’ is a project that I am personally a fan of. I rate that body of work highly so much so that I believe that it can easily pass for an 8/10, as such this new one would have to do a lot to surmount how impressive his first project was.

Additionally, some people were of the view that Fireboy DML should have let his debut album settle with people and the market before making a second release, but it seems that the artist and his record label YBNL, led by Nigerian star rapper, Olamide Baddoo are not deterred by the high expectations – they seem to trust in their ability to pull off another great project to equal or even surpass the numbers made on the first album.

Track 1 – Champion
On this track, Fireboy goes on to give himself accolades and describes how much of a champion he is.

This was a befitting track to open the album, considering the impressive feat he achieved with his first album and the subsequent single releases. He features a relatively unknown rapper by the name of D Smoke on this one.

He starts the track by singing, “I be king, I’m the best my generation has ever seen. Like suddenly I be like NEPA bill…”

It is a sweet and motivational song at the same time; it has what seems like the backing vocals of a choir as well.

Rating; 8.05/10

Track 2 – Spell
He features the veteran singer and former MoHitz act, Wande Coal on this one. This song is off the chain! Both artistes sing effortlessly with sweet melodies. This one is expected to be a hit single across the continent.

This song has a an old school Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ feel to it, despite being clearly contemporary. This song is international, yet the two find a way to localize this piece.

Rating; 9.35/10

Track 3 – ELI
Fireboy goes alone on this track (being he first track on the album where he doesn’t feature anyone). This track is already hit single, as he released this about a month prior to dropping the full album. It is an afropop sound that intertwined some traditional Chinese flute sounds.

He makes word play with the name or word ELI, asking the Biblical prophet Elijah to come save him from some “Delilah.”

He shows his pure vocals on this one – great track.

Rating; 8.01/10

get the full album review here; https://africaatrandom.com/fireboy-dmls-official-apollo-album-review/

The President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, finally announced his resignation in the early hours of Wednesday. He stated that he was resigning from his because he preferred to avoid a bloodbath following a military mutiny that has plunged the country into a political crisis.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/breaking-malis-president-finally-resigns/

“Today, certain parts of the military have decided that intervention was necessary. Do I really have a choice? Because I do not wish blood to be shed,” Keita said whiles addressing the country on national television.

Keita said that he has decided to step down from the presidency, effective immediately.

It is however unclear who is now running the country; be it the military or legislature.

Earlier on Tuesday, Keita and his Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were arrested by soldiers in a dramatic escalation of a months-long crisis in the country.

This incident occurred hours after some soldiers had taken up arms and staged a mutiny at a key base in Kati, a town close to Bamako.

The soldiers had announced that they would be making an address to the country later, however countries in West African ECOWAS block, along with former Malian territory colonizer, France, the European Union and the African Union, expressed displeasure at the actions of the soldiers and sent warnings against any form of unconstitutional change of power.

These events are coming in a time of political crisis that has seen opposition protesters taking to the streets to demand the departure of Keita, based on allegations of corruption and economic mismanagement as well as rising state of insecurity in the country.

Mali’s recurrent conflict, appears to be ideologically-motivated with armed groups have stoking ethnic tensions while jockeying for power.

Earlier on Tuesday, members of opposition political parties and their followers had gathered at a square in Bamako in a display of support for the soldiers, while foreign embassies advised their citizens to stay indoors.

Burna Boy is touted as one of the flag bearers of the current Afrobeats movement and sounds from Africa taking the world by storm. He has a number of hit songs that have gone global platinum, with his previous album “The African Giant” being his most successful project yet.

Burna’s new album has been very much anticipated considering the amount of ruckus he had created prior, and coupled with the fact that about two weeks ago, news came out that super producer and hiphop legend, Sean “Diddy” Combs was going to be the executive producer of the album.

Being a lover of music with some professional expertise in the industry, I have decided to do a review of this ‘Twice As Tall’ project so you get a fair idea of how the tracks could perform on the music scene and market.

Now let’s dive in;

Track 1 – Level Up featuring Youssou Ndour

Burna Boy features the legendary Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour on this track and as expected, it is an embodiment of Africa… actually it is an embodiment of the western coast of Africa as Burna fuses contemporary Afrobeat rhythm with Mr. Ndour’s Senegalese Mbalax genre which blends Wolof traditional instrumental and vocal forms. It is an inspirational song for anyone who hopes to make it. the song implores “hustlers” to stay the course of their quests. Burna literally narrates how he came up from the underground into the global super star he his now.

Diddy did the outro for the track.

Rating: 7.8/10

Track 2 – Alarm Clock

Diddy Combs did the intro for this track where he talks about the need for Black people to have a positive view of themselves and love each other.

The is a typical Afrobeat song with a number of old school Afrobeat instrumentals. Burna Boy preaches the need for Black people to hear the alarm clock, smell the coffee and wake up to own the very lands they occupy. It is a wake up call for black people to be more productive in their endeavours. You can feel the palpable influence of the legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti on Burna Boy’s music on this track; and this isn’t surprising as his grand father used to be Fela’s manager for decades.

Burna fuses Yoruba language and and English on this song.

The track however loses points for being too short; just 2:12 minutes. It actually ends abruptly when one is just about to now really get into the groove.

Rating: 7/10

Full rating here; https://africaatrandom.com/burna-boy-twice-as-tall-official-album-review/

At least three people have ended up dead during protests in Ivory Coast on Thursday, according to police reports. A group of people burned makeshift roadblocks in protests against Alassane Ouattara’s decision to stand for a third presidential term.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/3-killed-in-ivory-coast-during-anti-third-term-protest-bid-by-president-ouattara/

The West African nation has seen a number of scattered protests since the current president made it known last week that he would be running for presidency in the October 31st election, with the opposition accusing him of violating the constitutional term limits.

Police spokesman Bleu Charlemagne said in a statement on the state TV channel RTI that protesters in the southeastern town of Bonoua set fire to a police station after a young man died during a protest there on Thursday.

He however did not explain how the other protesters died.

A video which has been circulating on social media shows the police commissioner of Bonua town being covered in blood as some people rescued him from the burning police building.

The Police has arrested 58 people across the country in connection with the incident, Charlemagne said.

The executive director of Ouattara’s party, Adama Bictogo, defended Ouattara’s decision to run again, saying: “For us the debate is closed.”

Opposition parties on the other hand have accused the police of using excess force to break up demonstrations which is the constituional right of citizens.

Ivorian law limits presidential terms to a maximum of two, but Alassane Ouattara in his view is saying that the new constitution which was adopted in 2016 acted as a reset button, thereby allowing him to run again. Meaning that his previous terms before the adoption of the constitution had become invalidated. The October election is seen as a test of stability for a country still recovering from a brief civil war in 2010 and 2011.

One of Ouattara’s main challengers, former President Henri Konan Bedie, said on Wednesday that two protesters had been killed and others severely wounded during demonstrations held that day in his electoral stronghold Daoukro and elsewhere.

There have also been protests in the commercial capital of Abidjan. Police have been seen in riot gears clearing makeshift roadblocks that groups of protesters have been building since Thursday.

Legendary American rapper and producer, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has stated categorically that Burna Boy’s ‘Twice as Tall’ album for him is the album of the year. He stated this in a Facebook post this morning to promote the upcoming album which he executive produced.

In the post which is accompanied by a promo video, Diddy said that;

ATTENTION EVERYONE! Tonight at 7pm EST, one of the GREATEST albums I’ve ever been involved with comes out. ⁣
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I’ve had the blessing to work with a lot of legends on a lot LEGENDARY ALBUMS…. and now BURNA BOY is one of them!!! #TWICEASTALL is one of the GREATEST PROJECTS I’ve had the privilege to work on. ⁣
⁣
Congratulations to my brother Burna Boy on creating this CLASSIC ALBUM. And thank you for allowing me to work with you on this MASTER PIECE!⁣
⁣
TWICE AS TALL is unapologetic, bold, beautiful and BLACK! A certified CLASSIC ALBUM. I NEED YOU ALL to listen and really enjoy this body of work. ⁣
⁣
#DiddyCertified ALBUM OF THE YEAR!⁣
⁣
The promo video features the likes of Snoop Dog, super producer Timbaland and others.

See the promo video here; https://africaatrandom.com/burna-boys-twice-as-tall-is-album-of-the-year-diddy/

A 19-year-old man in Uganda has reportedly taken the bold step to pick up nomination papers in his quest vie for the position of president in the country’s upcoming general elections.

Source; https://africaatrandom.com/19-year-old-running-for-presidency-in-uganda/

Hillary Humphrey Kaweesa says that he sees himself to be a very competent leader and as such is more than qualified to lead the country despite his age.

He discloses that he intends to fund-raise for the 20 million Ugandan shillings ($5,400; £4,100) nomination fees which will help seal his nomination bid.

Mr Kaweesa is also required to collect at least 100 signatures in every district for his nomination; the country has more than 100 districts.

The country’s constitution allows any Ugandan citizen above the age of 18 to vie for the highest office of the land.

The teenager joins legislator Robert Kyagulanyi – popularly known as Bobi Wine – and former army general Henry Tumukunde who have declared interest to run against the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

75 year old Yoweri Museveni has been ruling the East African nation since 1986 and seems to want to hold on to the position as a “president for life.”