Welcome to Ifeoma Ekewuba's blog

A 28-year-old man, Victor Ohale, pictured left, has been arrested by men of the Anambra state police command for stabbing his younger brother, Kelechi Ohale, to death at their home in Awka the state capital today June 25th. A statement from the state police command says Victor, a law graduate from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, recently returned from his one year mandatory NYSC service in Imo state. He got into an argument with Kelechi this morning, which degenrated into a fight. Victor brought out five knifes which he used to stab the deceased in different parts of his body. Kelechi was rushed to the Amaku Teaching hospital Awka where he was cerfified dead on arrival by one of the doctors on duty. His corpse was then deposited at the hospital morgue for autopsy. The police say the suspect would be charged to Court for prosecution soon.

The Peoples Democratic Party has called on President Buhari to urgently constitute his cabinet, warning that a delay may further affect the country’s economy.   The PDP also called on the President not to “run the country into recession again with his know-it-all attitude”. The National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, said it was disheartening that the President had yet to name his ministers more than three months after winning the presidential election.   Secondus alleged that the delay by the President in naming his ministers in 2015  contributed to plunging the country into recession. He said, “We in the opposition believe vehemently that we won the presidential election. This is the reason we are contesting the outcome of the election at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.  However, having being declared the winner (of the February 23 polls), and also sworn in for a second term, the President ought to have realised h...

A 34-year-old dismissed soldier, Sunday Umaru, has been sentenced to death by hanging by a Plateau State High Court for hacking his girlfriend, Charity Thomas, to death following his suspicion that she was cheating on him. At the sentencing which held yesterday January 23rd, the prosecutor, Emmanuel Awe, told the court that Umaru, a married man, was a Private in the Nigerian Army and was serving with the Special Task Force, Sector 7, Barkin Ladi, when he murdered Thomas in January 2016. According to Awe, Charity who lived in Kaduna state, visited Umaru in Plateau state and while she was there, Umaru searched her phone and found a text message with a love intonation from a man. In anger, he stabbed Charity with a knife in the stomach, slaughtered her body and then dumped it by the roadside. At his arraignment, Umaru faced a count of culpable homicide. He was accused of killing his lover, Charity, who visited him from Kaduna, by stabbing her with a knife in the stomach, sl...

Thierry Henry 's managerial career is reportedly set to be cut short with Monaco ready to sack him just 15 weeks after he landed his first coaching job. The Arsenal legend landed his first manager's job with the French club on October 13 when he signed a three-year contract until the summer of 2021. But he has only won just four of his first 20 matches in charge. According to The Mirror, Monaco is ready to sack Henry and are lining up predecessor Leonardo Jardim as a possible replacement. The 44-year-old took charge of 232 matches and Monaco were victorious in 125 of them, giving him an overall win percentage of 53.88. In comparison, Henry was won just 20 percent of his games so far and the club is not impressed with him. It is claimed that Henry will be told in the next 48 hours that he is no longer the man to lead the Ligue 1 strugglers.

Two days after an increase in Minimum wage was announced, the Federal government has announced plans to also increase Value Added Tax. Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, announced this at the launch of the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative in Abuja. According to the Minister, some of the items that will be having an increase in VAT include carbonated drinks as well as some luxury items. “There will be a VAT increase. During the course of 2019, we will have clarity as to which items and what the rate will be and we will have to take a request to the National Assembly for amendment before it takes effect. There is also going to be luxury tax. Already, there is luxury tax imposed on things like jets, yachts and few exceptional items that are classified as luxury and the Chairman FIRS will speak to that but we are contemplating increasing excise duties on carbonated drinks just like we have excise duties now on Tobacco and alcohol. “But this is going to be a ...

Moments after Oby Ezekwesili announced her withdrawal from 2019 presidential race saying she has opted to help build a coalition to defeat APC and PDP in the February election, Fela Durotoye has issued a statement saying he's ready for a coalition. According to him,  'I am ready to submit myself to any transparent process that will help us arrive at a selection of a Consensus Candidate from amongst us'. He went on to say,  'to be clear, if the process produces any other candidate apart from myself, I AM READY to support whoever the Consensus Candidate is and to do all I can to support the coalition to win the 2019 Presidential elections for our generation'. See his full statement below... I have always believed that leadership is about service and sacrifice and today, I would like to commend Dr. (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesili for leading the charge to forming a viable coalition to presenting a Consensus Candidate for the 2019 Presidenti...

Lagos Club owner and controversial socialite,  Pretty Mike took to Instagram to show off his matching expensive whips, which are all in white colours.

A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Yusuf Halilu has granted bail to Senator Dino Melaye who was arraigned on an eight-count charge of evading arrest, conspiracy, resistance to arrest, failure to honour police invitation and intentionally giving false information to the public.   While ruling on the application  filed by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Justice Halilu held that the essence of bail could not be overemphasized, saying that it was meant to make a defendant to stand for trial.   According to him, in granting a defendant bail, the court has to consider the nature of the charge, the antecedent of the bail applicant, among others. The judge, therefore, upheld the earlier bail granted the Melaye on January 18 and added that Melaye should not leave the shores of the country without a written application to the court.   The judge also directed Ozekhome to warn his client to ensure that he does not comment on the matter ...

Barely four months after it was taken over from Skye Bank, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said Polaris Bank will be put up for sale after the 2019 elections. According to a report by Reuters, this was disclosed by Jude Nwauzor, the AMCON spokesman, on Tuesday. Speaking on plans for the sale of the bank, Nwauzor said: "The election season has slowed down things. We would advertise for expressions of interest from investors after elections and commence the sale process". In September 2018, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had announced the revoking of the licence of defunct Skye Bank. Polaris was established as a bridge bank to assume the assets and liabilities of the bank. Emefiele had said: “As a responsible and responsive regulator and in consultation with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), we have decided to establish a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank. ...

Eight-time Olympic gold medalist and world's fastest man,  Usain Bolt  has given up on his bid to become a professional football player, saying "it was fun while it lasted." This comes after the 32-year-old Jamaican who spent eight weeks at A-League club  Central Coast Mariners  from August last year, eventually turned down an offer of a professional contract in November.  During his time with the Australian club, he played in two pre-season friendlies, scoring twice against  Macarthur South West. Speaking with ESPN over his bid to become a professional footballer, he said his time as a footballer was enjoyable, but he has given up on it. "I don't want to say it wasn't dealt with properly, but I think we went about it, not the way we should and you learn your lesson, you live and you learn. It was a good experience. I really enjoyed just being in a team and it was different from track and field and it was fun while it lasted "I'm just d...

Spanish giant, Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Ghanaian footballer  Kevin-Prince Boateng from Italian side  Sassuolo. The club bought the 31-year-old former Tottenham, Portsmouth and AC Millan star to replace  Munir El Haddadi  who moved to  Sevilla  two weeks ago.  A statement from Barcelona on Monday said: 'Barcelona and Sassuolo have reached an agreement for the loan of Kevin Prince-Boateng for the remainder of the 2018-19 season. The deal includes the option to buy the player for 8m euros (£7.1m).' According to reports, Barcelona paid 2 million euros (£1.76m) for the loan and will present Boateng to supporters on Wednesday.  See Boateng's career  2004–2007: Hertha BSC II 2005–2007: Hertha BSC 2007–2009: Tottenham Hotspur  2009: Borussia Dortmund (loan) 2009–2010: Portsmouth 2010–2013: Milan  2013–2015: Schalke 2016: Milan  2016–2017: Las Palmas 2017–2018: Eintracht Frankfurt  ...

A new Oxfam report has highlighted the growing gulf between the rich and poor as it revealed that the world's top 26 billionaires are richer than half of the world's poorest people or 3.8billion people. According to the report, Billionaires, who now number a record 2,208, have more wealth than ever before and are growing $2.8billion richer everyday.  Most of these mega-wealthy are American, according to the Forbes list of billionaires used by Oxfam. The names include Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who collectively are worth $357 billion, according to Forbes. Oxfam recommends that nations tax wealth at fairer levels, raise rates on personal income and corporate taxes and eliminate tax avoidance by companies and the super-rich. It also advocates providing universal free health care, education and other public services — and ensuring that women and girls also benefit. And it ...

World’s oldest man” Masazo Nonaka, who was born just two years after the Wright brothers launched humanity’s first powered flight, died today at the age of 113. According to Guinness World Records, Nonaka was born in July 1905, just months before Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity. Guinness officially recognised Nonaka as the oldest living man after the death of Spaniard Francisco Nunez Olivera last year.   “We feel shocked at the loss of this big figure. He was as usual yesterday and passed away without causing our family any fuss at all,” his granddaughter Yuko told Kyodo News. Nonaka had six brothers and one sister, marrying in 1931 and fathering five children. He ran a hot spring inn in his hometown and in retirement enjoyed watching sumo wrestling on TV and eating sweets, according to local media. Japan has one of the world’s highest life expectancies and was home to several people recognised as among the oldest humans to hav...

The Incorporated Trustees of the Civil Society Observatory for Constitutional and Legal Compliance, CSOCLC, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari to court challenging his eligibility to contest in next month’s election. The group wants the court to decide whether Buhari has attained the minimum educational qualification to enable him seek re-election into the office of the president. In a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari were listed as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively. All the defendants have been served and the suit has been assigned to Justice Binta Nyako. The judge has also fixed hearing on an application for accelerated hearing filed alongside the originating summons for the 4th of February, 2019. The plaintiff is also asking for an injunction restraining Buhari from contesting the presidential election. ...

Nigerian man @4Qhen has shared a very touching story of how he almost ended his life on 3rd mainland bridge few days after he welcomed his second daughter. His story is worth reading and thankfully, it ended well. Continue below.

Mr Eazi  in a recent interview revealed that he does not own a car. In his explanation, he stated that he preferred using Uber as against buying an expensive car that he won't really drive. “ If your self-esteem is based on how much you have in your bank account, then you have a serious self-esteem issue. Right from when I sang my very first song, someone offered me N80m record deal but I turned it down and at the time, I did not have N300,000 in my account'. “My first record deal offer from the UK was £356,000, I turned it down but at the time, I had done a tour and the total amount I earned was £12,500. I used the money to shoot the videos of some of my songs. I was left with £20; they were offering me £365,000, but I turned it down. The reason I did that was because my value was not dependent on what was in my account. “Till today, I use Uber but I do not care and by the way, I don’t even pay for the ride because I was given Uber credit. But if you see me in the U...

Rapper,  Cardi B  who spends most of her time with her baby daughter,  Kulture  has said she will feel very betrayed if the child says 'daddy' first before mama. The mother of one made the statement after her daughter nearly said 'daddy' for the first time before 'mommy' in an Instagram video she shared. In the video which has been deleted, the 26-year-old is seen filming Kulture happily kicking her legs as they watched her dad's  Offset  rap in the Ric Flair Drip music video.    Also taking to Twitter to react, Cardi B wrote ''KK was watching Ric Flair drip on tv yesterday and she said “Da” .....If she says dada before mama imma feel very betrayed,'

A young man has narrated the childhood experience that made him become a feminist. Chuka Nwanazia took to Twitter to share the story of a friend and playmate called Halima who he grew up with in Asaba. He said she was married off to an old Alhaji when she was less than 12 years old. The underage marriage she was subjected to ended up being the cause of her death as she died during childbirth, at the age of 12. He tweeted: While growing up in Asaba, I had this neighbor & friend called Halima. We used to play a lot together. One day her dad took her back to Katsina to marry an old Alhaji. Halima was only 12 & died at childbirth. She's the reason I became a feminist. I still see her in my dreams.