By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Activist Omoyele Sowore, has pleaded not guilty to the cybercrime charges against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had filed the charges against Sowore for calling him an “illegal IGP.”

Sowore had made the remark on his verified X handle.

However, the activist is standing trial before Justice Liman of the FCT High Court and was docked at about 10:00 am when the charges were read to him.

When the charges were read, Sowore pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Meanwhile, several of his followers had protested in front of the court over Sowore’s arraignment.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Five persons have been reportedly killed during an invasion by gunmen at Ajegunle-Powerline community in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

An eyewitness, Mr Akin Olowolafe, a farmer in the community, told newsmen on Thursday in Akure that five people were allegedly killed during the attack, which happened on Tuesday at about 3pm.

Olowolafe said the gunmen entered the farmlands while people were working and started shooting sporadically in the air, which resulted in the death of five farmers.

According to him, the gunmen usually attack the farmlands on a daily basis around the community, and it has made life unbearable for farmers.

Many farmers in the community have fled their farms for fear of being killed. The attacks are unchecked while their is no intervention from the appropriate authorities.

“The incessant clashes and destruction of farm crops are so worrisome and it has led to boycotting of farms by farmers in the area,” Olowolafe said.

Also, a labourer, Mr Fidelis Daniel, who corroborated the story, said that the corpses had been deposited at the mortuary.

“I was inside the farm too when the incident happened, I just heard the sound of guns, and I immediately ran to my house.

It was even God that saved me too, they would have killed me.

They suddenly came with weapons to destroy our crops and killed five people. Three people from Plateau and two from Kaduna State,” he said.

The Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, however, denied the number of casualties.

“There was an attack on the community, and police is still investigating, but I cannot confirm the number of people

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Meta has agreed to pay President Donald Trump $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed claiming he was wrongfully censored by Facebook and Instagram after the US Capitol riot, the company said Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the settlement of the suit brought against Meta and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, in what was seen as a victory for Trump.

According to people familiar with the agreement, the Journal said, $22 million of the payment will go towards funding Trump’s future presidential library, with the remainder covering legal fees and payments to other plaintiffs in the case.

Meta in the settlement will not admit wrongdoing over the suspensions of Trump’s accounts.

A spokesperson for Meta confirmed the settlement to AFP.

Trump had widely criticized social media platforms for suspending his accounts after the January 6, 2021 insurrection by his supporters, and comments he made that were seen as praising people engaged in the violence.

But he has recently courted tech titans including Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk, both of whom attended Trump’s presidential inauguration last week in Washington.

Zuckerberg has expressed support for Trump, and he has tweaked Meta’s policies to lift restrictions on some content within the company’s apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.

Meta would be “restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg, who reportedly dined with Trump at his Florida estate in November, said this month in announcing a rollback of fact-checking operations.

The settlement is the latest bow by media corporations as they gird for a second Trump presidency.

In December, ABC News agreed to pay a $15 million settlement payment to resolve a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump stemming from on-air comments about him made by a top anchor.

Earlier Wednesday Meta reported its net income soared by 59 percent to $62.36 billion for the full year.