News
They’ll Soon Send Us All To Jail— Atiku Slams Tinubu’s Govt

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Ex-Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakarhas slammed President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the prosecution of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.
Atiku said Sowore’s prosecution, as well as the arrest and detention of Prof Usman Yusuf, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), amount to “systematic harassment and intimidation.”
Recall operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) arrested Yusuf on Wednesday, January 28, 2025 over alleged N4 billion fraud, amongst others.
Reacting to this via his official X handle on Thursday, January 30, 2025, Atiku described Sowore’s prosecution as baseless, adding that Tinubu’s government may soon imprison everyone who criticises his administration.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election claimed that the alleged systematic harassment of critics and opposition figures and the purported dismantling of opposition parties were ploys to establish a one-party system.
He wrote: “When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks.
“The arrest and baseless prosecution of @YeleSowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign. Now, they have seen fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf— an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us.”
Atiku’s comment corroborated his earlier claim that the APC is destroying opposition parties to achieve a one-party system.
While speaking as a panelist at a national conference held in Abuja recently, Atiku alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) bribed opposition parties with N50 million to weaken their leadership ahead of the 2027 election.
His claim has sparked reactions from opposition parties, as the Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) asked the former Vice President to provide concrete evidence to support his allegation.
News
Nigeria Needs To Focus on Local Solutions to Fight Poverty – Speaker Abbas

By Gloria Ikibah
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has said the fight against poverty in Nigeria must start at the community level.
Representatives by the Chief Whip of the House, Rep. Isiaka Ibrahim, at the inauguration of a new House Committee focused on community and social development on Wednesday, Abbas stressed that real change will only happen when policies are designed to meet the everyday needs of people in towns and villages.
He also called on the government to create people-friendly programmes that reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.
The event, held at the National Assembly in Abuja, marked the official takeoff of the Committee on Community and Social Development Agency/NG-Cares. Abbas urged members of the Committee to approach their work with honesty and a genuine desire to help struggling Nigerians.
News
White smoke rises, new pope elected at Vatican +Video

By Francesca Hangeior
White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling that cardinals locked inside have elected a new leader for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Thousands of pilgrims and curious onlookers in St Peter’s Square cheered and applauded as the smoke appeared and bells began to ring, indicating the 2,000-year-old institution has its 267th pope.
All eyes now turn to the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to see who has been elected to succeed Pope Francis, an Argentine reformer who died last month after 12 years as leader of the worldwide Church.
The new pontiff will be introduced in Latin with his chosen papal name and address the world for the first time.
He faces a momentous task: as well as asserting his moral voice on a conflict-torn global stage, he faces burning Church issues from the continued fall-out from the sexual abuse scandal to the Vatican’s troubled balance sheets.
Some 133 “Princes of the Church” from five continents — the largest conclave ever — began voting on Wednesday afternoon.
Sworn to secrecy, on pain of excommunication, their only means of communicating their progress to the outside world was by sending up smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
On Wednesday evening and then again on Thursday lunchtime, the smoke was black, emitting disappointed sighs from the tens of thousands watching.
But on Thursday afternoon just after 6pm (1600 GMT) the smoke emitted was white, confirming that the Catholic Church has a new spiritual leader.
By tradition, he now enters the Room of Tears — where freshly-elected popes give free rein to their emotions — to don a papal cassock for the first time, before returning to the Sistine Chapel so the cardinals can pledge their obedience.
He will then appear on the balcony along with a senior cardinal, who will announce to the waiting crowds “Habemus Papem” (“We have a pope”).
The pope will then give a short speech and impart his first “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) blessing.
The election has come at a time of great geopolitical uncertainty, which was seen as a key voting issue, along with the rifts within the Church.
Francis was a compassionate reformer who prioritised migrants and the environment, but he angered traditionalists who wanted a defender of doctrine rather than a headline-maker.
Some 80 percent of the cardinal electors were appointed by Francis. Hailing from 70 countries around the world, it was the most international conclave ever.
That was no guarantee, however, that the cardinals would pick someone in his vein.
The question was whether to choose a pastor or diplomat, a liberal or conservative, someone versed in the Curia — the Church’s governing body — or a relative outsider from areas of the world where Catholic faith is thriving.
Before the cardinals were locked into the Sistine Chapel Wednesday, their dean Giovanni Battista Re urged them to choose someone able to protect the Church’s unity.
The next pope must also be able to lead “at this difficult and complex turning point in history”, amid raging conflicts around the world and the rise of ultra-nationalist parties.
The Church has also had difficulty in adapting to the modern world, with declining priest numbers and increasingly empty pews in the West.
The papal inauguration usually takes place less than a week after the election with a mass celebrated before political and religious leaders from around the world.
The new pope will likely do a tour of St Peter’s Square in his popemobile for the first time, before delivering a homily outlining his priorities.
News
Meet the new Pope, Pope Leo XIV +Photo

By Francesca Hangeior
Formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, he hails from the United States and is the first American to be elected pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
A member of the Augustinian order and former Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Pope Leo XIV brings decades of pastoral and administrative experience to the papacy.
He is a moderate who was close to Pope Francis and spent years as a missionary in Peru, he becomes the Catholic Church’s 267th pontiff, taking the papal name Leo XIV.
-
Entertainment15 hours ago
I’m broke yet accused of money laundering – VDM breaks silence after EFCC release
-
News2 hours ago
BREAKING! Finally, White Smoke Emerges From Sistine Chapel as Vatican Elects New Pope
-
News7 hours ago
Breaking: Three Serving PDP HoR Members Defect to APC
-
News15 hours ago
Edo police rescue kidnapped PDP chairman, 36 others
-
News15 hours ago
Tomato Ebola Causes Loss of N1.3 Billion, Contributing to Rising Food Prices
-
News6 hours ago
Ex-Governor Uduaghan, Daughter Dump PDP, Join APC
-
News8 hours ago
Finally, IMF deletes Nigeria from its debtors list
-
News16 hours ago
Sad! Five members of one family die of food poisoning