Category Nigeria News

Apex Igbo socio-political group Ohanaeze Ndigbo is prohibited from accepting Mike Okiro’s candidacy as a candidate or candidate for the office of the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo by a State High Court sitting in Enugu.

This came after Chimenu Amadi filed a motion for himself and on behalf of the Indigenous Igbos of Rivers State to stop Okiro from running for governor of Ohanaeze Ndigbo because he is an Imo State native and only those who are eligible to apply for the title.

In the meantime, the court granted an interim injunction restraining Okiro from using his state of origin, primarily in the wake of the motion’s hearing and decision regarding the notice of interlocutory injunction.

The court also restraining some of the organization’s chieftains from influencing or causing disruption to the election by issuing an interim injunction authorizing the Nze Ozichukwu-Chukwu constituted committee to hold the election in the office of the apex Igbo socio-cultural group’s president general for January 10, 2025.

There is a calculated bid to sow a seed of discord, disharmony, lawlessness, and unrest by some elements who constituted a parallel body without legal authority, according to Aloy Ejimakor’s motion, which calls for the contest to be thrown into the president general’s office as an open and free-for-all affairs.

Additionally, it should be rotatable between the Igbo-speaking people of the Delta and Rivers states in accordance with Article 11 of the system of election for the president general.

However, the court granted an interim injunction to keep the status quo while the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction is being heard.

Following the passing of Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s presidency, Ohanaeze Ndigbo would elect its next leader-general on January 10.

Social media giant Meta made a significant change to its content moderation practices on Tuesday, including the termination of its American third-party fact-checking program.

Starting in the US, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on social media that “we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers” and replace them with community notes akin to X (previously Twitter).

According to Zuckerberg, “fact checkers have simply been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the US.”

Many of the complaints made by Republicans and X-owner Elon Musk about fact-checking programs, which many conservatives view as censorship, were repeated in Meta’s announcement.

The 40-year-old tycoon said that “recent elections feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech”.

Zuckerberg has been working to reconcile with Donald Trump, including contributing $1 million to his inauguration fund.

Zuckerberg added that Meta sites like Facebook and Instagram “would simplify” their content policies and remove “a number of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”

In recent years, Trump has harshly criticized Meta and Zuckerberg, accusing them of supporting liberal policies and being biased against conservatives.

The Republican’s account was restored in early 2023 after the Facebook attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In order to repair the company’s relationship with the incoming US leader following the election, Zuckerberg also had dinner with Trump in his Mar-a-Lago resort in November.

Joel Kaplan, a former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, was appointed as the company’s head of public affairs last week, in a recent move toward the Trump team.

In a statement, Kaplan claimed that its current policy on content moderation has “gone too far” and that too many innocent people find themselves wrongly locked up in “Facebook jail.”

Zuckerberg also named Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) head Dana White, a close ally of Trump, to the Meta board.

As part of the overhaul, Meta said it will relocate its trust and safety teams from California, where liberal views are commonplace, to more conservative Texas.

That will enable us to establish trust in our work in areas where bias is less important, according to Zuckerberg.

Additionally, Meta announced it would reverse its 2021 policy of reducing political content across its platforms.

Instead, the company will adopt a more personalized approach, allowing users greater control over the amount of political content they see on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking program, in which Facebook pays to use fact-checks from around 80 organizations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and on Instagram.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to arrive in Abuja on Wednesday, ahead of a meeting with Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar.

On Thursday, they will talk about boosting bilateral ties and boosting cooperation between the two countries.

This visit is part of Yi’s week-long tour of four African countries, including Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, and Chad.

Kimiebi Ebienfa, acting spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the announcement on Tuesday.

Yi will also make a diplomatic appearance at the Presidential Villa, where he will deliver Xi Jinping’s special message.

The statement said: “The Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Wang Yi, will arrive in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, for an official visit.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dunoma Ahmed, will greet the visiting foreign minister at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport upon his arrival. He is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China.

“During his visit, H. E. Mr. Wang Yi will meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja on Thursday, January 9, 2025 for bilateral talks that will focus on strengthening relations between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China.

Bola Tinubu will receive a special message from the Chinese President at the Presidential Villa, according to the visiting foreign minister.

Nigeria and China have been fostering a rapidly deepening relationship in recent times, marked by increasing cooperation in key sectors such as trade, infrastructure development, technology, and culture.

Persecondnews recalls that in June 2024, Amb. Tuggar, embarked on an official working visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

The minister gave a keynote address at the China-Nigeria Business Exchange event on June 19 and co-chaired the China-Nigeria Inter-Governmental Committee meeting there.

The event, which was hosted by the Nigerian Embassy and Yingke Law Firm, aimed to boost bilateral trade and investment between China and Nigeria while also fostering business collaborations to boost economic ties.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France’s far-right, died on Tuesday aged 96, his family told AFP.

Le Pen, who had been in a care home for several weeks, died at midday (1100 GMT) Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said in a statement.

Le Pen, the National Front’s co-founder, won the second round of the presidential election in 2002 with a steadfast anti-immigration platform, sending shockwaves through France.

He infamously dismissed the Holocaust as a historical detail and was frequently accused of racism and anti-Semitism.

In 2011, his daughter Marine Le Pen removed him from the party’s leadership and demanded that she discredit him for her extremist views.

The party, since renamed National Rally (RN), has made significant inroads.

It won the first general election in France after showing strong gains in the previous year’s European Parliament elections.

READ ALSO: UPDATED: Ghana’s Mahama Sworn In As President

Jordan Bardella, RN party chief and the right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, said in a carefully worded tribute that Jean-Marie Le Pen had “always served France”.

He always served France and upheld its identity and sovereignty, the 29-year-old said on X.

“Today I am thinking with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine, whose mourning must be respected”.

Nigeria will support the West African nation, according to President Bola Tinubu, who congratulated John Mahama on his swearing-in as Ghana’s president. &nbsp,

Mahama was inaugurated on Tuesday in Accra, marking his return to office years after he served as Ghana’s president.

One of the world’s leaders at the time, Tinubu, praised his close friendship with Mahama and pledged to support Ghana.

“President John Mahama and I share a deep friendship. Tinubu, a special guest at the event, stated in his remarks, “I am here to work with you.

“You know you can count on Nigeria’s support and goodwill whenever needed. We are your brothers and sisters. The unbreakable bond is strong.

After defeating Mahamudu Bawumia of the then-ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mahama, who was president of Ghana between 2012 and early 2017, resurrected.

A landmark election that Tinubu shows shows how deepening the roots of democracy are in Africa was captured by him with more than 50% of the vote cast.

“It dispels the doubt about Ghana and Africa’s capacity for democratic and productive endeavors. Ghana has answered that question resoundingly”, Tinubu told the gathering in the sunny Accra.

“It is time that Africa’s critics stop forgetting the strides your nation, Nigeria, and others have made by continuing to ask us to prove ourselves. We have nothing to prove to anyone except ourselves”.

Mahama was praised by Tinubu as a man of patriotic thought and substance.

He genuinely cares about his country and its people. He thinks your country has a mission and wants you to fulfill it, according to the president of Nigeria. &nbsp, “No one can ask more of a leader than that”.

In 2024, the Nigerian Police Force announced the arrest of 751 potential victims of cybercrime-related fraud.

The score card from the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, states that there were 508 cases in which 14 convictions were registered during the time being reviewed.

READ ALSO: &nbsp, Police Demote Officer For Incivility In Abia, Disband Anti-Cultism Unit

Adejobi also explains that a total of $840, 000 was recovered for victims of cyber crimes, while a total of N914 million, as well as a total of over $115, 000, are frozen in different bank accounts and crypto wallets.