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ARISE New Channels was thrown into mourning yesterday when a female member of staff, Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, died during an armed robbery.

The incident occurred at her residence in Katampe District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja yesterday.

According to a statement signed by Hadiza Usman-Ajayi on behalf of the management of ARISE News Channel yesterday evening.

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the management said has, however, launched an investigation into the incident.

Beyond the airwaves, ARISE News Channel described the 29-year-old journalist referred to as Sommie as ‘a lawyer who was a professional and supportive colleague and a friend to many.’

‘It is with heavy hearts that the management and staff of the ARISE News Channel announce the passing of our beloved colleague, News Anchor, Reporter and Producer, Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu. Sommie tragically passed away in the early hours of Monday, September 29, 2025 following an armed robbery incident in her residence in Katampe area of Abuja that is being investigated by the Nigeria Police.

‘Sommie, 29, was not only a cherished member of the ARISE News family but also a vibrant voice that engaged and connected with our viewers.

‘We extend our deepest condolences to Sommie’s parents, siblings, extended family, friends, and loved ones at this difficult time. Sommie’s voice is now silent but her spirit, passion and legacy will endure as part of our collective memory.’

We remain in shock and call for a speedy investigation, apprehension and prosecution of the culprits,’ Usman-Ajayi stated.

Also confirming the incident, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, who spoke with our correspondent said the police have started investigating the matter, adding though no arrest has been made.

Adeh said: ‘yes, we (the police) are aware of the incident and we are investigating it. Nobody has been arrested but all I can say is that we have commenced investigation’.

MTN Group has taken up a call to action from Nigeria to support the collection of datasets of African languages. These are required to develop the continent’s own large language models (LLM) to power AI-driven solutions for Africa’s 1.5 billion people, who otherwise risk being sidelined by the global AI ecosystem.

Speaking on ‘The Y’ello Chair Vodcast: Your link to the African continent’, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Dr Bosun Tijani said to leapfrog AI in Africa, a collaborative public/private effort was urgently needed to fund the academic research into the continent’s many languages. He challenged MTN Group – which has operations in 16 markets, 15 of them in Africa – to mobilise resources for this.

‘We like these kinds of partnerships. Challenge accepted,’ said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita in the vodcast, which was filmed on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was hosted by Angela Wamola, who is the head of sub-Saharan Africa for the GSMA mobile industry association.

The vodcast followed the launch of the Nigerian Atlas for Languages and AI at Scale (N-ATLAS). This is an open-source multilingual LLM designed to understand and generate Nigeria’s diverse voices, digitising and preserving the country’s linguistic richness and creating datasets for AI solutions.

More than 500 languages are spoken in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country.

N-ATLAS is a public/private initiative of the government of Nigeria and Awarri Technologies.

The ATLAS framework is open and available to other African countries, providing a platform for innovation in local languages and in so doing, transform education, health, commerce and governance.

‘We have to avoid the risk of Africans being a digital underclass,’ Mupita said of the work to ensure that citizens didn’t feel excluded on the continent where there are more than 2 000 languages and most are poorly represented in the global AI ecosystem.

He said the digital economy was the ‘best bet’ to ensure that citizens have dignity, hope and opportunity.

‘The outcomes we want are that people are digitally included, economically included and that they have dignity. This dignity point for me is very important because poverty can include all sorts of indignity, but embracing technology should take all that away,’ he said.

The Y’ello Chair Vodcast is a platform where leaders and changemakers share insights, challenge norms, and drive Africa’s digital future. For episode 2, see here [insert link once vodcast is uploaded].

Coach Finidi George has acknowledged that Rivers United must perform better than they did against Aigles du Congo of DR Congo if they are to progress to the group stage of the CAF Champions League.

Rivers United advanced to the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League after securing a narrow 1-0 aggregate victory over Aigles du Congo in Port Harcourt on Sunday and will face Black Bulls of Mozambique next month.

Finidi expressed satisfaction with the hard-fought win, noting that his side dug deep to progress despite missed opportunities.

‘We are quite happy with the victory. It was not an easy one but any day, anytime, I will take the 1-0 win because we are now through to the next round,’ Finidi said after the game. ‘In the first half, we had a chance that should have been converted to calm the nerves, but it didn’t happen. We saw lapses and mistakes because the players were a little nervous. We spoke at halftime and the response was better, though we still couldn’t take our chances. Towards the end, our opponents tried to shock us, but we managed the game well.

‘It was not our usual style because we have a lot of new players. They will improve with time. I am happy we qualified, and the players know they must give everything to overcome our next opponents.’

Also Speaking on the game, team captain Temple Emekayi also reflected on the tactical approach of the Congolese side, noting that Rivers United had to adapt as the game progressed.

‘The opponents came with a clear game plan. They wanted to sit back and catch us on the counter. They kept to this until the goal came. In the second half, they threw everything forward knowing it was their last chance. With the pressure, we had to drop deep and defend our lead,’ Emekayi explained.

With the win, Rivers United will now shift focus to their second-round clash against Black Bulls of Mozambique, a fixture Finidi insists will require total commitment from his squad as they continue their quest for a group stage spot.

The Director of Alliance Française in Ibadan, Oyo State, Mrs Olaide Turner-Moyet, has called for more friendly immigration policies across Africa, to strengthen international trade, foster cultural and linguistic exchange, and advance continental prosperity.

She urged Africans to learn foreign languages, multilingual skills, particularly in international business, diplomacy, tourism and academia; build global friendships and professional relationships that would remain out of reach.

Speaking at the 2025 Ghana FESTAC Festival held at the International Conference Centre in Accra, Ghana, Turner-Moyet said Africa remained blessed with creativity, resources and human potential, adding that friendlier policies, particularly on immigration, would enhance inter-country collaboration, productivity and cultural exchange.

The award-winning artist and Fellow of the Eccolerite Institute for Peace Advancement, expressed delight about the growing ‘Back to Africa’ movement, describing it as a modern ‘Japada’ trend that was bringing Afro-descendants in the diaspora home to reconnect with their roots, especially in Ghana and Republic of Benin.

She noted that ”this reconnection strengthens cultural bonds, deeps spiritual significance and affirms Africa’s relevance worldwide.”

Reflecting on African identity, Turner-Moyet said Africans were deeply spiritual at their core, noting that reparations and restitutions should go beyond the return of artefacts to include acknowledgment of Africa’s spiritual heritage as part of its global contribution, as Africans continued to honour their ancestors through libations and ceremonies.

In her advocacy for cultural diplomacy through food, she introduced her idea to transform ‘Jollof Wars’ into ‘Jollof Friendship’ at the Jollof competition between Ghana and Nigeria during the FESTAC Festival.

Turner-Moyet said food must be a unifying force, binding friendship, fun and flavour across Africa.

Citing the legacy of leaders like Leopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, Obafemi Awolowo and Nelson Mandela, she told Africans that unity in diversity should inspire common trade, cultural integration and stronger bilateral ties.

Other distinguished voices, including Zimbabwean Ambassador Ruth Hungwe, Nigerian Professor of Literature and History Benjamin Okaba and Tourism Expert, Yinka Abioye, emphasised the importance of policies such as a continental currency and streamlined immigration protocols, to support deeper African integration.

Kwara United’s Head coach Tunde Sanni has lamented his side’s ouster from the 2025 CAF Confederation Cup following their 1-0 loss to Asante Koto of Ghana on Sunday at the MKO Abiola Stadium Arena in Abeokuta.

Kwara United entered the return leg optimistic of overturning their 4-3 first leg defeat at the Accra Sports Stadium penultimate weekend but failed to capitalise on several scoring chances in front of their home fans.

Sunday’s loss , therefore, sent out the Afonja Warriors on a 5-3 aggregate.

Speaking after the loss to the Porcupine Warriors, Sanni showed his displeasure and disappointment over his player’s lackadaisical approach as they lost several scoring opportunities.

‘I’m highly disappointed,’ Sanni said in an interview aired on Brila Fm. ‘Look at the number of chances we created, we scored three goals in Accra but we were unable to convert our chances here at home (Abeokuta).’

Incidentally, the loss to Asante Kotoko means that Kwara United cannot aim to their best showing in previous CAF Confederation Cup appearance having crashed out of the same competition in the Group Stage in 2007.In their last appearance in the same competition in the 2022/23 season , they were eliminated in the Second Round .

‘At times like this, I don’t know if the players were carried away,’ Sanni further lamented.

‘ We tried to score at all costs but were unable and look at the goal we conceded, it’s so painful.’

Aside Kwara United, Nigeria’s other representative in the CAF Confederation Cup, Abia Warriors also crashed out of the competition on Sunday following their 2-1 aggregate loss to the Djoliba Athletic Club of Bamako, Mali.

In crisis situations, there are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). These are hapless victims of whatever crisis befell their communities and forced them to leave; they are usually the responsibility of government to care for till peace returns to their troubled homesteads and they get resettled back. Not so with Failed Doomsday Displaced Persons (FDDPs). These are people who chose to believe a lie and self-dislocated their own lives – not because of external aggression but from inner delusion. Anyone in this category cannot hope for government to rehabilitate them. They are on their own.

It is one week now since the failed prediction of a date for the biblical ‘rapture,’ and those taken in are ruing their self-dispossession in gullible anticipation of an escape from the earth. Rapture is an end-time event by which believers in the Christian faith expect to be supernaturally translocated from the terrestrial plane ahead of a coming period of intense suffering, known as the Tribulation, by those left behind. This event in biblical narrative will mark the second coming of Jesus Christ.

South African preacher, Pastor Joshua Mhlakela, recently gained worldwide attention after he claimed Jesus appeared to him in a vision and said he would return during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah, which held between 22nd and 24th September. ‘The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not, the rapture will happen in 14 days from now,’ Mhlakela had told a YouTube channel, adding: ‘I’m a billion percent sure that we are going to see the Lord, the rapture is going to happen. I don’t know how to assure you, but I give you a billion percent that it is going to happen. The date of the 23rd, which is going to be the rapture of the church, is irrefutable and final.’

On the day predicted by Mhlakela, videos showed hundreds of people gathered in woods, waiting to be taken up. The preacher himself went live online, joined by some followers, declaring with confidence that the rapture was imminent. After several hours passed without anything happening, Mhlakela said, ‘I wonder how God works this out. What I know is that it will happen within these two days, but I cannot tell how He arranges the minutes and the seconds, because at any moment something could happen.’ He urged his followers to be patient and hopeful.

Those who believed Mhlakela had taken steps to sign out from planet earth. Social media platforms were flooded with videos from devastated persons who were so convinced doomsday was coming they resigned their jobs and gave away prized possessions. Tilahun Desalegn, an Australian, shared a clip of his car being towed away, saying: ‘I won’t need her beyond September, because I’m going home.’ Kingsalem Igwe, a self-identified Nigerian prophet, said in a video shared on TikTok: ‘I’m here with all humility to apologise to everyone. I only believed a man who claimed Jesus told him.’ Others were seen sobbing over the failed prediction, lamenting that they now had to go back to work. Well, they’re in good time to wake up to the smell of coffee!

It is not for nothing that Nigerians have generally welcomed the reduction of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) from 27.5 per cent to 27 percent at the committee’s 302nd meeting last week. Although it was something that Nigerians had long hoped for in the last few years, the exigencies of the economy had made it practically unrealistic.

According to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Yemi Cardoso, the MPC decision was underpinned by ‘sustained disinflation recorded in the past five months, projections of declining inflation for the rest of 2025, and the need to support economic recovery efforts.’

In other words, the time was finally right.

Among other reasons, he noted that headline inflation had slowed to 20.12 per cent in August from 21.88 per cent in July. Food inflation, he also reported, fell to 21.87 per cent from 22.74 per cent, while core inflation eased to 20.33 per cent from 21.33 per cent.

On a month-to-month basis, inflation dropped sharply to 0.74 per cent in August compared with 1.99 per cent in July.

There were other notable decisions. The MPC also adjusted the Standing Facilities corridor around the MPR to +250/-250 basis points to improve the efficiency of the interbank market and strengthen monetary policy transmission. The committee further introduced a 75 per cent Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on non-TSA public sector deposits for enhanced liquidity management.

For commercial banks, this was adjusted to 45 per cent while retaining that of merchant banks at 16 per cent. The Liquidity Ratio was left unchanged at 30.00 per cent.

Said he of the cut in MPR: ‘This reduction is the first under my leadership and the first in five years’; noting that ‘the last time the MPC cut its policy rate was in September 2020 when it dropped from 12.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

As would be expected, members of the organised private sector see the reduction as not only ‘marginal but insufficient to ease the credit squeeze on their businesses’. For Nigerians as a whole, it seems unlikely that they would be particularly enthusiastic about any cut short of returning the reference rate to a single digit.

Here, Nigerians would recall occasions in the past where suggestions were actually made in some quarters that the rate be legislated by fiat!

While varied positions on the subject would seem understandable, they merely highlight the misconceptions about the CBN’s role, particularly its dilemma in its statutory role of keeping inflation under control while ensuring unimpeded growth on one hand, and the daily frustrations of economic actors who have businesses to run, and must do it competitively under a constantly looming shadow of foreclosure, on the other.

In all of these, we cannot but commend Cardoso and his team for keeping admirably calm, while keeping their eyes on the ball.

For us, however, good as the trend is, the work has only begun. In fact, there is still much to be done to get the economy back to full recovery. Liquidity management remains a huge challenge even more so now that state treasuries are literally awash with Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) cash.

We expect the apex bank to continue to keep a keen eye on the monster of inflation to prevent a relapse to the immediate past. As for interest rates, we expect things to moderate a bit to reflect the trend.

On the whole, we urge the state governments in particular to focus on those expenditures that could engender real growth in the economy; surely the time for bogus expenditures should belong in the past.

If anything, the expectation is for both the fiscal and monetary authorities to continue to work together to deliver on growth that Nigerians can truly be proud.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said 6,232,673 eligible Nigerians have completed the pre-registration process on its online registration portal at the end of the sixth week of the exercise.

The commission said 3,250,338, representing 52.15 per cent, are women, while 2,982,335, representing 47.85 per cent, are men, and 137,865 are persons living with disability.

INEC said 1,004,132 Nigerians have so far participated in the physical (in-person) registration. Of the figure, 555,077 registrants, representing 55.28 per cent, are women, while 449,055, representing 44.72 per cent, are men.

The figures are contained in the statistics on the registration, which INEC released yesterday in Abuja.

The statistics revealed that the Southwest and the Northwest have maintained the lead in the Online Continuous Voter Registration and the in-person registration.

It also showed that while Borno State took the lead in the online registration with about 682,805 eligible voters registering online at the end of Week Six, Osun State took the lead in the in-person registration at the end of Week Five (the online exercise began one week before the in-person exercise) with 107,012 voters completing their registration.

According to the statistics, the Southwest has 1,924,072 eligible voters who registered online, followed by the Northwest with 1,728,144 eligible voters; the Northeast is third with 1,197,510 registrants; and the Northcentral is fourth with 967,518 eligible voters.

The Southsouth is fifth with 334,578 eligible voters, and the Southeast is sixth with 81,478 eligible voters.

The Northwest tops the list of the in-person registrants with 277,786 eligible voters completing the exercise, followed by the Southwest with 252,281; the Northcentral with 155,953; the Northeast with 144,437; the Southsouth with 105,108, and the Southeast with 67,745 eligible voters.

The state-by-state breakdown of the online registration revealed that Borno has registered 682,805, followed by Osun with 599,363 voters, Lagos with 555,442 voters, Kebbi with 472,662, while Ogun and Kaduna have registered 450,897 and 376,054 voters .

Osun State is first in the physical registration with 107,012 voters completing their registration, followed by Lagos with 58,460; Borno with 56,828; Kano with 54,145; Sokoto with 48,430; Imo with 47,083, and Kogi with 41,257 voters.

The statistics for Anambra State are not included in the two exercises since the state will be part of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) until after the November 8 governorship elections.

Former British diplomat Mr David Roberts has joined forces with the Federal Government to dismiss the reports of genocide against Christians in the country as false.

Roberts, who served for many years as a director of the British Council in Abuja, stated that the country’s security challenges had been exaggerated by Western interest groups and the media.

He warned against escalating the situation with such inaccurate reports.

In a statement, Roberts said: ‘Yes, there are security challenges in Nigeria, but those issues have affected the country from the pre-colonial, colonial, and now the post-colonial periods,’ he stated, adding, ‘Ample evidence exists to show that the Nigerian government is de-escalating the violence.’

Based on a viral video in which a man with a Nigerian accent claimed that over 500,000 Christians were killed in the country last year, Mr Bill Maher, a comedian who hosts the longest-running talk show in the US, Real Time with Bill Maher, asserted that a systematic genocide was happening in Nigeria.

The offensive video was circulated by international X influencers, including Radio Genoa, an anti-Islamic personality, who stokes negative sentiments against the Muslim faith.

However, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris, and a former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, on Sunday refuted the claims as false.

Roberts upheld Idris’ and Omokri’s rebuttals and contended that the genocide reports were skewed. He explained that both the Christian and Muslim faiths are victims of the age-long violence.

He stated: ‘I lived in Nigeria as a British diplomat and toured the entire country. It is ridiculous for anyone even to suggest that half a million people were killed as part of a genocide against Christians in Nigeria by Muslims last year alone. ‘

‘And this is not just some Christian genocide. In fact, more Muslims are killed in these attacks in Nigeria than Christians – a fact highlighted by the Institute for Economics and Peace in their annual Global Terrorism Index.’

The former diplomat explained that insecurity in Nigeria had worsened due to the crisis in the Sahel, with the fall of democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

According to Roberts, ‘As these countries typically share a border with the Northwest and Northeast of Nigeria, which are the Islamic heartlands, it has meant that Muslims have borne the brunt of the situation more than Christians, which is not to say Christians are not affected.’

He urged Western nations and their media to be mindful of the reportage in order not to ignite a crisis that will result in a greater flood of refugees from West Africa turning up in Europe through the Mediterranean.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to enter the 2027 presidential race, the Presidency said yesterday.

It however argued that Nigerians will judge the former leader on what it described as a ‘dismal’ record in office and compare his tenure with what it called the ‘giant economic strides’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency blamed the early presidential campaign on those angling to unseat the incumbent.

The Presidency spoke on a day that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled out its automatic 2027 presidential ticket to the former president, describing him (Jonathan) as one of the ‘numerous options’ on its radar.

The Presidency said the early jostling for 2027 had been prematurely foisted on the nation by the desperation of the opposition ganging up against President Bola Tinubu,’ Onanuga said in the statement, dismissing recent political rhetoric as ‘a cacophony of voices, most of them full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’

The statement singled out former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana, over his reported move to draft Jonathan into the 2027 presidential contest on PDP platform, which it described as ‘discredited’ and responsible for ‘a legacy of economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.’

According to the Presidency, Gana ‘is free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy,’ adding that Jonathan’s entry would ‘provide another job’ for the former university don.

Jonathan, according to sources, has intensified consultations on his ambition to return to power in 2027.

He was defeated in 2015 by former President Muhammadu Buhari in a historic election that was a referendum on his performance in the highest office.

In the past few weeks, the former president was said to have visited former military President Ibrahim Babangida in Minna, the Niger State capital, and the Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic congress (ADC), Senator David Mark.

Party sources said one of the conditions he gave to the ADC is that he should be the anointed presidential candidate at the primary, with no aspirant competing for the ticket with him.

Despite his consultations with other leaders, his wife, a source said, has maintained her position that since President Tinubu supported him in the 2011 poll, it is fair to return the gesture by supporting his second term in 2027.

Acknowledging Jonathan’s right to seek office, the Presidency said: ‘It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again, but any such bid would face judicial scrutiny.

‘The jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office.’

The Presidency cautioned Jonathan to be ‘wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders,’ alleging that figures ‘of Jerry Gana’s ilk’ sought to lure him into the race for ‘personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests,’ and would ‘abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015.’

Recounting its view of Jonathan’s tenure, the statement said the administration ‘engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits,’ claiming that key indicators declined and that ‘the nation’s economic downturn. actually began under President Jonathan’.

It alleged that some business moguls ‘allocated foreign exchange to import fuel, simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything,’ and that some still face court cases.

It also accused Jonathan and his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), of distributing security funds to ‘friends and cronies.’

Citing figures, the Presidency said Jonathan in 2010 inherited $66 billion ($46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), but left foreign reserves ‘below $30 billion’ and the ECA ‘depleted to $2 billion’ by 2015 ‘despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales’.

It noted that oil price averaged about $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, yet by December 2014 ‘the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants,’ while ‘at least 28 states’ owed workers arrears.

By contrast, the statement said: ‘President Tinubu has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy, removing fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates that paved the way for arbitrage.’

It listed reported gains: Q2 2025 GDP growth of 4.23%, ‘the highest in four years’ and above the IMF’s 3.4% projection; inflation ‘decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years’; foreign reserves at ‘$42.03 billion’; and a ‘virtually stabilised’ naira.

‘Investor confidence. has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria,’ it added.

Beyond macroeconomic indicators, the statement said the ‘nation has turned the corner’ and citizens are ‘reaping the gains’ of reforms.

It highlighted roads being rebuilt and new ones ‘springing up,’ listing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, and said the government was ‘addressing security issues in some parts of the country.’

‘The PDP and Jerry Gana’s co-travellers broke the economy; President Tinubu is fixing it,’ the Presidency declared, insisting Jonathan ‘will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.

‘President Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race. They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians who will not easily forget the recent past will not allow them to return to run it down again.’