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13 Prominent Nigerians That Died In 2022 [PHOTOS]

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Nigeria is endowed with great people across all fields – home and abroad – promoting the image of the country as the most populous African nation.

Some of these prominent Nigerians in politics, entertainment, commerce and others died in the course of the year 2022.

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Recall some of these deaths that shook the nation.

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The Olubadan

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Barely 24 hours after breathing the new air of the year 2022, His Royal Majesty, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji died at the age of 93.

Olubadan

The monarch died on January 2, 2022, as the 41st traditional ruler of the ancient city of Ibadan at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Former President Ernest Sonekan

Former President and the Head of the National Interim Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan died on January 11, 2022, aged 85.

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Former President Ernest Sonekan

Shonekan who succeeded former Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to govern Nigeria for only three months from August 26 – November 17, 1993, died of natural causes in his residence at Lekki, Lagos.

Chinedu Nwadike

Nigerian gospel singer, Chinedu Nwadike died on March 27, 2022, at the age of 38.


Chinedu Nwadike

The artiste known for his popular song ‘God of Vengeance’ died in Abuja, the country’s capital after recovering from a kidney problem.

Osinachi Nwachukwu

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Another popular Nigerian gospel artiste, Osinachi Nwachukwu died on April 8, 2022, at the age of 43, after a brief illness in her residence in Abuja.

Late Osinachi Nwachukwu

The ‘Ekwueme’ crooner’s death was filled with controversy after her family came out to say she died of domestic violence at the hand of her husband.

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Alaafin of Oyo

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Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi
Another first-class monarch that died was the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III on April 22, 2022, at the age of 83.

Late Alaafin

The king passed on at the Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti to meet his ancestors having reigned on the throne for 53 years.

Arthur Nzeribe

Ace politician and businessman, Arthur Nzeribe died at the age of 83 on May 8, 2022, in Oguta, Imo State.

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Arthur Nzeribe

The former senator was known for his effort to stop the June 12, 1993, presidential election, but the accomplished lawyer also left indelible marks for his astuteness in politics.

Ada Ameh

Nollywood actress, comedian and on-air-personality, Ada Ameh died at the age of 48 in Warri, Delta State on July 17, 2022.

Ada Ameh

Ameh, despite being loved for putting smiles on peoples’ faces through her performances on the screen allegedly died of depression which attracted the sympathy of her fans and many Nigerians.

Vincent Ogbulafor

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Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor died on October 6, 2022, in Canada at the age of 73.

Vincent Ogbulafor

Ogbulafor who hailed from Olokoro, Umuahia South local government of Abia State, would be remembered for his statement that PDP would uninterruptedly rule the country for 40 years.

Rico Swavey

Former Big Brother Naija reality star, Patrick Fakoya, popularly known as Rico Swavey died on October 13, 2022, after sustaining multiple injuries from a ghastly car accident.

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Rico

Swavey, a singer, actor and lawyer had an auto crash two days earlier around Sangotedo/Ajah road of Lagos and was rushed to the hospital but he did not survive it.

Chief Mbazulike Amechi

Chief Mbazulike Amechi, a former First Republic Minister of Aviation and elder statesman died on November 1, 2022, at the age of 93 years.

Chief Mbazulike Amechi

The nonagenarian who was known and respected for seeking peace in the Nigerian state led a delegation of Igbo elders to President Muhammadu Buhari to plead for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

Sammie Okposo

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Multiple award-winning gospel singer, Sammie Okposo died on 25 November, 2022, at the age of 51 in his Lagos home.

Sammie Okposo

Okposo, who had ministered in songs on local and global stages set the internet abuzz early this year, following his public apology to his wife over infidelity, begging for forgiveness.

Paul Unongo

Chief Paul Iorpuu Unongo, the former leader of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) died on November 29, 2022, at the age of 87.

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The former Minister of Power and Steel died in Jos, Plateau State, and tributes were paid for his selfless service to the nation, making Ohanaeze Ndigbo describe him as an “apostle of excellence.”

Demola Seriki

Nigeria’s ambassador to Spain, Demola Seriki died at the age of 63 on November 15, 2022, in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

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Demola Seriki

Seriki was a Lagos politician and public administrator who until his death enjoyed the accreditation of Nigeria’s permanent envoy to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

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Fake Labubu Dolls Worth Millions Seized In London Raid Amid Growing Safety Fears

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Thousands of fake Labubu dolls believed to be worth millions of pounds have been seized at an industrial estate on the outskirts of London following a major crackdown led by Trading Standards and law enforcement agencies.

The operation, which followed weeks of investigation, traced the fake merchandise from a corner shop in Swansea, south Wales, to a warehouse complex in London.

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Officers discovered rooms stacked floor-to-ceiling with fake goods, but it was the imitation Labubu dolls at the centre of a viral TikTok craze that drew the most concern.

The dolls, produced by popular toy company Pop Mart, have surged in global demand, with some genuine pieces retailing for up to £80. The popularity of the brand helped the company double its revenue to £1.33 billion last year, according to Forbes. However, authorities say the boom has also attracted criminal enterprises looking to profit from the trend through counterfeit production.

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“The head comes off. The feet pull off. The eyes aren’t glued in,” said Rhys Harries, a Trading Standards officer, while examining one of the seized dolls. “These are clear choking hazards.”

Using a plastic tool modelled after a child’s throat, Harries demonstrated how easily parts of the fake dolls could become life-threatening. “These parts would get stuck and potentially cause choking,” he warned.

The scale of the operation was alarming. Border Force officials say they have intercepted hundreds of thousands of fake Labubu dolls at UK ports in recent months, with many traced back to manufacturers in China, Hong Kong, and Turkey.

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In one case, a mother from Caerphilly, Jade, recounted how fake Labubu dolls she bought for her six-year-old son Harri’s birthday began falling apart within hours. “The hook came off and ended up in his mouth,” she said. “Luckily he was old enough to spit it out and tell me.”

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Despite knowing the dolls were fakes, Jade said she bought them due to the high cost of the original ones and peer pressure from other children. She got the knock-offs for just over £10 each.

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Authorities say the rush to cash in on the craze has led to the use of substandard and potentially dangerous materials, including toxic plastics. Kate Caffery, deputy director of intelligence and law enforcement at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office, said counterfeiting is the second most lucrative source of criminal income worldwide, after drug trafficking.

“There’s a complete disregard for safety,” Caffery said. “They’re made from anything from the inferior to the outright dangerous.”

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TikTok collector and plush toy enthusiast Meg Goldberger, 27, said she struggled to find genuine dolls due to scalpers bulk-buying authentic stock and reselling them at inflated prices. “They sell out in seconds,” she said. “Some resellers are using bots to buy hundreds at once.”

Investigators found invoice books showing the dolls were destined for locations across the UK. Some of the seized dolls will be used as evidence, while the rest will be stored in a secure location before being recycled or destroyed.

Pop Mart has been contacted for comment on the counterfeit issue, which authorities say is now a national concern.

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Young Catholics Converge On Rome For Pope Leo’s Vigil

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Thousands of young Catholics began assembling Saturday for an evening prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage and a key event in the Jubilee holy year that is expected to draw up to a million people.

The “Jubilee of Youth” — when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church’s power — has seen young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome, waving flags, singing or praying in groups.

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It comes nearly three months after Leo, 69, the first American pontiff, began his papacy, and 25 years after the last such massive youth gathering in Rome under Poland’s Pope John Paul II.

On Saturday morning, thousands of young pilgrims had already gathered at the vast open space in Rome’s eastern Tor Vergata neighbourhood where the pope will lead the vigil, the ground already dotted with blankets and mattresses.

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Elsewhere in the Eternal City, numerous groups of young people were seen preparing to set off for the venue.

On the plaza outside the Basilica of St John Lateran, they filled water bottles, applied suncream and checked bags of food and snacks — ready to spend the next 24 hours surrounded by a swarm of people and then sleep under the stars.

Victoria Perez, who carried a Spanish flag, could not contain her excitement at seeing “the Pope up close.

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It’s the first time I’m going to see him, and I can’t wait,” the 21-year-old told AFP, excited to experience the “night of prayers under the stars”.

French pilgrim, Quentin Remaury, 26, said he had been inspired by the late Pope Francis’s rousing message to youth during a 2016 visit to Krakow, Poland.

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Pope Francis told us to ‘get off your couches,’ and that really gave me a boost,” he said.

– ‘What is his message?’ –

Since the youth jubilee began on Monday, attendees have participated in various Church-planned events throughout the city.

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On Friday, approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession at Circus Maximus, one of Rome’s top tourist spots.

Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held, and youths lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages.

Of the many languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital this week, Spanish seemed to dominate. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries were represented, and it expects up to a million people to attend the vigil.

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The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty and anxiety over climate change rise among the under-30s, with many saying they were curious to hear the Church’s position on global warming, wars and economic inequalities.

Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome.

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“We are still trying to understand his leadership,” she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about “third world countries”.

As Parisian student Alice Berry exclaimed, “What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?”

– Raising voices –

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The youth pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and more than three years of war in Ukraine.

READ ALSO:Pope Leo XIV Outlines A Path For A Modern Church That Follows Francis’ Steps

The Vatican has praised young Catholics who managed to travel to Rome from war-scarred countries, with Pope Leo saying the voices of the world’s youth “will be heard to the end of the earth”.

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In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass on Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signalling the Vatican’s openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth.

More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organisers.

Roman authorities have tightened security in the city — which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundating the city.

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Ukrainian Drone Strikes Kill Three In Russia

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Ukrainian drone strikes killed three people and wounded two others overnight in western Russia, regional governors said on Saturday.

One woman was killed and two other people were wounded in an attack on an enterprise in Penza, the region’s governor, Oleg Melnichenko, wrote on Telegram.

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An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram.

In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack and a fire in one of the site’s buildings, acting Rostov governor Yuri Sliusar said.

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The military repelled a massive air attack during the night,” destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory — 34 over the Rostov region — in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning.

In Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, overnight Russian drone attacks left three people wounded, governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram.

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Several buildings, homes and cars were damaged, he said.

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Russian forces have claimed advances in Dnipropetrovsk, recently announcing the capture of two villages there, part of Moscow’s accelerated capture of territory in July, according to AFP’s analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

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Kyiv denies any Russian presence in the Dnipropetrovsk area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire in the more than three-year conflict, said Friday that he wanted peace but that his demands for ending Moscow’s military offensive were “unchanged”.

Those demands include that Ukraine abandon territory and end ambitions to join NATO.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders.

“The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia’s readiness,” he wrote on X.

AFP

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