Headline

Alleged One-sided Story: Go To Court, Journalist Challenges BSM President, Curtis Ugbo

Published

4 years ago

October 14, 2021

Edo State correspondent of P. M. NEWS, Jethro Ibileke, has challenged the President of Benin Solidarity Movement (BSM) Worldwide, Curtis Ugbo, to go to court to challenge a report he wrote over his (Ugbo) arrest by operatives of the Zone 5, Nigerian Police, in Benin, Edo State.

Ugbo was reportedly arrested and detained for allegedly lying against a Benin-based human rights lawyer, Olayiwola Afolabi.

He was alleged to have said that Afolabi collected the sum of N10 million from one Prince Johnson Atseleghe as a bribe in a case.

Afolabi, while speaking with journalists, said Curtis Ugbo wrote on social media that he (Afolabi) collected N10 million from Prince Atseleghe, which he said he did not know anything about.

“He went to write on Facebook and other social media that I collected N10 million from Prince Johnson. I didn’t collect any money from Prince Johnson. Himself and one girl that is his secretary went to write on their Facebook.”

The said Curtis Ugbo was actually docked at the Federal Court in Benin, on Wednesday, 13 October.

But, the Benin Solidarity Movement (BSM) Worldwide, in a rebuttal published on an online publication said that Ugbo was offended by the report, for failing to call him to hear his side, even while he was in police detention.

The group demanded for a retraction of the report or, Ugbo will go to court to seek a redress.

In the rebuttal, one Mrs. Esohe Adun, who claimed to be the acting secretary-general of BSM, said: “A very poorly presented report has come to the attention of the Benin Solidarity Movement (BSM) Worldwide regarding the recent issue pitching Ambassador Curtis Eghosa Ugbo, President of the BSM with Barrister Olayiwola Afolabi, a Benin based lawyer.

“In as much that a peace process is on the way to resolve the matter through the intervention of high networth individuals, BSM is at a loss on how a so called journalist, Jethro Ibileke, would go into fiction writing to arrive at his presentation of lies mixed with inuendos.

“Ambassador Ugbo is a well known personality in Edo State who over the years has lots of journalists as his friends and associates. One would have expected Jethro to seek for Ambassador Ugbo’s own side of the story before hurriedly making his publication probably to gain acclaim in his office in Lagos that he is a guru in reporting issues pertaining to Edo State.

“His report is jaundiced as he did not deem it proper to stick to the ethics of journalism which is that all parties in a report must be given fair hearing.

“Jethro Ibileke should endeavour in his and his organisation’s interest do the needful in this regard within the next 48 hours ensuring that Ambassador Ugbo’s response enjoy an equal quantum of publicity as his earlier publication on the matter or face legal process.”

It is pertinent to note that Ugbo neither deny being arrested and detained by the police nor being charged to court or negotiating with Barr. Afolabi.

It was further gathered that he (Ugbo) slept overnight in police cell, charged to court.

Report has it that with the intervention of prominent persons, Afolabi decided to withdraw the charge against him and allow the matter to rest.

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP

Headline

Nigeria Grants Asylum To Guinea-Bissau Opposition Candidate

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian embassy in Guinea-Bissau has granted asylum to Fernando Dias da Costa, the country’s opposition presidential candidate, following alleged threats to his life after last week’s military coup, The Cable Reports.

The coup was announced by military officers on Wednesday, just days after Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election in which both incumbent President Umaro Embaló and his main challenger, da Costa, claimed victory before official results were released.

Nigeria condemned the takeover and urged an immediate return to constitutional order.

In a letter to the President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Omar Touray, dated November 30, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said President Bola Tinubu had approved asylum and protection for da Costa inside the Nigerian embassy in Bissau.

Tuggar wrote that the decision was made “in response to threats made against da Costa’s life.”

“In this regard, it would be appreciated if you would kindly mandate the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission in Guinea-Bissau to provide him protection and security while in the premises of the Nigerian embassy,” the letter stated.

The foreign affairs minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to The Cable on Monday.

He said, “The decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria to grant asylum and provide protection to Fernando Dia Da Costa falls squarely within Nigeria’s sovereign responsibility and longstanding commitment to regional peace, stability, and democratic governance.”

He added that Nigeria acted “in the broader interest of de-escalation,” saying the government had exercised its discretion “to prevent further deterioration of tensions and to promote social cohesion in Guinea-Bissau and the wider West African sub-region.”

According to Abdulkadir, the intervention aligns with ECOWAS principles and reflects Nigeria’s role as a stabilising force in West Africa.

Following the coup, ECOWAS held an emergency virtual summit of heads of state and subsequently suspended Guinea-Bissau from the regional bloc until constitutional order is restored.

Headline

Trump To Attend FIFA World Cup Finals Draw On Friday

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The White House on Monday confirmed US President Donald Trump would attend the draw for the FIFA World Cup finals in Washington later this week.

The United States will co-host the 2026 tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.

“On Friday, President Trump will attend the FIFA World Cup final draw at the Kennedy Centre,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Trump has made the World Cup a centrepiece event of both his second presidency and the 250th anniversary of US independence next year.

But the giant sporting extravaganza has not escaped the political turmoil caused by Trump’s hardline stance on a host of issues.

Trump, a Republican, has raised the possibility of moving games from some US host cities amid a crackdown on what he says is crime and illegal migration in some Democratic-run areas.

AFP