Headline

Fuel Scarcity Persists As DSS 48 Hours Ultimatum Elapses

Published

3 years ago

December 11, 2022

Despite the 48 hours ultimatum issued to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil marketers by the Department of State Services, DSS, to make the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol available for Nigerians, the situation has remained the same, DAILY POST reports.

It could be recalled that the country’s secret police had on Thursday, given the NNPC and other stakeholders in the downstream sector 48 hours ultimatum to put an end to the lingering fuel scarcity across the country.

The DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, who made this known while addressing journalists in Abuja, stated that the ultimatum came after the agency held a closed-door meeting with stakeholders in the oil sector, who agreed to end the scarcity within the stipulated time.

However, oil marketers, on Friday, said the distribution of the product was still problematic, but expressed optimism that queues for the product at various filling stations would soon disappear.

Similarly, dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, threatened to shut down operations if the NNPCL continued to deny them direct access to it in terms of payment for products.

However, a check by DAILY POST on Saturday revealed that many fuel stations in the nation’s capital and its environs are yet to begin selling the product to customers.

While some NNPC filling stations in the territory seem to have enough product, many stations are still experiencing the usual long queue.

It was gathered that some fuel stations in the satellite areas are selling the product as high as N200 per litre, while stations at the city centre sell between N180 to N190 which is above the official price.

In most of the South-East States, the product is selling for as high as N250 per litre and above.

Checks by DAILY POST showed that it is not different in many other parts of the country.

A civil servant, who spoke with our correspondent on the difficulty in getting the product, lamented how oil marketers are allegedly taking advantage of the Christmas season to impose fuel price on users.

According to him, the fuel scarcity being experienced across the country was artificially created by people who don’t care for the poor.

He said, “It is Christmas time, this is what they do every year for their selfish gains. They don’t care about the ordinary Nigerians who depend on fuel to power their little businesses.

“Our problem in this country is that we don’t have price regulators. Nobody regulates prices of products in Nigeria, so anybody can wake up and change the price to whatever they like.

“The DSS gave an ultimatum on Thursday, what are they doing now, have they arrested anybody? We are waiting”.

When contacted on the way forward, the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya told DAILY POST that the ultimatum issued by the Service was already yielding positive results.

According to him, some outlet stations have been asked to sell the product for 24 hours in a bid to ease off the queues.

Headline

Morocco Jails French Rapper Maes For Kidnapping Bid

Published

16 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A Moroccan court has sentenced French rapper Maes to seven years in prison on charges including the formation of a criminal gang and attempted kidnapping, local reports said Wednesday.

Maes, who has roots in Morocco and whose real name is Walid Georgey, was arrested upon landing in Morocco in January after fleeing the United Arab Emirates, where he feared he could be extradited to France, the reports said.

French authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for him over a separate criminal case.

He appeared in court late Tuesday and was found guilty of “forming a criminal organisation, attempted abduction and unlawful confinement” of a rival in Morocco, news website TelQuel reported.

The rapper with over a billion views on his YouTube channel was accused of tasking a gang and hitmen with killing the rival, but the plot was foiled, TelQuel added.

Maes has denied all charges, with his lawyers calling the case “empty” and “arguing that no evidence linked him to the other defendants”, TelQuel added.

Ten other people were sentenced as part of the case, with terms ranging from one to 10 years, according to news website Media24.

AFP was unable to independently verify the reports as prosecutors were not immediately reachable for comment.

In 2020, when Maes was one of France’s most-streamed rappers, he fell victim to extortion attempts in his native Sevran, a suburb north of Paris, according to reports.

He retaliated by opening fire with weapons he had at home, leading to a shootout. He then fled to Dubai with his family, according to an interview with French YouTube channel LEGEND.

Following the killing of his manager in 2022, he was suspected of ordering reprisals against those he believed were behind the murder, according to reports.

AFP

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UK Court Clears Comedy Writer Of Harassing Transgender Woman

Published

16 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A London court on Tuesday cleared Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Linehan of harassing a transgender activist online but found him guilty of criminal damage to their mobile phone.

Linehan, who co-created the popular 1990s sitcom “Father Ted” but has more recently become well-known for his gender critical views, had been accused of sending Sophia Brooks “abusive and vindictive” messages on social media.

He was also charged with criminal damage after deliberately knocking a phone out of Brooks’s hand as they filmed him on the sidelines of a London conference.

Ruling on the case, District Judge Briony Clarke said she was not convinced Linehan’s conduct “was oppressive and unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating”.

Clarke also concluded Brooks was not “as alarmed and distressed as they portrayed themself to be”.

But convicting Linehan of criminal damage, the judge ruled he was “angry and fed up” and did not use “reasonable force” when the phone was taken from Brooks.

Clarke fined him £500 ($655) and ordered him to pay costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200.

The Irish writer, who also co-created the popular sitcoms “Black Books” and “The IT Crowd”, became embroiled in a free speech row in Britain earlier this year over his anti-transgender stance.

It followed his arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport by armed police over accusations of inciting violence with his X posts insulting transgender people.

The arrest sparked a backlash and claims of state overreach, including from US tech billionaire Elon Musk. But in October, UK prosecutors said they would take “no further action” in that case.

AFP

Headline

Prosecutors Seek Jail For Italian Influencer Ferragni In Fraud Case

Published

16 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

Italian prosecutors asked a court on Tuesday to sentence fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni to one year and eight months in prison if found guilty of alleged fraud over charity endorsement deals.

The Instagram star and businesswoman has been on trial since September for aggravated fraud over promotions of a pandoro cake — a Christmas treat similar to a panettone — and Easter eggs, which purported to raise money for charity or social causes.

The 38-year-old, who is based in Milan, told the court during the closed-door hearing on Tuesday that she denied the charges and had always acted “in good faith”, her lawyer Giuseppe Iannaccone said.

Leaving the audience, Ferragni told a throng of journalists that she felt “confident… I can’t say anymore”.

A verdict is expected in January.

Aggravated fraud carries a jail term of between one and five years.

But Ferragni has chosen a fast-track trial, which gives defendants a sentence reduction — meaning she cannot receive more than a maximum penalty of two years and three months, according to a source close to her team.

In Italy, people sentenced to prison for less than two years rarely serve jail time.

Ferragni started out with a fashion blog, The Blonde Salad, in 2009, and in 2017, Forbes magazine named her its top fashion influencer.

Chronicling her glamorous lifestyle and being paid to promote high-end brands, she built the blog into a lucrative business, then used it as a springboard to launch her own eponymous label with stores around the world.

Her trailblazing story even became a Harvard Business School example of how social media fame can be monetised.

But the fraud accusations have hit her reputation and her endorsements.

Outside court for a hearing earlier this month, Ferragni acknowledged to journalists that it was a “difficult phase of my life”.

The allegations relate in part to Ferragni’s 2022 endorsement of a pandoro cake purportedly to raise funds for children undergoing treatment at a Turin hospital.

In December 2023, Italy’s communications watchdog (AGCOM) fined two of Ferragni’s companies one million euros ($1.2 million) for unfair commercial practices for the “Pandoro Pink Christmas” promotion — around the same sum they had made in the deal.

Shoppers were led to believe that buying the special edition cake made by Balocco would benefit the hospital, but it only received a single 50,000-euro donation from the company.

Balocco was fined 420,000 euros at the same time.

AGCOM also investigated Ferragni-branded Easter eggs from 2021 and 2022, linked to a social enterprise initiative.

Ferragni and her husband, rapper and music producer Fedez, who were one of Italy’s most famous celebrity couples, split in 2024.

AFP