Connect with us

Headline

Ikoyi Building: Osinbajo To Sue Bloggers, Journalists, Social Media Users

Published

on

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has commenced moves to sue media houses, publishers, journalists, bloggers, social media users, WhatsApp groups and others linking him to the Ikoyi building collapse.

In a statement on Saturday, a lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa announced that the VP instructed him to issue a public notice on the matter.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said publications which mentioned Osinbajo as the owner of the structure were sponsored by “faceless individuals and entities”.

Advertisement

Adegboruwa noted that the plan was to tarnish Osinbajo’s good name and reputation “without any scintilla of proof”.

READ ALSO: Ikoyi Building: Sanwo-Olu Declares Three-day Mourning, Cancels Official Engagements

The legal practitioner insisted that the VP is not involved in, associated or connected with the ownership or development of the collapsed building, in any manner whatsoever.

Advertisement

“This notice has thus become necessary, partly to explain the legal consequences of fabricating falsehood and unsubstantiated negative reports, of and concerning our Client.

“In law, liability for libelous publications is not limited to the original author or publisher thereof.

“It extends to and includes all those who, out of sheer ignorance, mischief or malice, or all, cause any libelous publication to be repeated, reposted or re-published, either personally or through any platform for which he/she has control.

Advertisement

“We have the instructions of our Client to compile and preserve the particulars of anyone found to have published, re-published or endorsed or consented to the publication, distribution or circulation of any libelous material, of and concerning him, for the purpose of commencing civil actions in court, in any jurisdiction where such publication occurs.”

Adegboruwa told the media to stop using their platforms for the dissemination of libelous publication against Osinbajo henceforth.

READ ALSO: Ikoyi Building: Families Lament Delay In Identifying Corpses

Advertisement

In a statement on Thursday, the owner of Elizade Motors and Elizade University, Michael Ade-Ojo denied selling the land to Osinbajo.

About 40 people perished under the rubbles at No 20 Gerrard Road, including the developer and Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited (FHL), Femi Osibona.

Named Gerrard Terraces, the apartments were to be completed in 2022. Each unit was priced at between $1.2million and $5million

Advertisement

Headline

White House Slams Trump’s Nobel Prize Snub

Published

on

The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.

The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.

“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”

Advertisement

READ ALSO:White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks

Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts — a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.

Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.

Advertisement

But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”

Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his “America First” policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

Transgender Woman Jailed For Deceiving Man About Gender In UK

Published

on

A British court has sentenced a transgender woman, Ciara Watkin, to 21 months in prison for deceiving a man into sexual activity by falsely claiming to be a biological female.

According to a BBC report on Friday, the victim told Durham Crown Court he would not have consented to the sexual encounter had he known Watkin was biologically male.

The court heard that Watkin, 21, from Thornaby in Stockton-on-Tees, was found guilty of sexual assault after jurors rejected her claim that the man “would have realised” her gender identity.

Advertisement

Recorder Peter Makepeace KC said he was “certain” the victim “fully believed from start to finish” that Watkin was a woman due to her “lies and deception.”

READ ALSO:NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa

Watkin, who was born male and had used the name Ciara since childhood, had not undergone any medical transition or surgery, the BBC reported.

Advertisement

Both Watkin and the victim were 18 when they met on Snapchat, where she used a female cartoon character as her profile picture. They later met in person, leading to sexual contact. Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court that Watkin even claimed to be menstruating to stop the man from touching her below the waist.

When Watkin later confessed to being biologically male, the man said he was “physically sick” and immediately reported the matter to the police.

He said he was shocked and upset about being deceived, adding that he felt ashamed, embarrassed, and had been ridiculed online due to Watkin’s actions and deception,” the report stated.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons

The victim, who described himself as heterosexual, told the court he felt “part of his masculinity was taken away.”

Defence counsel Victoria Lamballe argued that Watkin’s actions were not “predatory or sadistic” but stemmed from “shame and a deep sense of discomfort” with her own body.

Advertisement

She said Watkin, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, identified as female from primary school and had endured years of bullying.

“It is hardly surprising that Watkin built up a façade and presented almost as a caricature of herself to mask the inner turmoil she feels at having been born into the wrong body,” Lamballe said, adding that Watkin “simply wanted to be loved.”

READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons

Advertisement

However, Recorder Makepeace ruled that the victim was “totally deceived,” saying Watkin had lied to “get away” with her deception and was aware the man would not have consented if he knew her biological sex.

The judge also criticised Watkin’s attitude during the trial, describing her as “flippant, disinterested, and bored,” showing “not a shred of remorse.”

He said, “At the heart of this case was your frustration at wanting sexual experiences with heterosexual males, which, by definition, you needed to deceive to achieve.”

Advertisement

Watkin will serve her sentence in a male prison, where authorities said protective measures would be taken to ensure her safety. She will also remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years and has been issued a lifetime restraining order preventing contact with the victim.

Detective Constable Martin Scotson of Cleveland Police said Watkin “purposely concealed her sex in order for the sexual activity to take place,” adding that he hoped the conviction would allow the victim to “move forward with his life.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent

Published

on

Captain-Ibrahim-Traore
Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.

In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months. But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Launch Common Passport

Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.

Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.

Advertisement

Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.

READ ALSO:US Deportations ‘Profoundly Disturbing” — UN Official

Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, styles himself as an anti-imperialist Pan-African strongman.

Advertisement

Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, he has shunned former colonial master France and the wider West, forging closer ties with Russia instead.

Continue Reading

Trending