Headline

Late Edo-billionaire’s Family Doles Out Scholarship To 100 Children

Published

4 years ago

February 3, 2022

Late Edo-billionaire, Captain Hosa Okunbo’s family on Wednesday gifted 100 pupils and students drawn from public schools in Edo State scholarship for the session to mark their father’s 64th posthumous birthday.

Speaking at the event, the wife of Olu of Warri, Olori Atuwatse III, said the family decided to invest in education because it is a multiplier, adding that any other thing invested on may not last and have impact as education.

Flanked by her siblings, other family members and heads of schools, the Olori, while urging the students and pupils to emulate the life of her late father, noted that her late father was not born with a silver spoon but made it through hard work and determination.

She said: “He was one of the children in the family of eleven, his parents were teachers, so he was not born with a silver spoon but through hard work, dedication and determination, he rose to be a man of great impact and great value. So, I want you to take that as an encouragement. Look at him and know that this is the same Benin City that he grew up and you are growing up too, you have all it takes to make it and impact on the society.

“Education is so important to us and we decided to put this together to mark his posthumous 64th birthday. We know we can do feeding but the food will get finished; we can build a road but the road will get bad some day, so, it came to me, why don’t we invest in lives; why don’t we transform lives; why don’t we ensure that pupils can go to school so that the multiplier effects will be felt.

“We have touched one hundred lives today but I dare say we have touched a hundreds of thousand lives.”

Earlier, the Olori’s younger brother and first son of Okunbo, Osahon Okunbo, said Nigeria invested in his late father through scholarships and “he always referenced that to let people know that and wanted to always give back to Nigeria because of what Nigeria did for him and this is one way we can continue that and to honour him, you should begin to ensure that you are the best.

“Always give more than you take, try to be selfless and for every decision you take, always ask yourself how that decision will benefit your community. If all of us can do that, we will have a better state, we will have a better community and you will have embodied the values my father stood for.”

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP