Author: VOP Lagos

Five people including a child have died while trying to cross the Channel in a small boat, French police say It comes as the UK’s parliament passed PM Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill, after months of wrangling The government says the bill, which aims to send migrants arriving on small boats to Rwanda, will deter people smugglers Sunak says he will not allow anything to stand in the way of getting flights off the ground Illegal immigration minister Michael Tomlinson insists the deterrent effect will “kick in” when the flights start The bill designates Rwanda a safe country but the…

Protests against the war in Gaza have spread from Columbia and Yale to other US universities as officials scramble to defuse demonstrations. On Monday night, police moved to break up a protest at New York University and made a number of arrests. Dozens of students were arrested at Yale earlier in the day, while Columbia cancelled in-person classes. Similar “encampments” have sprung up at Berkeley, MIT and other top colleges across the country. Demonstrations and heated debates about the Israel-Gaza war and free speech have rocked US campuses since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, which prompted Israel’s…

An aircraft belonging to Dana Air has crash-landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. VOP News gathered that no casualty was recorded. Other details surrounding the incident were not readily available. The airline and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau has not commented or issued a statement on the matter. VOP News will bring you more details as they unfold. We have aviation correspondent Tony Awunor via the phone to give us more update on this situation.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun has hinted that the country is not “mature” for state policing despite the myriad of security challenges facing it. He spoke on Monday during a national dialogue on state police held in Abuja. The IGP argued among other factors, that “there is the potential for abuse of power by the state political leadership. President Bola Tinubu, who flagged the dialogue open, urged participants to consider the implications of state police. Some called on the government to address the nagging and welfare challenges of the central police before adopting state police. Senate President,…

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the AllProgressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to expand its investigations following efforts to apprehend and prosecute former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello. Speaking in Abuja, Frank urged the Commission to broaden its investigation to include other allegedly corrupt individuals, particularly former governors, ministers, and public officials associated with both the past administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and the current administration of President Bola Tinubu. He stressed the importance of extending the probe to avoid giving the impression that the EFCC’s actions against Bello were…

The Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission has approved a two-day weekly farming period for workers, reducing the number of workdays to three. This is according to a circular signed by the Bayelsa State Head of Service Biobelemoye Charles-Onyeama. However, the development that followed Governor Douye Diri’s approval only affects civil servants from Grade level 14 and below. He directed that the remaining two working days should be used for farming to promote food security in the state. Teachers, medical personnel, and other staff on essential services are excluded from the directive. The directive is expected to become effective from the…

The President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima has raised the alarm that the emerging agitations from the northern part of the country are being orchestrated to stop President Bola Tinubu and his Vice Ibrahim Kashim Shettima from seeking re-election in 2027. He enthused that the emerging agitations could be traced to a desperate section of the northern political elite who are allegedly plotting to prevent President Tinubu from seeking re-election in 2027 by way of setting unrealistic and unattainable standards for the Tinubu administration “to discredit the government and swaying public opinion against the President. Shettima in…

The Israeli military today revealed that the chief of its intelligence directorate has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas. Major General Aharon Haliva is the first high-ranking official to step down for failing to prevent the attack that shocked Israel and the international community. In his resignation letter, Haliva took responsibility for failing to prevent the attack. The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures. Since then, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and is engaged in a…