Sharon Ooja, the Nigerian actress, has revealed how she met Ugo Nwoke, her husband.

Ooja, who got married to her partner in an Abuja traditional ceremony on Thursday, shared how they met during a chat with Bella Naija.

She recounted how her sister introduced them shortly after she had gone through a severe heartbreak.

Ooja stated that she was initially hesitant but Ugo persistently tried to reach out to her.

She added that they got engaged within two and a half months and legally married two months later.

“My love story is one I will say is short of a miracle,” she said.

“I will say I had just recovered from what I consider the worst heartbreak of my life.

“I was filming, and my sister said to me, ‘Oh, a friend of mine wants to speak to you’.

“I was like, ‘Please, I’m not really in the mood. I do not want to talk to anybody’.”

“Anyways, she gave this person my number. We did not speak much. Months passed, and he kept on trying to reach me.

“We dated for two and a half months, and I was engaged in the third month. We married two months after that.”

Ooja’s traditional marriage hosted Nollywood stars including Jemima Osunde, Funke Akindele, Beverly Osu, Nancy Isime, and Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, among others.

Bisola Aiyeola served as the maid of honour.

Ooja rose to fame with her role as Shalewa in the web series ‘Skinny Girl in Transit’.

She has also starred in notable Nollywood films including ‘Oloture’, ‘Bad Comments’, ‘Glamour Girls’, and ‘Dead Serious’.

On June 26, 2024, Nigeria’s external reserve reached a record high of $34.07 billion.

This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest FX data on its official website.

The figure represents the highest level since March 2024.

Recall that last week the external reserve reached a three-month high when it rose to $33.5 billion.

Reserves have continued to surge since then, topping $34 billion for the first time since March 21, when it was $34.2 billion.

The external reserves have increased by a substantial $1.3 billion since June 2024.

The development comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso said its reforms attracted $24 billion inflow in the first quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, despite the rising FX reserves, the Naira depreciated to N1510.10 per Dollar at the forex market according to FMDQ data on Thursday.

Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), a former Head of State, has spoken about the requirements to sustain democracy in the country.

Represented by Gen. Adamu Jidda on Thursday in Abuja at the second edition of ThisNigeria Newspaper Gold Prize and Annual Lecture Awards on the theme of the lecture; “25 Years of Nigeria’s Unbroken Democracy – Prospects and Possibilities”, Abubakar noted that electoral integrity, human rights, economic development and social justice remained critical areas that demand the country’s collective attention and action.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), he believed that the nation’s democratic journey had not been without its trials.

Veteran Nollywood actor, John Okafor, better known as Mr Ibu, has been laid to rest in his hometown of Amuri, in the Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Naija News recalls that Mr Ibu died on 2nd March 2024 at the age of 62 after a prolonged battle with illness.

The Nigeria Actors Guild (AGN), alongside the family of the late comic actor, has been involved in a series of events to pay tribute and last respect to him.

Videos that emerged online show moments from the ongoing funeral ceremony in Enugu as friends and family members bid farewell to the late thespian.

Watch the videos below.

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Ten officers of the Nigerian Army, all on the ranks of a general, have retired from active service after successfully serving out their required number of years.

The Generals, from the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps (NAAC), comprise six Major-Generals and four Brigadier-Generals.

They include: Major-General Nsor Okpa Ojiji, Major-General MH Magaji, Major-General GB Audu, Major-General M Danmadami, Major-General JG Mohammed and Major-General UI Mohammed.

Others are Brigadier-General A. Israel, Brigadier-General BA Mohammed, Brigadier-General D. Abdulsalam and Brigadier-General SP Akpan.

Speaking on behalf of the others who were also pulled out of service, Ojiji expressed delight at being able to complete the years of active service successfully and commended the Army leadership for the roles played.

He, however, appealed that more be done for those still in service to make them perform optimally in the service of the nation.

“We recall that the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps (NAAC) has a lot of challenges, which range from poor accommodation to inadequate professional and medical facilities, amongst a myriad of others.

“Today, however, I am happy to note that there are many very functional accommodation blocks; even the ambience of these barracks is very welcoming. Many resources and efforts have changed the situation. This is heartwarming.

“Kudos to commander NAAC, his team of officers, soldiers, and their families, who are determined together that things must improve in the corps,” he said.

Ojiji highlighted the need to address poor equipment grading, especially in formations and units and appealed to the Minister of Defence to look into it.

He added, “We hope that the minister of defence, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, also make this his cardinal objective during his tenure. I plead with the Hon. Minister through this medium to deem it fit to do so.“

On his part, the commandant of the Armoured Corps, Major General Mohammed Ahmed, congratulated the retired officers, wished them well in their future endeavours and urged them to make themselves readily available for consultations and helpful advice on improving the Armoured Corps.

“We are happy we did what we should do. We carry out a lot of services to the community, ranging from free medical services to the provision of pipe-borne water, among others, and if they tell us about their problems, we promptly attend to those problems.

“There is no army in the world that has enough, and the Nigerian Army has developed its capacity to the level that you can see in most of our equipment, which is highly maintained,” Ahmed said.

The results of candidates of the supplementary Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME have been released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

The supplementary UTME was conducted between Friday, June 21st and Saturday, June 22nd, 2024.

JAMB’s spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, directed candidates on how to check their results.

“To check their supplementary UTME results, candidates are to send UTMERESULT to either 55019 or 66019 through the same phone number they had used to generate their profile codes at the start of registration,” he stated.

Benjamin said the supplementary examination was conducted for 28,835 candidates, who were unable to be biometrically verified during the main 2024 UTME and were unable to take their examination.

A statement by Benjamin said: “Similarly, the other category of candidates were those suspected to have been involved in examination malpractices during the main UTME but who were given a second chance to sit the examination.

“The exercise, which recorded a huge success nationwide, was marked by heightened security measures put in place by the Board to preclude any instance of examination infractions. As such, some nefarious characters, who had attempted to impersonate bona fide candidates were apprehended and handed over to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and prosecution.

“The Board would continue to ensure that no candidate benefits from any acts of infractions through the deployment of state-of-the-art technology before, during and after its examinations.

“Candidates are, therefore, urged, in their own interest, to refrain from engaging in any form of irregularity during their examinations. They are also enjoined to desist from soliciting score upgrades from fraudsters or engage in the mutilation of their result sheets while trying to generate fake result sheets with higher scores.”

Nigerian-born British heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua, doesn’t want to wait for too long to fight a fellow British boxer, Tyson Fury.

The rivalry between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury has been raging for years but the two boxers haven’t been able to agree on a bout even though they were close to doing so a couple of times.

Due to the online banter between the boxers, especially from Fury, most boxing enthusiasts are anxiously looking forward to when the two Britons will finally clash in the ring.

Hence, it is expected to be one of the most talked about and lucrative fights of all time especially if it takes place now that they are still at the peak of their respective boxing career.

But currently, the two fighters are preparing for different bouts. 35-year-old Fury is preparing for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in December, while 34-year-old Anthony Joshua is preparing for his IBF world title fight with Daniel Dubois on September 21.

If Fury beat Usyk and Joshua beat Dubois, the two British veteran boxers will finally face off in a unification bout. But AJ told the BBC that his meeting with Fury is long overdue.

“It’s a fight that’s been brewing for a long time,” Joshua said on Thursday.

“I can’t wait until I’m 50 to fight Fury because I’d have had so many wars, I can’t sit around and wait, I’ve got to continue to fight.”

BBNaija Season 4 winner, Mercy Eke has stated that she is ready to get married.

The entrepreneur shared her wish via Snapchat while attending the wedding of actress Sharon Ooja.

A follower wrote to Mercy,  "marry me."

And she replied, "I'm so ready... I don't mind the gender like this. Love is sweet. I'm so so ready."

Nigerian rapper and singer, Folarin Falana, also known as Falz, has disclosed that he has not had a relationship since he left the university.

According to the 33-year-old, he is still single because he does not want to marry the wrong person.

The ‘Marry Me’ crooner spoke during a recent interview with Naija 102.7 FM, Lagos.

Falz stated that his parents, especially his father, are pressuring him to get married.

He asserted that the last time he was in a serious relationship was during his undergraduate days.

The singer explained that his status as a celebrity makes finding the right woman for marriage difficult.

According to him, “I’m not yet married. I’m single to stupor. My dad expresses concern over my marital status daily. If I greet my dad good morning, he would say the morning will be good if you were married.

“Both my mum and dad are deeply concerned about my status, although my dad pressures me the most. My mum is a bit calm now. It seems like she has passed the baton to my dad. No one can pressure me into getting married, not even my dad [laughs].

“Currently, I’m not dating anyone. I’m a straight man. I like women. But for a while now, I haven’t experienced a serious relationship. I was still in the university the last time I had a serious relationship.

“My lifestyle as a celebrity is difficult to find someone to commit to. Also, there are a lot of happenings in the industry that make having a booming career and a healthy relationship seem difficult. So because of that, I’m trying to be careful. There’s no issue. I’m just trying to be careful.”

The Federal Government has through the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), relieved a senior officer at the level of Controller of Corrections and two other personnel of their service over alleged misconduct.

In a statement released on Thursday, the spokesperson for NCoS, ACC Abubakar Umar, said the service had conducted a thorough review of multiple instances of unprofessional conduct and improper behaviour exhibited by its personnel.

These misconducts encompass a range of offences such as unauthorized absence, severe negligence in performing duties, involvement in illicit item trafficking, and manipulation of results, among other transgressions.

The NCoS statement reads: “In a letter by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board CDCFIB, a total of 20 personnel have been discharged and acquitted of the various offences for which they were accused, while an officer who was previously suspended was reinstated after the review exercise.

“Three personnel were compulsorily retired, 13 personnel attracted plain warning, while six had their ranks reduced.

“These are in line with the zero tolerance on staff misconduct, a cardinal mantra of the Controller General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, and targeted toward ridding the Service of unscrupulous elements and misfits, so as to improve professionalism as well as to entrench discipline, ethics and excellence in its officers and men.”