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Nearly two years after President Bola Tinubu recalled all ambassadors, their replacements are expected to be announced “very soon”.
Citing sources familiar with the development, Reuters reports that the federal government has commenced the vetting of potential candidates.
An intelligence official added that background checks were being conducted on possible appointees, with information garnered from the screening shared with relevant agencies within the presidency and legislature.
Tinubu recalled all career and non-career ambassadors in September 2023, barely six months after the start of his presidency.
The president has since appointed consuls-general and chargés d’affaires, but there has been no mention of when the successors of the recalled ambassadors will assume office.
This was despite the president receiving multiple letters of credence from other foreign ambassadors posted to Nigeria.
Foreign officials and other stakeholders had expressed concern at the void in diplomatic leadership at various foreign missions.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, blamed the delay in appointing ambassadors on a lack of funds.
A government source told Reuters that the issue “is being resolved” and “that means the appointments will be announced very soon”.
The federal government has budgeted N302.4 billion for its foreign missions in 2025.
[Vanguard]
NCoS: Death row prisoners increased by 98 in six months | Some inmates awaiting trial for six years
Admin
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) says the number of prisoners on death row rose from 3,590 in September 2024 to 3,688 in March 2025.
Sylvester Nwakuche, the acting controller-general of NCoS, spoke on Wednesday while being screened by the senate committee on interior.
He said the new data represents a 2.73 percent increase, or 98 prisoners, within six months.
“Inmates on death row are now 3,688, from 3,590 in September 2024. State governors are part of our challenges,” he said.
“They refuse to execute inmates on death row; neither do they commute their death sentence to life imprisonment.
“If they commute death sentences to life imprisonment, it is easier for us to distribute them to rural correctional facilities, which are not as congested as those in urban correctional facilities.
“This is because the issue of congestion is a major urban phenomenon. Our correctional facilities in urban centres are more congested than those in rural areas. If we commute them to life sentencing, we will be able to distribute them equitably”.
He called for collaboration and synergy with security agencies to address the challenge of awaiting trials in all the correctional facilities nationwide.
“This is very important for any establishment to forge ahead. An establishment like correctional centres cannot do anything without collaboration. We are the one at the receiving end of the products of all the prosecuting agencies,” Nwakuche said.
“The Nigeria police, EFCC, DSS, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, and ICPC will bring all these products to our doorpost.
“They expect to turn around and push them into society and be law-abiding citizens. If we must meet this expectation, we need to collaborate more meaningfully.
“When I met with the inspector-general of police, I said some of your inmates are in our facilities. They have stayed up to five or six years. Some of them are not needed to be in our facilities any longer.
“If they have been sentenced, some of them will not spend up to two to three years in prisons.
“But they have stayed in our facilities for six years. For me, such persons should be discharged and acquitted. That is one area we must collaborate to decongest our facilities.
“I also met the director-general of DSS on the need for collaboration. I met the attorney-general of the federation for the same reason. Some of the inmates are waiting for the advice of the director of public prosecution.
“If we do not reach out to these agencies, our people will continue to be in prisons unnecessarily.”
Adams Oshiomhole, chairman of the senate committee on interior, said the panel would submit its report based on the performance of Nwakuche.
[TheCable]
‘Mohbad’s Death Has Been Turned Into Business, His Father Is Not Keeping Him In Morgue Out Of Grief’ – Omowunmi
AFOLABI
The wife of the late Nigerian singer, Mohbad, Omowunmi Aloba, has expressed frustration that her husband’s corpse is still in the morgue 18 months after his tragic demise.
Recalls that Mohbad died on September 12, 2023, and was buried the following day.
On September 21, 2023, his body was exhumed by police for an autopsy due to the controversy surrounding his demise.
In a lengthy post via Instagram on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Omowunmi claimed that her husband’s death has become a business, as some people are making profit from it.
She also claimed that her father-in-law, Joseph Aloba’s refusal to bury Mohbad is driven by the financial gains from his death rather than grief or the pursuit of justice.
She further called on Nigerians to appeal to her father-in-law to lay the late singer to rest.
She said, “It has been 18 months since my husband left this world. 18 months of waking up every day to a reality never asked for. 18 months of missing him with every breath I take. 18 months of carrying the weight of being both mother and father to our now 23-month-old child.
“The heavens know how much I miss him. There are no words that can truly describe the depth of this pain, the emptiness he left behind.
“To the general public, I am pleading with you, help me ask my father-in-law to bury my husband.
“There is no reason, no justification for why his body is still lying in the morgue after all this time. No reason why the man I vowed to love forever has been left in cold storage, denied the dignity of a final resting place.
“My father-in-law is not keeping him there out of love or grief. He is holding on because of the attention and money he continues to receive.
“He knows that once my husband is finally laid to rest, the public sympathy, the donations, the sudden fame he has found will disappear.
“He is dragging this on, not because he seeks justice, but because he benefits from my husband’s death.
“And he is not alone in this. There are people on social media who stand with him, who act as his spokespersons.
“These people have turned my husband’s death into a business. They profit from this tragedy. They have built platforms off my pain. They have made careers out of bullying me and my child.
“They make money from telling lies about me, from spreading malicious propaganda to discredit me. And worse, some of them even pay my father-in-law a monthly salary from what they make online.
“Please, I am pleading with you. Hear my cry. Help me. Let my husband rest. Let my child have peace. Let me grieve without this never-ending battle hanging over me. Iam begging. Please.”
Veteran Nigerian entertainer cum activist, Charles Oputa, better known as Charly Boy has slammed the National Assembly members while reacting to the sexual harassment controversy involving Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Charly Boy, in a post via his Instagram page, expressed his frustration over the state of Nigeria’s leadership, criticising the political class, the Supreme Court judges and the law enforcement agencies.
Charly Boy stated that the National Assembly has the highest numbers of anyhow men without value or shame, adding that congregation of crooks, drug peddlers and sex predators are in charge of Nigeria.
He wrote, “From the Presidency, the Supreme court justices, the Law enforcement agencies to the house of rep members and Horny Senators, my people, Nigeria don scarter scarter. Reminds me of my song “1990”
“The National Assembly has the highest numbers of anyhow men without value or shame, if u like, very randdy dogs, deplorables and undistinguished.
“We can all see what’s playing out with the Senate Presidents sex scandal, an act that has followed him around as a politician. Now, we are witnessing how victims are punished and the guilty flexing all over the place. Nonsense.
“My people, globally na for Nigeria wey real criminals are in power. Congregation of crooks, drug peddlers and sex predators are in charge of Nigeria. Dia fathers.”
The Rivers State House of Assembly has refuted claims by Governor Siminalayi Fubara that he was blocked from re-presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill at the Assembly complex.
Naija News reports that the spokesperson of the House and Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Enemi Alabo George, dismissed Fubara’s allegations, describing them as a “comedy skit” aimed at painting the Assembly in a bad light.
According to The Nation, George stated that the Assembly had formally requested the governor to present his budget following the Supreme Court’s judgment on March 3.
“We were the ones who, immediately after that judgment, appealed to the governor to bring his appropriation bill. We acted immediately because we have the interest of the state at heart and didn’t want Rivers people to suffer any harm,” George said.
Assembly Accuses Fubara Of Ignoring Requests
According to the lawmakers, despite withholding their entitlements for over a year and demolishing their chambers, the House still urged Fubara to hasten the budget presentation for the progress of the state.
“We indicated our intentions in that letter and even gave him a timeframe because of the urgency of the matter. To regularize his appointments, we also urged him during our subsequent sitting to submit the names of his nominees for the positions of commissioners and board members for screening and confirmation,” George added.
He alleged that the governor ignored their pleas and refused to accept official Assembly communications.
“We sent employees of the Assembly to deliver these resolutions to him, but as usual, they were turned back at the gate and even brutalized. We resorted to using a courier service, yet he still ignored our call,” George stated.
Lawmakers Question Fubara’s Intentions
George further questioned the governor’s sincerity, pointing out inconsistencies in his claim of being blocked from the Assembly complex.
“How can he turn around to claim that we blocked him from re-presenting his budget? This is the height of insincerity. We even need the budget to be passed because the governor has been owing us our entitlements for more than a year, and without the budget, we can’t get our entitlements,” he said.
Describing the event as a political ploy, George accused Fubara of orchestrating a media stunt to discredit the Assembly.
“The governor and his team simply and deliberately acted Wednesday’s drama with the singular motive of tarnishing the image of the Assembly. He is playing to the gallery to whip up unnecessary sentiments, but it has backfired because the truth has come out,” he added.
Lawmakers Say Fubara’s Letter Never Reached Them
The Assembly also refuted Fubara’s claim that he sent a letter to the Speaker requesting to present the budget, saying the lawmakers only saw the letter circulating on social media after Wednesday’s proceedings.
“But even the letter trending on social media was dated March 11. Does it mean that the governor purportedly sent a letter on Tuesday, God knows when, and immediately mobilized to the Assembly quarters on Wednesday morning claiming he came to present his budget?” George queried.
He insisted that legislative procedures require the governor to wait for an official acknowledgment of his letter before appearing before the Assembly.
“It is procedurally trite that after writing to the Assembly, the governor ought to wait for the letter to be acknowledged by the lawmakers, who will then invite him to appear before them and make his presentation. Governor Fubara ought to know this if he is sincere,” he said.
‘Fubara Must Follow Due Process’
The Assembly reiterated its commitment to upholding the rule of law and urged Fubara to act in the best interest of Rivers people.
“This Assembly will continue to uphold the rule of law and will remain committed to promoting the interest of Rivers State. We urge him to do the needful so that Rivers people can breathe. He is toying with the lives and livelihood of Rivers people,” George concluded.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, of betrayal.
In a chat with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, Wike specifically accused Governor Mohammed of betraying the ‘G5 Governors’ prior to the 2023 elections.
The defunct ‘G5’ governors, who are all members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and former governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuwanyi of Enugu and Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Daily Trust reports that the group is believed to have contributed to Bola Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election.
Narrating what played out, Wike said: “Bala Mohammed was having a problem with Atiku and Co. That day, I was going to commission a lounge at the airport. When he landed, I said there was no need to come to town when I was coming to the airport. He called me. Ibrahim Adoke, the former Attorney-General, was there.
“He said Atiku would kill him if Atiku wins and that we must support Asiwaju. We organised G5 to pay Bala a visit in Bauchi, not knowing that he was using us to settle with Atiku. When we got there, he was happy. The next day, Tambuwal led a team to go and see Bala, and Bala abandoned us.
“That’s why I say before you hold some position, you must be a man of character. That’s why I always talk about character.”
[DailyTrust]
Members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are currently meeting in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The meeting, which is being held behind closed doors at the party’s national headquarters, is presided over by the PDP National Chairman, Umar Damagum.
This comes two days after the Supreme Court dismissed a motion for a stay of execution of a High Court judgment removing Senator Samuel Anyanwu from office as National Secretary and replacing him with Sunday Udeh-Okoye.
There was a heavy presence of security personnel, including operatives from the Department of State Services, DSS, the police, and the Civil Defence Corps, at the PDP headquarters in Abuja.
Earlier, party staff clashed with thugs and some members loyal to the embattled PDP National Secretary.
A PDP staff member who witnessed the clash and requested anonymity told journalists that the scuffle began when supporters of Samuel Anyanwu entered the party premises.
According to him, the pro-Anyanwu supporters attempted to lock out some members of the PDP National Working Committee who were arriving for their usual midweek meeting. However, they were overpowered by staff, private security guards, and some police officers attached to the secretariat.
The incident led to the deployment of additional security personnel to prevent a further breakdown of law and order.
[DailyPost]
Actress and filmmaker Omoni Oboli has announced her movie “Love In Every Word” is back on YouTube after being taken down due to copyright issues.
The movie, which had gained over 7 million views, was removed from the platform after a Canadian-based network engineer, Chinonso Obiora Skyberry, filed a copyright infringement claim against Oboli.
However, Oboli revealed on social media that the issue has been sorted out and the movie is now back on YouTube.
She expressed gratitude to her fans for their love and concern during the period the movie was taken down.
“Love in Every Word is back! Hey, besties, thank you for the love and concern. We deeply appreciate you all for your calls, messages, posts, tweets, comments, everything! I’m sorry I couldn’t respond at the time.
“There was a little misunderstanding with our movie LOVE IN EVERY WORD. It’s been sorted out now, and we are back stronger than ever! So let’s make up for the time lost, besties.
“Time to make sure the whole world watches LOVE IN EVERY WORD on Omoni Oboli Tv on YouTube. God will forever be glorified,” she wrote.
“Love In Every Word” is a romantic movie starring Uzor Arukwe and Bamike “Bambam” Olawunmi.
The movie has received positive reviews, with many praising the chemistry between the lead actors.
[TheNation]
Born on May 21, 1913, to the Egba family of the Lagos lawyer Olawolu Moore, Lady Kofoworola Ademola was a Nigerian educationalist, writer and advocate for women’s education.
She was the first Black African woman to be awarded a degree from the University of Oxford.
Kofoworola studied English Literature and Education at St Hugh’s College, Oxford from 1932 to 1935 and was set on becoming a teacher. Her time at St Hugh’s College was also significant in that she paved the way for more black women to study at Oxford. She wrote a biography during her time at Oxford about her life and experiences, a book which challenged the stereotypes of African people in 1930s Britain. Her account appeared in colonial civil servant and historian Margery Perham’s 1936 collection, Ten Africans, a book of cultural importance both at its time of publication and today. Kofoworola understood from her own experience the benefits of cultural collaboration and felt that meeting people from other cultures would improve peoples’ cultural understanding, providing the potential to create a more peaceable world. With this in mind, she suggested that at least two African women should be admitted to study at Oxford each year.
As the only African woman at Oxford, Kofoworola said that she was regarded as a “’curio’ or some weird specimen…, not as an ordinary human being.” And that people would make “ineffectual remarks about our ‘amazing cleverness’ at being able to speak English and wear English clothes.”
Kofoworola worked tirelessly to advocate for women’s education and women’s rights more broadly. Having attained her degree from Oxford, she returned to Nigeria to fulfil her ambition of becoming a teacher. Kofoworola began teaching at a prestigious girls’ school in Lagos and co-founded two new schools for girls: the Girls Secondary Modern School in Lagos and New Era Girls’ Secondary School, Lagos where she also worked as a teacher and head teacher.
She wrote numerous children’s books, often basing her tales in the folklore of West Africa. Her stories include Tortoise and the Clever Ant and Tutu and the Magic Gourds, which form part of the Mudhut Book series.
In 1939, she married Adetokunbo Ademola, a civil servant. They had five children. As the wife of a Yoruba prince, she was entitled to the style of Oloori – and as the daughter of one, she was herself an Omoba as well – but due to the fact that her husband was also a knight, it is as Lady Kofoworola Ademola that she was best known.
In 1958, Kofoworola Ademola was elected the first president of Nigeria’s National Council of Women’s Societies where she continued to advance the rights and representation of women. She became the first Nigerian woman to be appointed Secretary of the Western Region Scholarship Board, a department of the Ministry of Education.
Kofoworola also became director of the Western Region of the Red Cross. She was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1959 by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and an Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in Nigeria by Tafawa Balewa’s government for her ongoing work and contribution to Nigerian society. She continued her work up until her death in 2002 at age 89.
[Vanguard]
President Bola Tinubu has nominated Melvin Ayogu to the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria and has requested Senate confirmation for the appointment.
The Special Adviser to Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made this in a statement on Wednesday.
Tinubu also sought Senate confirmation for Nwakuche Ndidi as controller-general of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
He said the requests, conveyed in letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, were read during Tuesday’s plenary.
Tinubu had previously nominated Robert Agbide, Ado Wanga, Murtala Sagaley, Urom Eke, and Olayinka Aliyu to the CBN board in February 2024.
However, on February 29, 2024, the senate confirmed four people as members of the board of the CBN after Eke rejected the offer, citing “conflict of interest”.
Tinubu replaced Eke with Ruby Onwudiwe on March 13, 2024; however, a day after, reports circulated that the president withdrew her nomination over political affiliation with the Labour Party, an opposition of the All Progressives Congress.
The decision reportedly followed pressure mounted on the president by members of the APC, as Onwudiwe publicly supported Peter Obi, who contested on the LP platform against Tinubu, at the 2023 presidential elections.
[Punch]
More...
Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers state, should face impeachment if he violates the constitution.
Speaking at the media chat in Abuja on Wednesday, Wike said politics should not be taken lightly and that removing the governor would not be a criminal offence.
“Politics is not play. If you have committed an offence to be impeached, what’s wrong? Is it a criminal offence? It’s provided in the constitution. Am I a member of the Assembly?” Wike asked.
“If you have committed an infraction of the constitution, and the Assembly deems it fit to say you should be impeached.
“I have heard people say, ‘Oh, if they impeach him, there will be a breakdown of law and order.’ Rubbish! Nothing will happen.”
More to follow…
[TheCable]
In a filing on March 12, the SEC said it needed "a longer period" to consider the proposal. The SEC initially accepted Grayscale's application in January, starting a 45-day review process that can be extended up to 240 days.
The next deadline for a response is May 21, but a final ruling could take until mid-October.
As Grayscale waits for a decision, Franklin Templeton has joined the race for an XRP ETF by submitting its own proposal with the SEC. Franklin XRP ETF seeks to provide exposure to XRP's spot price, with the assets custodied by Coinbase Custody.
Shares for the XRP ETF would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange after being created and redeemed using cash converted into XRP via a third party. Importantly, investors would not have access to XRP Ledger forks or airdrops.
Franklin Templeton's filing is the latest addition to the growing list of asset managers seeking approval for an XRP ETF, following Bitwise, 21Shares, Canary Capital, WisdomTree, and CoinShares. The SEC has 240 days to evaluate the application and make a decision.
However, analyst Eric Balchunas is not keeping high hopes from the SEC. He posted on X, "This is the 64th alt/meme coin ETF filing that is now awaiting approval, by the way."
The ETF filing process involves both an asset manager and an exchange working together. First, the asset manager (like Franklin Templeton or Grayscale) submits an S-1 (or S-3) registration statement to the SEC, detailing how the ETF will function. At the same time, the exchange (like Cboe BZX or Nasdaq) files a 19b-4 rule change proposal to list and trade the ETF. The SEC then has 45 days to review the exchange’s filing, with the option to extend the deadline up to 240 days for further evaluation before making a final decision.
At press time, XRP trades at $2.20, up by 3.52% in the last day.
[The Street]
Bolivia's state energy firm YPFB will use cryptocurrency to pay for energy imports amid a painful shortage of dollars and fuel in the landlocked South American nation, a company spokesperson and a government official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The country is battling a dangerous slide in foreign currency reserves afters years of dwindling exports of natural gas, which has sparked off a fuel crisis in the country with regular long lines at gas stations and scattered protests.
A spokesperson for state-run energy firm YPFB told Reuters that a system had been put in place to use cryptocurrency to purchase fuel imports after a government approval to use digital assets to help meet demand.
"From now on, these (cryptocurrency) transactions will be carried out," the spokesperson said, adding that the new purchasing system was designed to help support national fuel subsidies in Bolivia amid a shortage of hard currency.
A government spokesperson said that YPFB had not yet made use of digital currency to purchase energy imports, but that it was planned to do so.
Bolivia, for decades a net energy exporter due its large reserves of gas, has become reliant on imports as domestic gas production has dwindled amid a lack of major new finds.
[Reuters]
Bitcoin jumped past $83,900 after new Consumer Price Index (CPI) data revealed inflation rising less than forecasted, easing fears of aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes and fueling risk appetite in both crypto and traditional markets.
The February CPI report showed a 0.2% monthly increase, below the 0.3% forecast, while year-over-year inflation slowed to 2.8% versus expectations of 2.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.1% year-over-year, also softer than expectations.
Following the report, Bitcoin surged more than 3%, with Ethereum climbing to $1,938, while altcoins like Solana (SOL) and XRP posted 5% gains. Stocks also reacted positively — Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 223 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively.
Market sentiment had been shaky in recent weeks as inflation concerns clashed with trade policy uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. However, the lower-than-expected CPI print revived investor confidence, with traders now pricing in a higher probability of Federal Reserve rate cuts in the coming months.
Thursday’s Producer Price Index (PPI) data could further shape inflation expectations. If wholesale prices also show a cooling trend, markets may rally further in anticipation of monetary policy relief.
In the past 24 hours, a total of 116,409 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations amounting to $427.96 million, according to CoinGlass.
The largest single liquidation order occurred on HTX, where a BTC-USDT trade worth $60 million was wiped out.
After posting losses earlier this week, crypto stocks are finally rebounding in pre-market trading following softer-than-expected CPI inflation data. The largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR) climbed 2.46% to $267.00, while crypto exchanges Coinbase (COIN) gained 2.46% to $196.40 and Robinhood (HOOD) led the recovery, surging 6.30% to $38.65. Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings (MARA) remained flat at $13.32. The bounce-back in crypto-linked stocks follows renewed investor optimism, with risk assets rallying across both crypto and traditional markets.
[TheStreet]