Year: 2025

Nigerian actor and comedian Ijoba Lande has opened up about his frustrating experience working with Nollywood star Funke Akindele, revealing that he was paid only ₦90,000 after a month of work.

 

Lande made the revelation in a viral video, sparking mixed reactions. While some criticized Akindele over the alleged low payment, others accused Lande of unfairly calling her out.

During a live session on his social media page, Lande detailed his time working with the Everybody Loves Jenifa star. He claimed to have spent an entire month at Akindele’s residence in Amen Estate, only to receive a payment far below his expectations.

The Labour Party caucus in the House of Representatives has welcomed Friday’s judgment of the Supreme Court, which removed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the party.

 

The caucus noted that Abure’s exit would bring stability and reinvention to the party.

 

According to the caucus, the judgment is a timely counsel to leaders who play god in the affairs of men, particularly in a democracy.

 

In a statement issued on Friday shortly after the Supreme Court pronouncement, the leader of the caucus, Afam Ogene, described the development as a “Veritable tonic for the revitalisation of the party” that has been engulfed by leadership tussle in recent times.

 

He commended the apex court of the judgment, stressing that LP can now experience a new lease of life.

 

The apex court set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which recognised Abure as the National Chairman of the party.

 

In a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-member panel of the highest court in the land held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to pronounce Abure as the National Chairman of the LP, having earlier determined that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

 

The Anambra lawmaker added that with the judgment, “The party will hasten to implement necessary mechanisms to restore internal peace and get the party back on track, to reassure its teeming members of the party’s viability for future elections and its commitment to leadership that prioritises the interests and welfare of the people.

“Next week, we expect the National Caretaker Committee, NCC, led by respected former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, to convene an all-inclusive stakeholders meeting to chart the way forward.”

 

Ogene further argued that the crisis which had threatened the stability of the LP in recent times, could have been prevented if Abure and his team had heeded the caucus’ advice, or addressed the concerns of other stakeholders.

 

“These stakeholders had urged caution and greater sensitivity in managing the party’s affairs. But in a brazen display of arrogance and naked power-mongering, Abure had ignored these warnings, thus creating an environment for crisis to fester.

 

“For instance, in March 2024, LP House of Representatives members called for the postponement of the national convention of the party scheduled to take place by the end of that month, to allow for further consultations in the light of the party’s lingering leadership skirmishes.

 

“The caucus had emphasised at the time that the party’s health and sustainability were paramount, given its internal conflicts. As direct representatives of the people, they felt the party needed time to resolve its leadership issues and operational problems before holding a potentially divisive convention.

 

“Rather than heed that patriotic call, the party leadership proceeded to unleash tirades against them, abusing them in the media and threatening that they would be denied the party tickets for re-election in 2027. That was not only insensitive but undemocratic and disrespectful to the caucus, whose only concern was the peace, unity, sustainability, and progress of the party,” the statement read in part.

According to Ogene, “It is this uncertainty of not being sure of getting a party ticket in the next general elections that has made the caucus lose as many as six members.”

Israel said it killed a commander of the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday in a strike in the Lebanese port city of Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter.

 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strike as a “flagrant attack on Lebanese sovereignty” and a breach of the November 27 ceasefire with Israel.

 

“Overnight, the (army and the domestic security agency Shin Bet) conducted a targeted strike in the Sidon area, eliminating the terrorist Hassan Farhat, commander of Hamas’s western arena in Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

 

It alleged that Farhat had orchestrated multiple attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians during the hostilities that followed the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023.

 

They included rocket fire on the Israeli town of Safed on February 14, 2024, that killed an Israeli soldier, the military added.

 

The strike on a flat in a residential area of Sidon killed the official and his adult son and daughter, a Palestinian official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

An AFP correspondent saw the fourth-floor flat still on fire after the strike, which caused heavy damage to the apartment block and neighbouring buildings and sparked panic in the densely populated neighbourhood.

 

Lebanese state media had reported the 3:45 am (0045 GMT) strike on Sidon, saying at least three people were killed.

 

“A hostile drone raided a residential apartment… causing two successive explosions that led to a fire and extensive damage,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

 

Emergency workers rushed to the scene where they recovered “the bodies of three martyrs,” NNA said.

The Lebanese prime minister called for “maximum pressure on Israel to force it to halt these continual attacks which target various districts, many of them residential areas”.

 

Israel struck south Beirut earlier this week, killing a Hezbollah Palestinian liaison officer in only the second raid on the capital since a November ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group.

 

The Lebanese health ministry reported four dead in that strike, including a woman.

 

Lebanese leaders condemned the attack, but Israel said it was in response to recent unclaimed rocket fire that Hezbollah insists it had no hand in.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into all-out conflict last September, and the group remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the November 27 ceasefire.

 

Under the truce, Hezbollah is supposed to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

 

Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic”.

Indian actor Manoj Kumar, known for his roles in Hindi-language films with patriotic themes, died on Friday at the age of 87.

 

The death of the man dubbed “Bharat” Kumar — a reference to the ancient Sanskrit word for India, steeped in Hindu religious symbolism — sparked tributes from across the country.

 

Kumar, who was also a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), died in Mumbai due to heart-related complications.

 

Modi led the condolences, calling Kumar an “icon” of Indian cinema, saying that his works “ignited a spirit of national pride and will continue to inspire generations”.

 

Throughout his career, Kumar was known for acting — and at times directing — films that had a focus on unity and national pride.

Born Harikrishan Goswami, he renamed himself in Bollywood tradition — taking on the name Manoj Kumar.

 

He was the recipient of several national awards, including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest honour for cinema.

 

Kumar made his debut in Indian cinema in the late 1950s.

 

He went on to star in several films, many with patriotic themes, including “Upkar” (1967), “Purab Aur Pachhim” (1970), and “Kranti” (1981).