NEWS
BREAKING: Leader Wagner Group, Prigozhin Dies In Plane Crash
Leader, Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has lost his life in a plane crash on its way to St. Petersburg from Moscow just days after fueling speculations of active involvement in African nations’ political leadership.
This was contained in a statement from the Russia State media which has it that Prigozhin was one of the passengers in which crashed on Wednesday, north of Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Services, revealed in a statement that a private Embraer Legacy aircraft with 10 people on board, three crew and seven passengers, crashed on Wednesday, while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
It stated that the aircraft had “10 people on board, including three crew members,” as at the time it crashed in the Tver region to the northeast of the Russian capital.
Though the Ministry did not specifically mention Prigozhin, 61, the Tass state news agency had quoted the Federal Air Transport Agency (FATA) as saying that he had been among the seven passengers on the ill-fated plane.
“According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, an investigation has been launched into the Embraer crash,” state-run RIA Novosti reported.
“Among the passengers is the name and surname of Evgeny Prigozhin,” it added.
The death of Prigozhin is being viewed in different perspectives across world, with the United States of America (USA) pointing accusing fingers at Moscow.
Recall that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell at the Aspen Security Forum, that were he Prigozhin, he would have been “very concerned” following his attempted mutiny.
“NATO has an ‘open door’ policy,” he said at a fireside chat. “Russia has an open windows policy, and he needs to be very focused on that.”
Once known as Putin’s “chef” for catering state events, Prigozhin, long publicly denied leading the Wagner group, a private military company that has also operated in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic and other countries.
Prigozhin’s fate had been cast in mystery since his Wagner fighters captured the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on June 23, before they began to march on Moscow, stopping around 120 miles from the capital after an alleged deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The deal was meant to see Prigozhin go into exile in Belarus and his fighters either sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry or join him there.
The Kremlin’s treatment of Prigozhin since the rebellion has nonetheless confounded many observers.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin had described Wagner’s rebellion treason and a criminal investigation was initially launched, it did not appear that Prigozhin, the Russian leader’s once close ally, was facing charges or any real punishment for the stunning challenge.
But after his fighters led the charge against Kyiv’s troops in Ukraine, often at massive human cost, he started to embrace the public eye, donning military fatigues and appearing in videos.
Some appeared to show him recruiting prisoners or in the thick of the action at the front line, in contrast to the city-dwelling elites he derided in some of his Telegram posts.
What would be of interest Africans, particularly the political leadership is that in a 41-second clip published Monday by several Telegram channels affiliated with Wagner, Prigozhin appeared to give his first video address since the mutiny that shook the Kremlin.
He was dressed in military fatigues and wore a bulletproof vest featuring the Wagner logo, Prigozhin was filmed standing in a desert-like area.
In a veiled speak to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders and the threat of military invasion of Niger Republic, he vowed to make Africa “more free” and “Russia even greater on every continent.”
A celebrity landlord, Isaac Fayose, has issued threats to tenants occupying one of his houses in Abuja over his claims of their owing him three years’ rent.
Fayose, a brother to former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, vented his threats in a video which has gone viral on microblogging site, X.com on Tuesday.
From the video footage, Fayose, expressing himself in pidgin said the tenant(s) refused to pay him rent for three years.
He was also experiencing frustration, as the tenant(s) opted to involve the law court, which has resulted in adjournments to elongate their living in the house.
He said, “Three years, you never paid rent. You dey do gra-gra inside the court. Na your house? Na your baba house? God go punish you.”
Another person suspected to be a tenant in Fayose’s apartment was heard in the viral video responding, “You dey craze. God go punish you.”
Fayose also called out the tenants over an alleged plan to claim ownership of the property.
He vowed that he would demolish the property and damn the consequences.
“The tenant said na dem get the house. Ole tenants.
“I will demolish the house. Let the Nigerian government jail me if they want to. How can I get a house and tenants go dey owe me to the tune of three years and dem go dey hide for court?
“No justice. No be by forced to stay in Abuja o. If you cannot pay rent in Abuja, go to your village and stay.
“No dey play wayo-wayo game inside the court and be staying inside person property for free. Let me commit the offence. Let me break the house. Make dem detain me for one week after they will bail me.
“But una go don comot first. The rest go be history,” he stated.
As if to drive his message to the erring tenants home, Fayose had earlier shared a video of himself ordering the removal of the doors and roofs of a recalcitrant tenant who he claimed refused to pay rent for four years.
He claimed in that post that the tenant had the guts to take him to court despite owing rent.
In the video he shared, artisans could be seen removing the doors and windows of the apartment.
In a bid to halt the marriage of 100 orphaned girls orchestrated by Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkindaji of the Niger State Assembly, Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has officially petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for legal intervention.
The controversial move by Speaker Sarkindaji aims to provide marital support for girls orphaned by bandit attacks in the Mariga Local Government Area, scheduled for May 24th.
Mrs. Kennedy-Ohanenye’s opposition was made clear during a press conference in Abuja, where she announced the initiation of a thorough investigation into the matter.
She said, “I want to let the honorable speaker of house in Niger states to know that this is totally unacceptable by Federal Minister Of Women Affairs and by the government totally unacceptable. Because there is something called the Child’s Right Act and I said it from the onset, that is no more business as usual.
“These children must be considered their future must be considered the future of the children to come out of their marriage must be considered. So I have gone to court. I have written him a letter and written a petition to the IG of police.
“And I have filed for injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do on the 24th, until a thorough investigation is carried out on those girls, find out whether they gave their consent, their ages, find out the people marrying them.”
A Nigerian journalist, Ibraheem Hamza Mohammed, was on Friday released from prison after the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) intervened in his case.
This was contained a statement issued by the Legal Adviser/Chairman, Advocacy Committee, IPI Nigeria, Tobi Soniyi.
Recall that the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police had arrested Mohammed on 1 May after he was accused of falsely publishing that N40 million was stolen from Governor Abdullahi Sule’s bedroom.
The article was published on 22 February 2024 on First News, a Lagos-based online newspaper.
The police then charged him with violation of the Cybercrime Act and secured an order for his remand at the Medium Security Custodian Centre in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, pending commencement of trial.
However, the journalist was released Friday after a Nasarawa High Court sitting in Doma granted him bail.
He spent 10 days in jail.
He was to remain on bail till 13 May when the police are expected to withdraw the charges against him and discontinue the trial.
To secure his release, IPI Nigeria’s delegation led by the President, Musikilu Mojeed, visited Lafia on 6 May, meeting with top officials of the Nasarawa State government, including Governor Sule, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Labaran Magaji and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ibrahim Addra.
The delegation also visited and conferred with the journalist, Mohammed, in prison.
Meanwhile, the management of First News has apologised to Governor Sule over the story, saying it has since found “that the said story lacked any form of truth in it and that the reporter merely concocted the story in his bid to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor.
“While tendering an unreserved apology to the Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, we wish to assure him that such will not repeat itself ever again,” the newspaper added.
IPI Nigeria is hereby admonishing Nigerian journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession, desist from publishing false news, and continue to observe a high degree of standard in their practice.
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