Sarafa Isola, Yayi, Isiaka, Adebutu, Lemo Top Discussions ‘We’ll Collect Politicians’ Money, Vote With Conscience’ – Indigenes Pendulum May Not Swing In Power Brokers’ Direction – Analysts The Role Religion May Play Governor Abiodun’s ‘Body Language’ – Aide Timothy, Agbor, Bright, Jacob And Bamidele Lucas AS the race for the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State gathers momentum, stakeholders and grassroot players have indicated that the pendulum may not swing in the direction anticipated by those seen as power brokers. A month-long investigation by THE POINT revealed that the voting pattern across the senatorial districts of the state would be…
Author: Editor
QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. What are the signs of Lailatul Qadr and can it be seen with the eye? Hameeda Bello Bagi, Niger State – ANSWER: Laylat al-Qadr may be seen with the eye, for the one whom Allah helps to see it. That is by seeing its signs. The Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) used to recognize it by its signs. But not seeing them does not mean that one will not gain its reward, if one spends that night in prayer out of faith and the hope of reward. The Muslim should strive to seek…
PRINCE Engr. Ahmad Yusuf, popularly known as Babandiga, was named after our grandfather and, out of deep respect, members of the family called him by our grandfather’s nickname, Babangida. As a curious child, I once asked our late grandmother why she was called Yandiga while our brother was called Babandiga. She explained that he had been named after her husband. Still curious, I asked what the name Babandiga meant. She told me that her husband served as a supervisor at a railway construction site during the colonial era. In those days, “Diga” referred to the rail, and because of that…
IRAN says no one can exclude it from the World Cup later this year, in response to President Donald Trump’s warning that their “life and safety” would be at risk in the US. The Iranian team also said in the social media post on Thursday that the United States should not be allowed to co-host the tournament if it could not guarantee the safety of the teams taking part. Trump’s comments came just two days after he told FIFA chief Gianni Infantino the Iranian players would be welcome despite the Middle East war. “The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome…
THE US State Department offered a $10 million reward on Friday for information about Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and other top officials. Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Minister of Intelligence and Security Esmail Khatib were among the 10 individuals on the State Department list. “These individuals command and direct various elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which plans, organises and executes terrorism around the world,” the State Department said. It urged tipsters to send information via Tor or Signal and said “your information could make you eligible for relocation and a reward.” The State Department’s…
ISRAEL has destroyed a historc bridge in southern Lebanon and dropped leaflets over Beirut warning the country faces the same scale of destruction visited upon Gaza, as its military campaign against Hezbollah enters a devastating new phase. The Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River was struck early on Friday, with the Israeli military claiming Hezbollah fighters were using it to move between the country’s north and south, though it offered no evidence to support this. It marked the first time Israel had openly acknowledged striking civilian infrastructure since the current offensive began. Defence Minister Israel Katz made clear more such…
A CHINESE national has been arrested in Kenya’s main airport accused of attempting to smuggle more than 2,000 queen garden ants out of the country. Zhang Kequn was intercepted during a security check at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the capital Nairobi after authorities discovered a large consignment of live ants in his luggage bound for China. He has yet to respond to the accusation but investigators said in court that he was linked to an ant-trafficking network that was broken up in Kenya last year. The ants are protected by international bio-diversity treaties and their trade is highly…
A SACRED drum looted by French forces during its colonial rule in Ivory Coast has been returned to the country, more than a century after it was taken. It was seized by colonial authorities in 1916 before being taken to France in 1929, where it was put on display at the Trocadéro Museum and later at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris The Djidji Ayôkwé (Panther Lion), as the talking drum is called, was welcomed home by members of the Ebrié community, its original owners. It is more than three metres (10 ft) long, weighs about 430kg (68 stone), and…
QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. Lailatul Qadr is on odd night in the last 10 days. Please help clarify this as we have started fasting a day after most northern hemisphere countries? Fatima Ann Alih, Frankfurt, Germany – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. There is no specification of Laylatul Qadr. It could be in any one night of the entire year – Ramadan – last ten days of Ramadan – odd or even. Rasulullah (SAW) advised to search for Laylatul Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten nights of Ramadan. The people of every area will calculate…
US president Donald Trump has said Iran’s men’s football team is “welcome” at the 2026 World Cup but that it is not “appropriate” for them to be there “for their own life and safety”. Trump’s comments come after Iran’s Minister of Sports and Youth, Ahmad Donyamali, said his country were not in a position to participate in the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June. Iran are due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June respectively, and Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. But their…
IRAN’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who is yet to appear in public, vowed on Thursday to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel, in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV. “A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” Khamenei, said according to the statement. “We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much of their property as we determine, and if that is not…
SOUTH Korea said Thursday a fuel price cap would take effect from midnight to mitigate pressure on the country’s energy supply during the Iran war. The country is heavily reliant on energy imports, including shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, and has said it will try to find alternatives to secure supplies. It marks the first such measure introduced in Asia’s fourth-largest economy since 1997. “The government has decided to introduce institutional measures aimed at curbing the recent surge in domestic oil prices triggered by the situation in the Middle East,” the energy ministry said in a statement. The price…
A WELL-KNOWN Eritrean satirical cartoonist has been freed from prison after spending 15 years in detention without charge, his family and friends have told the BBC. Biniam Solomon, now in his early 60s, was arrested in the capital, Asmara, in 2011 but was never tried. The reasons for his continued imprisonment were not made clear. Known by his pen name Cobra, Biniam gained fame for his critical and witty cartoons tackling political and social issues. The authorities have not said why he was set free but it is the latest in a string of similar releases. Nevertheless thousands remain in…
AT least 102 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in the Gamo Zone of southern Ethiopia, the local authority has said. The official death toll, initially put at just over 30, has steadily risen over the past 24 hours. Earlier on Thursday, a senior policeman said 64 had died. Dozens are still missing. Most of the casualties were in highland areas, where saturated slopes gave way after days of intense rain, officials have reported. Torrential rains have unleashed widespread flooding across East Africa in recent days. Dozens have also died in neighbouring Kenya. Forecasters…
QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. How can a menstruating woman observe Laylat al-Qadr? Hassana Abubakar Sufi, Kaduna – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. During their menses, women can read the Quran and make dhikr (remembrance of Allah) and duaa (supplication), though they are forbidden from fasting, performing prayer and touching the mushaf (copy of the Quran). In this way, they still have the opportunity to observe Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power) by reciting the Quran and making dhikr. A menstruating woman should not perform prayer nor touch the Quran, but she can make duaa (supplication) and share with…
MANCHESTER City face a mammoth task to keep their Champions League ambitions alive after Federico Valverde’s brilliant first-half hat-trick put Real Madrid in control of this last-16 meeting. Valverde tormented City with a display of the highest class, Pep Guardiola’s side offering threat up front but too often vulnerable at the back. Real were without injured pair Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, as well as long-term absentee Rodrygo, but still had enough firepower to punish City’s defensive frailties. The English side actually started brightly, giving Real some anxious moments, before it all started to unravel in dramatic fashion on 20…
IRAN’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not spoken or been seen in public since his appointment at the weekend, is injured but “safe”, officials said Wednesday. “I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections,” the Iranian president’s son, Yousef Pezeshkian, wrote in a post on his Telegram channel. “They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” added Pezeshkian, who is a government advisor. Khamenei was named Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday to replace his father Ali who was assassinated in an air strike at the…
LEBANON faces “a moment of grave peril” as Israel continues to launch deadly attacks across the country, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the United Nations humanitarian chief has warned. Speaking to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher said “mass displacement is accelerating” across Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks. “We’re seeing large-scale movements into densely populated urban areas where shelter capacity is already overstretched,” Fletcher said. Hundreds of shelters “are overcrowded, with inadequate sanitation [and] insufficient essential supplies”, he told the council. “These conditions heighten risk of harassment, sexual violence, exploitation,…
DOZENS of civilians have been killed in drone strikes across southern Sudan over the past two days, medical sources told AFP, as some of the heaviest fighting of the nearly three-year war grips the region. Sudan has been riven by conflict since April 2023, when a power struggle between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plunged the country into a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. In the White Nile state, which lies just east of the Southern Kordofan region, an area now hit almost daily by drone attacks, a strike on…
FLOODING caused by heavy rains in the Gamo area of southern Ethiopia has left at least 48 people dead, police said on Wednesday. “The number of bodies recovered from the natural disaster that struck three districts of Gamo Zone has reached 48,” the South Ethiopia Regional State Police Commission said in a statement on X. There were reports of 95 missing persons, and rescue operations were ongoing, it said. It was unclear whether this figure included the bodies already found. There has been heavy flooding across east Africa in recent days. Dozens were killed in neighbouring Kenya after torrential rain…