Category: Technology

Nigeria’s Chief Of Army Staff Killed In Plane Crash.

The Nigerian Chief of Army Staff Ibrahim Attahiru has been killed in a plane crash in Kaduna, military sources have revealed.

Mr Attahiru was appointed chief of army staff on January 26, succeeding Tukur Buratai. He was 54.

Mr Attahiru was killed alongside other military chiefs who were on the same flight, sources said. The presidency has already been briefed about the development.

The Nigerian Army have confirmed the incident saying there were 11 casualties on board including the COAS.

The plane was the third military jet operated by the Nigerian Air Force to crash this year.

More details soon.

No Survivors As Military Aircraft Crashes in Abuja.

A military Aeroplane King Air 350 has just crashed short of the Abuja runway after reporting engine failure enroute Minna according to Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

Sirika Sunday wrote, “It appears to be fatal”.

The Minister however urged Nigerians to be calm.

More to come as the full story unfolds.

Chrissy Teigen And John Legend Lose Third Child Shortly After His Birth.

Chrissy Teigen and her singer husband, John Legend have lost their third child due to pregnancy complications.

It would be recalled that the 34-year-old model was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday evening after she started bleeding and had to undergo blood transfusions.

Teigen took to her Instagram page on Thursday, October 1, where she penned a heartfelt note about the demise of their baby.

Their third child, named Jack, was born but suffered complications and died.

Sharing photos of herself and Legend in the hospital with their newborn son, Teigen wrote;

The couple got married in 2013 after meeting on the set of Legend’s music video for “Stereo” in 2007. They have two children, Luna and Miles.

Two Airplanes Collide At Lagos Airport.

There was uproar at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on Wednesday after two airplanes collided at the international wing of the airport.

An Airbus A330-243 owned by Middle East Airlines with registration number OD-MEA, ran into a Boeing 777 airplane with registration number TC-LJC operated by Turkish Airlines.

Sources at the airport said the Turkish cargo flight was parked at the international airport apron when the Middle East airbus ran into it.

“The Turkish cargo flight was parked at the tarmac when the MEA airbus ran into it l, ripping off part of the empennage of the aircraft.

“The MEA flight was taxiing when it happened,” the source said. 

The MEA airbus, which had been boarding passengers since 12:00pm, had to disembark every passenger on board.

Another source at the scene of the incident said the Middle East Airline and others had been carrying out commercial operations under the disguise of evacuation flights.

“These people have been running commercial flights under the disguise of evacuation. They come to this country at least three times a week.

“The MEA and even Turkish Airlines and others have been carrying out commercial operations,” the source added.

Davido’s ‘A Good Time’ Album Officially Hits One Billion Streams.

Less than a year after the release of Davido’s ‘A Good Time’, the album has officially crossed one billion streams across platforms.

This great achievement was announced by Columbia Records UK via Twitter where they congratulated Davido on this new leap and added star in his career.

Taking a break off of social media, Davido is presently in Los Angeles, focused on his next album, ‘A Better Time’.

A Good Time, Davido’s second studio album was released on the 22nd of November 2019. The album features guest appearances from international artistes such as Chris Brown, Summer Walker, Gunna, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Popcaan and Nigerian acts like Dremo, Peruzzi, Popcaan, Zlatan, Yonda, Wurld and Naira Marley.

Producers who worked on the album are; Speroach Beatz, Tekno, Shizzi, Kiddominant, P2J, London on da Track, Fresh VDM, Seyi, Teekay Witty, Ray Keys and Vstix.

Woodberry Indicted Of Multi-Million Dollar Fraud, Faces 20 Year Prison Term.

Olalekan ‘Woodberry’ Ponle.

Olalekan Ponle, a Nigerian held in the United States for alleged multi-million-dollar fraud, has been indicted by the grand jury, a group of lawyers empowered to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct.

Mr Ponle, popularly known as Woodberry, alongside Ramoni Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, was arrested in the United Arab Emirate on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit.

According to the complaint, an unnamed Chicago company was defrauded into sending wire transfers totalling $15.2 million.

Companies based in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say.

We reported how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nabbed Mr Ponle through details accessed from his WhatsApp, iPhone and Bitcoin transactions. He was extradited to the United States on the second of July.

The 29-year-old is currently facing charges bordering on wire fraud Conspiracy at a United States District Court sitting in Illinois.

His first appearance in court was on July 3, after which the preliminary hearing was set for July 16 before Judge Jeffrey T Gilbert.

Although Mr Ponle appeared in court for his detention and preliminary hearing on Thursday, Scribbles Urban is yet to access the outcome of the proceedings as of the time of filing this report.

GRAND JURY’S REPORT:

As obtained by this paper, a report of the special grand jury constituted in 2019, which was submitted to the court on Wednesday, indicted Mr Ponle.

In the American judicial system, the grand jury listens to the prosecutor and witnesses, and then votes in secret on whether they believe that enough evidence exists to charge the person with a crime.

When a person is indicted, he is given a formal notice that it is believed that he committed a crime. The indictment contains the basic information that informs the person of the charges against him.

The jury summed up the allegations against Mr Ponle to an eight-count charge of wire fraud, which violates section 1343 of the United States Codes.

Gokada CEO Fahim Saleh Brutally Murdered In His $2.25m New York Apartment.

Millionaire tech entrepreneur and owner of Gokada Fahim Saleh has been found murdered in his multimillion dollar New York apartment.

Saleh, in Lagos.

The limbless, headless body of the 33 year old was found by his sister who checked in on him after having gone an entire day without hearing from him.

NYPD confirmed the murder with their spokesman saying at despite being decapitated, all the body parts were found at the scene. A chainsaw was also found next to the torso. His words: “we had a torso, a head that’s been removed, arms and legs. Everything is still on the scene. We do not have a motive“.

An elevator surveillance camera may have caught his last moments, sources have said. It showed the victim getting into the elevator on Monday, quickly followed by a second man, dressed in a suit, a hat and a mask over his face.

NYPD outside the scene where a limbless and headless torso was found on East Houston St. in Manhattan. (Sam Costanza)

Possibly shot or stunned, the victim fell to the floor as soon as he stepped into his apartment.

Saleh, a website developer turned venture capitalist, is the CEO of a mobile motorcycle sharing company Gokada.

He started his career creating a prank call website, he then created a motorcycle hailing company in his parent’s native country Bangladesh.

He would then go on to establish Gokada in Nigeria. However, despite his company having kicked off and truly hit good numbers in the Nigerian market, it was suddenly banned in Lagos, by far its busiest customer location, for next to no reason.

Fahim Saleh’s Manhattan Home.

Saleh’s friends and neighbours have had only good things to say about him since learning of his murder. “He was extremely smart, ambitious, very kind, always smiling“, a female friend who checked in on his sister at the precinct said.

They described him as a self-made millionaire who brought tech companies into nations like Nigeria and Indonesia, an energetic person who loved gadgets and video games.

A worker at a nearby smoke shop, after hearing earlier reports of the gruesome death, said he had nothing but fond memories of Saleh.

“We were open through the (coronavirus) pandemic, he always comes to get candy and beer,” said worker Sam Parakal. “He’s so friendly. It’s pretty sad if he’s the one.”

Detectives were waiting for fingerprint and forensics tests on the body, police sources said.

Social Media Should Be Banned In Nigeria – Ex BBNaija Housemate, T-Boss.

Ex-BBNaija housemate, Tokunbo Idowu, popularly known as Tboss, has called for a ban of social media in Nigeria.

The 35-year-old, who has been in the news recently, stated this on her Instagram page on Wednesday.

On why she wants social media be banned, Tboss cited the increasing rate of toxic people on the internet.

She wrote: “There are too many mean and toxic people out there on social media and for that reason; it should be banned in Nigeria.

“Personally, I think social media ought to be banned in Nigeria. Just so many mean people on there.”

Recently, she has had deny rumors of herself and music executive, Ubi Franklin, being lovers and expecting a baby together.

OFFICIAL: Jay-Z is Hip-Hop’s First Billionaire.

Jay-Z’s got something else to brag about — he’s the first hip-hop artist to be worth … ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

Jay’s net worth is officially in the 3-comma club, according to a new Forbes report that totaled all of his income from multiple business ventures and subtracted “a healthy amount to account for a superstar lifestyle.”

When it’s all said and done, here’s a breakdown of the value of his stakes in the empire he’s created:

$310 million for Armand de Brignac champagne.

$220 mill in cash and investments, including a $70 million stake in Uber.

$100 mill for D’Usse cognac.

$100 mill for Tidal.

$75 mill for Roc Nation.

$75 mill for his music catalog.

$70 mill art collection.

$50 mill in real estate.

A whole billion when added together. Needless to say, this doesn’t include the net worth of his other half, Beyonce. The couple has been worth more than a billion combined for quite some time now.

Jay’s claim as the first hip-hop billionaire could actually be contested by Dr. Dre, who said he’d accomplished the feat way back in 2014 after his $3.2 billion deal with Apple.

Forbes said Dre jumped the gun though, and was only worth $800 million at the time.

Via: TMZ.

Emiliano Sala’s Father Dies Three Months After His Son’s Death.

The father of Premier League footballer Emiliano Sala, who was killed in a plane crash earlier this year, has died three months after his son.

Horacio Sala, 58, suffered a heart attack on Friday, his friend and president of his local club confirmed.

Daniel Ribero, from San Martin de Progreso, told C5N TV channel that Mr Sala had passed away before doctors arrived at his home in Progreso.

Emiliano Sala’s plane crashed en route to Cardiff after leaving from France.

The Argentine footballer was on his way to joining his new club Cardiff City from French club Nantes in a club record £15m deal when the crash happened over the English Channel.

Progreso mayor Julio Muller led the tributes to Mr Sala, telling La Red radio station: “Horacio could not overcome Emi, we thought that after the discovery he would be able to close that circle.”

In a statement, Cardiff City said the club offered its “deepest condolences” to Mr Sala’s friends and family.

“They are very much in the thoughts of us all at this difficult time,” a spokesman said.

The Piper Malibu N264DB plane carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson went missing over waters near the Channel Islands on 21 January and it took rescuers two weeks to find the wreckage.

The football star’s body was recovered on 8 February after a private rescue team took over the search for the missing plane.

The father-of-three, a long-distance lorry driver, spoke to the BBC two weeks ago and pleaded “that justice be done” for his son.

He told the BBC Wales Investigates programme he wanted to “continue investigating all the things that we have to know and that we can know.”

“That is all I can ask,” added Mr Sala, who had split-up from his son’s mother Mercedes.

Air accident investigators are still looking into why the Piper Malibu plane carrying Sala to Cardiff for his first training session crashed.

The light aircraft was piloted by Mr Ibbotson, from Crowle, North Lincolnshire, whose body has not been found.

he legality of Sala’s flight has not yet been established, but a preliminary report from air accident investigators in February said the pilot was not licensed to carry fee-paying passengers and the plane was not registered for commercial flights.

Cardiff City have said the club “wholeheartedly” backs the Air Charter Association’s (BACA) calls “to secure a review of illegal flights”.

In the three months since the crash, BACA said it had received reports of illegal flights happening in the UK at a rate of almost one per day.

Sala started his career at his hometown club San Martín de Progreso – in Argentina’s Santa Fe region, about 350 miles (563km) from the capital Buenos Aires – and his father retained close links with the club.

A wake was held at the club before his funeral in Progreso in February.

The club confirmed Mr Sala’s death and president Mr Ribero added: “At dawn he felt a pain in his chest, they called the doctor but when he arrived, Horacio had already passed away.”