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Who Is Major General Farouk Yahaya? Nigeria’s Latest COAS

Following the death of Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed his replacement, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, who would take over as the country’s new chief of army staff.

The former Chief of Army Staff died in an air crash on Friday, May 21, 2021, while on his way to Kaduna where he was billed to attend the passing out parade of army recruits. He died alongside ten other army officers a list which included three brigadier generals.

As the nation comes to terms with the tragic death, the acting Director of Defence Information, Onyema Nwachukwu, announced the appointment of a new COAS yesterday, Thursday, May 27, 2021, in a statement.

According to the Nigerian Army website, the new Chief of Army Staff, Major General Farouk Yahaya was born on 5 January 1966 in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto state.

He is a member of the 37 Regular Course of the prestigious Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), and started his cadet training on 27 September 1985 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on 22 September 1990.

Before his recent appointment as the country’s new Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya was the Theatre Commander Operation HADIN KAI, responsible for Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency operations in North East Nigeria.

Major General Farouk Yahaya is happily married and blessed with children and is also the proud holder of several honors and awards, some of which include:

  • Command Medal
  • Forces Service Star
  • Grand Service Star
  • Silver Jubilee Medal
  • Golden Jubilee Medal
  • Field Command Medal
  • Meritorious Service Star
  • General Operations Medal
  • Distinguished Service Star
  • Passed staff course (Dagger)
  • National DefenceCourse (Chile)
  • Economic Community of West Africa State Monitoring Group Medal

Meanwhile, the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has congratulated Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya on his appointment.

The governor said he is excited about the appointment since the Major General is someone he has worked closely with when the latter served as General Officer Commanding, 1 Division Nigerian Army, Kaduna covering Kaduna, Niger, Kano, and Jigawa States.

He also added that he believes the incoming COAS will succeed in areas where his predecessors encountered brick walls and do his part in ensuring a secured nation.

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Wike’s son accused of collecting $2.1 million for land in Abuja

Jordan Ezenwo Nyesom-Wike, son of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, is facing a civil suit over an alleged $2.1 million land deal gone wrong, with the claimants saying most of that money was intended for his father.

According to court filings, two men say they met Jordan in London and later reconnected with him in Abuja, where they asked for his help securing 60 hectares of land split between Katampe and Guzape. They claim Jordan told them the facilitation fee would come to $2.1 million: $2 million of it earmarked for the minister himself, and $100,000 as Jordan’s own cut.

The claimants say they handed over the full amount on 26 September 2025, at a property in Gwarimpa, Abuja, with several named witnesses present. They allege that after the money changed hands, they got no land and no refund, and Jordan stopped responding to them.

Jordan’s defence hinges on a single detail: he says he wasn’t even in the country that day. Under cross-examination at the FCT High Court in Maitama, he told the court he was on a British Airways flight from Abuja to London on 26 September 2025, the exact date the claimants say the payment was made. He also denies signing any acknowledgment of receipt for the money, calling the signature on the document a forgery.

The exchange prompted the claimants’ lawyer to ask the court to compel Jordan to produce his American passport, to check it against his travel claim, and to write out his name and signature five times on a plain sheet of paper for comparison. Justice Sylvanus Oriji granted both requests. Jordan produced the passport the following day; the court has not yet ruled on whether his account of his whereabouts holds up.

Jordan has said he flagged the allegations himself, in a letter to his father and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission back in November 2025.

The case has since drawn wider attention. Rights lawyer Chidi Odinkalu has called on Justice Oriji to step aside from the case over family and professional ties, while the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has urged the EFCC and ICPC to open an independent investigation rather than wait for the civil case to conclude.

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Morocco gets first Female Prime Minister

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has made history as Morocco’s first woman prime minister and only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world. Morocco has made history after Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri was appointed the country’s first woman prime minister, making her only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world.

King Mohammed VI appointed El Mansouri on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and tasked her with forming a new government after her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) emerged as the biggest party in Morocco’s September 23 parliamentary election.

Morocco officially refers to the position as head of government, although it is commonly described internationally as prime minister.El Mansouri’s appointment marks the first time a woman has occupied the position since Morocco established its modern government system

Her rise also places her in a particularly small group of women who have headed governments across the Arab world. She becomes only the second woman to serve as prime minister in an Arab country, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden, who served as Tunisia’s prime minister from 2021 to 2023.

The appointment came after PAM won the largest number of seats in Morocco’s 395-member House of Representatives.

The party secured 97 seats, but fell well short of the 198 seats needed for a majority, meaning El Mansouri will have to negotiate with other political parties to form a coalition government.

The appointment is also significant because Morocco operates as a constitutional monarchy in which the king remains head of state, while the head of government leads the cabinet and oversees the government’s day-to-day administration.

Under Morocco’s constitutional system, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Representatives. El Mansouri was therefore selected after her party emerged as the largest bloc in the latest election.

El Mansouri, 50, is a lawyer and experienced politician who has held several prominent positions in Moroccan public life. Before her appointment as head of government, she served as Morocco’s minister responsible for national planning, urban planning, housing and urban policy. She also served as mayor of Marrakesh, a position she first won in 2009, making her the city’s first woman mayor. She later returned to the position in 2021.

She is also a senior figure in PAM, a liberal-centrist party founded in 2008.El Mansouri’s appointment comes at a significant moment for Morocco, with the new government expected to deal with economic pressures, unemployment and public concerns over living standards. The government will also oversee preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal. The tournament is expected to involve major infrastructure and investment projects across the country.

The September 23 election recorded turnout of about 38%, down from roughly 50% in the previous parliamentary election, according to Reuters. The low turnout came amid concerns about economic conditions and frustration among parts of Morocco’s population, particularly young people.

El Mansouri now faces the task of turning her party’s electoral lead into a functioning government.

Because PAM does not have a parliamentary majority, she will need to reach agreements with other parties before she can form her cabinet and begin governing.

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Tems and Runtown In Scintilating Prformance at Spotify Surround Sound in Lagos

Spotify brought fans closer to Tems and Runtown across two nights of Surround Sound in Lagos, inviting selected Premium listeners based on their listening behaviour to experience the artists and music they care about in an intimate, in-the-round setting.
Held at Livespot in Lagos on 25 and 26 September, the performances brought two distinct catalogue stories into the room. Tems revisited For Broken Ears, while Runtown placed Mad Over You at the centre of a career-spanning set.

Surround Sound is Spotify’s live performance format, launched from Sub-Saharan Africa, which brings artists and fans together at close range and captures those performances as full-length music films for Spotify. Lagos provides the cultural context for these stories, with Nigerian artists and listeners at their centre.

Tems performed For Broken Ears tracks including Ice T and Damages, alongside earlier singles Mr Rebel and Try Me and later material such as Love Me JeJe and What You Need, tracing different chapters of her catalogue.

Ahead of the performance, she reflected on the beginnings of that journey: “I remember making Free Mind on my bed, on my laptop, experimenting with chords and seeing what stuck. The first two chords sounded so good, and it ignited melodies in me. Those melodies I made on my bed are what is in the song right now.”

Spotify’s relationship with Tems also reaches back to that period. In September 2020, shortly after the release of For Broken Ears, she became the third artist to join Spotify’s RADAR Africa programme, following South African singer Elaine and rapper Willy Cardiac. Six years later, Surround Sound revisited that early chapter of her catalogue in Lagos.

During the performance, Tems turned towards the audience and invited them to sing along, making the fans’ voices part of the experience. The following night, Runtown opened with Lagos to Kampala and Gallardo, moving through For Life, International Badman Killa and Unleash. The set also included Kini Issue, drawing together different parts of his catalogue.

Mad Over You became a shared moment between artist and audience. Runtown performed the song during the set before returning to it a second time to close the show, with fans singing along.

Speaking ahead of the performance, Runtown said: “This is the first time in 10 years I am performing with my band, and I am looking forward to seeing my fans.”

Spotify’s September 2026 analysis offers context for the continuing relationship with this music. Of the listeners who played For Broken Ears in January 2022, 21.6% also listened in August 2026. Meanwhile, Mad Over You appeared in more than three million user-created playlists at the time of the analysis.

Surround Sound connected that existing relationship with an opportunity to experience the artists live. There was no public ticket sale; Spotify invited selected Premium listeners directly through the platform, using listening behaviour to identify fans for the experience.

The live room is intentionally intimate and has a fixed capacity,” said Rifumo Mdaka of Spotify. “We use listening signals to reach selected Spotify Premium listeners in Lagos directly rather than running a public ticket sale. The aim is to create a close artist-fan experience while keeping the room suitable for the performance and film capture.”

Across both nights, Premium’s fan value took a tangible form: selected listeners had the opportunity to hear familiar music performed up close, with the audience’s responses becoming part of the experience.Both performances were filmed for Spotify.

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