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General News

Ataga was Stabbed Multiple Times on the Neck-  Super Network Co-Founder

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late Usifo Ataga, chief executive officer of Super TV
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Mr Raman Obiorah Saliu, co -founder of Super Network Limited (owners of Super TV), has said that a total of seven multiple stabs was found on late Usifo Ataga, chief executive officer of Super TV

Ataga was Stabbed Multiple Times on the Neck-  Super Network Co-Founder

late Usifo Ataga, chief executive officer of Super TV

Saliu stated this as the trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, a 300 level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, who is suspected to have killed the CEO of Super TV, continued on Monday at the Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).

Saliu, who broke down in tears while testifying before Justice Yetunde Adesanya, said apart from the stabs on Ataga’s neck, there was one to the stomach and several on the two sides of the ribs and the left ventricular to the chest.

Led in evidence by Mrs Adenike Oluwafemi, deputy director of Public Prosecution, he testified that the deceased was tied up, on both hands and legs like a ram waiting to be slaughtered.

Saliu, who is also a network engineer, programmer, and developer, testified as the fifth prosecution witness in the case. He told the court that he met the late Usifo Ataga 10 years ago in the course of building the Super TV App.

He explained that he was introduced to Ataga by a friend, Mr Bisi Osuneye, who is also late.

He added that when Ataga came into the project as an investor, he became a co-founder by adding so many ideas and they started working on the project until his demise last year June.

The witness also stated that as Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Ataga usually convene management meetings on Mondays and Executive (EXCO) meetings on Tuesdays and they sometimes meet virtually using Microsoft link.

Narrating how he came to hear about his death, Saliu said that he got a call from Ataga on Monday 14, June 2021, that he was having stomach pain and he subsequently advised the Super TV boss to take his drugs and get some rest.

He said that much later, he needed to reach Ataga, in relation to some tasks and so he started to call him the next day from about 11am.

Saliu narrated, “I started calling him, he didn’t pick his calls neither did he return my message. I was surprised because the only thing he wants to hear is the billing App, with MTN, which is working now.

“Michael (Ataga) didn’t pick his calls, everybody started reaching out to me because the only way they can get him is through me and the only way they can reach me is through him; he still did not pick up my calls, this was about 3:30pm, on June 15, 2021.

“Then I got a WhatsApp message from him, after reading the message, I said to myself this is not Michael, talking to me. The message read ” I saw your missed call, I took some drugs that made me sleeping.’ The construction of that message was not Michael, because Michael was very fluent in English.

“I knew that was not Micheal’s typing and it was someone else but I sent him a screenshot of the billing system in the Super TV App, that it’s working and his response to me was ok, great, that was when I knew something was happening because Michael will jump, up pick up his phone, and call me immediately. So, I went outside to take fresh air and I started thinking where he could have been now that he is not picking up my calls.

“I called Gambo, he is a driver and personal assistant (PA) to Michael. I asked him, did you receive any call from Micheal? He said no that he has also been calling him too because he needed to pick up his clothes from the laundry that he was traveling with to Abuja.

“Gambo said he got a WhatsApp message, that was between 5 to 6pm, on June 15, 2021, then we started thinking of what could have happened to him. Another of Micheal’s friend, Okwuedo, who lives with us at Victoria Garden City (VGC), also asked of his whereabouts, I told him I got a WhatsApp message from Michael. So, Okwuedo said let him see the message, immediately he saw it, he said this is not Michael’s typing.

“Okwuedo and Gambo went to few places where they thought he could be. So, I went back to the office and on Wednesday 16, June 2021, I asked Gambo if they found him, he said no. I then called his cook at Banana Island, that was when I knew that he left home since Sunday 13, June 2021.

“I was keeping calm because he was going to Abuja on Thursday for his 50th birthday. I told myself that wherever he was, I knew that he would come and meet me, and we would go to the airport, stay with the girls (Michael’s daughters) and his wife for his 50th birthday. They were actually waiting for him; they were planning a surprise birthday party for hi

“So, I started suspecting something was wrong because he was supposed to come to VGC on the 15th, but he didn’t. I had to raise an alarm that I don’t know where Michael was.

“My last WhatsApp message to Michael on June 16, 2021, was at 10:30am and the message read ‘Bro, where are you? I am worried, my BP is rising.” The message was read, no response, I started getting calls from his family wanting to wish him happy 50th birthday.

“Calls started coming in, I did not really know what to say. How can I say I’m looking for a 50-year-old man? To me, it didn’t make any sense. I wanted to go and make a complaint at the VGC police station of a missing person, when at about 6:33 to 6:35am on Thursday, 17 June 2021, I got a call from Mrs Brenda Ataga, who happens to be his wife and the wife said where is Usifo?

“I had to tell her the truth that I have been looking for Michael since Tuesday. She was a bit upset with me that I was looking for someone since on Tuesday and I did nothing about it. I tried to explain to her that I was trying to make a complaint, 10 minutes later she called back and said Michael’s phones were traced to the University of Lagos, UNILAG Guest House.

“I didn’t take my bath; I just grabbed my car key and I started driving to UNILAG. A friend called me, and I told him I was driving to UNILAG. He asked how I knew Usifo was in UNILAG, I mentioned that the information came from Brenda.

“Mrs Brenda Ataga also called me and said there is a team of policemen that will meet me at UNILAG, to conduct the search. I got to UNILAG before them, so I went to the security and told them I was looking for a black Range Rover and they directed me to the guest house.

“The police joined me with two of his friends and staff (member) from my office. Mrs Ataga called me and was giving me the GPS coordinate from where the direction of the phone is. While going through Yaba, I got a call from our GTBank account officer, whom I asked to help me trace Michael’s transactions, so that I can know where exactly he is.

“He told me that Michael made transactions on Sunday and Monday. The Sunday transaction was to a lady Mrs Nkechi Mogbo, the owner of the service apartment (where the deceased was murdered). The account officer also said that the transaction that was made on Monday was to a Sterling Bank with the name Chidinma Ojukwu Adora. The account officer asked me what was happening, I said today is his birthday and I have been looking for him since Tuesday.

“So, I told him that since the owner of the service apartment uses GTB, he should send me her number, and he did. The police said I should give the number to Brenda so that it will not distract from our search of Michael.”

“Only for Brenda to later call and tell me that Michael is dead. I fainted; it took the police to resuscitate me. When I was a bit okay, I called her and asked how? She said she called the number I sent to her, and the owner of the apartment said somebody was murdered that she should show his means of Identification if it was the person we were looking for.

“So, Brenda shared her husband’s picture to the woman and the owner of the service apartment said this person was murdered here and she is on her way to the police station at Maroko, so Brenda asked me to meet Mrs Nkechi Mogbo, at Panti.

“I met her with some of Michael’s friends at Panti, and we went to the scene of the incident where Michael was murdered. I didn’t want to believe that Michael was dead, I saw Michael’s belongings that the police brought out and we were not allowed inside.

“When I got to the mortuary, I saw Michael’s body, Michael was killed like a chicken, I saw a very big cut at the back of his neck. The wickedness, for me, is that the day I was with Michael’s corpse; they were still taking money from his account, that was 17 June 2021, exactly the day he was 50 years old.

“There were subsequent USSD transactions on his account until Brenda and I decided to close the account. I started tracking Chidinma, I started looking at Michael’s calls from 9mobile and MTN, Chidinma was calling him with a WhatsApp number.

“I traced the money that was transferred by Michael to Chidinma’s Sterling Bank and I supplied all the information to the police at Panti. Around 1am, on June 23, 2021, on a Wednesday, I got a message from Panti, that Chidinma has been arrested.

“Michael’s iPhone came with an original Apple pouch, when the police recovered the iPhone from Chidinma, it was replaced with a N1000 pouch; Michael’s laptop was also recovered. There were two iPhones, one iPhone 11 and one iPhone 7 or 8, was also recovered; I was told by the police that she gave the other iPhone to her sister,” Saliu recounted as he broke down in tears.

He further stated that there was a restaurant at Lekki – Angle Villa Restaurant that the deceased made a transaction on June 13.

“I shared the information with Michael’s friends, and they proceeded to Angle Villa, to confirm if a transaction was actually made. They confirmed that Michael came so we requested CCTV footage to know if he went alone, but we discovered that he came with Chidinma.

“The police at Panti took the video and I was surprised to see the CCTV footage all over the social media.”

During cross-examination by the counsel to Chidinma, Onwuka Egwu, the witness said he had no idea who handed the CCTV footage video to the police.

He said that the CCTV footage was trending prior to the arrest of Chidinma.

Justice Adesanya, in her ruling, adjourned until February 17 for the continuation of the trial.


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FG Declares Admissions outside CAPS Illegal

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Federal government has declared that any admission into tertiary institutions conducted outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), will be deemed illegal.

FG Declares Admissions outside CAPS Illegal

Dr Tunji Alausa, minister of Education, gave the directive in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2025 policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Alausa, therefore, warned universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across the country against illegal admission.

He said institutions and individuals involved in such practices would be prosecuted and severely sanctioned.

“Any admission conducted outside CAPS, regardless of its intentions, is illegal.

“Both institutions and the candidates involved in such practices will be held accountable.

“Sanctions may include withdrawal of institutional assets and prosecution of culpable officers or governing council members,” he said.

CAPS, introduced in 2017, automates the admission process to eliminate human interference and administrative bottlenecks.

Alausa, however, reiterated the government’s commitment to strengthen transparency, fairness, and accountability in the nation’s tertiary education system.

He explained that while the responsibility for initiating admissions rests with the academic boards of each institution, JAMB, as a statutory regulatory body is mandated to oversee and regulate the process to ensure fairness and equity.

The Minister urged vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, and governing councils to intensify oversight functions to prevent unauthorised practices.

He assured that the Ministry would monitor compliance closely in collaboration with JAMB.

The minister also reaffirmed the policy mandating integration of the National Identification Number (NIN) into the JAMB registration process.

“The NIN requirement has proven vital in safeguarding the integrity of our admission system by curbing identity fraud and multiple registrations.

“Any abuse of the NIN system will be identified and punished,” he said.

He highlighted the need for data-driven policies in the admission processes.

The Minister also presented statistics showing a mismatch between available admission quotas and actual student intake across many programmes, especially in agriculture, education, engineering, and the health sciences.

“We have capacity, but we are not admitting enough students.

“We need to start closing the gap, so that more children can access tertiary education,” he said.

He also criticised the proliferation of underutilised institutions, revealing that over 120 universities in Nigeria received fewer than 50 applications in the current admission cycle.

“The problem is not about access, it’s about alignment and capacity.

“We don’t need to open new tertiary institutions in every ward. Instead, we must expand and strengthen the capacity of existing ones,” he said.

On his part, Sen. Shuaib Salisu, chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity,  called for stricter sanctions against institutions and administrators who undermine Nigeria’s admission process.

Salisu proposed the criminalisation of fraudulent admission practices.

He also warned institutions that exploit loopholes in the admissions system, allowing students to unknowingly pursue flawed admissions for years to desist from such practices.

He assured that the Senate Committee would explore legislation to criminalise such fraudulent practices, holding admission officers and institutional management accountable.

Salisu also called for an inclusive education system that drives peace and economic growth.


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BRICS Leaders Seek Inclusive Access to AI

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To support a constructive debate towards a balanced artificial intelligence (AI) approach, the BRICS leaders have agreed on a set of guidelines to foster responsible development, deployment and use of AI technologies for sustainable development and inclusive growth.

The leaders of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – published a joint statement calling for a global governance framework for AI that is inclusive, representative and rooted in the principles of sovereignty, development and ethical responsibility.

The guidelines, which strictly refer to the use of AI in the non-military domain, should be applied through either domestic or applicable international frameworks, as well as through the development of interoperable standards and protocols, in inclusive, transparent and consensus-based processes, the statement reads.

BRICS is a political and diplomatic coordination forum for countries from the Global South. This year’s theme was “Strengthening global south cooperation for more inclusive and sustainable governance”.

The BRICS leaders’ statement positions AI as a transformative force for sustainable development and innovation, while also warning against uncoordinated governance models that could deepen global inequities, marginalise developing nations and fracture multilateralism.

It emphasises that AI governance should be anchored in the United Nations system to ensure inclusivity and legitimacy.

The BRICS countries warn against a fragmented regulatory landscape, advocating for co-ordinated multilateralism that includes the voices of developing countries – particularly from the Global South.

BRICS leaders reaffirmed their support for Digital sovereignty, saying each country must retain the right to shape AI policy and technology in line with its own development goals and legal frameworks. This includes capacity-building, data governance and technological autonomy.

“We firmly support the right of all countries to harness the benefits of the digital economy… to develop capacities in AI research, foster technological autonomy and innovation, ensure data protection, and promote their own digital economy,” the statement reads.

A major theme in the document is the need for fair, equitable and inclusive access to AI technologies. The BRICS leaders stress that all countries – regardless of economic standing – must be able to access and benefit from AI.

The group also called for global co-operation in building data governance frameworks that allow developing countries secure and equitable access to data, with full respect for privacy, intellectual property rights and national laws. This ties into support for open science, open innovation and open-source AI models that can fuel local innovation ecosystems.

On intellectual property, the statement advocates for a balance between proprietary rights and public interest to prevent exploitative data practices and ensure transparency in AI model development and deployment.

The BRICS countries voiced concern over algorithmic bias and the exclusion of underrepresented cultures and languages in AI datasets and models.

They called for ethical, transparent and accountable AI development that reflects cultural, demographic and linguistic diversity.

They also endorsed UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and called for international co-operation to develop inclusive datasets, tools to flag misinformation and mechanisms to mitigate bias – especially against vulnerable groups like women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

The BRICS nations stressed the importance of using AI as a tool for sustainable development, citing sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, energy and environmental conservation as priority areas.

They urged that AI development must be environmentally responsible, minimising carbon emissions and e-waste.

The potential of AI to enhance productivity and job creation was also recognised, as well as the risks of job displacement and exploitation. The statement calls for policies that safeguard worker rights, ensure compatibility between AI and human capabilities, and promote decent work in the digital economy.

“It is imperative to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of all workers, particularly those directly affected by the digital transformation… including generative AI,” the statement says.

The BRICS statement ends with a commitment to intensify co-ordination on AI governance and share the guidelines across international platforms. It extends an open invitation to other developing countries to contribute to and refine the emerging global framework for AI.

“We welcome contributions to further develop these guidelines, particularly from other developing countries, and will remain open to revisiting them.”


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Tech-driven Solutions Receive Commendation @ Maiden Insurance Week Hackathon

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Mrs Yetunde Ilori, President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), has commended the innovative and technology-driven solutions presented during the institute’s maiden Insurance Week Hackathon competition.

Ilori gave the commendation after the completion of the competition on Thursday in Lagos, held at the College of Insurance and Financial Management in Asese, Ogun, as part of the Insurance Week organised by the CIIN.

She described the solutions as crucial to the industry’s transformation and relevance in the digital age. “This shows that the future is bright for the Nigerian insurance industry.

We are transforming as an industry, and digital innovation is at the heart of that transformation,” Ilori said. She noted that 19 teams initially applied for the competition, but only six were shortlisted.

The competition, which targeted young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 29, engaged six finalist teams over a fourweek intensive innovation process, culminating in a demo day on Wednesday in Lagos.

The hackathon focused on real-world challenges in the sector, such as inclusive insurance, fraud detection, risk management, and improving customer experience.

It was designed to cultivate the next generation of insurance innovators, deepen insurance awareness, and promote financial literacy among Nigerians.

The teams that participated in the final stage of the competition were: Ifokanbale, Insurbridge, Insurvate, Team Aegis, Team Phoenix, and The Assured Team. Team Aegis developed “Hustle Guard,” a microinsurance solution for tricycle drivers covering health, life, and income, in an effort to demystify micro insurance in Nigeria.

The Assured Team presented “Kolo Plus by Card,” an unstructured savings plan with payment and interest features tailored to low-income earners. Team Insurbridge created “Smarter Claims,” a solution aimed at improving the insurance claims process.

Team Phoenix introduced “HerShield,” a solution focused on empowering women and building trust in the insurance sector. The Assured Team also developed additional ideas to drive insurance penetration in underserved and informal communities.

After an engaging pitch session before a panel of judges, Team Insurvate emerged as the overall winner with its solution, “Claim Central”, an end-to-end digital platform designed to streamline the insurance claims process from policyholders to insurers.

Team Aegis secured second place, while Team Phoenix came in third. The panel of judges included financial sector experts such as Norah Igwe, Tunji Andrews, Diana Mulili, Sakeenat Bakare, Ibraheem Babalola, and Prince Adeshina Adeyemi-Doro.

Also speaking, Mr Eddie Efekoha, Chairman of the Insurance Week, said the hackathon demonstrated a conscious effort to explore how technology can help distribute insurance products to all parts of the country.

“We believe this initiative will spark more interest among the youth to engage with insurance, not just as consumers but as creators and innovators,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the winning team, Mr Odunayo Ojeremi, leader of Team Insurvate, described the competition as highly competitive and rewarding. “We are excited and grateful for the opportunity.

“We didn’t expect to win, but we are glad our solution was recognised. We hope to improve ‘Claim Central’ and make it a platform that ensures seamless claims processing,” he said.


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