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Corps member Raye to serve extra 60 days for calling out President Tinubu
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has extended the service year of corps member Rita Ushie, popularly known as Raye on Instagram, by two months for publicly criticising President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Raye, who had just one month left in her service, gained national attention in March after posting a viral video on TikTok lamenting Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions and describing the Tinubu-led government as “terrible.” She also alleged that NYSC officials threatened her and demanded she take down the video.
The incident sparked outrage among civil rights groups and Nigerians who condemned the NYSC’s response as an attack on freedom of expression.
Following the backlash, Raye was summoned by the NYSC Local Government Inspector to the Eti-Osa office in Lagos. However, when she arrived with her legal team and activist Omoyele Sowore, the official who issued the summons was reportedly absent. The matter soon faded from public discourse.
But on June 18, she was again summoned—this time to the NYSC orientation camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos—to face a disciplinary panel. After repeated delays and without a formal notice, she was eventually informed that her service year had been extended by two months as a sanction.
Jonathan Ugbal, South-South Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, said Raye was deeply upset by the decision. “Her mother called me, saying she was crying on the phone after being told of the extension. She’s not in the right frame of mind to speak right now,” he told.
Two Nigerian-born scientists—Adesola Adegoke, a researcher at Arizona State University (ASU), and Seunnla Adelusi, a PhD candidate at the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada—have been named among the 20 global winners of the Digital GreenTalents Award 2025.
These two Nigerians were announced among the winners during a virtual ceremony held on 25 November. In a statement following the virtual announcement ceremony, the organisers said the 20 awardees for this year joined from different time zones, including “very early morning in Canada and evening hours in the Philippines.”
The digital Green Talent Award is an annual initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that recognises outstanding young researchers whose work advances sustainability through digital innovation.
Each year, 20 scientists are selected from a competitive global pool for their cutting-edge ideas at the intersection of digitalisation and environmental sustainability.
Alex Otti, the Abia State Governor, on Sunday paid a visit to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, at the Sokoto Correctional Centre.
The governor was accompanied by officials of the Sokoto State Government during the closed-door visit.
Nnamdi Kanu was recently moved to Sokoto after he was convicted on terrorism-related charges and handed a life sentence by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Governor Otti had earlier promised to pursue every lawful and political avenue to ensure that Kanu gets justice. Sunday’s visit is seen as part of ongoing efforts by the Abia State Government regarding his case.
Details of the meeting were not made public as of the time of this report.
Armed terrorists have abducted a bride-to-be, her bridesmaid, and eight other residents from Chacho village in Wurno Local Government Area of Sokoto State
The Sokoto abduction occurred around 1:30 a.m., according to residents, when the attackers stormed the village. Most of the victims were women, with only one man also taken.
One resident sustained injuries and is receiving medical treatment. Villagers told reporters that the bride was preparing for her wedding scheduled for later that morning when the raid struck, plunging the community into shock and mourning.
A community member described the attack as “tragic,” noting the delay in security response. “Security operatives were alerted immediately, but they only arrived about an hour after the bandits had fled,” he said, expressing frustration.
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