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Court Sentences Portable to Three Months Imprisonment An Ogun State Chief Magistrate Court, sitting in Ifo Local Government Area, has sentenced controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola aka Portable, to three months in prison, with an option of a N30,000 fine. Portable was found guilty of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. The musician was arrested in March 2023 after physically attacking a police inspector and obstructing officers who were attempting to serve him an arrest warrant. The Police Prosecutor, Inspector Olumide Awoleke, had earlier informed the court that Habeeb Okikiola committed the offense on 18 November 2022 at approximately 11:00 am in Okeosa, Ilogbo, within the Ifo Magisterial District. The charge sheet read “That you, Badmus Habeeb Okikiola, aka Portable, and others now at large, on the 18th day of November 2022 at 11:00 hrs, in Okeosa, Ilogbo, within the Ifo Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony, to wit: assault, and thereby committed an offense contrary to and punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State 2006. That you, Habeeb Okikiola Olalomi, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned district, did unlawfully assault one Osimosu Emmanuel Oluwafemi (male) by beating him all over his body, thereby committing an offense contrary to and punishable under Section 351 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria 2006. That you, Badmus Habeeb Okikiola, aka Portable, on various occasions in the year 2022, at Okeosa, Ilogbo, within the Ifo Magisterial District, did steal some musical equipment, including a Yamaha H55 studio monitor, a complete Studio 2 interface connection cable, and an AKG P420 condenser, thereby committing an offense contrary to Sections 384 and 383 and punishable under Section 390 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State, Nigeria, 2006.” In his judgment, Chief Magistrate Babajide Ilo ruled that the singer was guilty of Counts 1 and 2. He sentenced the defendant to one month’s imprisonment with an option of a N10,000 fine for Count 1 and two months’ imprisonment with an option of a N20,000 fine for Count 2. credit: MIKE-MEDIA

OVER 41,000 UNDER 16 CANDIDATES SIT FOR 2025 UTME A total of 41,027 underage candidates were among the 2.03 million who registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. This was according to real-time data obtained from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board registration dashboard on Tuesday. According to data available on the Board’s official website as of Monday, 62 cases of examination malpractice have been recorded so far. Recall that the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, recently reinstated the acceptable age for admission into tertiary institutions as 16 years. He emphasised that candidates below this age would not be eligible for admission, although exceptions would be made for academically gifted students. JAMB has also clarified that underage candidates—those below 16—may be considered for admission if they demonstrate academic excellence by scoring 80 per cent or more in the UTME. Given that the examination is scored out of 400 marks, this translates to a minimum of 320.This position by JAMB followed the reversal of the mandatory 18-year age benchmark previously introduced by former Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman. The return to the 16-year benchmark has been widely supported by stakeholders across the education sector. Speaking at a recent meeting with key stakeholders—including Chief External Examiners, Chief Technical Advisors, and members of the Equal Opportunity Group—JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, reiterated that while the 16-year age requirement remains the standard, candidates under that age may be granted admission only under strict, exceptional conditions. Meanwhile, the Minister of Education has directed that by November 2025, both the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council must begin administering their objective tests via Computer-Based Testing. According to Alausa, by the May/June 2026 examination season, both the objective and essay components of WAEC and NECO exams are expected to be fully transitioned to CBT—a move aimed at further curbing examination malpractice. credit: MIKE-MEDIA

Late Gospel Singer, Osinachi’s Husband Sentenced to death by Hanging Late gospel singer, Osinachi’s husband sentenced to de@th by hanging Justice Nwosu-Iheme of a FCT High Court Wuse Zone 2 in Abuja today April 28, sentenced the husband of late gospel singer, Osinachi, Peter Nwachukwu, to de@th by hanging. This was after the court found Nwachukwu guilty of culpable hom!cide resulting in the de@th of the celebrated singer on April 8, 2022. While delivering his judgment, Justice Nwosu-Iheme held that the prosecution had proven the burden of proof placed on it by the law and subsequently found the defendant guilty. Nwachukwu first was arraigned on June 3, 2022, by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF), on behalf of the Federal Government, on a 23-count charge. The charge was on culpable hom!cide punishable with de@th, criminal intimidation, cruelty to children, criminal intimidation of children, spousal battery, among others. The prosecution team presented seventeen witnesses including two children of the late Osinachi, who testified as fourth and fifth prosecution witnesses, PW4 and PW5, respectively. The prosecution also tendered 25 documents as exhibits before the court. The defendant testified for the defence and further called four other witnesses and tendered four exhibits in his defence. Shortly before sentencing, the defendant, counsel, Reginald Nwali, in his allocutus pleaded with the court to be lenient in its judgment. Similarly, the prosecution counsel, Mrs Aderonke Imala, urged the court to give force to the law as stipulated. Delivering his judgment, the presiding judge thereafter sentenced Nwachukwu to de@th by hanging on Count 1, while he was sentenced to two years imprisonment each on Counts 2, 3, 8,9, 12, 13, and 18. The court sentenced the defendant to six months imprisonment on Count 10, three years imprisonment in Count 11, while he was fined the sum of N500,000 and N200,000 respectively on Counts 6 and 7 respectively.