For 18 years, Angela Shellis ‘fought tirelessly’ for her son Tristan.
But the ‘unbreakable’ love she felt for her deeply troubled younger boy – as well as his successful university undergraduate elder brother – was to be betrayed in the cruellest manner imaginable.
Diagnosed with autism and ADHD, Tristan Roberts spent hours a day in a toxic online world where he could give vent to his most depraved fantasies.
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Nepal’s rapper-turned politician Balendra Shah was sworn into the country’s most powerful office on Friday, a month after he swept the general elections on promises of creating jobs and restoring political stability.
Shah, 35, is now the youngest person to be prime minister of the Himalayan nation in decades, and the first to be prime minister from the Madhesi community — an Indigenous community with strong cultural and linguistic similarities to its neighbor India.
“I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution… and fulfil my duty as the prime minister,” Shah said, dressed all in black and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses.
President Ram Chandra Poudel administered the oath at 12:34 p.m. local time — the 1-2-3-4 pattern is deemed auspicious by Hindu priests. With an 80% Hindu population, astrology and numerology is deeply entrenched in Nepal’s culture.
In another first, the ceremony was held in a Vedic–Sanatan tradition, according to local media. It featured conch blowing from seven conches, recitations by 108 Batuks (Young Hindu priests) and chants by 108 Buddhist monks.
Crowds cheered and chanted his name after the ceremony. He then went on to announce his Cabinet followed by their swearing-in ceremonies.
Better known as Balen, Shah was a structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming the mayor of Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu.
He emerged as a prominent voice during the violent youth-led uprising in September, that, frustrated over corruption, chronic instability and lack of economic growth, threw out the old political guard.
Shah attained the post after his party won the first democratic election since deadly protests. His Rastriya Swatantrata Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament.
A day before his oath ceremony, Shah released a rap song on social media. “The strength of unity is my national power,” he sang in the song, which has gathered millions of views.
“My heart is full of courage, my red blood is boiling; my brothers stand with me, this time we will rise,” the song said.
“The first test of the new government lies in transparent and prompt delivery of services to people, who expect early signs of good governance from Sunday itself,” political analyst Puranjan Acharya said.
Sunday is a working day in Nepal.
Credit: DV
An amputee survivor of one of Britain’s worst air tragedies has recalled the moment she ‘knew we were definitely going to crash’ before 47 people died in the tragedy.
The British Midland Boeing 737 smashed into an M1 embankment in the Kegworth air disaster in Leicestershire following engine trouble on the night of January 8, 1989.
Alice O’Hagan, a mother-of-five from County Antrim, was among the passengers on board who became trapped between broken seats thrown forward on impact.
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It was the final act in a grotesque spectacle of self-pity – one I had the profound displeasure of witnessing first-hand.
The wicked stepmother who tortured and murdered six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes would not even show her face to hear her fate.
Not for the judge. Not for the jury. And certainly not for the little boy whose life she so cruelly extinguished.
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What began as a routine hospital visit for a pregnant mother in Kano ended in unimaginable tragedy—leaving behind five newborns, nine other children, and a grieving husband now facing the burden of raising a family of 14 alone.
For Salisu Nufi’u, a tricycle rider from Nasarawa Local Government Area, the events of that week remain a blur of shock, hope, and devastating loss.
His wife, Hafsatu Yusuf, had been weeks away from her expected delivery date when she complained of discomfort. What seemed like a minor concern quickly escalated into premature labour—triggering a chain of events neither of them could have anticipated.
From Expecting Triplets to Delivering Five Babies
At the hospital, Nufi’u said he was still operating on the assumption that his wife was expecting triplets—the number previously indicated by medical scans. On his way, he had even purchased baby supplies for three children.
But reality unfolded differently.
While he stepped out to procure medications and blood as requested by doctors, a call came in: his wife had delivered three babies—and two more were on the way.
“I thought there was a mistake,” he recalled. “The scan showed three. I couldn’t believe it.”
It was only upon returning to the ward that the truth became undeniable. Hafsatu had given birth to quintuplets—three boys and two girls—an extraordinarily rare occurrence.
For a brief moment, relief replaced fear. Both mother and babies were alive.
A Warning That Would Become Final Words
Shortly after the delivery, Nufi’u said he spoke with his wife. She was conscious, calm—even relieved.
But then, her tone shifted.
“She told me, ‘I may not survive this. Please take care of our children. Make sure they go to school,’” he recounted.
He dismissed her fears, urging her to stay hopeful. But she repeated the words—quietly, insistently—as if she already knew what was coming.
A Battle Against Time—and Blood Loss
Soon after, complications set in.
Hafsatu began to bleed heavily. What initially seemed routine quickly became life-threatening. Doctors and nurses worked frantically, administering blood transfusions and emergency care.
“They tried their best,” Nufi’u said. “I saw how hard they were working. But the bleeding did not stop.”
For hours, hope and fear collided. He prayed, clinging to the belief that she would survive.
By early Thursday morning, that hope was shattered.
“That Moment Destroyed Me”
At about 1 a.m., Nufi’u received an urgent call from the hospital. He rushed there with relatives, already sensing the worst.
“They told me she had passed away,” he said. “That moment destroyed me completely. It felt like the world had stopped.”
Seeing her lifeless body was unbearable. Her final words echoed in his mind.
A Father of 14—And an Uncertain Future
Before the pregnancy, the couple already had 10 children, though one had died in the past. With the arrival of the quintuplets, Nufi’u is now responsible for 14 children—many of them newborns requiring intensive care.
The scale of the responsibility is overwhelming.
“I am just a tricycle rider,” he said. “I work day and night to feed my family. Now I have 14 children to take care of.”
His greatest concern is not just survival—but the future.
“Feeding them, taking care of their health, and especially their education—that is what worries me the most.”
A Plea for Help—and a Promise to Keep
Haunted by his wife’s final request, Nufi’u says he is determined to honour her wish: to raise their children and ensure they receive an education.
But he admits he cannot do it alone.
“I am begging for help,” he said. “I am not asking for luxury. I am asking for survival for these children.”
His appeal is directed at government authorities, organisations, and compassionate individuals—anyone who can help him shoulder a burden that now feels impossibly heavy.
As he grieves, he says one thing remains constant.
“Every time I close my eyes, I hear her voice,” he said. “I just pray God gives me the strength to fulfil her wish.”
Fresh facts have emerged on how three teenagers allegedly attempted to blow up parts of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital with explosives concealed inside a food flask before they were intercepted by security personnel at the entrance of the facility.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the suspected suicide bombers had targeted the main hospital building to inflict what could have been one of the most devastating attacks in recent times on patients and visitors.
However, the assailants were denied entry, leading to explosions at the entrance of the hospital on March 16.
No fewer than 23 persons were killed, while 108 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in the attacks.
One of the hospital security personnel, Ali Musa, described the attackers as teenagers who attempted to bypass security protocol in a bid to carry the explosives into the hospital.
According to him, the “dirty-looking teenagers” arrived at the hospital entrance in a tricycle, popularly known as Keke Napep, carrying a food flask like relatives bringing meals to patients.
He added, “We had heard about the bomb blast at the post office and immediately tightened security at our post. We were two on duty at the time, while others had gone to break their fast.
Musa said after a while, the suspects drove in at speed, attempting to breach the entrance protocol.
“They were three in number—two boys and one rider of the tricycle. I think they were around 13 or 14 years old. They looked very unkempt. I suspected something was wrong with the way they drove in.
“Normally, when people approach, they are expected to slow down for security checks. But when the attackers came, they drove in at full speed. That signalled that something was wrong with the tricycle. So, I stopped them and asked them to go back. They initially objected but later reversed. They were staring at me with a terrifying look,” he added.
Ali disclosed that one of the suspects threw the food flask at him while reversing the tricycle.
“They were reversing the tricycle and, while doing that, one of them holding the flask threw it at me. I kicked the flask back, and it fell. I then heard a loud explosion and immediately lay flat on the ground. The impact affected my hand.
“After the blast, I tried to rush to where my colleague was standing to check on her, but I met her with a broken leg. I also saw an Almajiri boy lying on the ground.
“After I dragged the lady away, another bomb exploded not too far from that spot, so I jumped into a flower garden. Both my legs were affected,” he added.
A shop owner around the hospital area, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, confirmed Musa’s account.
“They (the suspected suicide bombers) wanted to blow up parts of the hospital,” she said.
As of the time of filing this report, there was no separate data on the number of casualties from the hospital blast alone.
Meanwhile, PUNCH correspondent gathered that the Monday Market bomb blast, which occurred around 7:05 pm on the same day, may have been carried out by another suicide bomber using an explosive vest.
Eyewitnesses said one of the victims was burnt almost beyond recognition in the attack.
An eyewitness, a sales representative in one of the shops outside the Monday Market, who identified herself simply as Fati, described the experience as terrifying.
“That night was terrifying. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I couldn’t get close to the scene because I rushed home immediately I heard the explosion. But I later heard that they found a boy whose body was completely destroyed. The impact on that boy was worse than on others, so they suspected he was the bomb carrier,” she said.
Following the bomb blasts, which drew widespread attention, President Bola Tinubu directed service chiefs to relocate to the state due to the rising attacks.
Following the directive, the Chief of Defence Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Waidi Shaibu, arrived in Maiduguri, the state capital, on the morning of Wednesday, March 18.
A shop owner who received an anonymous apology and £100 in cash for a theft which took place 15 years ago has said he would “love to find out who it is”.
The letter was sent to Exotica Foods, an international supermarket in Swansea, by someone who said they had stolen a sign from the store as a student.
In the note, the sender said they and another student had taken a temporary PVC banner from outside the shop after “a night of drinking”.
The shop’s owner Imran Ashraf said: “I’d love to find out who it is, it would be quite funny.”
The sender’s identity remains unknown however the letter was postmarked in west Yorkshire.
The letter said: “Some 15 years ago as a student, following a night of drinking, I and another came across a temporary PVC banner hanging from your shop. For some reason we thought it would be funny to bring this home with us.
“As an older man, I now see that what seemed funny to us at the time, likely caused your shop some inconvenience. I would like to offer my apology and hope you will accept this compensation.”
The envelope contained £100 in £20 notes, and was signed: “A former foolish student.”
Ashraf said: “When I read it, it made me laugh. It’s not the kind of thing you see, not the kind of thing that happens usually.”
He said the stolen sign was being used temporarily for a year while they saved thousands for a permanent sign.
“We thought someone thought that’s temporary, enough of this thing now,” Ashraf said.
“Obviously we were ticked off when it got taken.
“But it was properly secured up there with these ties, it was massive and heavy.
“So how they took it down and got it home, it’s like fair play.”
The £100 he received goes “nowhere near the cost of it”, he said, adding the temporary sign cost about £1,200 before the cost of putting it up.
He said on Facebook that the money would “hopefully go towards a custom gazebo for outside the shop so we can start doing some cooking videos this summer”.
Locals praised the sender for making amends, with one writing: “A lovely, kind gesture to make up for foolish actions from years ago.”
Another added: “We’ve all done silly things at some point, well done to the foolish student.”
Credit: BBC
Veteran Nollywood actress, Ireti Doyle, has for the first time spoken publicly about her divorce from her ex-husband, Patrick Doyle, revealing in a recent interview with TV host Morayo Brown why she chose to keep the matter private.
The actress said ending the marriage was painful and emphasised that the public did not need an explanation.
“First of all, you didn’t hear anything because it is none of your business. Two people come together to get married, there’s a celebration. Sadly, unfortunately, something went wrong and you could no longer continue the life journey together.
“The only people you owe explanation to, at all, are those family and friends that gathered on day one. You see this larger audience that you are performing for, they do not care.
“God forbid, because I will never knowingly give myself up as clickbait. The end of any relationship, talkless of long-term marriage, is painful,” she said.
Ireti had announced her divorce in January 2023, years after the couple had separated, without sharing details.
Despite the split, both have maintained a professional relationship on screen. Speaking on The Morayo Show, she said her decision to remain silent was intentional and offered advice to women navigating divorce.
“Why are you bleeding all over the internet, madam? And I’m talking to my sisters. You’re not going to win. So, who are you explaining your matter to? You spend, you know, the end of a relationship, any relationship, talk less of a long-term marriage, is painful,” she said.
The 58-year-old actress described the emotional toll of divorce as deeply personal, involving reflection and learning. “Whatever the circumstances, not apportioning blame, it is painful. One of the things you do is second-guess yourself; you second-guess your judgment.
“Did I do right? Am I making the right decisions? You need to spend all that energy to sit down, go deep within, understand what went wrong for the sole purpose of not making the same mistakes again,” Ireti added.
She concluded by advising individuals experiencing similar situations to focus on personal growth and future aspirations rather than seeking public validation.
The Enugu State Government and the United Kingdom, through its United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNiAF) have successfully carried out a pilot programme introducing an AI-enabled smart metering system to curtail energy theft and eliminate revenue losses in the power sector.
This was made known at the Enugu State Investor Forum themed “Driving Revenue Assurance and Private Investment through Data-Driven Metering,” which took place at the International Conference Centre, Enugu, on Tuesday.
The programme funded by the UK International Development and implemented by Tetra Tech, brought together key sector stakeholders, including electricity distribution companies, investors, and policymakers, to explore opportunities for expanding smart metering and improving electricity access in Enugu State.
It also focused on strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to deliver sustainable and climate-smart infrastructure, with Enugu State as a key beneficiary.
Speaking at the event, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr Chijioke Okonkwo, said the project was designed to address persistent challenges of revenue leakages, energy theft, and poor billing efficiency in the power sector.
He disclosed that a pilot scheme involving the deployment of 846 smart meters had already been carried out in the Ugwuaji axis of the state capital, covering surrounding semi-urban communities.
According to Mr Okonkwo, the technology enables full tracking of electricity consumption from transformers to individual households.
“This system allows us to drastically reduce, if not eliminate, commercial and collection losses, which have long hindered the growth of the power sector,” he said.
He explained that the AI-enabled meters provide real-time data on energy usage, empower consumers to monitor their consumption, and help operators quickly detect faults or irregularities, including theft and equipment vandalism.
The regulator noted that the initiative also opens opportunities for private investors and energy retail companies to participate in Enugu’s electricity market, particularly in underserved areas.
“We are inviting investors to take advantage of this opportunity by deploying smart meters, expanding distribution networks, and even establishing embedded power generation within the state,” he added.
He said current market prices for meters stand at approximately N130,000 for single-phase units and about N230,000 for three-phase units, adding that flexible payment structures could be arranged to ease adoption.
Also speaking, Team Leader of UKNiAF, Mr Frank Edozie, described the project as a “demonstrator” of how artificial intelligence could enhance transparency and accountability in electricity revenue collection.
“The system ensures that all revenues due to the sector are properly collected and accounted for. It also detects any breach in energy or financial flows, making it a strong revenue assurance mechanism,” Edozie said.
He observed that Enugu was selected for the pilot due to its leading role in implementing reforms under Nigeria’s Electricity Act 2023, which empowers states to develop independent electricity markets.
According to him, the pilot project, which commenced in November 2025, had already shown encouraging results, including significant improvements in revenue recovery and reduction in losses.
In his remarks, Managing Director of MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, Ernest Mupwaya, said the initiative addresses two critical issues in the power sector—metering gaps and revenue protection.
He emphasised that without efficient metering and strong revenue assurance systems, investments in the power sector would remain unattractive and unsustainable.
“Smart metering, combined with advanced monitoring systems gives utilities visibility across their networks, making it easier to detect losses and improve operational efficiency,” he said.
Mr Mupwaya added that the project has demonstrated the viability of attracting private financing into metering infrastructure, noting that improved revenue collection would enable operators to repay investments over time.
Earlier, Enugu State Commissioner for Trade, Investment and Industry, Sam Ogbu-Nwobodo, said the state was selected for the initiative due to ongoing reforms and progress in its electricity market.
He explained that the successful pilot had shown that smart metering could guarantee revenue assurance across the electricity value chain—from generation to distribution—thereby boosting investor confidence.
“The system assures investors that they will recover their investments, which is critical for attracting funding into power generation, transmission, and distribution,” he said.
NasirR El-Rufai and Abubakar Malami are suddenly the objects of public pity in some corners of Nigeria’s political commentariat. Yes, my default ideological temperament is to empathise with and fight for the underdog. But El-Rufai and Malami are no underdogs. They are merely (temporarily) subdued top dogs whose canine viciousness is only momentarily at bay but will recrudesce should they get back in the saddle of power and influence.
Their defenders, some of whom have urged me to intervene on their behalf in line with my record of defending the oppressed, say they are victims of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s selective justice. I don’t dispute that. Since not even a single manifestly and self-evidently corrupt, Tinubu-supporting APC member is being tried for corruption, it’s entirely reasonable to assume that had El-Rufai and Malami chosen to remain in the APC, they would have been shielded from any legal consequences for their well-documented abuse of power.
Nonetheless, their immediate past history of similar selectivity and invidiousness against opponents and underdogs strips them of consideration for compassion, at least from me. El-Rufai and Malami were no apostles of compassion and due process.
They are now learning, from the wrong end of the stick, what they normalised, defended and inflicted on others when they predominated over the political landscape.
Of course, I don’t expect the folks in the ADC, in whose flock El-Rufai and Malami now fly, to mirror my position. Still, the morally serious response to this moment cannot be to pretend that what is happening to them descended from a moral vacuum.
Even the rhetoric of their defenders is revealing. The ADC has not said El-Rufai and Malami had spotless public records. It has instead said, correctly, that justice should not be selective. Fair enough. But selective justice is precisely the moral and political ecology in which both men flourished luxuriantly just a few years ago. What their defenders demand for them today is what they often denied others yesterday.
Take El-Rufai first. As FCT minister, he earned well-deserved notoriety for cruel, unjust Abuja demolitions and forced evictions on a scale that human rights groups found unacceptably staggering. That is why he is known as “Mai Rusau”, which means the demolisher, among Hausa-phone northern Nigerians. It is similar to his English moniker, “Mr. Demolition”.
On May 15, 2008, for instance, Reuters reported that nearly one million residents had been evicted from their homes in Abuja between 2003 and 2007 as part of the restoration of the city’s so-called master plan. It noted that El-Rufai said he had “no apology” for the demolitions.
You may support urban planning enforcement if you like, but the ruthlessness and human cost of those actions were early glimpses of the governing philosophy that made El-Rufai who he is: power first and only, compassion be damned.
His years as Kaduna governor made the pattern more nakedly political. I have written copiously on this and won’t repeat what I have written. Suffice it to say that he hunted and hounded opponents, including powerless people whose only strength derived from their ability to raise their voices against his tyranny, with a ruthlessness that has no parallel in the history of Kaduna State.
On September 23, 2017, I wrote of “El-Rufai’s Morbid Fixation with Death of His Political Opponents”, among other articles I’ve written of his well-known predilection for unleashing and celebrating murderous violence against people who disagree with him politically, leading me to call him “an intolerant psychopath with homicidal impulses”. That is not the biography of a man whose hands are clean in the politics of intimidation.
Malami’s case is, if anything, even harder to sentimentalise because his most infamous offenses against the rule of law were not hidden in bureaucratic shadows. He defended them openly. On July 26, 2019, TheCable reported him saying he disobeyed some court orders in order to protect “public interest”.
On July 27, 2019, Punch reported that the federal government’s refusal to obey court orders granting bail to Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and Sambo Dasuki was tied to the same twisted Malamian doctrine of “public-interest” judicial selectivity. It is difficult to overstate how corrosive that doctrine was. Once an attorney-general publicly teaches the state that court orders are optional whenever power invokes “public interest”, he licenses impunity from the highest legal office in the land.
In other words, Malami was not some helpless bystander to executive lawlessness. He was one of its clearest doctrinal salesmen.
The same habit persisted into later controversies. On October 13, 2022, Premium Times reported that after the Court of Appeal ordered Nnamdi Kanu’s release, the federal government, on Malami’s watch, said it would not release him.
And on December 6, 2019, Reuters reported that Omoyele Sowore was re-arrested by DSS operatives hours after being freed on bail. Malami said on Dember 17, 2019, that he couldn’t ask the DSS to release Sowore even when the courts said he should. In a delightful twist of fate, Sowore revealed in late February this year that Malami had reached out to him and his lawyer “to facilitate his bail from Kuje Prison”.
When people who applauded, excused, or ignored these episodes of lawlessness or selective application of due process that Malami was notorious for ask that he be extended the treatment he denied others, they are simply announcing that procedural abuse is intolerable only when it touches their faction.
This is why the current moral positioning of some defenders of El-Rufai and Malami is so suspect. They are not wrong to insist that prosecutions should be transparent, lawful and non-selective. I endorse that entirely.
But they are wrong to imply that these two men symbolise injured innocence. They do not. They symbolise the instability of factional privilege in a system where the law often trails power like a servant. Their real tragedy is not that they are being treated in ways that are unimaginable in Nigeria. Their tragedy is that they are being treated in ways that are utterly familiar in Nigeria, except that they are no longer on the dispensing end of the familiar cruelty.
There is no denying that Nigerian anti-corruption energy often softens toward the politically useful and hardens toward the politically estranged. That impression is precisely what gives oxygen to the complaints of El-Rufai’s and Malami’s sympathisers. But it still does not make the two men martyrs.
So, yes, El-Rufai and Malami are experiencing the perils of not aligning with the people in power. That is plainly part of the story. But it is not the whole story, and it is certainly not the most morally interesting part of it.
The most morally poignant part is the selective memory of their defenders, who want Nigerians to look at today’s suffering and forget yesterday’s abuses. They want us to respond to current persecution without recalling prior persecution. They want sympathy severed from memory. That is too high a price.
My own view is simple. They deserve due process because everyone does. But they deserve no canonisation, because neither has earned it. And if tomorrow either man returns to the commanding heights of power, nothing in his public record suggests he would become a born-again democrat who suddenly discovers the sanctity of restraint and the merit of tolerance.
Their current misfortune is therefore both political and karmic. It is political because it arises from loss of proximity to power. It is karmic because it is being visited on men who had helped normalise the very abuse whose sting they now feel. So, I will reserve my tears for worthier people.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
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