CEO of AQ-Hanson Foundation breaking the grounds to symbolize the comments of construction
AQ-Hansaon Care Foundation is ready to build an ultra-modern Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Elmina Government Hospital to provide specialised care for newborns, premature or sick babies.
When completed, the facility would help reduce infant mortality rates and ensure healthy starts of vulnerable babies in the hospital’s catchment areas and the municipality as a whole.
Speaking at a short groundbreaking ceremony held at the forecourt of the hospital, the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Aquinas Hanson Junior, disclosed that the official ceremony to commence the construction of the facility meant “a promise kept”.
He explained that “When we founded the AQ-HANSON CARE Foundation, we did so with a singular mission of empowering lives and transforming tomorrow”.
According to him, the above stated mission “has been our guiding principle and it is our firm resolve that this project will transform the tomorrow of many unborn babies with specialised care.”
The CEO of the Elmina based Foundation noted that there was no one more vulnerable, yet full of potential, than a newborn baby fighting for its first breath.
Notwithstanding this, he noted that “For too long, families in this historic town have faced the anxiety of traveling long distances to access specialised care for their newborns. Time matters when a baby is born prematurely or with complications.”
In view of this, Mr Hanson emphasised that his Foundation’s decision to construct a state-of-the-art NICU with modern incubators, ventilators and phototherapy units was meant to address the existing gap.
He further assured the management of the hospital that “we are not just providing bricks and mortar. We are partnering with you to build a legacy of health to transform lives and bring comfort to parents and babies.”
The medical superintendent of the Elmina Government Hospital, Dr John Asare Dadzie Mensah, on behalf the management expressed appreciation to AQ-Hanson Foundation and its CEO for their support.
He explained that upon completion, the NICU would enable the hospital to provide around-the-clock care for newborns with breathing problems, infections or birth complications.
He pledged the hospital’s readiness to welcome the Foundation as a strategic partner in their (management) quest to provide proper health care service to the people of KEEA and beyond.
The AQ-Hanson Care Foundation, which is based in Elmina, is fully committed to empowering lives, aiding the vulnerable and others.
Ten people, including two healthcare workers, have died from Lassa fever complications in Benue state.
The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Peter Ogwuche, disclosed this during a press briefing in Makurdi, while speaking on the containment measures.
He said the state had recorded 52 confirmed cases out of the 315 suspected cases reported.
According to him, 14 patients of the 52 cases are healthcare workers, out of which six are medical doctors.
“Since the Lassa Fever outbreak, 10 mortalities have been recorded from the 52 confirmed cases, while 315 suspected cases were reported,” Ogwuche said.
“The high number of health workers infected with Lassa fever leaves room for improvement, as 14 medical personnel have been infected.
“Six of the health workers infected are medical doctors, one pharmacist, four nurses, two health extension workers, and a potter. A surveillance team has been deployed to all 23 local government areas, but Makurdi, Guma, Buruku, and Okpokwu, which have active cases, are being closely monitored,” he added.
Earlier, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NSDC) reiterated its plans to reduce the incidence of Lassa fever to an appreciable level within the next 10 years.
NCDC Director-General, Jide Idris, said that vaccine development for Lassa fever takes time.
“We would reduce the incidence of Lassa fever to an appreciable level in the next 10 years. I said that because developing a vaccine for Lassa fever takes a long time,” he said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on February 23.
Noting that the death rate remains high and that efforts are underway to bring it down to less than 10 per cent, Idris said a group of experts was working on vaccine development in collaboration with colleagues and stakeholders from parts of Africa and outside the continent.
A video circulating online has captured a tense moment during the screening of commissioner nominees submitted by Governor Siminalayi Fubara to the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The footage seen by our correspondent shows the Speaker of the Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, questioning one of the nominees, Charity Deemua, over the status of her tax clearance certificate.
During the screening session, Amaewhule pointed out that the nominee’s tax clearance appeared outdated.
“I just wanted to know, so there’s no current tax clearance. Madam has not been paying tax since 2018. I just wanted to know if she’s been exempted from paying taxes. So let her tell us now,” the Speaker said.
Responding, Deemua explained that she had not had a steady source of income in recent years.
“Like I said before, I’m a politician, I don’t have work,” she stated.
When asked to clarify her employment history, Deemua told the lawmakers that she had previously served briefly in government.
“I was a member, a commissioner in the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission,” she said.
Amaewhule then pressed further about her role in a local government caretaker committee.
“When were you? Hold on… local government caretaker committee member, right?” the Speaker asked.
“I was just three months there,” Deemua replied.
“When? When was that?” Amaewhule asked.
“And I think November last year,” she responded.
“November when? What year?” the Speaker asked again.
“2025,” she answered.
The Speaker then questioned whether she earned income during that period.
“You were not paid salary? Were you not paid salary?” Amaewhule asked.
“In the caretaker committee, we were paid,” Deemua admitted.
Dangote refinery has lowered petrol and diesel prices by N100.
In the latest pricing template from the refinery, issued on March 10, 2026, the price of petrol at the gantry has been reduced by ₦100, bringing it down to ₦1,075 per litre from the earlier price of ₦1,175 per litre.
The refinery has further stated that the price of PMS for coastal supply will now be set at ₦1,050 per litre, which accounts for a minor adjustment due to maritime distribution expenses.
In a similar manner, the cost of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) has been lowered to ₦1,430 per litre at the gantry. This marks a reduction of ₦190 from the previous price of ₦1,620 per litre.
The refinery pointed out that the prices at the gantry do not include fees from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Meanwhile, oil marketers have advised Nigerians to brace up for a continued rise in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol to about ₦1500 per litre as the US-Israeli and Iran showed no sign of abating.
National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), President, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, advised Nigerians while appearing on Channels The Morning Brief on Tuesday to discuss ‘The Effect Of Global War On Fuel Prices’.
According to him, product availability currently being provided by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, even though at higher prices, was a better option than scarcity.
The Dangote Refinery is Africa’s largest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility, currently operating at 650,000 barrels per day with plans to expand to 1.4 million barrels per day.
The Dangote Refinery is situated in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria, covering approximately 6,180 acres (2,500 hectares) of land. It is designed as a single-train refinery, making it the largest of its kind globally.
President Bola Tinubu has vowed that Nigeria will not give in to people who are causing trouble and trying to break the peace in the country.
Tinubu made the vow during an Interfaith Iftar event held with religious and traditional leaders at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday evening.
He assured that Nigeria will win the fight against insecurity.
The President also said Nigeria’s economy has started to improve.
“Nigeria will never let people who cause trouble damage its peace, unity, and independence.
“We are not discouraged. We are going to win, and we will win in a strong and fair way. Yes, we are facing challenges; the terrorists are now in a desperate situation because they are losing ground.
“But I can promise you one thing: Nigeria will never give up. I am thankful for the chance to serve, and I will keep doing my job with loyalty and dedication. I can say that the economy has started to improve. It’s improving, and older people are slowly starting to feel some relief,” the President said.
The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah, has explained that the Fund invested $2 million in AI SkyTrain Consortium Holdings, a company incorporated in Mauritius, to facilitate the development of the proposed Accra Sky Train Project.
Speaking through his counsel, Victoria Barth, before the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra presided over by Her Ladyship Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, Mr. Asamoah said the investment was intended to support the establishment of Ghana Sky Train Limited, which was to undertake the rail project.
Counsel made the disclosure while cross-examining the second prosecution witness (PW2), Kofi Boakye, a former member of the GIIF governing board. According to the defence, the investment was meant to facilitate arrangements for the design, build, finance and operation of the Accra Sky Train under a concession framework.
Sky Train
Ms. Barth told the court that the GIIF held a 10 per cent equity interest in AI SkyTrain Consortium Holdings. However, the witness earlier told the court that Ghana Sky Train Limited was incorporated without the knowledge of the GIIF governing board, including its chairman, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, who is also standing trial alongside Mr. Asamoah.
During cross-examination, counsel referred the witness to Exhibit 21, the audited financial statements of GIIF for the year ended December 31, 2019, which recorded a disbursement of $2 million for the Accra Sky Train Project.
The entry indicated that the Fund had invested the amount in AI SkyTrain Consortium Holdings in Mauritius to establish Ghana Sky Train Limited to develop the project. But the witness maintained that he did not recall the board considering or approving the audited financial statements for 2019 and 2020 during his tenure.
He further stated that by December 31, 2021, the GIIF board had already been dissolved and therefore could not have approved the document referenced as Exhibit 21.
When counsel referred him to Exhibit 22, the 2020 audited financial statement which also contained the same entry on the $2 million investment, the witness reiterated his earlier position.
He insisted that the document was not considered or approved by the board on which he served, adding that if it had been reviewed by the board, the reference suggesting board approval of the Sky Train investment would not have appeared in the report.
The witness told the court that he had no opportunity to contest the contents of the documents prior to the trial, as they had never been shown to him as evidence that the board approved the project.
Dr Justice Srem-Sai , Deputy Attorney-General
Counsel further questioned whether the witness was impugning the integrity of the reconstituted GIIF board that took office after he left in January, 2021.
In response, the witness said he had not made any allegations against the reconstituted board, stressing that the exhibits in question did not relate to any decision taken by that board.
He also rejected suggestions that he was questioning the integrity of the independent auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Boateng and Offei, who audited the 2019 and 2020 financial statements. According to him, the auditors worked with documents submitted by management and therefore could have relied on information that was not formally approved by the board.
He maintained that the GIIF board never authorised the chairman and the CEO to append their signatures to the audited report, and insisted that the question of approval could only be determined by examining the minutes of the board meeting held on October 24, 2018.
Counsel also drew the witness’s attention to Exhibit 29, an email thread from the CEO to members of the audit committee and board dated January 2019, which included attachments relating to the 2019 budget estimates.
In the document, a table projected a $2 million disbursement as development equity for the Sky Train project by February 2019.
The witness acknowledged that the projection appeared in the document but maintained that budget projections did not constitute board approval. He explained that the figures represented intended activities that were subject to final board approval following due diligence.
When it was put to him that he had not been truthful regarding the board’s approval of the Sky Train project, the witness rejected the suggestion.“I have answered all questions truthfully,” he told the court, adding that the matters in dispute were already captured in the board minutes before the court.
He further maintained that final approvals by the board were always subject to due diligence, insisting that the board never granted approval for the Sky Train project. The case was adjourned to March 11, 2026 for continuation of proceedings.
Continuation of cross-examination of PW2
Q. Kindly show the witness Exhibit 29. It is an email from A1 to the Audit Committee members of the GIIF dated Jan 25 2029. Is that not so?
A. That is correct my lady.
Q. You are listed as one of the recipient of the email. Are you not?
A. That is correct.
Q. You will agree with me that as of 25th January 2019, you were a member of the Audit Committee of GIIF board. Were you not?
A. No, I was not. I was a member of the Investment and Finance, and the Legal and Human Resource Committee.
Q. Did you respond to Exhibit 29 to indicate that you had been added to the members of the Audit Committee by mistake?
A. No. I believe I was added to the list because at that material time I was still serving as secretary to the committees of the board including the Audit Committee.
Q. You were not copied in your capacity as secretary to the Audit Committee, were you?
A. Yes, my Lady. The email was sent to myself with two other members of the board. The only person copied on the email was the chairman of the board. My inclusion among the list was simply because I was weaving as the secretary to the board.
At one of the court’s sitting, I was asked to produce the minutes of March 2019, I believe that lends credence to the fact that this email was sent to me because I was the secretary to the board. To the best of my recollection, Nana Afua Ababio who was also a recipient of this email was not a member of the Audit Committee.
Q. Do you see any response from Nana Afua Ababio that Exhibit 29 was sent to her in error?
A. No she did not.
Q. When did you find out that $2 million was disbursed in furtherance of the Sky Train Project?
A. I cannot recollect the exact date.
Q. You found out before you were invited by the NIB for investigations regarding the Sky Train Project in March 2025?
A. I got to know that the monies had been paid before I was invited to the office of the NIB.
Q. Would this have been in the year 2025 of before that?
A. The exact period I cannot recollect. But what I do remember as I told the court earlier on was when the management of GIIF appeared before the Public Accounts Committee and the matter about the payment of the $2 million was deliberated upon by the Committee.
That was when I informed the secretary of GIIF that the board never gave such approval to the Sky Train Project and the board never gave its approval to the payment of the sum of $2 million.
Q. At the time you have this information to Ms. Harriet Aban you had exited the GIIF board. Is that so?
A. That is correct.
Q. In which year did you leave the GIIF board?
A. January 2021. We had a meeting in January 2021.
Q. Please give the witness Exhibits 21 and 22. Have a look at Exhibit 21 and confirm that you are listed as a member governing board of GIIF on page 1?
A. Yes on page 1 of Exhibit 21, I am listed as one of the members of the governing board of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund. And if I may add, at page 2 of this same exhibit, the court would find that I am listed as a member of the Investment and Finance Committee. My name however is not listed as member of the Audit Committee.
One also does not find my name as member of the Human Resource and Legal Committee although I was a member of the Human Resource and Legal Committees.
Q. You are aware that there was a practice on the GIIF board where members of committees were rotated to other committees of the board from time to time. Are you not?
A. No please. What happened was that the chairs of the committees were changed. In the case of the Investment and Finance Committee after a couple of years, Kodua Fokuo was replaced by Nana Afua Ababio while Ms. Yvonne Sowah, then chair of the Human Resources and Legal Committee. I believe swapped position with Mr. Andrew Agyekum Boateng.
Q. In your capacity as a former member of the GIIF board and acting secretary to its committees, please describe the process that the GIIF board adopted in approving of its audited financial statements?
A. To the best of my recollection, when we came into office GIIF was being audited by one of the big from audit firms in the country. At the end of their audit they would furnish the board with their audited account and I believe the audited accounts would be circulated. Sometime in the year 2019, management informed us that they had received a letter from the Auditor General informing management that a local firm had been appointed by them to audit the books of GIIF.
Considering the unique status of the institution and mindful of the desire to attract foreign investment into the fund, management was of the opinion that in order to give assurance that the books of GIIF were in accordance with international standards, it was important that the auditing should be carried out by one of the big four auditing firms.
This led to the delay in the auditing of the books of GIIF. At the end of the day the Auditor General stood his grounds and a local firm was appointed to audit the books of GIIF.
This is why one finds on Exhibit 20 dated June 1, 2020 though intended to cover the financial year ending December 31, 2021, the report of the Auditor General covered financial activities undertaken by GIIF over a period of two years ending December 31, 2020.
In other words, there was a delay in the issuance of the audited accounts for the years 2019 and 2020.
The audited accounts for the year 2019, Exhibit 21 was signed off by the auditors on 4th November 2020. However, on pages 4 and 9 of Exhibit 21, one finds that the chairman and the Chief Executive officer appended their signatures to this document on November 3, 2020. I may have to cross check the whether an approval was given by the board as one reads on page 9 that their signing was after the audited accounts had been considered and approved by the board.
Exhibit 22 a as covering the financial period ending December 31, 2020 was signed by the chairman and the CEO on May 31, 2021 at page 4 though one finds at page 8 that this report bares the date 22 June, 2021. By this date, the board had been reconstituted. And I was no more a member of the GIIF board. So, I won’t state that Exhibit 22 was not approved by the board of which I was a member.
Considering the date on Exhibit 21, I would have to confirm whether the board of which I was a member did approve audited accounts for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.
Exhibit 10 is a record of the meeting of the board of directors of the Ghana infrastructure investment fund held on 22nd day of December 2020. By this exhibit, the meeting took place after the signature date found on page 4 of Exhibit 21 which I have referred to this morning.
At page 7 of Exhibit 10, item 4.1.. as had been audited by PWC and Boateng… one does not find the consideration of the audited accounts for the year 2019 in the minutes of exhibit 10.
I may have to confirm whether the accounts of 2019 were approved by the board of that subsisting board, which I was member.
Q. Please confirm the following steps that are usually adopted by the GIIF board in approving of its audited financials from 2017 when you joined till you exit in January 2021 (according to you). I will give you the opportunity to respond on each step with one question.
First the Audit Committee of the board with the support of the CFO would present the draft audited financial statement to the entire board for discussion. Is that correct?
A. I do not recollect draft audited financial statement being submitted to the board for discussion.
Q. When you talked about the audit report being circulated to members of the board I believe you were referring to unsigned or draft version of the report. Were you not?
A. The draft audit report goes to management for their comments and it is upon receipt of their comments that the auditors finalise their report and send final audit report to the board.
Q. That final audit report comes without signatures. Does it not?
A. They should come as a signed report. To the best of my recollection.
Q. What the auditors sign is a management letter and not the draft audited financials, which are yet to be approved by the board at that stage. Is that not so?
A. We were not furnished with a management letter referred to by counsel.
Q. Are you aware that that management letter is the standard document that must if necessity be produced by any independent auditor conducting auditing of the financials of a company.
A. My Lady my answer was that we were not furnished a management letter as a board. I did not spiral about standard procedures that accompany final audit report.
Q. Yes you did not that is why I am asking you whether you are aware as a former board member of GIIF with legal training whether you are aware that a management letter is the standard document that must come with an audit of a company’s financials.
A. An audited account submitted by an audit firm is accompanied by a letter by the auditors who conducted the audit.
Q. In GIIF’s case the draft audit report as you call it has to be considered by the full board and approved before it could be signed by the CEO and Chairman of the board. Is that not so?
A. That would be the practice. But I do not recollect the board of which I was member considering and approving the audited account for the years 2019 and 2020. And as I stated earlier on, it was at our meeting of 22nd December, 202 that the Chief Financial Officer informed the board that the accounts for the year 2019 had been audited by PWC and Boateng Offei in a joint audit.
Less than a couple of months after this meeting the board was reconstituted and I ceased to be a member of the board. The CEO remained in office. The only person retained was Nana Afua Ababio.
Q. Are you aware that under the GIIF Act section 28 to be precise, board members are responsible for the preparation of financial statement prior to those stalwarts being audited?
A. The board holds a fiduciary duty to the Fund and this includes having the books of the Fund audited. And by this theorisation of financials statements.
Q. Would you be surprised to learn that your fellow board member, Yaw Odame Darkwa has confirmed to this court that the financial statements of 2020 and 2021 were duly approved by the entire GIIF board before the CEO and Chairman appended their signatures to them?
A. That would be surprising. The dates on exhibits 20, 21 and 22 speak for themselves. In addition, exhibit 10, the meeting of 22nd December, 2020 bears no such record. And to restate by the end of January 2021, the board of which I was a member had been reconstituted. Consequently, unless my memory fails me these audited accounts should have been considered by the board that replaced us.
In saying this, when we came in as a new board in 2017, we had to consider the audited accounts for the year that preceded our assumption of office.
Q. You were still on the board of GIIF on 3rd November, 2020?
A. That is correct.
Q. And you are aware that the CEO and the board chairman are only supposed to sign the audited financials of GIIF upon the GIIF board’s approval of those financials.
A. That is correct.
Q. And so the date of the GIIF board’s approval of its audited financials must either be before or on the same date that the signatures of the CEO and the Chairman are appended. Is that not so?
A. The chairman and the CEO can append their signatures to financial statement approved by the board either on the day that the board have its approval or any day after. What I drew the attention of the court to in Exhibit 21 is that one finds at page 8 the signatures of the auditors after which one finds the date 4th November, 2020.
At page 4 where one finds the signatures of the chairman and the CEO one finds that date states there to be 3rd November, 2020.
Since they were appending their signatures to a document dated 4th November, 2020 one would have expected that the date should be after the 4th of November, but not a day before this date.
Q. The difference in the date that the CEO and the board chairman on one hand appended their signatures and that of the auditors on the other hand is of no consequence whatsoever. I’m suggesting that you.
A. On the contrary I cannot by any stretch of imagination bear a date when that document had not been signed off or created by the originator of the document. The date of 4th November, 2020 found at page 8 of Exhibit 21 is part of the entire document when it left the offices of the people who authored this, that is the auditors.
Knowing that this document was going to be subjected to examination by the board at a later date one finds at page 9 of this same exhibit the following words: “these financial systems on pages 9 to 48 were approved by the governing board” followed by hand written words 3rd November and followed by the word, 2020 and signed in its behalf.”
Space was created by the auditors who authored this document for a date to be inserted to make the sentence complete. But from the reason of this document the word 3rd November were not written by the auditors. The word 3rd November were inserted by the persons who appended their signatures to this page.
And this is why I re-emphasised that the supposed approval or date of signing of this exhibit by the chairman and the CEO could not have predated the date 4th November found on page 8.
Q. Since January 2021, when you say you left the board of GIIF, did it occur to you relevant to verify the board’s approval of GIIF’s 2019 and 2020 audited financials?
A. Since I was no more a member of the board and the company has perpetual succession, I believe that the board who came into office after we had exited would have dealt with this matter in the same way that we dealt with the audited account of the years that preceded our coming into office.
Veteran actor Paa George says he has never been able to build a house in Accra despite more than five decades in the city, revealing that the early years of acting in Ghana brought little financial reward.
Veteran Ghanaian actor Paa George has disclosed that despite spending more than five decades living in Accra and over 30 years in the acting profession, he has never been able to build a house in the capital and continues to live in rented accommodation.
Speaking in an interview on Max FM, the seasoned actor explained that although his family owns a house, the property is located outside Accra. As a result, he has had to rely on rented housing since relocating to the city to pursue his acting career.
Reflecting on the early years of Ghana’s film and theatre industry, Paa George revealed that acting was not financially rewarding at the time. According to him, many performers worked mainly out of passion rather than for financial gain, as the industry only began to generate substantial income years later.
He said; “I still rent in Accra; I do not own a house here. I could not build one because there was simply no money at the time. We were doing the work out of passion. My family has a house, but it is not in Accra, so ever since I moved here I have been renting.”
The veteran actor noted that he has lived in Accra since 1963 and has remained a tenant throughout that period.
“I have lived in Accra since 1963 and I have been renting from then until now, in 2026. In the early days there was no real money in acting for those of us who started long ago. By the time the industry began to pay better, many of us already had families and responsibilities.”
He explained; He added that much of the money he earned later in life went into supporting his family, particularly funding the university education of his children.
He stated; “I had to pay university fees for my children, so the money I might have used to build a house was instead spent on their education and taking care of the family.”
The 35-year-old Florida woman who shot at Rihanna’s house recorded multiple videos calling the singer a “witch” and the “devil”.
On March 8, 2026, Police officers responded to reports of a woman wielding an assault rifle around Rihanna’s Beverly Hills mansion at 13:15 local time. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times, Police on the scene arrested a woman armed with an AR-15-style weapon.
The 35-year-old Florida woman who shot at Rihanna’s house recorded multiple videos calling the singer a “witch” and the “devil”.
On March 8, 2026, Police officers responded to reports of a woman wielding an assault rifle around Rihanna’s Beverly Hills mansion at 13:15 local time. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times, Police on the scene arrested a woman armed with an AR-15-style weapon.
In another video, she accused Rihanna of being a witch who’s stealing from people and warned people not to give her any attention. In one of the clips, Ortiz compares the singer to the devil and accuses her of not wanting her to be successful. In these videos, Ortiz, who’s a Christian, repeatedly cast and bound the popstar in the name of Jesus.
These videos now offer valuable insights into the motive of Ivanna Ortiz, who appears to have some strong beliefs that Rihanna is an evil force, which she must vanquish to attain both spiritual, economic, and psychological freedom.
Ortiz, who is being held in detention by the Los Angeles Police Department, has been booked, with her bail set at $10,225,000, following the shooting. She will likely be facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault, trespassing, and even attempted murder.
So far, Rihanna and her husband, A$AP Rocky, have yet to address the shooting at their multi-million-dollar residence where they live with their sons RZA, Riot, and daughter Rocki. This is not the first time there will be a trespass on Rihanna’s property. In 2018, a 27-year-old man identified as Eduardo Leon broke into her Hollywood Hills residence after hopping a fence. He pleaded guilty to stalking and received a 10-year stay-away order.
However, Lisette Ortiz’s invasion of her property is the most violent yet and will surely heighten security around Rihanna and her family.
Songbird Sefa has urged industry players to treat female artistes with respect, stressing that women in the music scene deserve equal support and recognition without facing sexual advances.
Speaking in an interview on Okay FM, the artiste stated that although she has not personally encountered such behaviour, she is aware that several women in the industry have faced similar experiences.
According to Sefa, when she first entered the music industry, most of the men she worked with treated her like a younger sister, which helped shield her from uncomfortable situations of that nature.
The ‘Echoke’ hitmaker, however, stressed that it would be misleading to suggest the problem does not exist, noting that a number of female artistes have openly spoken about experiencing such challenges.
She believes the situation can improve if men within the industry adopt a more respectful mindset and treat female artistes as family rather than approaching them with sexual motives.
She said; “When I entered the industry, many people treated me like a sister, so none of them attempted to make sexual advances towards me. I won’t say such things never happen because there are women in the industry who experience them. However, I believe it’s something we can manage. Not every woman you meet should be approached with sexual intentions.”
Sefa also shared her thoughts on why the Ghanaian entertainment space often appears to be dominated by men.
She explained that part of the issue stems from how presenters and media platforms tend to promote male artistes more heavily than their female counterparts.
Citing her own experience, the singer recalled the success of her hit single “Echoke”. After the song gained widespread popularity, she organised a concert at the **Ho Sports Stadium** in January 2022 and managed to fill the venue.
Despite the achievement, Sefa believes the media did not give the event the level of attention it deserved.
According to her, accomplishments by male musicians often receive greater publicity, while similar successes by female artistes frequently go underreported.
Two Pennsylvania men on Saturday followed the route taken by thousands as they crossed the George Washington Bridge into New York City. But less than an hour later, their trajectory took a dark turn as they were arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.
Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were charged Monday with providing material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction, among other charges, after they threw two improvised explosive devices, also known as IEDs, during a protest, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
“This was a planned attack motivated by extremist ideology and inspired by a violent foreign terrorist organization,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference.
The events come as the city is near the tail-end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, all while taking place outside the residence of thecity’s first Muslim mayor.
As investigators look into the two men’s ties with ISIS and their motivations, here is what we know about the situation.
