Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has lost her husband, Hafidh Ameir Hassan, who died on Monday while receiving treatment for a heart condition at a hospital in Zanzibar.

Ameir died at 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT) at the Emilio Mzena Memorial Hospital, according to Vice-President Deogratius Ndejembi, who announced his death.

Ndejembi said funeral arrangements were already being made in Kizimkazi, a village on Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar.

The vice-president also expressed condolences to President Hassan, Ameir’s family and friends following his death.

Kenyan President William Ruto joined those mourning Ameir, saying he received news of his death with “deep sorrow”.

“President Samia has lost a lifelong companion, her children a beloved father, and Tanzania a distinguished son,” he wrote on social media.

Ameir, an agricultural academic, largely stayed away from the public spotlight despite being married to Tanzania’s president. He became the country’s first First Gentleman after Hassan assumed office in 2021.

His appearances alongside President Hassan were uncommon, although he occasionally accompanied her at official engagements.

Ameir and Hassan married in 1978, before she began her political career, and had four children together — three sons and a daughter.

Their daughter, Wanu Hafidh Ameir, has also followed a political career and currently serves in Zanzibar’s House of Representatives in the National Assembly.

An 18-year-old landlord, Similoluwa Akande, has been arraigned before an Akungba-Akoko Magistrate’s Court in Ondo State for allegedly setting fire to a tenant’s belongings valued at N898,000.

Akande was docked on a four-count charge bordering on felony following the incident, which reportedly occurred on August 19, 2026, at Okusa in Akungba-Akoko.

According to the police prosecutor, Olasunkanmi Boboye, the defendant allegedly set ablaze property belonging to his tenant, Aseluwa Ezekiel.

The items destroyed included a bed, bed frame, clothes, carpet, gas cylinder, travelling box, shoes, curtains, rods and cash.

The prosecutor told the court that the burnt items were valued at N898,000, while some official documents were also reportedly destroyed in the fire.

Boboye said the alleged offences contravened Section 249(D) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, 2006.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.

He was not represented by legal counsel and informed the court that he had health challenges.

Presiding Magistrate Kolapo Kolawole granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500,000 and adjourned the matter until September 9, 2026, for hearing.

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), on Thursday said terrorists are using motorcycles given to Nigerians as palliatives to wreak havoc across the country.

He, however, advised the state governors and lawmakers to stop giving motorcycles as palliatives, arguing that some of the motorcycles eventually end up in the hands of terrorists to facilitate and enhance their nefarious activities.

Musa, who stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said efforts are being made to curb terrorism and the operational challenges confronting the country’s security forces.

“We try to appeal to even governors to stop giving motorcycles out as palliatives. Because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up with these terrorist

“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big capacity motorcycles; give them the small capacity ones that they won’t be able to use to run around, because that gives them leverage. They can easily enter and then disappear,” he said.

The minister also warned that motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and other palliative programmes by lawmakers could find their way back to bandits and terrorists.

“Those bikes… before you know it, they’re already back to the bandits, and that’s what they’re using. So we must stop that,” he said.

According to him, security agencies had identified illegal markets and motor parks as channels through which terrorists move arms and ammunition into areas where they operate.

“What we realise from experience is they establish illegal markets or illicit motor parks. They go to those motor parks; that’s where they move arms and ammunition into those areas,” he added.

The defence minister also called for greater involvement of local governments in tackling insecurity, saying their proximity to communities gives them an advantage in identifying criminals and preventing crime.

“We must allow our local governments to work. Failure of local government is what is aggravating what we’re dealing with, and if we want a better solution, a quick fix, our local governments must work.

“Crime and development are local. If every local government chairman is dealing with criminals within his locality, it’s easier to manage them than leaving it to the state or to the federal,” he said.

Musa said local government chairmen should hold regular security meetings and report developments in their areas.

He further urged state and local authorities to strengthen monitoring of markets, motor parks and other locations through which drugs, weapons and ammunition could be moved.

“If we’re able to make sure that we man all the markets, all the motor parks, all these areas where drugs, weapons, ammunition move, it will make it difficult for them,” he added.