Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sex Crimes Trial To Begin Monday
Jury selection is set to begin Monday in New York in the blockbuster trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who dramatically fell from grace following his incarceration on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Combs, 55, has been awaiting his day in court since last year on accusations of leading a crime ring that prosecutors say coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges, insisting that any sex acts were consensual. At a recent hearing, his attorney Marc Agnifilo offered a preview of his team’s defense by describing the artist’s free-wheeling “swinger” lifestyle.
The prosecution said in court it had offered Combs a plea deal — the specifics were not disclosed — but that he had rejected it.
If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.
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Over the decades, the artist — who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P Diddy — amassed vast wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry.
The jury selection start date is notably the first Monday in May — which annually marks New York’s Met Gala, a glittering celebrity charity bash where Combs was once a red carpet mainstay.
Just two years ago, he posed for the cameras at that event uptown — but on Monday, he will be in downtown in federal court, as the panel of citizens tasked with determining his fate face a barrage of questions from lawyers on both sides.
Jury selection is expected to wrap up in about a week, with opening statements tentatively scheduled for May 12.Combs was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times.
He is being held at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.
High-profile inmates there have included disgraced R&B star R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud.
During pre-trial hearings, Combs has appeared in court looking remarkably aged, his once jet-black, styled coif now overgrown and gray.
‘Freak-offs’
Central to the case is Combs’s relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.
A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was aired by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.
Prosecutors say the encounter occurred following one of the “freak-offs” they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.
The so-called “freak-offs” were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.
It’s unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence in court — the footage’s quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams — but Judge Arun Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.
Combs has no major convictions but has long been trailed by allegations of physical assault, dating back well into the 1990s.
The floodgates against the Grammy winner opened after Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.
That 2023 suit was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims from both women and men followed — and the federal criminal indictment dropped after a raid of his luxury properties in Miami and Los Angeles.
The indictment includes a charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once seen as primarily targeting the mafia but in recent years has also been wielded frequently in cases of sexual abuse.
It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes, and requires proving “predicate acts” — the crimes elemental to the wider pattern of illegal wrongdoing.
In 2021, it was successfully used to convict R. Kelly, the fallen R&B hitmaker who was sentenced to more than 30 years of prison including for child sex crimes.
Industry watchers are also monitoring Combs’s case as a potential inflection point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood.
AFP
Entertainment
Miliki FM Marks 4th Anniversary With Callers Award
Lagos based grassroots radio station, Miliki 101.3 FM has given recognition and cash awards to the best three callers on its programmes, as the station marks it’s 4th year anniversary.
The recipients of The Best Caller Award are Mrs Oluwafunmilola Anike Salami who came first with Oluwafunmilayo Oba and Oluwafunmilayo Onafuwa Julius coming second and third respectively.
Thanking guests at the 4th anniversary reception and award presentation program held on Tuesday, at the Ojodu Abiodun, Lagos office of Miliki FM, Chief Henry Ajomale, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the station said listeners and callers around the globe have kept the Miliki dream alive since the past four years.
The Chairman who was in company with his wife, Adetoun and son, Hon. Ladi Ajomale, praised the members of staff for their dedication and transparent efforts which he posited, has ensured the station continue to maintain its King Of The Air wave status ( Oba Ori Afefe)
Also speaking at the grand event,President of Miliki Radio Fans Club, Mr Sanni Adegbenga Taofik thanked Chief Ajomale for the initiative of the broadcast station to appreciate it’s listeners with the annual award, he said has become a tradition since the station had it’s first anniversary.
Taofik said “four years ago, Miliki Radio came on air with a promise to entertain, inform and connect with the people, especially at the grassroots and to preserve the Yoruba heritage by promoting its culture. Today, that promise has become a Movement”
He said as Fans, “we can boldly say that Miliki Radio is not just a station on the dial. It is a family.
“Your programs, your music, your news and your community engagement have made Miliki Radio 101.3fm not only the heartbeat of Lagos and Ogun States being your domiciled environment, but the world at large as I can testify many listen to Miliki via the internet”
Otunba Jide Oni, the Chairman, Isolo LCDA, Otunba Adebayo Olasoju and the Chairman, Ejigbo LCDA Hon. Monsuru Oloyede were some of the other dignitaries who graced the colourful event.
Entertainment
PICTURES: Miliki FM Marks 4th Anniversary With Callers Award
Lagos based grassroots radio station, Miliki 101.3 FM has given recognition and cash awards to the best three callers on its programmes, as the station marks it’s 4th year anniversary.
The recipients of The Best Caller Award are Mrs Oluwafunmilola Anike Salami who came first with Oluwafunmilayo Oba and Oluwafunmilayo Onafuwa Julius coming second and third respectively.

Thanking guests at the 4th anniversary reception and award presentation program held on Tuesday, at the Ojodu Abiodun, Lagos office of Miliki FM, Chief Henry Ajomale, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the station said listeners and callers around the globe have kept the Miliki dream alive since the past four years.

The Chairman who was in company with his wife, Adetoun and son, Hon. Ladi Ajomale, praised the members of staff for their dedication and transparent efforts which he posited, has ensured the station continue to maintain its King Of The Air wave status ( Oba Ori Afefe)
Also speaking at the grand event,President of Miliki Radio Fans Club, Mr Sanni Adegbenga Taofik thanked Chief Ajomale for the initiative of the broadcast station to appreciate it’s listeners with the annual award, he said has become a tradition since the station had it’s first anniversary.

Taofik said “four years ago, Miliki Radio came on air with a promise to entertain, inform and connect with the people, especially at the grassroots and to preserve the Yoruba heritage by promoting its culture. Today, that promise has become a Movement”
He said as Fans, “we can boldly say that Miliki Radio is not just a station on the dial. It is a family.

“Your programs, your music, your news and your community engagement have made Miliki Radio 101.3fm not only the heartbeat of Lagos and Ogun States being your domiciled environment, but the world at large as I can testify many listen to Miliki via the internet”

Otunba Jide Oni, the Chairman, Isolo LCDA, Otunba Adebayo Olasoju and the Chairman, Ejigbo LCDA Hon. Monsuru Oloyede were some of the other dignitaries who graced the colourful event.
Entertainment
Tears As Ogogo Is Laid To Rest
Tears and grief enveloped Ilaro, Ogun State, on Monday as veteran Nollywood actor Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogogo, was laid to rest in accordance with Islamic rites.
Family members, friends, sympathisers, fans and colleagues of the late actor gathered in his home town to pay their final respects as the burial rites were conducted.
Among those seen at the residence of the deceased were his close associates and colleagues, including Yinka Quadri, Prince Jide Kosoko and Ireti Osayemi.
An Islamic cleric also addressed those gathered at the residence, delivering a message as the burial rites progressed.
The body of the actor, wrapped in white clothing, was carried in accordance with Islamic burial rites.
Hassan died on Sunday, August 23, 2026, after a battle with cancer. His daughter, Kira, had announced his death during an Instagram Live session, while his colleague, Saidi Balogun, also confirmed the development in a social media post.
The death of the veteran actor has continued to generate reactions across the Nigerian film industry, with colleagues, fans and admirers mourning his passing.
Hassan was a prominent figure in the Yoruba-language film industry and featured in numerous Nigerian movies during his career.
As he was laid to rest in Ilaro, mourners gathered to bid farewell to the actor whose death has left family, friends, colleagues and fans grieving.
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