Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, has resorted to lobbying world leaders at the ongoing 19th G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the country to get a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Tinubu, who made the demand while delivering a speech on Tuesday, said there was an urgent need for the UN Security Council to reform its structure to ensure its continued relevance in global interventions.

The President who reiterated Nigeria’s readiness and capability to represent Africa within the United Nations, called on the G20 Leaders to champion the idea of admitting the country into the Council.

“The UN Security Council should expand its permanent and non-permanent member categories to reflect the world’s diversity and plurality. Africa deserves priority in this,” he said.

“Africa deserves priority in this process, and two permanent seats should be allocated to it with equal rights and responsibilities. Nigeria stands ready and willing to serve as a representative of Africa in this capacity.”

The President noted that the G20 nhbow wears a toga of a forward-looking international institution that upholds reform-minded multilateralism and specially commended the decision by the G20 to grant permanent membership to the African Union and for its consistency in sustaining the tradition of inviting guest countries to join the group.

President of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Saboi Imboela, has been fined K25,000 after being convicted on two counts of libel against one of President Hakainde Hichilema’s aides, Clayson Hamasaka, who is the State House Communications Specialist.

Zambia Monitor reports that Lusaka Magistrate, Sylvia Munyinya, who delivered the verdict, ruled that the defamatory statements made by Imboela on Facebook and other social media platforms were both unlawful and damaging to Hamasaka’s reputation.

The NDC leader was accused of publishing defamatory remarks on her Facebook page, “SABOI IMBOELA-SI,” on September 9, 2022.

The posts, which reached approximately 170,000 people, accused Hamasaka of misconduct and infidelity.

One post claimed that Hamasaka’s farm was being developed by Chinese interests and accused him of exploiting women seeking employment in the ruling UPND, while another post alleged that Hamasaka’s marriage was on the brink of collapse due to infidelity.

Magistrate Munyinya ruled that the posts were accessible worldwide and capable of lowering Hamasaka’s reputation and found that the statements lacked evidence and were not substantiated by any truth.

The Magistrate emphasized that, as the owner of the Facebook page, Imboela was responsible for the content posted on her platform.

In her defense, Imboela’s lawyer, State Counsel Sakwiba Sikota, requested leniency, pointing to her extensive community service and personal circumstances.

Sikota pleaded that Imboela is a single mother caring for three dependents and her 72-year-old mother who was also involved in charitable work, including running a trust school in Shantumbu and providing support to women in prisons.

Sikota argued that the posts were a retaliatory response to sustained online attacks against Imboela and urged the court to consider a non-custodial sentence, citing the overcrowding in Zambia’s prisons.

Magistrate Munyinya acknowledged Imboela’s mitigating factors, including her status as a first-time offender but however maintained that the defamatory posts had caused significant harm.

As a result, the Magistrate sentenced Imboela to pay a K25,000 fine for each count of libel, with the fine being non-cumulative and payable by November 25, 2024.

Failure to pay the fine would result in nine months of simple imprisonment.