Tim Godfrey is not your conventional gospel artist. In the 2000s, at a time when Nigerian gospel largely depicted brooding, praise-led inspiration, he was already fusing Afrobeats with messages of God and His word, joining other Afro-gospel songs you should know. “If you know me well, I’m always the one that breaks ceilings,” he tells OkayAfrica. “The one that dares to go where everybody is avoiding or afraid of. Everything about me has always been about amplifying things I believe we need for the next generation.” When he released his first Afrobeats album in 2006, it was “totally rejected,” he shares, “and people…
Author: Montage Africa
Lagos Fashion Week means a lot of things to a lot of people. Community, a fashion playground, space for discovery and to be discovered, a melting pot of the African style and culture, a space for unbridled creativity, and perhaps most importantly, one of Africa’s most important red carpets. For a decade and a half, Lagos Fashion Week, an annual multi-day fashion experience founded by Omoyemi Akerele, has confidently transformed Lagos and, by extension, Nigeria, into a formidable fashion capital. Through a large-scale runway show featuring different designers, off-site shows, masterclasses, workshops, sustainability programs, and talent development initiatives, LFW has situated itself as…
Every day, OkayAfrica shares a roundup of news we’re following but haven’t published as full articles. These short updates cover what’s happening on the continent — in culture, politics, and beyond. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has begun gathering evidence of mass killings and sexual violence following the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) capture of El Fasher, the last military stronghold in Sudan’s Darfur region. The ICC, which has investigated Darfur atrocities since 2005, said it is taking “immediate steps” to preserve evidence amid reports of summary executions and ethnic targeting. More than 70,000 people have fled the city, while nearly 200,000 remain trapped…
By Rédaction Africanews with AP The United States says it is working with both the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to secure a humanitarian truce. This follows a sharp escalation in bloodshed in the conflict after RSF fighters captured the North Darfur region’s capital, al-Fashir, following an 18-month siege. There have been widespread reports of atrocities committed against civilians and humanitarian aid workers in the city by the group. The war in Sudan started in April 2023 when tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, spreading across the…
By Rédaction Africanews There were mixed reactions in Lagos on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he’d ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria, as he stepped up his allegations that the government is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country. Trump also warned that he “will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria.” The warning came after Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier on Saturday pushed back on Trump, announcing a day earlier that he was designating the West African country “a country of particular concern”…
By Rédaction Africanews with agencies Guinea’s military leader, Mamady Doumbouya, will stand as a candidate in the country’s first presidential elections since he seized power in a coup in 2021. The general handed in his documents at the Supreme Court on Monday, the last day for submitting candidacy in the 28 December polls that are meant to restore constitutional order. Despite a promise when he seized power that he would not run, a new constitution submitted by the junta and approved in a September referendum opened the door for him to do so. The charter replaced arrangements agreed to after…
By Rédaction Africanews with AP A global hunger observatory on Monday confirmed famine conditions in the Sudanese city of al-Fashir which fell recently to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as well as in Kadugli, another besieged town in southern Sudan. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has previously only confirmed famine in camps for displaced people around the North Darfur capital, al-Fashir. Thousands of civilians are continuing to flee the city to surrounding towns including Tawila, Melit, and Tawisha following its capture. They have described their harrowing experiences under the 18-month siege. Displaced person, Habib Allah Yakoub, said…
By Africanews with AP The government in Tanzania has warned people not to share photos and videos that may cause panic as the internet slowly returns after a six-day shutdown during deadly protests that began on election day. Mobile phone users received a text message on Monday night saying that sharing images that could cause panic or demean human life would lead to “treason charges.” The messages came shortly after the internet was reconnected, when people began sharing unverified images of bodies they claimed were victims of the election protests. A social media page that had been uploading videos and…
By Rédaction Africanews with AP There are mixed emotions from experts around the world as Brazil prepares to host the 30th edition of the United Nations climate summit in the city of Belém, the gateway to the Amazon rainforest. COP30 gets underway months after two-thirds of the 195 nations that signed the Paris Climate Agreement missed a deadline to publish their new climate plans. So, when talks begin in earnest on 10 November, climate experts, world leaders, and diplomats will be hoping for fewer promises and more action. Past pledges have fallen far short, and new plans submitted by 64…
Mali’s military junta is facing one of its gravest challenges yet as jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) tightens a blockade around the capital, Bamako. The al-Qaeda-linked group, once confined to the north, has recently expanded southward, cutting off key trade routes to Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire and crippling fuel, food, and education systems. Meanwhile, the Malian military, structured for conventional warfare, is overstretched and ill-equipped for this guerrilla conflict. Analysts say that corruption, poor intelligence, and overreliance on foreign partners such as Russia’s Wagner Group have also contributed to the military’s weak response. This situation underscores a painful paradox: increased…