Ghanaian chef Ebenezer Smith, also known as Chef Smith, has been exposed for fraudulently claiming to have set a new Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual.

Smith had announced on social media that he had set a new record of 802 hours and 25 minutes. This surpasses the previous mark by a great amount of time. However, Alina Polianskaya, a PR executive for Guinness World Records, has firmly refuted these claims.

“It is not true that Ebenezer Smith has been awarded a Guinness World Record certificate,” Polianskaya told BBC. “The current and true record holder for the longest cooking marathon by an individual is Alan Fisher from Ireland. He achieved 119 hours, 57 minutes, and 16 seconds in Matsue, Japan, from September 28 to October 3, 2023.”

Unfortunately, this revelation comes as a blow to Smith. He has proudly displayed a fake Guinness World Record certificate on his social media channels. Deceiving his followers into believing he had achieved the prestigious accomplishment.

The previous record holders
Also, the record holder before Alan Fisher was Hilda Baci, a Nigerian chef who set the world record in 2022 with a marathon of 100 hours. Hilda Baci’s achievement inspired millions of Nigerians. Several of them have come out to attempt to break different types of Guinness World Records. This wave is popularly tagged as the “Hilda Baci effect.”

Guinness World Records has made it clear that it does not recognize Smith’s claimed record. The organisation has taken steps to address the unauthorized use of its brand and the dissemination of false information.

Furthermore, this isn’t Ebenezer Smith’s first attempt at breaking the longest cooking marathon record. He sent his first application in June and November 2023 to which he was denied. Chef Smith claimed to have received approval from the Guinness World Records in January 2024 after which he and his team began preparing for the cook-a-thon.

Chef Smith’s arrest
Following the press conference held by Chef Smith, the police arrested him and his manager. Their arrest is due to a breach of contract between the chef and main sponsor of the cookathon, Amadia Shopping Center.

One of the company’s representatives stormed the venue of the press conference to understand why the chef did not inform them of the email that he went to another venue to make the public announcement.

Chef Smith’s lawyer, Kofi Awoonor, spoke on this situation at a local TV station (TV3). He said the arrest is “in connection with some disagreement with Chef Smith’s lead sponsor for the cookathon.”

“I got a call that my client has been arrested, so I came here. But the officers said the commander is not around where the investigators are also not in the office at the time – but they will brief me on Wednesday about the full details.”

Chef Smith’s former team member, Naa Adjeley, said; “The company has pumped over GH¢ 300k for the cookathon – for equipment, foodstuff and things used for the attempt, so they are upset that the chef did not tell them anything before he went to do the press conference.”

She also added that the chef has a new manager and team who have been running things. Apparently, they sidelined all the people who were part of the team during the cookathon attempt.

“Before I left the police station Tuesday night, it was the chef and his manager who were there answering questions.”

Finally, as Chef Ebenezer Smith is facing charges with Amadia Shopping Center, people are calling upon Guinness World Records to make a public statement to confirm if Chef Smith is indeed the official record holder.

The Guardian

Mr. Ibrahim Lawan, Director of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Nangere Local Government of Yobe, is currently on suspension for diverting Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and, has confessed to committing the crime.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the state’s PHC Board has suspended Lawal for “diverting and misusing” the food supplements.

Mr. Adamu Abba, the board’s spokesman, who announced the suspension on Wednesday in Damatutu, said that a five-member committee had been set up to investigate the matter.

Lawan, while reacting to the allegations in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that he and some staffers of the PHC “actually tampered” with the therapeutic food supplements.

“Actually, I and some of my staffers have tampered with some of the therapeutic food supplements, but the quantity is not as much as they are alleging.

“The allegation was that I diverted about 120 cartons. This is not true.

“However, I take responsibility for all that happened since I was the leader at the time.

“I am appealing to the state government to tamper justice with mercy since I have cooperated and made investigation easier for them,” he said

NAN reports that the PHC board while announcing Lawan’s indefinite suspension, had named Ibrahim Disa as acting director of the PHC in Nangere.

Disa is expected to be on the saddle pending the outcome of the investigation.

The investigation committee is also expected to recommend a strategy for ensuring accountability in the distribution of supplements and other medical consumables.

NAN reports that RUTF is a packaged, highly nutritious food supplement used in treating severe and acute malnourished children.

A five-storey building owned by former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha collapsed last night along Ahmadu Bello Way in Abuja.

According to reports, the building collapsed around 9 p.m. yesterday. The incident prompted a swift response from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command.
The command was said to have immediately cordoned off the area and launched a rescue operation and eyewitnesses reported seeing individuals trapped beneath the rubble.
An anonymous eyewitness said, “There is a possibility that there could be some people inside the collapsed building who may have died. I saw two people being pulled out from the rubble now and taken to the hospital while rescue operations were ongoing. The emergency responders are not coordinated yet for efficient operations.”
Meanwhile, the Police Command’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the incident, stating that three individuals were rescued from the wreckage and rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
“The FCT Police Command hereby confirms that yesterday, July 1, 2024, about 8:40 p.m., there was a building collapse at Unity House, Area 11 by Nkwere Street,” Adeh said.
“In response to the distress call, the Commissioner of Police, FCT, CP Benneth C. Igweh, psc, mni, promptly moved to the scene with multiple patrol teams as first responders to cordon off the area for possible rescue.

Read also: Agbakoba Warns FG as Protest Looms Over Hunger in Nigeria
“Three victims were successfully evacuated from the collapsed building and rushed to the hospital for medical care.”

Around 235 million pounds (298 million dollars) is expected to be withdrawn from ATMs on Thursday as people fit trips to cash machines around casting their general election votes.

This is according to a forecast from UK Cash Access and Cash Machine Network Link reported on Wednesday.

The network expects the total to be lower than it was on Dec. 12, 2019, when the last general election was held.

On that date, which resulted in Boris Johnson returning to Downing Street as Conservative Prime Minister, 322 million pounds were withdrawn.

The Link said that early December tends to be a slightly busier time for cash machine withdrawals.

And on the general election date of June 8, 2017, which led to the then-prime minister Theresa May’s election gamble backfiring as the Conservatives’ Commons majority was erased.

Some 356 million pounds were taken out of ATMs.

On Thursday last week (June 27), 240 million pounds were dispensed from ATMs, according to Link’s figures.

The data is applied only to Link transactions, which are made in situations where a bank customer uses an ATM belonging to another provider.

The vast majority of ATMs across the UK were connected to the Link network.

Link said that the earlier part of the summer tended to see an upswing in cash machine transactions as people got out and about.

However the network often saw a dip in ATM transactions in August, as many UK residents headed off on holidays abroad.

Graham Mott, director of strategy at Link, said.

“Polling day traditionally itself doesn’t seem to make a huge difference to ATM use when compared to a normal Thursday at that time of year; people seem to fit voting around their normal routine.

“Early December is normally slightly busier than either early June or July but the vast majority of the fall in ATM use is due to people now doing less cash overall.

“They are increasingly using cards and their phones to make day-to-day payment transactions.”

In 2023, legislation was passed as part of the Financial Services and Markets Act, to protect access to cash.

A recent survey for Link indicated that nearly 48 per cent of people expected to see a cashless society in their lifetime.

However, according to Link’s data, the average UK adult still withdrew around 1,500 pounds from cash machines last year.

In June, banknotes bearing King Charles III’s portrait started to be issued.

This marked the first time that the sovereign had been changed on the Bank of England’s notes because the late Queen was the first British monarch to be depicted on a note in 1960.

The new banknotes are co-circulating alongside those featuring the late queen.

There are more than 4.6 billion Bank of England notes in circulation, worth around 82 billion pounds.

Mott said that 99.8 per cent of UK high streets had free cash access within 1 kilometre.

“Link will also make sure this is still the case by the time of the next general election, whenever that is.”

The Federal Government has warned that unauthorised disclosure or leakage of official documents, capable of impacting the country negatively, is a punishable offence.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, gave the warning on Tuesday in Abuja, at a workshop organised by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR) in collaboration with the Office of the Government of the Federation (OSGF)

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the workshop is themed Renewing Hope and Strengthening National Unity through Effective Communication and the Role of the Official Secret Acts in Maintaining Confidentiality and National Security.’’

Represented by Dr Nnamdi Mbaeri, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the SGF, Akume said unauthorised leakage of sensitive official documents constitutes a felony and there is no defence for such, either in the Constitution or the Freedom of Information Act.

NAN reports that Section 97 (2) of the Criminal Code Act of Nigeria, provides: “Any person who, being employed in the public service, without proper authority abstracts, or makes a copy of, any document the property of his employer is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for one year”.

Akume recalled that the government had devised measures in the past to contain the leakage of sensitive official information in MDAs through the issuance of service-wide circulars by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation in August 2021.

“This was reinforced by the issuance of another service-wide circular in February 2024 on the unauthorised circulation of official documents with information on social media.

“This was done to re-emphasise other extant regulations prohibiting unauthorised disclosure or leakage of official documents

“There is the need to regulate the activities of the civil society organisations who use the Freedom of Information Act to harass, intimidate and siphon resources from public officers through the dissemination of fake and unfounded information.

“This should be properly addressed by all the practitioners in the communication and related industries,’’ he said.

Akume commended the BPSR for organising the workshop, saying its underlines the importance the government places on the dissemination of correct and truthful information.

The Director-General of the Bureau, Dr Dasuki Arabi, urged participants to equip themselves with the Official Secrets Act and effectively communicate government policies and programmes to the public.

“Your role as communication managers in MDAs is crucial, especially in our increasingly complex information ecosystem.

“In today’s environment, communications and platforms are highly fragmented. The government cannot afford to be reactive.

“It must lead the communication landscape to prevent misinformation and ensure that citizens are all informed about the activities, objectives of government and benefits of its policies and programmes to the citizens of the country.

“Accurate and prompt information delivery is essential and cannot be compromised, as its impact on service delivery and governance is profound,” he said.

Arabi tasked the communication managers with taking advantage of the training to use traditional and social media platforms to ensure the public is well informed about government initiatives, programmes and services.

NAN