Our proverb of the day:

Image source, Getty Images

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Harrison Kingston was part of Liverpool's Champions League and Premier League success. In 2020, he swapped it all to work with Morocco.

Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi has been named Arab Sportsman of the Year for 2022 after aiding his country's World Cup run and Paris St-Germain's league title.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team until Tuesday morning Nairobi time. There will be an automated service here but you can also check the BBC News Online pages and our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with the latest Instagram post from Nigerian hyperrealist artist, Arinze:

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has officially opened a new port near Lagos which could have an economic impact across West Africa.

The vast $1.5bn-Lekki Deep Sea Port, which took six years to complete, will serve as a gateway for cargo vessels in the region.

Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the new facility will create about 200,000 jobs both directly and indirectly and generate billions of dollars in revenue for the country.

The port is expected to reduce the high cost of bringing goods into the country by reducing the vessel turnaround time, which has hampered business at the country's other ports.

Lagos currently relies on old and congested ports whose waters are unable to dock larger vessels and contribute to traffic congestion within the city.

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC News, Nairobi

Kenya’s opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has said his political coalition does not recognise William Ruto as the President of Kenya and declared the new Kenyan government as "illegitimate".

Mr Ruto beat him in last August's poll, but Mr Odinga - who appeared at Nairobi's Kamukunji Stadium along with his running mate Martha Karua, and other allies - repeated claims that the results were manipulated. Claims that had already been rejected in court.

He declared that he and his movement "reject the 2022 election result totally", which was received with great cheers and applause from an adoring crowd.

"We cannot and we don't recognise the Kenya Kwanza regime," he continued.

The 2022 election was Mr Odinga’s fifth attempt at the presidency, but he was beaten by Mr Ruto who was declared winner in the absence of four election commissioners who dissented and accused the commission chairman of delivering what they called “opaque” results.

Mr Raila then rejected the results and took the case to court .

But the Supreme Court upheld Mr Ruto’s victory. The aftermath has been dramatic with accusations and counter accusations.

Election chief Wafula Chebukati has claimed he was under intense pressure from unspecified forces to announce different results, and most recently, President Ruto sensationally said there had been an assassination plot against Mr Chebukati.

Some of Mr Odinga's partners in his Azimio Coalition have since decamped and declared their support for the Kenya Kwanza administration.

Others have remained steadfast with him in this renewed fight for what they call electoral justice.

The next general election is four years away, however the main opposition is already calling for sweeping electoral reforms, and is calling for the current administration to leave office.

The fans were celebrating with a replica trophy but were arrested for staging an illegal procession.

Image source, AFP

The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Abune Mathias, has called on all bishops around the world to urgently convene in the capital, Addis Ababa, as the church faces a major split.

This comes after a group of three bishops announced the formation of a separate church decision-making body.

They appointed more than 20 new bishops to replace those working in Ethiopia’s Oromia region and some parts of southern Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church forms Ethiopia’s largest religious group with tens of millions of followers.

A previous division in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which lasted for nearly three decades, was only resolved in 2018.

That time the split was with church members in the US – this time it comes from within Ethiopia.

One of the breakaway bishops, Abune Sawiros, said they made the move to save those followers of the church who were led by clergy that was not diverse or inclusive and who did not understand their language.

The patriarch called the bishops’ action illegal and other bishops have denounced it as a conspiracy to divide believers on the basis of ethnicity.

BBC World Service

A suspected rebel attack in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 20 people.

Local officials said fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) raided a village overnight. They killed people in a bar, before looting several homes and shops and setting them on fire.

The attack was in the Beni area of North Kivu province.

The ADF rebels - who are allied to the Islamic State group - have killed hundreds of people in assaults and bombings in eastern DR Congo.

The Ugandan and Congolese armies have been fighting rebel groups in a joint offensive in the region, where there has been militia violence for decades.

South Africa has the right to conduct such exercises with its "friends", the foreign minister says.

Omar Wally
Journalist, The Gambia

Image source, Omar Wally

The memorial service for Gambia's Vice-President Alieu Badara Joof has taken place at the country's parliament after his death last week at the age of 66.

He was in India receiving treatment from an undisclosed illness when he passed away.

Joof had served as vice-president under Adama Barrow for just nine months.

The president was among thousands of mourners who attended the funeral to pay their last respects to a man described as "modest and blunt".

Mr Barrow remembered one of the late vice-president's controversial statements and quoting him as saying: “You cannot make omelette without breaking the eggs. I will talk to the truth, if you want, let the president get me out. But I will say it as it is and I have been saying as it is in the cabinet.”

Justice Minister Dawda Jallow broke down while paying tribute, saying his former cabinet colleague will be missed.

Image source, Omar Wally

BBC World Service

Burkina Faso has confirmed that it wants 400 French troops stationed there to leave within a month.

Government spokesman Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo said the country, which is battling jihadist extremism, wanted to defend itself.

French President Emmanuel Macron had asked the authorities to clarify their position after state media reported on Saturday that Burkina Faso was ending an agreement signed between the two countries in 2018.

The report said the Burkinabe authorities still wanted support from France in the form of equipment.

Mr Macron had said there was "great confusion" over the reported comments.

Last year, French troops pulled out of neighbouring Mali after falling out with the military leaders of that country. France also ended its eight-year anti-jihadist operation in the Sahel known as Operation Barkhane.

France has kept close military ties with many of its former colonies in West Africa and has been helping several of them fight Islamist militants who are active across the region.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

The body of Nemes Tarimo, a Tanzanian who died while fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine is still stranded in Russia, a family member says.

They were expecting the body to arrive on 10 January and had already made burial arrangements at the family's rural home.

"One of our family members is contacting the Tanzanian embassy in Russia on the procedures. All the [burial] arrangements are ready but the body is stranded and we don't know why," a family member said.

A mourner who had repeatedly visited the home for the return of the body said the long wait was hurting even more.

"It's not good and this family is going through a lot. All I feel is that the body should be sent as soon as possible to reduce inconveniences,” he said.

A family spokesperson said mourners will be given a chance to pay their last respects to the deceased in Dar es Salaam before the body is moved to their rural village in Southern Highlands region for burial.

More on this story:

• Tanzanian killed in Ukraine: We told him not to go

Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba questions the length of Eric Bailly's seven-game ban for a foul that hospitalised another player.

There was disruption at Nigeria's Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos earlier as ground staff working for the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) went on strike for higher pay.

Air Peace and Dana Air said flights had been delayed, the Reuters news agency reports.

A short video of the scenes showed long queues of passengers. The person filming can be heard saying: "We are not doing well."

The airport has since tweeted that there has been some improvement but there will still be delays:

Noella Luka documents her own descent into bipolar disorder challenging the stigmas surrounding the issue of mental health in Kenya.

The head of Nigeria's election body Mahmood Yakubu tells the BBC next month's elections will go ahead as planned.

Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller made his debut for Borussia Dortmund on Sunday for the first time since being diagnosed with testicular cancer last year.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

A Catholic bishop in northern Zambia has urged his congregants to avoid “gyrating” too much during mass because such dancing may encourage other people to sin.

Ndola Bishop Benjamin Phiri says he is concerned about the manner in which some worshippers dance during Mass.

He has called for regulation and self-control on how people express themselves in church.

“The dancing part of the church should be regulated. It should constitute worship. The dance and rhythm that we have in a pub should be different from the one that we have in the church, otherwise in the end, the two will become one,” he said.

He said singing and dancing in church was not for entertainment purposes and should be different from the dance in pubs and nightclubs, state-owned Zambia Daily newspaper reported over the weekend.

“Do not gyrate too much because at the end of the day, someone will start admiring the other and then, they will end up having thoughts which are not of worship," he added.

Bishop Phiri said liturgy in church should not be turned into entertainment because the church was meant for worship.

Abdi Dahir
BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

Somali commandos stormed the municipal government building in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday to end a five-hour siege by al-Shabab militants during which five civilians were killed, state media and officials said.

The attack began with a car bomb explosion at the entrance of the building in the Hamarweyne district before militants pretending to be soldiers raided the compound.

The information ministry said security forces rescued all government staff from the building and shot dead six militants involved in the assault.

Media outlets affiliated with al-Shabab quoted a spokesperson for the group as saying that "34 apostates” were killed in the attack. Al-Shabab refers to the government as “apostate”, which in turn calls the group “Khawarij”, meaning ultra-extremists.

Mogadishu mayor Yussuf Hussein Jim’ale was out of the country at the time of the attack.

In 2019, an al-Shabab suicide attack on the same building killed then Mogadishu mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman.

The government said the latest “senseless” al-Shabab violence was proof that “it is necessary to completely eliminate” the group from the country, according to the state-run Sonna news agency.

Analysts say al-Shabab has demonstrated its ability to strike back at government targets with deadly force despite losing a large swathe of territory to the national army and allied clan militias in recent months.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said last Tuesday that the government was “about to conclude the first phase” of an offensive against al-Shabab that started in August and that it “will soon launch the second phase”.