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Group Defends Gov. Mutfwang, Faults Margif Over ‘Silence on Bokkos Attacks’ Claim

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Governor Caleb Mutfwang

A group under the banner of the Vanguard for the Voice of Reasoning has dismissed allegations by former Plateau State Labour Party governorship candidate, Chief Yohanna Margif, accusing Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang of remaining silent as Fulani militias attack communities in Bokkos Local Government Area.

Margif, the Waziri Mushere, had in a recent statement alleged that Governor Mutfwang had abandoned his community while Fulani herders continued to kill residents, displace communities, and seize their lands.

Responding in a statement on Monday, Vanguard Chairman James Buba described Margif’s accusations as “false and baseless,” insisting the governor has never been silent on the violence in Bokkos or other parts of the state.

Buba accused Margif of neglecting his own people for over a year, failing to visit or commiserate with them despite repeated deadly assaults.

“It is shocking to hear Mr. Yohanna Margif, who has abandoned his people for several years, accuse Governor Mutfwang of being silent over the attacks,” Buba said. “If there is any governor Plateau State has produced who has stood firmly with his people, it is Governor Mutfwang. Idle minds and shortsighted individuals like Margif should not be allowed to mislead the public with unfounded claims.”

According to the group, Governor Mutfwang visited Mushere and other affected communities on June 22, 2025, to console victims, restore hope, and deliver relief materials. It also noted that the governor recently sent a high-powered delegation led by the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Naanlong Daniel Gapyil, to Mushere to ensure the speedy completion of a bridge project.

Buba further condemned Margif’s comments as “unguided and self-serving,” alleging that he has been “living comfortably in Abuja while ignoring the pains and sufferings of his people.”

While expressing sympathy for Mushere residents over the sustained violence by armed herdsmen, the Vanguard urged the community to remain resilient in defending themselves. It also called on security agencies to live up to their constitutional duty of protecting lives and property—or allow communities to defend their land.

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New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI bets

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Few venture firms have bet more aggressively on AI than Sequoia Capital, and it isn’t slowing down.

The Silicon Valley stalwart has raised roughly $7 billion for a new fund, according to Bloomberg. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment. The money will go toward what the firm calls its “expansion strategy” — essentially its late-stage investing arm, focused on the U.S. and Europe — and it’s nearly double Sequoia’s last comparable fund, a $3.4 billion vehicle raised in 2022.

That growth in fund size reflects something bigger: late-stage investing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the AI era. Companies can now scale at a speed and cost that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, and the firms backing them have to keep pace.

The money signals where Sequoia sees the future: deeply embedded in AI, from the giants building the underlying technology to the startups putting it to work. The firm has backed two of the most prominent players in the AI race — OpenAI originally and, more recently, Anthropic — both of which are reportedly eyeing public listings in 2026. The development that could mean a significant payday for the firm.

Sequoia isn’t only swinging for the foundational AI heavyweights, however. It has also placed bets on other buzzy startups, including Physical Intelligence, the Bay Area robotics startup, and Factory, which builds AI agents for enterprise engineering teams.

The fundraise is also the first major capital raise under Sequoia’s new leadership, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm.

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Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

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More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology.

Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player.

On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board.

Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code.

Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks.

The startup was founded in 2023 after Grinberg, then a PhD student at UC Berkeley, cold-emailed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. The two bonded over mutual academic interest. (Maguire’s PhD from Caltech is in the same area of physics Grinberg was studying.)

Maguire convinced Grinberg to drop out and launch Factory, with Sequoia backing the startup at the seed stage.

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