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*Heavens Will Not Fall, Minister Says *'I Took Loan To Build Mine, With Approval During Era Of A Past FCT Minister; How Can Wike Do This? But I'm Worried' By Felix Durumbah, Abuja The telephone lines of Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike, should by now be busier than usual aspalpable fear has gripped several politicians in the country who own choice properties in Abuja, the nation's capital, following the Minister's threat today to immediately demolish any properties belonging to them, but wrongly erected on water channels. The measure seeks to stem flooding which has devastated parts…

*Say Land Already Inadequate For Galloping Population *State CAN Chair Honoured By Journalists By Sam Tyav, Makurdi Reeling from years of violence and killings suffered at the hands of terrorist herdsmen, Christians in Benue State, North-Central Nigeria, have rejected the pilot ranching scheme proposed by the Federal Government (FG). Abuja circled the proposal as a vital fresh plan to tame the persistent herder-farmer clashes over grazing lands which had claimed thousands of lives nationwide over the decades even as indigenous peoples have accused most of the herders as not merely seeking pasture, but outright territorial and religious annihilation of their…

By Stephen Gbadamosi, Ibadan Oyo State governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Olooye Adegboyega Taofeek Adegoke, has promised to strengthen Local Government (LG) administration by granting local councils greater autonomy and ensuring that grassroots institutions are empowered to deliver meaningful development. This is as he also raised concerns over the number of out-of-school children in the state, promising targeted interventions to ensure that children of school age have access to quality and affordable education. Olooye Adegoke made this pledge at the inauguration of the party’s 25-member “Solutions Campaign Council” ahead of the 2027 governorship election. The inauguration, held on…

*Kwankwaso, Makinde React, Praise Osun People For Ensuring Vote Integrity, Say It's A Template For 2027 Despite poll violence, malfunctioning election equipment in some parts and security threats, results of yesterday's Osun State governorship have been rolled out with the electoral umpire declaring second term-seeking Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party victor in the hotly contested poll. The declaration of the result was made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, Prof Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, who is also the Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, this morning. Adeleke won the election after polling 511,067 votes against his…

*Unofficial Reports Claim Adeleke Leading By About 66,000 Votes Close public scrutiny, living up to its promise of electoral transparency and other factors have been at play in Osun State as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has uploaded 95.51 per cent of expected results from yesterday's governorship poll to its Result Viewing portal, with collation in its final stages, as of press time. On the INEC Results Viewing (iRev) Portal, as of 1:07:02 am on Sunday, 16 August, a total 3,594 polling unit (PU) results had been uploaded out of an expected 3,763. Data from the portal showed the last…

*N88.51bn, September 2023 *N91.52bn, December 2023 *N94.01bn, March 2024 *By March 2026, N389.88bn *Since 2023, Documents On FCT's Financial Picture Strangely Not Publicly Available Federal Capital Territory (FCT)’s domestic debt has risen more than fourfold since Barrister Nyesom Wike assumed office as Minister of FCT in August 2023, moving the Territory from among Nigeria’s least indebted sub-national governments to the second-highest debtor, analysis of data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) by online newspaper, Premium Times, showed. The paper reported that when the former Rivers State governor assumed office on 21 August 2023, the FCT’s domestic debt stood at a…

*Gov Adeleke Votes, Raises Alarm Over Bid To Bypass Due Collation Process Popular influencer and social media activist, Martin Vincent Otse, known also as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has questioned what he described as President Bola Tinubu's involvement in today's Osun State gubernatorial election. The poll pitches second term-seeking Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party against Bola Oyebamiji of Tinubu's All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, in a fiery contest dominated by pre-election killings, violence and high tension. Accusing the President of sending APC governors and senators to manipulate the Osun election, VDM…

*With The Money, They Engaged In Lavish Spending, Leisure Trips To Foreign Nations, CP Says *Two Were Remaining Suspects Wanted In Highly Publicized Udi LGA Church Abductions By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu Enugu State Police Command has arrested and paraded 14 kidnap suspects involved in various kidnap operations in and outside the state. Briefing newsmen today at the Command’s headquarters in Enugu, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mamman Bitrus Giwa, said among them were two remaining suspects linked to the 2 August kidnapping raid on St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Affa, Udi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, who, he…

Presidential candidate of opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Vice President (VP) Atiku Abubakar has headed to court against President Bola Tinubu over the alleged discrepancies in the President's National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate. Abubakar, popularly known simply as Atiku, prayed the court to stop Tinubu from seeking re-election in 2027 on the basis of the alleged discrepancies which, to him, amounted to forgery. Atiku filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja today, alleging that Tinubu presented a forged NYSC discharge certificate to electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during the 2023 and…

By Tony Ezimakor, Abuja As stakeholders round off preparation for Saturday's governorship election in Osun State, Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2027 election, Peter Obi has directed attention of Nigerians, public institutions, political actors, the diplomatic community, international observers, and all friends of Nigeria to the need to support the people of Osun chose their leaders peacefully and without intimidation. He therefore urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, political parties, candidates, government institutions, civil society organisations, religious and traditional leaders, the media, and every stakeholder to act with highest degree of neutrality, professionalism,…