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The death toll from consuming suspected locally prepared alcoholic and herbal concoctions in Ondo State has risen to 48, with five people reportedly rendered completely blind, NAFDAC has said.

The agency said it has recorded 182 cases so far in connection with the incident, which has affected communities in Odigbo Local Government Area and parts of Irele Local Government Area.

NAFDAC, in an update issued by its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, on Friday, said laboratory analysis of samples of the suspected concoctions detected high concentrations of methanol, a highly toxic substance capable of causing blindness, organ failure and death.

The agency said the preliminary findings strengthened concerns that the locally prepared alcoholic/herbal mixtures posed a serious public health risk, although further confirmatory tests were still being conducted.

The affected communities include New Town, Odole, Okele, Orita Odigbo, Araromi-Obu and Oniparaga, with the incident particularly pronounced in Odigbo Town and Araromi-Obu.

According to the agency, the incident was first reported in early September after residents who had reportedly consumed the suspected concoctions began developing sudden and severe illnesses, with some cases deteriorating rapidly.

NAFDAC said initial reports put the number of deaths at 31, comprising 20 deaths in Odigbo Town and 11 in Araromi-Obu. However, continued surveillance and investigation have raised the reported number of cases and deaths.

Of the 182 affected persons, 90 were admitted to hospital and later discharged, while six remain hospitalised.

Another 31 people were treated as outpatients, while five persons reportedly became totally blind and two others partially blind.

The clinical symptoms reported among those affected include headaches, general body weakness and pain, visual disturbances, difficulty breathing and altered consciousness.

NAFDAC also disclosed that 15 people had been arrested in connection with the suspected production, sale and distribution of the implicated locally produced alcoholic and herbal beverages.

The agency said it collected samples of the suspected concoctions for laboratory, forensic and toxicological examination to determine their chemical composition and identify possible toxic substances, adulterants, contaminants or undeclared ingredients.

It said 15 unlabeled samples underwent toxicological, microbiological, and chemical screening.

According to NAFDAC, an acute oral toxicity test conducted using laboratory mice showed that all the samples caused critical illness in the animals, while approximately 50 per cent mortality was recorded in six of the 15 samples tested.

The agency said some of the animals that became critically ill recovered within 24 hours, but noted that further exposure could be fatal.

Chemical screening also detected Cannabis indica in 11 samples, while gas chromatography confirmed high concentrations of methanol.

Methanol is an industrial alcohol that can cause severe poisoning when ingested. It can damage the optic nerve, leading to permanent blindness, and may also cause organ failure and death.

NAFDAC said the combination of the high mortality recorded during the animal toxicity testing and the confirmed presence of methanol suggested that the samples posed a serious public health risk.

However, it stressed that the findings remained preliminary pending further confirmatory analyses.

‘Further confirmatory testing is ongoing to quantify methanol concentration and identify other possible toxic agents,’ the agency said.

It added that methanol in oral preparations was extremely dangerous and could cause severe poisoning, including blindness, organ failure and death.

The agency said surveillance, case management, investigation and risk-control measures were ongoing as authorities worked to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and prevent further exposure.

NAFDAC said the figures remained subject to verification as investigations and surveillance continued.

The agency commiserated with families who lost loved ones in the incident and urged continued vigilance as investigations into the suspected contaminated concoctions progressed.

Canada and its Prime Minister Mark Carney have drawn regular scorn from President Trump as the two nations remain locked in an escalating trade war.

But, European leaders gave the visiting Canadian premier a standing ovation yesterday.

Carney embraced the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, shrugging off a threat by Trump and saying closer ties with the EU would ensure no country could control Canada’s markets or undermine its sovereignty.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Carney repeatedly extolled cooperation between Europe and Canada – but the now-souring relationship with the U.S., which has defined Canada’s economy for decades, hung over yesterday address.

Trump’s tariffs, demands for economic concessions, and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have pushed Ottawa to reduce its dependence on its neighbour and seek a far deeper economic, security and political relationship with Europe.

Carney told the parliament that he welcomed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s partnership proposal, unveiled Wednesday, though he acknowledged that ‘associate membership’ remains to be defined.

But the Canadian leader outlined his own vision: deeper integration across trade, defense, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, space, research and financial services to make both sides less vulnerable to economic and geopolitical pressure. He later told reporters he was not pursuing full membership of the EU.

‘We do not seek power to dominate others,’ he said. ‘On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.’

Carney got a warm welcome when he walked into the chamber in Strasbourg, France – with many lawmakers coming up to shake his hand and pose for selfies. His address got a standing ovation.

Speaking Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, after von der Leyen floated the idea of welcoming Canada as an associate EU member, Mr. Trump threatened to respond by imposing more tariffs on the European bloc, possibly even cutting off trade completely in certain areas.

Trump conditioned his latest threat on the ‘intention’ of European leaders, saying: ‘If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.’

He didn’t say how he would discern the intentions of any eventual move by the EU to grant Canada a new, special status with the bloc, but he mocked the prospect as ‘laughable’ and called America’s neighbour to the north a ‘terrible trade partner.’

New bridges to replace the ‘old world order’?

Carney’s address appeared to show his determination to push forward in shaping a new ‘world order,’ without shedding any tears over what he said in January was the death of the old one.

For generations, Canada built its economy around integration with the United States.

But in a very loosely veiled jab at the world’s longtime singular superpower, Carney warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos that great powers like the United States were using economic dependence to bully smaller nations.

He said there had been a ‘rupture in the world order’ and warned that when countries negotiate alone with a dominant power, ‘we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered.’

‘We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it,’ Carney said in Davos. ‘We believe that from the fracture, we can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just. This is the task of the middle powers.’

He clearly signaled his desire to forge closer ties with Europe in that address eight months ago, touting ‘a comprehensive strategic partnership with the EU’ to deepen defense procurement collaboration, as well as ‘efforts to build a bridge’ economically that he said ‘would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people,’ combining European and Canadian markets.

Trump rebuked him the next day, and Carney’s speech on Thursday could further strain the relationship with the U.S.

The ‘associate member’ status that von der Leyen proposed for Canada does not currently exist in the bloc’s treaties, and it would have to be created and the terms negotiated.

She said Europe wants to take its relationship with Canada to ‘the highest level possible,’ moving beyond their existing free trade agreement to create an ‘Alliance for the Future’ encompassing a ‘common prosperity and economic security space.’

Carney will host EU leaders for a summit in Montreal on Oct. 29 and 30, where the two sides are expected to discuss the proposed new relationship in more detail.

Canada sends roughly 70% of its exports to the United States, making it highly exposed to Trump’s tariffs. Ottawa has, nonetheless, retaliated and rejected U.S. demands that Carney says threaten Canadian sovereignty. Europe took a different path, shelving retaliation and accepting tariffs of up to 15% on most EU exports to the U.S.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, said Wednesday that Canada is not seeking full EU membership because that would require surrendering some sovereignty. Instead, Ottawa wants ‘to get as close as we possibly can’ to Europe while increasing Canada’s independence.

Canada has already taken a major step toward European integration. This year it became the first non-European country to join the EU’s 150-billion-euro ($173 billion) SAFE defense procurement program, giving Canadian companies access to joint procurement as Europe increases defense spending. The two sides have also discussed closer cooperation on energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence and digital trade.

‘The policies and rhetoric of the Trump administration are clearly pushing both Canada and the EU to imagine a world without strong U.S. leadership and to act accordingly,’ said Daniel Béland, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said: ‘Carney’s shrewdness in dealing with Trump has captured Europe’s attention.’

Wiseman said Europeans have long regarded Canada as a country that understands the United States particularly well because of their deep economic and political ties. Carney’s willingness to resist Mr. Trump rather than quickly accept Washington’s demands has reinforced that perception, he said.

The Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement has constituted a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council to mobilise support for the 2027 presidential bid of Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

The council, in a statement by its National Secretary, Saadatu Sani, has John Ughulu as the director-general. Sani is listed among the campaign leadership.

The new structure is expected to operate independently of the campaign council to be constituted by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the political platform on which Obi and Kwankwaso are contesting the poll.

The NDC is yet to constitute and formally unveil its 2027 Presidential Campaign Council. The party had indicated that consultations are ongoing and that the structure would be announced after necessary approvals.

The NDC council, when constituted, is expected to function as the official campaign structure of the party, while the OK Movement council will operate as a separate support structure for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket.

The OK Movement council comprises zonal and state coordinators across the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT). The directors will oversee grassroots mobilisation, women affairs, contact and engagement, information technology, legal affairs, strategy and planning, security, administration and other departments.

The movement said the appointments represented ‘a call to duty, sacrifice, leadership and service to Nigeria.’

It charged members to take the vision and message of its principals to Nigerians in the cities, states, local government areas, wards and communities across the country.

OK Movement said it was driven by a national vision to mobilise Nigerians around the possibility of a better, more prosperous, united and functional Nigeria.

It urged members of the council to work with discipline, loyalty, humility and courage, stressing that the assignment would require strategic thinking, grassroots mobilisation, effective communication and unity.

The OK Movement’s council includes representatives from states such as Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Enugu, Kaduna, Oyo, Anambra, Borno, Edo, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.

Among those appointed to head various directorates are Rev. Mike Agbon, director of Inter-Ethnic Group in the North; Sabo Gashua, director of Grassroots Mobilisation; Glory Adayi, director of Women Affairs; Kabir Yahaya, director of Contact and Engagement; as well as Abdumumini Tijjani, director of Mobilisation.

Others are Abiodun Dabiri, director of Strategy and Planning; Richard Enemona, director of Security and Intelligence; Kingdom Okere, director of Legal Affairs; and Aisha Abdulrahaman, director of Administration.

Also listed are Balaraba Abdullahi, National Women Mobilisation director (Jigawa); Charles Nwekeaku, director of the Southeastern Town Hall Association; and Sunmisola Adebayo, director of Information Technology.

The other members of the OK Movement Presidential Campaign Council include Suleiman Abubakar, Northcentral coordinator; Hashimu Dungurawa, Northwest coordinator; Amadu Gwambe, Northeast coordinator; Adebayo Adefolaseye, Southwest coordinator; Christopher Ighodaro, Southsouth coordinator; and El-shaddai Ikeh, Southeast coordinator.

State coordinators are Maiyaki Samson (Kogi), Tokji J. Mandim (Plateau), Yusuf Abdullahi (Nasarawa), Aliyu Tershaku (Benue), Awal Goma (Niger), Ibrahim Jabir (FCT), Kazeem Olawuyi (Kwara), Ibrahim Kaya (Kaduna), Muhammed Tukur (Sokoto), Rabiu Na Begu (Kano), Hon. Usman Sani (Zamfara), Sabiu Hassan (Jigawa), Armayau Shehu (Kebbi), and Yusif Sule (Katsina).

Others are Abubakar Bala (Adamawa), Ismail Mairungu (Gombe), Hajiya Salaha Abubakar (Taraba), Ahmed Aminu (Bauchi), Ibrahim Garba Muhammad (Yobe), Comr. Aliyu AK Balarabe (Borno), Otunba Segun Odekunle (Osun), Bababowale Olagbenro (Oyo), Animasaun Diamond (Ekiti), Shakirat Arowolo (Ogun), Ibironke Ogboro (Lagos), Ibrahim Shuibu (Ondo), Egwu Arong (Cross River), Elijah Noah (Akwa Ibom), Eromosele Jatto (Edo), Favour Emerure (Delta), Furoebi Akene (Bayelsa), Dr. Princess Jane Petters (Rivers), Nwanebu Christian Onyinyechi (Imo), Chukwudi Onyejekwe (Anambra), Roland Edeh (Ebonyi), Victor Onyia (Enugu) and Prof. Zulu Ofoelue (Abia).

The movement said its responsibility is to ensure that the message of its principals reaches Nigerians across the country and that the voice of the people is heard.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to withdraw from the race following revelations in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration over the long-running Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project dispute.

The campaign council, in a statement on Friday by its spokesman, Dr Dele Alake, seized on the tribunal’s examination of a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited promoter, Leno Adesanya, through an offshore company to Jennifer Douglas, then wife of Atiku, who was Vice President of Nigeria at the time.

It alleged that the transaction and circumstances surrounding the disputed award of the Mambilla Build-Operate-Transfer contract raised questions about Atiku’s role in the affair and his suitability for the presidency.

The ICC tribunal, however, did not make a finding that Atiku received a $500,000 bribe.

Reports on the final award show that the tribunal examined the payment and rejected Adesanya’s explanation that it represented a foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku, citing the absence of corroborating documentary or witness evidence.

The controversy followed Nigeria’s victory in the arbitration instituted by Sunrise over the Mambilla project, with the ICC tribunal rejecting claims that exposed the country to billions of dollars in potential liabilities.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Thursday hailed the tribunal’s decision that rejected Sunrise’s $680 million settlement-related demand, connected to another arbitration in which the company was claiming more than $2.7 billion in compensation and interest over the Mambilla project.

Against the backdrop of the ruling, the APC campaign alleged that Atiku had compromised Nigeria’s interests and should consequently abandon his latest presidential ambition.

‘The APC Campaign calls on Abubakar Atiku to do himself a rare honour by bowing out of the presidential race, as the $500,000 bribe is just the tip of the iceberg of the revelations to come about his monumental corruption’, Alake said.

The campaign alleged that Atiku and former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, worked together in the events surrounding the disputed award of the power project to Sunrise in 2003.

It further claimed that the contract was executed in the closing months of the first term of the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo despite objections surrounding the transaction.

The Presidency, in its account of the arbitration on Thursday, said the dispute dated back to an ‘illegal 2003 contract’ for a 3,050-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Taraba State under a Build-Operate-Transfer arrangement and maintained that the Federal Executive Council never authorised the contract.

The APC campaign linked the disputed contract to the $500,000 transferred to Douglas on January 30, 2003, through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya.

Details of the ICC award reported on Friday showed that the tribunal considered the proximity between that transaction and the purported award of the BOT contract to Sunrise on May 22, 2003.

Adesanya acknowledged making the payment but maintained during the proceedings that it was a foreign-exchange transaction undertaken for Atiku.

The tribunal said it could not accept that explanation because of a lack of contemporaneous documentary evidence and corroborating testimony from either Atiku or Douglas.

The tribunal also noted that the payment came from China Castle rather than Moneyline Ventures, through which Adesanya said he operated a bureau de change business, and that China Castle was not licensed to conduct foreign-exchange transactions.

The APC campaign nevertheless characterised the payment as a bribe and accused Atiku of helping to expose Nigeria to potentially huge financial liabilities.

‘By collecting a $500,000 bribe from Leno Adesanya to approve a Build-Operate-Transfer contract to a company with no scintilla of experience in hydro power generation, Atiku has proven he is one of the enablers of local and international predatory and exploitative entities out to defraud our country’, the campaign alleged.

It also criticised the former Vice President for not appearing as a witness in the Paris arbitration, contrasting his absence with the participation of former Presidents Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari.

President Tinubu had specifically commended Obasanjo and the late Buhari for testifying in the case, alongside former ministers Babatunde Fashola and Suleiman Adamu and other witnesses and experts who participated in Nigeria’s defence.

The APC campaign also recalled a United States Senate investigation into suspicious transfers involving Douglas, arguing that the latest disclosures revived longstanding questions surrounding Atiku’s financial dealings.

It further cited criticisms of Atiku contained in Obasanjo’s memoir, ‘My Watch’, to buttress its claim that the former Vice President should not seek Nigeria’s highest office.

Turning to Taraba State, the campaign accused Atiku of sharing responsibility for the prolonged delay of the Mambilla project, saying residents should take the latest revelations into account in assessing the controversy surrounding the project.

The Mambilla dispute has remained one of Nigeria’s longest-running international arbitration battles. Sunrise had sought $680 million as settlement and interest in one proceeding while pursuing more than $2.7 billion in compensation and interest in another dispute connected with the project.

The ICC tribunal’s latest award rejected Sunrise’s claims, while reports on the final decision said Sunrise and Adesanya were also ordered to reimburse Nigeria about $11.82 million, representing 75 per cent of the country’s legal fees and expenses in the arbitration.

Tinubu had described the decision as clearing the biggest legal obstacle that had held back the Mambilla project for years, while pledging that Nigeria would honour legitimate obligations to genuine investors but continue to resist claims against the country’s commonwealth that the government considers opportunistic.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, has called for specialised training in unmanned aerial systems and drone technology for Nigerian Army personnel to strengthen the military’s capacity to tackle terrorism, insurgency and banditry.

Shaibu made the call on Friday during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) in Abuja.

The COAS said the training would help develop indigenous expertise and establish local companies capable of producing unmanned aerial systems for military applications.

‘This will help us establish indigenous companies for the development of unmanned aerial systems and reduce reliance on foreign military training,’ he said.

He reaffirmed the Army’s commitment to advancing local technological capacity and strengthening strategic partnerships to enhance national security.

Shaibu praised the PTDF’s longstanding role in human capacity development and formally requested specialised training for Army personnel to create a pool of skilled professionals in drone technology.

He also acknowledged the Fund’s continued support for Command Secondary Schools.

The Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Prof. Shuaibu Shehu Aliyu, commended the sacrifices of the Nigerian Army in safeguarding the nation’s territorial integrity.

Aliyu outlined ongoing collaborations under the PTDF In-Country Scholarship Scheme at the Nigerian Defence Academy and pledged to establish a modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre for digital skills training at the proposed Command Science Secondary School in Kaduna.

He also called for the Army’s support in protecting PTDF’s strategic national assets and regional centres of excellence in Kaduna and Afam.

The PTDF executive secretary advocated a formal security framework between the two institutions to ensure rapid emergency response and safeguard staff, students and infrastructure.

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the development of a roadmap for the full launch of Nigeria’s Digital Free Zones initiative within 180 days.

This was part of moves to stop promising Nigerian technology companies from relocating their businesses and intellectual property abroad to access global capital and markets.

The President directed the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, to work with the Itana Innovation project and the Presidential Steering Committee on Digital Free Zones to develop the roadmap within the stipulated period.

Oduwole serves as Vice-Chairman and Implementation Coordinator of the committee, which is chaired by the President.

Under the initiative, the Federal Government wants Nigerian technology and service companies to be able to raise international capital, employ Nigerians and serve global markets while retaining their headquarters, operations and intellectual property in the country.

President Tinubu said the initiative had now moved into its implementation phase, with the government seeking to modernise Nigeria’s more than three-decade-old free zone framework for the digital economy.

The President said the initiative would also enable more young Nigerians to work remotely for global companies while remaining in the country, creating opportunities for engineers, developers, designers, lawyers, accountants and other professionals servicing digital businesses.

‘Nigeria has the talent, enterprise and ambition to build companies that can compete anywhere in the world. Our responsibility as a government is to ensure that Nigerians do not have to leave Nigeria or rely on other jurisdictions to realise that potential,’ Tinubu said, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga.

He said the administration wanted a greater proportion of the economic value generated by Nigerian talent to remain within the domestic economy through jobs, investments, professional services, intellectual property and the growth of Nigerian businesses.

Tinubu said the practice whereby promising Nigerian entrepreneurs incorporated their companies and domiciled intellectual property outside the country to gain access to finance and international markets must change.

He said: ‘For too long, some of our most promising young entrepreneurs have felt compelled to establish their companies and intellectual property abroad to access global capital and markets. I do not accept that this must remain the case.

‘I want the next generation of African technology, finance and service companies to be built, headquartered and scaled to the world from Nigerian soil’.

The initiative is already taking shape through Itana, described as Nigeria’s first Digital Free Zone, which has been licensed by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority to provide a platform for global and pan-African digital and service businesses to establish and operate from Nigeria.

The Africa Finance Corporation is backing the $500 million Itana Innovation project at Alaro City, Lagos.

According to the Presidency, the project will combine an enabling policy environment with an innovation campus, access to capital and other ecosystem services intended to help African startups scale their operations while retaining more of the value they create on the continent.

Tinubu said the government’s plan went beyond the establishment of conventional technology parks, stressing that Nigeria should become a base from which African companies could raise capital and serve international markets.

‘We want African companies to be incorporated in Nigeria, financed here and governed from here, while serving markets across Africa and the world.

‘I want a young Nigerian in Kano, Enugu, Warri, Minna, Maiduguri or Ibadan to be able to work for a global company without leaving home, and I want our founders to raise capital globally while their companies and intellectual property remain in Nigeria.

‘When these businesses grow here, they employ Nigerians, use Nigerian professional services and retain more of the value they create in our economy’, the President said.

The Presidential Steering Committee is expected to continue work on regulatory, taxation, banking, immigration and arbitration issues, as well as the digitisation of government processes within the country’s free zones.

The government believes addressing the issues would create an operating environment in which technology and digitally enabled service companies can establish and expand businesses in Nigeria while competing internationally.

Tinubu said the Digital Free Zones initiative would also enable Nigeria to take advantage of the rapid expansion of Africa’s digital economy and the growth of digitally enabled trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

‘Nigeria has the talent and the market to reshape Africa’s place in the global technology and digital economy value chain.

‘This is what our Renewed Hope commitment to a digital economy looks like in practice, and this is how we transform reform into opportunities.

‘We made a promise to Nigerians. We are keeping it,’ President Tinubu said.