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Kwara United Throw Away Lead In 2-1 Defeat To Bendel Insurance

Kwara United FC suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat to visiting Bendel Insurance in their NPFL Matchday 11 encounter at the Rashidi Yekini Mainbowl of the George Innih Stadium, Ilorin, on Sunday.

Both sides began the encounter cautiously, adopting a measured approach as they sought to establish control and create scoring opportunities.

Aliyu Ferinyaro and Uche Jaguar came close to breaking the deadlock for the Harmony Boys in the first half, but their efforts were thwarted by the resilient defensive line of the Benin Arsenal.

Kwara United were forced into an early substitution in the 17th minute when Anthony Nnamdi, who sustained a knock, was replaced by Mighty Emmanuel.

In spite of the efforts of both teams, the first half ended goalless.

The hosts returned from the break with renewed determination and were rewarded in the 49th minute when Stephen Gideon put Kwara United ahead.

Ferinyaro unleashed a shot that was parried by the Bendel Insurance goalkeeper, allowing Gideon to react quickly and slot home the rebound.

However, the celebrations were short-lived as Kayode Oke restored parity for the visitors in the 52nd minute, capitalising on a poorly marked loose ball.

Bendel Insurance completed their comeback just three minutes later, with Chinedu Nwosu scoring in the 55th minute to hand the Benin-based side a 2-1 lead.

Kwara United subsequently intensified their efforts to find an equaliser, with further tactical substitutions introduced to change the course of the game.

However, the visitors remained resolute defensively to protect their advantage until the final whistle.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Kwara United coach Ladi Ojokojo, who stood in for Ashifat Suleiman, expressed disappointment with the outcome but remained optimistic about the team’s prospects.

He assured that the team would continue to work hard to return to winning ways.

The defeat leaves Kwara United in 14th position on the NPFL table with 12 points from 11 matches.

The Harmony Boys will next travel to face Rangers International in Owerri next weekend as they seek to bounce back from the home setback. (NAN)

Tinubu’s wife empowers 500 market women in Cross River

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, through the Women Mobilisation Directorate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, has empowered 500 market women, artisans and petty traders in Cross River State.

The empowerment exercise, which took place in Calabar, was part of the directorate’s grassroots engagement ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Co-Director of the Women Mobilisation Directorate, Dr Betta Edu, who led the outreach, said the beneficiaries received cash grants and working tools to enable them to expand their businesses and improve their livelihoods.

The beneficiaries received deep freezers, blenders, toasters and varying amounts of money, with some petty traders receiving N50,000 to boost their businesses.

Edu said the intervention was particularly targeted at women operating small businesses with limited capital.

‘We have not come empty-handed. We have come with different categories of empowerment,’ she said.

Edu added that some beneficiaries had been operating with capital as low as N5,000 or N10,000, stressing that the financial support would enable them to expand their businesses and provide better living conditions for their families.

She also highlighted some of the social and economic interventions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, including the student loan scheme, free maternal healthcare for pregnant women in public health institutions, subsidised renal dialysis and initiatives providing free eyeglasses to vulnerable Nigerians.

According to Edu, the APC women mobilisation team would extend the empowerment programme to other parts of Cross River State, with Ugep in the Central Senatorial District scheduled to benefit between November and December, while the Northern Senatorial District would be reached in January.

As part of the outreach, the delegation also visited the General Hospital, Calabar, where it inspected the facility, provided care packages and settled medical expenses for vulnerable patients in the maternity and surgical wards.

The hospital administrator, Mrs Bassey Effiong Ephraim, expressed appreciation for the intervention and disclosed that efforts were ongoing to recruit additional medical doctors and nurses to strengthen healthcare delivery.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Esther Bassey, a widow and mother of three from Odukpani Local Government Area, commended the initiative, saying empowerment programmes had helped vulnerable families sustain their livelihoods.

Meanwhile, the women mobilisation exercise also featured a strategic meeting with APC women leaders and supporters in the state, where they were urged to take the party’s campaign to the grassroots ahead of the 2027 elections.

The wife of the Cross River State Governor, Bishop Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, charged the women to set aside their grievances and return to their respective polling units to mobilise support for President Tinubu, Governor Bassey Otu and other APC candidates.

She urged them to translate their support for the party into actual votes, challenging each woman to mobilise between 100 and 200 votes at her polling unit.

‘Go back to your polling unit and go and gather your people, beginning with your women, who will be your foot soldiers. Once you gather them, let them begin to canvass door to door, church to church, prayer meeting to prayer meeting, and market to market,’ she said.

The meeting was attended by Dr Edu, female APC candidates, commissioners, local government chairmen and their wives, former commissioners, party leaders and other political stakeholders.

The women pledged their support for the Tinubu-Otu ticket and other APC candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Divided we fall

A couple of years ago, I started hearing the unthinkable. Expats, I was told, who’d long loved living in the Philippines, no longer viewed Metro Manila as a plum post. From traffic to climate, red tape, and services, the country was increasingly considered hopelessly inefficient, backward, and downright unpleasant compared to neighbors, Filipinos and expats alike had long considered hopelessly provincial and boring. To me, it marked the end of an era stretching back to the 1980s when the Asian Development Bank built a new headquarters and surrounding enclaves were favored as expat residences.

A similar stretch of time, 33 years, separates two speeches by two Zobels. The first, titled ‘Democracy is development,’ was delivered by Jaime Zobel de Ayala on Oct. 23, 1993. The second was the keynote address at the Makati Business Club’s 45th anniversary by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

Zobel Senior reflected on the role of government in economic development when memories-and wounds-of the dictatorship were still fresh, but the newly restored democracy had already committed its share of mistakes.

‘Conventional wisdom favors maximum free enterprise and minimum government. The historical truth is that effective government is indispensable to economic progress. When government works, the economy succeeds,’ he said.

He listed what government does and what happens when it’s remiss in its duties:

‘Without law courts, there is no sanctity of contracts, therefore, no security of trade.

‘Without police, there is no security of property, therefore, no reason to invest in industry.

‘Without publicly built and maintained roads, rails, ports, bridges and telecommunications, commerce can only crawl.’

But then as now, there was the preoccupation with success and failure: our neighbors versus ourselves, and beyond, marked, he said, by ‘government, not just as catalyst, but as leader and main actor in rapid economic development.’

His prescription? ‘What is needed is not more imperious orders, but the same laws, rules, and regulations evenly applied.’ As for the rest, ‘The last thing we need is a change of form of government … What is needed is to stay the course …. Let us shun quick fixes and slick slogans. There is no easy way out.’ He added, ‘Let us pay our taxes, but let us make our officials pay if they misuse our taxes. Only in a democracy can we do that.’

By and large, he articulated what public opinion has been saying in the generation since; his son did something similar: ‘Business cannot thrive over the long term in a society that is not itself thriving,’ he said. ‘As global companies diversify their supply chains, we should think beyond which company, industrial park, or sector secures the next investment,’ because in a dog-eat-dog world, ‘a more important question to ask is whether the Philippines itself is winning.’ But to do so, he suggested, requires ‘an honest conversation.’

The ongoing disruption of institutions and systems globally means that global multinationals are actively diversifying their supply chains from the hubs that traditionally dominated, just as shipping is finding new pathways beyond the choke points that the Suez and Panama Canals have become. Seeking new paths for supply chains is an opportunity the Philippines is increasingly missing: Zobel Junior cited a steep decline in foreign direct investment as proof of this and anecdotal evidence of fewer international investors coming to Manila to look at prospects. The demographic ‘sweet spot’ enjoyed by the country is thus relatively underutilized, while the digital economy, which is already at 10 percent of gross domestic product, is in danger of not meeting its potential because of domestic handicaps.

He enumerated five fundamentals required if we are to attract long-term investments:

Talent: Do we have the required workforce and high-level productivity?

Infrastructure: Is the country’s infrastructure modern enough to handle the influx?

Energy: Is there sufficient, reliable, and transition-ready energy?

Regulatory environment: Is the local regulatory landscape friendly to foreign capital?

Institutional stability: Is the environment predictable and secure for multibillion investments?

Zobel Junior proposed that ‘we can remain fierce competitors in the marketplace, while recognizing that there are areas where collaboration creates greater value for everyone,’ identifying what he calls the three pillars of national advancement: education, citizen health, and reliable livelihood generation where the private sector can help scale up ‘social infrastructure.’ The Ayala Corp.’s own efforts include investing in its Healthway Medical Network (filling the need for affordable health care), partnering its own drugstore networks with local government units to support PhilHealth needs, and its own social outreach efforts to bring medicines and health care to remote barangays. In education, it is working to provide workforce-ready curricula to schools and to support greater capacity and quality in education for 3- to 5-year-olds. For sustainability and mobility, it is supporting the transition to electric fleets for private companies and LGUs, and renewable energy for municipalities.

The now-retired generation might remember former President Fidel V. Ramos’ ‘Team Philippines’ approach, which he lacked the charisma to sell.

INEC, Purge The Register Before It Is Too Late

A face that belongs to no one should not choose who governs Nigeria. When the Independent National Electoral Commission announced that it would embed artificial intelligence in the conduct of the 2027 elections, eyebrows were raised. Who would regulate INEC’s use of a technology so powerful and so open to abuse? The commission offered assurances. The fears remained.

With the display of the preliminary voters’ register, those fears are becoming manifest. Barely a month after INEC announced that its register had crossed 103 million names, Nigerians scrolling through it found faces that did not look human. Faces with the unmistakable sheen of artificial intelligence.

INEC first called them ‘suspected’ images and said the online register did not reflect ongoing data clean-up. Three days later, its own Director of ICT, Lawrence Bayode, went further. Some registration officers, he said, had used their official logins to add questionable records in several states. Some of the photographs were AI-generated. Others reflected ‘very bad registration.’

That is not a rumour from a partisan blogger. That is an admission from inside the commission.

And it raises questions INEC has not yet answered. How many records were added this way? In which states and wards? Which officers did it, and on whose instruction? Will they be prosecuted?

Silence on these questions is not an option. The commission plans to certify the final register on December 15. Once that happens, every fake name on it becomes a legal entry, a ballot waiting for a hand. The window to clean the register is not months. It is weeks.

But care is needed. Social media is awash with figures: 20 million AI voters, even 50 million. None of these numbers has come with a method, a sample or a single verifiable dataset. Inflated claims do the riggers’ work for them. They tell the young voter in Gombe or Ogbomoso that his vote is already stolen, so why bother? A demoralised electorate is the easiest one to defeat.

The truth is serious enough without exaggeration. INEC has admitted that insiders manipulated the register. The scale is unknown. That alone should alarm every Nigerian, whatever their party.

It should also alarm INEC, because the commission’s credibility is its only real asset. Its chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, has said that ‘algorithms will not and must never decide the 2027 votes.’ But Nigerians will judge the commission by what it does before December 15, not by what it says at conferences.

So what must INEC do?

First, publish the numbers. The commission says its Automated Biometric Identification System flagged the irregularities. Then it knows how many records were flagged. It should publish that figure, broken down by state and local government, and update it weekly until certification.

Second, purge the fakes in public view. Every record removed should be listed, with the reason for removal: duplicate, deceased, underage, fabricated image. Political parties and accredited observers should be invited to witness the process and test the results.

Third, hand over the register. The Electoral Act entitles political parties to copies of the voter register. INEC should release the cleaned version early enough for parties, civil society and the media to audit it before certification, not after.

Fourth, name and sanction the officers involved. If staff used official logins to plant fake voters, that is not ‘very bad registration.’ It is an electoral offence, and it should be prosecuted as one.

Fifth, extend the timeline if necessary. If the clean-up cannot be completed credibly by December 15, INEC should say so and adjust. A delayed, clean register is better than a punctual, poisoned one.

INEC cannot do this alone, nor should it be trusted to.

The National Assembly’s committees on electoral matters must summon the commission and demand a full account of every AI system it uses: what it does, who supplied it and who audits it. The question Nigerians asked at the start remains unanswered: no law today regulates how INEC deploys artificial intelligence. That gap must be closed by regulation before the election, not by apology after it.

Political parties must stop treating the register as INEC’s business alone. Every party has agents in every ward. Let them check the names against the people they know.

And the media must do what journalism exists to do: verify. Pick the wards. Find the names. Photograph the faces. Report what is proven, and label what is not.

Ordinary citizens have a role too. Check your own details on the register. Report entries you know to be false. Collect your PVC. On election day, stay to watch the count and photograph the result sheet at your polling unit.

A fake name in the register does not steal an election by itself. Someone still has to vote it, and that vote must still survive the collation centre. But the register is the foundation. Build the election on a corrupted list, and every result that follows will carry a question mark.

Nigeria has been here before. Ghost workers on the payroll. Ghost beneficiaries in social investment programmes. Now the ghosts have learned to use artificial intelligence.

The farmer who will walk two kilometres to vote in January deserves to know that his ballot will be counted alongside real neighbours, not invented ones. That is the least a democracy owes him. INEC has six weeks. It should use every one of them.

Police recover 5,700 liters of alleged pilfered diesel in GenSan

The police recovered about 5,700 liters of suspected illegally obtained diesel fuel in General Santos City, following a report received through the government’s 8888 hotline.

The Police Regional Office 12 (PRO-12) said its operatives responded to a report of alleged diesel pilferage and illegal distribution at around 3:37 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Purok Saydala, Barangay Tambler.

Police found no one at the reported location but discovered 27 drums containing approximately 5,700 liters of diesel fuel believed to be connected to the alleged illegal operation.

The drums were immediately turned over to Police Station 5 for safekeeping, documentation and further investigation.

Further investigation identified a woman, alias ‘Glad’, as the owner of the property where the drums were discovered.

PRO-12 said criminal charges were being prepared against her, subject to further evaluation of the evidence to establish her possible involvement and determine the applicable violations of law.

Police said the investigation was continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and determine the liability, if any, of other persons involved.

PRO-12 Regional Director Brig. Gen. Alan B. Manibog urged the public to continue reporting suspected illegal activities and cooperating with authorities.

PDP members back Sani over roads in Kaduna

Members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Soba Local Government Area of Kaduna State have declared their support for Governor Uba Sani ahead of next year’s governorship election citing his building of roads in their communities.

The residents said they would support the governor at the polls despite their membership of the opposition party noting that his performance in infrastructure development had earned him their backing.

One of them Adamu Danburam a PDP coordinator in his area said he would vote for Sani because the governor had done for his community what the PDP had failed to do.

He said: ‘I am a staunch PDP member but for us politics is about individuals. Although we belong to the PDP I will vote for Sani because he has done for me what the PDP could not do.

‘Even as a PDP coordinator in my area I will vote for Sani because we should vote for someone who knows our community and has done something to improve our lives. I support him because he has constructed a road for us.’

Danburam prayed for the governor to complete his tenure saying residents hoped he would address other challenges facing their communities if re-elected.

He appealed to the governor to provide a hospital electricity and potable water for Birnin Da’a village.

Another PDP member Dogara Mohammed said he had never changed political parties but would vote for All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming election because of the road built through his community.

‘Everybody knows that I have never changed political parties but this time I will vote for APC because of the road he constructed through our town.

‘The road will benefit many people including future generations. It will also help many people across the country especially those who use it to travel’ he further said.

Mohammed added that the residents intended to reward the governor for the project through their votes.

Similarly Hassan Abdullahi said the poor condition of roads had previously made it difficult for farmers to transport their produce to markets in Soba and other locations particularly during the rainy season.

‘Before the road was constructed we faced serious difficulties because of the poor road network. It was difficult to transport our farm produce to markets especially during the rainy season.

‘But now Governor Sani has built a road linking Gurundafi Soba and Turawa. We can reach our destinations easily within a few minutes.

We are truly grateful’ he said.

The residents described the road project as an intervention that would improve transportation ease the movement of farm produce and support economic activities in their communities.

Kaduna State Government has also built roads in other parts of the state including a 15-kilometre road linking Kasuwar Magani to Wusar in Kajuru Local Government and a 23-kilometre road linking Madaci to Madakiya and extending to Kafanchan in Jema’a Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna.

Raising broilers for Christmas: Costs, timing, risks every farmer should know

Farmers hoping to sell broilers before Christmas need to work backwards from their intended sale dates, confirm the availability of day-old chicks and secure adequate feed supplies.

With feed accounting for a large share of poultry production costs, rising prices and weather-related risks can also affect how much farmers earn.

Here is what prospective broiler farmers need to know before starting a Christmas batch.

When you should start raising broilers for Christmas

Broilers generally reach market weight within six to eight weeks, although growth depends on the breed, feeding programme, management practices and prevailing conditions.

Some farm guides put the production cycle at 35 to 49 days. Using that range, farmers targeting sales between December 14 and 23 would need to receive their chicks between approximately October 19 and November 11.

Farmers starting in late October should therefore plan carefully around their intended sale dates. Those targeting the earlier part of the Christmas market may already have missed the ideal starting window, depending on their production cycle.

Ordering chicks too late could mean the birds are not ready when demand peaks.

Target market weight

The appropriate market weight depends on buyers’ preferences, feeding costs and the farmer’s production targets.

A bird should weigh about 1.5 to 1.7kg at 28 days, 2.2 to 2.4kg at 35 days and 2.7 to 3.0kg at 42 days.

These figures represent one farm’s targets and are not guaranteed results for every flock.

Farmers should weigh a sample of birds weekly to monitor growth and identify problems early. Poor weight gain may indicate issues with feed quality, water supply, disease or management that need attention.

Chick availability and prices

Earlier in 2026, farmers reported shortages of chicks, although the report referenced concerned egg-laying stock rather than broilers. A farm-supply website listed broiler chicks as available on October 16, but availability may have changed since then.

A farm-supply website listed broiler chicks as available in October, but availability may have changed since then.

Prices also vary between hatcheries and suppliers.

In March, Tribune reported that day-old chick prices had nearly doubled within a year, rising from ?1,800 to ?3,300. The Oyo State Government subsequently convened poultry stakeholders to discuss the situation.

Prices gathered from several online listings provide an indication of the range farmers may encounter.

One website, dated October 16, listed a carton of 50 chicks at between ?98,000 and ?116,000. This works out to approximately ?1,960 to ?2,320 per chick.

Other undated listings placed the cost at ?84,000 to ?99,000 per carton, or about ?1,500 to ?1,700 per chick.

These are indicative listing prices, not confirmed quotations for every hatchery. Farmers should compare suppliers, check chick quality and confirm delivery arrangements before making payment.

Feed cost

Feed takes most of the money in a poultry business. Experts quoted by Tribune have put it at 60 to 70% of costs.

A training workshop reported by Tribune put feed at 50 to 70% of livestock costs, and as high as 80% for poultry.

That is why feed prices matter more than almost any other number. A small change per bag adds up fast over a whole batch.

What feed costs

Online prices for a 25kg bag of broiler feed ranged from approximately ?9,000 to ?26,000 across the listings reviewed.

Some market guides put prices at ?9,000 to ?14,000 around April and ?13,000 to ?19,000 in January. Product listings showed higher prices of ?21,400 to ?24,900, although those listings were dated 2024 and 2025.

Because the figures cover different periods and sources, they should not be treated as a single current market price.

Feed consumption per bird

One Nigerian guide estimates a bird eats about 2 to 2.4kg of feed by six or seven weeks. An older Tribune interview says close to 4kg until market size.

At ?9,000 a bag, 2 to 4kg of feed costs about ?720 to ?1,440 per bird. At ?26,000 a bag, it costs about ?2,080 to ?4,160. That is simple arithmetic, not a forecast.

Expected selling prices

A Lagos weekly price guide dated 5 August listed live broilers at ?15,000 to ?27,000. A pre-Christmas survey in December 2025, reported by Nairametrics, found adult broilers at ?18,000 to ?30,000.

That was about 20 % above the year before. It tells us what happened last year, not what will happen this year.

One guide priced birds at ?2,200 to ?2,600 a kilogram. That doesn’t match the per-bird prices above, so we left it out.

How to manage cold weather in December

Temperature management is important during the early stages of broiler production because young chicks cannot regulate their body temperature as effectively as older birds.

One farm guide recommends a brooding temperature of 32°C to 35°C during the first week, followed by a reduction of about 2°C to 3°C each week as the chicks grow.

The brooder should be heated before the chicks arrive, with the equipment checked to ensure it can maintain the required temperature.

Cold nights during the Harmattan period may increase the difficulty of keeping chicks warm. However, farmers should not assume that weather conditions will follow the same pattern every year.

They should prepare for temperature changes, monitor conditions inside the brooder and ensure that heating equipment is safe and reliable.

How to prevent poultry disease during dry season

Newcastle disease tends to be worse in the dry and Harmattan months. Typical Nigerian mortality is 3 to 5 %, according to one guide.

Common programmes give Newcastle vaccination in the first week or two and Gumboro around day 10 to 14, with boosters later. Ask a vet for the schedule that fits your birds.

How to find buyers early

Raising broilers for Christmas is only worthwhile if there is a market for the finished birds.

Farmers should begin contacting potential buyers before ordering chicks. Restaurants, caterers, food vendors, retailers and households may be interested in purchasing birds for the festive period.

Tribune previously reported that young farmers participating in a scheme in Ekiti State sold their broilers through open markets, eateries and restaurants. Such channels can provide options for farmers seeking to reach customers beyond their immediate communities.

Farmers can also take advance orders, agree on quantities and communicate expected delivery dates to buyers. However, they should avoid promising weights or delivery dates they may be unable to meet.

Pre-production checklist

Before starting a Christmas broiler batch, farmers should confirm chick availability, obtain current feed prices and secure a reliable source of heat for brooding.

They should calculate the cost of raising each bird, identify a suitable vaccination programme and establish contact with potential buyers.

Most importantly, farmers should work backwards from their intended sale date and choose a production plan they can manage with the money, facilities and time available.

Planning ahead, controlling expenses and protecting birds from weather-related stress and disease can improve a farmer’s chances of meeting Christmas demand without taking unnecessary financial risks.

Gov Diri: Only A God-Fearing Person Will Succeed Me

Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has urged those aspiring to succeed him to seek God’s guidance and approval through prayer, saying only a God-fearing individual will succeed him.

Speaking at the Ecumenical Centre, Igbogene-Yenagoa, during the state’s 15th thanksgiving, on Monday, Diri stated that nobody can say no to anyone accepted by God.

He said Bayelsa had been handed over to God, maintaining that the Almighty would always have the final say on the affairs of the state.

Diri also stressed the need for people of the state to remain united, tolerant and peaceful, saying that it was the only way Bayelsa can witness the much needed development.

He reaffirmed the commitment of his administration to continue to impact on the lives of the people positively and that it had the political will to transform the state, which he said had one of the best environments for development.

He thanked the people for standing by his administration.

He said, ‘All who want to be governor, go and seek the face of God. Anyone who wants to be governor must be God-fearing. If God said yes, nobody can say no, not even me.

‘Let us continue to worship God. Let us be tolerant and patient as we will become victorious at the end of the day.

‘The Bible itself recognises that it is good to give thanks to the Lord. Today we came to say thank you Father.

‘As I keep saying, those of us who were born in Yenagoa or know Bayelsa of old can see the difference today. It is enough to give thanks.

‘We have one of the best environments in Nigeria and with the political will we are bringing development to our people.’

The guest preacher and former state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Very Rev. Joseph Opelema, who took his sermon on the theme: ‘Called to be Good Christians and Good Citizens,’ said Christians hold dual citizenship – citizens of the church and citizens of the society.

Drawing his message from Matthew 22:15-22, where the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus on payment of tax, he said His response: ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God’ underscored the call for Christians to be good citizens.

According to the Catholic cleric, the Bible passage, which he said had often been misinterpreted, emphasised that Christians must bring the virtues of sacrifice, prudence, accountability, justice, love, care and charity to bear wherever they find themselves, especially in public office.

He lamented that there were many worshippers today but few live the Christian life, stressing that Jesus called on believers to be witnesses, salt of the earth, light of the world, and to use any public position in Bayelsa and Nigeria to serve and witness to Christ.

Rev. Opelema described Bayelsa as abundantly blessed with natural and human resources, good weather, land and rivers, capable of making it a tourism hub in Nigeria, adding that with a God-fearing leader, the state would in no time attain its full potential.

High points of the service was the unveiling of a book: ‘Lively Oracle’ containing the scriptural declarations of the governor during morning devotions, and song ministrations by various Gospel artistes.

Daily Trust reports that Bayelsa’s governorship election will hold a few months after the 2027 general election.

I believe God has answered my prayer, says Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reaffirmed his commitment to Nigeria, saying God has answered his prayer to continue in office.

The President stated this on Monday while reflecting on his spiritual journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, during which the Custodian of the Holy Mosques of Makkah and Madinah, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, granted him a rare privilege of leading Nigeria’s delegation to pray inside the Holy Ka’abah.

At the Ka’abah, Tinubu offered prayers of gratitude to Almighty Allah for the privilege of serving as Nigeria’s President.

Sheikh Dahlulah Muthawal of Masjid al-Haram led the President into the Ka’abah.

Tinubu thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for granting him and members of his Nigerian delegation the opportunity to enter the Holy Ka’abah in Makkah and offer prayers to Almighty Allah.

The President described the honour as a historic and deeply cherished spiritual experience, reflecting the longstanding bonds of friendship, mutual respect and cooperation between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

‘I want to say a big thank you for the faith, for the recognition. I can’t believe the fencing of the Ka’abah is in Green-White-Green, which reminds us of the Nigerian identity.’

‘I thank the Crown Prince and all the administrators of the holy land. I thank them for the hospitality and recognition given to me as the leader of the delegation and the country.

‘We are all facing challenges and hostility around us. We will overcome them with faith in God Almighty. I’m grateful forever. I thank the King and the royal Crown Prince.

‘It is an honour that I enjoyed, and it is gracious of them to have allowed me to enter inside the Ka’abah. This is history. Well, I asked for wisdom and resilience to continue to serve the people. I know that prayer has been granted. Before the 2023 election, I did the same thing. I asked Allah to bless my Umrah then, and He did.

And I promised that I would come back to thank Him.’

Reflecting on the message from the Holy Qur’an in Surah Aal-Imran, Verse 26, which affirms that Almighty Allah is the Owner of all sovereignty, granting power and authority to whom He wills and taking them away from whom He wills, the President said power is a trust that must be exercised responsibly, with humility and in the service of the people, recognising that no position of authority is permanent and that ultimate sovereignty belongs to Almighty Allah.

‘There is no other God but Almighty Allah. He is the giver and the taker. He owns power and authority. He says, ‘ If I give you, use it well. If you don’t use it in accordance with my dictates, I can take it from you and give it to another person. I am the only One who has that authority,’ the President said, quoting the words of the Qur’an.

Tinubu said faith in Allah had strengthened his conviction that his emergence as Nigeria’s leader was an extraordinary blessing that must be matched with dedicated service to the country.

‘I have faith in that, and I believe extremely well that He has done me and my country a great favour. Out of many millions of people, to be the President and Commander-in-Chief is a favour that only Almighty God can do to a human being,’ he stated.

Tinubu emphasised that his commitment to Project Nigeria had become even stronger, assuring Nigerians of his resolve to pursue policies and programmes that would promote prosperity, national development and shared progress.

‘My commitment to Project Nigeria is higher. I am determined to usher in prosperity and fully develop the country, consistent with the wish of Allah and the support of the people.

‘It is important to put Allah first, then move on. Follow your conscience. Follow the right path that will lead Nigeria to that greatness,’ the President said.

On the nation’s economic outlook, Tinubu expressed optimism about the ‘progress made under his watch’, describing the economic foundation as solid and the country’s emergence from a difficult period as encouraging.

‘The foundation is solid, and the economy has come out of the dark tunnel. This is inspiring,’ he said.

He maintained, however, that nation-building requires sustained investment in young Nigerians’ future, noting that today’s leaders’ decisions will determine how future generations remember them.

‘We need to build a future for our youth. If we don’t invest in their future, how do we want to be remembered as leaders 50 years from now? That’s the main thing. So this is a rare privilege to lead the country,’ the President added.