Category: Daily Trust

Leadership powers reforms, while innovation drives development. Leadership, therefore, is not merely about holding a title or occupying an office, but about functionality, sound decision-making, effective citizen mobilization, and consistent results delivery, especially under pressure during times of upheaval and distress.

A true leader must always remain strategically clear about the chosen direction, execute plans in alignment with that vision, and do so with full accountability-boots on the ground-while delivering tangible outcomes.

Alhaji Mohammed Goni Alkali is not just a leader; he is a leader with a distinct difference. From his Maiduguri office as the Managing Director of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), he meticulously plans the Commission’s operations, which involve the management of billions of Naira, all anchored on comprehensive recovery frameworks.

Yet, he frequently steps out with his boots firmly on the ground across the six states under the Commission’s coverage-Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe. There, Alhaji Mohammed personally ensures that what is documented on paper is precisely what materializes on the ground.

Each state receives its fair share of the dividends of the Renewed Hope Agenda: schools are constructed or renovated, health centres are equipped and new ones built in underserved communities, and farming communities long devastated by years of Boko Haram insurgency are steadily rebuilt and restored.

These are the defining hallmarks of the leadership of this ubiquitous enigma. From the boardroom to the trenches, Alhaji Mohammed is recreating the NEDC, redefining its priorities, and transforming it into a masterpiece of humanitarian and post-conflict disaster management. His efforts continue to earn consistent applause as he delivers results even at the most challenging conflict-affected points.

Indeed, with a rich background of experience garnered from the private sector, Alhaji Mohammed cannot be taken for granted when it comes to adherence to standard operational procedures, workplace discipline, personal integrity, and an unwavering focus on results. He does not treat the Commission as a mere contract-dispensing agency.

Instead, he runs it as a proactive human conflict interventionist organization whose core target is the full reconstruction and rehabilitation of the entire North East region, alongside a deliberate reduction-if not elimination-of the prevailing level of poverty.

Driven by a strong sense of accountability and boardroom-level rigor, he ensures that every kobo allocated and released to the agency is utilized strictly for the benefit of the people. To achieve this, he mandates that all contracts pass through rigorous due process, maintaining zero tolerance for padding or any form of financial impropriety.

As a grassroots mobilizer, Alhaji Mohammed’s leadership is both seen and deeply felt by the people. Under his watch, roads, bridges, schools, and healthcare facilities have been constructed across all six states, covering their 112 Local Government Areas.

To address the yawning education gaps created by the destruction of schools during the insurgency and the persistent challenge of out-of-school children, Alhaji Goni embarked on an ambitious programme of school construction and renovation.

Through the launch of the ?6 billion Education Endowment Fund and various targeted programmes for the training and re-training of teachers in Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools, he has successfully infused new life and vigour into an educational system that had almost collapsed under the weight of prolonged insurgency.

To revive food security and agricultural productivity, Alhaji Mohammed activated a comprehensive integrated Agricultural Programme. This initiative distributes farming inputs and tools-including improved seeds, fertilizers, machinery, and extension services-to enhance food production, sustain local economies, and support smallholder farmers who lost their livelihoods during the crisis years.

To cushion the devastating effects of years of insurgency and provide meaningful relief to displaced persons still living in IDP camps, he rolled out multiple targeted interventions. These include the deployment of ?3 billion worth of ophthalmology equipment to Borno State, among other critical support measures.

A proactive administrator and astute strategist determined to redefine the operations of this humanitarian support agency, Alhaji Goni prioritizes three key pillars of intervention. Working collaboratively as a team, he deliberately delegates roles and responsibilities to the executive directors in charge of humanitarian affairs, operations, and finance.

He promotes the efficient use of collaboration, stakeholder engagement, synergy, and inter-agency cooperation. This approach has brought state governors together, fostering greater community ownership of the various programmes and projects established within their respective states.

In 2025, the Commission effectively utilized the ?131.34 billion allocation it received, achieving 59% implementation of its ?290.99 billion budgetary provision. Building on this foundation, Alhaji Mohammed has prioritized infrastructural development, humanitarian support, and socio-economic recovery. These priorities are clearly encapsulated in the Commission’s 2026 budget proposal of ?244.07 billion.

His administration rests firmly on the twin foundations of transparency and the prudent utilization of resources, with accountability as its central fulcrum. Alhaji Mohammed adopts a pragmatic and innovative approach to the management of the Commission, ensuring proper and deliberate forecasting of needs and outcomes.

In a region where development funds have historically disappeared without trace, it is to Alhaji Mohammed’s credit that his leadership is anchored on truth. He insists on timely and open reporting of budget performance, doing so with honesty even when implementation is only partial.

He demands the even distribution of interventions across all 112 Local Government Areas, maintaining that development must not exist only on budget documents but must be manifest, verifiable, consistent, and impactful.

Reconstruction under his watch is practical, accountable, and people-centric, with emphasis placed on justice rather than partisan politics. For a region long defined by insurgency and years of neglect, this is more than leadership-it is resilience in action.

Little wonder, then, that the 2026 budget of ?244.07 billion, targeted at critical infrastructure, humanitarian support, and socio-economic recovery, speaks volumes. It prioritizes road construction, relief materials, agricultural skills acquisition, and capacity development for Commission staff. This reflects a man who is both competent and capable of doing what is right.

His insistence on regular field monitoring, transparency, and contextual integration further amplifies the fact that his plan is not a generic ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, but a progressive, adaptive action designed to rebuild what is broken, restore what has been lost, and prevent any relapse into crisis.

This is where strategy, funding, and legitimacy combine to win the war against underdevelopment. It is where boardroom promises ultimately meet ground realities.

Indeed, Alhaji Mohammed Goni Alkali’s plans are working because he personally bridges both worlds-he does the work in the boardroom and equally commits to the trenches.

For him, politics may have provided the seat, but operational excellence is what keeps him firmly at the table of impactful service. This is the story of a man who has taken policy to reality, who refused to remain only at the top but deliberately moved to the ground-level spaces where decisions are tested by weather, politics, insecurity, and complex human behaviour-and is steadily winning.

Chairman of the Forum of Former Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly and former Southeast spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Denge Josef Onoh, has criticised Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Mr. Reno Omokri, over his widely circulated video interaction with Mr. Peter Obi.

Omokri had in a video he posted in his X account shown a pleasant exchange with the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential aspirant, (Obi), but mocked Obi with the video title that President Tinubu will win the next presidential election.

But Onoh in a statement he made available, on Sunday, condemned Omokri’s conduct at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where he approached Obi, exchanged greetings with a handshake and shoulder pat, while deliberately recording the moment.

Omokri later posted the footage on social media with the sarcastic caption: ‘Peter Obi And I Exchanging Warm Greetings Today At Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport In Anticipation of President Tinubu’s Reelection Next Year!’

Onoh described the behaviour as a clear lack of decorum and statesmanship.

‘Mr. Omokri’s actions fall far short of the character, composure, maturity, and diplomatic poise expected of a person nominated to represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an Ambassador. Ambassadors are not mere political attack-dogs or social media content creators; they are the face of Nigeria abroad,’ Onoh said.

The Forum Chairman, who has consistently opposed Omokri’s nomination, said the envoy-designate’s conduct reflects poorly on his professionalism and sense of self-worth.

‘Approaching a former presidential candidate and respected elder statesman primarily for the purpose of manufacturing a viral clip, then framing it in a mocking tone, reduces what should have been a simple, private courtesy exchange into a cheap political stunt,’ he added.

Onoh stressed that even as a private citizen, such pettiness would be unbecoming, but as Ambassador-designate, it is utterly unacceptable.

‘Diplomacy demands tact, emotional intelligence, and the ability to rise above partisan trenches. Mocking political opponents on public platforms erodes the gravitas required for effective international representation.’

He warned that Omokri’s fixation on scoring cheap points risks portraying Nigeria as a nation that appoints individuals skilled in social media provocation rather than statecraft, thereby undermining the credibility of the country’s foreign service.

Onoh urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and relevant authorities to impress upon all Ambassadorial nominees the need for higher standards of conduct, noting that public office, especially diplomatic appointments, requires setting aside personal animosities in favour of national interest and personal dignity.

‘Nigeria deserves better. Our diplomats must represent the very best of our national character – not its lowest common denominator on X (formerly Twitter),’ Onoh concluded.

There is a clear difference between an organic mammoth crowd and a rented crowd. The organic mammoth crowd is a very huge crowd that shows up unsolicited, unpaid, and uncoerced. This crowd grows out from the real, audacious buy-in, not artificial mobilization.

Basically, the structure of an organic mammoth crowd is tied to the attendance of traditional rulers, market women, children, clerics, youth leaders, and grassroots structures. They are there because they have a stake in what is taking place. It is a proof of intactness, and a powerful currency. This is what the South Africans call an ‘indaba.’

It was indeed an indaba in Zaria, when the Rt. Honourable Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, PhD, GCON, made the grand declaration reaffirming support for President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), ahead of the 2027 general election.

I must confess that I have not seen this Zaria crowd anywhere in Nigeria before. We all had the mindset that the usual northern crowd died when former President Buhari went to be with the Lord. Alas, I was wrong.

For a man whose performance at the National Assembly has been nothing less than superlative, the rally, turned into an Indaba – a gathering of intent – was however not strange.

Since June 2023, when he became the Hon. Speaker of the 10th Assembly, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has leveraged the national budget and his connections to carry out gigantic interventions in his Zaria Federal Constituency and across the entire North West.

Given the 25 road projects that have been fully completed and the 18 more that are slated for commencement soon, along with the various police stations built or upgraded across the length and breadth of the constituency, TJ Abbas has spoken for himself. He has demonstrated his avowed commitment to both the fight against insecurity and improved interconnectivity, so much so that the indaba is a powerful symbol.

Few people are aware of the construction of various Primary Health Centres, including those in Bizaro and Dambo wards which have been fully equipped with state-of-the-art medical supplies, all initiated by him. Neither are they informed of the modern ICT Centres in Amaru and Kwarbai A ward.

The people of Abba village had to flow out in their thousands to that historic 10km road march because the reconstruction of the bridge that links them to the rest of the world – which was destroyed since 2014 – remains indelible in their hearts.

In the same vein, the hundreds of thousands of farmers who came out did so because they could easily associate the gathering with the over 80,000 bags of fertilizers, thousands of farm inputs, equipment, and the two-year supply of farm seedlings distributed to them by Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

Again, the 1,865 constituents, including those from Zaria Zone 1 and Nuhu Babajo Stadium, who have benefited from the distribution of motorcycles initiated by Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas remain grateful to his gracious magnanimity and had to come out to attest to this.

The thousands of civil servants and non-traditional students, out of the over 500,000 strong voters’ population of one of the strongest constituencies in Nigeria, that turned out did so in response to the National Open University Campus sited in the constituency, which now grants them easy and uninterrupted access to affordable university education. Meanwhile, the hundreds of lawyers who attended did so out of the fact that they have variously benefitted from the College of Legal Studies located in Zaria, an initiative of Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

It is indeed noteworthy to state that the thousands of school children and hundreds of teachers came to give their support to a man who brought them a new initiative of enhanced leadership development, enhanced teachers’ productivity through the Teachers’ Education Fund, and also renovated hundreds of schools, changing the learning and teaching environment favourably.

Mr. Speaker will remain an enigma and a very strong formidable political force, not just in Zaria Federal Constituency but in the entire North West because of the over 50 billion Naira allocation that he attracted into the 2025 budget for sundry projects across 8 LGAs in Kaduna North Senatorial District, including ABA, Kasu, College of Education, and Gidan Waya.

Distinctively, using his clout and congruence, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas as the Speaker of the 10th Assembly institutionalised the North West development plan beyond his Zaria home to the entire North West by concretising the Bill that created the North West Development Commission (NWDC). He also ensured the inauguration of the House Committee to oversee it.

He did not stop there but also made sure the Commission has a comprehensive Needs Assessment, inclusive of a 10-year strategic plan. In doing all these, he neither conferred with flesh and blood but instead publicly demonstrated strong deliberate action towards tackling the insecurity, poverty, and infrastructural decay within the region.

As the distinguished Hon. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abbas remains the instrument for the passage of more Bills than any other House since 1999, and has personally sponsored more legislations on insecurity, agricultural policies, pharmaceutical regulations, and the resolution of ASUU-FG disputes than any other legislator. For these, the people of Zaria Federal Constituency are not just extremely proud of him but are willing to follow his direction.

His grassroots mobilisation and strategic influence in attracting several key federal government appointments and his unique partnership with his state governor, Governor Uba Sani, which has led to the establishment of several unprecedented development projects, programs and interventions in Kaduna and Zaria is not unnoticed by his constituents but has drawn applause, commitment and acceptability from them.

The Zaria crowd was therefore not an accident. They were there because TJ, as he is fondly called, has turned up when nobody did. They came in their thousands because Rt. Hon. Abbas turned the office of the Speaker into a delivery multipurpose vehicle. And now he came with a simple message, which they were all willing to listen to and act upon: ‘the North, after Buhari, is still here, and we are with President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu into 2027’.

The myth of a ‘Dead’ Northern crowd is only an assumption proven wrong by Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas. The gathering was not a nostalgia to Late President Buhari; it was instead an alignment around a new centre of gravity and President Tinubu is good to go into 2027.

Zaria is symbolic, historic, and intact. It remains the leading centre of learning, commerce, and traditional authority not just in the North but all of Africa. Zaria also represents the North West corridor.

Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and his quality representation is a currency of inestimable value. A currency of consolidation, and a demonstration and assurance of a secured base before the field becomes crowded.

The ‘Indaba’ worked because it is a consultation, not a campaign. Traditional rulers spoke, clerics prayed effectually and fervently, youth leaders pledged their unalloyed loyalty and unreserved support, fostering a framework of shared responsibility and consensus, which was solidly built on the altar of public trust and acceptability.

A bulldozer, bridge builder, and strategic visioneer, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas resonates as a low-key but effective strategist with strong propensity to align federal projects with northern priorities.

He spoke the language of the Emirate system and the Ulama. He amplified cultural fluency, granting him immediate access and eliminating other federal characters. Without any personal cult or noisy aggrandisement, Rt. Hon. Abbas tied his political identity to President Tinubu, forging a strong administrative agenda that goes beyond self to an institution, and creating a larger buy-in.

Through this Indaba, he has sent a clear, unambiguous signal to conspirators that the North West has a formidable structure which has been reactivated early and will not repeat the mistake of 2023. He has made it clear that this organic northern mammoth crowd, with a majority of youths, was motivated above pecuniary benefits, less dependent on a single man, and strongly Buhari’s base without Buhari, but remains an alignment with continuity, stability, and federal projects.

Indeed, the Zaria Indaba is not a Buhari crowd but a reconstructed Indaba, and Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas is the architect of this organic mammoth crowd of like-minds.

*Hon. Agbese, the Deputy Spokesperson, Federal House of Representatives writes from Abuja

Senator Mohammad Danjuma Goje says he is ready for the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries for the January 16 presidential and National Assembly elections, reaffirming his readiness to seek another term representing Gombe Central Senatorial District.

Goje, a former governor of Gombe State and serving senator for Gombe Central, said this after undergoing the screening exercise of the APC in Abuja on Saturday.

The committee set up by the party’s national headquarters screened Goje alongside some other aspirants of the ruling party.

Speaking after the screening, Goje reiterated his loyalty to the ruling party, describing himself as a founding member of the APC committed to advancing the party’s ideals both in Gombe State and across the country.

‘Together with other aspirants, I have been screened to contest for the primaries of our great party, APC, for Gombe Central Senatorial District ahead of next year’s elections,’ he said.

‘Under the APC, the party we founded, I will once again humbly present myself to the good people of Gombe Central Senatorial District for the revalidation of the mandate they have overwhelmingly entrusted in me to sustain the developmental strides taking place in our senatorial district,’ Goje said.

He also pledged to remain committed to attracting more development to the area, while appreciating residents of the district for their continued support over the years.

‘I will always remain steadfast and unwavering in the quest to bring more development to our people. I thank all our people of Gombe Central Senatorial District for their consistent support over the years.

‘The solid support of my constituents across Akko and Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Areas, despite external influence, is my driving force,’ he added.

The statement was signed by Goje’s Special Assistant, Alhaji Ahmed Isa Kashere, on May 10, 2026.

Daily Trust reports that Gombe Central is among the senatorial districts where there is expected to be a tough contest.

Incumbent Governor Inuwa Yahaya has picked a consensus candidate for the district, a move Goje rejected and kicked against.

A governorship aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from Bauchi State, Alhaji Usman Adamu, who is reportedly backed by Nyesom Wike, says he would defeat any candidate supported by Governor Bala Mohammed in the 2027 election.

Amid the leadership crisis rocking the PDP, Governor Mohammed, a member of the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the party, recently defected to the Allied People’s Movement (APM).

Speaking with journalists at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms, Adamu expressed confidence that the PDP would retain power in Bauchi State.

According to him, Bauchi remains a traditional PDP stronghold, stressing that the party’s popularity enabled Bala Mohammed to defeat an incumbent governor to emerge victorious in the past.

He argued that Governor Mohammed had completed his tenure and insisted he was prepared to ‘defeat any person imposed by the governor.’

‘I don’t think that will be a problem in Bauchi,’ he said.

Adamu dismissed concerns about incumbency, saying political power ultimately belongs to God and can be given to anyone.

The aspirant also maintained that there was no faction within the PDP in Bauchi State, insisting that the party remained firmly rooted in the state compared to the ruling All Progressives Congress and other political parties.

‘You know politics is like a battlefield; it is also like a football match where you want to win. You have a coach and a referee, and in every battlefield, you must have a warrior. Why I am happy is that in PDP, we have a warrior,’ he said.

He further pledged to unite women, youths, and elders in the state while pursuing a development-driven agenda.

‘I will be the bridge between women, youths, and elders. That is guaranteed. We have a development agenda that we will adopt. I have developed a blueprint for Bauchi over the past 20 years, though it has not been fully utilised.

‘With the little experience I have, and with the cooperation of the youths and elders, I assure you the sky will be our limit,’ he added.

Residents of Benin City, Edo State, have decried rising pharmaceutical costs in Nigeria, saying the situation now forces many people to abandon prescribed medications, patronise native remedies, or purchase incomplete drug dosages regularly.

The residents expressed frustration during interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, lamenting that worsening economic conditions had negatively affected access to proper healthcare and medical treatment across communities nationwide.

NAN reports that increasing drug prices, consultation charges, and laboratory fees have made healthcare services largely unaffordable for many low-income earners struggling to survive the economic hardship.

At Best Care Pharmacy in the New Lagos Road area, Mrs Rose Imadiyi, became emotional while explaining how financial difficulties prevented her from purchasing prescribed medications after recently falling ill in Benin City.

Imadiyi said the prescribed drugs cost about N7,000, while she had only N4,000 available for feeding and healthcare expenses.

‘I chose my children over drugs because they still need to eat. I could not spend all the money on medication and leave nothing for food,’ Imadiyi added, emphasising that rising healthcare costs had forced many struggling families to make painful decisions between treatment and feeding needs.

A pharmacist, Dr Nkem Daniella Ogbidi-Emmanuel, attributed the growing trend to worsening economic conditions, saying many patients now prioritised feeding above healthcare because they lacked resources required to meet rising medical expenses nationwide.

‘A lot of people do not have the wherewithal to cater for their health needs because of the economic situation of the country today,’ Ogbidi-Emmanuel said while speaking on challenges facing patients recently.

‘Many of them believe that if they can eat well, they can manage their illnesses,’ she said, adding that some people now regarded proper medical care as a luxury because of rising healthcare expenses.

‘Some even see proper medical care as a luxury because apart from drugs, they have to pay consultation fees and for laboratory investigations,’ the healthcare provider said.

Ogbidi-Emmanuel said that some patients now requested medications without undergoing proper medical tests in efforts to reduce treatment costs, warning that such practices remained dangerous and could worsen underlying health conditions significantly nationwide.

‘Some patients will say, ‘Doctor, just give me medicine,’ because they cannot afford tests for malaria, typhoid or other infections,’ she said while describing the growing desperation among struggling patients across the country.

‘Even when medications are prescribed, many cannot afford to buy the complete dosage because drugs are not subsidised in Nigeria,’ Ogbidi-Emmanuel said while calling for improved healthcare support systems and government intervention nationwide.

She added that nearly 80 per cent of patients currently struggled to balance healthcare expenses with basic survival needs, urging authorities to introduce subsidies on essential medicines and strengthen public healthcare support programmes nationwide.

A midwife, Mrs Juliet Egbede, corroborated the development, saying many Nigerians now preferred to ‘eat to live before treating illness’ because increasing financial hardship had made healthcare inaccessible for struggling households nationwide.

Egbede explained that some patients resorted to incomplete dosages or relied heavily on painkillers to manage symptoms temporarily because financial difficulties prevented them from accessing proper medical treatment and prescribed medications regularly nationwide.

She warned that such unhealthy practices could worsen medical conditions, especially among vulnerable persons, emphsising the importance of adhering strictly to prescribed treatments in spite of prevailing economic hardship and rising healthcare costs across Nigeria.

Another resident, Mr Ola Rasheed, said he had stopped visiting hospitals and pharmacies regularly because rising drug prices and medical expenses had made healthcare services increasingly difficult for ordinary Nigerians to afford recently nationwide.

‘I bought agbo (local herbal concoction) because it is cheaper. I hardly go to pharmacies or hospitals again because the drugs are too expensive,’ Rasheed said while describing his healthcare challenges in Benin City.

Similarly, Mrs Messy Omokhua said whenever she could not afford prescribed medications, she opted for cheaper brands or reduced quantities, hoping to recover quickly in spite of not completing the recommended treatment dosage for illnesses.

‘Sometimes I buy cheaper alternatives or reduce the quantity and hope to get better quickly,’ Omokhua said, lamenting that economic hardship had made it increasingly difficult for residents to access complete healthcare treatments nationwide.

The Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) has confirmed the death of a 100-level student, Favour Olaniyi, who was reportedly found dead near his off-campus residence in Akure, Ondo State.

The institution disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by the Director of Corporate Communication and Protocol, Adegbenro Adebanjo.

According to the statement, the deceased was a student of the Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics.

Adebanjo explained that the incident occurred on Saturday and was immediately reported to the university management, which promptly alerted security agencies.

‘After the incident was brought to the attention of the university management, the university security apparatus immediately informed the police.

‘Officers from the force were dispatched to the scene, while medical officials from the university and security operatives coordinated the evacuation of the body to the morgue,’ the statement read.

The university spokesman added that the parents of the deceased had been informed, while the police had commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding the student’s death.

He noted that the institution was fully cooperating with security agencies handling the investigation.

Adebanjo further disclosed that the university had begun providing counselling support for students affected by the tragic development.

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his parents and family members at this very difficult time,’ he added.

The institution also urged students facing emotional or personal challenges to make use of counselling and guidance services provided by the university.

Meanwhile, reports indicated that Olaniyi allegedly consumed a poisonous substance believed to be Sniper, though authorities have yet to officially confirm the cause of his death.

The incident has sparked emotional reactions among students and residents in Akure.

Barcelona won the Spanish La Liga title following a 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the El Clasico, on Sunday.

The Catalans scored twice in the first half to put Real Madrid to the sword for the club’s 29th la liga title in a match they needed just a draw.

In a week Real Madrid were in the news for in-fighting among players leading to hospitalization of Federico Valverde, Barcelona forced the pain deeper with goals from Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres.

It is Barcelona’s first title in their newly refurbished Spotify Camp Nou stadium where they have won a record-equaling 18 matches at home.

It is the first time Barcelona wins the la liga title in an el clasico meeting, and Hansi Flick wins his, and the club’s second title in two years.

Barcelona took the lead with Rashford’s well-executed free kick on nine minutes to get the party rolling. The lead was doubled on 18 minutes through Ferran Tores’ expert finish from Dani Olmo’s assist.

Real Madrid had chances to get back into the game in the first half but Gonzalo Garcia was thwarted and Vinicius Jr. could not hit the target.

They were, however, spared an embarrassing scoreline by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois who made several excellent saves.

Barcelona’s unbeaten league run was also extended to 19 matches with the easy win.

Barcelona have 91 points from 35 matches, 14 points ahead of Real Madrid with three matches left to the end of the season.

Troops of the Joint Task Force (North East), Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), have killed scores of Boko Haram terrorists during a failed attack on a military formation in Goniri, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State.

The development comes barely two days after troops reportedly repelled a similar assault on the headquarters of the 27 Task Force Brigade in Buni Gari, where about 50 terrorists were said to have been killed.

Spokesman of the operation, Lt.-Col. Sani Uba, disclosed in a statement that the latest attack targeted the 120 Task Force Battalion, Goniri, under Sector 2 of OPHK, on Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday.

According to him, the terrorists advanced from the Mandunari axis around midnight but were detected early by troops on surveillance operations.

‘The OPHK troops immediately executed a well-coordinated spoiling attack which caught the terrorists in a devastating killing zone,’ he stated.

Uba said the troops successfully prevented the insurgents from breaching the camp, adding that no equipment was lost during the several-hour gun battle.

He further disclosed that the Air Component of OPHK and the Nigerian Army Aviation provided aerial support, carrying out what he described as a coordinated air-land assault that decimated the fleeing insurgents.

‘The support from the Air Component of OPHK and the Nigerian Army Aviation subsequently completed a well-synchronised air-land assault that decimated the retreating insurgents and sealed the totality of their defeat.

‘Exploitation of the general area revealed extensive blood trails, body parts and battle damage consistent with scores of terrorist casualties, in addition to terrorist corpses recovered within the immediate vicinity,’ he said.

Items recovered from the scene, according to the military spokesman, include one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), two PKT machine guns, five AK-47 rifles, several belts of assorted ammunition and other personal effects.

He, however, confirmed that some soldiers sustained injuries during the encounter and are currently receiving medical treatment.

‘Exploitation operations are still ongoing within the general area to consolidate gains and track fleeing terrorists,’ he added.

Uba noted that the failed attack underscored the operational dominance of Operation HADIN KAI and commended the troops for their resilience and gallantry in the fight against insurgency in the North-East.

Joint Security Watch Kwara South has rejected claims that banditry and kidnapping have left large parts of Kwara South deserted and reduced the zone’s voter base.

In a statement, the group said the narrative was inaccurate and being used for political purposes ahead of the APC governorship race.

‘Banditry and kidnapping in Kwara entered through ungoverned forests and weak border points. They are not indigenous to Kwara South and do not define our people,’ said Elder Olaitan Oyin-Zubair, Coordinator of Joint Security Watch Kwara South.

He said that where attacks occurred, they targeted isolated routes and settlements with limited security presence. In areas where intelligence and joint operations were deployed early, attacks were repelled and displaced families have returned to their farms.

Oyin-Zubair also pointed to electoral data to buttress Kwara South’s political viability within the APC. He cited the 2019 and 2023 elections, stating that the region led other zones in APC performance. According to him, the party recorded 68% success in Kwara South, compared to 35% in Kwara Central, the zone currently pushing the narrative that Kwara South lacks voting strength due to bandit attacks.

The group outlined ongoing security measures, including community-led patrols, an early warning system in every ward, air surveillance over identified hotspots, and joint operations with the police, NSCDC, and local vigilante across Irepodun, Ekiti, Oke-Ero, Isin, and Offa local government areas.

‘Kwara South is securing its land, protecting its people, and restoring normal life and economic activity. We will not accept the use of insecurity as a tool for political exclusion,’ Oyin-Zubair said.

The group urged the public to rely on verified information and said Kwara South remained safe enough to live, farm, trade, and vote.