Category: PM News

In a message obviously directed at former vice president Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC in the 2027 election, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has urged opposition politicians to refrain from actions capable of inciting Nigerians against President Tinubu’s constitutionally elected government.

Matawalle said this in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday in Kaduna by Ahmad Dan-Wudil, his Personal Assistant on Media.

Matawalle described as unfortunate, reports from a Atiku that he had engaged a foreign lobbying firm to circulate decades-old documents relating to President Tinubu in the United States.

According to the minister, such actions neither strengthen Nigeria’s democracy nor address the country’s pressing challenges.

Matawalle described the Presidency as a national institution and symbol of Nigeria’s sovereignty that deserves respect regardless of political differences.

He said no foreign government or lobbying firm could determine Nigeria’s democratic choices or overturn the mandate freely given by Nigerians.

The minister stressed that political disagreements should never be pursued at the expense of Nigeria’s image, unity and collective interest.

He noted that U.S. President Donald Trump recently commended President Tinubu’s leadership and acknowledged Nigeria’s progress in strengthening security cooperation and combating terrorism.

According to him, the recognition reflects growing international confidence in Nigeria’s efforts and should encourage citizens to promote unity instead of divisive narratives abroad.

Matawalle said propaganda and hatred against the government would neither weaken its progress nor survival but would instead politically and morally discredit those behind such campaigns.

He maintained that falsehood and mischief would not bring down the Tinubu administration because Nigerians freely entrusted it with the mandate to govern.

The minister called on opposition politicians to embrace constructive engagement by offering credible alternatives and supporting efforts to combat insecurity, promote peaceful coexistence and accelerate national development.

He also urged political actors to avoid actions capable of overheating the polity ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Matawalle said every political actor had a responsibility to protect Nigeria’s unity, stability and international reputation.

The United States (US) has denounced the killing of members of the family of Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo in Plateau State, describing the attack as a shocking act of violence and urging the Nigerian government to ensure those responsible face justice.

In a statement published on its official X account on Thursday, the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed sympathy to the bereaved families and called for stronger efforts to safeguard vulnerable communities from further attacks.

‘The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria.

‘The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,’ the statement read.

The bureau disclosed that the issue had already featured in discussions with Nigerian officials, stressing that preventing future attacks must become an immediate priority.

‘As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts like those yesterday.

‘The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,’ the statement added.

Washington reaffirmed its commitment to working alongside Nigeria in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, while maintaining that every Nigerian should be free to practise his or her faith without intimidation or fear.

The victims were among nine members of Reverend Dachomo’s extended family killed during a night-time assault on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area on 12 July. A two-month-old baby was also among those murdered.

According to Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, the attackers asked for him by name before turning their guns on his relatives. He believes the attack was connected to his outspoken criticism of the sustained violence in Plateau State, which he has repeatedly described as genocide.

The cleric revealed that the tragedy was not the first to hit his family. He said his grandmother and an uncle had previously been killed in separate attacks by extremists.

He also disclosed that shortly after the burial of his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same militia, warning that he would be their next target after killing nine members of his family.

Plateau State has continued to experience recurring violence fuelled by farmer-herder conflicts, communal disputes and attacks by armed groups. Despite repeated security operations, the unrest has claimed thousands of lives and forced many residents from their homes.

The family of Mrs. Abimbola Taiwo Olawuyi, widow of the late renowned investigative broadcaster and journalist Kola Olawuyi, has announced the arrangements for her funeral.

Mrs. Olawuyi passed away on July 6, 2026, at the age of 61. She was born on April 24, 1965.

In an invitation released by the family, she was remembered as a woman whose ‘love, faith and legacy will live on,’ with the tribute reading: ‘Forever in our hearts. Her love, her faith, her legacy will live on.’

The funeral programme will commence with a Service of Songs on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. The service will be held at RCCG Grace City, Plot 781A Somide Odujinrin Avenue, Omole Phase 2, Lagos.

The Funeral Service will take place the following day, Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at RCCG City of David, Trinity Towers, Chief Yesufu Abiodun Way, Oniru Industrial Estate, Maroko, Victoria Island Extension, Lagos.

Mrs. Olawuyi was widely known as the wife of the late Kola Olawuyi, one of Nigeria’s most respected investigative journalists and broadcasters, whose work left a lasting impact on investigative reporting and public-interest journalism in the country.

Family members, friends, colleagues, and well-wishers are expected to gather to celebrate her life and pay their final respects.

The family has also requested guests to confirm their attendance through the RSVP link provided in the funeral invitation.

United Nigeria Airlines has suspended all flights to and from Benin Airport after the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) shut the airport’s runway following an aircraft runway excursion.

The airline announced the decision in a statement issued on Thursday, saying services would remain suspended until the runway is declared safe and reopened by the aviation authorities.

The move followed an earlier incident in which an aircraft belonging to Enugu Air landed at Benin Airport before leaving the runway. The occurrence prompted officials to close the runway while recovery work, inspections and safety assessments are carried out.

Explaining the disruption, the airline said: ‘We wish to inform our valued passengers and the general public that, due to the closure of the runway by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as a result of an excursion, all our flights to and from Benin Airport have been cancelled pending its reopening.’

United Nigeria Airlines expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to travellers and advised affected passengers to get in touch with its customer service team for assistance with alternative travel plans and rebooking.

The statement added: ‘We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused. All passengers who have been affected by this development are advised to contact our customer service for further information and any assistance needed with rebooking.

‘We are open to offering any needed assistance because the welfare of our passengers is our priority.’

The carrier also appealed for patience as efforts continue to restore normal operations.

It said: ‘We plead for your understanding at this time and sincerely apologise again for any inconvenience this may have caused. We appreciate your patience and are immensely grateful for your trust in United Nigeria Airlines.’

A runway excursion occurs when an aircraft leaves the designated runway during take-off or landing. Such incidents usually require temporary closure of the affected runway to allow recovery of the aircraft, examination of airport facilities and safety checks before commercial operations resume.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Ita Enang, has officially presented his Letters of Credence to German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, marking the formal beginning of his diplomatic assignment in the European nation.

The ceremony was held on Friday at the German Presidency in Berlin. Presenting Letters of Credence is an important diplomatic tradition that officially recognises an ambassador as the representative of their country in a foreign nation.

The event began with a military welcome parade in honour of the Nigerian envoy. Enang later signed the official accreditation register before presenting his credentials to President Steinmeier during the formal ceremony.

Following the presentation, both leaders held a bilateral meeting where they discussed issues of mutual interest and explored ways to strengthen the longstanding relationship between Nigeria and Germany.

According to Enang, President Steinmeier extended his warm greetings and best wishes to President Bola Tinubu. The German leader also praised the cordial and productive ties that have existed between both countries over the years.

During their discussions, the two leaders reviewed opportunities to expand cooperation in key sectors, including agriculture, food security, technology, industrial development, education and economic growth. They also stressed the importance of building stronger partnerships that would benefit both countries.

Enang used the meeting to encourage increased German investment in Nigeria, particularly in the automobile assembly industry. He said greater investment would help promote local manufacturing, create more employment opportunities for Nigerians, improve skills development and support the transfer of modern technology to the country.

The ambassador expressed optimism that Nigeria and Germany would continue to deepen their diplomatic and economic relations through stronger collaboration in trade, investment and other areas of shared interest.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has questioned why former President Olusegun Obasanjo waited until after Ghali Umar Na’Abba’s death to allege that he paid the former House of Representatives Speaker N5 million to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.

Atiku said raising the allegation when Na’Abba could no longer respond denied Nigerians the opportunity to hear the other side, describing it as a politically motivated attempt to damage his reputation and boost the electoral fortunes of Obasanjo’s unnamed kinsman ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Obasanjo alleged in a letter to former Ogun State governor Olusegun Osoba that Atiku invited Na’Abba to the Presidential Villa while he was away and convinced the former speaker that he should serve only one term.

The former president claimed the alleged payment formed part of Atiku’s attempt to seize power ‘by hook or by crook.’

However, Atiku rejected the allegation as politically motivated in a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

The African Democratic Congress presidential candidate said the timing of Obasanjo’s allegation showed that it was intended to influence the political contest ahead of the 2027 general election.

Atiku accused his former principal of attempting to tarnish his reputation to give an unfair political advantage to an unnamed kinsman.

‘Coming at a time when the political landscape ahead of the 2027 general election is taking shape, the obvious objective is to besmirch my person and reputation and confer an undeserved political advantage on the former President’s kinsman,’ he said.

Atiku argued that Nigerians were too discerning to be distracted by an allegation revived for political convenience.

He challenged Obasanjo to openly identify and support his preferred presidential candidate instead of attempting to shape public opinion through claims that could no longer be independently tested.

‘If former President Obasanjo has chosen to take a political position ahead of 2027, he should simply declare it and allow Nigerians to judge it on its merits,’ Atiku said.

The former vice-president questioned why Obasanjo waited until after Na’Abba’s death to repeat the allegation, saying the timing denied Nigerians the opportunity to hear the former speaker’s version of events.

He also maintained that the bribery allegation had no judicial or official backing.

Atiku argued that Obasanjo’s government controlled the full powers of the Nigerian state and could have investigated and prosecuted any criminal conduct if credible evidence existed at the time.

‘If there was indeed evidence of any criminal conduct as alleged, Nigerians are entitled to ask why no action was taken at the time by a government that wielded the full powers of the Nigerian state,’ he said.

Atiku linked Obasanjo’s continued hostility towards him to their disagreement over the alleged attempt to secure a third presidential term.

He said he opposed the plan because it threatened Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and refused to sacrifice democratic principles for Obasanjo’s personal ambition.

The ADC leader recalled that he successfully challenged actions taken against him by the Obasanjo administration through a series of court cases.

‘Rather than surrender democratic principles on the altar of personal ambition, I defended the Constitution and successfully asserted my rights through the courts in a series of landmark legal victories against a sitting President,’ he said.

Atiku described those legal battles as an important part of Nigeria’s democratic history, insisting that Obasanjo had not overcome the bitterness created by their confrontation.

He said he would not allow himself to be dragged into a prolonged dispute over past political battles while Nigerians faced worsening economic hardship, hunger, unemployment and insecurity.

Atiku said his attention remained on presenting credible alternatives, protecting democracy, demanding accountability and working with patriotic Nigerians to restore competent and transparent leadership.

‘Nigerians deserve solutions to today’s problems, not recycled political tales from yesterday,’ he declared.

Prominent opposition activist and public interest defender, Comrade Mark Adebayo, has strongly condemned the recent petition submitted by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC) and former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the government of the United States regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a scathing statement released today, Adebayo described Atiku’s diplomatic offensive as an exercise in futility, labelling the petition as completely untenable, irrelevant, and otiose. The activist argued that inviting foreign powers to arbitrate or interfere in Nigeria’s internal political and judicial affairs is a direct assault on the nation’s sovereignty.

‘It is deeply embarrassing that a politician of Atiku Abubakar’s standing, who has occupied the second-highest office in this country, still suffers from a colonial mindset,’ Adebayo stated.

‘Seeking the intervention of the American government over settled domestic political matters is not only untenable under international law but completely irrelevant to the immediate economic and security challenges facing everyday Nigerians.’

Adebayo emphasized that as an opposition voice, he remains fiercely critical of the current administration’s policies. However, he maintained that national interests must supersede partisan desperation. He noted that Nigeria’s judiciary and constitutional frameworks are the only legitimate arenas for resolving electoral and political disputes, rendering Atiku’s foreign appeals legally useless and ‘otiose.’

‘We must learn to wash our to play politics of maturity and patriotism and not parade Nigeria in bad light globally in the service of power desperation,’ Adebayo continued. ‘The United States is not a prefect over Nigeria, nor is it an extension of our Supreme Court. This continuous demeaning of our national institutions before foreign capitals must stop. Atiku’s petition changes nothing, serves no public good, and is dead on arrival.’

The statement concluded with a call to all opposition figures to focus on constructive domestic engagement, policy alternatives, and holding the government accountable from within, rather than embarking on wasteful international media stunts.

‘I don’t know what his lawyers are telling him, but a fundamental issue of sovereign and legal jurisdiction arises here in which the American government has no supervisory authority over Nigeria or Nigeria’s judicial institutions and especially lacks the authority to adjudicate on who is or not qualified to run for elective offices within the territorial integrity of the Nigerian Federation. Moreover, the issues raised in that petition have been investigated, interrogated, and conclusively adjudicated by courts of competent jurisdiction with the same return of ‘no case’ because the issues lack material and legal substances. Therefore, what Atiku Abubakar is doing is merely an effort to fly an aeroplane without an engine. It won’t fly. This is a mere distractive propaganda. Atiku would do Nigeria a good deed if he can clear himself of the wanton allegations of massive corruption against him by his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has always been evasive when these allegations are raised rather than clear himself of them. Those who live in a glass house must avoid throwing stones. What Nigerians expect from opposition candidates are workable alternatives to Nigeria’s challenges and not raising issues that are dead, buried, and totally inconsequential.’

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Olatunji Disu has directed police officers nationwide to take decisive action against anyone found unlawfully carrying firearms, declaring that armed criminals will no longer be allowed to operate with impunity.

The directive, issued on Friday during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, Benue State, forms part of intensified efforts to curb rising insecurity, particularly in states affected by recurring violent attacks.

Disu said the order followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive to security agencies to end the persistent violence in Benue State, where attacks by armed groups have claimed lives, displaced communities and destroyed property.

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The police chief stressed that only authorised security personnel are legally permitted to possess firearms, warning that anyone found carrying weapons illegally would be treated as an armed threat.

‘You cannot move around freely carrying arms as if there is no law and order in this country. It will not be tolerated,’ the IGP said.

He explained that under Force Order 237, police officers are empowered to respond immediately to armed threats without first seeking approval from superior officers.

According to Disu, the directive is intended to protect security personnel, many of whom have lost their lives in confrontations with heavily armed criminals.

‘We have given them instructions. We have a Force Order 237. Police officers have been instructed that they don’t need to wait for any superior order. They know where to deploy their firearms.

‘We are tired of losing our men. We are tired of police officers, soldiers and other members of the security agencies dying anyhow.

‘They have been instructed to shoot at sight. They have been trained to do what is necessary. But we will not succeed without the cooperation of all of you,’ he said.

The IGP appealed to residents to support security agencies by providing timely and credible intelligence, saying community cooperation remains essential to tackling armed criminality and restoring peace.

Benue has remained one of Nigeria’s most troubled states in recent months, with repeated attacks by armed groups prompting increased deployment of security personnel and tougher measures by the Federal Government to stem the violence.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday handed over recovered N108 million to a company, Greenwich Planet Sun King Nigeria Limited, in Lagos.

The money, handed over in bank drafts, formed part of the funds recovered by the Commission in the course of an investigation into an alleged case of abuse of office, forgery, stealing and diversion involving two former employees of the company.

Investigation revealed that the suspects, Nkechi Gladys Megai, who is currently at large after fleeing to the United Kingdom, and Godson Eze, a former Chief Financial Officer, abused their positions by forging documents, creating fake invoices in the names of the company’s legitimate vendors, and diverting funds through fraudulent transactions carried out over a period of time.

The investigation also revealed that the fraudulent payments ran into several hundreds of millions of naira.

At Wednesday’s handover ceremony, the Acting Zonal Director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE I Bawa Usman Kaltungo, reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that victims of economic and financial crimes obtain justice and, where possible, recover assets fraudulently obtained from them.

Kaltungo also disclosed that ‘efforts are ongoing to ensure that all persons connected with the fraud, including those who have fled the country, are brought to justice in accordance with the law.’

The company’s legal representatives, while receiving the bank drafts, expressed appreciation to the EFCC for its painstaking investigation, professionalism and commitment to recovering the stolen funds.

They also assured the Commission that the recovered money would go a long way towards mitigating the losses suffered by the company.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has returned N108 million recovered from an alleged fraud case involving two former employees of a Lagos company.

The anti-graft agency announced this in a statement on Friday. It said the money, presented as bank drafts, was recovered during an investigation into allegations of abuse of office, forgery, stealing and diversion of company funds.

According to the EFCC, one of the suspects, Nkechi Gladys Megai, is currently on the run after allegedly fleeing to the United Kingdom. The second suspect, Godson Eze, is the company’s former Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The commission said the two suspects allegedly forged documents, created fake invoices using the names of the company’s genuine vendors and diverted company money through fraudulent transactions over a period of time.

The EFCC added that the total amount allegedly stolen ran into several hundreds of millions of naira.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, the Acting Zonal Director of EFCC Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Assistant Commander Bawa Usman Kaltungo, said the commission remained committed to ensuring that victims of financial crimes receive justice and recover stolen assets whenever possible.

He also said efforts were ongoing to arrest everyone linked to the alleged fraud, including those who have fled the country.

The company’s legal representatives, Karren Walters Attorneys, praised the EFCC for its professionalism and thorough investigation. They said the recovered N108 million would help reduce the financial losses suffered by the company.

The EFCC said investigations are still ongoing as it continues efforts to track down all other suspects connected with the alleged fraud.