Category: The Nation – Nigeria

Gunmen have killed former chairman of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chapter, Dr. Ifeanyi Ogbu..

It was gathered the gunmen invaded the deceased’s residence in Kubwa district along the Kubwa-Kaduna road on Friday night.

They abducted him with the three children and dumped his body by the roadside.

Dr Ogbu’s death was confirmed by

Andrew Gabriel Ikechukwu confirmed his demise on Facebook.

He wrote: ‘Dr. Ifeanyi Ogbu, the immediate past chairman of the NVMA FCT chapter, who was kidnapped alongside his three children from his home in Kubwa Abuja, was found dead.

‘The three children are yet to be released. May God please intervene’.

The late Ogbu was described as a dedicated professional. He leaves behind a nursing wife and grieving family members.

Colleagues and friends have expressed shock at the killing, describing it as a devastating loss to the family and veterinary profession.

The attack comes just a week after the death of Somtochukwu Maduagwu, a journalist with Arise TV, during a robbery in Katampe, another area of Abuja.

Police authorities were yet to issue an official statement.

All calls and messages to the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh were not responded to.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said 16 military officers will face a full military disciplinary process over indiscipline and breach of service regulations.

The Military High Command revealed this in a statement through the Director Defence Information, Brig -Gen. Tukur Gusau, on Saturday.

According to the statement, the officers have been arrested, while investigation is still ongoing to determine the gravity of their offences.

The statement reads: ‘Investigations have revealed that their grievances stemmed largely from perceived career stagnation caused by repeated failure in promotion examinations, among other issues.

‘Some of the apprehended officers had been under jurisdiction for various offences, either awaiting or undergoing trial. Their conduct was deemed incompatible with the standards of military service.

‘Upon completion of investigation, indicted officers will face the full military disciplinary process in accordance with established procedures to ensure accountability and preserve professionalism within the Armed Forces.’

While assuring Nigerians that the actions are strictly disciplinary in nature and part of routine efforts to maintain order, discipline, and loyalty within the ranks, the military high command said the ‘Armed Forces of Nigeria will not tolerate behaviour that undermines the integrity of the institution or threatens its constitutional role under democratic authority.’

‘The Armed Forces of Nigeria remains fully committed to its constitutional responsibilities and will remain professional at all times,’ the DHQ said.

The Nigeria Police Force has reacted to reports of a Federal High Court order directing it to maintain the status quo in the ongoing case concerning the enforcement of tinted glass permits, stating that it has not yet been officially served with the order.

Responding to a social media post by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who shared a copy of the order on X (formerly Twitter), the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, clarified that the police had not received formal notification of the court’s directive.

Hundeyin wrote: ‘While we have not been officially served the court order you’re making reference to, let me, in the meantime, show point no. 8 (of the same order) since you left that part out and focused only on point no. 6. Nigerians deserve a complete picture, not a skewed one.’

Point 8 of the order reads: ‘Meanwhile, Reliefs 1, 2 and 3 are hereby refused.’

The reliefs referred to are those sought by the applicant, John Aikpokpo-Martins, on behalf of tinted glass car owners in Nigeria, in Suit No. FHC/WR/CS/103/2025 – John Aikpokpo-Martins v. Inspector General of Police and Nigeria Police Force. They include:

‘An order of interim injunction restraining the Inspector General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force, their officers, men, agents, privies and/or contractors from implementing or enforcing the new tinted glass permit policy set to commence on October 6, 2025, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.’

‘An order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from stopping, harassing, arresting, detaining, impounding vehicles or extorting motorists in purported enforcement of the tinted glass permit policy pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.’

‘An order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from using the Parkway Projects account (No. 4001017918) to collect any fees for the renewal of tinted glass permits or to conduct any government business pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.’

Effiong had earlier posted excerpts of the court order, which restrained the police from taking further action on the enforcement of tinted glass regulations pending the determination of the case.

In the ruling, the Federal High Court sitting in Warri directed the police to maintain the status quo and respect ongoing judicial proceedings.

Confirming the development, lead counsel in the matter, Kunle Edun, SAN, described the order as ‘a major step in upholding the rule of law and protecting the rights of citizens while the substantive issues are yet to be decided.’

The Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has dissolved another board, the Rivers State Microfinance Agency, inaugurated by the former Sole Administrator of the state, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd).

The dissolution occurred about two days after Fubara disbanded the Rivers Pension Board and directed the state’s Accountant-General to take charge of the board’s activities till further notice.

The recently dissolved Microfinance Board was among the eight agencies inaugurated in one fell swoop by Ibas on August 14th with Prof. Adolphus Toby named as the Chairman.

The governor in a statement signed by the Head of Service, Dr Inyingi Brown, appointed Pastor Jonathan Tobin to act as the Managing Director of the Agency.

The statement said: ‘The Rivers State Governor hereby announces the dissolution of the Board of the Rivers State Microfinance Agency and the immediate appointment of Pastor Jonathan Tobin as the Acting Managing Director of the Agency.

‘Consequently, members of the defunct Board are advised by this notice to hand over all properties and assets of the Board in their possession to the Acting Managing Director of the Agency.

‘His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara will in due course reconstitute the Board.’

They have started again. They are busy backslapping themselves as if the points deduction translates to getting the Group C’s 2026 World Cup qualification ticket. Nigeria’s game against Lesotho will be taking place in the next four days, precisely next Friday in Durban, a South African city, with no counter plans to ensure that fans depart the country to support the Super Eagles. They have forgotten that the bad blood arising from the three points’ deduction would play a definitive role in the outcome of the penultimate game between Lesotho in Durban.

In their wild jubilations, it is important to remind our football chieftains that the South Africans are planning to appeal the deduction of three points and three goals from Bafana Bafana’s hitherto 17 points tally to its 14 points, which will see them to the second position in Group C’s World Cup qualification table. Trust our federation chiefs to wave off any fruitful results from SAFA’s protest without critically perusing its contents to the letter. Getting lawyers to advise them on the appeal’s merits won’t be a bad idea. Certainly not in our administrators’ character. What would shock you would be the laughable undercurrents employed by many of them to get FIFA to take a decision which the South Africans are saying was taken by one member rather than by the disciplinary committee. Isn’t this a likely case of walking into an ambush?

SAFA members, in an official letter, have said they were disappointed with the decision and will launch a formal appeal within the next 10 days stipulated by the FIFA disciplinary rules.

‘As SAFA, we are deeply disappointed with this unprecedented outcome noting, that it was delivered by a single-member panel without reasons, and without affording the association an opportunity to present legal arguments,’ read the official response in part.

‘The association confirms that we have requested written reasons for the judgment and intend to lodge a formal appeal with the FIFA Appeals Committee within the prescribed 10-day period under the disciplinary rules.

Could it be true that only one FIFA member decided the decision to deduct three points and three goals from Bafana Bafana’s hitherto 17 points instead of the disciplinary committee members as required? Are the South Africans saying that they ought to have been asked to defend themselves for an issue expressly stated in the rulebook by FIFA? Of course, these posers by South Africans and many others to be submitted in their must be completed in the next 10 days.

The pertinent question to ask FIFA chiefs would be if the appeal would be dealt with quickly, such that it doesn’t set the stage where the Group’s decider would be played on different dates and not simultaneously as stipulated on such matters for fairness?

Bafana Bafana will face Zimbabwe for the crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on October 10. The Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa, will host the 2026 World Cup qualifying clash between Lesotho and Nigeria’s Super Eagles, also on October 10. The other poser would be which of the two matches in Durban and Polokwane would the South Africans want to watch? Isn’t this where the Super Eagles would be walking into an ambush in Polokwane with South Africans trooping out in their numbers to root for Lesotho?

With exactly six days to the October 10 clash against Lesotho, it is quite refreshing to note that Osimhen will be playing the two matches. Super Eagles have tottered in all the matches that Osimhen was missing. It easily explains why we are in this precarious level where every second in the last two qualifiers could bring celebrations or grief, depending on our players’ attitude in the course of the two games.

One would have thought that after missing the Qatar 2022 World Cup, our football chieftains, the players, coaches, and the sports commission members would have learned their lesson. Not so here.

Grapevine news around sports, especially in the football circle, is filled with tales that Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha is the reason Golden Eaglets’ Coach Manu Garba wasn’t sacked after a shambolic outing with the team last year. I have chosen to bring it to Shettima’s notice because he is too busy to be identified with the dubious acts of idle people around the beautiful game.

The more ridiculous thing about this nauseating tale is that Garba didn’t do well again with the Golden Eaglets this year. One would have thought the NFF chieftains would have sponsored Garba to yearly coaching clinics to brush up his knowledge of the game since he guided Nigeria to lift the FIFA U-17 World Cup diadem in 2013, which is what other soccer climes’ administrators do when such feats are achieved.

In football-efficient countries, the FA members would have kept the winning coaching team of Garba, Emmanuel Amunike, and Nduka Ugbade intact and make sure that they upgrade their knowledge yearly, especially when Amunike and Ugbade guided another crop of brilliant Golden Eaglets players to retain the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2015.

Rather than smear the Vice President’s name with this mess, talebearers should persuade their trumpeters of falsehood to assemble Amunike and Ugbade to start the process of assembling a new set of Golden Eaglets for next year, while Garba is sent on a two-year course to update his rustic soccer tactics.

The Vice President is too civilised, focused, and busy with other national issues to be involved in such dubious tendencies of encouraging failures to remain in positions that require qualified coaches, in this instance. Those dropping the name of the Vice President should back off! A coach is as good as his last game. Indeed, there are two types of coaches. Those waiting to be sacked and those already sacked.

The period between now and 2013 is 12 years. Only remedial courses and upgrading of coaching licenses can make a football coach be in sync with the new trends of coaching that are always dynamic. In fact, in 2013, Ugbade and Amunike functioned as assistant coaches to Garba. Need I mention what Amunike received from reputable European managers during his soccer career, including being crowned the Africa Footballer of the Year? Recall that it was Amunike’s nifty chip in the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ soccer finals that gave Nigeria the 3-2 victory and gold medal. He also scored a goal at the 1994 World Cup, including other feats. It is also on record that Amunike has attended several coaching seminars, clinics, and has functioned in different Technical Committees for FIFA and CAF.

Ugbade was captain of the Nigeria U-16 male soccer team that won the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Cup in China, beating Germany 2-0, with the intercontinental ballistic missile (apologies to the late commentator Ernest Okonkwo) shot from the left foot of Victor Igbinoba being the second goal. Ugbade was also a member of The Miracle of Dammam team, the name given to the result of a quarter-final football match between the Nigerian U-20 football team and the USSR U-20 football team at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia in which the Nigerian team came back from four goals down to level up and go on to win on penalties. No disrespect to Garba’s records as a player. Indeed, being a great player doesn’t translate to being a successful coach.

A group of wives of detained soldiers at the 7 Division Military Police Facility in Maiduguri Friday made a public and emotional plea to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, for presidential pardon for their spouses.

The women, who addressed journalists at the NUJ Conference Hall in Maiduguri, stated that some of their husbands (soldiers) have been held for months and years over various offenses without trial.

The women noted that the long absence of their husbands is taking serious negative toll and suffering on their families.

Speaking on behalf of the group, two women, Mrs. Rose Emmanuel David and Mrs. Abigail Jonathan, respectfully called on President Tinubu to grant their husbands presidential pardon, the same manner repentant insurgents are being granted pardon.

They appealed on behalf of their husbands with a deep reflection and repentance, asserting that the detainees ‘acknowledge their mistakes’ and seek ‘a second chance to serve their country with renewed loyalty.’

They also appealed to the National Assembly, the Borno State Governor, and all Nigerians of goodwill to lend their support to their plea.

The group hinged their appeal on the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programmes, stressing that, ‘It is important to remember that amnesty has been extended to repentant insurgents and bandits who once raised arms against the state.

These soldiers are Nigerians too-men who once risked their lives to defend our people and preserve our nation. They deserve the same mercy, so they can once again fight for peace, unity, and security.’

Popular Fuji musician, Adewale Lawal, is in a joyous mood as his daughter, Mistural Ayomide Lawal, has graduated from a prestigious university in the United States.

The graduation ceremony, which took place at Army Basic Combat Fort Jackson Columbia, South Carolina, turned into a success as family, friends, and fans of the musician flooded social media with congratulatory messages.

In a brief chat, the proud father who is also the president Fuji Musicians Association of America (FUMAA), expressed gratitude to God and appreciation to everyone who supported his daughter’s academic journey. ‘This is a proud moment for our family. Education is a legacy, and I’m glad my daughter is making us proud,’ he said.

The Fuji star is known not only for his musical achievements but also for his strong advocacy for education among the youth.

The celebration continues at the family residence, with close friends and associates in attendance.

Resident Electoral Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Anambra State, Dr Elizabeth Agwu has challenged women to build confidence in themselves to be recognized.

Agwu stated this on Friday at the validation meeting on Project IMPACT baseline study finding on Persons With Disabilities and Women’s Political Aspiration in Elective Position.

The initiative is being implemented by Social and Integral Development Center (SIDEC), in partnership with Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room supported by the UK-FCDO.

The REC said the problem of women was not in the number of slots they were given, but in realizing their capacity towards contribution to nation building.

She cited her numerous feats achieved through various positions she had occupied over the years, challenging women not to underrate themselves.

She said, ‘I don’t believe in women’s liberation. Women must have confidence in themselves and recognize they can.

‘Don’t wait for the men to give you a chance. Surely they’ll give us a quota but those slots can’t be enough as the one we give to ourselves.

‘It’s not to give you a chance but for you to believe you can do it. We can change the narratives by changing our orientation. Let’s begin to give our girl child the orientation so they can compete favourably with the men.’

Earlier, Executive Director, SIDEC, Ugochi Ehiahuruike said the project was to promote inclusive participation of women, youth, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in governance and combat disinformation.

‘Through this validation process, we will present key findings and collect feedback to strengthen the report’s accuracy and relevance.

‘We will build consensus on baseline indicators to track project progress; foster shared ownership and credibility among stakeholders,’ she added.

Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Anambra State Chapter, Ugochukwu Okeke described the engagement as timely and strategic, as well as call for action.

‘For too long, the voices of women and persons with disabilities have been underrepresented in leadership and decision-making spaces, despite their proven abilities, resilience, and contributions to nation-building,’ he added.

The Chief of Staff and Media Adviser to Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola otherwise known as Yayi, Kayode Odunaro, has been installed as the Osorun of Isaga-Orile Kingdom, in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The Osorun title holder is one of the kingmakers in the ancient kingdom.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after he was installed at the weekend by the Onisaga of Isaga-Orile Kingdom, Oba Joseph Oladele Olusoji Tella, Odunaro, explained that the chieftaincy title belongs to his lineage, adding that the position was last held by his uncle who died in 1988, having been installed in 1958.

He stated further that the title would bring him closer to his roots and participate more in activities of Isaga traditional council, particularly in the selection of a new traditional ruler in the town.

Odunaro, who is also the Baa’royin of Imala Kingdom, said though he holds other traditional titles, the latest one is unique and it will demand high responsibility from him.

While expressing appreciation to Oba Tella, Isaga-Orile Traditional Council and the Osorun Family, the erstwhile Chief Press Secretary to former Governor Olusegun Osoba, declared that he would bring the experience he had garnered as the spokesperson to three past administrations in Ogun, to bear on the new title.

‘I am delighted that I have just been installed as the Osorun of Isaga-Orile Kingdom. This is a very important traditional title in the kingdom as Osorun is one of the kingmakers.

‘The title belongs to our family; my late uncle was installed in 1958 and held the title till he passed in 1988. So, for decades, there was a vacancy in the position of Osorun. Therefore, I am highly elated that I am feeling the vacant position today after so many years of interregnum.

‘For me, it is a higher call to traditional responsibility and I will ensure that I bring experiences I garnered over the years as spokesperson of three administrations, both military and civilian in Ogun, to bear in this new title. Like I have done in public service, I will use this Osorun title to contribute to the growth and development of the Isaga-Orile Kingdom’, Odunaro submitted.

The Premier League enters its seventh with the Chelsea and Liverpool clash the biggest fixture of the weekend’s action. All games will be broadcast live on SuperSport Premier League (GOtv Ch. 65, DStv Ch. 203).

The action kicks off today at 12:30 pm with Leeds United hosting Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs remain unbeaten and will be confident of extending their strong run, though Elland Road has often proven a tricky venue for visiting teams.

At 3:00 pm, Arsenal welcome West Ham United to the Emirates. The Gunners are chasing momentum in their title push and will see this as an opportunity to build on recent performances, while the Hammers hope to cause an upset. At the same time, Manchester United face Sunderland at Old Trafford. United will look to assert themselves against a side battling near the bottom of the table. Wolverhampton Wanderers also take on Brighton and Hove Albion in another 3:00 pm kick-off.

The standout match of the weekend follows at 5:30 pm, when Chelsea host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The Blues aim to steady their campaign after an inconsistent start, while Liverpool travel with attacking firepower but remain defensively vulnerable.

Tomorrow, Newcastle United welcome Nottingham Forest at 2:00 pm. Newcastle have struggled for consistency this season but will look to make home advantage count against a spirited Forest side.

Later at 4:30 pm, Brentford host champions Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s men are strong favourites, especially after their ruthless display last weekend, though Brentford have previously proven capable of unsettling bigger opponents. Catch all the action live on SuperSport via GOtv and DStv.