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The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has declared that no judge of the FCT will live in a rented apartment by the end of President Bola Tinubu’s first tenure.

Wike made the promise at the flagging off of the construction of 40 units of duplexes for heads of courts in Abuja.

At the ceremony, the Minister stated that funding for the project was contained in the 2024/2025 budget of the FCT Administration, as proposed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, approved by the National Assembly, and assented to by the President.

Breaking down the project, Wike said the duplexes would be distributed as follows: 10 for Court of Appeal Judges, 10 for Federal High Court Judges, and 20 for FCT High Court Judges.

He assured that the houses would be handed over to the beneficiaries by President Tinubu after the 12-month project timeline. He emphasised the ownership structure of the properties, stating: ‘I want to make it clear that what we are doing today is not just for the heads of courts who will simply leave when they retire. No. As they retire, the property becomes their own. This is the approval of Mr President, and that is why we issued the Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os) in their names.’

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has demanded immediate compensation for the families of Fulani herders who were killed and injured in the September 28th attack in Tanda Village, Southern Kaduna, describing the violence as a calculated act of ethnic persecution and a national failure.

In a strongly worded statement issued by its State Chairman, Alhaji Abdulhamid Musa Albarka, on Monday, the association insisted that compensation for the victims is not just a moral obligation, but a constitutional right, following what it called the government’s failure to prevent or respond to the attack despite clear warnings.

According to MACBAN, Suleiman Idris was murdered in cold blood, while Yusuf Abdullahi, Hamidu Dauda, and Ibrahim Hassan sustained ‘severe and permanent injuries’ after being ambushed by armed militias in Tanda Village, Jema’a Local Government Area. The attack allegedly occurred after they challenged the illegal blockade of a long-established cattle route.

‘This was not a clash. It was a premeditated assault designed to destroy lives and livelihoods. Their cattle were scattered into the wilderness – their only means of survival taken from them in one day.

‘The suffering of Suleiman Idris, Yusuf Abdullahi, Hamidu Dauda, and Ibrahim Hassan embodies the ongoing injustice. Their families must be compensated. Anything less is a continuation of the same betrayal that led to the attack in the first place,’ Albarka said.

UBA Foundation has increased the cash prize for the winners of the 2025 edition of the annual National Essay Competition (NEC) to N22.5 million.

The cash prize covers the educational grants for the winners to study at any African university of their choice.

A breakdown of the cash prizes for the winners showed that the overall winner will receive a N10 million university grant, which represents a substantial 33% increase up from the N7.5 million awarded last year.

The second and third-place winners will each receive N7.5 million and N5 million educational grants, respectively, up from the N5 million and N3.5 million awarded last year.

The students are required to research on and write on the essay topic: ‘Nigeria is characterised by diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions. How can young Nigerians deploy diversity to build a united nation?’The Managing Director/CEO, UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, emphasized on the opportunities the competition offers to students, stressing that the foundation has continued to invest in the initiative.’The deliberate and significant increase in the value of these educational grants underscores our dedication to investing in academic excellence and alleviating the financial burden of higher education for Nigerian students and their families. We are confident that this will further inspire a culture of academic achievement and critical thinking,’ she said.

According to her the foundation remains deeply committed to creating impactful opportunities for the youth, who are the future of our continent.

‘The NEC is part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative, which is aimed at promoting literacy and encouraging healthy intellectual competition amongst senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across the African continent,’ she said.

The deadline for submission of entries is Friday, October 17th, 2025, and applications can be accessed and submitted through the Foundation’s official website or by scanning the QR code available on the posters and websites.

To be eligible, participants must be Nigerian students in senior secondary school and are required to submit scanned copies of their handwritten essays (not more than 750 words), a recent passport photograph, and a copy of their birth certificate, National ID, or international passport via the dedicated portal on the UBA Foundation’s official website.

The National Association of Judges in Nigeria (NAOJIN) has been officially admitted as a member of the International Association of Judges (IAJ), making Nigeria the 93rd country represented in the global judicial body.

The admission took place during the 67th Annual Meeting of the IAJ held in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to a statement by Tobi Soniyi, media aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

Soniyi said the development signifies global recognition and confidence in the Nigerian judiciary, particularly in light of the ongoing reforms being championed by the CJN.

Before granting Nigeria’s admission, the IAJ reportedly assessed the challenges facing the country’s judiciary but acknowledged the reform efforts led by Justice Kekere-Ekun to enhance transparency, accountability, and judicial independence. Responding to the development, Justice Kekere-Ekun described the admission as a moment of pride and privilege for Nigeria, pledging the judiciary’s commitment to upholding the rule of law and human rights.

‘Nigeria embraces this membership with humility, commitment, and a deep sense of responsibility. We are determined to contribute actively to the Association’s mission by strengthening the independence of our judiciary and ensuring the continued protection of human rights in our country,’ she said.

Founded in Salzburg, Austria, in 1953, the IAJ is a professional, non-political organisation comprising national associations of judges approved by its Central Council. It promotes judicial independence and the protection of human rights globally.

The Coalition of FCT Indigenous Associations has appealed to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to implement an upward review of the scholarship scheme for indigenous students.

The coordinator of the group, Engineer Shittu Usman Chidawa, made the plea at a press briefing in Abuja on Saturday.

He noted that the scholarship payment structure, particularly for students in Engineering, Law, and Science courses, has remained unchanged since its last review in 2005 under the administration of former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai.

He stated that the current scholarship scheme pays a paltry sum of N40,000, which he said is grossly inadequate to cover the cost of school fees, textbooks, and other educational expenses for indigenous students. ‘Given out such an amount is an insult to the students and their families, considering the current economic situation in the country,’ he asserted.

He questioned the amount, saying: ‘How can N35,000 or N40,000 possibly cover the cost of school fees, which ranges from N200,000 to N3.6 million per term, depending on the institution?’

According to Chidawa, the scholarship disbursement is a drop in the ocean, considering the significant financial strain on indigenous students and their families.

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has presented N80 million cheques to families of forest guards and vigilantes who were killed in recent encounters with kidnappers in the state.

The affected families included victims from the Babanla, Oke Ode, and Eleyin communities of Ifelodun and Isin local government areas.

The Governor additionally approved N100 million support for families of community fighters from Edu and Patigi who lost their lives in an ambush by kidnappers in July while responding to abductions in the area.

Daily Trust gathered that the affected families were awarded N10 million each on behalf of the slain victims. Speaking during the presentation in Ilorin, AbdulRazaq praised the courage and patriotism of the deceased, describing them as heroes who died in active service to the state.

‘We pray for the souls of the deceased. It was an unfortunate incident. They died in active service. The government cannot but sympathise with the families,’ the governor said.

He said the state will continue to support them and ensure that the state remains safe.

‘As you can see, the military has moved in with full force. We look forward to supporting the Nigerian Army and other security agencies as they chase the criminals out of the state,’ he added.

Similarly, the state government said it has provided new logistics, including motorcycles and operational equipment, to forest guards and community vigilantes across flashpoint areas.

The support, the governor said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, on Monday, is aimed at ‘strengthening their capacity to track down kidnappers and safeguard their communities in collaboration with conventional security agencies.’

Last week, the World Bank put out its assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and its impact on the people of Nigeria. The sum total of it was that 139 million Nigerians have been impoverished as a result and the outlook is that many more will fall below the poverty line in the coming months. In making the assessment the World Bank Country Director, Mathew Verghis, while praising the efforts of the Tinubu in achieving stabilization, stated that ‘despite these stabilization gains, many Nigerians are still struggling. Most households are struggling with eroded purchasing power. In 2025 we estimate that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty.”

The World Bank report comes just after President Tinubu in his Independence Day address to the nation engaged in his usual self-praise despite the contrast to the existing realities in the country. ”I am pleased to report that we have finally turned the corner”, he crowed. ‘The worst is over. Yesterday’s pains are giving way to relief,” he stated to the obvious disbelief of the very Nigerians he was addressing.

So why has the World Bank given what amounts to a thumbs down to President Tinubu’s economic policies and its negative impact on Nigeria, a few days after the president claimed rather unconvincingly that things are improving? What is the World Bank trying to tell us about President Tinubu’s economic policies which many may not know and which the president’s spin doctors have been trying to airbrush with contrived terms and phrases?

In this analysis, for the purpose of clarity and better understanding, I will provide simple and straightforward explanations on the crisis and contradictions inherent in President Tinubu’s economic policies which the World Bank’s latest report on Nigeria sought to point out to us.

The cornerstone of Tinubu’s economic policies is that taxation spur the country’s growth and development. Such assumption may have been relevant when the president was governor of Lagos State because relatively the Lagos economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) powered by high levels of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is huge and uniformly concentrated in one contiguous enclave. This is similar to what obtains in relatively small countries like Scandinavian nations where taxes drive the distribution of resources and services.

But in a larger Nigerian context that is at the lowest rung of development index on an aggregate level, the recourse to fiscal measures to run the economy will surely lead to negative consequences. This is what the World Bank is trying to tell us. Essentially what the multilateral institution is saying is ”Yes Mr President, your chosen policy as conceived and implemented by you is working from the point of view of raising record revenues. But it is being done at the cost of impoverishment of more and more Nigerians who are having the living daylights squeezed out of them.”

Moreover, what the World Bank implied but left unsaid is that the revenues generated from this massive and unreasonable tax drive on Nigerians has not been spent on industrial development and production to grow the economy. Instead, the huge revenues generated by the tax drive has been spent on frivolities like luxury expenditures of the administration at the local, state and federal levels. And the Nigerian people who are the bearers of this heavy tax burden suffer a double whammy of taxation and lack of investment in services, employment and general economic growth and development.

Ignore the abstract economic figures contrived to present a picture of economic progress reeled out by the administration’s personalities and its tribe of influencers; the World Bank and many who are able to see through this elaborately packaged façade know that President Tinubu’s economic policies are out of sync with the realities on ground and can never bring about the desired pathway for Nigeria’s economic development.

Let us measure how president Tinubu’s economic policies measure up against economic thinking and application.

Two main streams of economic thinking and application run in the world; Supply-side economics which focuses on removing totally or scaling down the taxes applied on the highest taxable concerns and individuals to spur supply and growth and the demand-side economics which government intervenes to create aggregate demand from taxation, employment and investment.

Under the Tinubu economic policy model, none of these two applies. Tinubu’s economic policies certainly does not go in tandem with the supply-siders because it is based on massive taxation which serves as a disincentive to concerns and people with the capacity to invest in manufacturing and production. Thus, faced with the heavy burden of taxes, they cannot invest in new ventures and are looking instead to scale down or totally scrap what they have. And because they cannot invest and produce, the effect is redundancies and unemployment.

We could say that Tinubu’s policies lean towards the demand-siders in his fiscal thrust. But unlike in countries where taxation leads to creating and sustaining efficient and reliable service provision, investment and employment, the thrust of Tinubu’s policies does not and cannot lead to investment in industrial production and provision of services.

So, what in essence is Tinubu’s policies?

It is a mongrel economic model of tax and spend, raising revenues through a massive ”smash and grab” hoovering of the Nigerian people to fund the luxuriant living of dubiously entitled living of the privileged few. The Tinubu economic model belongs in the age of colonial subjugation where a colonizing power subjects its colony to various forms of taxation to fund their subjugation thereby impoverishing the people the most.

What the World Bank is telling Nigerians in coded reference is that the Tinubu model is not designed to encourage investment in industrial production and public works infrastructure as happened in many countries. The fiscal policies of the administration are instead designed to tax Nigerians and transfer the revenues so raised to support the entitled living of a privileged few. And because it is a model that leads and feeds luxuries and consumption, the government has to resort to more taxation and seeking for loans to continuously feed the habit like an addiction. The taxes will impoverish Nigerians now and the loans will commit our future and that of generations to come with a massive repayment burden that will cripple our future development as a nation.

A Kano State High Court No. 3, presided over by Justice Farouk Lawan, has sentenced Ahmed Muhammed to 14 years imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old girl.

The convict was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently arraigned before the court on charges of rape.

The prosecution counsel, Barrister Ibrahim Araf Garba, presented four witnesses during the trial.

When the charge was read, the defendant pleaded not guilty and testified as the sole defence witness.

After evaluating the evidence, Justice Lawan held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, finding Muhammed guilty as charged. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison without an option of fine.

Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, was on Monday re-arraigned before the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, for alleged murder.

The convict is facing a five-count charge, including murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Evans, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was arraigned in court by the Lagos State Government for his alleged involvement in the deaths of two police officers during a kidnapping operation in the state.

The matter was transferred to Justice Oyindamola Ogala from Justice Adenike Coker of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.

The State Prosecution Counsel, A. O Azeez, announced appearance for the State government when the case was called up, while Charity. O represented Chief Emefo Etudo, on behalf of Evans and L.C Onyejiakor represented his co-defendant, Joseph Ikenna Emeka.

O. A. Azeez acknowledged that the case was a transferred matter and noted that the defendants should be re-arraigned, regardless of any plea bargain applications filed by the first defendant before Justice Coker. The defendants are standing trial for an amended five counts of murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy to commit felony, kidnapping and attempt to murder.

Consequently, upon appearance, the charge was read to them, and both defendants pleaded not guilty to the five-count charge.

During the proceedings, the defendants were alleged to have killed Peter Nwaeke on March 27, 2013 around 10:00pm along 3rd Avenue, Festac Town, within the Ikeja Judicial Division of Lagos State.

The offences contravene Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011.

Evans is currently facing five different criminal cases involving kidnapping and murder, and has already been convicted in just two out of five cases.

Justice Ogala adjourned the matter to November 19, 2025, for hearing and issuance of witness summons.

Sunday Ude-Okoye, a key figure in the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) national secretaryship tussle, has announced his resignation from the party, citing a loss of moral direction and ideological decay.

Ude-Okoye, who previously served as the PDP’s National Youth Leader, had been embroiled in a long-running dispute with the current National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.

In 2021, Anyanwu and other members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) were elected into office. However, in 2023, he contested the Imo governorship election, which he lost to Governor Hope Uzodimma.

During Anyanwu’s absence, the PDP South East caucus, led by Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah and Deputy Zonal Chairman Ali Odefa, nominated Ude-Okoye as his replacement.

But upon his return, Anyanwu insisted on being reinstated, triggering a protracted legal battle. The Court of Appeal in Enugu recognised Ude-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary, a decision that Anyanwu challenged at the Supreme Court.

The apex court’s judgment, however, deepened the crisis as both men laid claim to victory. The PDP leadership eventually allowed Anyanwu to resume after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared it would only recognise him as the party’s secretary.

On Monday, Ude-Okoye confirmed to Daily Trust that he had resigned from the PDP, saying the party had ‘lost its moral compass, ideological direction, and founding principles of unity, justice, and equity.’

In his resignation letter dated October 13, and addressed to the PDP Ward Chairman in Agbogugu, Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, he said the decision followed ‘deep reflection and careful consideration,’ lamenting that the PDP had ‘strayed far from the ideals of its founding fathers.’

‘After much contemplation,’ he wrote, ‘I have come to the solemn conclusion that I can no longer, in good conscience, remain within a system that has strayed so far from its original purpose. The PDP that once stood as a beacon of hope for democratic governance has regrettably lost its moral compass and ideological direction.’

Meanwhile, several members of the Enugu State Executive Council have joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the anticipated defection of Governor Peter Mbah to the ruling party today.

Those who switched allegiance include the Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Lawrence Ezeh; Chairman of the Science, Technical and Vocational Schools Management Board, Dr Amaka Ngene; and Commissioner for Labour and Employment, Dr Felix Nnamani.

A video shared on Monday by Dan Nwomeh, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, showed the officials holding APC flags and declaring support for the party.

‘Enugu State cabinet members join the APC with full chest along with Governor PN Mbah – from left to right, Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, the Prince of Mburumbu, Dr Lawrence Ezeh; Chairman of the Science, Technical and Vocational Schools Management Board, Dr Amaka S. Ngene; and Commissioner for Labour and Employment, Dr Felix Nnamani,’ Nwomeh posted on X.

The development comes amid mounting indications that Governor Mbah will formally defect to the APC today, following weeks of speculation and the hoisting of the APC flag at the Enugu Government House on Sunday night.

According to reports, the APC has concluded arrangements to officially receive Mbah at a ceremony scheduled to hold in Enugu on Tuesday.

Party officials have been sighted in the state preparing for the event, which is expected to attract key national and regional political figures.

If confirmed, Mbah’s defection will make Enugu the first South East state under APC control since the 2023 general elections – a significant political realignment in the region. At the moment, the APC controls Imo and Ebonyi states, while APGA controls Anambra state and Labour Party controls Abia state.

Mbah, who was elected on the PDP platform in 2023, has yet to comment publicly on the development, though several of his aides and associates have already joined the ruling party.

Makinde upbeat on party’s survival

Political observers see the defection as another major blow to the PDP, which has suffered a series of high-profile exits in recent months.

However, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has urged members of the PDP not to lose hope despite a wave of defections from the opposition party, expressing optimism that the PDP will overcome its current challenges and produce leaders capable of rescuing Nigeria. He said the party had weathered difficult moments before and would again emerge stronger ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday during the inauguration of the PDP National Convention Transportation Subcommittee, which he chairs, Makinde dismissed concerns over the exit of some governors and senior figures from the party. ‘It may appear that it’s getting worse, but usually, when you want something that will endure, it will get worse before it gets better,’ he said. ‘Since 1999, PDP has always been a constant factor, either as the ruling party or the main opposition since 2015.’

The governor’s remarks come amid growing anxiety in the PDP over defections by prominent leaders, including its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and the governors of Delta and Akwa Ibom states with Mbah also about to exit the party.

Makinde, however, maintained that such developments should not discourage members. He appealed for unity, focus, and dedication in rebuilding the party, assuring them that PDP’s nationwide presence remains intact. ‘When you hear the news that people have defected, just hold your own corner for the PDP,’ he said. ‘This is the moment when new, authentic heroes will emerge-not only for the PDP but for our country. The party will produce capable leaders committed to rescuing Nigeria.’