A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Chairman, PDP Advocates for Peace and Justice (PAPAJ), Tom FredFish, has called on the party (PDP) to zone its Presidential ticket to the South-South and specifically to the Minister of the FCT, Barr. Nyesom Wike, to see what he would do with it.
FredFish made the statement during a media parley in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, noting that the only way to bring peace to the party and honour the party’s long-standing zoning arrangement as suggested by the FCT Minister is to field Wike as its Presidential candidate.
He noted that the recent composition of a reconciliation committee by the PDP is a waste of time, querying, “What and who are they going to reconcile?”
Bashir Ahmad, ex-aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, has suggested that the northern region might soon need additional petroleum refineries.
This is even as he said that the progress at the Kolmani oil fields now at advanced stages
Ahmad was reacting to a post on X by Kalu Aja, a financial expert and educator.
Kalu had claimed that Kaduna Refinery was built to refine imported crude oil, arguing it is not economically sound.
President Bola Tinubu will travel to Rome, Italy, on
Saturday to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, following an invitation
from the new pontiff.
The ceremony, marking the beginning of Pope Leo XIV’s
pontificate as the 267th Bishop of Rome, will take place on May 18 at St.
Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
In his invitation to the Nigerian president, Cardinal Pietro
Parolin, on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, emphasised the significance of Tinubu’s
“presence at this pivotal moment for the Catholic Church”, amidst global
tensions and conflicts.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, the president’s spokesperson, said the visit underscores the strong diplomatic ties between Nigeria and the Vatican.
Human rights lawyer, Evans Ufeli has filed a N10 billion
lawsuit against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and the
Minister of Education, citing widespread irregularities and technical failures
that compromised the integrity of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination, UTME.
Meanwhile, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, acknowledged
during a press conference on Wednesday that the initially reported mass
failures were the result of a systemic failure.
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, is being
brought on behalf of aggrieved UTME candidates, many of whom are minors as well
as their parents and other stakeholders.
Ufeli is asking the court to declare the actions and
omissions of JAMB in the conduct of the 2025 UTME as a gross violation of the
fundamental rights of the candidates.
Two members of the house of representatives have defected
from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the All Progressives Congress
(APC).
The notices of defection were read by Tajudeen Abbas,
speaker of the house, during plenary on Thursday.
The lawmakers are Kabiru Usman and Abdullahi Sani, who
represent Rano/Bunkure/Kibiya and Karaye/Rogo federal constituencies of Kano,
respectively.
The legislators cited internal crisis in the NNPP as reason
for their defection.
A lawyer identified as Rolex Iloakasia and his client were
reportedly shot dead on Thursday while returning from a court hearing in
Anambra.
Tochukwu Ikenga, police spokesperson in Anambra, who
confirmed the incident in a statement, said the two men were shot dead at about
11.30 am in Egbebelu village, Nanka, under the Orumba north LGA.
He said the lawyer had earlier secured the bail of an
accused person in a pending murder case at high court II in Ekwulobia before
they were double-crossed by the assailants.
“The commissioner of police, Anambra state command, CP
Ikioye Orutugu, fwc, minps, PhD, today, Thursday, 15th May 2025, at about
11:30am, led a team of senior officers—including the deputy commissioner of
police in charge of operations and experienced detectives from the command—on a
visit to the crime scene at Egbebelu village, Nanka, Orumba North Local
Government Area, where two persons were gruesomely murdered by
yet-to-be-identified armed men operating on a motorcycle,” the statement reads.
R&B superstar Chris Brown has been arrested in
connection with an alleged assault on a music producer at a London nightclub in
2023.
The 36-year-old American singer was detained by Metropolitan
police officers in the early hours of Thursday at Manchester’s five-star Lowry
Hotel, where he was staying after arriving in the United Kingdom via private
jet.
Brown, who is due to begin a world tour in three weeks, was
arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
The arrest is connected to an incident at Tape nightclub in
Mayfair’s Hanover Square on February 19,
2023.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has initiated a legal
suit against Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy, over his launch of a
‘shadow government’.
A shadow government is a group of opposition members that
mimics the structure and cabinet of the actual government. It is common in a parliamentary
system of government.
On May 5, Utomi launched the initiative virtually and dubbed
it ‘Big tent coalition shadow government’.
The professor had said the shadow government aimed to serve
as a credible opposition to the President Bola Tinubu administration.
An official of the Department of State Services (DSS) says
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was not kept in
a solitary confinement.
The DSS official, identified as “BBB”, was cross examined on
Wednesday at the ongoing trial of Kanu at the federal high court in Abuja.
Kanu is currently facing trial at a federal high court in
Abuja on a seven-count charge bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.
The IPOB leader has since pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Kanu has been in DSS custody since he was re-arrested in
Kenya and extradited to Nigeria in 2021.
The police have re-arraigned controversial social media
critic, Martins Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), for allegedly
cyberbullying actresses Tonto Dikeh and Iyabo Ojo.
The police also accused the activist of cyber bullying
famous Nigerian producer and singer Samuel Oguachuba, also known as Samklef,
among others.
VDM was re-arraigned on Thursday before Justice Musa Liman
of the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory on a five-count
charge.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge .
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has debunked reports alleging a clash between him and the Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Auwal Jatau.
Tuggar clarified that the altercation was not with the deputy but rather with the state governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, whom he accused of verbally insulting him and threatening to slap him during a recent visit by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Tuggar said the incident occurred inside a vehicle they shared with the Vice President during his visit to Bauchi.
A bill proposing mandatory voting in elections for qualified
Nigerians has scaled second reading at the house of representative.
The bill, which is sponsored by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of
the house, passed the second reading stage after an extensive debate on
Thursday.
Leading the debate, Daniel Ago, the co-sponsor, said the
proposed legislation seeks to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to tackle the
problem of low voter turnout.
He said compulsory voting law would increase civic
engagement and voter participation, making electoral involvement a legal
obligation rather than a personal choice.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s
headline inflation rate slightly dropped to 23.71 percent in April 2025 – down
from the 24.23 percent in March.
NBS announced the increase in its consumer price index (CPI)
on Thursday.
According to the bureau, the movement for April 2025
“headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.52% compared to the March 2025
Headline inflation rate”.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in
April 2025 was 1.86%, which was 2.04% lower than the rate recorded in March
2025 (3.90%),” NBS said.