Author: Farouk Abbas

THE Federal Government through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has raided the Abuja office of Contact Tele-performance Company (TLC), a visa support outfit, and sealed the premises following alleged consumer rights violations as well as assault on security officers by agents of the centre. The Director of Surveillance and Investigations, Mrs. Boladale Adeyinka, who led the enforcement team to the business premises, explained that the commission was left with no option but to seal the business premises as a result of these infractions. She also alleged that FCCPC enforcement agents were assaulted by persons acting on the…

KOGI Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has been arraigned before Justice Chizoba Orji of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court for alleged defamation. The lawmaker was arraigned on Thursday by the Federal Government on three counts bordering on alleged defamation of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. Security operatives are visible around the court, with the proceeding attended by the lawmaker’s husband, a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili; activist Aisha Yesufu; and numerous supporters. The government accused the Senator of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm…

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Moses Sule, alongside 14 former lawmakers over allegations of money laundering and abuse of office. EFCC Spokesperson Dele Oyewale disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja. The commission’s spokesman said the suspects were arrested by operatives of the EFCC’s Makurdi Zonal Directorate on Tuesday, following petitions from concerned citizens in the state. Oyewale explained that the former legislators allegedly violated the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and were also implicated in procurement irregularities. He explained…

AN EFCC’s witness, Offure Achille, on Tuesday, admitted that the name of Ali Bello, the Chief of Staff to Gov. Usman Ododo of Kogi, did not feature in any of the bank transactions in the ongoing money laundering trial. Achille, the Head of Operations at Access Bank branch between 2015 and 2023 in Lokoja, Kogi, told Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja during cross examination by Bello’s counsel, Abubakar Aliyu, SAN. The witness, who said he had no personal interest in the case, agreed that she gave a testimony as part of her official assignment. She…

ACTING National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Ilyas Umar Damagum, has refuted reports he is plotting to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He attributed the reports to desperate and determined political foes, asserting he was not pursuing a secret deal towards defecting to the APC. “It is my detractors,” Damagum asserted in a response to The Nation’s text message requesting clarifications over the alleged plans. He was alleged to be secretly plotting to dump PDP once his tenure as acting chairman expires at the party’s national convention scheduled for August 28-30, 2025. But in a…

JUSTICE Halilu Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Monday granted bail at ₦2 billion to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. Justice Yusuf granted the bail after Emefiele was arraigned on an eight-count charge in which he is accused of among others, unlawfully acquiring a housing estate comprising 753 units, allegedly stealing and taking control of billions of naira in proxy accounts. The court gave Emefiele 72 hours to fulfill the bail conditions, warning that failure to do so will result in him being remanded in custody. In the ruling, Justice…

THE Nigeria Police Force has announced the recovery of several vehicles stolen in Abuja and smuggled across borders to Ghana and Niger Republic, following coordinated international operations with INTERPOL. In a statement issued on Saturday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the police said the operations were executed through the INTERPOL National Central Bureau Abuja, in collaboration with its counterparts in Accra and Niamey. Adejobi said a key recovery was a Toyota Prado (2020 model), stolen during a robbery incident in Abuja, which was later traced to Accra, Ghana. The statement read, ”Operatives of the INTERPOL NCB Abuja,…

THE National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), for ingesting 53 wraps of cocaine, while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Iran. This came barely two weeks after operatives of the NDLEA at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) Kano, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Leonard Okigbo heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach. Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement in Abuja, said that Ezemokwe, 44, was arrested on Saturday, 7th June, while trying to board Qatar Airways…

INSPECTOR-GENERAL of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has approved an extension of the grace period for the enforcement of Tinted Glass Permit requirement to August 12. The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi said this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. Adejobi said the extension followed several concerns and feedback expressed by the public over the reactivation of the digital Tinted Glass Permit application process. “In line with our commitment to delivering transparent, inclusive, and citizen-focused policing, the force wishes to affirm that it has not ignored the voices of Nigerians. “Rather, these voices have been instrumental in guiding ongoing…

DESPITE the country witnessing nearly three decades of uninterrupted civil rule, Nigeria’s democracy is still dangerously underdeveloped, former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru M. Jega, has disclosed. Presenting a paper titled “Required Reforms for Stronger Democratic Institutions in Nigeria” at the Platform Nigeria: June 12, 2025 edition, organized by The Covenant Nation Global in Lagos Jega, a Professor of Political Science from Bayero University, Kano noted that, “we have perfected the rituals of democracy—elections, party campaigns, political handovers—but have failed to build the substance: institutions that work, leaders who serve, and a citizenry that…

THE Federal High Court in Abuja has heard how the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, allegedly smuggled a radio transmitter into the country, concealing it within household items. Testifying as the fourth prosecution witness, an operative of the Department of State Services (DSS), identified as Mister DDD, told the court that the transmitter was brought into Nigeria without declaration to the Nigeria Customs Service and was hidden at the residence of one Benjamin Madubougu in Ihiala, Anambra State. Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, the witness stated that Kanu used the…

AIRLINE Operators of Nigeria, AON, Friday, expressed dismay over the conduct of former Edo State governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, saying it is unacceptable and another example of the growing trend of unruly passenger behaviour experienced by domestic carriers. Spokesperson for the AON, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, also expressed sadness that two days after the incident, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, was yet to reveal what truly happened. Okonkwo spoke as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, directed relevant aviation agencies to investigate the dispute. Spokesperson for the AON spoke…

NIGERIA would have become far better economically had democracy hero Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola been allowed to become president in 1993, his son Jamiu has said. “Nigeria would have been better because, at that time, it was a very special time in global times; that 1993 period was a time when the world itself was having an international economic boom,” he said on Thursday during Channels Television’s June 12 Special Forum to celebrate Nigeria’s 26 years of unbroken democratic rule. “So, we could have tapped into that. But what did we get in return? We got a Kleptomaniac as…

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Nigerians to resist what it described as “anti-democratic” designs of the All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly the” plot to foist a despotic one-party regime in Nigeria”. The party urged Nigerians in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, as the country celebrates Democracy Day on June 12. It called on Nigerians to resist the alleged plot in the interest of the country’s democracy. “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) calls on Nigerians to use the occasion of the June 12 Democracy Day to re-awaken and strengthen their resistance to the anti-democratic…

THERE is tight security in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as some groups begin protests to demonstrate against what they described as rising hardship and insecurity. Security agencies had been deployed to strategic locations across the nation’s capital, especially hot spots where the protesters may likely be. The presence of operatives was particularly noticeable at major junctions, Eagle Square and the National Assembly, among other places where the protesters could have gathered. However, the protest, which coincides with Nigeria’s Democracy Day, commenced in the Apo area of Abuja, where demonstrators were seen chanting solidarity songs and waving placards to express…

THE Nasarawa State government has refuted allegations that it is harbouring killer Bandits responsible for attacks in Benue State, which have left scores dead and displaced several communities. In a statement yesterday, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, Mr Peter Ahemba, debunked claims made by former Benue lawmaker, Mark Gbilah, who alleged that attackers of Benue communities were being sheltered in Nasarawa State. “The attention of the Nasarawa State Government has been drawn to misleading claims by one Mark Gbilah, former member of the House of Representatives from Benue State,” Ahemba said. “The former lawmaker,…

ABDULRAHMAN Bello, the prime suspect in the murder of a final year female student of the Kwara state College of Education, Hafsoh Lawal, told the court on Wednesday that he single-handedly carried out the cutting of the deceased into parts after taking alcohol. Testifying before Justice Hannah Ajayi of the State High Court, while opening his defence, the suspect said that his co-defendants did not have a hand in the incident. Abdulrahman Bello also told the court that he used the knife and cutlass found by police detectives in his two-room apartment at Olunlade area of Ilorin, the state capital,…

THE Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has struck out two motions filed by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and awarded costs of ₦100,000 against him. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Hamman Barka, struck out the motions on May 21, 2025, following the request for withdrawal of the appeal. This newspaper obtained a certified true copy of the ruling on Tuesday night. The motions, dated March 3, 2025, and March 25, 2025, and marked CV/395/M1/2025 and CV/395/M2/2025, listed Akpabio as the appellant. The respondents were Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Clerk of the…

SOME Nigerian pilgrims officials, popularly called NAHCON stakeholders, have protested in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, over unpaid allowances. The protest took place at the Nuzha Funduk Asalatuk Maqaam hotel in Makkah city, around 4 pm (local time) on Monday. The hotel is housing over 700 adhoc officials sponsored to the holy land by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), under the “stakeholder” category. The protesters had urged President Bola Tinubu and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to come to their aid by probing the Hajj commission’s leadership. The pilgrims held placards in front of the hotel with inscriptions…

THE Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the remand of Mr. Jesam Michael, Chief Executive Officer of Afriq Arbitrage System (AAS) Limited, at the Kuje Correctional Centre over alleged involvement in a multi-million-dollar investment fraud. Justice Obiora Egwuatu gave the order following Michael’s arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering, advance fee fraud, and operating financial services without a valid license. Ruling on Michael’s bail application, Justice Egwuatu denied the request, citing the severity of the allegations, weight of evidence, and the growing number of petitions from victims…