THIS week, Nigeria witnessed a moment that crystallised public frustration, elite rivalry and institutional anxiety into a single, explosive narrative. As chronicled by News Point Nigeria, the confrontation between Aliko Dangote and a senior oil regulator, Engr Farouk Ahmed was less about two individuals and more about the soul of governance in a high-stakes sector. For years, Nigerians have complained about opaque regulation, unaccountable officials and a system that appears to reward privilege while demanding sacrifice from ordinary citizens. Those grievances found an unexpected outlet when Africa’s richest man publicly accused the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and…
Author: Sadiq Abdullateef
Read More
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday convened an emergency meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, ahead of the presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly. News Point Nigeria reports that the emergency session, which took place at the Council Chambers of the State House, came just hours after the President formally notified the National Assembly of his intention to present the 2026 budget estimates at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, December 19, 2025, in line with constitutional provisions. Vice President Kashim Shettima, who addressed council members at the…
FAROUK Ahmed has resigned as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) amid corruption allegations levelled against him by the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote. Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Wednesday in which he also said Gbenga Komolafe has left his position as the chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). Onanuga said President Bola Tinubu has sent the names of two nominees to the Senate for confirmation as their replacement. The president wrote to the lawmakers, asking for…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday summoned the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, amid escalating allegations of economic sabotage and corruption levelled against him by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote. News Point Nigeria reports that Ahmed was sighted at the Presidential Villa at about 5:30pm, where he proceeded directly to the President’s office. He reportedly left the Villa less than 25 minutes later, fuelling speculation over the purpose and outcome of the visit. Although neither the Presidency nor the NMDPRA issued an official statement on…
THE controversy surrounding the leadership of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) intensified on Wednesday as the Dangote Group issued a fresh statement alleging that the agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, is facing mounting scrutiny over plans to approve the payment of more than ₦200 billion in outstanding bridging claims to oil marketers. In a press statement sent to News Point Nigeria, the Dangote Group said industry sources expressed deep concern over the proposed settlement of what were described as “legacy” bridging claims spanning 2023, 2024 and 2025, warning that the move could expose serious…
THE Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, has distanced himself from a viral statement circulating on social media purportedly issued in response to corruption allegations made against him by the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Ahmed, in a brief but firm statement made available to News Point Nigeria late on Wednesday, denied authorising or issuing any public response to the allegations, describing the circulating statement as false and unauthorised. The denial comes amid growing controversy following comments by Dangote during a press briefing at the Dangote Petroleum…
THE Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has submitted a petition against the Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Ahmed Farouk, to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), accusing him of corruption and financial impropriety. News Point Nigeria reports that in the petition submitted on December 16, Dangote demanded the arrest, investigation and prosecution of Ahmed for allegedly living above his means as a public servant. In the petition received by the office of the Chairman of the ICPC, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), the Dangote Group Chairman specifically accused the…
FORMER First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has opened up on a troubling period during the presidency of her late husband, Muhammadu Buhari, revealing that rumours within the Presidential Villa once led him to believe she was plotting to kill him. News Point Nigeria reports that Mrs Buhari made the disclosure in a newly released biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr Charles Omole and launched at the State House, Abuja, on Monday. According to the book, the rumours described as toxic gossip circulating within Aso Rock created fear and mistrust that disrupted Buhari’s…
FOR years, the Maryam Sanda case has sat at the uneasy intersection of crime, power, mercy and justice in Nigeria’s legal imagination. On Friday, that long-running national conversation took a dramatic turn once again, as the Supreme Court delivered what may now stand as the final word in one of the country’s most closely watched homicide cases. News Point Nigeria reports that the apex court has upheld the death sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda for the killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, bringing fresh intensity to an already polarising case this time in direct contrast to President Bola Tinubu’s earlier…
THE Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda, despite President Bola Tinubu’s earlier decision to commute her punishment to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate grounds. News Point Nigeria reports that In a 4–1 split judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court on Thursday reaffirmed the trial court’s verdict that sentenced Sanda to death by hanging for the 2017 killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, son of a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The ruling comes weeks after President Tinubu reversed the presidential pardon previously granted to Sanda, reducing her sentence from death…
NIGERIA’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, on Thursday confirmed that the 11 Nigerian soldiers aboard the Air Force C-130 aircraft that made a forced landing in Burkina Faso remain in the custody of Burkinabé authorities despite earlier reports claiming they had been released. News Point Nigeria reports that the development has deepened confusion around the diplomatic standoff, with contradictory accounts emerging from both countries over the fate of the detained personnel. Tuggar made the clarification during a joint press conference with Benin Republic’s Foreign Minister, Olushegun Bakari, at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja. Responding to questions from journalists, the…
BENIN’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Olushegun Bakari, on Thursday revealed how his country sought urgent military assistance from Nigeria to help thwart last Sunday’s attempted coup aimed at toppling President Patrice Talon. News Point Nigeria reports that Bakari, who addressed journalists on the sidelines of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting in Abuja, said Benin’s request for intervention was made under existing ECOWAS security protocols, noting that the swift response from Nigeria and other regional partners played a decisive role in averting a national tragedy. The minister praised Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Sierra Leone for responding rapidly to Benin’s call…
NOBEL laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has criticised what he described as the “extravagant and unjustifiable” security escort attached to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, warning that Nigeria cannot afford to deploy scarce security resources based on privilege while the country grapples with widespread insecurity. News Point Nigeria reports that Soyinka made the remarks on Monday at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, during a session that has since gone viral in a four-minute, 25-second video shared on X by the platform #Nigeriastories Tuesday night. The literary icon narrated a recent encounter in…
REGIONAL tensions escalated on Monday after the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) comprising Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso condemned the emergency landing of a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) C-130 aircraft in Burkina Faso, describing the incident as an “unfriendly act” and a violation of its airspace. News Point Nigeria reports that the aircraft, which was ferrying 11 Nigerian military personnel on a mission to Portugal, made an unplanned landing in Bobo-Dioulasso following what Nigerian authorities have confirmed was a genuine technical concern mid-flight. In a statement broadcast on state media across the three military-led nations, the Sahel Alliance claimed the…
NIGERIA deployed both air and ground troops to neighbouring Benin Republic on Sunday after President Patrice Talon’s government urgently requested military support to suppress an attempted coup, the Nigerian presidency and senior defence officials confirmed. News Point Nigeria reports that the intervention followed a dramatic early-morning broadcast on Benin’s state television, where a group of mutinous soldiers calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR) announced the dissolution of government, suspension of the constitution, and closure of the country’s borders. They further proclaimed that President Talon had been removed from office and declared Lieutenant-Colonel Tigri Pascal as head of a…
THE Federal Government has reportedly secured the release of 100 schoolchildren abducted from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area, Niger State. News Point Nigeria reports that Bandits on 21 November 2025, attacked the school in the remote community of Papiri. Arriving around 2:00 a.m. on motorbikes, the gunmen stormed the school dormitories over a three-hour period, abducting 315 people 303 students and 12 teachers. Security forces and community hunters were deployed to comb nearby forests for the abductees. In the immediate aftermath, 50 pupils escaped within the first day and were reunited…
IN a political season already thick with debate, President Bola Tinubu’s latest ambassadorial nominations have opened a new front of national conversation, one that stretches from the halls of the presidency to the opposition war parlours, from media news rooms to the streets where citizens trade opinions with equal parts passion and suspicion. This week, the president sent 32 names to the Senate for confirmation as ambassadors, a list notable for its blend of political heavyweights, former public office holders and prominent technocrats. Among those nominated are former INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu; ex-minister Femi Fani-Kayode; former presidential aide Reno Omokri;…
CALLS in US for Nigeria to abolish Sharia law and disband Hisbah commissions have sparked fresh concern across northern states such as Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Zamfara, and others, where these institutions have operated for decades as core elements of religious order, identity, and local governance. For many in the region, the push by some United States lawmakers to pressure President Bola Tinubu into ending Sharia-based legal systems feels like an attempt to override the constitutional freedoms that allow states to adopt legal frameworks reflecting their cultural and religious values. Northern leaders argue that dismantling Hisbah and outlawing Sharia would not…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed General Christopher Gwabin Musa as the new Minister of Defence. This was disclosed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Tuesday. Onanuga said in a letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu conveyed General Musa’s nomination as the successor to Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned on Monday over health issue. General Musa, 58, is a distinguished soldier who served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. H He won the Colin Powell Award for Soldiering…
AFTER months of tension and two failed attempts, the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday finally arraigned SaharaReporters publisher and rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of cybercrime linked to his social media criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. News Point Nigeria recalls that in August, the DSS openly faulted a series of posts by Sowore on X (formerly Twitter), in which he described President Tinubu as a “criminal.” The agency instructed him to take down the posts, an order the activist refused to obey leading to the initiation of legal proceedings.…