Author: Drum Africa Correspondent

Amid the security challenges facing the nation, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has asked Nigerians to stop giving money to kidnappers and bandits. He stated this on Tuesday while receiving 60 kidnapped victimss recently rescued from captivity in Zangon Kataf, Southern Kaduna, following sustained military operations. The victims were received at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in Abuja, the nation’s capital. “Please stop giving money to these people, it is the most difficult thing we are facing,” the NSA told Nigerians. “Many of these people (kidnap victims), their families have given money to these people (kidnappers) but it did not…

Workers at the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, in Ondo State on Tuesday embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of salaries by the Ondo State Government. The striking workers, who are members of the Non-Academic Staff Union and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics, staged a peaceful protest on the institution’s campus to express their grievances. The aggrieved staff revealed they are being owed six months’ salaries and accused the government of failing to implement the national minimum wage. They carried placards with messages including, “We are hungry, pay our six months’ salaries,” “Mr Governor, please implement our…

Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) has approved the appointment of administrators for the 23 Local Government Areas of the state. This comes less that 24 hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt reportedly restrained him from appointing administrators to oversea the affairs of the local government councils. The order was issued by Justice Adam Muhammed on Tuesday in suit no. FHC/PH/CS/46/2025 in the case filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative led by Courage Msirimovu against the Sole Administrator in his official capacity. However, Ibas also approved the reconstitution of some boards…

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital has barred the Sole Administrator Ibokette Ibas from appointing Sole Administrators to run the 23 local council areas. Justice Adamu Turaki Muhammed gave the order on Tuesday following a motion exparte application filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative led by Courage Msirimovu challenging the decision to install Administrators in the Local Government Councils as a Sole Administrator for the period of six months. At the hearing, the Court stated that the motion exparte was filed on March 28, 2025 and prayed the court for many reliefs…

The Presidency has maintained that President Bola Tinubu’s appointments will continue to be based on “merit, integrity, geographical spread, and demonstrable capacity to serve the Nigerian people,” insisting that they will not be based on Senator Ali Ndume’s “cherry-picked tribal arithmetic”. Recall that Senator Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District of Borno State, accused President Tinubu of breaching the constitutional principle of federal character in his political appointments during an Arise TV programme. Ndume raised concerns about the growing ethnic imbalance in the current administration, citing President Tinubu’s failure to adhere to Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution. This section…

The National Executive Council of the Labour Party has passed a vote of confidence in the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee. This was part of the resolutions at the party’s NEC meeting held in Abuja on Monday. In a communique read out by the National Secretary, Alhaji Ibrahim Umar-Farouk, the NEC expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court decision, which, it said, had returned the power, glory and supremacy of political parties. The communique read, “The court asserted the supremacy of the party over its internal affairs and that leadership of a political party is not for any court to decide,…

The Presidency has debunked widespread reports claiming that President Bola Tinubu has sacked the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. The reports, which went viral early Monday, alleged that Yakubu had been removed from office and replaced with a certain Professor Bashiru Olamilekan in what was described as a “sweeping change” in the electoral body’s leadership. Reacting to the claims, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Digital and New Media, O’tega Ogra, described the news as false and urged the public to disregard it. “Disregard any fake news making the rounds about the replacement…

Young demonstrators under the aegis of the Take-It-Back Movement on Monday defied police warning and staged protests in Abuja, Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, among other states. Clad in their signature orange berets, the protesters began their rally in Lagos at the Ikeja Under Bridge, marching through major roads in the state capital while chanting solidarity songs, under the watchful eyes of police officers. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had earlier urged the movement to cancel its planned nationwide protest, describing the timing as “ill-conceived and mischievous.” However, in a swift response, activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore dismissed the police’s…

The internal crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) took a dramatic turn on Monday as two rival factions within the party summoned separate meetings of the National Executive Committee (NEC), signaling a deepening rift over the party’s leadership and direction. The move follows Friday’s judgement by the Supreme Court, which many observers believe has emboldened opposing camps to assert control over the party’s structures ahead of upcoming political realignments. Julius Abure, the embattled national chairman of the party, convened a NEC meeting which is expected to be held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja. The meeting was announced in…

President Ibrahim Traore has declared to the people of Burkina Faso in a televise speech that the country is not in a democracy but in a revolution. The Captain and President of Burkina Faso said a country cannot develop under democracy. He said in his speech: “We are not in a democracy, we are in a revolution,” “If we have to say it loud and clear here, we are not in a democracy, we are in a popular, progressive revolution.” “Everyone needs to understand this. It’s even more surprising that those who are supposed to be intellectuals, who have been…