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*Reps walk Kyari, NNPC boss out of public hearing session
Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD-CEO) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited got some raw treatment, on Wednesday when he was practically walked out of the chambers by members of the House of Representatives.
The NNPCL boss, was at the Green Chambers of the National Assembly to face members of the Committee on Finance during a public hearing on the tax reform bills, when the drama that eventually led to his rather undignified exit.
James Faleke, the Committee Chairman, had invited NNPC to deliver its presentation during the public hearing on the tax reform, only for Kyari, who stepped forward, to be cut off abruptly as he was making his presentation.
But his address was cut short when Faleke interrupted, asking if he had submitted his proposal to the committee, to which the NNPCL boss answered in the negative, saying that amendments had been made to his memorandum, assuring the committee that the updated document would be submitted later.
But his explanation was rejected by Faleke who asked him to return on Thursday or Friday when his proposal would be ready, and cut off further attempts by Kyari to make further submission, as a result of which he stepped the podium and exited the venue.
Earlier Faleke said proposals should be submitted to the committee before representatives of any organisation proceeds to address the audience, on the four bills—the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Tax Administration Bill, the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, and the Nigeria Revenue Service Bill — which had earlier scaled the second reading at both chambers of the National Assembly.
Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), is to cough out a whopping N15billion, should he be found guilty of defaming Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Bola Tinubu.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has approached the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, Gbajabiamila, with a suit to compel the payment after flatly denying the allegation of the embattled DG, having ignored his earlier demand of N10billion and an apology from Adeyemi as the only option to stop the legal action.
Adeyemi, who was on Tuesday, arrested by the police in Osun State, barely hours after Justice Mohammed Umar of a Federal High Court in Abuja issued a warrant for that purpose, had publicly accused Gbajabiamila during a press conference on June 25, 2026, of demanding a 48 per cent kickback from a N27.3 billion take-off grant, after receiving an initial N400 million through a proxy, and demanded an additional N200 million balance.
Gbajabiamila, who handed him a 72-hour ultimatum to retract the allegation and tender a public apology or face legal action, in the suit filed on Thursday is seeking N10 billion as general damages, N5 billion as aggravated damages, N200 million as cost of the action, and an order compelling Adeyemi to publish a full retraction and apology in five national newspapers.
He is also asking the court to direct the defendant to pin the apology on all social media platforms and online channels where the alleged defamatory statements were published for 30 days.
The Chief of Staff, through his legal team from Pinheiro LP led by Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, described the allegations as false, malicious and defamatory.
In the statement of claim, Gbajabiamila denied ever meeting or communicating with Adeyemi or authorising anyone to act on his behalf.
Adeyemi, who had alleged at a press conference that a disagreement arose after Gbajabiamila purportedly demanded a 48 per cent kickback from the agency’s N27.3 billion take-off grant, had also claimed that N400 million had already been paid through a proxy on behalf of the Chief of Staff, while an additional N200 million was required to secure presidential approvals.
“The claimant has never met the defendant, never held any meeting with him and has never authorised any intermediary, representative, agent or proxy to demand or receive money on his behalf,” the court filing stated.
The suit also referred to Adeyemi’s claims regarding the alleged mysterious death of an intermediary, Mr. Babatunde Tanimola, whom he claimed served as the link between himself and the Chief of Staff.
Adeyemi alleged that Tanimola died in a suspicious hotel fire in Utako, Abuja, on October 22, 2025, a day after Gbajabiamila allegedly petitioned the police.
He further claimed that he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway in September 2025, and alleged that a “directive from above” instructed the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Nigeria Police Force to discontinue efforts to recover his stolen mobile phones, which he claimed contained crucial evidence.
The Federal Government on Friday, announced the change of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway, in honour of the Nigerian President’s “vision” in not only conceiving the project, but actually commencing it.
Dave Umahi, Minister of Works, who made the announcement, recalled how Tinubu conceived the idea of the landmark project, estimated at N15trillion, was inspired by a vision he conceived while serving as governor of Lagos State nearly three decades ago.
Describing the renaming as recognition of Tinubu’s role in initiating the idea behind the 750-kilometre highway, he said: “That highway is named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway. By the powers conferred on me as Minister of Works, in consultation with my Permanent Secretary, the Minister of State, directors and staff of the ministry, we decided to name it after him because of his dream for it.
“He had that dream about 27 years back as governor of Lagos State. It is one thing to dream and another thing to have the grace of God to actualise that dream. This is one man who dreams and has the grace and divine mandate to actualise that dream,” Umahi said.
The minister also announced that President Tinubu had approved the extension of the Fourth Legacy Highway by an additional 400 kilometres, increasing the planned corridor to about 1,100 kilometres.
He said the President also approved the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway using reinforced concrete pavement, the completion of the long-abandoned Ibi Bridge in Taraba State, the construction of the 5.76-kilometre Lau Bridge, and the dualisation of another 400 kilometres of the East-West Road.
Providing an update on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Umahi said construction was progressing across several sections of the project.
Explaining that the first phase, stretching from Victoria Island to Eleko Village in Lagos, was serving as a benchmark for modern highway construction, while the second section, from Eleko to the Lagos-Ogun boundary, was about 60 per cent complete and expected to be substantially delivered by November, he added that the construction is also ongoing in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Ondo states.
The family of Mary Habila, the 26-year-old lady, whose death in the home of Dave Umahi, at Uburu, Ebonyi State, on June 27, has been raising a lot of dust, has upped the ante in their demand to come to a speedy closure on the incident through the prompt burial of her remains.
Originally, the burial for the deceased, initially said to be a physiotherapist, seconded to the Minister, but now confirmed to be a nurse, was slated for this Friday, but the plan seems to have been shelved owing to the insistence by both the police and the Minister for an autopsy to be conducted on the body.
Umahi, obviously enraged by the insinuations hovering over the incident, with many Nigerians pointing accusing fingers in his direction, had told reporters on Thursday that he had requested the Ebonyi State Police Command to transfer the matter to the Louis Edet House, Police Headquarters in Abuja, for full investigation, including a full autopsy to determine the cause of death.
But insisting on the position of the family, Tanko Habila, father to the deceased, has now petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), demanding the release of her remains for burial.
At the Force Headquarters, Abuja, Habila, who was accompanied by his wife, other family members and their lawyers, told reporters, on Friday that it was saddening that almost two weeks after his daughter’s demise, the Ebonyi State Police Command had refused to release her body for burial.
Insisting on the reason the family had flatly rejected the autopsy option, he said: “As we are standing here, somebody can fall and die. It has happened. All we want is her body to be buried.”
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