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I came, I saw, I’m done! – Troost-Ekong *Quits Super Eagles
In a surprising move that sent a buzz within the Nigerian sports circle, William Troost-Ekong, Super Eagles Captain, who led the team to win the silver medal two years ago, has just announced that he is quitting the team and international football, meaning Eric Chelle, Coach of the senior national team will now have to look for another leader.
In an outing titled: Honoured, Grateful, Forever a Super Eagle, he wrote: “Today, I’m announcing my retirement from international football. In 2015, a late call from the late Stephen Keshi changed my life. A month later, the Big Boss gave me my debut. His belief in me ignited the desire to follow his footsteps.
“Every single time I put on the iconic shirt to walk out onto the pitch I have thought about that exact moment. Going on to captain the Super Eagles was beyond my wildest dreams. I’m grateful to my fans, coaches, and teammates. Wearing the Super Eagles armband and representing more than 230 million Nigerians was an honour I will forever cherish.
“Nigeria took me in and trust me to lead and represent a nation of +230 million. From a boy born and raised in the Netherlands, to the Oyinbo Wall, and eventually skippo is a privilege I will always hold close to my heart.
“To have achieved 83 senior caps, played in five major tournaments, three medals, and broken a few records, I really lived my dreams. A bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, followed by playing at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and three incredible AFCON tournaments, with a bronze and recently a silver medal, will remain unforgettable.”
“To every coach, member of staff,and most importantly my teammates and now brothers past and present, who has been part of my international journey, thank you.”
Recalling the emotions that went into the 2023 AFCON tournament, where he captained Nigeria to the final, scored in the decisive match, and was named Player of the Tournament, he added: “Being able to lead Nigeria to the 2023 AFCON, scoring in the final, and being named Player of the Tournament, was something so special.
“Till this day I still wish for a different ending. Becoming the highest scoring defender in AFCON history is a honour I share with every teammate who was part of those moments. I am at peace knowing that throughout all these milestones, I gave everything I had, not just for myself but to try and inspire the next generations, the same way I was inspired by the legends I looked up to.”
To the younger generation, he said he had the pleasure to fight shoulder to shoulder with them, adding: “It’s been so much fun to play alongside my Nigerian teammates. Watching them grow into leaders, time has come to pass on the responsibilities, to pass on the opportunity, and to pass on the captaincy.
“I am so proud to be part of a group that fully showed it is possible to come home, to play and represent our beloved nation. None of this will be possible without the people around me.
“To the Nigerian fans, the heartbeat of Nigerian football, your support has carried me through every high and every challenge. This isn’t a final goodbye, my work within Nigerian communities continues, just as my love and passion for the team will never fade.
“The last decade has been filed with commitment, pride and unforgotable memories. Wearing the Super Eagles shirt, has been more than playing football, has been a duty, a privilege, and an honour.”
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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