News
BREAKING: Obi on final lap! Storms NDC secretariat for screening
Peter Obi, is on his last lap of returning to the ballot for a second term in the chase for Nigeria’s number one job, with his arrival at the National Secretariat of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), for his screening to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, contested the same office in 2023, on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), and was declared third position in a heavily contested result released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which his supporters insisted was heavily rigged against their principal.
The former governor also challenged the result up to the Supreme Court, before losing out to President Bola Tinubu who was declared winner on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, with Atiku Abubakar coming second.
Regardless, Obi, who has since dumped the LP, and first moved into a coalition with Atiku and other political bigwigs in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which he quit last month to join the NDC, where he had since picked the ticket – the only one on the party’s membership to do so.
Reports say the former governor arrived the NDC headquarters on Tuesday evening arrived for the party’s presidential screening exercise ahead of the 2027 general election.
Dressed in his trademark all-black kaftan and matching cap, Obi reportedly stepped down from his car, which drove into the premises of the party secretariat in Abuja at about 6:45pm, about 20 minutes after Sam Egwu, Chairman of the Presidential Primaries Screening Committee, entered the venue.
Accompanied by Victor Umeh, his political ally and Senator representing Anambra Central, Obi was seen handing over his Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to one of his aides shortly after his arrival before settling down with the Egwu committee, which was appointed on Monday by the party.
Egwu, a former governor of Ebonyi State and Senator, is to oversee the screening of presidential, governorship, senatorial and House of Representatives aspirants ahead of the 2027 general elections, a statement issued by Ikenna Morgan Enekweizu, NDC National Secretary, said on Tuesday.
“The 17-member committee is scheduled to be inaugurated by 4pm on Tuesday, May 19, 2026,” the statement added.
Egwu will head the panel responsible for screening aspirants seeking elective offices on the platform of the NDC, while the party’s National Legal Adviser, Reuben Egwuaba, will serve as secretary of the committee.
Other members of the panel include Buba Galadima, Ikeddy Isiguzo, Wole Adedayo, Udenta Udenta, Henry Obaze and other party leaders and professionals selected to oversee the screening process for aspirants contesting various positions in the 2027 elections.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
-
News5 days agoBREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!
-
News5 days agoDon’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: EX-SSG mowed down by gunmen! *He resisted being kidnapped – driver
-
News4 weeks agoTwo hours after Igboho’s ‘red-eyes’ to ‘Fulani’ leaders, gunmen free kidnap victims!
-
News3 weeks agoAbductors of Oyo teachers panicking, freedom coming for victims soon!
-
News1 day agoBREAKING: Terrorists strikes another school! *Kidnap principal, students, NECO official!
-
News3 weeks agoChicagogate: Nigerians return to court! *Move to stop Tinubu from 2027 polls