Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Sunday renewed his call for President Bola Tinubu to resign, alleging that revelations of N8.83 trillion in off-budget expenditure expose what he described as a pattern of “grand corruption” that threatens Nigeria’s economy and democratic institutions. Obi, in a statement titled “Grand Corruption: Nigeria’s Greatest Threat,” cited the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest Article IV consultation report, claiming it showed that about N8.83 trillion spent by the Federal Government in 2025 was not captured in the national budget and therefore escaped legislative oversight and administrative scrutiny. He argued that the alleged expenditure…
Author: National Update
Former Jigawa State Governor and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has condemned the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the saga underscores the collapse of public institutions and accountability in Nigeria. Lamido spoke at his Bamaina country home while receiving the PDP governorship candidates for Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi and Yobe states, as well as former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba (retd.), who formally defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP. The controversy over the PFIPC followed allegations reportedly made by Prince Mathew Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claims…
The Federal Government has dismissed claims that it operates a “shadow budget” or spent about ₦8.8 trillion outside the country’s fiscal plan, insisting that all public expenditure is undertaken within the constitutional and statutory framework governing public finance. The government said assertions that approximately two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was expended outside approved budgets misrepresented the findings of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2026 Article IV Consultation and risked misleading the public. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said every expenditure of the Federal…
President Bola Tinubu on Saturday flagged off the construction of the 98.7-kilometre Maiduguri–Gamboru/Ngala–Banki road project in Borno State, describing the highways as critical to economic growth, regional integration and security in Nigeria’s North-East. The twin border roads linking Nigeria to Cameroon will be constructed by businessman Aliko Dangote under the Federal Government’s tax credit scheme at an estimated cost of N70 billion. Represented at the groundbreaking ceremony in Maiduguri by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu said the project comprises the 49.55-kilometre Dikwa–Gamboru/Ngala road and the 49.15-kilometre Bama–Banki road. He said the highways would reconnect communities, improve access to neighbouring countries,…
President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with religious leaders to promote peace, tolerance and national unity, describing interfaith dialogue as an essential tool in addressing Nigeria’s security challenges. The President stated this on Saturday in Abuja while receiving Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations of the Holy See, during a courtesy visit marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the Holy See. According to a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu said his administration would continue to prioritise…
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has called for an independent judicial probe into allegations of ₦8.8 trillion in public expenditure allegedly incurred outside Nigeria’s official budget framework, describing the matter as a grave test of fiscal transparency and constitutional accountability. In a statement issued on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nadozie Onwubiko, the rights group urged President Bola Tinubu to constitute a Judicial Commission of Inquiry made up of jurists, forensic auditors, chartered accountants, civil society representatives and financial crime experts to investigate the allegations. HURIWA said the concerns stem from revelations linked to the International…
The controversy over the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Kogi West ahead of the 2027 general election intensified on Saturday as the Kogi West Elders Assembly (KWEA) rejected claims by another party group that Hon. Samuel Bamidele Aro won the party’s primary election. The rebuttal followed a press conference by the Kogi West APC Leaders Forum, which had declared Aro the authentic winner of the APC senatorial primary and urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop alleged attempts to substitute his candidacy. The group also appealed to the President to rein in House of Representatives member James Faleke,…
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has charged President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, CoS, Femi Gbajabiamila to step aside and give room for investigation into the allegation of fraud involving his office and the self-acclaimed Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi. On June 11, 2026 Gbajabiamila denied knowledge of Adeyemi when he presented himself as the Director General of PFIPC which he claimed was non-existent. Gbajabiamila said he petitioned security agencies in October 2025 after forged appointment letters surfaced and Adeyemi was later charged before the Federal High Court for forgery, impersonation and obtaining…
Amid renewed xenophobic attacks and rising anti-immigration tensions in South Africa, **Air Peace> has completed the evacuation of 801 stranded Nigerians in a series of humanitarian flights coordinated with the Federal Government. The three airlift operations, conducted over the past month, culminated on Thursday with the evacuation of 268 Nigerians aboard the airline’s Boeing 777-200 aircraft, marking the largest phase of the emergency repatriation exercise. In a statement issued on Saturday, the airline’s spokesman, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, said the latest evacuation followed two earlier missions that returned 262 Nigerians on June 11 and another 271 on June 30. According to the…
As concerns mount over worsening food insecurity across northern Nigeria, the 2027 presidential candidate of the **Nigeria Democratic Congress** (NDC), Peter Obi, has argued that the country’s deepening hunger crisis is the consequence of policy failures, insecurity and years of neglect of the agricultural sector. Obi’s intervention follows a warning by the **World Food Programme** that more than 17 million people in nine northern states could face acute food insecurity, with millions of others across the country vulnerable during the current lean season. In a statement posted on his X account on Saturday, Obi described the situation as a national…