Q?The Human Rights Wri ters Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described the reported decision by the European Union (EU) to withdraw its full-scale election observation mission from Nigeria’s 2027 general elections as a bad omen and a wake-up call over the country’s worsening insecurity. HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intensify the fight against terrorism, banditry and insurgency to create a secure environment for the 2027 elections. The group said terrorists must not be allowed to determine where Nigerians can campaign, travel or vote. HURIWA commended the Chief…
Author: National Update
The European Union has dealt a fresh blow to confidence in Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, ruling out a full-scale election observation mission after more than two decades of monitoring the country’s polls. The bloc’s decision, attributed to Nigeria’s worsening security situation and what it described as the hostile treatment of its observers and officials following the disputed 2023 elections, means the EU will no longer deploy the extensive team that has monitored Nigerian elections since the return to democracy in 1999. Instead, the EU is expected to maintain only a small presence in Abuja, reportedly involving about three officials who…
A serving Nigerian Army colonel accused of plotting to overthrow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has told military investigators that the alleged coup plan was born not from a quest for power, but from what he described as a deepening national crisis marked by insecurity, corruption, economic hardship and declining military welfare. In a lengthy statement obtained from confidential investigation documents, Colonel Mohammed Ma’aji said the idea of military intervention began taking shape towards the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, when, according to him, kidnapping, banditry, corruption and alleged nepotism had reached a critical point. What began as…
An estimated 240 armed bandits have mounted a major cross-border push from Zamfara into Kebbi State, triggering an urgent joint military and police operation backed by air power in an attempt to stop the armed group from gaining access to communities along the frontier. The development, which exposes a fresh attempt by criminal groups to exploit the porous Zamfara-Kebbi corridor, has put security forces on heightened alert as the attackers advance in a large, organised formation rather than the smaller raiding groups commonly associated with bandit attacks in the region. Security sources said the armed men emerged from the Sangeko…
The Federal Government has launched a renewed push to transform Nigeria’s livestock sector into a major economic powerhouse, with the Presidency describing the industry as an untapped “goldmine” capable of driving food security, job creation, rural development and investment. The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Livestock Development and Co-Chair of the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee, Prof. Attahiru M. Jega, OFR, made the call at the 9th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture. Represented by Prof. D. J. U. Kalla, Jega said Nigeria and other African countries must abandon the treatment of livestock as a largely subsistence…
The Kogi State Government’s much-publicised free education policy is facing a fresh credibility test, with parents and teachers alleging that the programme is being undermined by compulsory school charges, unpaid teachers’ allowances and a shortage of personnel across public schools. The emerging complaints expose a striking contradiction at the heart of the state’s education policy: while the government presents public education as free, critics say families continue to bear significant costs, while teachers responsible for delivering the programme complain of deteriorating welfare and inadequate manpower. The concerns were raised separately by political advocate and social media commentator, Comrade Olorunhudo Samuel…
Nigeria’s democracy has come under a blistering international indictment, with the Human Rights Foundation declaring that the country has crossed into the “fully authoritarian” category after years of alleged institutional decay, electoral manipulation and shrinking space for dissent. The damning verdict, published on the Foundation’s Tyranny Tracker, goes beyond criticising President Bola Tinubu’s administration, pointing instead to what it describes as a deeper structural crisis: institutions designed to restrain government power are allegedly no longer strong enough to do so. According to the assessment, Nigeria failed the Foundation’s three key tests—electoral competition, freedom of dissent and institutional accountability—raising fresh questions…
Challenges Okpebholo to publish his own record as revenue, debt, education data reshape campaign battle Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, may have intended to turn Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke’s dancing into a campaign weapon, but the jibe has instead opened a fresh battle over governance records, with Adeleke’s defender challenging the Edo governor to produce his own scorecard. Okpebholo, who was campaigning for the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Osun State, Bola Oyebamiji, repeatedly mocked Adeleke as a “dancing governor” and accused him of paying insufficient attention to governance. But Paul Nosa Ogiehor, who said he was not…
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, has raised the alarm over what he described as the dangerous degeneration of Nigeria’s legal profession, warning that lawyers who manipulate the justice system for partisan or selfish interests are helping to pave the way for democratic dictatorship. Okutepa, in a blistering intervention on the state of the profession via his X-Handle said the Nigerian Bar Association could no longer afford to look away as ethical standards, public confidence and the administration of justice come under increasing pressure. He also took aim at the conduct of some practising lawyers, accusing them of deploying “chameleon”…
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has challenged the reported comments of Sheikh Yahaya Jingir on the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, warning against reducing Nigeria’s democracy to a contest over religious numbers. Dalung, in a strongly worded reaction, questioned the reported argument that continued support for a Muslim-Muslim ticket should be justified by the numerical strength of Muslims in the country. He described such reasoning as a dangerous departure from the central questions of democratic governance, arguing that the value of a political ticket should be measured by what it delivers to citizens rather than the religion of the…