The Senate on Thursday escalated its confrontation with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and scores of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), signalling its readiness to invoke constitutional powers, including arrest warrants, against officials who continue to ignore legislative summons. The tougher stance came a day after the upper chamber accused more than 40 federal agencies of frustrating parliamentary oversight by refusing to appear before the Senate Committee on Finance to account for internally generated revenue, statutory remittances and compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Leading the charge during debate on a…
Author: National Update
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged the reported decision of South-East governors to rally support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, arguing that no elected governor has the constitutional mandate to commit the votes of the people. The rights advocacy group also disclosed plans to petition United States President Donald Trump and international democratic institutions over what it described as an emerging attempt to create the impression that the political direction of the South-East had already been settled ahead of the next general election. The group’s reaction followed remarks by the Chairman of…
The Senate on Thursday declared that Nigeria’s worsening road infrastructure has become a national security concern, urging the Federal Government to significantly increase funding for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to reverse the deterioration of critical highways across the country. The resolution followed the adoption of a report by the Senate Committees on FERMA and National Security and Intelligence after an oversight visit to the Onyagede-Ogobia Road, a 28-kilometre federal road linking communities off the Otukpo-Oweto Highway in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State. Presenting the report, Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Abubakar Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North),…
After weeks of bruising exchanges that exposed cracks within the Senate’s top hierarchy, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) on Thursday publicly declared a truce, signalling an end to a string of confrontations that had repeatedly disrupted proceedings in the Red Chamber. The reconciliation unfolded during plenary when Oshiomhole interrupted proceedings on a point of order, accusing the Senate President—more in jest than anger—of already breaching the peace pact they had reached by repeatedly refusing to recognise him despite his raised hand. The former Edo State governor further joked that Akpabio was failing to protect…
National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has declared that the party has emerged as Nigeria’s leading opposition force, attributing its rapid rise to the support of Nigerians committed to safeguarding the country’s multi-party democracy. In a statement posted on his verified X account on Thursday, the former Bayelsa State governor thanked supporters across Bayelsa State, the Niger Delta and the Nigerian diaspora for their steadfast support during what he described as a critical phase in Nigeria’s political development. Dickson disclosed that he had stayed away from Bayelsa for about eight months after attending the…
The Senate on Tuesday opened a major constitutional confrontation with some of Nigeria’s most powerful revenue-generating agencies, vowing to wield its full constitutional authority against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and over 40 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) accused of frustrating legislative oversight by refusing to account for public funds. In a move signalling a tougher crackdown on fiscal impunity, the upper chamber resolved to compel the defaulting agencies to appear before its Committee on Finance to explain alleged failures in revenue remittances, operating surpluses and compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act…
The Senate on Wednesday began legislative action on a sweeping bill that could fundamentally reshape the management of foreign aid and donor-funded interventions in Nigeria, moving to subject billions of naira channelled through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), development partners and sub-national entities to stricter government regulation and parliamentary oversight. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe North), scaled second reading amid growing concerns by lawmakers over accountability deficits, weak financial transparency and the potential national security implications of unregulated foreign funding. If enacted, the bill would establish, for the first time, a comprehensive legal framework requiring all donor-funded…
Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Wednesday declared that President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the National Assembly had failed what he described as Nigeria’s accountability test, citing the controversy surrounding the 2026 Appropriation Act. In a strongly worded statement, Frank alleged that reports of inflated budgetary allocations, fictitious projects and questionable expenditures had further undermined public confidence in the Federal Government’s commitment to transparency, fiscal discipline and responsible management of public resources. According to him, the budget controversy has become a defining measure of the administration’s commitment to accountability, insisting that…
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Tuesday turned its internal crisis into a broader indictment of Nigeria’s political culture, declaring that the criminal prosecution of its expelled former National Chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, is a deliberate attempt to demonstrate the standard of accountability it intends to institutionalise if it forms the Federal Government in 2027. In a blistering address to journalists at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, SDP National Chairman, Professor Abubakar Sadiq Gombe, said the party had chosen the difficult path of subjecting its own former leaders to criminal investigation and prosecution rather than shielding them because of…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assembly Legislative Aides Support Group (ANALAG) has formally launched a nationwide mobilisation campaign for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the return of APC federal lawmakers in the 2027 general elections, setting an ambitious target of mobilising at least 36 million supporters across the country. The group said it plans to enlist a minimum of one million supporters in each of Nigeria’s 36 states, leveraging the extensive grassroots networks of legislative aides attached to members of the National Assembly. Speaking at the inauguration of the mobilisation drive in Abuja on Wednesday, the…