A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Joe Korka-Waadah, has disclosed that the party is uniting behind Governor Siminalayi Fubara as the consensus candidate for the 2027 gubernatorial election.

This development arises amidst concerns regarding former Governor Nyesom Wike’s recent stance towards Governor Fubara.

In a statement made available to journalists on Friday, Korka-Waadah noted that the consensus is driven by a desire to ensure continuity and stability in the state’s leadership.

He mentioned that this decision reflects the collective will of a newly formed political movement within Rivers State, which aims to foster unity and progressive governance.

He said, “Due to the litany of political missteps of Nyesom Wike, a new political movement has emerged in Rivers state. His overbearing attitude has compelled a new wave of political force to emerge.

“Stakeholders of all political strides have come together. Reconciliation has taken place among former political enemies in the state. Even those who were lapsed politically are now at the forefront of this battle to save the state from the grip of a known and established hegemon.

“There is a strong likelihood that come 2027, Rivers State may have only one governorship candidate unopposed. Most, if not all other parties would collapse their structures into one.

“Looking at the horizon, in the search for that rallying figure, Governor Sim Fubara would likely be the candidate that would stand unopposed in 2027 from the way things are going.

“Through his sudden twist of fate, from emerging against the odds to reign at the helms, from being guided through soft landing into sudden thrust into adversity, Fubara has been handling it all with tact, humility, open mindedness and magnanimity.

“From his policies, prudent, selfless and transparent management of the commonwealth and respect for even development of Rivers state in the choice and spread of milestone projects, Fubara is proving to be that governor for all Rivers the state has never had in the past eight years.

“Amidst the ongoing consultations, deliberate and debates towards unification through harmonisation of interests, he is proving to be the dominant choice with the feelers from stakeholders.

“For too long, Rivers, our state has suffered as the common conduit powers brokers of national politics feast on to filter away our enviable resources while perpetually dividing us. The time to end that narrative is here. Enough is enough.”

An 18-year-old suspected vandal has been arrested while removing LED road stud light on the newly renovated Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.

The suspect living in Makoko was identified as Mubarak Abdullahi.

At the time he was arrested, it was gathered that he had already removed 10 of the LED road stud light screwed to the road to enhance the visibility of road users.

Abdullahi was arrested by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) on patrol of the bridge around 10:00am on Friday.

In May, RRS– a unit of the Lagos State Police Command, commenced a 24-hour bike patrol on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The Commander of RRS, Olayinka Egbeyemi, who gave the directive had said then that it was a measure to protect the bridge and prevent incidence of harassment of road users by miscreants

“The Commander Rapid Response Squad (RRS), CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi has directed the squad’s Bike Riders to commence a 24 hour patrol of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos as a way of protecting the infrastructure on the bridge as well as prevent incidence of harassment of road users by miscreants.

“This is in line with the directives of the Commissioner of Police, CP Adegoke Fayoade to the squad for protection of lives, property and public infrastructure on the newly renovated bridge.

“CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi appealed to motorists and road users to co-operate with the riders so that they can serve them better,” RRS had said in a statement.

The arrest of Abdullahi comes about a month after one Friday Nwafor was arrested for committing similar offence on the bridge.

The 46-year-old was arrested by the operatives of Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) early in May.

A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said Nigerians should not complain of the hardship in the land after shunning his advice and voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu in the 2023 general election.

Recall that Tinubu defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and several other presidential candidates.

Speaking with Saturday Sun, Galadima noted that Nigerians were warned against voting for Tinubu, but they ignored his advice.

Galadima, who spoke on a viral video in which he said Nigerians deserve to suffer and even die for voting for Tinubu, said, “Ah! Ah! I thought you people voted for him. If you are told don’t do this, it will burn your finger, and you went and did it, who do you blame?”

He further stated that President Tinubu has not made any promises to Nigerians, despite some policies put in place by the President lately.

In his take, the NNPP chieftain said, “I want to ask you one question. Can you show me any document where Tinubu has said that he was going to do this, do that or that? Can you show me? He has not promised anything. And you voted for him. So, you are stuck with him.”

Galadima also spoke on the North working against Tinubu in 2027, when asked if he had an idea about the agenda said, “No. I don’t know. I have my party, which is the NNPP and we will contest national elections and we believe we have the best candidate, if he is eventually chosen by the party or put forward by the party.”

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Delta State, Sunny Onuesoke has said the solution to Nigeria’s economic problem is not an increase in minimum wage but deflation of the economy.

He made the assertion in a phone interview with our correspondent in his reaction to the imbroglio between the federal government and labour unions in the country.

Onuesoke said the increment of wages will not solve the economic problem in the country but it will rather increase it.

“Nigerians are getting it wrong. What Nigeria want is deflation. If you increase the salary to one million Naira today, the prices of goods and services will keep increasing.

“The more you increase the minimum wage, the more it goes ‘pari pasu’ with the increase of goods and services. The average person who is not in the civil service but produces food items like pepper, tomatoes, yam, garri etc will increase his produce.”

According to Chief Onuesoke, ”Wage increase cannot resolve the inflation rate because as there is more salary increase, there is more currency circulating in the system. When there is more currency flow in the system, the prices of goods and services will keep increasing. It is a simple economic theory. The more increases in workers’ salaries, the more you will build up the high inflation rate.

“The country is not being controlled by only civil servants alone. The civil servant is just 14% of those providing services in Nigeria. They are an insignificant margin. When you are thinking of civil servants, the private sectors are not addressed as civil servants. There is no private sector that will be able to pay that amount of money as salary monthly.”

He said what Nigerians need right now is the reduction of the inflation rate to the extent that even if a worker is receiving N20,000 thousand as minimum wage, he should be able to pay his rent and take care of other responsibilities comfortably.

He also urged the federal government to intensify building low-cost houses for the common man, subsidise them and mortgage the same for the period of their lifetime as a way to reduce the inflation rate.

“The people need social infrastructure that will downsize, that will deflate, that will reduce the hard side of their hardship. What I am saying is that the Federal Government and state governors should intensify massive agricultural and housing programmes. They should subsidise and reduce the cost of education. Health insurance should be all-embracing.

“Our problem is that we are giving projections without knowing the database of Nigerians. If you ask our leaders how many acres of land will produce a certain quantity of cassava, they don’t know it. But they go on air to produce certain figures borrowed from armchair economists.

“Each local government should be able to have 80,000 acres of cassava farmland. Yam, maize, rice etc. They should fix the refineries. What stops the country from fixing the four refineries till tomorrow? Is it a problem to fix the refineries? Why are we importing refined products and we are the number six oil-producing country in the world”.

The increase in the minimum wage is an addition of two thousand naira which the Federal Government said is above their initial offer of sixty thousand naira.

The labour union had stepped down their demands from four hundred and ninety-four thousand Naira ₦494,000 to ₦250,000 per month.

Both parties have not arrived at any conclusion on the matter.

South Africa head coach, Hugo Broos, has congratulated his players for being outstanding against the Super Eagles of Nigeria despite their ordeal before the match.
The Bafana Bafana of South Africa reportedly spent over 18 hours in transit before they finally arrived in Uyo on Thursday for their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against the Super Eagles on Friday night.

They ought to have arrived in Uyo on Wednesday but they took off from South Africa later than scheduled, hence, before they were done with a routine Customs Service clearance in Port Harcourt, the airport in Uyo had closed. They slept in Port Harcourt and continued their journey to Uyo the following day.

Despite their dramatic journey which the Nigeria Football Federation had blamed South Africa for, the Bafana Bafana managed to put up a show against the Super Eagles.

Thembo Zwane gave South Africa the lead in the 29th minute and Nigeria’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru scored the equaliser for Nigeria in the second half.

After the 1-1 draw at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Hugo Broos praised the mentality of his players to be able to withstand the star-studded Super Eagles despite their hectic journey to Nigeria.

“I have to congratulate my players. As you know or you don’t know, we had a terrible travel to Nigeria on Wednesday”, Broos told reporters in Uyo.

“We were only in bed at two o’clock on Thursday morning. So we were 20 hours on the way. And when you see the mentality in the team today, then I can only be proud of my players.”

South Africa who are now sitting 4th in Group C will face their neighbours, Zimbabwe at the Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein on June 11.

About ten Nigerian teenage girls, between the ages of 15 and 16, have been rescued by the Nigerian authorities from human trafficking and prostitution.

The girls were forced into prostitution after being reportedly lured to Ghana with promises of a better life.

Three of the victims are from the same parents, while the suspect, a Nigerian man, has been arrested and is currently in police custody.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, explained that the girls were rescued after a tip-off by NIDO, the umbrella body of Nigerians living in Ghana.

According to him, the victims were said to have revealed that they were beaten, molested, and forced into prostitution without pay, saying that their phones were reportedly seized, and they were unable to contact their parents.

According to one of the girls, “They give us out to men, and they don’t give us money; they collect everything.”

Chief Callistus Elozieuwa, the Chairman of NIDO, appealed for support to ensure the girls’ safe return to Nigeria.

Dabiri-Erewa called on the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to take decisive action, describing the situation as “very, very heartbreaking.”

A former National Vice Chairman North-West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has lamented that the ruling party has been leading the country from crisis to crisis since it came to power in 2015.

Lukman, in a statement issued Saturday, said the only slight difference between APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was that APC came with a vision which was well articulated in the manifesto of the party.

He, however, said that having won the 2015 elections, the first casualty was the APC manifesto. 

Lukman noted: “It was discarded and like the PDP, the APC continue to lead ‘Nigeria from one crisis to another, lurching deeper into political anarchy, economic decline and social disillusionment.’

“Nothing changed as the APC, despite all the plans it had ‘for security and advancement of Nigerians,’ lacked ‘the wherewithal to’ implement its vision. With that, sadly, the APC ‘thrived on the maxim; promise (everything), do nothing.’”

“It is quite painful to admit that the crisis of insecurity in the country today, is worse than it was in 2015. It has further deepened the economic crisis because many farmers have abandoned their farms.

“Some of the gains achieved in agricultural production because of some of the policies of the Buhari administration, such as Anchor Borrower and the ban on the importation of food items, which helped to incentivise agricultural production, were eroded by the crisis of insecurity.”

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Saturday stormed some clubs and lounges in Akure, the Ondo State capital, where suspected internet fraudsters were arrested.

Among the suspects arrested by the anti-graft agency was a groom-to-be who was picked while having his bachelor’s eve with some of his friends in one of the popular clubs in Akure metropolis.

During the sting operation, which was carried out in the wee hours of Saturday, no fewer than 50 suspected individuals were apprehended by EFCC operatives.

According to sources, the EFCC personnel who arrived in various vehicles fired gunshots into the air while raiding the fun spots.

With the suspects taken away, vehicles, laptops, smartphones, and other items were also seized during the operation.

One of the sources stated, “we were all having fun when we suddenly saw the EFCC people entering the nightclubs. Then they tear-gassed everyone, beating them up and arresting them.

“They don’t care who they are, as they shot tear gas canisters inside one of the clubs.

“They also went away with a groom and his friends at a club; he was there for his bash eve, so sad as they profiled everyone as an Internet fraudster.”

Controversial Nigerian dancer, Korra Obidi, has said she is not searching for a new partner, despite her divorce from her ex-husband, Justin Dean.

She said she is more focused on making money.

Appearing on a recent episode of the ‘Heroe’s Diary’ podcast, the mother of two explained that she isn’t bothered about remarrying, emphasising that she has “many boys” who satisfy her sexual urges.

She said, “Serious Nigerian woman when I marry the man becomes my life. So now I’m trying to put that energy into making money so I don’t end up homeless like I was. I know that nobody is coming to save me in a in a knight and shining armour so I need to focus on the money.” [sic].

Obidi also frowned at the actions of those who are pinning her to her failed marriage, noting that it has been over two years since her divorce.

“I want to make a public service announcement. I’m not the only person that got married in Nigeria. In fact, my marriage was not even public. All you people saw was one post on Instagram: ‘Korra is taken.’ You people are now carrying the marriage to tie my legs. It has been two years [since my divorce], please leave me alone. I am single as a dollar bill. And I am not searching. I have many boys that service me.”

The official market saw a decline in the value of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, on Friday, with the currency trading at ₦1,483.99 to the United States dollar.

According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the Naira lost ₦2.50, representing a 0.16% decrease compared to the previous trading day.

However, the volume of currency traded increased, reaching $269.27 million on Friday, up from $213.31 million on Thursday.

At the Investor’s and Exporter’s window, the Naira traded within the range of ₦1,507.00 and ₦1,399.00 against the dollar.

Naija News reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is using various tools to influence the value of the naira.

This involves controlling the money supply in the economy.

The CBN can raise interest rates to reduce the money supply and fight inflation, which can put downward pressure on the naira’s exchange rate.

Conversely, they can lower rates to increase the money supply and stimulate economic activity, but this can risk inflation.

One of these tools also includes foreign exchange intervention. The apex bank can directly buy or sell naira in the foreign exchange market to influence its exchange rate. Buying naira would strengthen it, while selling it would weaken it.

This approach can be expensive and is typically used in short bursts.

The CBN may have a target exchange rate or band for the naira. This helps provide stability and predictability for businesses and investors.