The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) national central bureau in Abuja has extradited one Abubakar Aboki Muhammed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the country over alleged multi-million dollar fraud.

Muhammed, a Nigerian, was arrested in Dubai, UAE, following an investigation over alleged fraud perpetrated against an Abuja-based businessman.

The case was reported to the police in July 2023.  

A statement by Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, said Muhammed allegedly defrauded the businessman after posing as a shipping agent.

Adejobi said the suspect allegedly secured a “contract to facilitate payments and freight of ten high-end vehicles, valued at $307,500.00, from the UAE to Nigeria via designated registered shipping companies”.

“After establishing trust, Muhammed fraudulently received the full payment through a third-party account at FCMB belonging to Anas Usaini, a Kano resident, which was subsequently used for money laundering activities in Dubai,” the force spokesperson said. 

“Upon receipt of the payment, Muhammed provided the complainant with a forged bill of lading for the vehicles and subsequently became uncontactable.

“He was apprehended in Dubai on April 15, 2025, and has been extradited to Nigeria to face prosecution at the Federal High Court, marking a significant success in the ongoing fight against transnational financial crime.” 

Adejobi said Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of police, commended the Dubai Police, INTERPOL NCB Abu Dhabi, and the Nigerian Consulate General in Dubai for facilitating the suspect’s extradition.

Peter Okoye, the popular Nigerian singer, who is also known as Mr P of the P-Square duo, has spoken about his split from his twin brother, Paul Okoye, aka Rudeboy.

According to him, there is a joy that comes with a solo career.

Speaking in a recent interview with Cool FM, Lagos, Mr P urged fans to respect their decisions, stressing that they tried to remain as a duo, but it wasn’t working.

“There’s a joy that comes with going solo. Please respect our decisions. We’ve tried it, it’s not working,” he said.

Recall that Paul confirmed in August last year that P-Square had broken up again. The group first split in 2016 but reunited in 2021.

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, has assured his supporters that he will run again in the 2027 general election under the party’s banner.

He gave the assurance while speaking to a group of young supporters in a 7-minute, 16-second video circulating on the party’s WhatsApp platform on Saturday.

Obi explained to his audience that what appears to be an internal crisis in the two dominant opposition political parties – the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – has the government’s imprint written all over them.

In response to a question on which platform he intended to contest the 2027 elections, Obi said, “I will still continue to run in the Labour Party. I’m a member of the Labour Party.”

While answering another question from a youth who was apparently disturbed about what appears to be Obi’s aloofness towards the LP’s crisis, the former Anambra State Governor said, “What is happening in the Labour Party and the PDP is caused by the government, quote me anywhere.

“We had a problem in our party before, in the past. Yar’Adua was the president. I went to him then; he called the INEC Chairman (Prof. Maurice Iwu) and told him I don’t want any problem in any party. We were forced to fix it.

“But today, in all the parties, there are problems; these are deliberate problems caused by the system. These are some of the things I want to clean up if I have the opportunity.

“Parties will function very well because you can’t have a system working without a strong opposition.”

He charged Nigerians to take responsibility for ensuring that their votes count because, even if agents are paid by political parties to look after their interests, the ultimate decision about the people’s votes counting rests with voters.

The LP standard bearer appealed to Nigerian youths and the electorate not to be discouraged because positive change will also be resisted by those who are beneficiaries of the old order.

He equally noted that, left to him, there should be a retirement age for politicians seeking public office.

Obi said that by the time the 2027 election holds, he would be 65 years old, adding that he would not want to be contesting for elections in his 70s

Omoyele Sowore, the Nigerian activist politician, has claimed that the outcome of the 2027 presidential election has already been determined by those in authority.

Sowore, who made the allegations in an interview with Vanguard, empathetically declared that the “2027 results are already written”.

The activist, however, said he would be in the presidential race, stating that he “never stopped running”.

According to Sowore, “whether it’s a campaign, a protest, a court battle—I’m always running for something.

“But if you’re asking about elections, I don’t believe in the current ballot system. The 2027 results are already written”.

He stated that only rebellion against the system can change the country and not the ballot.

On the current state of the nation, Sowore claimed that “Nigerians made a grave mistake voting Bola Tinubu into office”.

“I said it before, and I’ll say it again: when Tinubu is done with this country, Nigerians will be begging to return to Buhari’s era.

“He has done irreparable damage—economically, socially, politically. He has crippled institutions, education, and democracy. Buhari killed Nigeria in eight years; Tinubu came, in two years he is burying it” he added.

Jones Michael, a 32-year-old Nigerian national who worked as a footballer, has been arrested in India for allegedly possessing methamphetamine worth ₹15 lakh (about ₦27.9 million).

According to The Times of India, Michael was apprehended last Saturday near the Vijayamangalam toll gate in Erode, Tamil Nadu, by a team from the Prohibition Enforcement Wing led by Inspector Sivahami Rani, acting on a tip-off.

Investigations revealed that Michael was staying in India without valid immigration documents. His passport had expired in 2023, and authorities suspect he may have entered the country illegally by sea.

“His passport had expired in 2023, and it is likely that he illegally entered the country by sea,” Rani said.

He has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act as well as the Foreigners Act and is currently in judicial custody at Coimbatore Central Prison.

Police also arrested a local resident, Melvin, 49, from Perundurai, for renting accommodation to the Nigerian without verifying his identity or legal status.

Segun Sowunmi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged the party to make every effort to bring back Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, into its ranks.

Sowunmi gave the advice on Friday while playing host to Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’.

Recall that Obi left the PDP in May 2022 for the Labour Party, reportedly complaining of massive bribing of delegates and vote buying during the party’s presidential primary. 

Obi also cited the existence of a party clique collaborating against him.

However, three years down the line, Sowunmi urged the PDP to work to bring Obi back.

‘’One of the people who was a PDP member, a South eastern man who felt based on the balance of play that the South-East was excluded, Peter Obi, was allocated 6.2 million votes, you lose the election, you run to the Supreme Court you lose, at least you were adjudged to have lost.

“Any deep-thinking, fair-minded Nigerian man who is in the political party called the PDP ought to know that the greatest, necessary next step is to have the conversation about: ‘How do you bring Peter back’ now that the energy driving him is organic,’’ Sowunmi said.

The PDP is said to have been embroiled in crisis since the 2023 presidential election, in which its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, lost to President Bola Tinubu.

After the suspension and removal of Iyorchia Ayu, Ambassador Umar Damagum, who was originally the Deputy National Chairman (North), was appointed acting chairman.

Meanwhile, efforts by the North Central zone to replace him with a substantive chairman have created deep divisions within the party.

Similarly, the position of National Secretary has become the subject of a legal battle between Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye, pushing the agenda to replace Damagum.

Sowunmi said the internal wrangling and sudden spring in defections to the All Progressives Congress, APC, are self-inflicted and should have been sorted out a while back.

“There is a level of activity that you can blame your bullies for, but there is a certain level of recurring, continuous lack of creativity that you have you have to hold yourself responsible for.

“One of the things that people do is fall prey to the frail nature of President Bola Tinubu. I know him for his intellectual capacity. He will look frail, but his brain is that of a giant, so most times people underestimate him to their own peril.

‘’The painful thing is that my own side is choosing to pretend that it is an easy material to defeat in politics. What do they know that he doesn’t know,” he asked.

Hours after the Department of Homeland Security ordered the storage of Harvard University’s enrollment of foreign students, the institution has sued the Donald Trump administration and filed a restraining order to temporarily block the decision.

“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” President Alan Garber of Harvard University wrote to the school’s community on Friday.

Mr Garber said the revocation of Harvard’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfil their dreams.”

In the lawsuit, Harvard accused the administration of a “campaign of retribution” given that the school had rebuffed Mr Trump’s demand to cancel Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes and to intensify scrutiny of international students’ political ideologies.

The Trump administration and Harvard have continued to lock horns after the president accused the Ivy League institution of not adopting adequate security measures to protect Jewish students from protests that erupted in the wake of the Israeli-Gaza war.

All of Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure Harvard to give in to his demands, including halting over $2 billion research funding and threatening to strip the university’s tax-exempt status, failed as the Ivy League institution refused to cave.

“Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement on Thursday.

The Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum, has firmly denied allegations of collusion with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He also defended his relationship with former Rivers State Governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, amid mounting criticism within the party.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, Damagun addressed the accusations directly, dismissing claims that he is a puppet of the APC and reaffirming his loyalty to the PDP.

“May God be judge between me and whoever slandered me, and may God judge us, if I am working for the APC,” he said, referring to allegations that he met with President Bola Tinubu in England. He emphasised his long-standing commitment to the PDP, stating, “I have a history, since I joined the PDP in 1999, I have never defected. Those who dislike me will have to find ways to either praise or criticise me to get what they want.” Damagum also responded to criticisms regarding his relationship with Wike, a prominent figure in APC government.

He acknowledged their association but denied any wrongdoing. “For all those who accuse me of having links with the Minister of FCT, I know him or have had links with him, and many of them have had links with him. My only fault here is that I did not allow them to do what they wanted with him,” he said.” The PDP chairman expressed disappointment over the defection of some party members to the APC, describing it as a loss but denying any mistreatment of those who left. “We must be sad. Whenever you lose someone, you don’t feel happy, even if it’s just one person you’re grieving for,” he said, while insisting that none of the defectors could claim they were wronged by the party.

Addressing internal divisions within the PDP, Damagum admitted that disagreements are inevitable in any political party but maintained that the PDP remains united.

“PDP is one. It was true that there are internal problems, because a party never lacks problems because its leaders are people, and people are in it, and everyone has their own interests,” he declared.

Damagum defended his leadership style, stating that he adheres to principles and refuses to yield to individual whims. He pointed to the aftermath of the party’s election losses as a period of heightened complaints but reiterated his commitment to steering the PDP with integrity.

Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers have invaded a private radio station, Rhythm 94.7Fm in Yenagoa, carting away valuables, including mobile phones, recorders and operational gadgets belonging to staff on duty.

Blueprint learnt that the gunmen broke into the station situated at Swali community in Yenagoa, the state capital around 4:40pm on Saturday, and returned the next day.

Though no life was lost during the operation, the staff of the station are said be traumatised.

Reacting to the incident, Bayelsa State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) condemned the attack, describing it as a rape on the entire media family in Bayelsa and on press freedom.

A statement issued by the NUJ Bayelsa Council Chairman, Tonye Yemoleigha, and the Secretary of Council, Stanley Imgbi on Monday reads partly “The state council was informed that the gunmen on two separate days, Saturday, May 17, at about 2: 10pm and on Sunday, May 18, at 4: 40p.m attacked the station and carted away valuables.

“Some of the valuables collected include mobile phones, recorders and operational gadgets belonging to staff on duty,” Yemoleigha said.

He called on the security apparatus, particularly the Commissioner of Police, to fish out those behind the crime and bring them to book.

He further urged that a police patrol van be stationed around the media house, as is the case in several strategic points in Yenagoa because of the isolated location of the radio station.

The NUJ Bayelsa boss, however, expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost during the attack.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has said the Federal Government has jettisoned the national carrier project, stressing that it is now focused on supporting the growth of local carriers. 

Keyamo also expressed dismay over the condition of the old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, saying plans were in progress for government to demolish it and build a new one. 

Keyamo spoke in Lagos at the launch of a book titled: ‘100 Years of Civil Aviation in Nigeria: History, Issues and Prospects,’ written by New Telegraph Newspapers’ Aviation Editor, Mr Wole Shadare.

Keyamo said the President Bola Tinubu administration was committed to drafting policies that would support the development of domestic carriers.

The Minister, who said recent policies put in place by government showed this commitment, referenced, among others, the revised insurance regulation on leased aircraft.

According to him, this would make aircraft more accessible and reduce airfares along domestic routes.

He said: “We have shifted focus to ensure growth and development for local operators through our policies”, adding that air traffic operators have been trained and retrained, just as revenue leakages had been addressed to boost earnings.

The minister also disclosed that almost all foreign airlines had complied with his directive to patronise local caterers for in-flight catering.

Also speaking at the event, Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, said Nigeria currently has 39 certified airline operators, 31 airports nationwide and over 2,100 licensed pilots, which showed that the country’s aviation sector was growing. 

According to Kuku, the air transport sector contributed $1.7 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, GDP, with private airlines connecting cities efficiently and international carriers recognising Nigeria as a critical market.

Kuku said despite challenges such as infrastructure deficiencies, regulatory frameworks and financing requirements, there was still substantial potential for growth.

She said: “Upon Nigeria’s attainment of independence in 1960, we were faced with a pivotal question: How could we convert colonial-era infrastructure into a sovereign aviation powerhouse? Our national carrier, Nigeria Airways, emerged as a response, yet it soon faced challenges stemming from mismanagement and operational inefficiencies. By the early 2000s, we found ourselves at a crossroads—adapt or risk obsolescence.

“This juncture precipitated a remarkable transformation. The private sector took the initiative, introducing fresh capital, contemporary management practices, and a competitive spirit. Companies such as Air Peace and Arik Air did not merely fill the void—they revolutionised our aviation landscape. The current figures sum up this transformation: 39 certified airline operators, 31 airports nationwide, over 2,100 licensed pilots, a workforce comprising thousands, ranging from engineers to air traffic controllers.

“Nigeria has emerged as a testament to the efficacy of market-driven solutions. Our aviation sector now contributes approximately $1.7 billion to our GDP. Private airlines are connecting our cities with unprecedented efficiency, and international carriers increasingly regard Nigeria as a critical market. Last year, over 16 million passengers traversed our domestic terminals, while international passenger numbers exceeded 3.5 million. These figures are indeed impressive, yet there remains substantial potential for growth.”
The book’s author, Shadare, on his part, described the 25-chapter book as a comprehensive account of the aviation industry’s evolution in Nigeria over the past 100 years.

According to him, it would aid scholars and researchers in understanding the industry’s history and prospects.