Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has been appointed as chairman of a special committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to chart a way forward for the party ahead of the 2027 General Election.

The decision was taken at a meeting of incumbent and former PDP Governors in Abuja on Sunday night.

Disclosing the development on his Facebook page shortly after the meeting, Saraki, a former two-time governor of Kwara State, said as part of the decisions taken to chart a way forward, the meeting set up a seven-man committee charged with preparing for a rancour-free National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for May 27 and the forthcoming national convention.

Saraki wrote: “I just left a meeting of the PDP Governors Forum, attended by its serving and former governors, at the Bauchi Governor’s Lodge. We had a fruitful deliberation on the party’s present challenges and its future. The meeting was well attended.

“As part of the decisions taken to chart a way forward, the meeting set up a seven-man committee charged with preparing for a rancour-free NEC meeting scheduled for May 27th and the forthcoming national convention. The committee is headed by my humble self, and I will have the pleasure of working with my brothers – HE Dauda Lawal, HE Caleb Muftiwang, and HE Peter Mba, governors of Zamfara, Plateau and Enugu States respectively. Other members are Sen. Seriake Dickson, Sen. Ibrahim Dankwambo, and forner governor of Abia State, HE, Chief Okezie Ikpeazu. We hope to do our best in delivering on the assignment given to us.”

Announce new migration rules 

The United Kingdom has announced plans to abolish the care worker visa route in the coming months, a move that could impact thousands of Nigerians seeking employment in the UK’s health and social care sector.

It also said foreign criminals in the country would, henceforth, face rapid deportation under the new immigration rules. 

UK Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who disclosed these yesterday, said the visa pathway, heavily used by migrants, would be phased out as part of efforts to curb overall migration.

The move, detailed in a white paper to be published today, is part of broader restrictions on employers using visas to fill lower-skilled roles.

Cooper said the decision marked the end of a “failed free market experiment” that allowed widespread overseas recruitment.

She told the BBC the changes would cut annual arrivals by around 50,000, though she declined to set a specific target for net migration.
“It should come down significantly more, than 500,000,’’ she told Sky News.

The crackdown followed local election gains by anti-immigration Reform UK, which is now polling ahead of Labour.

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, pledged yesterday “to restore control and cut migration. with tough new measures. British workers, I’ve got your back.”

The care visa ban has sparked concern among providers, who face critical staff shortages. Jane Townson of the Homecare Association warned: “Where will these workers come from if neither the funding nor the migration route exists?”

Cooper acknowledged sector concerns but said care providers should hire from the 10,000 migrants already in the UK under care visas, some of whom took jobs “that weren’t actually here or that were not of the proper standard.”

While promising a new “fair pay agreement” for care workers, she noted: “We saw that huge increase in care work recruitment from abroad, but without actually ever tackling the problems in the system.”

Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, dismissed the move as “a little 50,000 tweak,” blaming the Conservative government for acting “too late” after migration peaked above 900,000 in 2023.

The government also plans to limit skilled worker visas to graduate-level roles and restrict access to non-graduate visas to strictly time-limited positions linked to industrial needs.

While changes for international students will be less severe than feared, Cooper said universities must enforce compliance with visa rules.

Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said public anger over migration helped his party top local polls.

He called the government’s plan a failure and demanded a “separate, dedicated department of immigration.”

The Home Office also said more foreign criminals in the UK would face rapid deportation from the country as part of reforms to deportation and removal rules.

The reforms, which will be announced today as part of the government’s Immigration White Paper, will allow the Home Office use wider removal powers on other crimes, including swifter action, to remove people who recently arrived in the country but had already committed crimes under the new rule.

“Currently, the Home Office is only informed of foreign nationals given prison sentences and deportation arrangements focus predominantly on those sentenced to more than a year in prison.

“Under the new arrangements, the Home Office will be informed of all foreign nationals convicted of offences, not just those who receive prison sentences,” it said.

The Home Office said it would consider all offences, not just those that carry a 12-month custodial sentence, and strengthen powers to remove perpetrators of violence against women and girls.

“The overhaul will make it easier to remove those who commit offences, including violence, against women and girls, street and knife crimes, before the threat they pose escalates.

“Any foreign national placed on the Sex Offenders Register regardless of sentence length will be classed as having committed a ‘serious crime’ with no right to asylum protections in the UK,” the ministry stated.

The Home Secretary said: “It is a basic requirement – those who come to the UK should abide by our laws. The system for returning foreign criminals has been far too weak for too long. ‘’Already, we have increased the number of foreign national offenders being removed since the election. But we need much higher standards. The rules need to be respected and enforced.

“We need to restore control so that net migration comes down and proper standards and order are returned.

“As part of the White Paper, the government will also update refusal policies and immigration rules to mirror these changes. This means if a person commits an offence while on a short-term visa, they will be refused if they make a fresh application.

“New measures will be explored to swiftly cancel visas to those who commit crimes, ensuring action is taken against offenders before they can put down roots in the UK.”

Cooper added that the government aimed to cut 50,000 lower-skilled worker visas this year, saying
“there will also be clearer rules in areas such as immigration on the grounds of family connections in an attempt to cut abuse in the system.

“These changes are essential to end the chaos left by the Tories in the immigration system and to regain control.’’
In a post on his X handle, Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted that previous Conservative governments had lost control of the borders.
“I won’t stand for it. I promised to restore control and cut migration, and I’m delivering with tough new measures,” he added.

Falz has received heat for sharing an unconventional opinion. 

The singer wrote on X, "Fornication is not a sin." 
 

This did not go down well with many and they took to the replies to call him out.
 

See below.

Veteran Nigerian producer and music executive, ID Cabasa, has called out Akon over his recent claims of helping to create the Afrobeats genre.

In a recent interview, Akon suggested that his early collaborations with Nigerian artists in the late 2000s and 2010s laid the foundation for what is now known globally as Afrobeats. But Cabasa isn't having it.

Speaking during an interview on Wazobia FM, the producer made it clear that while Akon may have partnered with Nigerian acts at the time, that doesn’t mean he can take credit for creating the genre.

“Akon for also tok say na he still discovered the likes of 2Face, Timaya, 9ice and Co,” Cabasa said in Pidgin. “Na the people wey he roll with when he come Nigeria, wey tell am say, ‘I’m the biggest person around this place.’ So, he properly feels he pioneered business and branding sides of Afrobeats.”

Cabasa also addressed Akon’s claim that Wizkid was “just a local artist” before signing to his label in 2008. He corrected the narrative, pointing out that it was Banky W who discovered Wizkid and signed him to Empire Mates Entertainment, which only later partnered with Akon’s label.

“Even the way wey he take dey tok about Wizkid, no be wettin the story be be that. We all know say na Banky W dem sign Wizkid,” he said.

On the broader claim of birthing the genre, Cabasa was clear: “Yes, we collaborate with Akon in terms of distribution but e no mean say he go tok say na he create Afrobeats. Because Afrobeats no be wettin wey one person create, na culture.”