Nigeria failed to defeat Rwanda in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier played in Kigali on Tuesday.

The match ended goalless between both countries.

However, the Super Eagles will feel aggrieved as they had what looked like a legitimate goal ruled out in the first half.

Victor Boniface’s header from a throw-in fell to Ademola Lookman who put the ball the net.

But the referee ruled it out.

Both sides saw their goalkeepers make fine saves to maintain the stalemate.

Nigeria lead Group D with four points, while Rwanda are in second spot with two points.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the arrest of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Joe Ajaero, and the invasion of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) office by men of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Atiku said President Bola Tinubu’s level of oppressive control now imposed on Nigerians, civil society organizations and the media has surpassed the time of military dictators.

In a statement on Tuesday, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused President Tinubu of intimidating opposition voices.

He said, “The escalating assault on civil society and the media by the Bola Tinubu administration is profoundly disturbing. The level of oppressive control now imposed surpasses even the harshest days of military dictatorship.

“The recent arrest of Mr. Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, en route to an official event, epitomizes this regime’s relentless campaign to intimidate and subdue organized labour.

“Just days prior, security forces detained a journalist, only to later claim it was a grievous error. What if the outcome had been fatal?

“Now, Tinubu’s regime extends its repressive grasp to encroach upon SERAP Nigeria, an action that stands as a grave affront to our democratic values. This siege is anathema to the principles of freedom and justice.”

Atiku admonished the President to channel his security agencies towards terrorists and bandits perpetrating violence across the country and stop inflicting suffering on Nigerians.

“It is imperative that Tinubu and his security apparatus redirect their fervour and intimidation towards the actual perpetrators of violence — terrorists and bandits — who are inflicting immeasurable suffering upon the Nigerian people,” Atiku added.

Nigerian musician and activist, Seun Kuti, has emphasized that mere protests are insufficient for achieving meaningful change, urging Nigerians to take more concrete steps towards transformation.

Kuti’s comments follow the recent nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, which highlighted the growing discontent over national hardships.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Rubbin Minds, Kuti described protests as merely the initial phase of a larger movement.

“What I will say to Nigerians is that protest is not enough. I see protests as a child going to a loving parent complaining, ‘Oh, daddy, mummy, I don’t want to eat this,’ because the daddy and mummy care. But these people don’t care; that’s why I don’t preach protest only; I preach mass organisation because we the people must also organise ourselves for power,” he stated.

He stressed the importance of not only protesting but also showing readiness to replace current leaders with genuine representatives from the people’s side.

“It is not enough that we are protesting because we don’t like what they do, we must also send signals that we are ready to replace them. Not with another version of themselves like we did before, PDP to APC but with new people, representatives from our side of the divide to rule this country for our own benefit,” Kuti added.

Kuti called for a broader mobilization towards a more equitable system. “It is not enough that people want to protest. Protest is the begining of this dance. The real party starts when we begin to mass mobilise into a socialist to release this country from capitalism that we are experiencing,” he said.

The Federal High Court (FHC) in Lagos has embraced the digital world by inaugurating an online platform that enables the public to obtain affidavits directly from the court.

This initiative, spearheaded by FHC Chief Judge Justice John Tsoho, aligns the court with contemporary digital best practices on a global scale.

During a Friday visit to the Lagos division of the court, the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar, Godwin Long, facilitated a tour of the newly established ICT department, which Agwu Charles oversees.

Agwu provided an explanation of how the general public can utilize this new innovation.

“It is now a norm that the Affidavit for loss of items, age declaration, change of name, etc can now be done via portal.fhc.gov.ng and following the instructions.

“What you just need to do is to login to the site: portal.fhc.gov.ng,” Agwu explained.

DCR Longe further explained that, at the moment, the portal can only process Affidavits that are non-cases related.

“Affidavits filed to support a case are still done manually because of the peculiar disposition in such Affidavits.

He reiterated the need for people to be aware that henceforth, “they don’t necessarily have to be physically present to procure the type of Affidavits mentioned above,” he noted.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said the problems of Nigeria are politicians who have decided to run the country aground and not the youths.

The Labour Party chieftain called on the media to remain strong in exposing the ills of politicians and leaders of the country. He reminded the media that they are the only voice of the voiceless in the country.

Obi said this on Monday as he paid a visit to News Central. He praised Nigeria youths as one of the most entrepreneurial people in the world.

The former governor of Anambra State stated that the rising cases of tribal and religious bigotry engulfing the country was a tool of underperforming politicians who lack the competence to deliver good governance.

Obi said, “We can’t build this country unless all of us make sacrifices and contribute in our own little way. The fourth estate is very critical because your voice, you are the voice of the voiceless. You are contributing, exposing the ills of all of us, because we are the problem.

“The problem of Nigeria is not the air we breathe, it’s not the food; it’s not our young people who are one of the most entrepreneurial, energetic people you can imagine all over the world.

“The problem of Nigeria is the politicians, and you have to help us to overcome that. You have to help us to overcome issues we have in this country. Whenever you hear us politicians talk about tribe and religion, it’s because we don’t have anything to show for our competence and capability. So we try to replace it by talk about tribe.

“So I urge you to continue to do the right thing for your country. We have no other thing except when we will have a country where nobody is left behind. A child of nobody can become the greatest.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has revealed that bank executives are complicit in aiding money laundering in the country.

The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede while speaking at the 17th annual conference of the Chartered Institute Bankers of Nigeria, said the Commission will soon start prosecution of bank executives involved in corruption.

According to him, findings revealed complicity in money laundering, illegal forex sales and trading among bank officials. 

The EFCC boss said major financial fraud were conducted through the nation’s banking system.

He urged the CIBN to step up its regulatory functions to guard against fraud.

The Commission had recently asked the National Assembly to enact a law which supports the whistle-blower policy of the government.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it regretted not joining the #EndBadGovernance protest held in August.

The Head of Information of the NLC, Benson Upah, said it was regretful that President Bola Tinubu-led federal government does not want opposition’s voice.

Upah noted that the practice of using the Department of State Services (DSS) and Police to arrest voices challenging the government policies shows dictatorship is creeping into Nigeria under President Tinubu’s regime.

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, on Tuesday, the NLC spokesman stated that the federal government wants to use the continued arrest of its leaders to distract the organized labour.

“It is a diversionary tactic to sway us away from the path of focus and concentration. You know, the government has just introduced another band of PMS pricing, and does not want us to focus on that. So, it has to look for something else to divert our attention, so, it is part of this process that this has happened, and we consider it illegal, unlawful.

“This is how dictatorship starts, it creeps in. People look the other way believing that it will not come to them.

“Quite amazingly, this is being practiced by those who held themselves out yesterday as promoters of democracy. They should be ashamed of themselves. These are the very guys who went into exile doing this to innocent citizens believing that we will be cowed, but we will never be cowed. The Nigerian spirit is in us, it is a robust spirit, nobody is going to defeat this spirit in us. We are Nigerians, and we will continue to do the right thing,” he said.

The NLC leader maintained that Ajaero was not given any invitation, nor was he avoiding the security agencies. He explained that even as of Tuesday, the DSS has not given any explanation for arresting and detaining Ajaero.

“For us, as far as we are concerned, no invitation was extended to us before this arrest, and up till now, no reasonable explanation has been given. We can only speculate. As I have said earlier on, the government has some policies that it wants to unravel and does not want any opposition voice to be heard.

“Government has been battering us and wants to be cheered, wants us to cheer it into our own graves. But we keep insisting, we’re not going to be cheerleaders, we will keep on protesting, even to the last drop of blood in us

“We can only speculate the motives of the government. Even if there was an interrogation that this was linked to the end hunger protests, I mean, we keep on seeing it as a façade, because I tell you, on July 22nd, we issued a statement stating clearly that we are not part of the protest. In the 23rd, we issued another unambiguous statement. On the 1st of August, we issued a clearer one, and everything points to the fact that we were not part of this protest,” Upah added.

He explained that the allegations of terrorism, treasonable felony and cybercrime were all framed up. He claimed the government knew who the criminals were but would not go after them.

“Looking back now, perhaps we should have joined this protest, because had we joined this protest, they would not even have had audacity to raid our headquarters in the first place had we joined this protest, because they know our capability, they know our capacity, and they know they will never underrate our will.

“We’ve got nothing to do with all of this, we’ve got nothing to do with subversion, we’ve got nothing to do with treasonable felony, we’ve got nothing to do with cybercrime, terrorism financing and all that, and these guys know it, they know those who are involved. They know them, but they are scared of going after them,” Upah stated.

Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has criticized President Bola Tinubu for employing security forces to harass and intimidate Nigerian citizens.

Naija News reports that Ezekwesili’s remarks came after the arrest of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and the raid on the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) office in Abuja on Monday by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

In a post on her X account on Tuesday, Ezekwesili asserted that Nigerians would not tolerate any form of authoritarian rule again, and she outlined three actions President Tinubu should take to ease the growing tension in the country.

She questioned the motivations behind the administration’s approach, asking why Tinubu’s government would choose to create such tension for an already struggling population.

Ezekwesili said: “So as if this severest economic hardship unleashed on citizens by the @nigeriagov of @NGRPresident @officialABAT is not traumatizing enough, the country’s security apparatuses are now daily deployed to harass and intimidate Nigerians.

“I wanted to be certain of the news yesterday that the latest victims of draconian assault on rights are the NLC @NLCHeadquarters and its President @JoeAjaero94024 as @SERAPNigeria .

“So I ask, “What really is motivating this administration of @officialABAT to create this horrible tension in the country for an already badly distressed people?”

“Whatever is driving this repressive onslaught, here are 3 things the @NGRPresident has to do to stop heating up the country:

“The @OfficialDSSNG @PoliceNG must immediately comply with the constitution and laws of the land- release Ajaero, vacate @SERAPNigeria, return their documents, repair damaged property and compensate them for all losses inflicted.

“The @PoliceNG @OfficialDSSNG must release all the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters that are unconstitutionally detained or being prosecuted by the security establishment for no good reason than the intoxication and intolerance of @officialABAT and his crew that seized power through an election that failed all tests of credibility.

“The @NGRPresident and the @nassnigeria should immediately commence plans for a Citizens-led National Conversation and Constitutional process for Nigeria.

“If there is any wisdom left at all, this @NigeriaGov would do well to stop digging further into a hole. Nigerians acting collectively will never again accept any draconian rule.”

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) has released Joe Ajaero, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), after detaining him for approximately 15 hours, Naija News reports.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has slammed the federal government for pressing treason charges against peace #EndBadGovernance protesters.

Peter Obi said the federal government mismanaged the protest even after the citizens gave one month’s notice before the protest.

Speaking with News Central on Monday, on his opinion concerning the treason charge, the former governor of Anambra State said even when he was in office he never used police to arrest protesters.

He argued that it was wrong for the federal government to fail to sit and discuss with the peaceful hunger protesters but move ahead to arrest them with the police.

Obi said: “I’ve said everybody, they have right to protest. I said it before. I would discuss with every protester. They even warned government months before they did that. I would sit down and discuss with them. People protested when I was governor. They even called strike. They shut down schools for months, our hospitals. I was talking with them.

“I have never as a politician, as a governor ask any police to go and arrest anybody. It shouldn’t be. In a democracy, people have right to say no. I’ve said it every day. If I’m managing this facility and everybody loves me, I will resign. This is me.

“Wherever I am, I believe that I have enemies. My job is to convince them. If everybody loves me, that is a problem. There are people who hate me because I’m just Peter. They don’t even need to give me any reason. It is my job to convince them on why it should be. I convinced the teachers why we should return schools to missionaries and they see the result.

“You just have to. It’s a constant thing. Whenever you’re a leader, you’re a communicator. You listen, you talk to the people. The agitators, the protesters, how are they talking to them?”