Category Nigeria News

The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South-South, Emmanuel Ogidi, insists that the suspension of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, and others, stands. 

Ogidi said this on Wednesday during his appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, dismissing the claims to the contrary as “noise”. 

“Nigerians know the truth. They (Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, others) are just making noise. They’ve been expelled,” the PDP chieftain said on the show. 

READ ALSO: PDP Expels Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, Others

During its national convention in November, the PDP expelled Wike, Fayose, Samuel Anyanwu, and eight others over what the party described as “anti-party” activities. 

The convention, held in Ibadan, Oyo State, cited what it described as activities inconsistent with the party’s collective interest as reasons for the move. It later issued a certificate of expulsion to the affected persons. 

However, the group in the PDP loyal to Wike expelled Governor Seyi Makinde and others, who backed the expulsion. 

READ ALSO: [FULL LIST] PDP Expels Wike, Fayose, Others

‘I’m still in the PDP’

Weeks after the expulsion, Wike insisted he is still a member of the main opposition PDP. 

“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together.

“And I have said to the party, ‘Put your house in order. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose’,” Wike said while reacting to the defection of some PDP lawmakers in the Rivers Assembly, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to.”

The FCT minister’s grouse with the PDP began in 2022 when Wike asked the party to zone its presidential ticket to southern Nigeria.

A photojournalist was kidnapped by gunmen in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State’s Chikun community.

Umar Iyale, a photojournalist who is currently suffering from an unidentified illness, was kidnapped from his home on Monday night at around 9 o’clock.

DSP Mansir Hassan, the Kaduna State Police Command’s spokesperson, confirmed the incident, claiming that the agency had launched an operation to capture the bandits and free the victim.

Read more about FCT’s investigation into suspected child trafficking at an orphanage.

He urged Danhonu, Millennium City residents to provide reliable information to security agencies so they could aid the rescue operation.

The new tax laws in Nigeria have been criticized by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as being insensitive to the hardships faced by regular people.

Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s national publicity secretary, criticized the laws in an interview with Politics Today on Tuesday.

The government continues to deny the reality of the majority, saying that the hardship Nigerians are currently experiencing is unprecedented. Look at the tax. They keep saying that the poor won’t pay, but he claimed that this was all lies.

READ ALSO: Taxpayers in Africa Will Elect a Public Refused?

Four tax reform laws went into effect on January 1, 2026, according to the federal government.

alleged contradictions between the versions adopted by the National Assembly and the gazetted laws led to debate.

While the House of Representatives released Certified True Copies to ensure transparency, Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, dismissed circulating versions as “fake” drafts.

The reforms, including exemptions for small businesses and low-income earners, were intended to strengthen Nigeria’s fiscal system, according to President Bola Tinubu.

Following an intelligence-led operation, Nasarawa State Police Command operations rescued four kidnapped children and brought them back to their families.

Rahman Nansel, the Command’s spokesman, made this known in a statement released on Tuesday in Lafia.

Nansel claimed that the rescue came after a report about the children’s disappearance at the New Nyanya Division’s disappearance in suspicious circumstances that was received on December 31, 2025.

He claims that the command responded to the report with a discrete and thorough investigation.

READ ALSO: Troops Abduct Three Victims in Taraba and Rescue Three?

According to him, the command’s detectives relied on reliable information to find the suspects’ hideout, where the children were unharmed when they were working with Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command operatives.

One Abraham Asoje, 28, allegedly abducted the children in a plot with one Joy Bolaje, 29, both of Ado Junction in the LGA, according to preliminary investigation.

According to Nansel, “The suspects reportedly kept the children in captivity until the police arrived on the scene.”

He added that while other suspects were reportedly at large, efforts were being made to apprehend them, the children had since been reunited with their families.

Shetima Mohammed, the state’s commissioner of police, was quoted as saying that he applauded the operation’s operatives’ professionalism, commitment, and swift response.

Due to allegations of illegal child trafficking and related child welfare violations, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has sealed the locations of Kagini, Abuja, Divine Hope Orphanage and Less Privileged Home.

Idris Attah, the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat’s Director of Child Development, gave an official confirmation of the development in a Monday official notice.

In the meantime, the orphanage was closed until the results of its child-related investigations.

Grace Chibuzor, the facility’s proprietress, allegedly fled to an unknown location with an undetermined number of children, according to the notice.

Due to an investigation into its activities involving children, the public is informed that Divine Hope Orphanage and Less Privileged Home, Kagini, Abuja, have been officially sealed as of Monday, January 5, 2026.

The statement read, “Gracee Ebele Chibuzor, the proprietress, fled to an unknown destination with an unspecified number of children without contacting the Child Development Department, FCT Women Affairs Secretariat,”

Also read: Troops Abduct Three Victims in Taraba and Rescue Three

According to some preliminary investigations, the orphanage is connected to the most recent incident involving four siblings who were allegedly taken from Ado in Nasarawa State and transported to Gwagwalada in the FCT.

On Monday, the children’s biological parents reunited with them.

According to the statement, “Investigations have revealed links to the recent case of four siblings who were happily reunited with their biological parents on Monday, January 5, 2026,” the statement read.

Additionally, investigators have discovered allegations of collusion between the orphanage and Anderson Archibong, the organization’s executive secretary, and the current arrest warranted by the NACCRAN.

The partnership is suspected of having allegedly “facilitated the illegal movement of children from states including Benue and Nasarawa into Abuja for unauthorised fostering and adoption,” according to the Director of Child Development. ”

Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Working Committee met on Tuesday.

The meeting held in Jonathan’s office in Abuja’s capital, Maitama, took place in a closed-door manner.

Turaki was accompanied by members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and a number of state PDP chairmen.

READ MORE: Bagos, APC, and Other Parties: PDP’s Failure Reason For Defections

Sources told Channels Television that the party’s leadership was bringing up issues that sat on the party’s national interest.

In a statement to journalists, Turaki claimed that the PDP leaders had discussed the party’s future in light of the ongoing legal battles.

The former president also stated that the party had done enough for him and that he would do more for the party.

Two men who claim to be the party’s national chairman have caused a leadership crisis for the PDP.

Taminu Turaki is supported by the camps affiliated with the Federal Capital Territory governor, Bala Mohammed, and Seyi Makinde, Oyo State governor, while Abdulrahman Mohammed and Nyesom Wike, Nyesom Wike, Nyesom Wike, Nyesom Wike, are opposed by the camps affiliated with him.

INEC communicates with other parties.

Joash Amupitan, the leader of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), met with the PDP’s two groups on December 19, 2025 inquieting about the situation.

Prior to the FCT area council elections and those of Osun and Ekiti states scheduled for February 21, 2026, the INEC chairman was in charge of the meeting that took place at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Both Samuel Anyanwu and the Tanimu Turaki-led national working committee took part in the meeting.

Amupitan claimed that the party’s correspondence grew to be necessary in response to numerous conflicting messages.

He claimed that preparations were also being made for the June and July 2026 elections for the governorships of Ekiti and Osun.

The Commission already had its election schedule and rules out to all registered political parties, according to the INEC chairman, and was working to make sure the polls in the affected areas were run smoothly and honestly. He noted, however, that the PDP’s antagonistic positions required a synthesis of the opposing factions to come together to seek consensus and forge a common course of action.

Amupitan applauded the presence of senior officials from both camps, noting that the meeting gave the party a forum for open and constructive discussion in order to resolve the party’s and the electoral process as a whole.

He further assured the PDP factions of INEC’s impartiality, pointing out that the Commission’s decisions were firmly grounded in the terms of the Electoral Act, the 1999 Constitution, and INEC’s rules and guidelines.

The Commission’s chairman stated that the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and its internal regulations are the three-tier legal framework under which it is governed and pledged to abide by these laws when dealing with the issue.