Category Nigeria News

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emmanuel Ogidi, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of empowering Nyesom Wike to destroy the opposition party, but believes the FCT minister would soon turn on the ruling party. 

“How can you reconcile with people? How can you reconcile with the man who wants to bring down your house? Now look at APC—APC, after all the shouting now. But they were the ones who empowered him to try and destroy the PDP,” Ogidi said on Wednesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“So he did something. He’s going to give them their own. So you see, when you have a member of your family who is running wild, you just put him aside.” 

READ ALSO: ‘Leave Rivers Alone,’ Wike Tells APC National Secretary

Wike worked against the PDP in the 2023 presidential election, backing the APC for Nigeria’s exalted position. 

The immediate governor of Rivers State cited the non-adherence to party laws with the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the party’s flagbearer in that election. 

He was later appointed as minister, but recently had a spat with the National Secretary of the APC, Ajibola Basiru. 

Basiru asked Wike to stop dabbling in the APC affairs, as the FCT minister is not a member of the ruling party. 

READ ALSO: [Rivers] Wike Not APC Member, Lacks Right To Dabble In Party Affairs — National Secretary

“For the avoidance of doubt, our records indicate that Minister Nyesom Wike is not a member of our Party (APC), so he lacks the locus to dabble into the [affairs of] our party,” he stated.

However, the minister told the APC scribe to avoid talking about Rivers State. 

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.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and two others, bail in the sum of ₦500 million with two sureties.

The sureties, according to the judge, must have landed property in Asokoro, Maitama, Gwarinpa.

He added that they must submit their travelling documents to the court.

READ ALSO: Kebbi ADC Condemns Malami’s Detention By EFCC, Demands His Release

The documents of the properties are to be verified by the deputy chief registrar of the court while the sureties are also to depose to affidavit of means.

Malami was also ordered to deposit his travelling documents with the court and must not travel out of the country without the permission of the court.

The former AGF and his sureties were also ordered to deposit their two recent passport photograph with the court.

Meanwhile, Malami has been ordered to be remanded in Kuje prison pending his perfection of the bail conditions.

Justice Nwite subsequently fixed February 17 for commencement of trial of the corruption charges.

The same bail were extended to Malami, son Abdulaziz Malami, and an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited, Hajia Asabe Bashir,.

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.