In the Alapere region of Ketu, Lagos, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has discovered a significant illegal operation that involves the sale of fake chemicals, expired food flavors, unlicensed fertilisers, and repackaged pharmaceutical raw materials.
The operation resulted in the arrest of several suspects and the sealing of three warehouses stuffed with dangerous goods, according to the organization’s statement.
Martins Iluyomade, the NAFDAC director of investigation and enforcement, stated to journalists that the raid was a result of reliable information about a large-scale food and chemical counterfeiting network.
Iluyomade referred to the agency’s action as a campaign to protect Nigerians’ health, highlighting that individuals who act as legitimate business owners are engaged in serious public health-related activities.
He claimed that the offence involved the sale and repackaging of expired substances, some of which had been risklessly diverted to be used in food and drug production.
Street beggars and miscreants are being evicted from the nation’s capital by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, issued the directive that the satellite towns in the FCT be completely rid of street smugglers and traders, “one chance” syndicates, scavengers, miscreants, and other social nuisances.
FCT NUT Suspends Strike, Demands Teachers to Resume Their Services on Wednesday
Lere Olayinka, Wike’s spokesman, stated in a statement on Wednesday that the FCT’s “Operation Sweep Abuja of miscreants, street beggars/traders, scavengers, and other criminal elements” had just begun.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has ordered the immediate expulsion of miscreants, street beggars and traders,  , scavengers, and other criminal elements from the FCT in accordance with the Abuja Environmental Protection Act and other relevant laws.
The capital of our nation should be a safe haven for pride and beauty, not a haven for street beggars and scavengers, the majority of whom are criminally organized.
A Joint Task Force, made up of security organizations and relevant FCT SDAs, has been established to detach anyone found begging, scavenging, loitering, or engaging in other acts that threaten the residents’ safety, the statement read.
According to the statement, arrangements had been made to profile them and provide them with information to their respective state governments.
National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Salihu Lukman, has called on Peter Obi’s supporters, known as Obidients, to avoid the mistakes made during the 2023 general elections as opposition parties prepare for the 2027 polls.
Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, came third in the last general elections, trailing behind Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Lukman stated that while the Obidient movement was highly vocal during the last election cycle, they were absent at critical moments, which he believes contributed to the challenges faced by Obi as a presidential candidate.
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“In the case of the Obidients, they must also avoid the mistake of 2023. They were all over the place making all manner of arguments, but one of the limitations of the Obidients is that when it gets to the crunch, at the decisive moment, they become absent. That was why Peter Obi suffered the kind of problem he had as a presidential candidate,” he said.
Lukman pointed out that one major weakness in Obi’s campaign was the absence of polling agents in several locations across the country. He stressed that as part of the coalition, the ADC and other allied parties are determined to strengthen opposition structures nationwide to prevent such lapses in 2027.
The former APC vice chairman assured that the coalition will support any candidate who emerges from the alliance to challenge the ruling party in 2027.
“As APC, we are going to act now to strengthen each and every one of them—whoever emerges. And we are now appealing to the Obidients to really understand that the ADC and the coalition is the horn for them. They should come and let’s build ourselves together.
“If Peter Obi tomorrow emerges as the presidential candidate, we will support him and strengthen him to overcome the shortcomings of the past. So also any other person. If it is Atiku Abubakar that emerges, for instance, we will support him and strengthen him in such a way that he doesn’t repeat the mistake of former President Muhammadu Buhari who, although from the North, ended up almost sacrificing the North,” he added.
Lukman emphasised the need for honesty and unity among Nigerians in political engagements, saying, “I think these are issues which as citizens, as Nigerians, we must be very honest and frank in engaging if we are going to move this country forward.”
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT)’s Federal Capital Territory Wing suspended a March 24, 2025, strike that primary school teachers in the FCT began.  ,
The union demanded that all primary school teachers re-enter the schedule on July 9, 2025.  ,
Following a State Wing Executive Council meeting held on July 4, 2025, the organization made this information available on Channels Television on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who had requested the release of N16 billion for the settlement of a portion of the salaries, intervened, according to the union.  ,  ,
The teachers’ unwavering support, solidarity, and prayers during the four-month strike were commended by the NUT.  ,
A member of the opposition coalition, Kenneth Okonkwo, says President Bola Tinubu will win if the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presents a southern presidential candidate like Peter Obi as its flag bearer in the 2027 election.
The actor-turned-lawyer said that to unseat Tinubu, the ADC coalition should present a northern political heavyweight in the toga of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal, among others.
“My strategy this time around is that I am going to support a northerner in 2027,” Okonkwo said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
“It must be a northerner that the whole north is willing to support.
“If the whole north is willing to support an Atiku, why not?
“If the whole north is willing to support a Tambuwal, why not? The person must be qualified, and if he has experience in the presidency, it is an added advantage, and when he puts up something from the south, that will push him through,” he said.
READ ALSO: Labour Party Fractured, I Don’t See It Winning Election – Kingibe
Interestingly, Okonkwo was one of the spokespersons for Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, but he parted ways with the former Anambra governor and dumped the Labour Party in July 2024 over the party’s internal squabbles and Obi’s failure to address them.
Tinubu, who trounced his closest rivals, Atiku and Obi, in the 2023 poll and assumed office in May 2023, is seeking re-election in 2027 to complete the country’s eight-year unwritten rule on rotation of power between the two major regions of the country – the southern and northern regions. Before Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired military general from the North-West zone of the country, was in power between May 2015 and May 2023.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari receives Atiku Abubakar and others in Kaduna State on April 11, 2025. Credit: X/@atiku
On Tuesday, Okonkwo said Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has “become incurably bad and we want to terminate his incumbency”.
“Anybody telling you it’s injustice if the north comes in, if the south comes in, and whoever wins in a primary election will take it for four years. Where is the injustice? It has happened before.
“Anybody telling you to bring a fresh southerner to compete against Tinubu, a southerner, is trying to tell you to zone the ticket to Tinubu and Tinubu will win outright,” Okonkwo said.
Peter Obi on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme on July 6, 2025
‘Why Obi Can’t Win’
He said since the APC is presenting Tinubu to be its flag bearer, the opposition coalition must present a northerner to challenge him.
“If you bring somebody from the Southeast, even if he wins, they will steal it from him.
“Let me tell you the strategy that will make the Southeast man to be president. Do you know the South-West has never contested an election against an incumbent? Strategy? Because they know that in Nigeria, if you don’t have the establishment supporting you, even if you win, they will steal it from you.
“Peter Obi won the election in 2023, and they stole it from us. If you do it again, they will steal it from him because there is no incumbent to back you, but if you bring somebody from the north, nobody will prevail on him to leave his victory because he is not from the same side as you,” he said.
Peter Obi, Rauf Aregbesola, Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal at the coalition meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
Ahead of the 2027 polls, talks about an inter-party alliance reached a climax on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, when opposition arrowhead Atiku Abubakar, alongside Obi, ex-Senate president David Mark, ex-minister Rauf Aregbesola, ex-minister Rotimi Amaechi, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, amongst others, adopted the ADC as the platform by the opposition coalition to oust incumbent Tinubu whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.
Labour Party Senator Ireti Kingibe says her party is fractured with internal wranglings, and she does not see the party winning any election in a state of quagmire.
The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said though she remained a member of the Labour Party, she has aligned with the opposition coalition flagged on the platform of the African Democratic Party (ADC).
“Yes, I am (still a member of the Labour Party) but I support the ADC,” she affirmed on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm programme aired on Tuesday.
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The lawmaker who was elected on the Labour Party platform in 2023 said the Labour Party would bungle the chances of the opposition in the forthcoming FCT election, hence the choice of the ADC.
She said, “Labour Party is in some sort of a quagmire. We are trying to put it together, but I do not see the Labour Party in the present way it is as a vehicle that can win any election. It’s been very fractured and broken.
“We have local government elections coming…So, we needed a platform. The Labour Party would have been that platform, but it was broken. There are two factions of the Labour Party right now.
“I know the FCT can win, not on APC. So, ADC has credible candidates, and it is that platform we are going to use to show them.”
On whether she might dump the Labour Party if the leadership crisis within the party persists, the 71-year-old female lawmaker said, “Maybe, I might eventually.”
READ ALSO: I’m In Labour Party, Working With Coalition Not Anti-Party Activity — Peter Obi
Ahead of the 2027 polls, talks about an inter-party alliance reached a climax on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, when opposition arrowhead Atiku Abubakar, alongside Obi, ex-Senate president David Mark, ex-minister Rauf Aregbesola, ex-minister Rotimi Amaechi, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, amongst others, adopted the ADC as the platform by the opposition coalition to oust incumbent Tinubu whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.
