The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has arrived at the State House, Abuja, for his official decoration ceremony.
Disu was seen entering the Presidential Villa at about 3 p.m., ahead of the event where he is expected to be formally adorned with his new rank.
Acting IGP Disu Arrives Aso Rock Villa For Decoration pic.twitter.com/uXDiB26VTy
His appointment follows the resignation of former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, whose departure from office was confirmed by the Presidency on Tuesday.
In a statement issued the same day, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said President Bola Tinubu accepted Egbetokun’s resignation after he submitted a letter citing pressing family reasons.
READ ALSO: Tinubu Appoints Tunji Disu As Acting Inspector-General Of Police
Until his appointment, Disu served as Assistant Inspector-General in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon, Lagos. He was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police last year.
Before then, he served as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and was later deployed by Egbetokun to Abuja as Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory.
Disu is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and a former head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, a position previously held by Abba Kyari.
The Ogun Magistrate Court 1 sitting in Sagamu, presided over by Olufumilayo Somefun, has adjourned the case of the driver of the Lexus SUV involved in former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua’s road crash, Adeniyi Mobolaji, to March 17, 2026.
This is the second time the case has been adjourned to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions, who recently took over the matter, to properly prepare for the commencement of the hearing.
The defendant, Adeniyi Mobolaji, is charged with dangerous driving causing death; reckless and negligent driving; driving without due care and attention resulting in bodily harm and damage to property; and driving without a valid national driver’s licence.
In her ruling on the request for an adjournment to allow counsel from the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office to fully prepare for the case, the court granted the application and adjourned the matter to March 17 for further hearing.
READ ALSO: Court Adjourns Trial Of Anthony Joshua’s Driver To February 25
Kayode is a 46-year-old driver involved in the fatal accident that killed heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua’s personal trainer, Latif Ayodele, and strength and conditioning coach, Sina Ghami.
The driver was charged to Sagamu magistrate’s court on January 2, with magistrate, Olufunilayo Somefun, presiding over the case.
Joshua lost his two friends, Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami, along the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on December 29, 2025.
The Lexus SUV collided with a stationary truck, and Joshua and the driver sustained minor injuries.
Anthony Joshua was later discharged from the hospital after being deemed clinically fit to continue his recovery at home.
The former world heavyweight champion, along with his mother, visited the funeral home in Lagos to pay their final respects to Ayodele and Ghami, as their bodies were being prepared for repatriation.
He later travelled to the United Kingdom for their funeral.
The remains of Ghami and Ayodele were flown back to the United Kingdom, where a funeral prayer service was held on January 4, 2026, at the London Central Mosque.
England captain Leah Williamson says she would “never rule out” strike action to get players’ messaging across to governing bodies about schedule concerns.
Williamson, 28, missed five months with injury following England’s victory at Euro 2025 as she recovered from knee surgery.
She returned to action at the start of December, helping Arsenal win the Women’s Champions Cup in February, and was selected for this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
Williamson is one of several big-name players who are still returning to full fitness following England’s success in Switzerland, alongside Chelsea’s Lucy Bronze.
Speaking before England’s game against Ukraine on Tuesday, 3 March (17:00 GMT kick-off), Williamson was asked about the potential causes of injury and, hypothetically, if the players would be willing to strike to get governing bodies’ attentions.
“We’ll never know for sure but I don’t think people argue against the scheduling for fun. There’s reasons behind it,” said Williamson.
“If you listen to the players’ group, of course we want to play all the time, but the more successful you are – and this team has been very successful – then the less rest you have and the higher risk of injury there is. It’s an accumulation.
“The players, I’m sure, would love to just turn up and play football, but we use our voice and we try to get involved in conversations with the hierarchy so that they at least have our perspective. Whether they listen to it or not, is out of our control.”
Players’ union FifPro released a report in November saying that last year was the first time since it started collecting data in 2020 that the top 15 players in the world had all played 50 games or more in a season.
England midfielder Keira Walsh previously urged governing bodies to “listen to the players” about the congested fixture schedule.
Asked whether Williamson would consider more drastic action, such as players striking, she said: “I’ve not had any conversations about this right now, but if a group of people don’t feel like they’re getting listened to, then history suggests that’s the only way they can be heard.
“I would never take it off the table. I don’t think that’s where we are now. I think we’re still in a place where we can collaborate, listen and educate.”
Williamson also revealed players have been “forthcoming” with providing stakeholders with training load and female health data.
“It’s mainly around the rest periods and trying to get all governing bodies to align. It always sounds like we’re asking for a holiday, but that’s not the case,” she added.
“I’m a professional footballer and part of my job is also to rest, which I’m encouraged to do so by my managers and the environments we play in.
‘We are seeing the defined season disappear’
The Professional Footballers’ Association said that, while the women’s game is “going through a period of intense change” that “innovation and calendar expansion cannot come at the expense of player welfare, or we risk repeating mistakes that have already been made in the men’s game”.
“Players do not raise the possibility of strike action lightly,” it said.
“It becomes a last resort when genuine engagement and meaningful consultation are absent.”
joint legal action, along with the French and Italian players’ unions, against world governing body Fifa over the “overloaded and unworkable” football calendar.
“We are seeing the defined season disappear, with players expected to move seamlessly between domestic and international competitions across what is effectively a year-round calendar,” said the PFA.
Katie Taylor has confirmed she will bring the curtain down on her decorated career after a farewell fight in Dublin this summer.
The undisputed light-welterweight champion has not fought since she won her trilogy fight with Amanda Serrano in New York last July.
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old Irishwoman said she remains hopeful her swansong fight will take place at Croke Park.
“I just want to fight in Dublin to end my career,” she told RTE.
“Obviously we’re still hoping for Croke Park, we’re hanging on to a bit of hope that it can happen. If it doesn’t happen there are plenty of options there. I have obviously fought in the 3Arena a couple of times, the Aviva Stadium is also there.
Islamabad, Pakistan – When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped off the plane in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for his second visit to Israel, and the first by any Indian premier since his own landmark trip in 2017, the symbolism was unmistakable.
He was given a red-carpet welcome by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a head of government who is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant and prosecuting a war in Gaza that much of the world has condemned as genocide.
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Yet Modi’s visit signalled not hesitation, but a wholehearted endorsement to expand India’s strategic embrace of Israel.
Days before his arrival, Netanyahu announced at a cabinet meeting what he described as a “hexagon of alliances”, a proposed regional framework placing India at its centre alongside Greece, Cyprus and unnamed Arab, African and Asian states.
Its declared purpose was to counter what he called “radical axes, both the radical Shia axis, which we have struck very hard, and the emerging radical Sunni axis”.
In a region where Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been among Israel’s most outspoken critics, and where Saudi Arabia and Pakistan formalised a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in September 2025 – all three Sunni-majority nations – the outline of what Tel Aviv may view as this “axis” is not difficult to discern.
Against that backdrop, India’s deepening alignment with Israel directly impacts – and could reshape – Islamabad’s strategic calculus in an already volatile region, say analysts.
Expanding defence and technology ties
The India-Israel relationship has accelerated sharply since Modi’s 2017 visit. India is now Israel’s largest arms customer, and the agenda this week spans defence, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cybersecurity.
A new classified framework is expected to open exports from Israel of previously restricted military hardware to India. Among the systems reportedly under discussion is Israel’s Iron Beam, a 100kW-class high-energy laser weapon inducted into the Israeli army in December 2025. Cooperation on Iron Dome missile defence technology transfer for local manufacturing is also under consideration.
For Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to both the United States and the United Nations, the visit marks a decisive moment.
“News coming out suggests they are going to sign a special strategic agreement, one that could be seen as a counterpart to the agreement signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia last year,” he said. “Israel already has such special agreements with countries like the US and Germany.”
Masood Khalid, a former Pakistani ambassador to China, pointed to this military dimension.
“We saw how Israeli drones worked in the India-Pakistan conflict against us last year,” he said, referring to India’s use of Israeli-origin platforms during the May 2025 strikes against Pakistan, when the South Asian neighbours waged an intense four-day aerial war. “Public statements from both sides speak of strengthening strategic cooperation – particularly in defence, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and AI.”
India’s defence ties with Israel are no one-way street any more. During Israel’s war on Gaza in 2024, Indian arms firms supplied rockets and explosives to Tel Aviv, an Al Jazeera investigation confirmed.
Umer Karim, an associate fellow at the Riyadh-based King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, sees the partnership as part of a wider recalibration.
“It is clear that India has entered into a strategic partnership with Israel, and at a time when both governments have been criticised for their actions, this bilateral relationship has become increasingly important for both,” he told Al Jazeera.
Netanyahu’s ‘hexagon’ and Pakistan
Netanyahu’s hexagon proposal remains undefined. He has promised an “organised presentation” at a later date.
While Israel believes it has weakened what the Israeli PM described as the “Shia axis” through its 2024-2025 campaign against Iran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, the “emerging radical Sunni axis” is less clearly articulated.
Analysts suggest it could refer to states and movements aligned with strands of political Islam and sharply critical of Israeli policy, including Turkiye and countries that have strengthened security ties with Riyadh and Ankara, as Pakistan has. Pakistan is also the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons – something that has long worried Israel: In the 1980s, Israel tried to recruit India for a joint military operation against a nuclear facility in Pakistan, but backed off the plan after New Delhi abstained.
Karim was convinced about Pakistan’s place in Netanyahu’s crosshairs.
“Absolutely, Pakistan is part of this so-called radical Sunni axis,” he said, arguing that Pakistan’s strategic agreement with Riyadh and its close ties with Turkiye directly affect Israel’s calculations. “In order to counter this, Israel will increase its defence cooperation and intel sharing with Delhi.”
Khalid pointed to longstanding intelligence links.
“Intelligence sharing between Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad dates back to the sixties. So their strengthened interaction in this domain should be of serious concern for us,” he said, referring to the external intelligence agencies of India and Israel.
Others urge caution. Gokhan Ereli, an Ankara-based independent Gulf researcher, argued that Pakistan is unlikely to be an explicit target within Israel’s framing.
“In this context, Pakistan is more plausibly affected indirectly, through the alignment of Israeli, Indian and Western threat narratives, than being singled out as a destabilising actor in its own right,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khan, the former ambassador, agreed.
“I don’t perceive a direct threat, but the latent animosity is there. And when Modi is in Tel Aviv, he will try to poison Netanyahu and other leaders there to think about Pakistan in a hostile way,” he said.
Muhammad Shoaib, assistant professor of international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, echoed that assessment.
“India’s close relations with Israel are likely to negatively impact Tel Aviv’s perception and statements on Pakistan,” he said.
The Gulf balancing act
Perhaps the most complex arena for Pakistan is the Gulf. For decades, it has relied on Gulf partners for financial support, including rolled-over loans and remittances that form a crucial pillar of its economy.
Pakistan signed a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia in September last year [File: Press Information Department via AP Photo]
After signing the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia last September, discussions have intensified about Turkiye joining a similar framework. Yet the United Arab Emirates, one of Pakistan’s closest Gulf partners, signed a strategic agreement with India in January 2026.
Khalid called for deeper economic integration to underpin these ties.
“Pakistan is doing well to strengthen its bilateral ties with key Middle East countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait,” he said, “but apart from GCC, Pakistan also needs to promote regional cooperation, particularly with countries of Central Asia, Turkiye, Iran and Russia. Geoeconomics through greater trade and connectivity should be the basis of this regional cooperation.” The Gulf Cooperation Council consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Complicating matters further is Iran’s central role in current regional tensions. With Washington threatening potential military action against Iran, and Israel pressing for regime change in Tehran, Pakistan has quietly sought to ease tensions by arguing for diplomacy.
“But there are two main parties – Iran and the US – and then, most importantly, Israel, which doesn’t just limit its demands to a nuclear deal,” Khan, the former diplomat said. “It wants to expand to Iran’s missile defence capabilities and regional alliances, and that may well be a sticking point. Pakistan’s aspiration is to contribute to efforts to find a diplomatic solution.”
Strategic contest
Ultimately, Pakistan’s policymakers must assess whether ties with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are strong enough to offset the expanding India-Israel partnership.
Modi and Netanyahu frame their security doctrines around countering what they describe as “Islamic radicalism”. New Delhi has repeatedly accused Pakistan of fomenting violence against India.
Yet Khan argued that Islamabad is not without leverage.
In the Philippines, thousands of protesters clashed with police in Manila on the 40th anniversary of a popular uprising. The demonstrators are demanding accountability for those accused of involvement in a scandal linked to flood control projects. Barnaby Lo reports.
