Two months after dissolving his cabinet, Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, has submitted a fresh list of 30 commissioner-nominees to the Niger State House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.
Bago had earlier dissolved the State Executive Council during a meeting at the Council Chamber in Minna.
He appreciated former commissioners for their service and contributions to the development of the state.
At the time, he retained only key officials, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, and other principal officers in his office.
In a letter dated November 12, 2025, and addressed to the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji, the governor forwarded the names of new nominees for confirmation in line with Section 192(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
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He noted that the selections were made after extensive consultations and described the nominees as individuals of integrity, proven competence, and commitment to the state’s progress.
Bago appealed to the House to give the nominees prompt consideration to allow for the reconstitution of the State Executive Council.
He expressed confidence that the new commissioners, once confirmed, would play key roles in advancing his administration’s ongoing reforms and development initiatives.
According to a statement from the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Digital Media and Strategy, the nominees have also undergone necessary security clearance processes.
The Kaduna State Government has proposed a ₦985.9 billion budget for 2026, with the draft including ₦100 million for each of the state’s 255 political wards.
The proposal represents a 25.73 per cent increase from the 2025 appropriation.
The government allocated ₦699.7 billion to capital expenditure and ₦286.2 billion to recurrent spending.
Governor Uba Sani presented the budget during a special town hall meeting in Kaduna.
He said the ward allocation followed citizens’ complaints from earlier consultations.
He explained that residents highlighted major development gaps across rural communities.
Communities Projects
The governor noted that 12 councils saw no road construction for 12 years.
He said this discovery shifted the state to a ward-based development model.
Sani stated that communities would direct their own project choices.
He said decisions on the ₦100 million “will no longer be taken by people on the high table”.
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The governor maintained that the money belongs to the communities and must reflect their needs.
He explained that each ward would identify and rank its most urgent projects.
According to him, likely projects include feeder roads, water schemes, health facilities, and farm-to-market routes. Communities may also prioritise security infrastructure and local economic programmes.
The governor said citizen input already influenced government decisions this year. He cited the rise in the water budget from ₦10 million to ₦100 million after public complaints.
He noted that earlier consultations exposed severe infrastructure neglect.
This discovery triggered a large road development programme across all LGAs.
Sani listed several ongoing projects nearing completion.
They include 24km inter-community links, a 35km road in Sanga, and a 22.5km road in Soba. He also mentioned 24.7km in Zangon Kataf and 14.2km in Igabi.
Sani stated that town hall feedback shaped the state’s health investments.
He said Kaduna is now the only state to upgrade 255 PHCs from level one to level two.
He added that this achievement earned Kaduna recognition as the best PHC system in the Northwest.
Healthcare
He said the state is renovating 16 general hospitals, with nine already completed and commissioned.
The governor said wards with strong farming populations will receive targeted support.
He noted that these plans will complement the distribution of nearly 900 trucks of fertiliser.
He also referenced a $250 million agro-industrial deal backed by the Federal Government.
He said the deal aims to improve market access and increase rural incomes.
Sani highlighted Kaduna’s growing skills development programmes.
Youth Empowerment
He said 90,000 youths are enrolled under the Federal Government’s TX training scheme.
He added that communities can sponsor vocational and digital training from the ward funds.
He also said major transport projects will support ward economies.
He mentioned the planned BRT system and the proposed 44km light rail project.
The governor said the philosophy behind the ₦100 million allocation is fairness.
He stressed that development must reach every ward “irrespective of who they voted for, where they come from or what religion they practise.”
He concluded that the budget model is built on trust and inclusion.
A former spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar, Segun Sowunmi, has accused the Federal Government of mismanaging the conduct of the Federal Capital Territory minister, Nyesom Wike, following his recent altercation with a naval officer.
Sowunmi, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said public opinion showed rising concern about Wike’s behaviour in government.
“If you have listening tools, and I expect the government to have, listen to what’s happening on the radio, listen to what’s happening on television, filter the internet, and see the opinion of Nigerians.
“What you are going to find out is that the Federal Government of Bola Tinubu has a Wike problem,” he said.
He described the former Rivers State governor as “energetic, competent, goal-driven, with evidence of performance,” but accused him of being “a mismanaged, excessively irritating and garrulous aide”.
“The amount of invective you put out at people increases their ability for them to, first of all, dislike you, and then by inference begin to dislike your principal,” he said.
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Photo of Segun Sowunmi.
The PDP chieftain said the minister mishandled the recent encounter with a naval officer.
He noted that Wike often disrespected senior national figures, adding that the minister’s media style worsened public frustration.
“In your ‘I’m bigger than everybody, I’m very strong, I’m this and that,’ you put yourself in a situation where a junior ranking officer is now forced to hold the line before you.
“You had a problem in Rivers (state), you were backed. People didn’t like that.
“You seem to have issues with almost all our revered leaders in the country. You are constantly in the media, screaming, shouting, bellowing, jumping, saying it anyhow you like,” he said.
Sowunmi warned that such displays embarrassed the government.
He also shared the advice he once received from former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He said, “I once asked Chief Obasanjo one day: ‘How do you get the army and the armed forces to behave in a civilian regime?’ He said… ‘the armed forces are well trained.
“They will not take orders from a person whom they see is a little bit not properly or professionally able to give them orders.”
Sowunmi said officials must demonstrate professionalism when dealing with the military.
“At the end of the day… look at the quantity of skits (which went viral from Wike’s altercation with the naval officer)… You can’t run a government like that.
“You cannot be an irritating, garrulous aide of a government. You are serving the citizens of Nigeria. You are serving at the behest of the president. You must control yourself and manage yourself better,” he added.
Clash, Defence
Public debate intensified after a viral video showed Wike confronting a naval officer at a site in Gaduwa, Abuja.
Officials of the FCT administration had attempted to stop an alleged unauthorised construction, but soldiers reportedly blocked the officials from entering the disputed land.
The site was allegedly linked to a former Chief of Naval Staff.
Wike later arrived and accused the officers of impunity.
Defending his intervention on Thursday, the minister said he acted because officials were assaulted during a lawful assignment and condemned the deployment of soldiers for personal disputes.
“How can I sit as a minister when government officials are being attacked and beaten up… and I’ll just sit in my office doing what? You have no document. We cannot continue to act in impunity,” he said.
Wike said the FCTA had no record of legal allocation for the land, noting that retired officers must follow due process.
The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs has endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s nominees for the Federal Character Commission(FCC).
It approved Ayo Omidiran as Executive Chairman, along with several others appointed as commissioners of the FCC.
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The committee gave its endorsement during a screening session held at the National Assembly.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Onyesoh Alwell, representing Rivers East, commended President Tinubu for what he described as high calibre, the quality of individuals nominated to serve in the agency.
In keeping with parliamentary tradition, nominees who previously served as lawmakers were permitted to take a bow and leave.
Tinubu’s nominee for Executive Chairman and a former member of the 8th House of Representatives was granted the privilege following a successful screening session.
The Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has adjourned ruling on a preliminary objection challenging its jurisdiction in a suit filed by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the party’s national convention.
The convention had been scheduled for Saturday, 15 November, and Sunday, 16 November 2025 in Ibadan.
The suit was filed by a member of the PDP, Mr. Folahan Adelabi.
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At the hearing on Friday, counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), O. Adeyemi, argued that INEC, being a Federal Government agency, was only subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.
He urged the court to strike out the case for lack of jurisdiction.
However, counsel to the claimant, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, opposed the objection, stating that the argument infringed on the claimant’s fundamental rights.
He said the 1999 Constitution guaranteed the right to lawful assembly and convention.
Quoting Section 251 of the Constitution, Adetumbi contended that INEC did not fall within the category of agencies that place the case exclusively before the Federal High Court.
He asked the court to dismiss the objection and proceed with the substantive suit.
After listening to both sides, the presiding judge, Justice Ladiran Akintola, adjourned the ruling to December 8, 2025.
He also reaffirmed that the interim order earlier granted, which restrained the defendants from disrupting or interfering with preparations for the PDP national convention, remained in force.
The defendants in the suit are the PDP (first defendant), its acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun (second defendant), and the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, who chairs the PDP Convention Organising Committee (third defendant).
INEC is the fourth defendant.
Recall that the same court had extended its interim order restraining any interference with the planned convention until further hearing, ensuring that the event proceeds as scheduled.
Abuja Court Judgment
The adjournment came as Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued a final order stopping the PDP from proceeding with the convention.
Delivering judgment in a suit filed by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, Justice Lifu barred the PDP from proceeding with the convention until it complies with its constitution and guidelines on the convention.
He also ordered that the convention must be put on hold until Lamido is allowed to purchase a nomination form for the office of the national chairman.
The controversy over the planned convention to elect national officers of the PDP has further deepened the crisis in the party.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has apologised to passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) for delays experienced on Wednesday, stating no passenger was stranded.
The delay, which affected the afternoon service, occurred after a procedural safety decision was made when the train’s backup engine began losing power shortly after departure.
The train returned to Rigasa, Kaduna, as a precaution, before resuming its journey at 4:00 pm and arriving at Idu Station at 6:52 pm, approximately 80 minutes behind schedule.
Responding in a statement on Thursday, NRC Managing Director, Kayode Opeifa dismissed reports suggesting that passengers were stranded, describing them as misleading. He stressed that the Corporation prioritizes safety above all else, which informed the decision to return the train to Rigasa, Kaduna.
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“Though the train could have continued, for security reasons along the route and considering it was less than 30 minutes into the journey, it was advisable to pull back to Rigasa, Kaduna, for safety reasons,” Opeifa explained.
The train resumed its journey at 4:00 pm, an hour after the delay, and arrived at Idu at 6:52 pm—80 minutes behind schedule. Passengers were kept updated throughout via the Public Address System on the train and at Rigasa Station.
“Although the train could have continued, safety on the route was paramount. Since the train was less than 30 minutes into its journey, it was advisable to return to Rigasa,” Opeifa said.
He added that if the trip had been during the morning schedule, the train would have continued and shunted at the nearest stations.
According to the NRC boss, the evening timing warranted a more cautious approach, adding that passengers were regularly updated via Public Address Systems both on the train and at Rigasa Station.
