Tonight on Sunday Politics, Minister of Works Dave Umahi discusses key infrastructure projects and the development question under the Tinubu administration. Join us at 8 pm on Sunday, October 4 DStv 420 | Sky UK 515 Watch live: channelstv.com/live #PoliticsToday #SundayPolitics

Fuel subsidy debate: Oil Minister Heineken Lokpobiri replies Atiku, Obi, advises on where attention should shift WHEN President Tinubu assumed office, Nigeria faced a situation in which the government was projected to spend about ₦18.4 billion every day on fuel subsidy payments, citing figures previously presented by former Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed before the National Assembly. THAT would amount to approximately $15 billion annually or about ₦21 trillion when converted at ₦1,400 to the dollar. “Where would the money come from?” he asked. “The money is expected to come from the same oil sector.” Lokpobiri said the subsidy system had also contributed to the financial weakness of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation before its transformation into NNPC Limited, arguing that the corporation had previously struggled to meet its obligations, including cash calls in joint venture arrangements. “You recall that NNPC never paid any dividend. NNPC never made any profit at all,” he said. “What they were doing was shipping out crude and shipping in refined products. NNPC was the sole importer of refined products.” He said the situation had become unsustainable because the corporation could not meet the financial commitments required to maintain its participation in oil production. “If you say you own 60 per cent of a business, you also have to pay 60 per cent of the cost of doing that. That is the cash call,” Lokpobiri said. “But before this government came, NNPC couldn’t pay its cash call. Today, NNPC is not owing any cash call.” The minister also linked the subsidy debate to the country's wider fiscal position, saying debt servicing had consumed a large proportion of government revenue before the Tinubu administration came into office. According to him, debt service was previously taking about 97 per cent of government income, a situation he described as unsustainable because the government was effectively borrowing to service existing obligations. He said the ratio had subsequently fallen to about 60 per cent. One of the strongest arguments Lokpobiri advanced was that money previously committed to fuel subsidies is no longer confined to the petroleum sector but is distributed through the Federation Account to the federal, state and local governments. “Today, all of you can attest to the fact that for the first time, at the end of every month, FAAC is convened and over ₦2 trillion is shared every month,” he said. “Some states get hundreds of billions a month.” Official figures show that Federation Account allocations have indeed crossed the ₦2 trillion mark on some occasions. In March 2026, for example, ₦2.036 trillion was distributed to the three tiers of government, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance. But Lokpobiri's broader argument was that the increased allocations should also shift the burden of accountability away from Abuja alone. “Before this government came in, 27 states could not pay salaries. Today, even the poorest states have enough money, not just to pay salaries, but also to do projects.” He argued that Nigerians should therefore pay greater attention to what state and local governments do with the resources they receive. “The proceeds from subsidy removal, are shared among the three tiers of government: federal, state and local government,” he said. “But instead of people holding their state governments accountable, their local governments accountable, everybody is looking at the federal government.” Lokpobiri also rejected allegations that the resources released by subsidy removal were not being properly utilised by the Federal Government. “That statement is absolutely false,” he said. He cited programmes including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, CNG and clean cooking programmes as examples of interventions that, in his view, demonstrate how government is deploying resources freed from the old subsidy arrangement. Culled from southernexaminer.com

Yesterday, I had Town Hall Meetings with stakeholders of Akpor and Evo Kingdoms in Obio-Akpor Local Government, in our drive for a total support for the reelection of the President. It is our collective ressolve to deliver Rivers State to the President on January 16, 2027, and I am glad that our people are solidly behind us.

Dear @ARISEtv, @OjyOkpe, @R_abati1990, @ruffydfire Since my name was mentioned in this clip, I have chosen to exercise a public #RightOfReply. I owe you that much. Let me be clear from the start: I will not back down on this issue of the casualisation of judicial standards by a confederacy of disclosed & traceable insider & political interests on all sides. Among my people, there is a name & a saying: "onyemaechi" (Who knows tomorrow)? I bet @R_abati1990 had not read Rule 12 of @njcnig's Judicial #CodeOfConduct before this session. I will encourage him to acquaint himself with it, pls. It is tragic when people who should know better venture into the enterprise of banalising serious issues at the heart of the justice system & its integrity. Yet, we are the first to complain about insecurity & we seem blissfully unaware of the inherent logics of #CauseAndEffect. But I guess it is the judges who have created this mess. And folks think we must be automatonscat the mercy of untheorised & self-serving rulings. I refuse. This is the same country in which Zainab Bulkachuwa - then serving as president of @NGCourtofAppeal in 2019 - thought it was alright for her to preside over the presidential election petition when her husband had just been elected a senator on the ticket of the party whose victory was at issue in the petition. At least one of her sons so ran on the ticket of the party in the same election. Mind you, @SupremeCourtNg had ruled in 2007 that it is parties, not candidates, who run for office in #Nigeria. Yet, Justices of Appeal under her turned in a ruling that said it was kosher for her to do so. In the end public opinion forced her off the panel but at the price of exorbitantly corrosive jurisprudence. Contrary to the claim by @R_abati1990 in this outing, it does not need an imputation on the judge for him or her to be recused. The standard is not actual or active lack of impartiality. It is appearance of lack of impartiality. Let me explain. Lord Hewart said as much in R v. Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy (1924) that "the answer to that question depends not upon what actually was done but upon what might appear to be done." That was why he laid down the standard that justice must not only be done but must be "manifestly & undoubtedly be seen to be done." That is the standard at both common law & under the Constitution. With profound respect, I regret to say that @R_abati1990 has misled the public as to the applicable standard & his claims about that are not particularly well founded. It is no accident, therefore, that he ended up in an entirely convenient destination with no guardrails in either principle or judicial ethics. But judicial decision-making is not dance-music nor situational ethics like he suggests. It is a bounded enterprise constrained by easily ascertained rules. That was why I cited the case of Justice Anthony Aniagolu in 1983. His son is one of your colleagues, @charlesaniagolu. The fact that one has to even argue that Sylvanus Oriji cannot preside over this case is itself the problem. I spare you all the details of his relationships with the Wikes but if I am required to I will. This should be a scandal ordinarily. But we seem to have lost every sense of indignation. Privately, I must say, several senior judges have told me they are scandalized. For the sake of the judiciary, the Chief Justice knows what to do. To my brother, @R_abati1990, we can continue to pretend about these casualisations until we are at the receiving end. All you need do is look at what is happening to a former governor of Kaduna State at the moment & you see the point. Today, we may feel unaffected. Tomorrow may be different. To my brother, @R_abati1990, I say: "onyemaechi"?!

UNN told PREMIUM TIMES that Peter Obi’s admission was based on a combination of two examination results: his June 1978 WAEC result and another November/December 1978 GCE result. According to the university, the combined qualifications met the admission requirements applicable at the time, and no alternative admission pathway, exemption or remedial programme was used. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭-𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 premiumtimesng.com/news/head…

Nigeria has passed through its own Red Sea, Prosperity is Next--President Tinubu TEXT OF INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, WITH THE THEME, FROM REFORMS TO PROSPERITY My fellow Nigerians, Sixty-six years ago today, our flag was raised, for the first time, over a free and sovereign nation. Since then, we have journeyed together as one nation, bound by our collective trust in the great promise of Nigeria: that a country of our size, our bountiful resources, our cultural diversity and, above all, our extraordinary people can build a giant in Africa; that in this blessed and fertile land we can build a united, strong and prosperous nation; a land of regional authority and global consequence. Our journey has not always been easy. In truth, it has generally been too hard for too many. We have known moments of great hope and periods of profound disappointment. We have endured war, military rule, economic crises, insecurity and political upheaval. Yet through it all, Nigeria, with the indomitable spirit of its people, has endured. It has endured through the efforts of the farmer who rises before dawn to work his land. The trader who opens her shop each morning, hopeful for a productive day. The teacher who believes in the children entrusted to her care and the young entrepreneur who refuses to surrender ambition to circumstance. We are grateful for the men and women of our Armed Forces and security services who place themselves in harm's way so that the rest of us may live in peace. Through every difficulty, generations of Nigerians have continued to believe in one thing: that this country of ours will be better. This faith, which sustains us all, is the inheritance of independence. Our founding fathers did not struggle merely for a flag, an anthem or a place among the nations of the world. Independence carried a larger promise: that Nigerians would have the freedom to shape their own destiny and build a nation capable of providing opportunity, dignity and a better life for its people. Sixty-six years later, Almighty God has made it our responsibility to deliver that promise. Today, as we celebrate our independence, we must speak honestly about the journey so far, the choices we made, and the country we are determined to build from here. For too long, the promise of Nigeria was undermined by choices that postponed difficult decisions and allowed deep economic distortions to grow. By 2023, poverty was rising, and hope was nearly gone. The country's situation was darker than ever. We had no choice but to act. Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer. His doctor explains that the treatment will be difficult and painful, but that it offers a strong prospect of recovery. The patient has a choice. He can begin treatment, endure its discomfort and fight the disease. Or he can ask only for morphine, dull the pain and leave the cancer to spread. For too long, Nigeria's leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came. They focused on symptoms while allowing the disease to take hold deep within the fabric of our society. We spent enormous sums sustaining inefficient arrangements that were never intended to last. We hid from difficult truths and passed the consequences from one generation to the next. When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer. The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease. Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them. Now, as certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies, we must resist their siren song. We must remember why we began this journey and how far we have already come. Three and a half years later, the evidence that Nigeria's economic outlook has improved is undeniable. Our economy has grown by over 4 per cent this year. Both oil and non-oil sectors have contributed to the renewed period of stable growth. Oil theft is down. Inflation has fallen substantially from its peak. Our foreign reserves have been rebuilt, our foreign exchange market has stabilised, and in 2025 this country recorded its highest revenue from non-oil exports in its history, exceeding $6 billion. This is real money being made by real Nigerian businesses. These are not idle claims. International observers, journalists, NGOs and multilateral institutions can see the change. Each has concluded that our reforms have strengthened Nigeria's economic stability and resilience. The private sector has long since delivered its verdict, and foreign direct investment continues to rise each year. My fellow Nigerians, we have reached a turning point. The emergency treatment is over. The foundation has been repaired. The central economic task before us has changed. For three years, our overriding purpose was to correct our nation's course. Now, our purpose is simple: shared and widespread prosperity. When I speak of prosperity, I do not speak merely of a larger economy, abstract numbers or better statistics. I mean something much more personal. I mean a Nigeria in which the farmer can cultivate his land safely, produce more at lower cost, and earn a decent return for his labour. A Nigeria in which factories have reliable power, businesses can obtain credit, and young people can find productive work. A Nigeria in which food and transportation are affordable, education is within reach, and hard-working families can look towards the future with confidence. This is the promise we must now fulfil. Our priority is to bring down the cost of living. We will achieve this by lowering the cost of producing and moving the things Nigerians consume. We have the land and people to feed ourselves. My government is therefore focused on expanding mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming, improving access to seeds and fertiliser, holistically increasing mechanisation, and investing in storage and transportation. We are building and completing the roads, railways and ports that connect farms and factories to markets. Our logic is simple. When a farmer produces more cheaply, when fewer crops are lost between the farm and the market, when a manufacturer spends less on electricity, when a truck reaches its destination faster, and when the business environment fosters fair competition, all those savings will ultimately find their way into the price of goods in the market. But prosperity requires more than cheaper goods. It requires productive work. Nigeria is a young country. Millions of young Nigerians enter adulthood every year with talent, energy and ambition. Our responsibility is to ensure that this great demographic strength becomes an engine of production rather than a source of despair. We are therefore placing jobs, enterprise, and industrial growth at the heart of our government's policies. We will use our gas to power new industries. We will support businesses that work to bring factories back to life in our great industrial centres. We will expand digital connectivity into communities that have waited too long to participate in the modern economy. We will invest in the skills employers demand and support Nigerian businesses with the infrastructure and finance they need to grow. I want to see more Nigerians making things. I want to see more Nigerian farms feeding our cities and supplying our factories. I want to see Nigerian businesses selling Nigerian goods to the whole world. I want young Nigerians building unicorns and creating opportunities for others here at home. I am also conscious that millions of our fellow citizens cannot wait for tomorrow. Some Nigerian families still struggle today for the next meal, the next school fee, the next medical bill, or simply enough money to get to work. Their circumstances did not begin with the reforms of the last three years. Their struggle is the accumulated consequence of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunity and institutions that too often failed those who needed them most. We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course. We can build an economy that steadily lifts people out of poverty while ensuring that those who remain vulnerable are not abandoned along the way. That is why we are strengthening direct support for the poorest households and improving the National Social Register so that assistance reaches those who genuinely need it. It is why the Nigerian Education Loan Fund is ensuring that the child of a low-income family need not surrender the dream of higher education simply because his parents cannot afford the fees. It is why CREDICORP is giving working Nigerians access to consumer credit, allowing people to acquire vehicles, solar systems, digital devices and other essential assets without first having to accumulate years of savings. That is why, working with our states and local governments, we will continue to strengthen primary healthcare, basic education, and the essential public services poorer Nigerians depend on most. Since 2023, we have paid salaries and pensions on time and in full. We have reformed the national pension program to benefit retirees and the vulnerable. These programmes are not substitutes for prosperity. They are a bridge to aid our nation's citizens on their path towards it. Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it. It will take time. It will require discipline. It will require sustained growth year after year and the creation of millions of productive opportunities across our country. But for the first time in decades, we embark on this task from a position of strength; with an economy whose fundamental direction has been corrected. We confronted the difficult choices we faced and have laid the foundations for lasting prosperity. Rather than fail the promise of a better future for our children, the time has come for us to build that future. The age of reform has done its work. Now begins the age of prosperity. An age in which the promise of this great nation must finally become the lived experience of Nigerians from all walks of life. We have travelled through difficult years together. We have made hard decisions together. And now, still together, we must build the country those decisions have made possible. I believe deeply in what lies ahead. I believe in the millions of ordinary men and women whose work, courage and determination have always been the true strength of our country. The road ahead will still demand much from us. But we now travel it with firm footing, a clear direction, and renewed hope in our collective future. Nigeria has corrected its course. We have passed through our own Red Sea. This is not the time to look back. Let us go forward together, with faith in ourselves, faith in our country, and faith that the sacrifices we have made will yield their reward. The Promised Land before us is a Nigeria of abundance and opportunity; a nation where prosperity is broadly shared, where every child can dream beyond the circumstances of his birth, and where our country's immense promise is finally reflected in the lives of our people. Our destination is in sight. Our foundations are strong. Our direction is clear. So let us go forward. No looking back. Happy Independence Day, my fellow Nigerians. God bless you all, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

FULL TEXT: President Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day Anniversary Speech President Bola Tinubu on Thursday addressed Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s 66th Independence Day anniversary. Here is the full text of his address to the country: channelstv.com/2026/10/01/fu…

Wetin Soludo do this boy🥲🥲

2027: If President Tinubu Loses FCT, Rivers, I Will Resign As Minister - Wike The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, stated this while meeting members of the Apo Traders Association in Abuja, saying while Rivers State is his home, Abuja is where he works and he cannot afford to lose in both places. He said; "the presidential election is on January 16, 2027. By January 17, 2027, I will announce my resignation as FCT Minister should the President lose in Rivers State and the FCT. "

2027: 𝗜𝗳 𝗧𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗯𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗖𝗧, 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 —𝗪𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲: punchng.com/2027-if-tinubu-l…

2027: If President Tinubu Loses FCT, Rivers, I Will Resign As Minister - Wike

2027: I’ll resign if Tinubu loses FCT, Rivers, Wike vows premiumtimesng.com/news/head…

Wike’s son denies involvement in land deal, says signature forged dailypost.ng/2026/09/30/wike…

STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE President Tinubu Signs Appropriation (Amendment) (No.4) Bill, 2025, Extends Implementation to December 31, 2026 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed into law the Appropriation (Amendment) (No.4) Bill, 2025, extending the implementation period of the 2025 budget from September 30, 2026 to December 31, 2026. The assent followed the amendment's swift passage by both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. The extension gives Ministries, Departments and Agencies more time to complete ongoing capital projects. It ensures that funds already appropriated are fully put to work for Nigerians, without disrupting critical programmes. The President commended the leadership and members of the National Assembly for their prompt consideration of the bill, a further sign of the cooperation between the Executive and the Legislature in the service of the nation. Bayo Onanuga Special Adviser to the President, (Information and Strategy) September 30, 2026

AN OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR DAVE UMAHI Dear Senator Dave Umahi, There is a difference between campaigning for a candidate and attempting to decide for an entire people which candidate MUST support. You are entitled to the former; you have no right to the latter. If you believe in your principal, then make the case to Ndi Ebonyi. Tell them what he has done. Put his record before them. Explain why you believe he deserves their votes and allow them, as free citizens, to make their own decision. That is democracy. Igbos are not a people accustomed to political conformity. We are naturally democratic, argumentative and liberal in our outlook. We question authority. We debate our elders. We disagree with one another and still remain brothers. So when Ndi Ebonyi decide that they want to vote for Peter Obi, that is their democratic right. Nobody, including you, has the authority to make that decision for them. What concerns me even more is the attempt to turn this political disagreement into a division among Igbos. Ebonyi is Igbo. Not conditionally Igbo. Not Igbo only when their votes are neede or when there is a common political interest. Ebonyi people are as Igbo as any Igbo. We cannot preach Igbo unity when we need votes and then encourage division when people exercise their democratic choices differently from us. If you disagree with Peter Obi, disagree with him. If you support your principal, campaign for him. If you believe his administration has performed well, show Ndi Ebonyi the evidence and ask them to judge for themselves. But please leave the politics of dividing Igbos. You are a political leader, and you should understand that today’s political alignment is not permanent. The candidate you defend today, the party you belong to today and the political alliances you maintain today may not be the same tomorrow. One day, you may need the support and goodwill of Igbos outside Ebonyi. You may need the very people whose political choices you are currently treating as a problem. That is why this approach is ultimately self defeating. You are shooting yourself in the foot. Politics should be about persuasion, not ownership of people’s votes. Ndi Ebonyi are not your political property. They are citizens. They have their own minds, interests and right to choose who they want to be President Let the people make their choice. And let us stop allowing political contests to manufacture divisions among a people whose cultural identity existed long before today’s political parties and will outlive all of them. Ebonyi is Igbo. Ndi Ebonyi are Igbo. And their democratic choices do not require anybody’s permission. -Onye Igbo, General Snow.

“Peter Obi Should Mention One Ebonyi Person That He Gave An Appointment To When He Was Governor Of Anambra. It’s Only When It Comes To Votes That They Say We Ebonyi People Are One With Other States In The South East. But When It Comes To Insulting Us, They Insult Us. Because We Say We Won’t Vote For Him And We Tell Our People Not To Vote For Him, You’re Insulting Us? We’re Not Second-Class Citizens In Igbo Land. We Have a Right To Decide What Will Be Good For Our People.” ~ David Umahi, Minister Of Works, Calls On Ebonyi People Not To Vote For Peter Obi. 👀

You are just stupid like Peter obi agulu @officialABAT gave people from Ogun,osun,oyo,ondo,kogi,ekiti even he gave one of your osu job in Lagos so mention people Peter obi gave job in Anambra