Author: Vincent Osuwo

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has advocated for comprehensive electoral reforms in Nigeria to deepen democracy, improve accountability, and assure election credibility. Jonathan spoke on Wednesday at the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought’s National Action Plan for Electoral Reform Dialogue, emphasising the importance of structural changes to improve the country’s democratic processes. Jonathan, represented by Ann Iyonu, Executive Director of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, admitted that, while Nigeria has made progress since its restoration to democratic governance in 1999, the electoral process remains flawed. “Nigeria has made notable progress since our return to democratic rule, but we must acknowledge…

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) zoning decision for the 2027 presidential election, calling it a political tactic to entice notable figures, including Peter Obi, Goodluck Jonathan, and Rotimi Amaechi, to join its ranks. Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, made the statements during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday. Abdullahi chastised both the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for emphasising political manoeuvring over tackling Nigeria’s serious issues. He stated that their early zoning arrangements demonstrated insensitivity to the problems of ordinary Nigerians, particularly when the…

Senator Abba Moro, the Senate Minority Leader, has conceded that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made an expensive error by choosing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its 2023 presidential candidate. Moro told Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday that the party’s choice to abandon its zoning scheme in 2022 and pitch a northern candidate to succeed a northern president had a big role in its defeat. He said, “In 2022, the PDP, in an attempt to wrest power from the APC, had actually thrown open the zoning arrangement of the party, and we were going to put our best…

No fewer than 239 first-class graduates of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, employed as lecturers, left the institution within seven years. Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, made the announcement on Tuesday while speaking as a guest speaker at The PUNCH Forum, entitled “Innovative Funding of Functional Education in the Digital Age”, held at The PUNCH Place, Lagos-Ibadan Motorway. Ogundipe provided figures, stating that UNILAG retained 256 first-class graduates as instructors between 2015 and 2022, but just 17 remained on the institution’s payroll by October 2023. He ascribed the enormous flight to inadequate pay, unfavourable working conditions,…

The Osun State Government has filed a new lawsuit in the Supreme Court against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), over the alleged unconstitutional withholding of statutory allocations due to its 30 local government councils from March 2025. The new complaint, filed on Monday, comes months after the state government filed an application to withdraw an earlier one against the AGF on the same issue. In the originating summons filed on Monday, the state, through its Attorney-General and a legal team led by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), is asking the Supreme Court to compel the…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to Southern Nigeria has divided northern groupings, with many criticising the move as undemocratic and opposed to the spirit of fair competition. At its 102nd meeting on Monday, the party’s National Executive Committee zoned the presidential ticket to the South while maintaining the current National Working Committee, which is led by Ambassador Umar Damagum. Although prominent northern figures in the PDP, including foundation members such as former Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, have been at the forefront of urging the party to look south for a candidate…

Oba Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, has ben]en sentenced to more than four years imprisonment in the United States. U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko sentenced Oloyede, 62, of Medina, Ohio, to 56 months in prison on August 26. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria. According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the monarch was also ordered to “serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution.” “He also forfeited his Medina home on Foote…

No fewer than four people have been killed, with properties destroyed by armed herdsmen across Tombu Council Ward, Logo Local Government Area, Benue State. Joseph Anawah, a community leader in the neighbourhood, said the incident occurred on Monday. Anawah said, “Suspected Fulani marauders at about 15:00 hours burnt down many deserted settlements, including Tse Mku in Tombu Council Ward. “Two people were killed in their farmlands located at the outskirts of Ayilamo settlement yesterday (Monday). They were Mr Kaananfam Nyamikume, a resident of Tse Jigam village, and Mr Mson of Guma LGA, as well as a medicine seller. “While one…

US President Donald Trump has stated that he intends to pursue the death penalty for alleged murders in Washington, DC. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump stated that the death penalty would be a “preventative” tool. Hundreds of National Guard and federal law enforcement officials have been dispatched to the United States capital to combat what Trump has previously described as “complete and total lawlessness” in the city, a plan that he has intimated could be replicated in Chicago and other places. Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has denied the president’s statements about crime, which has decreased in…

The United Nations has stated that “there needs to be justice” in the aftermath of Israel’s double raid on a Gaza hospital, which killed at least 20 people. According to an early Israeli military assessment, the strike targeted a “camera positioned by Hamas”. The incident, which killed five journalists and four health professionals, has sparked widespread condemnation, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling it “completely indefensible”. Later on Tuesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced its preliminary findings, which highlighted various “gaps” for further study. It happened as Israelis began a day of mass protests demanding that their government…