The Harbingerngr News

Fani Kayode *OPC calls for use of local, foreign collaboration FORMER Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday, urged President Bola Tinubu to eliminate terrorists and their sponsors in the country just as he kicked against any diplomatic meeting between Tinubu and the United States President, Mr Donald Trump. He said this during the 2025 Law Week celebration of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Akure Branch in Ondo State. The event was themed ‘Nigeria: Quest for utilitarian judiciary and roles for stakeholders’. The former Minister, who faulted Trump’s motives, described the proposed invasion as a direct threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty. He said: “My belief is that we must eliminate every single terrorist and those that are sponsoring them in Nigeria.  “I do not believe in dialogue with them or forgiving them. I do not believe in negotiation with them. I do not believe in pampering them or managing them. I do not believe in rehabilitating them into the Nigerian Arme...

THE African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to grant presidential pardons to dozens of convicted drug traffickers and smugglers, describing the move as “a national disgrace” that undermines Nigeria’s anti-drug campaign and damages the country’s global image. In a statement on Sunday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the decision represented “an irresponsible use” of presidential powers and could encourage impunity while weakening moral standards. “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) finds as pathetic and an act of immense national disgrace the recent presidential pardon and clemency granted to several convicted criminals by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Abdullahi stated. The party alleged that most of the convicts granted clemency had served less than two years of their sentences for offences that attract life imprisonment, questioning the criteria used in granting such pardons. “It amounts...

President Bola  Tinubu has requested the approval of the House of Representatives for new external borrowing and debt refinancing totalling $2.3 billion. The request comes with another for the issuance of a $500 million debut sovereign Sukuk in the international capital market. Contained in a letter read on the floor of the House by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the request seeks the National Assembly’s resolution in line with Sections 21(1) and 27(1) of the Debt Management Office, DMO, Establishment Act, 2003. According to the president, the new borrowing is aimed at implementing provisions of the 2025 Appropriation Act, refinancing maturing Eurobonds and diversifying Nigeria’s funding sources through Islamic finance instruments. He explained that the 2025 budget provides for $9.27 billion in total new borrowings to finance the year’s fiscal deficit, out of which $1.84 billion (N1.23 trillion at an exchange rate of N1,500/$) was earmarked for external loans. Tinubu urged the lawmakers t...

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan •Fresh suit queries eligibility A lawyer, Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to issue an order of perpetual injunction to restrain former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election. The court was equally urged to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from accepting from any political party Jonathan’s name or publishing same as a duly nominated candidate for the presidential contest. While ex-President Jonathan was cited as the 1st defendant in the suit lodged before the court on Monday, both INEC and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, were listed as 2nd and 3rd defendants, respectively. Specifically, in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/ 2025, the Plaintiff, Jideobi, posed a lone question for the court to determine: “Whether in view of the combined provisions of the entirety of Sections 1(1), (2) & (3) and 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Repu...

NIGERIA's democracy is showing signs of fatigue where it matters most: at the ballot box. Voter turnout, a vital sign of democratic health, has declined from 57% in 2007 to just 26.7% in 2023—only 24.9 million of 93.47 million registered voters participated. These are not inert numbers; they are warnings. Many Nigerians now view elections as a theatre with predetermined outcomes, laws that bend, results that are blurred, and offenders who walk away. The economy's pain intensifies the mood, but the deeper wound is institutional distrust. Where participation nears 80% elsewhere, people believe that rules are clear, processes are open, and accountability is swift. Our gap is structural, not just comparative. When large blocs of voters stay home, silence is filled by rumours and grievances, separatist agitation gains momentum, and the legitimacy of public decisions erodes. Into this landscape came the European Union's follow-up mission. It did not reveal secrets; it sharpened ...

NATIONWIDE strike looms as both the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and non-academic staff, under the aegis of National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, have alerted the federal government of their plans to embark on the action to pressure the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement reached with themselves. While ASUU has just a week of the 14-day ultimatum given government left, NASS yesterday issued a 14-day ultimatum, failure of which it would embark on strike. ASUU, in a fresh communication to its members yesterday, expressed disappointment over what it called the “continued lethargy” of the government in responding to issues affecting university lecturers and the nation’s public tertiary institutions. According to a bulletin, titled “Strike Bulletin No. 1,” dated October 5, 2025, and signed by the President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, ASUU said it has begun mobilising its members in all public universities across the country in readiness for the s...