By Saka Ola Ahmed

The death of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Minna, Niger State has thrown the nation into grief. Outrage has rightly been expressed by Nigerians who called for an urgent probe of the unfortunate incident.

Recall 37 out of 65 detained suspects died under disputed circumstances in an NSCDC facility in Minna following their arrests on September 15 and 16, 2026.Survivors alleged suffocation from overcrowding and a chemical substance sprayed in the cell.

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo immediately visited Minna, Niger State, following the tragic incident and met with Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago at the Government House in Minna to inspect and address the situation, vowing that the deaths would “not be swept under the carpet”.

The federal government took immediate action by suspending the Niger State NSCDC Commandant along with 20 other officers. Governor Bago also announced a total suspension of all mining activities, both legal and illegal, across Niger State pending safety tests.

President Bola Tinubu must be commended for empowering the Interior Minister to take control and probe the immediate and remote cause or causes of the unfortunate death of the miners, most of who were teenagers.

The President is currently on vacation in Europe and has been monitoring events while giving the Interior Minister free hand to handle the investigation of the incident.

There is a general belief that you cannot give an important message to someone to deliver if you know that person will not be able to deliver the message.

Giving Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo the task of unravelling what actually happened is a mark of the confidence the President has on the ability of the Minister to do the job diligently and dispassionately.

An investigative committee has already been inaugurated by the Minister to ensure full accountability and transparency regarding the cause of death.

On Tuesday, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo inaugurated a 10-member Independent Investigative Committee to probe the death of the 37 suspected illegal miners.

While inaugurating the panel in Abuja, he declared that government institutions must never become places of death, assuring Nigerians that no officer found culpable would be shielded.

“No life should be lost in the custody of the State. This is not who we are. This is not what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands for.

“This administration was elected on the premise that every Nigerian life matters and that security must be provided with humanity, professionalism, and respect for human rights,” he said.

The minister has expressed condolences to the families of the deceased, the government and people of Niger State, and other Nigerians affected by the incident, describing it as one of the lowest moments in recent memory.

He revealed that following President Tinubu’s directive for a comprehensive, transparent and unhindered investigation, he ordered the immediate suspension of the Niger State Commandant of the NSCDC and the arrest and investigation of all officers who were on guard duties between September 15 and 17.

“They remain suspended pending the outcome of this investigation,” he said.

According to the minister, the committee is expected to establish the identities of the deceased and document the circumstances surrounding their arrest and detention.

It will also determine, through appropriate medical and forensic examinations, the cause and manner of death, as well as investigate whether negligence, misconduct, complicity or any breach of duty occurred.

The panel is further expected to recommend appropriate disciplinary measures, compensation where applicable and steps to prevent a recurrence.

Tunji-Ojo named retired Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, Jonathan Kure, as chairman of the committee, while a former Director-General of the Nigeria Law School, Prof. Isa Hayatu Chiroma, will serve as secretary.

The minister has also said the committee had full authority to co-opt experts, access facilities and documents, visit relevant locations, conduct forensic examinations, and receive memoranda from members of the public.

He gave the panel two weeks to complete its assignment and submit its report.

From the above meticulous terms of reference given to the panel, one can expect a thorough job and good report from the panel.

As is characteristic of the Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo,  he will  follow through the recommendations of the panel and ensure that such  sad incident does not occur again.

The post Miners death probe: Commend President Tinubu for empowering Interior Minister appeared first on Vanguard News.

Tyson Fury has vowed to knock out Anthony Joshua within seven rounds when the British heavyweights meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, describing Joshua as a “stepping stone” towards a third fight with Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury spoke for the first time since the long-awaited bout was confirmed, and predicted a one-sided victory over Joshua. The former heavyweight champion said he plans to use the fight to pre- pare for another meeting with Usyk, who defeated him twice on points in 2024.

“I’m just going to knock him out, one hundred per cent,” Fury said on the Furocity YouTube channel.

“I’m going to box the head off him and stop him inside six or seven rounds.

I’m only using Joshua as a stepping stone, a warm-up to Usyk.”

Fury also questioned Joshua’s speed and stamina, claiming the former two-time world champion would struggle to cope with his style.

“Joshua, for me, is an old bum. A weightlifter. Too many weights, not enough speed. Too many weights, no cardio. So I will cut through him like a hot knife through butter,” he said.

The post Fury boasts: I’ll finish Joshua in seven rounds appeared first on Vanguard News.

What goes around, they say, comes around. In 2017, the sports ministry, then headed by Solomon Dalung, brought out guidelines for elections into sports federations with an instruction that those which had their own constitutions should organise theirs.

The Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF was one of those which had a constitution approved by the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC and the sport’s world governing body, Federation of International Basketball Federation, FIBA.

The board headed by Tijjani Umar began plans to conduct its election and chose to hold it in Kano. However, the same sports ministry which had earlier given the NBBF and other Federations approval to organise their own elections ate its words, and said it would organise it with its own guidelines.

That was how NBBF had two elections, one in Kano by the incumbent board then and another by the sports ministry in Abuja for the group which Dalung supported. The NBBF thus had two boards, one headed by Umar and the second headed by Musa Kida.

That was the beginning of the crisis in NBBF. Dalung and Kida said that Umar had done two terms and therefore should step down. They however, failed to show which constitution or guidelines stipulated that two terms is the limit for federation presidents.

And now after two terms, Kida who has fallen out with most of his board members and majority of the stakeholders wanted to contest for the same third term he fought against.

With Basketball stakeholders kicking against Kida’s third agenda, he wants to plant his own candidate and has allegedly gone ahead to manipulate the electoral system. And the National Sports Commission, NSC, which is supposed to be neutral is turning blind eyes to his scheming.

To ensure his anointed candidate wins, Kida is alleged to be orchestrating the removal of state’s basketball association chairmen who are not playing ball with him and causing them to be replaced by his stooges with the help of state governors few weeks to the election.

Surprisingly, in the states he couldn’t penetrate the governors, the voting right is being withdrawn from the chairmen and transferred to unknown persons.

The NSC that is helping to restructure the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF following their recent failures, pretends it is not aware. The basketball family is saying they have had enough of Kida and the silence of the NSC on Kida’s manipulations is a big concern to most stakeholders.

NBBF has had enough crises since 2017 and stakeholders want their Federation to breathe a new life. Therefore NSC chiefs should not watch while Kida is frustrating stakeholders’ effort to make a change.

Following my observation and advice to the two top bosses of the NSC, Shehu Dikko and Bukola Olopade, chairman and director general respectively, Olopade reached out to me on WhatsApp at the weekend saying, “Why do you always like to do this? Go and ask again the role we have played”.

He hasn’t explained the role the NSC is playing to allow a level playing field and ensure the NBBF election is free, fair and rancour free so that another round of crisis doesn’t arise to further destroy the sport, except using his media aide to spin lies and run me down.

I am making an appeal to Olopade particularly because, as the director general, he is the one directly involved in making sure sports federations run properly to ensure our athletes have the best to be able to compete with others around Africa and the world. ‎He should be able to advice the chairman who should concern himself with policy decisions as the one who reports to President Bola Tinubu.

Dikko and Olopade should know that the little gain Nigeria made between 2013 and 2017 in the second term of Umar has been eroded under Kida. So when the basketball family, including those who supported him against Umar in 2017 say Kida should step aside, they know what they are saying.

Like the NFF under Ibrahim Gusau was using the performance of the Super Falcons to seek another term in office until the team crashed out of the women’s Nations Cup and also failed to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, Kida’s boast of a successful term because of the D’Tigresses feats has also fallen flat with the team’s crash at the recent World Cup.

Kida met that the men’s team, the D’Tigers, were champions of Africa, a feat they achieved for the first time in the competition’s history under the Umar board, but he couldn’t sustain the momentum since then.

He met that the NBBF brokered a five-year sponsorship deal worth $12 million for the men’s Premier League with the champions earning N20 million for the first time, higher than what the champions of the football league were earning at the time, but he scuttled that deal.

If the NSC is helping to restructure the NFF following their recent failures, it shouldn’t tell Nigerians that the Kida-led NBBF has been a success. The basketball family are saying they have had enough of Kida and the NSC should not allow Kida to impose anybody on them.

NBBF has had enough crises since 2017 and want their Federation to breathe a new life, therefore the NSC chiefs should not help Kida thwart their effort to make a change.

The post Let basketball breathe again, by Patrick Omorodion appeared first on Vanguard News.

By Henry Ojelu

There are lives measured not by the offices occupied or wealth accumulated, but by the number of people who can point to them and say: “He helped me.” Dr Joseph Okwuabudike Ojukwu belongs to that rare category.

Born on September 26, 1926, at Akamili, Umudim, Nnewi, to renowned businessman Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu and Ogbenyeanu Janet Malize of Ukpor, Joseph Ojukwu built his life around medicine, family, faith and service.

As he marks 100th year yesterday, the story of the man affectionately known as “Pa Ojukwu” is one of quiet accomplishment — a distinguished surgeon who, despite receiving national recognition, remained known for his humility, compassion and devotion to his patients.

His early education was in Lagos Island, where the family later lived at 3 Okoya Street. He proceeded to King’s College, Lagos, where he was in Class Six and served as Head Boy when his younger brother, Emeka, and cousin, Emmanuel, joined the school in Class One alongside Alex Ekwueme and others.

From King’s College, he proceeded to Cambridge University and subsequently Guy’s Hospital, London, where he qualified as a medical doctor before specialising in surgery.

He obtained a Master of Surgery degree after becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, FRCS.

On returning to Nigeria, Ojukwu worked at the University College Hospital, UCH, before becoming a Consultant Surgeon at the General Hospital, Lagos.

The outbreak of the civil disturbances changed the direction of his career. With the family moving to the East, he continued his medical service at the Specialist Hospital, Enugu; Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Umuahia; and Emekuku Catholic Hospital.

The Specialist Hospital, Enugu, later became the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH.

It was during these years that he became widely known as “Pa Ojukwu”, a name that reflected the respect he commanded among patients and colleagues. He was remembered for his competence, devotion, selflessness and humility, with his integrity regarded as unquestionable.

A Clinical Professor of Surgery, he retired in 1987 after decades of medical service.

His contribution to medicine and the country was recognised in 1983 when the Federal Government, under President Shehu Shagari, conferred on him the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR.

But medicine was only one dimension of his life.

In December 1957, he married Maria Ukamaka Aghaji at St Michael’s Church, Umudim, Nnewi. The ceremony was officiated by the late Bishop Anyogu, a friend of his father, Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu.

The marriage produced six children — Ogonna, a barrister; Ike, an obstetrician and gynaecologist; Chukwudi, a surgeon; Ukonwa, a doctor of optometry; Nnanna, a civil engineer; and Chizoba, an accountant — as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

His wife, also known as Ifeoma, was remembered as a devoted, protective and loving partner. Her death in 2006, a year before their golden wedding anniversary, was a major loss to the family.

Joseph, the eldest child and son of Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu, has remained deeply committed to his family. His mother’s second marriage produced Priscilla and Hyacinth. While Priscilla died in her teenage years, Hyacinth became a businessman and remained a loving and devoted brother.

Away from medicine and business, Ojukwu enjoyed gardening, helping his patients and living a quiet life. He was honoured with the title Chimelumdibia Nnewi about two decades ago.

He has faced challenges with glaucoma in later years, but his intellect remains sharp.

His responsibilities also extended to preserving his father’s legacy. He has been a Director of Ojukwu Transport Limited since 1952 and is currently Chairman.

He was the only member of the immediate family appointed Executor of his father’s will and remains the sole surviving Executor of the estate.

A devoted Catholic, husband, father, grandfather, surgeon and businessman, Ojukwu’s life has been defined more by service than self-promotion.

From colonial Lagos and King’s College to Cambridge and Guy’s Hospital, through Nigeria’s civil war and the rebuilding of its medical institutions, his life has traversed some of the country’s defining chapters.

Yet, for those who know him, the enduring image remains simple: a humble man who loved his family, served his patients, valued peace and carried his responsibilities quietly.

As he approaches 100, the story of Joseph Okwuabudike Ojukwu is ultimately the story of a life spent healing, serving and preserving a family legacy.

The post Joseph Ojukwu at 100: The surgeon who made service his legacy appeared first on Vanguard News.

By Edwin Phillip, Lafia

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged its supporters in Nasarawa State to participate actively in the 2027 general elections and remain vigilant in safeguarding their votes.

The call was made by the party’s National Deputy Chairman (North), Mr Yusuf Nya Agirikwe, during the flag-off of the campaign of the PDP governorship candidate in Nasarawa State, Dr David Emmanuel Ombugadu, held at the party secretariat in Lafia on Saturday.

Agirikwe said the party’s supporters should not succumb to intimidation or actions capable of undermining the electoral process.

“I have come to establish it myself today, that PDP has the mandate of the people to rule them in this state. We can only actualise this if you will be able to vote and defend your votes,” he said.

He commended members and leaders of the party in the state for their turnout at the event and urged them to mobilise support for Ombugadu ahead of the election.

“What I have seen with my eyes, and many of my colleagues who are here, we will go and testify that the Nasarawa people are truly behind him. Whatever he is doing, he has your endorsement and your support,” he said.

Agirikwe also apologised for the absence of the party’s national chairman and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, whom he described as a national leader of the party.

Speaking at the event, Ombugadu dedicated his emergence as the party’s flag bearer to women, youths and leaders across the state.

“I want to sincerely thank God for your commitment and your sacrifice, everything you have done. You stood firm. We must protect our votes so that we can have a government that will represent the people,” he said.

The PDP candidate said his administration, if elected, would prioritise security, healthcare, agriculture and the development of the state’s mineral resources.

“We can have a government that will enable our farmers to go to farms. We can have a government that will allow us to take advantage of the mineral resources that we have,” he said.

According to him, Nasarawa State possesses abundant agricultural and mineral resources that should translate into improved living standards for residents.

He promised that healthcare for poor and vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, would receive special attention under his administration.

“Through my leadership, we will make sure that all pregnant women will go to the hospital and there will be drugs. All farm owners will go to farms and sleep in their farms.

“I want to assure you that under my watch, everybody in Nasarawa State will matter,” Ombugadu said.

The governorship candidate said his team had unveiled a five-year manifesto focusing on security, women development and other key sectors.

He also thanked the national leadership of the party for its support and pledged loyalty to the decisions of the PDP leadership.

“Thank you, our national leader. We want to affirm today that the entire Nasarawa State stands united. We are waiting for our national leader to give us direction. Wherever he goes, we will go,” he said.

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By Vincent Ujumadu

The Anambra State Government has challenged former Governor Peter Obi to tender an unreserved apology to the people of the state after allegedly proving that his administration left behind outstanding loans and other liabilities.

The challenge was issued by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr Law Mefor, in a statement on the controversy over the financial position inherited from the Obi administration.

Lefor said the former governor had challenged anyone who could prove that his administration left debts, but alleged that the government had now produced records showing that eight loans obtained from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank were contracted during Obi’s eight-year tenure.

He said the loans totalled $123,771,179.30, adding that some of the funds had been disbursed before Obi left office but, according to the state government, were not reflected in his handover notes.

Mefor said the loan records, including the dates and amounts involved, could be verified from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abuja.

He said: “After we provided unassailable evidence in response to his challenge, he and his supporters have been hair-splitting, trying to blame us, the victim of his challenge, for bursting the bubble or inventing all manner of new accounting theories to explain that one can have a balance sheet and conceal the liabilities side — simply because the asset side is higher than the liabilities. That’s voodoo accounting!”

The commissioner further alleged that a fuller assessment of the state’s assets and liabilities showed that the Obi administration left “humongous net liabilities” rather than net assets.

According to him, the DMO report as of June 30, 2026, showed that the outstanding balance on the eight loans was $92.35 million, equivalent to ₦127.37 billion.

He said successive administrations, including the present administration, had continued to service the obligations through monthly deductions from the state’s allocations under the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“We have provided the dates and the amounts that his administration signed the loans, and this can be verified from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abuja,” the statement said.

Mefor also alleged that Obi’s administration left unpaid salaries and pensions, although the statement did not provide a breakdown of the alleged arrears.

He questioned what he described as Obi’s approach to governance, particularly the emphasis on saving public funds and earning interest from bank deposits rather than spending on the welfare and safety of citizens.

‘Tender an unreserved apology’

Mefor said Obi and his supporters had continued to contest the government’s interpretation of the financial records after the government responded to his challenge.

He said the issue had consequently become one of “word, character and integrity”.

“As a responsible government and committed to ethical governance and politics, we remain ready to provide information that advances public interest. For H.E. Peter Obi, it is a matter of word, character and integrity.

“Without any provocation, you threw a self-imposed challenge. Now that the facts challenge your character and integrity, you have no choice but to take the path of honour: tender an unreserved apology to the government and people of Anambra State and Nigeria and move on.

“You don’t continue digging when you are already at the bottom of the hole,” he said.

The commissioner added: “You cannot attack first and then end up as the victim at the same time. For us, it is only a matter of record. But since Mr Obi himself initiated this self-imposed challenge — daring anyone to prove that he left debts — it is only a matter of integrity and character that he owns up to the outcome.”

‘You don’t have to go to DMO’

The state government also dismissed Obi’s reported argument that he did not personally approach the World Bank or DMO to borrow the funds.

According to the government, Obi was not required to physically approach either institution for the loans to become obligations of the state.

“H.E. Peter Obi, you do not have to ‘go to a bank or DMO’ before your borrowing can be perfected. All that is required is for you to sign the loan agreements, and your government did,” it said.

The government maintained that state governments were not compelled to obtain IDA-World Bank loans, arguing that a government must first express interest and execute the relevant loan agreements before accessing such funds.

It therefore challenged Obi and his supporters to dispute the specific loan records with the DMO, rather than contesting the government’s interpretation of the state’s financial position.

The post Anambra Govt to Obi: You dared us to prove you left debts, we did — tender apology now appeared first on Vanguard News.

A lawyer has shared details of a defilement case that left her stunned.  Toyin Ndidi Taiwo explained that she was briefed of a case of sxual abuse of a 3-year-old girl and was shocked to find out that the abuser is an elderly woman. She wrote: “At this rate, I think relocation to obodo Oyinbo is looking more likely and alluring to me as the days go by. “I was in court all through yesterday for a matter of defilement and boom! I was briefed of another case of sxual defilement of a three year old little girl, no not by the usual gender known to commit such crimes but the alleged perpetrator was an elderly woman, the childs nanny. “This is a painful reminder that sxual predators can be of any gender and can come from any age group.” The post Lawyer shares details of a dfilement case of 3-year-old child that left her stunned in court appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.