The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs, Tope Fasua has insisted that phone snatching is no longer a significant problem in Nigeria, comparing the country favourably to the United Kingdom and Cameroon.

The claim was made by Fasua at a members-only Coffee Hangout organised by Kay Hikers Club in Abuja, and drew immediate mockery online after a video of the exchange was posted on Instagram on Thursday.

In the video, a woman had confronted Fasua over unaffordable ride-hailing services and rampant phone robberies, telling him that basic necessities had become unaffordable.

She asked further on the safety situation facing ordinary Nigerians.

She asked, “Are you aware of the current situation concerning the safety and the pricing errors in that system? Are you aware that even as a person, you are not safe boarding these cars?”

She also drew a direct link between economic hardship and street crime.

She said, “The gatesmen of your estates, your security guards, they are underpaid. Therefore this is equal to you being robbed or raped as a woman or as a human being. You can no longer walk on these streets without being robbed because they want your phone so they can sell it. Because the common man is coming from a place of survival.”

She urged Fasua to relay the gravity of conditions to Tinubu, and questioned how a technocrat could grasp ground realities.

She stated, “With economists and statistics people, you have to be number conscious. Nigerians are no numbers. We are real people going through real hell. So how is the government planning to mitigate the issues with the grassroots? We are suffering. We are suffering.”

Fasua, responding to the phone-snatching concerns, sought to downplay them by pointing to similar incidents abroad.

“In the streets of London, go to UK, you see phone smashing. One woman was here from Cameroon. Her name is Victorine. She’s a vlogger. She was here in Nigeria. And she tells you that in Cameroon you can’t hold your phone like this,” he said.

He insisted the situation in Nigeria had improved.

“Nigerians have moved ahead from all these phone snatching. It is not a major crisis in Nigeria. I do my walks in the morning. I work everywhere. It’s not an issue. Let’s not look for every excuse to put the country down. It is not every security issue we have.”

A male attendee also challenged Fasua’s framing, accusing him of spiritualising structural problems by invoking “mindset” as a solution.

“I feel like you are now beginning to spiritualise the issues in Nigeria when you say mindset, because it’s not actually supposed to be a mindset, it’s a reality,” the man said.

Fasua maintained that Nigerians could still improve their individual circumstances regardless of government performance.

He said, “There are things that each and every one of us can still work on to be able to survive better than we were surviving. There’s no amount of money that we have that we cannot give a little out of.”

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The Federal Government has begun repaying longstanding debts owed to power generation companies, according to the President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp), Owen Omogiafo.

Omogiafo described the development as the most significant progress made so far in resolving the liquidity crisis that has long plagued Nigeria’s electricity sector.

She made the disclosure on Friday during an interview on the sidelines of Transcorp Plc’s 20th Annual General Meeting held in Abuja.

“For us in Transcorp Power and Transafam, we have actually signed our settlement reconciliation contracts. For Transafam, they started the payments. And for Transcorp Power, they will start sometime this year,” Omogiafo stated.

She commended the Bola Tinubu administration, saying: “This is the greatest progress we have made as it relates to dealing with the historical debt.”

The repayment forms part of the Federal Government’s intervention to clear about N3.3 trillion in legacy debts owed to generation companies and gas suppliers between February 2015 and March 2025.

The initiative aims to restore liquidity and improve stability in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.Despite ongoing challenges such as gas supply constraints and inadequate transmission infrastructure, Omogiafo noted that Transcorp Group has continued to deliver strong operational performance.

The Transcorp CEO expressed optimism that recent policy measures and leadership changes in the power sector would boost investor confidence.

This debt repayment effort follows President Tinubu’s approval of a comprehensive N3.3 trillion settlement plan, with implementation already underway.

Fifteen power plants have reportedly signed settlement agreements totalling N2.3 trillion.

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The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, has warned that Nigeria may begin rejecting loan facilities from the World Bank if delays in approval and disbursement continue.

Ogunjimi issued the warning on Friday during a courtesy visit by a World Bank delegation led by Mrs Treed Lane in Abuja. He stressed that the facilities are loans, not grants, and prolonged bureaucratic processes could make them unattractive to the Nigerian government.

“If approvals take more than six months, the Nigerian Government may no longer honour such arrangements,” the AGF said.

He noted that as a responsible borrower, Nigeria should not be subjected to extended approval timelines that hinder project execution and national development goals.

The AGF therefore called on the World Bank to expedite the processing and release of funds to align with the country’s fiscal planning and project schedules.

Ogunjimi disclosed that his office is addressing key issues previously raised by the World Bank, including improvements in public financial management.

He said the 2023 Audit Report would be submitted to the Auditor-General for the Federation within two weeks, while work on the 2024 and 2025 reports is already in progress.

He also assured the delegation of ongoing efforts to digitalise the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System by replacing obsolete infrastructure with modern technology to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

The World Bank delegation leader, Mrs Treed Lane, congratulated Ogunjimi on his recent appointment as African Chairman of the Association of Accountants-General and urged sustained progress on digitalisation and timely submission of financial statements.

This warning comes amid reports that several World Bank loans approved for Nigeria are yet to be disbursed, despite significant commitments in recent years.

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Nenadi Usman, national chair of the Labour Party (LP), says she was moved to tears when Alex Otti, governor of Abia, insisted she remained chair of the party after completing her tenure as caretaker chairperson.

On April 28, Usman was elected substantive national chairperson of LP at the party’s national convention in Umuahia, the capital of Abia.

Before the election, the former minister of finance had been leading LP in acting capacity since September 2024 when she was appointed chairperson of the party’s national caretaker committee.

Speaking on Friday in Abuja while hosting the leadership of the Nigeria League of Women Voters (Kaduna state chapter), Usman attributed her
emergence to Otti’s relentless support.

“When I was going to Umuahia for our last convention, I thought I would hand over to a man. I shed tears when Otti insisted that I should remain,” she said, according to a statement by Ken Asogwa, LP’s national publicity secretary.

“He is indeed a true advocate of women inclusion, especially as reflected in the appointments he has made in Abia State.”

Usman commended the governor, whom she described as a firm believer in the capacity, dependability, and integrity of women.

She added that the Abia governor’s performance remains visible evidence of what the party represents.

Usman thanked the women group for its commitment to the advancement of women’s political rights in Nigeria.

She urged the group not “to relent in the face of intimidation and the difficult operating environment”, adding that much still needs to be done in the struggle for gender inclusion.

“The Labour Party has remained true to its ideals by not only preaching inclusion but also practising it,” Usman said.

She noted that “the party produced the first female national chairman of a major political party in Nigeria and currently has women occupying the positions of national chairman, national organising secretary, and national legal adviser”.

Usman lamented the “shrinking opportunities” for women in governance and politics despite years of advocacy for inclusion.

She recalled that during her time in the seventh national assembly, there were eight female senators, whereas the current 10th senate has only three women — a decline she described as a major setback to the struggle
for gender representation.

She said women must take responsibility for changing the narrative, expressing concern over the tendency of female voters to favour male candidates during elections.

“Even when statistics show that women voters outnumber men during elections, women candidates are often sidelined by their fellow women at the polls. This trend must stop if we are to make any appreciable progress in our quest for greater women inclusion,” Usman said.

She assured the delegation that the party would never waver in its commitment to greater women inclusion in politics.

Responding, Rekiya Shonekan, who led the delegation, appealed to Usman to use her platform to lend stronger support to the group’s advocacy for the bill seeking special seats for women in parliament.

Shonekan said the LP chair’s continued support for women empowerment and broader advocacy will make Nigeria’s political space more inclusive for women.

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There is confusion within the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) following media reports that Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu state, has emerged as the new chairman of the body.

The reports claimed Mbah succeeded Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo state, after an extraordinary meeting of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), held in Abuja on Thursday night.

Multiple sources said about 20 governors attended the closed-door meeting, including those from Ogun, Bayelsa, and Enugu states.

Governors said to have voted against Uzodimma include those.from Adamawa, Zamfara, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Kwara, Plateau, Enugu, Ogun, and Katsina states.

According to the sources, Uzodimma was backed by governors of Yobe, Lagos, Gombe, Kogi, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Sokoto, Jigawa, Taraba, Ebonyi, Benue, Kano, Kebbi, Nasarawa and Kaduna states.

The development was said to have occurred hours after Uzodimma spoke on behalf of APC governors during the submission of President.Bola Tinubu’s presidential nomination and expression of interest forms in Abuja.

Sources familiar with the development also claimed that the PGF had split into two factions, with one bloc backing Mbah as chairman.

The sources said governors aligned with Uzodimma were holding a separate closed-door meeting.

However, in a statement issued on Thursday night, the PGF denied reports that Uzodimma had been removed as chairman of the forum.

“The attention of the Progressive Governors’ Forum has been drawn to a false and misleading report circulating in some media platforms alleging the removal of its Chairman, His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, CON,” the statement reads.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Progressive Governors Forum states categorically that the report is entirely false, baseless, and without an iota of truth.

“No meeting of the forum was held at which any such decision was taken. The PGF Secretariat has no record of, and is not aware of, any resolution removing the chairman.

“His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma, CON, remains the chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum.”

The statement signed by Folorunso Aluko, director-general of the forum, asked members of the public and party faithful to disregard the reports.

“The Forum remains united, focused, and committed to its responsibilities,” the statement added.

“The media are therefore advised to disregard the said report in its entirety.”

When contacted by TheCable, one of Mbah’s aides, who asked not to be named, said he was unaware of any development regarding the alleged
appointment.

“I heard the news in the media too. I don’t know anything about it. My principal is in Abuja, and I am in Enugu,” the aide said.

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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed claims that there is widespread support for Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to return in 2027.

Speaking during his monthly media parley on Wednesday in. Abuja, Wike suggested that Fubara can’t claim to enjoy unanimous backing from the public.

He explained that the political crisis in Rivers State had earlier been addressed through the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, particularly during impeachment proceedings initiated against Fubara.

According to Wike, the President advised all parties to embrace peace, leading to the withdrawal of the impeachment move by the State House of Assembly after agreements were reached.

Wike, however, alleged that the governor failed to fully adhere to the terms agreed during the arbitration process.

Reacting to claims that the people were urging Fubara to seek re-election in 2027, Wike rejected the assertion, insisting that such narratives were misleading.

Wike maintained that appearing before the President fo arbitration required respect for the outcome, noting that all parties were expected to uphold their commitments.

He said: “The President, intervened in the impeachment proceeding. I said withdraw, let their be peace. And the governor said, look, I’m ready for peace. Look, I’m no longer interested for this. I will not do.this. The Assembly went and withdrew the impeachment.

“Having withdrawn the impeachment, he is now too smart on what you agreed before the President. It’s like when you go on arbitration.”

Wike continued, “This one is what I don’t like. Nobody wants anybody. Please, don’t tell me that. Excuse me.

You can go and tell that to the market people or children. Two years that people say he should come out. Who told you that?

“Which politician will say that I was sleeping they came and woke me? Even if people people come to wake you, can’t you say, no, I won’t do it. I’m not prepared for it.

“That you appeared before a President of the country on arbitration, the two parties on arbitration, and these people respected Mr. President, and have done their own part.”

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Former President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a lawyer seeking to bar him from contesting the 2027 presidential election.

Jonathan, through his counsel Chris Uche (SAN), filed a notice of preliminary objection, counter-affidavit, and written address on May 5, 2026, urging Justice Peter Lifu to throw out the case.

Uche told the court that the processes were filed urgently after the matter came to their attention via the media, given its significance regarding the former president’s eligibility.

The senior advocate described the suit as unfortunate, noting that a similar matter had already been decided by the Federal High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

Plaintiff’s counsel, Ndubuisi Ukpai, informed the court that the matter was for mention and that he had just been served. He requested additional time to respond.

Justice Lifu adjourned proceedings to May 11, 2026, for hearing of Jonathan’s objection and the substantive suit.

The judge also directed that hearing notices be served on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), who were not represented in court.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, was filed by Abuja-based lawyer Johnmary Jideobi.

He is asking the court to declare Jonathan constitutionally ineligible to run again and to issue a perpetual injunction restraining him from presenting himself as a candidate to any political party.

Jideobi also seeks to bar INEC from accepting or publishing Jonathan’s name as a nominated candidate.

Jonathan is listed as the first defendant, with INEC and the AGF as the second and third defendants, respectively.

The development comes amid growing speculation about Jonathan’s potential return to the presidential race in 2027.

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Funso Doherty, a former governorship candidate in Lagos State, has resigned his membership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to join the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

In a statement issued on Thursday, Doherty said he had hoped the ADC would serve as a vehicle for opposition unity, but that is no longer the case.

“We had hoped that ADC would be the vehicle that would unite the opposition. That is now clearly no longer the case,” the statement read.

Doherty said he made the decision “after due consultation, careful deliberation and prayerful reflection,” adding that he is convinced the NDC is the platform that will enable the delivery of good governance to all citizens.

He contested the 2023 Lagos governorship election under the ADC. He had earlier left the party for the PDP in 2024 before returning to the ADC following the PDP’s leadership crisis.

In April 2026, he declared his intention to contest the 2027 governorship election on the ADC platform.

The ADC is currently facing a leadership crisis between factions led by David Mark and Nafiu Bala.This latest defection follows the recent movement of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the NDC.

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The Senate has passed the 2026 Statutory Appropriation Bill for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), approving a total expenditure of N2.285 trillion for the development and administration of the nation’s capital.

The passage was sequel to the presentation and consideration of the harmonised report of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the FCT.

The report was presented by the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Austin Akobundu, Abia Central, on behalf of the Chairman, Senator Ibrahim Bomai, Yobe Central.

In his presentation, Senator Akobundu, who noted the committees recommended the sum of N2,285 trillion as the FCT statutory budget for 2026 from a projected revenue of N2.385 trillion, explained that the budget comprises N165.7 billion for personnel costs, N378.2 billion for overhead costs, while N1.741 trillion was earmarked for capital projects.

According to him, the budget structure showed that 76.19 per cent of the total allocation would go to capital expenditure, while recurrent expenditure accounted for 23.8 per cent.

Akobundu said the appropriation was in line with constitutional provisions and followed extensive engagements between the joint committees and officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

He said, “The committees met with the minister and other relevant officials of the FCTA and deliberated extensively on the subject matter.”

Senators who contributed during the debate described the budget as “top-notch” and “well-balanced”.

In his remarks, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau, who noted that the budget was capable of accelerating infrastructure and security development in Abuja and satellite towns, said, “Mr President the budget is top notch. You know, I am the only one in the history of the legislature in this country that had the opportunity to serve as chairman appropriation committee in the House and in the Senate.

“So when I see a good budget, I know it’s a good budget. It is a budget that’s top-notch. We have to commend the FCT minister for doing a very very good job.

“A budget that you have a total of N2.2 trillion and out of this, N1.7 trillion is going for capital.

“It shows his willingness and determination to continue to show FCT to the admiration of all.”

In his remarks, Senator Abdul Ningi, Bauchi Central, said that the budget was well-packaged and well-balanced considering the observations made by the Senate Committee on FCT last year.

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