Author: Festus Adeloye

The Department of State Services (DSS) has asked the Abuja division of the Federal High Court to restrain a former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, from making public comments or engaging in any form of rally, relating to his announced plan to establish a shadow government in the country. The security agency had accused Utomi, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2007 presidential election of attempting to illegally usurp the executive powers of President Bola Tinubu. Justice James Omotosho has fixed June 25 to hear the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, which has Utomi as the sole defendant. Meanwhile, DSS…

The founder of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare has explained why he visited President Bola Tinubu. Bakare explained that his conversation with the President focused on national development and the future of Nigeria. He spoke after his courtesy visit to President Tinubu in Lagos, on Wednesday. The visit was revealed in a post by presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga, who shared a photo of the President with the cleric on his X handle. Bakare had, during an address in April at his in Lagos, called on President Tinubu to implement immediate and strategic interventions to steer Nigeria out of…

Prominent legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Monday Ubani, has raised the alarm over the growing abuse of Point of Sale (POS) machines in Nigeria, warning that the once-innovative payment system is now being hijacked by criminal syndicates to move illicit funds beyond the reach of security agencies. Ubani, in a statement titled “The Urgent Need to Regulate POS Transactions in Nigeria’s Financial Ecosystem”, called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Assembly, and security agencies to urgently take decisive action to stem what he described as a looming national security and judicial crisis. According to…

Suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi West) has raised the alarm that her official telephone line has been cloned and is being fraudulently utilised to intimidate some Nigerian dignitaries. In a petition to the Director of the National Cybercrime Centre, Nigeria Police Force, Abuja, through his lawyers, M. J. Numa and Partners, dated June 4, 2025, Akpoti-Udughan said the “unknown persons are impersonating her personality to make unsolicited calls and deliver messages pretending to have originated from her.” She added that this deployment of advanced cyber tools collectively suggests the existence of “a coordinated attempt to compromise” her identity and possibly…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced an important change on the deduction of charges for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions. Starting Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) will no longer be allowed to deduct these fees directly from customers’ bank accounts. Instead, the charges will be deducted from users’ mobile airtime balances. United Bank for Africa (UBA) informed its customers of this update through an email on Tuesday. The bank’s statement reads: “In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no…

Former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said the current chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, would have been a stumbling block for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections if he were in charge at the time. Amaechi made the comment while speaking on Arise TV late on Tuesday night, commending former INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, for making the electoral process transparent while in office. According to the former Minister of Transportation, Jega’s transparency led to the APC’s registration and eventual victory in 2015. “The current chairman of INEC, if he was the…

As a way of playing down the outrage that trailed the glaring snub of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu last week, President Bola Tinubu has invited the governor to accompany him for the commissioning of the Lekki Deep Sea Port Tax Credit Concrete Road on Thursday. TheScrutinyNG exclusively gathered that many leaders of the party were unhappy with the events that played out at the weekend during the commissioning and have been making efforts to intervene. The President last Saturday snubbed Sanwo-Olu at the commissioning of the Lagos-Calabar highway. The commissioning of the first 30-kilometre stretch of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal…

The Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, has relocated to Makurdi, the Benue State Capital, over the incessant killings of innocent villagers by herders and militia group. The killing which is becoming almost a daily occurrence has left many dead, several others injured, maimed, several houses burnt leaving many homeless. The army Chief who is worried by the endless killings, left Abuja, Tuesday morning accompanied by his Principal Staff Officers(PSOs), and other top officers at the Army Headquarters to the state to have a first hand information and assessment on the situation on ground. This is just…

The trio of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and former Kaduna Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai came under attack by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the allegation that President Bola Tinubu-led APC administration has weaponised poverty. The three opposition leaders at the weekend during the 60th birthday ceremony of Amaechi in Abuja accused Tinubu of failing to eradicate the scourge of poverty in the last two years of his administration. Describing the allegation as baseless, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka in a statement in Abuja on Monday asked the trio to close…

Former Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, of telling lies during the latter’s 60th birthday celebration. Speaking at a media parley in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said Amaechi’s hunger comment shows he yearns for power. Wike’s comments were about Amaechi expressing willingness to be part of a coalition led by former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Taking a jab at Amaechi, Wike stated,  “I don’t know why a man would choose his 60th birthday to tell lies. It’s unfortunate. Of all times, on your 60th birthday, when people are celebrating you? “He…