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In 2024, Africa stood at what many analysts described as an electoral super cycle. Thirteen countries went to the polls, testing not only the durability of democratic institutions but also the patience of citizens who had grown weary of governance that often promised representation yet delivered disappointment. On the surface, democracy seemed to endure. New governments emerged in Botswana, Liberia, …

The National Leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, is delaying his defection to the African Democratic Congress months after engaging with the party leaders due to lack of assurance that former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, will secure the party’s presidential ticket, Sunday PUNCH has gathered. Highly credible sources within the Kwankwasiya Movement, the political group of …

Growing concerns are emerging across northern Nigeria over what many residents have described as the increasingly harsh enforcement of Hisbah laws, with allegations that some operatives of the Islamic moral police have exceeded their legal mandate. The Hisbah police was formally established as a state-backed agency in 2003 under Governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau to enforce Shari’a law and regulate public …

Amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act, which commenced last year, are yet to be concluded and passed into law, as the bill for the amendment is still pending at the National Assembly. Weekend Trust confirmed that the House of Representatives had concluded deliberations on the bill and passed it over to the Senate in December, and on Thursday this week, …

Anxiety has reportedly spread through Nigerian immigrant communities across the United States as an aggressive immigration enforcement drive under President Donald Trump’s administration deepens. This has forced some Nigerians off the streets, out of their jobs, and, in some cases, back to Nigeria through quiet, self-arranged departures, while some go into hiding. Heightened raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), …

There is a growing frustration and anxiety among parents over perceived developmental regression in children following routine vaccinations, raising difficult questions at the intersection of public health, parental experience, and scientific evidence. In this report, Gift Oba takes on the challenges of the parents, medical experts’ views and the broader implications for vaccine confidence in Nigeria. When the world speaks …

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has called on Nigerians to ensure they submit their annual tax returns as required by law. He emphasised that tax compliance is mandatory for both employers and individual taxpayers. Oyedele made the appeal during a webinar organised for HR managers, payroll officers, chief financial officers and tax …

The Directorate of State (DOS) of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has formally disbanded the use of the pseudonym “Emma Powerful”, directing that all official IPOB press releases must henceforth be issued only on the organisation’s official letterheaded paper. This decision was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Mazi Chukwukadibia Edoziem, Head of the Directorate of State …

Former presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, has revealed that late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari approved the removal of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) despite their close personal relationship, acting on a recommendation by former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. Shehu made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday while speaking on his new book, ‘According to …

The Rivers State Government has explained why the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt was not made available for a political event linked to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The government said reports claiming it blocked the use of the stadium for the inauguration of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors are not true. It described the claims as …