Television Nigerian

Abubakar Malami, a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for violating the terms of his release.

A source from the commission verified the development, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, saying that Malami was detained until 10 p.m. on Tuesday due to his noncompliance with the bail criteria.

The anti-graft agency has questioned the former minister about money laundering-related matters, specifically the use of dubious accounts.

“We have apprehended him because of his involvement in financing terrorism and the whereabouts of Abacha loot that was found in Switzerland and the UK’s Jersey Island. Until he meets the standards, he would be in custody.

He was arrested for failing to comply with his bail requirements, and he will be in our custody until he does. We are currently in charge of him. He was first given bail, but he didn’t fulfill the requirements. There are numerous offenses against him, according to the EFCC source.

The former minister was told by the anti-graft agency to show up for questioning every day in December.

We are currently looking into him for eighteen separate offenses. Money laundering, office misuse, and financing terrorism are a few of them.

The source revealed, “We keep uncovering some of the deals as we investigate, so we cannot put a figure to the amount involved now.”

A state of emergency has been proclaimed by ECOWAS Commission President Dr. Omar Touray in response to growing acts of terrorism and violent extremism, military takeovers, banditry, and political unrest throughout the subregion.

Touray made this declaration on Tuesday at the Ministerial level of the 55th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) in Abuja.

He claimed that the past few weeks’ events had demonstrated the necessity of serious reflection on the future of democracy and the pressing need to make investments in the security of the subregion.

He claims that country-by-country evaluations of member states reveal varying levels of risk throughout the sub-region, ranging from high to medium, with an average of high risk, necessitating prompt and coordinated action.

Given the circumstances, it is reasonable to proclaim a state of emergency for our town.

“We ought to give these threats the consideration they require.

In order to do this, the mediation and security council sessions ought to be held more frequently than the two regular sessions during the course of the following year.

“To combat the threats posed by terrorism and banditry, which disregard national borders, we must pool our resources.”

“Therefore, we need to make choices and take steps that will stop this trend,” he stated.

Despite this, Touray claimed that elections in the subregion have become a significant cause of instability.

ECOWAS’s best efforts to protect its democratic credentials and stability while establishing norms of constitutional convergence.

In keeping with the urgency, he stated that in order to provide direction and facilitate regional action, the MSC must continuously monitor the political and security situation in West Africa.

In light of the destructive impact of terrorism along their shared borders, he stated that ECOWAS must also engage in negotiations with its Alliance of Sahel States (AES) neighbors, particularly with reference to their security cooperation.

Elections in Guinea, the Republic of Benin, the Gambia, and Cape Verde will take place in the days and months leading up to next year.

He added, “We will also be handling the aftermath of the coup attempt in the Republic of Benin and the coup in Guinea-Bissau.”

According to the president of the panel, West Africa also faced humanitarian issues, with families, women, and children bearing the burden of instability.

According to him, the number of people who were forcefully displaced in West and Central Africa as of October 2025 was roughly 7.6 million, up from 7.4 million in March.

According to Touray, who cited information from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 6,506,270 of this number were internally displaced people (IDPs), with Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali having the biggest numbers.

There are also 1,094,742 asylum seekers and refugees. The 10 nations with the biggest numbers of asylum seekers, in descending order, are Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Senegal, and Gambia.

“Let me reassure the people in our community that we will not stop working. For the benefit of all community members, we will keep working harder to advance a stronger, more peaceful, and stable region.

He declared, “Let’s all continue to be dedicated to upholding the Community’s Constitutional Convergence Principles, promoting peace, and maintaining regional unity.”

Timothy Kabba, the Chairman of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Sierra Leone, issued a warning that the sub-region’s growing political and security unrest jeopardized democratic governance and undermined public trust.

It makes sense that our citizens are worried. They are looking to us for leadership that turns commitment into action, not simply for statements of concern.

Our people no longer tolerate unfulfilled promises, therefore our resolutions need to go beyond rhetoric. They anticipate unity, earnestness, and purpose,” he continued.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the meeting’s goal was to assess the political and security environment in the subregion in order to create strategic plans to deal with new issues.

The Senate grants Tinubu’s request to send troops to the Benin Republic

In the meantime, President Bola Tinubu’s proposal to send Nigerian troops to the Republic of Benin for a peacekeeping mission in the wake of last Sunday’s abortive coup was expedited by the Senate on Tuesday during a plenary session.

The upper legislative chamber’s approval came after Tinubu’s letter to that effect was considered by the Committee of the Whole, which unanimously approved the deployment and provided parliamentary support for the regional security intervention.

The decision is a positive step, according to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who pointed out that any neighboring country’s instability threatens the entire area.

“An injury to one is an injury to all,” he stated.

During the session, Tinubu’s appeal was read from a letter he wrote to the Senate President.

The President claims that the letter was sent in response to the Republic of Benin’s request for extraordinary air help from Nigeria’s Armed Forces following an attempt by soldiers to remove President Patrice Talon.

Citing Section 30 (5), Part II of the 1999 Constitution (as modified), Tinubu said he had discussed the request with the National Defense Council before to sending it.

He pointed out that a regional peacekeeping mission now needed Senate approval.

In order to prevent “an attempted unconstitutional seizure of power and the destruction and destabilization of democratic institutions,” President Tinubu called on the Senate to move quickly.

According to the current security arrangements of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, Nigeria has a historical obligation to assist Benin, he continued.

He claims that in order to help restore stability and stop further disintegration of order, the situation necessitates “urgent external intervention.”

The request was then forwarded by the Senate President to the Committee of the Whole for prompt consideration.

Recall that on Sunday, soldiers under the command of Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri’s “Military Committee for Refoundation” briefly took control of Cotonou’s state television station and declared the overthrow of President Patrice Talon’s government. However, President Tinubu’s troops and fighter jets intervened to prevent the coup.

The Senate has called Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, and other important industry players for an urgent meeting to mitigate the impact on air travelers in response to public outrage over soaring domestic prices in Nigeria.

We specifically asked Keyamo, airline operators, regulators, and other industry stakeholders to appear before the upper legislative chamber’s Committee on Aviation this week to explain the causes of the skyrocketing fares and to devise a quick plan for stabilizing them prior to the Yuletide travel rush.

The Senate’s resolution came after Senator AbdulFatai Buhari (APC Oyo North) made a motion during Tuesday’s plenary on a matter of urgent national importance, warning that the abrupt increase in airfares poses a serious threat to mobility and could cause travel disruptions across the country in the coming days.

A one-way ticket from Abuja to Lagos now costs between N400,000 and N600,000, which many individuals can no longer afford, Buhari stated during the motion’s presentation.

He pointed out that Nigerians who travel by air have experienced significant inconvenience as a result of the situation, claiming that increased insecurity in the nation is forcing them to give up using roads and railroads.

“We must ask our airline agencies’ stakeholders to engage and discuss the problems. The congressman stated that immediate action must be taken prior to the holiday season.

Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West), who contributed to the motion, stated that airline companies should be held responsible for the price increases because they have already received a number of concessions, especially with regard to the pricing of spare parts.

According to Senator Adamu Aliero (APC Kebbi Central), the abrupt increase in airfares necessitated the invitation of the minister and other interested parties in order to find a solution.

Additionally, while calling for the creation of a national carrier, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC Ebonyi North) declared the 400 percent increase unacceptable and urged the Aviation Minister to step up.

However, a number of senators vehemently disagreed with Senator Orji Kalu’s (APC Abia North) justification of the flight fare rises, citing growing operating expenses and the skyrocketing cost of spare parts.

Commercial banks operating in Nigeria have been given four days to submit all requested documentation regarding their charges by an Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives that is looking into the deduction of taxes and other charges from the earnings of civil and public servants as well as multiple bank charges on customer accounts in Nigeria.

Additionally, the House probe panel rejected the representation of any bank CEO without a properly signed authorization letter to the panel and demanded that the CEOs of major financial organizations attend at the investigative session.

In a statement made at the start of the House panel session on Tuesday in Abuja, House Committee Chairman Hon. Kelechi Nwogu stated that the House investigative panel’s mandate is to make sure that all bank deductions of charges on customers’ accounts are appropriately used and fined.

He added that the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Nigerian commercial banks were invited to participate in the probe by the House Committee.

During the probe, members of the House Committee claimed that commercial banks were illegally taking money out of the bank accounts of public employees, civil officials, and other clients without providing remittances.

The chairman of the House Committee and a few members who objected to the CEOs of GT Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, and other commercial banks being represented cannot hold water because they maintained that they must consistently appear before the panel.

“You cannot appear here without an identity,” he declared. We are not alone here. The people who elected us to parliament have given us this mandate.

“We have decided to meet on Wednesday of next week. All required paperwork must be sent in by Monday at the latest.

“After reviewing all the paperwork, we’ll put you under oath.”

If we ask you back and you tell us the same story, it won’t be good. Any bank that does not submit the required documentation by Monday will be sanctioned, as per our deadline.

According to the House Committee Chairman, every effort is being made by the House panel to determine the reason behind the commercial banks’ fraudulent charges on their clients’ accounts.

During the hearing, several panelists, including Hon. Chidi Mark Obeta and Hon. Engr. Dominic Okafor, spoke in favor of the requirement that bank CEOs consistently appear before the panel.

Abubakar Yakubu, the recently elected President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), is said to have been involved in a deadly car accident in Surulere, Lagos.

Recall that Yakubu defeated Regina Daniels’ mother, Rita Daniels, by a slim margin of 116 to 113, with three votes deemed fraudulent.

A person died as a result of the incident, according to initial reports.

According to Sahara Reporters, while the accident’s circumstances are being investigated, Yakubu has been placed under police custody at the Barracks Police Station in Lagos’ Surulere neighborhood.

Authorities have not yet issued a formal statement outlining the crash’s cause or the results of their continuing investigations.

More to come…

On Tuesday, new demonstrations broke out in Adamawa State’s Numan Local Government Area (LGA), calling for justice for women who were allegedly killed by Nigerian Army soldiers during operations to reestablish peace in the nearby Lamurde LGA.

The turmoil comes after the Adamawa State Government imposed a 24-hour curfew in Lamurde on Monday due to an increase in ethnic conflicts between the Bachama and Chobo groups.

A group of ladies reportedly held a demonstration in Lamurde, accusing the military of a biased and delayed involvement that allegedly favored the Chobo community, causing the crisis to take a tragic turn.

The women apparently tried to stop army moves into the unstable area while carrying leaves and were unarmed.

According to sources, the military opened fire on the crowd during the altercation, killing four women instantly and three more later in the hospital, bringing the total number of civilian deaths to seven.

Numan General Hospital is currently treating eleven additional victims who suffered varying degrees of injuries; the number of casualties is anticipated to increase.

The Nigerian Army claimed that the deaths were caused by inexperienced local militias mishandling weapons, despite the demonstrators’ insistence that the army was to blame.

The Adamawa State Government responded by enforcing a 24-hour curfew in Lamurde and using security personnel to ensure adherence.

Some of the women’s corpses were transported to Lamurde for burial.

Humwapwa Nanso, Bwalason Samson, and Wisdom Christopher were among the demonstrators who said that security personnel’s slow response caused the violence to worsen.

“Uniformed personnel killed our women, leaving us with grief in our hearts,” Nanso stated. Since everyone has the right to life under the Nigerian Constitution, we ladies urge the government to defend our rights.

“I have never seen military personnel go down on their knees, aim at unarmed women at close range, and fire bullets so rapidly,” Samson continued. “Those who shot this bullet I am holding stopped the car, stopped the truck.” Five of the more than 20 people who were immediately shot were dead. We were just carrying leaves; nobody had any weapons.

Ezekiel Gomos has been appointed Director-General of the Forum’s Secretariat by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), which is led by Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, the Governor of Gombe State.

According to reports, his nomination is consistent with the Forum’s reaffirmed commitment to bolstering its institutional capabilities and enhancing cooperation among the 19 northern governments in tackling the urgent issues facing the region.

The Forum claims that establishing the office of Director-General is a calculated move in the direction of repositioning the Secretariat as a more efficient center for long-term development planning, collective action, and policy coordination.

Gomos is a skilled development economist and policy specialist with a remarkable career encompassing public service, governance reform, private-sector development, and human capital improvement. He was formerly Secretary to the Plateau State Government.

His background includes prominent positions at influential organizations including the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC).

He has also served as Head of Faculty and Lead Consultant at the Jos Business School (JBS), a center for policy discussion, leadership development, and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Gomos has been a resource person at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for about twenty years. He has helped train senior executives in policy, strategy, and national development throughout Nigeria.

The new DG holds graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. The Hubert Humphrey Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, the British Chevening Scholarship, and the UNDP Fellowship at the ILO Training Center in Turin are just a few of the esteemed international scholarships he has received.

Gomos has participated in senior executive programs at Durham University Business School, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Harvard Kennedy School.

Gomos was tasked by Governor Inuwa Yahaya, who presented the appointment letter, to use his vast experience in institutional development, strategic leadership, and policy management to build the NSGF Secretariat into a strong platform for regional economic cooperation, collective security coordination, and sustainable development throughout the North.

The NSGF Chairman expressed optimism that the appointment will herald in a new age of enhanced coordination, deeper collaboration, and more cohesive regional answers to the most pressing issues facing the North.

The ECOWAS Parliament has expressed gratitude and supported President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s quick action to bring democracy back to the Benin Republic.

While announcing the resolution of the regional bloc’s parliament, Barau Jibrin, the Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and Deputy President of Nigeria’s Senate, stated that Nigeria acted in the best interests of peace and stability in West Africa.

According to reports, ECOWAS had earlier proclaimed a state of emergency throughout West Africa.

Omar Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, made the statement on December 9, 2025, during the 55th ministerial session of the Mediation and Security Council in Abuja.

Touray stressed that these incidents highlight the critical need for more funding for community security as well as in-depth consideration of the subregion’s democratic future.

According to Touray, the events underscore the “urgent need to invest in the security of our community and the imperative of serious introspection on the future of our democracy.”

The proclamation comes after increased unrest, which included a failed coup attempt in Benin a few days prior.

Elections are a “major trigger of instability” in the area, according to Touray.

“We have continued to witness political practices that violate these principles despite our community’s best efforts to establish constitutional convergence principles and to have a support program for elections in our region to safeguard our democratic credentials and stability,” he stated.

“As we continue to witness the devastating impact of terrorist groups along our borders with them, we also need to negotiate with our neighbors, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), particularly the terms of our security cooperation,” he continued.

During her chieftaincy installation as “Yeye Asiwaju Gbogbo Ile Oodua” in Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Sunday, First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu made a remark intended at Patience, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan. This comment has drawn criticism.

During her acceptance speech, Mrs. Tinubu acknowledged dignitaries and spoke to the former First Lady, who was seated among the guests, in a widely shared video on social media.

Oluremi Tinubu, dressed in white ceremonial garb, interrupted her welcome to speak directly to Mrs. Jonathan. This action swiftly caused Nigerians on X (previously Twitter) to express disgust.

“Your Eminence, the Sultan and all the other Obas,” the First Lady stated in the widely shared video. I’m grateful, Mama P. Will you not smile? I’m greeting you, Mama P. I sincerely appreciate you being there.

“But I said I wanted to greet our royal fathers who have come to honour Ooni and, by extension, me; everybody said I should just leave protocols,” she remarked, thanking the traditional elders as she wrapped up her greetings. Now the Oloris can take a seat. I express my gratitude to the royal fathers who traveled great distances, and even a representative from my mother’s side is present. Thank you, everyone. I am delighted and honored that there aren’t many lengthy speeches today.
Netizens viewed the exchange as inappropriately casual or as lighthearted banter that wasn’t appropriate for the installation ceremony’s solemnity.

“Her status may appear to have changed, but her innate mannerism remains as uncouth and as classless as it has always been,” responded a user on X going by the name Tochukwu.

Wendu, another member on X, commented, “This woman is uncouth.” She wouldn’t normally qualify as an elite, but based on the characters in APC, she is regrettably among the more “refined.”

“Oh, I’m not disappointed,” he added. Even before she was appointed first lady, she was like this. Thus, it is not shocking. The fact that she hasn’t been in the public eye for much of this period is more dramatic. Nigeria has a wealthy population but few elites. Nothing sets them apart from the typical Nigerian other than their wealth.

One Tobi wrote on Facebook, “Having this family as a figure is the worst thing to ever happen to this nation.”

“You called the King of your mother’s Nation as the representative?” commented a user going by the handle Mesiri. neglected to give him the customary salute? Disgraceful.

“I wonder what about her did the Redeemed church find appealing enough to choose her as a pastor. Is it merely her wealth or her spiritual life? Another X user, Robustlife, declared, “I am starting to look at some churches differently.”

Conversely, a member on X who went by Kelez remarked, “We must not make issues out of nothing because she’s Tinubu.” The way it came out may be crass, but the goal should be the most essential thing and not necessarily an insult, in my opinion. This is just a nice, informal conversation to let Mama Peace relax or grin.+