Nigeria

By Hadiza Abdulkadir

At least six inmates have died within a week following a suspected cholera outbreak at the 115-year-old Kurmawa Maximum Prison in Kano, with Amnesty International Nigeria calling on the authorities to declare an emergency and take immediate action to prevent further deaths.

The rights organisation said a number of inmates are currently receiving treatment as the suspected disease continues to spread within the prison. It warned that the actual number of deaths could be higher.

Amnesty particularly raised concern over the condition of critically ill inmates and called for their immediate transfer to hospitals for appropriate medical treatment.

The organisation also expressed concern about the large number of awaiting-trial inmates held at the facility, noting that some prisoners can spend years behind bars without being convicted of a crime.

According to Amnesty, overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate food and limited access to healthcare remain serious problems in Nigeria’s correctional facilities.

It warned that failure by the authorities to respond urgently to the situation at Kurmawa Prison could result in additional deaths and potentially amount to arbitrary deprivation of life, a serious human rights violation under international law.

Amnesty called for urgent measures to contain the suspected outbreak and improve conditions in Nigerian prisons, stressing the need for the country to ensure that the treatment of inmates complies with human rights obligations and international standards.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has raised concerns over the scale of alleged corruption involving public officials in Nigeria.

Olukoyede spoke in Abuja on Thursday at an event organised to mark the 80th birthday of former Attorney-General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi.

According to the EFCC chairman, the commission receives more than 20,000 petitions concerning alleged public-sector corruption each year. He said some of the cases reveal disturbing levels of financial misconduct.

“I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect to public corruption, all terrible. What is going on? Like every minute, public officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files you will weep.

“The way people take national resources and Nigerians are victims of these fraudulent activities. And we must come together for once in our lifetime and say no to the activities of some of our leaders,” Olukoyede said.

He alleged that some public officials enter government with less than N100,000 in their bank accounts but accumulate substantial wealth within a few years of assuming office.

Olukoyede said investigations by the commission had traced millions of dollars to some officials who allegedly had modest financial resources before taking public positions.

He also alleged that some officials acquire hundreds of houses while still serving in government.

The EFCC chairman said the alleged misuse of public resources was having serious consequences for the country and described corruption as a major threat to Nigeria’s development.

He called on public officials to account for their activities and decisions while in office.

Olukoyede further stressed the need for accountability and transparency across the public service, saying those entrusted with public resources must be prepared to explain how they handled them.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has returned N84 million to an Edo State businessman, Ekhahon Abraham, after recovering the money from a woman accused of diverting the funds.

The EFCC’s Benin Zonal Directorate presented a draft for the recovered amount to Abraham, according to a statement issued by the commission.

The commission said its operatives recovered the money from Anita Eborome after an investigation into a petition filed by the businessman.

According to the EFCC, Abraham had paid Eborome N84 million for a parcel of land measuring 115ft by 135ft in a community in Edo State.

The businessman reportedly constructed a perimeter fence on the property after making the payment. However, the fence was later demolished by a man who claimed to be the rightful owner of the land.

The development prompted Abraham to seek a refund of his money from Eborome, but he reportedly failed to recover the funds.

The EFCC said its investigation later established that Abraham transferred the money to Eborome, who allegedly diverted it for personal use.

The commission quoted Abraham as saying:

“Abraham said after making payment, he erected a parameter fence on the land but it was pulled down by a man who claimed to the be rightful owner.

“Based on that incident, he sought for a refund of his money but met a brick wall as Eborome came evasive hence he was advised to petition the Commission.

“During investigation, it was discovered that Abraham transferred the money to Eborome but she diverted the money for her personal use.”

The draft was presented to Abraham by the acting Zonal Director of the EFCC, Deputy Commander Sa’ad Hanafi.

Hanafi said the commission would continue to carry out its responsibilities professionally and prevent fraudsters from benefiting from funds that do not belong to them.

The EFCC said the recovery followed its investigation into the complaint and the tracing of the funds transferred to Eborome.

By Muhammad Abubakar 

The Ulama Forum in Northern Nigeria has strongly condemned the killing of 37 young Nigerians, including teenagers as young as 16, by personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

In a press release signed by Convener Aminu Inuwa Muhammad and Secretary Engr Basheer Adamu Aliyu, the Forum described the killings as “shocking, disgusting and dastardly” and called for a thorough, independent and transparent investigation.

The Forum also raised alarm over reports of armed tribal militants attacking Fulani settlements in Mbamnga, Mambilla, Taraba State, particularly Wuro Geroji, where several people and livestock were reportedly killed, homes burnt, and hundreds of women and children forced to flee to Cameroon.

The Ulama Forum urged the Federal Government to ensure appropriate compensation and relief (diyyah) for victims’ families, strengthen security in vulnerable communities, prosecute those found culpable, provide humanitarian assistance to displaced persons, and facilitate the safe return of those who fled to Cameroon.

It emphasised that the protection of human life remains a fundamental responsibility of government and security institutions, stressing that every Nigerian deserves protection regardless of ethnicity, religion or location.

The Forum extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for eternal rest for the departed, healing for the injured and displaced, and lasting peace, security and justice for Nigeria.

By Hamisu Adamu Dandajeh

Electric vehicles (EVs) are often called “inevitable”. The only question, we’re told, is timing. Nevertheless, the data says otherwise. Even the world’s most electrified economies remain overwhelmingly combustion-powered on the road. Nigeria’s constraints run deeper still. They are not only rooted in physics, minerals and money, but also on political willpower.

Start with Norway. It is the closest thing the world has to a completed EV transition. Battery-electric vehicles made up 96–97% of new car sales in 2025. Decades of tax breaks, toll discounts and bus-lane access built that number. But look at the cars actually on Norwegian roads, not the ones sold this year. Only a third of the total fleet is electric. That is the highest share in the world. And it still leaves two-thirds of Norway’s cars running on combustion. Sales dominance and fleet electrification are not the same thing. That gap is the central fact of this entire debate.

Other countries make the point harder. China crossed 50% EV sales penetration in 2025. Its road fleet is still only about 13% electric. Germany’s EV sales share collapsed from 29% to 19% when subsidies were cut, then recovered to 28% once they returned. Adoption moves with subsidy, not momentum. The US sits at roughly 10% of new car sales, stalled since federal tax credits expired. Japan’s EV sales share fell from 3% to 2% in 2025.

Globally, the EV fleet reached about 116 million units in 2026. The world’s total car fleet exceeds one billion vehicles. China alone holds 61% of all EVs on earth. A 30% sales share this year still means a fleet penetration of five to seven per cent. Cars last fifteen to twenty years. Old stock does not disappear because new sales shift. This is steady progress. It is not imminent replacement.

Nigeria’s problem is a different category of constraint. The national grid serves over 220 million people. It generates between 4,000 and 4,800 megawatts on a good day. That is about 20 watts per person. Pakistan manages 180. Indonesia manages 250. The United States manages 3,530; 176 times Nigeria’s figure. You cannot charge an EV fleet on a grid that cannot keep the lights on. Nigeria’s grid still collapses outright. Generation crashed to 20 megawatts nationwide in January 2026.

Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan targets 60% EV fleet share by 2050. Today, EVs are under 1% of the country’s vehicles. That is a few tens of thousands of cars; by industry estimate, no official figure exists. Import duty waivers pushed nearly 4,000 more EVs into the country in the first half of 2026. They are landing in a market where the grid runs at 30% of installed capacity. Barely half the population has a grid connection at all. Public charging stations number around a dozen nationwide.

Here is the telling part. Nigerian charging operators now run diesel and petrol generators to keep their own chargers working when the grid fails. The EV system depends on the fuels it is meant to replace. A car charged from a diesel generator is not a clean-energy solution. It is a combustion engine with an expensive extension cord.

Electric two- and three-wheelers are the exception. They are gaining real ground, often paired with solar charging. They already beat petrol bikes on lifetime cost. But a solar-charged motorcycle and a grid-dependent passenger car are different problems. Confusing the two is where much of the optimism about Nigeria’s EV transition breaks down.

Four structural constraints hold the combustion engine in place even in wealthy, grid-secure economies. Minerals come first. The cobalt supply gap is projected to widen from 15% to over 25% by 2040. Lithium demand is set to more than triple. The real bottleneck is refining, not mining. China controls most of that capacity, regardless of where the ore comes from. Battery supply chains are nearly as exposed as the oil trade they aim to replace.

Grid capacity is the second constraint, and it is not just a developing-world problem. The US grid faces simultaneous demand growth from data centres, reshored industry, building electrification and EV charging. Data centre demand alone is forecast to more than double by 2035. Ninety per cent of US charging operators cite grid limits, not construction cost, as their biggest obstacle. Lagos and Chicago differ in degree, not in kind.

Fleet turnover is the third. Cars stay on the road for over a decade. Fleet electrification always lags sales electrification. Norway proves it: a third of its fleet is electric, compared with 97% of its sales. Even a Nigeria that hit 100% EV sales tomorrow would run a majority-combustion fleet well into the 2040s.

Heavy-duty transport is the fourth. Electric truck sales more than doubled in 2025. They still make up barely one in ten trucks sold worldwide, and mostly in China. Long-haul freight, shipping, aviation and heavy equipment remain unsolved. Battery energy density per kilogram still trails diesel and jet fuel by a wide margin. These are the vehicles moving most of the world’s freight.

None of this argues against electric vehicles. Norway’s numbers are real. China’s manufacturing scale is real. The direction of travel is toward more electrification. But “more” is not “complete replacement,” and only the first claim survives contact with the data.

Nigeria’s real constraint is a 4,000-megawatt grid serving a quarter-billion people. That leaves meaningful EV penetration limited, for now, to solar-charged two- and three-wheelers and isolated pilot fleets. The industrialised world faces a different but equally real constraint: a mineral supply chain that cannot yet support the scale being promised, a grid under pressure from EVs and data centres at once, and a vehicle stock so large that even a fully electrified sales market takes a decade or more to become a fully electrified road.

The honest forecast is not replacement. It is long, uneven coexistence. EVs will take a growing share of new sales where grids and supply chains allow it. Combustion engines will keep doing the heavy lifting for the existing fleet, and for the jobs battery technology still cannot do. Anyone promising a firm end date for the petrol or diesel engine is selling a story the numbers do not support.

Hamisu Adamu Dandajeh is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Fuels, Energy and Climate Change, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Email: hadandajeh@gmail.com

By Ibrahim Yunusa

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved the commencement of the Faculty of Law at Federal University Dutse (FUD), alongside 30 new full-time academic programmes beginning from the 2026/2027 academic session. The approval was contained in a letter dated September 11, 2026, signed by the Director of Academic Planning, NUC, Abubakar M. Girei, and addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ahmad Mohammed Gumel.

The newly approved programmes cover diverse fields, including Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Information Systems, Common and Islamic Law, Community Health, Medical Laboratory Science, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Physiotherapy, Radiography, Optometry, Parasitology and Entomology, Environmental Standards, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Applied Geology and Remote Sensing, as well as several education programmes.

At the postgraduate level, NUC also approved PGD, M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes in Forestry and Wildlife, Accounting, Treasury and Finance, Banking and Finance, and Information Technology, alongside Master’s programmes in Banking and Finance and Accounting and Finance. The development expands FUD’s academic offerings across technology, health, science, education and management disciplines.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ahmad Mohammed Gumel, described the approval as a significant milestone in his administration’s effort to introduce new academic programmes. He said the programmes were designed to respond to emerging educational needs and equip students with relevant skills for industry and societal challenges. However, admission into the MBBS programme will not take place in the 2026/2027 academic session due to ongoing restructuring and adjustments in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

By Uzair Adam

Four female passengers have died after a boat carrying eight people capsized at Dudduru Pond in Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

The incident occurred around 4:00pm on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the pond, located about three kilometres from Kwadige Village.

The Jigawa State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) confirmed the incident in a statement issued on Thursday by its Public Relations Officer, ASC Badruddeen Tijjani Mahmud.

According to the NSCDC, the boat was transporting eight passengers from Kwadige Village to Chai Chai Sabuwa Market when it capsized while crossing the pond.

It was gathered that strong winds prevailing at the time may have contributed to the accident.

Four passengers died in the incident, while the other four were rescued.

The deceased were identified as Hasiya Mu’azu, 13; Hauwa Lawan, 13; Fatima Lawan, 12; and Dawsiyya Lawan, 13.

The NSCDC said the remains of the four victims had been buried in accordance with Islamic rites.

The four survivors were rescued by farmers working around the pond shortly after the boat capsized.

Residents of Kwadige and Kuna communities also joined the rescue and recovery operations, assisting those affected by the incident.

The NSCDC State Commandant, CC Muhammad Kabiru Ingawa, expressed condolences to the victims’ families and the people of Kwadige community over the tragedy.

Ingawa urged residents who use waterways for transportation to exercise caution, especially during periods of strong winds and unfavourable weather conditions.

He also advised boat operators and passengers to observe basic water-safety measures and avoid travelling when weather conditions pose risks to their lives.

The NSCDC further urged communities and boat users to prioritise safety measures to prevent similar incidents on waterways across the state.

By Anas Abbas

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, says he holds no bitterness toward friends, colleagues and relatives who have stayed silent during his current troubles. He says he leaves any judgment on those who wronged him to Almighty Allah.

In a statement titled “My Relationships and the Aftermath,” dated September 23, 2026, El-Rufai said some people had expressed concern over the apparent silence of those he had publicly stood by in the past. He described his own view as “quite simple.”

He said his support for people and causes over the years was guided by his Islamic faith, his Arewa upbringing, his personal values and his conscience. It was never done in expectation of praise, gratitude or reciprocity, he said, and he remains answerable for those choices.

El-Rufai said those he supported are equally free to choose how to respond now that circumstances have changed. Some may speak, others may stay silent, and some may even deny their past association with him. He said he would not judge them for responding differently from what he or others might have expected.
“Adversity has a way of illuminating relationships,” he said.

He added that what he has learnt in recent months may lead him to “quietly and without regret” reconsider certain relationships. He stressed that this was not reproach or condemnation, only “part of seeing people, and life, more clearly.”

He said he has no regrets about standing by anyone, would rather stay true to his principles than let others’ conduct redefine them, and seeks “neither revenge nor retribution” for any injustice or ingratitude.

He said ultimate accountability belongs to Almighty Allah, “in this world and in the Hereafter.”

El-Rufai closed by saying posterity will deliver its own verdict, and that his only concern is to remain at peace with his conscience and with Allah.

El-Rufai has been in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) since February 19, as it investigates corruption allegations from his time as governor between 2015 and 2023.
He has cast himself as a victim of political victimisation.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

Farmers and herders in Kano State have expressed concern over a possible resurgence of clashes as the 2026 harvest season approaches.

The warning was issued by the state chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Abdullahi Ali Maibiredi, who said the longstanding dispute between farmers and herders had continued to affect livelihoods and, in some cases, led to destruction of property and loss of lives.

Maibiredi said authorities had yet to provide a lasting solution to the conflict despite its effects on agricultural activities across the state.

“I personally lost about 85 per cent of my crops last year, yet I did not see the necessary action taken to address the problem,” Maibiredi said.

He appealed to the relevant authorities to take preventive measures before the situation worsens and to promote peaceful relations between farmers and herders.

“We are calling on the authorities concerned to intervene and address this problem before it gets worse, especially now that we are entering the harvest period,” he said.

The chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Kano State, retired Captain Abdullahi Bakoji, also acknowledged the concern and said the association had warned its members about the potential risks.

According to Bakoji, the anticipated return of transhumant herders from Niger to Kano before local farmers finish harvesting could create additional tension this year.

“In previous years, herders migrating to other areas, particularly from Niger, usually returned to Kano after the harvest. But this year, they are expected to return while harvesting is still ongoing,” Bakoji said.

He linked the expected early movement of the herders to water shortages in Niger and cautioned that their return could heighten the possibility of confrontations with farmers.

Bakoji said MACBAN had already communicated its concerns to the Kano and Jigawa state governments as well as security agencies.

“We have already sent reports and recommendations to the Kano and Jigawa state governments, as well as security agencies, so that preventive measures can be taken before the problem arises,” he said.

He also cited the closure and alleged illegal occupation of cattle routes, grazing areas and livestock resting points as some of the issues that have continued to fuel disagreements between farmers and herders.

“One of the roots of the problem is the way some cattle routes, grazing areas and livestock rest points have been closed or occupied illegally. We are therefore calling on the government to urgently look into the matter,” he said.

Bakoji further said MACBAN was prepared to work with relevant stakeholders towards resolving the issues and preventing further conflict.

Farmer-herder disputes have remained a longstanding issue in several parts of Nigeria, with some incidents resulting in deaths and the destruction of property.

In Kano State, however, the situation has reportedly recorded some improvement in recent years, although stakeholders remain concerned about possible tensions during the current harvest period.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has claimed that the US would not allow President Bola Tinubu to rig Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.

The firm made the claim in a post published on its verified X account on Thursday.

Von Batten-Montague-York also alleged that there is growing agreement across Nigeria’s political divide that the Federal Government and President Tinubu represent what it described as a bastion of corruption.

The firm further alleged that Tinubu appointed as Nigeria’s budget minister an individual whom the US Department of Justice had accused of embezzling billions of dollars from Nigeria’s treasury under a previous administration.

In its post, the firm said:

“The US cannot afford to allow President Tinubu to rig the upcoming Nigerian election.

“This level of lawlessness in the Nigerian government puts Nigeria on a path similar to those seen in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

“Free and fair elections in Nigeria are essential to protecting US interests in Nigeria and the broader region,” the firm tweeted.

The latest comments come amid growing political activity ahead of the 2027 general elections, with opposition parties and political actors intensifying their preparations for the poll.

Von Batten-Montague-York has previously made several claims about the Tinubu administration and Nigeria’s electoral process. Public filings with the US Department of Justice show that the firm entered into a government-affairs and strategic-advisory agreement with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in February 2026.

The firm’s latest statement represents its own position and should not be taken as an official statement from the United States government.

The allegations concerning the proposed conduct of the 2027 election and the claims about corruption were not independently established in the statement.

The 2027 general elections are expected to be a major political contest, with President Tinubu and opposition figures preparing for the race.