With less than three months to the 2027 presidential election, Vice President Kashim Shettima has rallied support in the North for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

Shettima assured the North that Tinubu would work for the region if re-elected in 2027.

The vice president urged Northerners not to be afraid of Tinubu’s re-election, saying the president loves the region.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja, Shettima said the president was committed to helping the North develop.

He said, “Let’s come together as a people and work for the development of our region and the progress of our people through the re-election of this administration.

“We are already seeing benefits, and we can expect even more from this government in many ways.

“I can assure you that the president loves the North and will continue to work for the North.”

During the election, Tinubu will slug it out with Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, who is from the North.

Atiku is one of Tinubu’s main challengers in the 2027 presidential election.

A presidential running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, is also from the North.

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has again reiterated the need to subsidise production to alleviate the suffering of the poor.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this assertion on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Speaking on the issue of fuel subsidy in the country, Abdullahi said poor Nigerians could not be left without subsidies.

“We cannot have people so poor and leave them without subsidy. So, we (ADC) are going to subsidise production.

“I’m glad that the NNPC audit report is showing this now, and Nigerians are going to see in the coming days. We are going to look more into this.

“You can also ask: Where will the crude come from? We are an oil-producing country. Whatever we need to do to subsidise the production of crude and deliver cheaper fuel to Nigerians, we are going to do it.

“When your country is at war, you don’t begin to talk about the price of guns or the price of bullets or whether you defend your country by all means necessary. So, ADC and Atiku say we will defend the people by all means necessary,” he said.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, has identified the proliferation of small arms and light weapons as one of the gravest threats to peace and security across Africa, noting that the weapons do not respect borders.

Disu stated this in his opening speech at the opening ceremony of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Identification and Tracing (SALW-IT) simulation programme in Abuja on Monday.

He stressed the need for collaboration among African countries to strengthen their collective capacity in the identification, marking, registration and tracing of small arms, light weapons and ammunition.

“That threat is clear. The proliferation of small arms and light weapons remains one of the gravest dangers to peace and security across Africa. These weapons do not respect borders. They fuel terrorism, armed banditry, kidnapping, communal conflict and organised crime — from the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin to every corner of our continent.

“Nigeria, like many of our sister nations, has borne the human and economic cost of this scourge. We understand — painfully — that no country can win this fight alone,” he said.

He added, “That is why the central objective of this programme is so critical: to strengthen our collective capacity in the identification, marking, registration and tracing of small arms, light weapons and ammunition.

“A weapon that cannot be traced is a dead end for any investigation. Identification and tracing are not mere technical procedures. They are the foundation of accountability. They are the gateway to intelligence. They are the key that links a recovered weapon to the network, the financier, and the route behind it.

“I am particularly pleased that this programme places a premium on practical, hands-on learning through simulation. Theory must be matched by practice. The simulation exercises — including the indoor shooting scenarios to be conducted at the Nigeria Police Simulation Centre — will place each participant under realistic conditions that closely mirror the operational realities our officers face daily in the field.”

The participants were drawn from Chad, the Central African Republic, Mali, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

The IGP said the Nigeria Police Force was fully committed not only to the objectives of the programme but also to the broader regional and continental effort to control the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

“We will continue to provide the enabling environment, institutional support and operational cooperation required to sustain the gains of this training,” he said.

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Oyo State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, member in a road accident involving a motorcycle and an articulated truck in Ibadan on Monday.

The Sector Commander, Corps Commander Kehinde Dahunsi, confirmed the incident in an interview with newsmen, stating that the crash also left the motorcycle rider with a fractured leg.

Dahunsi said the deceased corps member’s body had been taken to the State Hospital morgue, while the injured motorcyclist was transported to the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, for treatment.

He added that the identity and other details of the deceased could not be established during the rescue operation.

“We recorded a traffic crash today around Agodi Gardens within the Ibadan metropolis. It involved a truck and a motorcycle carrying a corps member.

“Unfortunately, we lost the corps member, and the rider also sustained a fracture in his leg.

“We carried out emergency rescue operations; we conveyed the body of the late corps member to the State Hospital morgue, while the injured rider was rushed to the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the NYSC Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Mrs Abimbola Faniyi, said efforts were ongoing to establish the deceased’s identity and obtain other relevant information, including her Place of Primary Assignment, PPA.

The Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations, COCIN, for Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, has denied allegations that he campaigned for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election.

This is following claims by popular social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM).

VDM, in a viral video posted on social media platforms on Monday, criticised the cleric for allegedly shifting from his harsh criticism of Tinubu to urging prayers for his administration.

According to VDM, Rev Dachomo, who recently took his campaign against alleged Christian genocide in the state to Israel, was expected to address Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other world leaders on the contentious killings of Christians in Plateau State and the Middle Belt in general.

However, his visit to Israel ended with allegations that he had instead turned the trip into a prayer session for Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, government to succeed in the 2027 election.

Although Rev Dachomo had earlier denied ever praying for Tinubu and the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, VDM alleged that the cleric had moved from accusing President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima of attempting to Islamise Nigeria and failing to curb insecurity to calling for prayers and support for the same administration.

The activist also claimed that Dachomo had been compromised, adding that he was 101 per cent certain that the presidency had reached out to the clergyman and taken him to Israel.

However, while responding to the accusations, Rev Dachomo insisted that he had never prayed or campaigned for Tinubu, Shettima and the APC to win the 2027 election.

In a statement shared on his social media handles, the cleric described attempts to use his name for political branding as wicked, clarifying that his prayers while in Israel were directed at achieving national peace, seeking divine intervention against evil plans and protecting persecuted communities.

He maintained that he had prayed against electoral rigging and had never supported a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.

However, he said those aspects of his prayers were ignored, while misleading narratives were promoted.

“My dear brethren, I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

“I heard that VDM shared a video saying I prayed for President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket to succeed in the 2027 election.

“You are just saying, ‘Rev. Dachomo has prayed for success.’ Which success? The success of rigging elections?

“While Muslim-Muslim ticket supporters are thinking of rigging elections, the only thing I am praying for is that they should fail in their evil deeds. Let them fail in their evil thinking. Let the evil ones in Nigeria fail woefully in whatever they are doing.

“To the campaign organisation of Tinubu, anybody who is using my name wrongly for campaigns is doing a great injustice to Tinubu. You evil men are saying I use my name to say I pray for Tinubu.

“I pray that any evil spirit that will lure this government into rigging elections will catch fire. Any satanic power that will raise thugs to rig elections, let it catch fire so that justice will prevail.

“Any spirit or person that is going to rig these elections, let the wrath of God destroy their evil plans.

“​We need justice. We need the fear of God in both Muslims and Christians so that we can live lives of love and protect one another. That is what my heart desires,” the cleric wrote.