The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, has told the Federal Government that fighting insecurity is not all about changing service chiefs, stressing that Nigerians need to see results.

President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, stated this on Friday while responding to questions in an interview on Arise Television monitored

DAILY POST reports that the NLC has declared nationwide protest on December 17th over the wave of insecurity confronting the country.

“The Federal Government changing service chiefs and rejigging the security apparatus doesn’t mean we are seeing results. We need solutions.

“I think we should be real in discussing issues like this. That Minister has been removed, that the Chief of Army staff has been removed does not mean that we don’t have incidences of kidnap and banditry and all manner of things.

“We prefer to have solution to all those problems, and even change of guards, a theoretical pace. We want to see results,” he said.

When asked what options in terms of recommendations the NLC was putting on the table, Ajaero said,  “The NLC has stopped putting the options on the pages of newspaper.

“We wrote to Mr President since June to provide options on tax session, on strike in the tertiary institution, on strike in the education sector and other areas.

“And up to now, no acknowledgement of the letters. So where are we going to put our demand on if it’s not on the table?”

The first prosecution witness (PW1), Peter Obumuneme Okoye, in the ongoing trial of Jude Chigozie Okoye, an elder brother and former manager of Paul and Peter Okoye, has told Justice Rahman Oshodi of the  Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, that the defendant’s wife owns 800,000 shares in  Northside Music Limited.

 

Okoye, alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, is being prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a four-count charge bordering on theft to the tune of over $1m.

 

He pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.

 

At the resumed trial of the matter  on Friday, December 12, 2025,  defence counsel, Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN) confronted the witness with the statements of account belonging to Northside Music Limited, detailing some transactions over a period of time

 

The PW1, however, stated the bank statements belonged to their joint business interest, saying, “These statements of account belong to me and my brother. We are P-Square. The company belongs to Peter and Paul. It was registered by him. I reported to the EFCC when I discovered funds were being diverted, and EFCC brought the matter to court”.

 

“My lord, we own an entertainment company together, and I discovered another company, Northside Entertainment Company diverting our funds. I showed it to my brother.”

 

He also confirmed that he petitioned the EFCC through his lawyer, and that the defendant’s wife owns 800,000 shares in the company in question.

 

The defence counsel, thereafter, sought to tender documents attached to the original petition submitted to the EFCC, insisting the documents were vital to their case.

 

However, the prosecution counsel M. K. Bashir, objected to their admissibility, arguing that “the documents are public documents.

 

“The defence merely produced copies stamped as Certified True Copies (CTC). They  were not attached to the petition, and they were not in proper legal form.”   He, therefore, urged the court to reject them.

 

In a short ruling, Justice Oshodi ruled that although the documents originated from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and ended in the EFCC’s custody, they did not meet the admissibility requirements of the court.

 

“I reject the documents and mark them as rejected,” the judge held.

 

The PW1 also confirmed that he wrote a statement at the EFCC after the petition was submitted by his lawyer.

 

The case was adjourned till February 20 and 27, 2026 for continuation of trial.

 

Uncertainty has surrounded the House of Representatives’ plenary scheduled for Tuesday, December 16, 2025, following the Federal Government’s failure to meet its contractual obligations to local contractors who executed projects under the 2024 and 2025 budget cycles.

This comes a week after the Green Chamber held a closed-door session with the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi; and the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, during which lawmakers criticised the implementation of the capital components of the two budgets.

Over the past two months, local contractors have staged peaceful demonstrations at the National Assembly Complex, demanding payment for completed projects. Despite the House leadership setting up an intervention committee, the stalemate persists.

On December 9, the House resolved that it would not consider the 2026 Appropriation Bill once transmitted by President Bola Tinubu until the Federal Government clears all outstanding debts owed to the contractors. The lawmakers also stepped down consideration of 42 bills slated for first, second, and third readings

Four committee reports on bills proposing agricultural colleges and specialised institutions in Kaduna, Edo, and other states were likewise deferred.

The planned consideration of the constitution review report submitted two weeks earlier was also suspended.

In what appeared to be a last-minute attempt to avert a legislative standoff, Ogunjimi pledged to clear the outstanding payments within 48 hours. However, the deadline elapsed on Friday without contractors receiving any payment—an outcome that could significantly shape Tuesday’s plenary.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a member representing Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode Federal Constituency of Edo State, Billy Osawaru, expressed disappointment that the pledge was not fulfilled but noted that lawmakers were still expecting action from the executive.

“Promise made has not been met, but we are continuing our engagement with the executive arm,” Osawaru said.

Asked whether the House would make good its threat to halt consideration of the 2026 Appropriation Bill, Osawaru said the situation remained unpredictable.

“I am not sure what the outcome will be since we are still expecting the Accountant-General to act,” he added.

Similarly, Mansur Soro, who represents Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency in Bauchi State, confirmed that contractors were yet to be paid.

“The pledge has not been kept,” Soro stated, adding that, “further engagement between House and executive should be confirmed by the House spokesman or its leadership.”

Efforts to obtain an official position from the House through its spokespersons, Akin Rotimi and Philip Agbese, were unsuccessful, as both lawmakers did not respond to inquiries.

The Federal Government’s delayed payment to local contractors traces back to persistent budget implementation challenges in the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years.

A former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has said that President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have made the African Democratic Congress, ADC’s dream of ascending political power in 2027 come to pass.

He said that Atiku’s formal move to the ADC is a catalyst that will galvanize massive support from Nigerians in a bid to remove Tinubu and his administration from office through the ballot.

According to Eze, who is a chieftain of the APC, Tinubu and his political leaders have made Nigeria a laughing stock before the international community, adding that the time had come for Nigerians to heave a sigh of relief.

“With this timely, bold and audacious move, the game has started and the battle to rescue Nigeria from the shackles of bad democratic governance and clueless government just begun.

“I am very convinced that Atiku will bring to bear his wide connection, political sagacity, leadership acumen and experience to bear on the new party.

“Now that Atiku has finally joined the ADC, and with Amaechi bringing his winning streak as two-time Campaign Director General of the Muhammad Buhari Campaign Organization in 2015 and 2019 Presidential Elections, the coast is now clear for a new Nigeria,” Eze stated.

“Tinubu has made the enthronement of ADC in 2027 come to fruition considering the level of poverty and his unpreparedness to handle the security challenges facing this country head on,” he added.

Eze, who is yet to join the ADC, however, assured that sooner or later, he will join other progressives that are on the verge of rescuing the country.

He appealed to Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi, David Mark, Nasir El-Rufai etc, as well as all supporters of Atiku and all those committed to reclaiming and rebuilding Nigeria to work with unity of purpose in a bid to oust Tinubu from office in 2027.

Eze commended former Adamawa State Governor Jibrilla Bindow, Senator Aisha Binani, Senator Abdullazeez Nyako,  Senator Ahmed Barata, Senator Ishaku Abbo, and other Adamawa illustrious sons and daughters who have united under ADC.

He, however, appealed to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi not to be deceived by those advising him to abandon ADC and contest the 2027 Presidential election under the Labour Party or any other political party.

He warned that by so doing, Obi will “be paving way for Tinubu to continue with his maladministration after 2027.”

The President of women in politics forum, Ebere Ifendu, has described as very embarrassing the gale of defections of Nigerian governors into the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television monitored by DAILY POST on Thursday, Ifendu raised the alarm that Nigeria’s democracy is under threat.

She was reacting to the gale of defections by some state governors from their own political parties into the APC.

DAILY POST reports that the governors of Enugu, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states have all defected to the ruling party.

Reacting, Ifendu said, “It’s an embarrassing situation if I must be honest with you. In politics, we expect that political parties have different ideologies. It’s either you’re a socialist political party like you find in the Labour Party or you are a conservative political party. There must be an ideology.

“And so when you see these people move from one party to the other, you begin to wonder, is it that political parties in Nigeria are not built with ideology? Because when we vote for a political party, we vote based on those things that we believe that the political party is presenting before us.

“And I think that democracy in Nigeria is threatened because people no longer believe in the people they have voted for.

“Let me also say here that a candidate of a political party is carrying the mandate of the party, and not the person’s personal mandate, and so you get elected based on what your party presented, and then you just dump that party to go to another political party. Are we turning to a one party state in Nigeria?

“If there is no opposition, then there is no democracy. So I think it’s very wrong seeing what is happening in Nigeria today.”