The Federal High Court in Abuja has recognised Abubakar Bashir as the winner of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) primary for the Yola North/Yola South/Girei Federal Constituency of Adamawa State.

The court also nullified the nomination of the incumbent lawmaker, Abubakar Babazango, as the ADC candidate for the constituency in the 2027 general elections.

Justice Chigozie S. Onah gave the judgment on September 17, 2026, in a suit filed by Bashir against the ADC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Babazango.

The case followed a dispute over the outcome of the ADC primary held on May 21, 2026, and the party’s subsequent decision to submit Babazango as its candidate.

Results from the primary showed that Bashir won with 33,931 votes. He defeated six other aspirants, including Zayyad Tumba, who scored 16,266 votes, and Yusuf Garba, who received 14,611 votes.

Abubakar Mohammed polled 10,035 votes, Abubakar Gabdo scored 8,022, Abdulaziz Abubakar got 4,501, while Babazango came last with 4,359 votes.

Babazango had defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the ADC and was seeking to retain his seat in the House of Representatives.

After the primary, Bashir alleged that efforts were being made to alter the result and replace his name with that of Babazango.

Mohammed Daud, speaking for Bashir’s campaign council, had raised concerns over a list circulating online which allegedly showed Babazango as the winner.

“It has come to our shock and dismay that a purported list currently circulating online suggests that another aspirant, who scored the lowest number of votes during the primary election, was submitted to the national headquarters as the winner,” the statement read.

The ADC denied the allegation, saying there was no plan to manipulate the result.

Bashir later approached the court, challenging Babazango’s nomination. He asked the court to determine whether the primary was conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act, the ADC Constitution and the party’s guidelines.

He also argued that his name could not legally be replaced by an aspirant who did not win the primary.

In its judgment, the court ruled in Bashir’s favour, finding that the process through which Babazango was accepted and published as the winner did not comply with the ADC Constitution and its guidelines.

Justice Onah referred to Section 12 of the ADC Guidelines for the Conduct of Primary Elections, which allows a declared winner to be replaced only if the winner dies or withdraws from the race.

The court found that neither of those conditions applied to Bashir.

The judgment stated: “It follows, as a necessary consequence, that the acceptance and publication of the name of the 3rd Defendant as the winner of the said primary election, having been founded upon a process which this Court has found to be inconsistent with the Constitution and the Guidelines of the 1st Defendant, cannot be sustained.”

The court therefore nullified Babazango’s nomination and directed INEC not to recognise him as the ADC candidate for the constituency in the 2027 election.

Babazango was also barred from presenting himself as the ADC candidate for the seat.

The court directed INEC to recognise Bashir as the winner of the May 21 primary and as the ADC candidate for the House of Representatives seat.

The ADC was also ordered to recognise Bashir as its duly elected candidate.

Justice Onah further held that the party was required to comply with the Electoral Act 2026 and its own guidelines when conducting its nomination process.

The court said the ADC could not lawfully nominate anyone other than Bashir as the winner of the primary and its candidate for the constituency.

Bashir had asked the court to award him N25 million in litigation costs. However, the judge rejected the request, saying solicitors’ fees could not be awarded in the manner sought. Instead, the court awarded N1 million in costs against the ADC and another N1 million against Babazango.

On Tuesday, Rabiu Kwankwaso, the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, said that a Peter Obi-led administration would bring back fuel subsidies in a modified form.

Kwankwaso, a former Kano State governor, stated this in an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday.

DAILY POST reports that the NDC running mate was discussing the fuel subsidy policy of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration and the positions of presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 election.

Both Obi and Kwankwaso have criticised the current administration’s handling of fuel pricing and agreed that Nigerians need relief from high pump prices.

However, they appear to differ on a key question: whether the subsidy should return.

Recall that Obi, the NDC presidential candidate and former Anambra State governor, has consistently defended the removal of fuel subsidy.

DAILY POST reports that his position, as reflected in his 2023 manifesto and subsequent interviews, is that the subsidy should have been removed in a structured and phased manner.

According to Obi, the government should have first tackled corruption and established a transparent pricing framework with operators in the downstream petroleum sector.

Also speaking recently at the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt in August 2026, Obi rejected calls for a return to the old subsidy regime.

“I subscribe and maintain that you need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds shouldn’t be the reason for not removing it,” he said.

The NDC presidential candidate also argued that the savings should have been invested in critical sectors such as healthcare, education and agriculture, while also strengthening the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

Obi further claimed that the government recovered trillions of naira from subsidy removal but failed to transparently channel the funds into productive investments that would cushion the impact on Nigerians.

On the contrary, DAILY POST reports that Kwankwaso is approaching the issue from a different direction.

In an exclusive interview with Arise News on Tuesday, the NDC vice-presidential candidate said an Obi-led government would bring back subsidy, although not in the form previously operated.

“We are bringing subsidy in our own way,” Kwankwaso said.

The former Kano governor also faulted President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the subsidy on May 29, 2023, arguing that the policy was implemented without adequate preparations.

According to him, the decision contributed to what he described as a “total mess economically.”

Kwankwaso acknowledged that the major contenders in the 2023 presidential election had campaigned on eventually removing the subsidy.

Kwankwaso said the government should encourage and support the expansion of both private and public refineries to ensure that petroleum products are produced locally and supplied at lower prices.

“If individuals in this country can build refineries, I see no reason why government under certain circumstances will not build refineries,” he said.

He added that the objective would be to do “whatever it takes to put the price of oil down.”

The comments have raised questions about how the NDC would reconcile the positions of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

While Obi has maintained that Nigeria should not return to the old subsidy regime, Kwankwaso has openly spoken about bringing subsidy back “in our own way.”

Although both men have criticised the manner in which the subsidy was removed and have argued that Nigerians should not continue to bear the full burden of high fuel prices, their approaches differ mainly on the mechanism.

For Obi, the emphasis is on maintaining subsidy removal, preventing waste and corruption, and using the savings to improve public services and the economy.

For Kwankwaso, government intervention should include supporting domestic refining and introducing measures that would bring fuel prices down, including subsidy in a new form.

Obi, Kwankwaso may clash over leadership if elected – economist

Speaking to DAILY POST about the development, Chief Economist of ARKK Economics & Data Limited, Dr Samson Simon, expressed concern that a potential Peter Obi-Rabiu Kwankwaso administration could face personality and leadership clashes if elected in 2027.

Simon said Kwankwaso’s age and longer experience in politics could create tension with Obi, whom he described as not being primarily a politician but a former bank chairman.

He said the two opposition leaders needed to resolve their differences and agree on common policies before the election.

“For Peter Obi and his running mate, I am beginning to be concerned. Kwankwaso is older and he has been in politics longer than Peter Obi. And Peter Obi is not primarily a politician; he was a bank chairman,” he said.

“I’m afraid that if they get to power, they may have a clash of personality and Kwankwaso might feel too big to take instructions from Peter Obi.

“They need to sit down together. They can’t be singing discordant tunes. They have to sit down and agree on a policy.

“I think Kwankwaso should defer to Obi as the head of the ticket, even if he doesn’t agree. That’s one thing about leadership. The thing about power is not about age,” he added.

Obi, Kwankwaso must harmonise positions on fuel subsidy – Analyst

For his part, a political analyst and communication expert at Peaceland University, Enugu, Nduka Odo, said the disagreement between Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso over fuel subsidy shows the need for the opposition ticket to harmonise its economic policies ahead of the 2027 election.

Odo told DAILY POST in a chat that although both politicians could have different views on economic management, they must present Nigerians with a clear and coherent position on fuel subsidy.

“You cannot be running on the same ticket and be sending different signals on an issue as sensitive as fuel subsidy,” he said.

According to him, the issue should not be reduced to political rhetoric, as the policy has direct implications for the cost of living and the broader economy.

“They need to sit down, look at the figures and agree on a position that is economically sustainable and politically clear to Nigerians,” Odo said.

He added that Obi and Kwankwaso should explain what they intend to do differently and how their proposed approach to fuel subsidy would affect ordinary Nigerians.

Nigeria’s power sector recorded a total available generation of 5,403.3 megawatts on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, according to the Daily Load Allocation Table released by the National Control Centre, NCC.

According to the report, out of the total generation, 4,379.07MW was successfully delivered to various electricity distribution companies (DisCos) across the country.

The figures revealed that Abuja DisCo received the highest load share at 700MW (15.20% NERC percentage), followed closely by Ikeja DisCo with 581MW (15.01%), Ibadan DisCo with 550MW (11.93%), and Benin DisCo with 531MW (8.04%).

Other distribution companies also received their respective allocations under NERC guidelines, including Eko with 519MW, Enugu with 512MW, Port Harcourt with 466MW, Kano with 161MW, Kaduna with 155MW, Jos with 134MW, and Yola with 70MW.

Meanwhile, a subtotal of 1,024.18MW was categorised under exempted loads, covering power stations and auxiliary consumption (108.07MW), transmission losses and substation services (367.87MW), as well as various bilateral and international supplies, including allocations to Niger and local industrial consumers.

Recall that the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, attributed improved electricity supply in the country to the restoration of the 375MW Alaoji power plant after three years offline, as well as other efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

Ogun State Police Command has commenced a documentation and verification exercise for all Supernumerary Police, SPY, personnel operating in the state.

The exercise, according to the Command, will run from September 23 to October 7, 2026.

This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi.

He said the exercise was aimed at strengthening the proper documentation, verification and oversight of SPY personnel in the state.

He said all organisations with SPY personnel are directed to ensure that their personnel report for the exercise.

“Accordingly, all organisations with SPY personnel are directed to ensure that their personnel report to the Police Public Relations Department, Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.

“They are required to come with their training certificates and photocopies, warrant cards or certificates of ‘To Whom It May Concern’, recent passport photographs in approved uniform, and other relevant documents,” he stated.

The Command described the exercise as proactive, adding that it would ensure effective monitoring and accountability of SPY operations in Ogun State.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has said President Bola Tinubu’s administration does not have the power to reduce the price of petrol because the downstream oil sector has been fully deregulated.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Lokpobiri said petrol pricing is determined by global market forces, not by the federal government.

According to him, “The Bola Tinubu government doesn’t have any power to reduce or increase the price of petrol. It is completely deregulated in line with global best standards.”

He explained that crude oil and refined petroleum products are traded globally, meaning Nigeria cannot fix prices without returning to the fuel subsidy regime.

“Crude oil and refined products are a global business. Nigeria doesn’t exist in isolation. You cannot arbitrarily reduce prices unless you want to roll back to subsidy,” he said.

Lokpobiri made the comments while responding to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s call for a production subsidy that would make locally refined petrol cheaper for Nigerians.

He dismissed the proposal.

According to him, Atiku had no legal basis, no fiscal basis, no financial basis.

The minister also rejected the argument that petrol should be significantly cheaper because it is refined locally at the Dangote Refinery.

He said locally produced crude is still sold to refineries at international market prices, making global pricing unavoidable.

“They sell crude to the refinery at the same global price,” he said.

However, he argued that Nigerians are still benefiting from local refining through improved fuel availability and lower prices compared to some other countries.

“We already benefit. That’s why our price is lower than that of the U.S.,” Lokpobiri said.

He noted that even the United States, one of the world’s largest oil producers with extensive refining capacity, sells fuel at prices higher than Nigeria’s average pump price.