Factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has cautioned the leadership of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, against what he described as conceding too much influence to former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and his supporters within the party.

Abure made the remarks in a statement issued on June 8, 2026, while reacting to reports of disagreements over the allocation of elective positions within the NDC.

According to the Labour Party chairman, the refusal of the NDC leadership, led by Senator Seriake Dickson, to grant all political positions sought by Obi’s supporters was a decision he described as necessary based on the Labour Party’s experience during and after the 2023 general election.

Abure alleged that several political office holders who emerged on the Labour Party platform later turned against the party leadership rather than contributing to its growth.

“They say history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and Co have seen their trajectory and learnt from what happened to us,” Abure said.

According to him, many politicians who benefited from the Labour Party’s platform eventually aligned with Obi and became involved in disputes over the party’s leadership structure.

Abure claimed that the Labour Party leadership made significant sacrifices ahead of the 2023 elections, including accommodating the interests of Obi and many of his supporters.

“We only looked at his body language and obliged most of his supporters with tickets. Most of the tickets were given for free because we believed we were investing in those persons,” he stated.

Abure also accused some elected officials of backing efforts to challenge the party leadership after winning elections on the LP platform.

“All those elected under the party, Obi took them to fight the leadership of the party,” he said.

Abure argued that political parties should maintain a balance in the distribution of positions and influence among members in order to preserve internal stability.

“It is very good for Seriake Dickson not to have given Obi supporters all they needed in the NDC. He needed to bring his own people so that when the chips are down, he will also have people that will speak and defend him,” he added.

The Labour Party chairman also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of contributing to the leadership crisis that emerged within the party after the 2023 elections, alleging that some party leaders accepted claims regarding the expiration of the tenure of the party’s executives.

“The leaders, particularly Peter Obi and Alex Otti, decided to take over the leadership of the party,” Abure alleged.

He maintained that his comments were informed by questions from members of the public about how the Labour Party managed its relationship with Obi and his supporters during the 2022/2023 election period.

Some of the recently freed kidnap victims who spent three months in captivity in Borno State have described the unthinkable conditions under which they were held by bandits.

Men, women and children from Ngoshe community in Gwoza Local Government Area, abducted by armed terrorists on March 4, regained their freedom on June 6.

One of the victims, Halima Musa, said the captives had to prepare their own meals.

“We ate only guinea corn once a day. If you eat around 2 pm, till the next day. Sometimes, no soup is provided. We are the ones cooking the food. They give us what to cook,” she said.

She said the captives slept on bare ground in the mountains throughout their ordeal.

Another victim, Khadijat, said their release happened without any exchange of gunfire or direct contact with security forces.

According to her, “We met other people there who were kidnapped before us. Eleven of them, they have spent seven months there. They were abducted from a river where they went to farm fish. But all of us came out together.”

Meanwhile, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum visited the freed victims on Monday and announced a rehabilitation programme for the Ngoshe community.

The governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and security agencies for their efforts in securing the release of the abductees.

He stated that around 434 abducted persons had been released in phases, with about 360 returning two days earlier.

Zulum also disclosed that the state government had released millions of naira to rebuild Ngoshe and was working with the military to facilitate the safe return of residents willing to go back home.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, failed to proceed with the re-arraignment of three officials linked to the National Assembly over an alleged N337 million fraud case after one of the defendants challenged parts of the amended charges before the court.

The defendants, Aishatu Bappa El-Nafaty, Director of Public Affairs in the Directorate of Special Duties and Parliamentary Security at the National Assembly; Mamud Alhaji Abubakar, a former Permanent Secretary in the National Assembly Service; and Igba Ityoakura Joseph, a Deputy Director of Procurement, were scheduled to be re-arraigned before Justice Muhammed Zubairu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Jikwoyi, Abuja.

The trio is facing an amended 23-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, forgery, criminal breach of trust, official corruption and the unlawful conversion of National Assembly funds amounting to N337,062,350.

Proceedings, however, could not continue after counsel to the second defendant, Muhammed Ndayako (SAN), raised a preliminary objection seeking the dismissal of counts three, four, five, six, seven and 18 of the amended charge.

Ndayako argued that the affected counts were incompetent and amounted to an attempt to revive charges that had already been struck out by the court in a ruling delivered on May 12, 2025.

Responding, prosecution counsel Francis Usani told the court that the objection was served on the EFCC only on Friday, June 5, 2026, barely days before the scheduled re-arraignment.

Usani expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of the filing, noting that the defence had more than a month from the previous adjournment date to file the application.

While indicating his intention to formally respond to the objection, the prosecutor urged the court to dismiss it, describing it as frivolous and an attempt to frustrate the planned re-arraignment.

He further prayed the court to direct the defendants to enter their pleas on the amended charges.

According to the charge sheet, the defendants are accused of conspiring between 2017 and 2019 to commit criminal breach of trust involving public funds belonging to the National Assembly.

One of the counts alleges that El-Nafaty, while serving as Deputy Director and Head of Training and Welfare at the National Assembly, was entrusted with N89.87 million transferred from National Assembly accounts into a personal account domiciled with a commercial bank, and subsequently converted the money for personal use.

Another count accuses her of allegedly producing false payment receipts purportedly issued by a company identified as Fazah Integrated Services Limited between 2017 and 2018, with intent to defraud.

During the proceedings, counsel to the first defendant indicated that his client also intended to file a similar preliminary objection challenging aspects of the amended charge.

Justice Zubairu subsequently directed that the application be filed within 48 hours and granted the prosecution time to respond to all objections raised by the defence.

The judge adjourned the case until September 23, 2026, for hearing of the preliminary objections.

The Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume has said that the 2027 presidential election is going to be as tough as the World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the politician was reminded of the storm building up against his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, with the likes of Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Seyi Makinde all in the race

Asked if the APC and President Bola Tinubu can withstand the storm that is coming in 2027, he said, “I am not that worried about it, but at the same time, I don’t take opponents for granted.

“I have said this severally on TV, and that is the mistake most of us are making, especially those around Mr President: having problems telling him the facts. We are going to struggle it out together; it can be hard like the WWE; it’s going to be a tough fight.”

“As I said, even when I made the statement that we are going to reciprocate what the president did to us, many people that I didn’t expect to call me, called and shouted at me.

“The president is my president, he is in my party, we’re going to struggle it out together, and this is not the first time, Peter Obi has tried before, Atiku has tried before. Who else again? They are not new in the arena.”

A former Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has disclosed that founding members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, coalition took an oath.

Dalung disclosed that members took an oath that the coalition would be about Nigeria and not individual interests.

Featuring on Mic On Podcast with Seun Okinbaloye, the former Minister under the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, said most members of the coalition have broken the oath.

While noting that the coalition is not dead, he stressed that it was no longer as formidable like it was at inception.

Asked about the controversies in the ADC, Dalung said: “The controversies are expected because when we went into the coalition on day one, we all took oath that it was not going to be about any individual but country and I’m keeping to that oath because things like this as a politician will arise, so anybody pretending that these issues of controversy will not come is not sincere.

“My disappointment is that most of those who took oath on day one in the coalition have broken them.

“The oath was to stick with the coalition and not individual interest, so what has now destabilized the coalition is personal ambition taking preeminence over our early commitment.

“The coalition as it is now is not dead but not as formidable as it were.”

Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abimbola Olugbenga, has revealed that residents of a community in Oluyole Local Government Area allegedly watched suspected kidnappers bring abducted victims into a residential property without reporting the activities to security agencies.

The remarks were disclosed in a post shared on the official page of presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, following the rescue of Mrs. Busayo John-Paul and her twin sons from a kidnapping syndicate in Oyo State.

According to the post, the commissioner spoke while leading journalists to a residential building in Araromi Quarters, Ayegun North, Oluyole Local Government Area, where the victims were allegedly held before their rescue by police operatives.

Olugbenga said preliminary investigations indicated that the location had allegedly been used repeatedly by kidnappers as a hideout for abducted victims.

According to him, some residents in the area reportedly observed suspicious movements around the property but failed to alert security agencies.

“They have been bringing the abductees here. They bring them here, and people see them. Some even greet them and say ‘welcome.’ When people see such things and don’t speak up, what do you expect us to do?” The commissioner queried.

He added that early reports from residents could have enabled security operatives to intervene before the situation escalated.

“If suspicious activities like this had been reported, none of this would have happened. We would have taken the necessary steps in good time,” he stated.

The police commissioner stressed that tackling kidnapping, banditry and other security threats requires cooperation between security agencies and members of the public.

According to the post, he urged residents to promptly report unusual movements and suspicious activities within their communities to relevant authorities.

Atiku Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, on Sunday rejected the accusation by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, that he had ignored victims of violence in Nigeria.

Stressing that Lawal’s claims are untrue, Atiku said that, contrary to the allegation, he attended a church thanksgiving service in the Kagoro area of Southern Kaduna to show support for the grieving community and share in the pain of families affected by the violence.

In a statement titled, “From Kagoro to Chibok: The Atiku Babachir Lawal Refuses to See,” signed by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President said that when tragedy struck the people of Kagoro in Southern Kaduna, he did not ask whether the victims were Christians or Muslims, northerners or southerners, Fulani or non-Fulani; instead, he stood with them.

He stated that over the years, he has consistently condemned terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, communal violence, attacks on Christian communities, attacks on Muslim communities, and other forms of insecurity across Nigeria.

According to the statement, “The problem of banditry in Northern Nigeria is very real. Thousands have been killed. Communities have been displaced. Farmers have abandoned their lands. Families are now budgeting for ransom payments just as they budget for school fees. Using that tragedy to blame an entire ethnic group is both intellectually lazy and morally wrong.

“There is an irony here that Mr. Lawal appears unwilling to confront. The same ethnic group he now speaks of with so much suspicion once gave him tremendous support when one of its most prominent members, Muhammadu Buhari, appointed him to the highest office he would ever hold in public service as Secretary to the Government of the Federation. At no point during that appointment did Mr. Lawal object to the fact that a Fulani man elevated him to such a prominent national position.

“He accepted the trust, the office, and the privileges that came with it. It is therefore strange and unfortunate that he now seeks to condemn an entire ethnic group simply because another Fulani man, Atiku Abubakar, seeks to become president through a democratic process. Such selective outrage is neither fair nor credible.

“The facts also contradict his attempt to portray Atiku as indifferent to the suffering of people across ethnic and religious divides. When the people of Kagoro in Southern Kaduna suffered a devastating tragedy, Atiku Abubakar did not ask whether the victims belonged to a particular ethnic group, religion, or background.

“He attended a church thanksgiving service to identify with the people, share the pain of grieving families, and support a hurting community. That is how a leader behaves when he sees Nigerians as fellow citizens rather than as members of competing ethnic groups. It is difficult to reconcile Babachir’s portrayal of Atiku with the public record of a man who has consistently worked to unite people across religious and ethnic lines during periods of national crisis.

“Babachir further questioned why Atiku has not spoken about victims of violent attacks across the country. This accusation collapses under the weight of readily available evidence. For years, Atiku Abubakar has consistently condemned terrorism, banditry, mass killings, attacks on Christian communities, attacks on Muslim communities, kidnappings, and communal conflicts. He has spoken on the tragedies that occurred in Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Borno, Niger, Owo, and many other locations.

“One may disagree with his prescriptions. One may even question whether statements alone are sufficient. But to claim that he has remained silent is simply incorrect.”

The Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency has announced that the airlift of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia back to Nigeria will commence on June 15, 2026.

Chairman of the Agency, Malam Salihu S. Abubakar, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, saying all pilgrims would be transported home in the same sequence in which they arrived in the Kingdom for the 2026 Hajj exercise.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, Ibrahim Datti, on Sunday.

According to him, pilgrims who departed Nigeria on the first flight will be returned on the first inbound flight, while subsequent groups will be airlifted according to their original travel schedules.

Abubakar stressed that no pilgrim would be permitted to alter or select a different return flight outside the arrangements made by the agency.

“Pilgrims who arrived on the first flight will return on the first flight, while other groups will be transported according to their respective schedules,” he said.

The chairman urged all Kaduna pilgrims to cooperate with officials of the agency and strictly comply with the approved return timetable to ensure a smooth and successful airlift operation.