Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has described Nigeria as a “crime scene” following revelations of massive financial irregularities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

In a statement on Friday, Obi said the Senate’s recent audit findings on the NNPC between 2017 and 2023 revealed “₦210 trillion in financial irregularities,” including “₦103 trillion in so-called ‘accrued expenses’ and ₦107 trillion in unaccounted ‘receivables.’”

“There is no documentation. No accountability. No consequences,” Obi said.

He noted that Nigeria’s total national budget within the same period amounted to ₦88.01 trillion, which is less than half of the missing or questionable funds.

His words: “This is not just another scandal, it is a clear and damning confirmation of a nation held hostage by monumental corruption.”

Obi described the development as “a criminal institutionalised betrayal of the Nigerian people” and warned that it poses “a grave threat to the future of the society our children will live in.”

“No responsible nation can continue to function like this without confronting this truth.

“This criminality masquerading as governance must be stopped and dismantled for a better Nigeria,” he added.

Iran has appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday, the official Irna news agency says, after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike last week.

Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), appointed Brigadier General Majid Khadami as the new head of its intelligence division, Irna says.

He replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed on Sunday alongside two other Revolutionary Guards officers — Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri — in an Israeli strike.

Pakpour had himself been recently appointed after Israel killed his predecessor Hossein Salami in a strike on June 13.

“During the years that our martyred commanders Kazemi and Mohaqeq led the IRGC Intelligence, we witnessed significant growth in all aspects of intelligence within the IRGC,” says Pakpour.

Upon his appointment by Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei Friday, Pakpour threatened to open “the gates of hell” in retaliation for Israel’s attacks.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, has confirmed that televangelist Pastor Paul Adefarasin faces criminal charges after pointing a stun gun at another person, an act he said is punishable under Nigerian law even if the device is non-lethal. Jimoh spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday while providing an update on the ongoing probe.

“Nothing is an offence under the law, except what the law states to be an offence,” Jimoh explained. “Even under the Fire Arms Act, if you fashion out anything that is not metal, like wood, and you make it look like a gun, and you use that guise to take possession of property from another person, you have committed armed robbery. So, pointing a stun gun at another individual and sending that threat and fear to such a person at that particular time constitutes an offence. So, the police are doing everything in line with the law.”

According to Jimoh, the stun gun recovered from Adefarasin qualifies as prohibited riot control equipment under Nigerian statutes. Although the pastor has been released on bail, the commissioner emphasized that the investigation remains active. “He was invited; a letter of invitation was sent to him. In fact, we had prepared our warrant of arrest, in case he refused to comply with the invitation. But he turned himself in and was questioned by a team of investigators who were already on the matter before he turned himself in.”

The video that sparked the inquiry surfaced earlier this month, showing Adefarasin seated in a Range Rover holding what many believed to be a firearm as he spoke to someone outside the vehicle. The pastor has since taken to his official X account to dispute any wrongdoing: “You might be aware of a video circulating on social media showing me in what some have misunderstood as brandishing a firearm. I want to assure you — that was certainly not a firearm, and at no point did I point such at anyone.”

Jimoh further revealed that the individual allegedly threatened in the clip, a content creator whose address the police have obtained—will be summoned to provide a statement. “It is equally on social media that the person he pointed it to is a content creator and we are taking a statement from him as soon as he equally gets to us because we have got his address and we’re going to get him to make a statement in that regard.”

The commissioner concluded by promising transparency once the inquiry is complete: “The pastor is still under investigation, though he has been granted bail, but we will continue with the investigation and make the outcome of the investigation public for all Nigerians to know.”