By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

President Bola Tinubu has approved Nigeria’s bid to host the 2026 Confederation of African Football Awards as well as the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly.

According to a statement released by the Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday, the approval came during the ongoing Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, following a meeting between Tinubu and CAF President Patrice Motsepe.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; NFF President Ibrahim Gusau; former NFF President and Special Adviser to the CAF President Amaju Pinnick; as well as CAF Acting General Secretary Samson Adamu were present at the meeting.

In the statement, the NFF confirmed that the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly would take place in October this year, bringing together top football administrators from across the continent.

“The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, has approved Nigeria’s proposed hosting of the 48th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football, as well as this year’s CAF Awards Ceremony,” the statement read.

“The 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly will take place in October this year.”

The CAF Ordinary General Assembly traditionally brings together presidents of CAF’s 54 member associations, representatives of the six zonal unions, and senior football officials from across the continent.

The CAF Awards ceremony remains African football’s flagship event, celebrating the continent’s top performers in an atmosphere of glitz, glamour, and prestige.

The most recent CAF Awards ceremony took place in Rabat, Morocco, on November 19, 2025, with the hosts dominating several major categories.

Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi succeeded Ademola Lookman as African Men’s Player of the Year after helping Paris Saint-Germain win the UEFA Champions League and Ligue 1 title.

The defender became the first Moroccan player to win the award since Mustapha Hadji in 1998, finishing ahead of Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen.

Morocco also won other major individual honours, with Yassine Bounou winning Goalkeeper of the Year, Othmane Maamma named Young Player of the Year, and Ghizlane Chebbak emerging as Women’s Player of the Year after her performances at the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria, however, still retained a strong presence in the women’s categories. Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie successfully defended her Goalkeeper of the Year crown, while Nigeria’s women’s national team won National Team of the Year after another dominant campaign.

Nigeria has previously hosted the CAF Awards on four occasions, with Lagos staging the most recent edition in January 2015.

At that ceremony held at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Ivory Coast legend Yaya Touré won his fourth consecutive African Player of the Year award, equalling Samuel Eto’o’s record. Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama had been among the final three nominees after an outstanding season with Lille but finished behind Touré and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The 2015 ceremony in Lagos also marked the beginning of Asisat Oshoala’s dominance in African women’s football, as the Nigerian forward won her first Women’s Player of the Year award on home soil before going on to extend it to a historic six.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sharply condemned reports that governors elected on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform diverted funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to finance President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.

In a statement issued Tuesday and signed by National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party described the alleged action as “shameless, cruel, and criminal” — particularly as millions of Nigerians face deepening poverty, hunger, and hopelessness stemming from what the ADC called the ruling party’s “bad policies.”

The party said the report, which alleges that over N800 billion was raised through deductions from FAAC allocations for political purposes, confirms what Nigerians have long suspected.

“The same government that told Nigerians there is no money to reduce suffering somehow found a way to allegedly mobilise over N800 billion for politics,” the statement read. “The same government asking citizens to endure sacrifice is allegedly supervising one of the largest political funding operations in Nigeria’s democratic history. This is not leadership. This is exploitation.”

The ADC further argued that it is morally indefensible for state governments receiving record-breaking allocations to fail in improving citizens’ lives while allegedly diverting money to fund the President’s re-election ambitions.

“Under this APC government, states are receiving more money than at any other period in Nigeria’s history, yet Nigerians are poorer, hungrier, and more desperate than ever before,” the party said. “Roads are still collapsing. Hospitals are still empty. Schools are still underfunded. Workers are underpaid. Communities remain unsafe. The only thing growing is the political appetite of the ruling party.”

The ADC called for an immediate independent investigation into the allegations, including the reported use of FAAC deductions and any related accounts or structures allegedly linked to the operation.

“If these allegations are true, then this represents a dangerous abuse of public trust and a scandal of enormous national consequence,” the party concluded. “You cannot impoverish the people to fund your own re-election. Nigerians are not blind. Nigerians are not fools. And Nigerians will remember.”

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has fixed 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian universities for the 2026 academic session.

The decision was reached on Monday during the ongoing 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions, held in Abuja. The annual policy meeting, which brings together key education stakeholders, was chaired by the Minister of Education, Tuniji Alausa.

In addition to university representatives, the gathering included heads of other tertiary institutions and regulatory bodies, all of whom deliberated on benchmarks to ensure a fair and standardized admission process for the upcoming academic year.

The 150 mark serves as the baseline for eligibility, though individual universities retain the right to set higher cut-off points based on their specific admission criteria and applicant pool.

Further resolutions from the policy meeting are expected to be released in the coming days.