By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Solomon Dalung, has said he will institute a fresh legal challenge against President Bola Tinubu’s educational qualifications ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Mr Dalung, a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, alleged that unresolved questions surrounding Tinubu’s qualifications remained the “greatest threat” to Nigeria’s democratic transition and vowed to challenge the President’s eligibility in court.

He made the remarks during a media briefing at his residence in Jos, Plateau State, where he also accused the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration of weakening opposition parties and undermining Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.

According to him, the ruling party had intensified efforts to weaken the opposition by encouraging defections of elected officials.

“The political parties, who are actors in democracy, have also been destroyed. This attribute of destroying political parties started with the President buying governors to defect into his political party (APC). Thirty-one of them have gone there, yet he is still not certain of 2027,” Mr Dalung alleged.

He also accused the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of sponsoring litigation against opposition political parties to weaken them ahead of the next general election.

“The sponsor of all the litigation is Gbajabiamila; he should come out clean if he is denying it. The 2027 transition is under attack because democracy cannot exist with only one political party under a multiparty democracy constitutionally guaranteed,” he said.

Mr Dalung further alleged that President Tinubu was apprehensive about facing a united opposition because of what he described as unresolved issues surrounding the President’s educational qualifications.

“Tinubu is afraid of contesting election not because he didn’t want to contest, but because he is the most unqualified person to be nominated to contest election,” he said.

He claimed that legal challenges to Tinubu’s qualifications in 2023 failed because the Supreme Court held that the matter was a pre-election issue.

“And to the best of my knowledge, Tinubu has not gone to any school since 2023, so all the fake certificates that have been presented have not been remedied,” Mr Dalung alleged.

The former minister also made fresh allegations regarding Mr Tinubu’s educational records and National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, documentation, claiming they contained inconsistencies.

He insisted that the Constitution clearly stipulates the qualifications required to contest for the office of President and maintained that the ADC would seek judicial interpretation of Tinubu’s credentials as submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“So the greatest threat to the transition is the qualification of Tinubu. We will go to court,” Mr Dalung declared.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The federal government says it plans to review the welfare of personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), including salary structure, allowances, insurance, pension-related benefits and other packages.

A statement on Thursday by Modupe Adegboro, the deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Police Affairs, said the decision was taken on Tuesday in Abuja during a ministerial and stakeholders committee meeting.

She said the outcome of the meeting was to review the police officers’ welfare package and settlement of outstanding benefits.

The chairman of the committee and permanent secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Dr Anuma Ogbonnaya Nlia, said the initiative reflects the federal government’s determination to address longstanding welfare concerns affecting serving and retired police personnel while strengthening the operational effectiveness of the force.

“The committee is reviewing regular and non-regular allowances to ensure they reflect prevailing economic realities, the peculiar nature of policing, and are fully aligned with the public service rules,” he said.

He stated that the committee also examined outstanding pension arrears, death benefits, group life insurance liabilities, group personal accident claims and other welfare obligations requiring government intervention.

The statement also noted that deliberations identified inadequate accommodation as one of the major welfare challenges confronting Police personnel.

The committee said that improved access to decent accommodation would boost officers’ welfare, morale and productivity.

Mrs Adegboro stated that members further agreed on the need to harmonise existing allowances and eliminate duplication.

She also stated that this would ensure that only allowances recognised under the public service rules, alongside justified Police-specific operational allowances, are recommended.

“The committee also called for innovative and sustainable funding mechanisms to complement annual budgetary provisions and guarantee effective implementation of approved welfare programmes,” she said.

She added that the secretariat had also been mandated to produce a comprehensive draft report for consideration at the committee’s next meeting before submission to the government.

An Abuja businessman, Mr Ibrahim Garba was on Wednesday, arraigned before the Chief Magistrates’ Court Wuse for alleged criminal decimation of Mr Shehu Abdullahi, a businessman in the same premises.

Garba is the Managing Director of Wakaso Car Ltd. located at the Royal Park Garden of Wuse, Abuja.

The prosecuting counsel, Simeon Wujat, informed the court that the complainant, Mr Shehu Abdullahi of the same address, brought the matter to the court on June 24,2026.

The prosecutor said that on the June 17, 2026, the complainant came into his business premises and park his Honda Civic car in front of his business space.

Wujat said that on that same day at about 8:04pm the complainant was suprise when he saw a team of well-armed and fiercely looking police officers with a road safety towing van, attempting to towing his car.

The counsel said that upon making a peaceful inquiry, the complainant was told by the team leader of the squad that the defendant had reported to the police that the car is a stolen vehicle.

The prosecutor said that his client was embarrassed and was made to write a statement in respect to his own car, which was maliciously reported and declared by the defendant as a stolen vehicle.

Wujat informed the court that, the complaint provided a certified-true-copy of the said vehicle at the police station on June 17 with the copy of his proof of ownership and registration particulars.

The prosecution told the court that upon careful investigation by the Police, it was found out that, the defendant intentionally and spitefully gave the Police false information about the car.

According to him, the act inevitably distracted, maligned and defame the complainant’s good reputation, within and outside his business.

He alleged that the defendant malicious and false information which he gave to the Police against the complainant and his car, had portrayed him as a car thief.

Wujat explained that the act also portray his client as a criminal, thereby tarnishing his unassailable good reputation and good will.

The prosecutor said, the offence contrary to sections 391 and punishable under section 392 of the penal code ACT 9060.

The defendant however pleaded not guilty to the charge when readed to him.

The defendant counsel, Mr Hamza Dantani applied for the bail of the defendant citing sections 158 and 162 of the administration of criminal justice act (ACJA) saying bail is at the discretion of court.

Ruling on the applicantion of the defendant, Magistrates Faridah Ibrahim, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N3 million in like sum with a surety.

She ordered that surety who the couple to the defendant to submit his call to bar certificate and an undertaking to provide the defendant whenever he is needed in court.

She also said that the counsel tot the defendant will be made to face disciplinary committee should he fail to produce the defendant.