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FCT Council Polls: APC Sweeps Five Chairmanship Seats, PDP Holds Gwagwalada

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has secured a dominant victory in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, winning five out of the six chairmanship seats up for grabs.

Results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show the APC victorious in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Kwali, Kuje, and Abaji Area Councils. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed the sole remaining seat, winning in Gwagwalada Area Council.

In AMAC, the incumbent chairman and APC candidate, Christopher Maikalangu, secured re-election with a decisive 40,295 votes. His closest rival, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), polled 12,109 votes, while the PDP candidate trailed with 3,398 votes.

The APC also triumphed in Bwari, where Joshua Ishaku clinched the chairmanship with 18,466 votes. The ADC candidate came second with 4,254 votes, followed by the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) candidate with 3,515 votes.

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In Kwali, the ruling party’s candidate, Daniel Nuhu, defeated the PDP’s Haruna Pai, scoring 17,032 votes against Pai’s 8,575 votes.

Similarly, in Abaji, APC’s Abubakar secured a commanding win with 15,536 votes, far outpacing his PDP rival, who garnered 4,547 votes. The ADC candidate finished a distant third with just 37 votes.

The Kuje contest was the closest of the APC victories. The party’s candidate, Hon. Samuel, narrowly defeated the PDP challenger, polling 3,808 votes against the PDP’s 3,699 votes. The ADC candidate trailed with 152 votes.

Amidst the APC sweep, the Peoples Democratic Party secured a significant win in Gwagwalada Area Council. Its candidate, Mohammed Kasim, emerged victorious with 22,165 votes, defeating his closest rival, Yahaya Shehu of the APC, who polled 17,788 votes.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) finished a distant third with 432 votes. It was followed by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which secured 1,687 votes, and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) with 1,366 votes. Several other parties trailed, including the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with 175 votes, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) with 158 votes, and the Action Democratic Party (ADP) with 128 votes. The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) recorded the lowest tally with just 24 votes.

INEC Returning Officer for Gwagwalada, Philip Akpen, who declared Mr. Kasim the winner, described the election in the council as peaceful and orderly, noting that voting and collation proceeded without major disruptions.

The Gwagwalada chairmanship election recorded 207,577 registered voters, with 46,294 accredited to vote. A total of 43,960 votes were declared valid, while 1,521 ballots were rejected.

The FCT elections were closely watched, reflecting the heightened political competition between the APC and the PDP. Smaller parties struggled to make significant inroads in most councils, with the ADC performing as the primary opposition in several areas but failing to secure any chairmanship seat.

INEC is expected to conclude collation and announce the final results for any outstanding positions as the process is completed across all six Area Councils.

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You’re a Hypocrite!” – Bashir el-Rufai Goes Nuclear on Brother Bello Over Uba Sani Loyalty

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

 

Bashir el-Rufai, son of former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai, unleashed a barrage of slurs at his brother, Bello, on Saturday morning.

Bashir, in a series of expletive-laden posts on X, attacked Bello over his recent political moves, accusing him of abandoning the family while he was aligned with Uba Sani, his father’s successor.

Sani, the incumbent governor of Kaduna, was a former ally of el-Rufai, but both men fell out after the former won the 2023 governorship election.

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Following el-Rufai’s resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in March 2025, Bello, who represents Kaduna north federal constituency, remained in the ruling party.

However, on May 7, 2026, Bello eventually defected from the APC to join his father in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Commenting on Saturday, Bashir alleged that his brother remained loyal to Sani until he realised he was being “dumped”, after which he began talking about family loyalty.

“Stuck with Uba Sani until he realized he is being dumped then suddenly remembered family loyalty and moved to ADC. Where was he since? Purely serving his interest,” Bashir wrote.

He accused his brother of being neutral while others criticised the Kaduna state governor.

Bashir also alleged that Bello asked him to “pipe down my criticism of his former boss,” presumably Sani.

One of Bashir’s tweets. The expletives have been redacted.
“At this stage in my life, I hate nonsense,” he added, while calling his brother a hypocrite.

Bashir also made several other allegations against his brother in the X posts, some of which were later deleted.

The allegations bordered on fertility status and unsubstantiated drug use.

Their father, el-Rufai, has been in custody since February 2026 over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure as governor of Kaduna between 2015 and 2023.

On April 13, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arraigned him at the Kaduna high court on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office.

The Department of State Services (DSS) is also prosecuting el-Rufai before the federal high court in Abuja over allegations of wiretapping.

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Court Ultimatum Forces FBI to Hand Over Tinubu’s Fraud Records to Judge—But Keeps Them Hidden from Public

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has hand delivered records of President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 drug-trafficking and money-laundering case to Judge Howell Beryl of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying they are for her eyes only, court filings seen by Peoples Gazette indicated.

The FBI secretly submitted the records on Friday to avoid disobeying a court order while sidelining transparency campaigner, Aaron Greenspan, who petitioned the Bureau for the Nigerian leader’s records in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Following years of foot-dragging on a FOI petition filed by Mr Greenspan in 2023, the FBI on Friday complied with a court order directing it to release Mr Tinubu’s records. Mr Greenspan worked with Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin, to file the petition in 2023.

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The records submitted as “under seal, ex parte, in camera declarations were hand delivered to the Court on August 28, 2026 in compliance with this Court’s Minute Order dated August 20, 2026,” filings showed.

Mrs Beryl lost her patience with the FBI after the bureau missed several deadlines , giving excuses on why it could not immediately provide the records.

She issued August 28 as the final ultimatum to the FBI, which prompted the FBI’s decision to comply, showing it “in camera” to the judge alone, without carrying along the petitioner.

Earlier this week , FBI claimed that submitting the records would violate Mr Tinubu’s privacy and argued that FOI was established to screen the operations and records of government institutions, not necessarily private individuals.

For decades, Mr Tinubu has avoided speaking on the drug affair, refusing to clarify controversies surrounding his involvement in a case that saw him forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. government.

Mr Tinubu also sought to block the release of his records, asserting his rivals only sought to use them to discredit him in a Nigerian presidential election. He begged the court to protect his privacy rights.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2023 released documents holding Mr Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

 

 

 

 

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NFF President Gusau Resigns

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Nigeria Football Federation President, Ibrahim Gusau, has resigned from office, announcing his decision during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

According to the Super Eagles news account on X (@SSE_NGA), Gusau was joined by board members of the Executive Committee in resignation.

The crisis follows the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a first in Nigeria’s history, after a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the play-off.

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The Falcons had earlier been knocked out of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations at the quarter-final stage by Cameroon. The Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

The NFF has separately faced scrutiny over its handling of a ₦17bn Federal Government intervention fund released in 2024, as well as a fact-finding committee report alleging that board members and officials influenced national team invitations for financial gain.

Gusau’s exit comes ahead of the NFF’s elective congress, scheduled for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

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