By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Atiku Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has raised concerns over an unsolicited credit alert to his private bank account, describing the transaction as a severe breach of financial privacy.

In a statement posted on X on Friday, Mr. Abubakar’s media aide, Phrank Shaibu, disclosed that the former Vice President received the funds from an unknown individual, with the payment narration reading “Contribution Electioneering Campaign.” Shaibu emphasized that neither Mr. Abubakar nor his campaign team solicited, authorized, or had any prior knowledge of the sender or the transaction.

The aide underscored the gravity of the incident by pointing out that the account involved is a strictly private one, the details of which are not in the public domain.

“This raises a fundamental question: How did unknown persons obtain the confidential banking details of a private citizen?” Shaibu queried.

While the credited amount could not independently be verified, Shaibu warned that the circumstances carry troubling implications for national security.

“If the private banking information of a former Vice President and a leading presidential candidate can be accessed and deployed for reasons yet unknown, then no Nigerian’s financial privacy is safe,” he stated.

Shaibu further expressed suspicion that the breach may have been facilitated by individuals with privileged access—a development he characterized as a grave abuse of power. Such exposure, he noted, could leave account holders vulnerable to kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, and fraudsters.

Consequently, Mr. Abubakar’s camp has placed the Nigerian public and security agencies on notice, citing this incident as the latest in a litany of suspicious occurrences ahead of next year’s general elections.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A transparency advocacy group, Tracka, has raised serious concerns over the inability of the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to provide records showing where more than ₦1 billion reportedly spent on renovating 100 classrooms was actually executed.

According to Tracka’s findings from the Kano State 2025 Fourth Quarter Budget Implementation Report (BIR), over ₦1 billion was disbursed for the classroom renovation project. However, the organisation said the absence of specific project locations in the official report has rendered citizen oversight nearly impossible.

In a bid to obtain clarity, Tracka submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Kano SUBEB on May 19, 2026, seeking the names of contractors, specific project locations, and implementation statuses. The request was signed by Tracka State Officer, Maryam Usman, on behalf of the organisation’s Head, Joshua Osiyemi.

In a statement released to journalists, Tracka disclosed that rather than furnish the requested details, Kano SUBEB responded that it had no record of the locations where the renovations were carried out. The board reportedly directed the Tracka team to only one site – Jili Primary School in Rimin Gado Local Government Area – where repainting and repair works were confirmed to have been undertaken.

“The lack of specific location has made tracking very difficult,” Tracka stated. “We wrote an FOI to SUBEB Kano State Universal Basic Education Board in May 2026, but they responded saying they do not have a record of the locations where renovations have been done. The only school they directed us to was Jili Primary School, Rimin Gado, and we saw that repainting and repairs have been done at the school.”

Tracka further revealed that SUBEB referred the organisation to the Kano State Ministry of Education for information on the remaining project locations.

The advocacy group has now called on the Ministry of Education to urgently make public the full breakdown of the classroom renovation programme, including all project locations, contractor details, and complete expenditure records.

“We were directed to the Kano State Ministry of Education for information on the locations of this project. We implore the ministry to provide the public with the full breakdown of this project, including locations and spending,” the organisation added.

The development has reignited debates over budget implementation transparency in the state, particularly given that the reported sum – exceeding ₦1 billion for just 100 classrooms – averages roughly ₦10 million per classroom, a figure that Tracka suggests warrants thorough public scrutiny.

As of press time, the Kano State Ministry of Education had not issued an official response to Tracka’s demands.

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.