Today’s Headlines: Wike Has No Right To Stop Amaechi’s Campaign, Says ADC; ICC Rejects US Sanctions, Vows To Continue Work

The Rivers State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has told the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, that he has no legal or moral right to stop its Vice-Presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, from campaigning in the state ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The party reacted to a statement attributed to Wike on Saturday, in which he reportedly said he would not allow Amaechi to campaign in Rivers unless he accounted for funds allegedly misappropriated during his tenure as governor.

In a statement, the Rivers ADC Publicity Secretary, Chizy Eneyi, challenged Wike to present evidence of the alleged financial misconduct to the appropriate authorities.

“If Wike possessed evidence of the monumental crimes he now alleges, why has he not ensured their prosecution?” the party asked, noting that Wike served as governor of Rivers State for eight years.

Eneyi said, “Eight years as Governor, yet the evidence apparently only comes out whenever Amaechi speaks. What an extraordinary coincidence!

“Television studios are not courtrooms, political insults are not evidence, and shouting allegations into microphones does not amount to securing a conviction.”

On Wike’s reported threat to prevent Amaechi from campaigning in Rivers, the party described the statement as troubling and an affront to opposition politicians’ rights.

He said, “Since when did Rivers State become a private estate requiring the permission of Nyesom Wike before citizens can exercise their constitutional rights?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected sanctions imposed by the United States, describing them as an attempt to disrupt its operations and intimidate those working with the institution.

The US imposed the sanctions on Friday, hours after one of the court’s former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump would never allow the ICC to prosecute Americans.

“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC. We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defence, to rein in the court,” Rubio said.

Reacting to the sanctions in a video statement, ICC President Tomoko Akane said they were intended to disrupt the court’s operations and intimidate its staff and those who cooperate with it.

Former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has dismissed as false a report claiming that a magistrate court issued a bench warrant against him for alleged forgery.

In a statement endorsed by his Chief Press Secretary/Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, the erstwhile governor challenged anybody with the said bench warrant to publish the document in 48 hours.

Okorocha noted that the said report claimed that the bench warrant was issued on October 9 following a petition dated October 8 and wondered how an investigation and other processes were concluded within 24 hours.

The former governor urged members of the public to disregard the report, adding that what the All Progressives Congress needs at the moment is peace.

“Against the backdrop of all these, we want to strongly state, and we stand to be contradicted, that no court, whether that of the Senior Magistrate or the High Court, had ordered or issued any bench warrant for the arrest of Okorocha.

“Now that we have openly made this denial, the burden now is on those behind the trending story of the court order for the arrest of Okorocha to unveil the court order or bench warrant. Let them make it public. Under normal scenarios, they should have published the arrest story, with the court order and the name of the senior magistrate in question. Perhaps they had forgotten to do that. Now, we are challenging them to make the court order or bench warrant public. We ask that they do that within 48 hours.

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has likened President Bola Tinubu to former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, accusing the Nigerian leader of engaging in vote-buying ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Melaye made the remark in a post on X, where the African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain described the planned fuel price reduction as temporary.

He wrote: “Tinubu reminds me of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda. I never see this type before.

“Tinubu’s plan to reduce fuel price is temporal and evaporative. It is simply vote buying.”

The development comes as the Nigerian government, through the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, announced a 30-day fuel price discount at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) filling stations across the country.

However, amid the announcement, the pump price of petrol at filling stations remained at N1,370 per litre, despite the proposed discounted price of N1,350 per litre.

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