Today’s Headline:How Govs frustrate Obasanjo plan to establish state police—Onyibe;APGA financier, Ibezi dumps Soludo, joins Obi, Umeh in NDC

GIVEN your knowledge and experience concerning state police, how do you see the ongoing process, methodology, and approach so far adopted by the authorities and other stakeholders in having State Police in Nigeria? Are all the various levels of authorities on track on the plan?

I think the Federal Government of Nigeria is on track. The National Assembly transmitted the bill on State Police on 16 September to states for their concurrence, as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria demands.

It requires that two-thirds of state Houses of Assembly concur with the amendments proposed by the National Assembly, which include about 18 clauses by the House of Representatives and 26 by the Senate. It is now up to the state legislators, who are closer to the people and really know where the shoe pinches, as it were, to make their input.

They’re expected to draw out from the grassroots the details of what needs to be done to make policing more effective. Such details might have been missed by the lawmakers in the National Assembly. As such, hopefully, there will be more clauses that will be harmonised before the bill is finally passed and transmitted to President Tinubu for his assent.

Former member of the House of Representatives and strong financier of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Hon. Ifeanyichukwu Ibezi, on Saturday dumped the ruling party in Anambra State and joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, abandoning Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s political camp.

Ibezi formally joined the NDC, declaring support for the presidential ambition of Mr Peter Obi and the re-election bid of Senator Victor Umeh, who represents Anambra Central Senatorial District.

Ibezi, popularly known as Ochiagha Idemili, was officially received into the party on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at a ceremony attended by Umeh and other party chieftains, marking a new phase in the former federal lawmaker’s political journey.

His exit from APGA has been described as a major blow to the party and its candidates in his area of political strength ahead of the forthcoming election.

THE Presidency has said that the Nigerian electorate is far too sophisticated to trade long-term national economic security for what it described as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s shallow, short-term demagoguery.

It also said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has chosen the hard, courageous, and necessary path in its policy decisions, adding that by coupling market deregulation with targeted price-smoothing mechanisms, strategic reserves, rapid CNG rollout, and disciplined fiscal management, the administration is laying a permanent foundation for sustainable prosperity.

Reacting to the recent press conference by the former Vice President and the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Abuja—where he allegedly attacked NNPC Retail’s 30-day discount on petrol price and a modulation framework—the Presidency said what Alhaji Atiku did was “a seminal example of shallow, election-laced demagoguery.”

The Presidency, in a statement titled, “Atiku’s demagoguery in the face of Tinubu’s logical policies,” issued by Dr. Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, said: “Atiku ‘Kachalla’, totally unplugged from global realities and consumed by an unbridled lust for power, is a lone ranger.

Liverpool manager, Andoni Iraola, has claimed that Ryan Gravenberch’s red card changed the course of the game, as they lost 3-0 to Manchester City on Sunday.

The Reds suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season against City.

Although the first half ended without goals, the second half became a different a different affair after Gravenberch was shown a second yellow card.

Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki scored for City, as they maintained their perfect start to the season.

An 83-year-old woman, Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday, has been arrested again by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for drug offences, less than two years after she was convicted for the same crime.

Operatives arrested her on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at her home in Ite-Uzo, Umuaguma, Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State. Methamphetamine and Colorado, a synthetic cannabinoid, were found tied to her waist with a wrapper. Her arrest followed intelligence that she runs a drug joint harbouring criminals who terrorise the community.

She was first arrested on May 17, 2025, at the same residence with her daughter, Chisom, 32. They were found with 50 grams of methamphetamine, 522 grams of skunk, 260 grams of fresh cannabis leaves and 12 grams of tramadol. Both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment or a N200,000 fine each. They paid the fine and were freed.