Today’s Headlines:Atiku is North enemy–SGF Akume; Rivers 2027: Can Fubara save Wike, his nemesis?

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, has described the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as an enemy of the North.

Akume’s spokesman, Yomi Odunuga, in a statement on Saturday, said the SGF spoke at a pre-campaign meeting with Benue State indigenes residing in Kaduna.

Akume said Atiku’s ambition is against the interest of the North.

Not a few observers of the politics of Rivers State are keenly following the recent turn in the course of developments, whereby a fresh angle that features a reproachment of hitherto warring camps has thrown up the question of where the political future of the state is headed.

This is just as the question also looms over whether the ongoing moves can guarantee genuine peace in the state after the storms spawned in the course of the power tussle between Nyesom Wike, the Minster of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara. It needs to be recalled that all through the years-long crisis, Wike had openly relished his disturbing role as an unforgiving nemesis to Fubara

Yet, last Sunday, Wike led a team of his Rainbow Coalition to the private residence of Fubara for a reported formal reconciliation meeting with the latter’s Simplified Movement camp. While details of the terms of reconciliation are yet to be fully made public, certain gestures by the Wike camp point to a softening of positions by both camps.

Political leaders in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have pledged to deliver “top-to-bottom” votes for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections, citing infrastructure projects and what they described as improved political cooperation under the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike.

The pledge came as Wike urged other states to emulate the Rainbow Coalition model, which he said had brought peace and political stability to the FCT and Rivers State by encouraging leaders of the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work together despite their partisan differences.

The minister spoke during an interactive engagement with political leaders, traditional rulers, women and youths in Kuje, where he argued that political competition should not degenerate into violence, hostility or the destruction of property.

“If Nigerian politics can come to this level, we will not be hearing about fighting; we will not be seeing ourselves killing each other,” Wike said.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has accused some applicants protesting their exclusion from its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise of attempting to secure employment through unofficial channels.

The accusation is coming amid the allegations of irregularities that have continued to trail the selection process.

The service, however, has promised to reinstate applicants found to have been wrongly disqualified.

The controversy centered on why some candidates whose names appeared on the successful candidates’ list were allegedly dropped.