Today’s Headlines: Tinubu’s Umrah Trip Not For Northern Votes— Aide, How Obasanjo’s threat made me run to Ghana – Amaechi

A presidential aide, Ademola Oshodi, has dismissed suggestions that President Bola Tinubu’s Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia was aimed at winning support in Northern Nigeria ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Oshodi, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Protocol, said the President’s visit should be viewed from a religious and national perspective rather than as an attempt to influence voters in a particular region.

He made the remarks on Monday while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

The aide argued that the significance of Tinubu’s access to the Holy Kaaba, Islam’s most sacred structure, went beyond regional politics, saying Muslims across the country cherished the rare opportunity.

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential running mate, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed how former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s threat made him run from Nigeria to Ghana.

Amaechi disclosed that Obasanjo threatened him while attempting to stop him from becoming the governor of Rivers State.

In a video on X, Amaechi revealed that he escaped to Ghana from where he fought to become the governor of Rivers State.

The ADC presidential running mate made the remarks while urging youths to take up leadership roles in Nigeria.

The Katsina State Governor, Mallam Dikko Radda, on Thursday, at the council’s headquarters in Katsina, inaugurated members of the Independent Campaign Council and unveiled vehicles as part of his reelection efforts.

Radda urged the council’s officials and members to work harmoniously with other political groups in the state to achieve the All Progressives Congress’ objectives of electoral success across the 34 local government areas of the state.

He expressed confidence in the party’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, saying the council should mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu, himself, and other APC candidates.

The governor said “the calibre and experience of members of the council would contribute to its activities ahead of the elections.

Nigerians in Northern England have called on the Federal Government to establish a permanent passport and consular service in Manchester after the city recorded 1,709 passport enrolments in the first six days of a recent intervention, nearly three times London’s 587.

The Nigerian Community Greater Manchester said the figures, released by the Nigeria Immigration Service on September 14, showed the demand for passport services outside the Nigerian High Commission in London and the difficulties faced by Nigerians who travel long distances to access them.

The community’s chairman, Abayomi Bashiru-Kaka, made the call at the organisation’s celebration of Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary in Manchester on Saturday, October 10.In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Joy Adetona, the group said the intervention had eased access to passport services but argued that temporary exercises were insufficient to meet the needs of Nigerians living across Northern England.

Residents of Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Newcastle often have to travel to London for consular services, incurring additional transport costs and time away from work, the group said.

Notable Plateau-based cleric Maseke Daniels has called for unity among the residents of the state, just as he also urged the people to be compassionate to one another.

The cleric, while making the call insisted that “at a time as this, compassion, and the love for humanity must transcend ethnic and religious differences, particularly in challenging times.”

He maintained that the current economic hardship requires Nigerians to show greater love and unity to one another.

According to him, “In this season of economic challenges, we must continue to serve humanity and to give hope to the hopeless.

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