Headlines
Angry Shi’ites Invade NASS, Shoot Policemen, Force Adjournment
Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, popularly known as Shi’ites, on Tuesday invaded the National Assembly and shot two policemen.
The sect members, who were protesting the continued incarceration of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, that had been in detention since December, 2015, also attacked six other policemen at the National Assembly with stones and clubs.
One of our correspondents learnt that the Shiite members overpowered the policemen at the gate of the National Assembly, collected one of their guns and shot the two security operatives.
They entered the main entrance popularly known as MOPOL gate and vandalised the gate house. They also burnt three vehicles and destroyed many others.
The sect unleashed terror on security operatives when tear-gas canisters were thrown to disperse them. There were fears among the National Assembly staff on Tuesday that one of the policemen, who were shot, had died.
But when contacted, the Federal Capital Territory Police spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, said no policeman died during the clash with the IMN members, He said, “We don’t have any casualty, no policeman died. Why would we hide such a thing? There was no casualty.”
He also denied that the IMN members seized a gun from a policeman. He said, “No police gun is missing, we have no record that the Shiite members snatched guns from our men.”
During the protest by the Shiites, there was pandemonium at the National Assembly as its gates were closed. Staff and visitors ran for dear lives during the clash between the sect and the police.
Visitors to the federal parliament were barred from entering the premises as of the time of filing this report.
Once the information filtered into the House of Representatives, which was still in plenary as of the time of the attack, the Speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, called for adjournment of the session.
He said, “We have to adjourn now for security and legislative reasons. Leader…” The Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, moved a motion for adjournment, while the Minority Leader, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, seconded the motion.
The Speaker, other leaders and members of the House, after the plenary, visited the victims at the clinic.
While the National Assembly Clinic confirmed that seven persons were injured, most of whom were security men, a security source disclosed that the Divisional Police Officer, National Assembly Division, Mr Umar Sambo, had gunshot, knife cut and stone injuries.
Speaking with journalists, the Director of Medical Services, National Assembly, Dr Bashir Hamza, said seven victims were taken to the clinic, most of whom he said were policemen.
He said, “They were brought here as an emergency. As usual, when patients come like that we don’t have to confirm whether it is a staff member or a visitor; we just first of all rush to save the life.
“That was what had exactly done. As soon as they were brought in, we had doctors on the ground who quickly received them. They were other medical personnel also on the ground who attended to them.
“One of the patients had a cut which looked like knife cut on the head and was bleeding profusely. That was immediately attended to, to stop the bleeding. There was another one with gunshot wound on the left shoulder. It was quickly attended to too.
“In all the cases that we have seen – I think we have seen seven persons with various degrees of injury, we made sure that they were stabilised, with the exception of the first one that I mentioned who has been losing a lot of blood and has started becoming restless.
“In our medical knowledge, we know that people (patients) who start to become restless are getting out of control, probably the bleeding is much higher than we anticipated or there is internal bleeding in the head, because it is appearing (to be) swollen.
The Punch
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed the cost of its presidential nomination form at N100 million and governorship form at N50 million ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The party disclosed this in its Schedule of Activities and Timetable for the 2027 General Elections, signed by the National Organizing Secretary, Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu.
According to the document, the Presidential form comprises a N30 million Expression of Interest fee and a N70 million Nomination fee.
The governorship form is broken down into N10 million for Expression of Interest and N40 million for Nomination.
Other forms are priced as follows: Senate at N20 million, made up of N3 million for Expression of Interest and N17 million for Nomination; House of Representatives at N10 million, comprising N1 million for Expression of Interest and N9 million for Nomination; and House of Assembly at N6 million, split between N1 million for Expression of Interest and N5 million for Nomination.
The party said female aspirants, youth, and physically challenged aspirants are to pay for the Expression of Interest fee and 50 percent of the prescribed Nomination fees for each position.
On the timetable, the APC said sale of forms will run from Saturday, April 25 to Saturday, May 2, 2026, at the APC National Secretariat, with the last day for submission of completed forms and accompanying documents fixed for Monday, May 4, 2026.
Screening of aspirants for the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, and Governorship is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6, to Friday, May 8, 2026, while Presidential aspirants will be screened on Saturday, May 9, 2026.
Primary elections are scheduled to be held between May 15 and May 23, 2026, with the Presidential primary holding first on Friday, May 15, to Saturday, May 16, followed by the House of Representatives on Monday, May 18, the Senate on Wednesday, May 20, State House of Assembly on Thursday, May 21 and Governorship on Saturday, May 23.
The party said the timetable was released in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2026, and the INEC Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 general elections.
Iran’s military, on Saturday, declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again, hours after reopening it and with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the vital waterway.
The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump’s optimism the day before, that a peace deal to end the US-Israeli war with Iran was “very close”.
Tehran had on Friday declared the strait, which usually carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, open on Friday after a ceasefire was agreed in Lebanon to halt Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
That prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but with Trump insisting that a US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal was concluded, Tehran threatened to shutter the strait once more.
Then, late on Saturday morning, citing a statement from military central command, Iranian state TV reported that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous status” and “is under strict management and control of the armed forces”, blaming the continued US blockade.
The announcement came as maritime tracking sites showed several ships making a dash through the narrow waterway, hugging close to Iranian territorial waters as instructed by Tehran and, for some, broadcasting their identity as Indian or Chinese in an apparent attempt to show their neutrality.
The same sites showed that late on Friday, a number of ships began heading for the strait before suddenly turning back amid the uncertainty.
By 0900 GMT on Saturday, several ships had fully transited the strait in both directions, but at least two tankers headed eastwards from the Gulf towards India after loading in UAE ports appeared to have turned around and aborted their journeys.
There are just four days remaining before the end of the two-week ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran, launched by Washington and its ally on February 28.
Nevertheless, President Trump appeared convinced that a deal could be finished shortly.
He declared Friday “GREAT AND BRILLIANT,” and made a series of social media posts praising talks mediator Pakistan.
Islamabad’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, on Saturday finished a three-day visit to Iran aimed at securing the peace deal, during which he met Iran’s top leadership.
While Munir was in Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to push the peace process.
Islamabad has emerged as the lead mediator during the conflict, hosting a marathon round of direct peace talks last weekend attended by US Vice President JD Vance.
A second round of talks is expected in the Pakistani capital this coming week, with envoys hoping to end the war that was started by the US and Israel on February 28.
The allies launched a massive wave of surprise attacks on Iran, despite Washington and Tehran being engaged in diplomatic talks, that killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and numerous senior leaders.
The war rapidly spread across the region, with Iran targeting US interests in the Gulf and Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into the conflict by launching rockets at Israel.
In a sign that the two-week ceasefire remained stable, Iran’s civil aviation agency declared its airspace was open again, with international flights able to transit Iran via the east of the country.
Nevertheless, two major sticking points in the peace talks — Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and the future of the Strait of Hormuz — appeared up in the air.
Speaking by phone with AFP on Friday, Trump said “we’re very close to having a deal,” adding that there were “no sticking points at all” left with Tehran.
Later the same day, at an event in Arizona, the president declared that Iran had agreed to hand over its 440 or so kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent — close to that needed for a bomb.
“We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he said.
But hours before, Iran’s foreign ministry had said its stockpile, thought to be buried deep under rubble by US bombing in last June’s 12-day war, was not going anywhere.
“Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state TV.
“Transfer of Iran’s enriched uranium to the US has never been raised in negotiations.”
Ordinary Iranians, meanwhile, remained cut off from the international internet, with monitor netblocks announcing on Saturday that the blackout implemented at the start of the war had reached its 50th day.
AFP
Veteran journalist and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Dele Momodu, has declared that a joint presidential ticket between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi represents the strongest strategy for the opposition to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, Momodu said the emerging ADC coalition is gaining momentum as a credible alternative to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which he accused of promoting “one-man rule” and weakening democratic institutions.
Momodu argued that an Atiku–Obi ticket offers both experience and electoral appeal, noting that both politicians already command significant national followings from previous elections. He recalled their collaboration in 2019, adding that Obi’s performance in the 2023 presidential election provides a ready base of supporters that can be consolidated.
According to him, the coalition is further strengthened by the involvement of political heavyweights such as Rabiu Kwankwaso and Rotimi Amaechi, making it a formidable opposition alliance.
“The candidates who placed second, third, and even fourth are aligning. That naturally builds a strong challenge,” Momodu said, suggesting that this development could unsettle the APC ahead of 2027.
He also accused the Tinubu administration of centralising power and undermining democratic processes, claiming that key institutions—including the legislature and electoral system—are increasingly influenced by the executive arm of government. He warned that such a trend poses risks to Nigeria’s democracy.
Momodu further alleged that opposition parties face systemic obstacles, including difficulties in accessing venues, legal pressures, and institutional interference. He argued that these challenges have made opposition unity not just strategic, but necessary.
Dismissing concerns about possible cracks within the ADC coalition, Momodu described such fears as speculative, insisting that current political realities have effectively forced major opposition figures to work together.
