An explosion has rocked a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo Community in Gonna Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The explosion occurred late on Monday night near the Bodo-Bonny Road under construction

Thick black smoke was seen billowing into the atmosphere, with a raging fire spreading fast into the mangrove from a video that emerged on Tuesday morning.

The TNP is a federal transport line that supplies oil to the Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State.

When contacted, the Police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko said she would find out and get back to our reporter, though she had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

The Punch

A former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has rejected Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s call for opposition leaders to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

El-Rufai, who recently joined the SDP after dumping the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), appealed to opposition leaders in an interview with the BBC Hausa.

Although he did not mention Lamido’s name, the former Governor of Kaduna State invited key opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and Rauf Aregbesola, to join the SDP.

Responding to El-Rufai’s call in a separate BBC Hausa interview on Sunday, Lamido described the former governor’s invitation as an insult, saying the PDP laid the foundation for El-Rufai’s political career.

“The party we formed, the PDP, is the one that gave birth to El-Rufai. You’re not enough to make us leave the PDP,” Lamido said.

He added: “He once said that there are no adults in Nigeria in politics, but now he is calling on us to join him in the SDP.”

Lamido also questioned El-Rufai’s motive for dumping the APC for the SDP and his leadership style.

“Leadership is done with patience and vision, and doing things for the peace of the followers and the country as a whole,” the PDP chieftain said.

Restating his loyalty to the PDP, Lamido said the opposition party has not done anything to warrant his defection.

“If I was going to leave the PDP, I would have done so in 2014 when the APC was formed,” he said.

Lamido also enjoined El-Rufai to put patriotism first instead of showing anger towards others.

He said: “What should be done is to put patriotism first, instead of showing anger towards someone.”

“The PDP has been working to rebuild its strength after losing the 2015 presidential election,” he concluded.

The youth chapter of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Nyesom Wike, to retract his publicly disparaging remarks against the Ijaw nation and the leaders of this socio-political body.

According to the youths, it is embarrassing that Wike insulted the late former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, even in death without respecting him.

Addressing journalists on Saturday, the National Youth President of the Youth Wing, Doben Donyegha, who gave the ultimatum, said that it was annoying that Wike abused the leaders of the South-South geopolitical zone less than 24 hours after its delegation met with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Wike, during a media chat on Thursday, described PANDEF as “the worst organisation anybody can rely on”, while also calling the board of trustee members of the body “political merchants”.

Donyegha, who also urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack the minister from his cabinet, said that the youth wing no longer had confidence in him and that keeping Wike in his cabinet may affect the president’s re-election chances in the Niger Delta come 2027.

The President of the PANDEF youths also asked the Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate the minister, alleging land-grabbing activities in the FCT.