THE CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has urged electoral officers to discharge their duties with integrity, warning there will be consequences for misconduct during the 2027 general elections. Amupitan gave the warning on Monday in Lagos, at the South-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with staff on readiness assessment for 2027 general elections. He said partisan leaning, administrative negligence and compromised ethics would not be tolerated, stressing that the integrity of the electoral process must be protected. “Let me be unequivocally clear about the fact that partisan leaning, administrative negligence, or compromised ethics will not be tolerated.…
Author: National Record
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BY OWEI LAKEMFA THERE are not a few who see Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, former Minister of Interior and onetime Osun State Governor, as an enigma. A politician that would not shy away from a fight he considers necessary, even if it appears unwinnable. A man who would yield no ground unless confronted with a superior argument. A puzzle that needs to be unknotted. On September 3, 2026, I was part of an audience in Abuja that attended the launch of the book: Ogbeni: The Osun Renaissance Years, which tried to explain the leadership model of a man who rejects…
BY LANRE OGUNDIPE THERE are moments when an unpleasant personal experience becomes too important to remain personal. On Friday, September 4, 2026, I had an experience with United Nigeria Airlines at the airport that left me asking a question far bigger than whether one airline had handled one flight properly. The question concerns the Nigerian aviation system itself: when passenger rights are clearly written into regulation, how effectively are those rights protected when a passenger actually needs them? This is not an argument against an airline having operational difficulties. Aircraft can develop faults. Weather can interfere with schedules. Crew and…
The Arbiter Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up – Mahatma Gandhi. THIS WAS first written on 22/10/2018 with the headline for 2019 and then repeated in 2023 with minor adjustments, and now for 2027. The only change is the year in the headline, from 2019 to 2023 and now 2027. Then the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has replaced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Now that the primaries are over, with about 99% of the registered political…
BY MAX AMUCHIE AT JUST 56, Dotun Oladipo has left us far too soon. John Donne, the 17th-century English poet and cleric, wrote words more than four centuries ago that seem almost written for a moment such as this: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; and if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me,…
“If I win the presidential election, I will restore the subsidy. And anyone who stole Nigeria’s subsidy funds must return the money.” – Atiku Abubakar THERE’s a sense in which this single sentence captures what Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is saying on fuel subsidy should he win the coming presidential election. It is the one sentence which has framed Nigerian politics into those for return of subsidy and those against the returning of subsidy. And this frame game is coming at a time when citizens have understood subsidy removal as another grammar for aggravated suffering…
By Our Reporter, With Vatican News Report POPE Leo XIV has urged academics at Oriel College, University of Oxford, to pursue truth courageously, uphold human dignity and promote an approach to education that recognises the whole person. The Pope made the call on Friday when he received the Provost, Fellows and members of Oriel College at the Vatican, as the historic Oxford institution marks its 700th anniversary. Founded in 1326 under the patronage of King Edward II, Oriel College is formally known as “the House of the Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford.” The institution has maintained a Christian identity…
THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the commencement of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, paving the way for what could become one of the largest capital market transactions in Nigeria’s history. The approval was conveyed in a letter to the Lead Issuing House, Vetiva Advisory Services Limited, and signed by the Director of the Securities and Investment Services Department of the SEC, Abdulkadir Abbas. According to the Commission, the proposed offering comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares at ₦525 per share, with the potential to raise approximately ₦2.15 trillion if fully subscribed.…
BY OWEI LAKEMFA NIGER Republic was rocked by an attempted coup from August 29 to 30, 2026. The plotters invaded the Diori Hamani International Airport, where Air Base 101 is stationed. They also stormed the state broadcaster and the presidential palace. They were defeated, and the populace took to the streets in protest against the attempt to return France to its position of dominance in the country. France had, in 1898, invaded, destroyed and colonised territories that now constitute Niger Republic. It virtually dictated to that country for 125 years until the 2023 coup led by General Abdourahamane Tiani. Even…
THE CENTRE for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has launched a one-year campaign to plant one million indigenous trees across the 19 states of Northern Nigeria. The campaign commenced on Wednesday in Jama’are Local Government Area of Bauchi State and is scheduled to run from Sept. 2, 2026, to Sept. 1, 2027. The Executive Director of CITAD, Mr Y. Z. Ya’u, said the initiative would combine large-scale tree planting with a pilot forest restoration programme aimed at rehabilitating degraded forest areas. Ya’u said CITAD, in collaboration with partners, had planted 100 trees in an area of Jama’are that was formerly…