APC Gets New National Convention Chairman Masari, Drops Uzodimma

APC gets new National Convention chairman Masari, drops Uzodimma. The APC has replaced Governor Hope Uzodimma with former Katsina Governor Aminu Masari as chairman of its 2026 National Convention Central Coordination Committee.

APC

Uzodimma is now treasurer. The committee’s membership was expanded from 73 to 90 to include more party stakeholders.

Nigeria Strengthen Ties With Niger Customs To Tackle Border Insecurity

Nigeria strengthen ties with Niger customs to tackle border insecurity. He said that operational challenges usually force landlocked nations to rely on neighbouring ports.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has deepened bilateral ties with the Niger Republic Customs Administration to strengthen cross-border security cooperation against insurgency.

This followed a high-level bilateral meeting between the NCS, led by its Comptroller-General (C-G) Bashir Adeniyi, and the Niger Republic Customs Administration, led by director-general Muhammadu Yaqouba, on Friday at the NCS headquarters in Abuja.

The bilateral engagement aims to strengthen cooperation on the movement of transit goods bound for Niger through Nigeria and to improve information sharing between the two countries.

It also seeks to address security challenges along their shared borders, reduce delays along key transit corridors and ensure that legitimate trade contributes optimally to economic growth in both countries.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Adeniyi reaffirmed the service’s commitment to strengthening cross-border security cooperation with neighbouring countries, particularly the Republic of Niger, regional trade facilitation and safeguarding transit cargo.
He said that operational challenges usually force landlocked nations to rely on neighbouring ports, increasing costs and affecting competitiveness, and assured Niger of the service’s continued support.
“The NCS has over the years remained committed to facilitating trade for our landlocked neighbours, including the Republic of Niger.

“This commitment will be sustained, irrespective of political differences, because trade, security and regional stability are interconnected.” he said.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu had approved the provision of safe corridors and passages to ease the movement of loaded trucks awaiting clearance, as part of efforts to address concerns around transit bottlenecks.

He said cargoes from Apapa ports and Nigerian airports bound for neighbouring countries would still be processed and moved within 48 hours without compromising security or economic interests.

The C-G, however, warned that strict measures had been put in place to prevent the diversion of transit cargo, warning that economic operators who violate transit regulations would face stiff sanctions. “Non-compliance by a few operators creates non-tariff barriers and undermines trust.

“We are determined to ensure compliance, streamline documentation and remove avoidable bottlenecks along major corridors such as Illela–Sokoto–Kamba–Niger Republic, as well as routes linking Apapa ports and airports to neighbouring countries.” he said.

He said the engagement marked a renewed phase of cooperation, with follow-up actions to streamline operations, cut costs, boost trade, and make the corridor more attractive to transport operators.

Customs

He congratulated the director-general of Niger Republic Customs on his appointment and assured him of continued cooperation with the sister agency in Niger.
Speaking earlier, Mr Yaqoub said that the visit was aimed at addressing the prolonged blockage of trucks transiting from the Republic of Benin to Niger Republic, as well as  to address  security concerns in the region.

“We face common security challenges, particularly terrorism and banditry, and we believe that engagements like this provide an opportunity to find lasting solutions through cooperation and coordination,” he said.

Also speaking, Maj.-Gen. Garba Laka, national coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), said that insecurity in any part of the Sahel impacts all countries in the region.

According to him, arms trafficking, drug smuggling and the concealment of ammunition in cargo vehicles remain major threats that require coordinated and sustained action.

Mr Laka urged the revival of bilateral security frameworks such as cross-border right-of-pursuit arrangements, stressing that such mechanisms were essential to effectively combating terrorism and organised crime.

ADC Tells Tinubu: Kwara Mass Ki1lings Exposes Your Failure, “Government Approach Redistributing Terror”

ADC Tells Tinubu: Kwara mass ki1lings exposes your failure, “Government approach redistributing terror”. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the ki1ling of about 170 people in Kwara State, describing the attack as evidence of a total collapse of security under the Tinubu-led Federal Government.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party questioned what had become of the President’s declaration of a state of emergency on security and the promised recruitment of thousands of police officers, noting that the continued mass ki1lings suggest those measures were either ineffective or were mere declarations in the first place.

The party also wondered whether the heightened security activities seen last year in the aftermath of the comments by the U.S. President was mere posturing to earn international approval rather than genuine efforts to end insecurity in the country.
According to the ADC, the scale and frequency of ki1lings across the country since then has shown that whatever measures the government has taken since then is not working, indicating that government approach is merely redistributing terror rather than eliminating it.

The full statement read:
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent gruesome ki1ling of about 170 innocent Nigerians in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.

This horrific massacre is one of the worst atrocities recorded in recent times and stands as a painful reminder of the complete collapse of security across the country. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of Kwara State, who have once again been abandoned to mourn their dead in a nation that appears incapable of protecting its citizens.

As many analysts have noted, what makes this tragedy even more troubling are growing concerns that the perpetrators may be part of terrorist elements recently dispersed by the United States Christmas-Day military action in Sokoto State, who are now relocating to other states due to weak internal security coordination.

The net summary of this, which has now become self-evident from this industrial scale ki1lings in areas hitherto considered safe, is that the Tinubu administration, whatever it is doing, is not winning the war against terror, it is merely redistributing it.

Whether it is the mass abductions in Kaduna or the mass ki1lings in Kwara, both highlights the deep structural failures of Nigeria’s nternal security system in terms of intelligence gathering, border control, inter-agency collaboration, and emergency response capability.

Nigerians are therefore compelled to ask serious questions. What happened to the President’s much-publicised declaration of a state of emergency on security announced in November 2025? Was it a sincere commitment to restoring safety, or was it merely a rhetorical response to rising international and home-grown public anger?
The ADC also recalls that the Presidency announced a major recruitment drive into the Nigeria Police Force as part of this emergency response. Tens of thousands of new personnel were reportedly approved for recruitment to strengthen internal security nationwide. Nigerians are entitled to know what has become of that promise.

Have these recruits been employed, trained, and deployed, or has the exercise quietly stalled? If such measures were genuinely implemented, vulnerable rural communities like those in Kwara State should not be left completely exposed to mass slaughter.

We are equally disturbed by the pattern of performative security responses witnessed last year, when Nigeria suddenly projected an image of firmness following public comments and tweets by the President of the United States drawing attention to insecurity in the country. That brief display of urgency has since faded, raising legitimate concerns that the initial response was more about impressing foreign observers than about securing the lives of Nigerians.

ADC, Tinubu

The painful truth is that Nigeria’s security crisis has clearly moved beyond the competence and capacity of the Tinubu-led Federal Government. Across the country, ki1lings have become routine, accountability has disappeared, and government response has been reduced to condolences and condemnations in the aftermath of each tragedy, conveniently forgetting that a government that cannot safeguard the lives of its people has failed in its most fundamental duty.

The African Democratic Congress therefore calls on the Federal Government to immediately come clean with Nigerians on the true state of Nigeria’s national security, to account for the security recruitment it announced, and to explain how it intends to stop the spread and relocation of terrorist groups across states.

Nigeria cannot continue on this path of denial and inaction. Lives are not statistics, and governance is not public relations.

The ADC stands firmly with Nigerians in demanding competent leadership, honest governance, and a security strategy that protects lives rather than reacts after mass graves have been dug.