*** NASS demands rescue of Nigerians in captivity 

By Nkem Okereh and Tony Chuddy 

The United States has deepened it’s security cooperation with Nigeria in the fight against  terrorism, with the latest approval for the purchase  of 12 AH-1Z Viper helicopters by Nigeria to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities and counter terrorism 

The US said the proposed sale was intended to improve Nigeria’s ability to contribute to shared security objectives, promote regional stability and strengthen interoperability with the US and other Western partners.

This is as the two chambers of the national assembly have called for a swift action to rescue all Nigerians held in captivity by terrorist and bandit groups 

The US, Nigeria arms deal, which was disclosed in a post by the United States Mission in Nigeria on its official X handle on Tuesday, described the proposed acquisition as part of ongoing efforts by both countries to address current and emerging security threats.

It would be recalled that the United States had earlier sent it’s troop to join the Nigerian security agencies in the fight against terrorists in 2025, leading to the neutralisation of so many leaders and members of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), in Nigeria’s North west region

The foot soldiers were however withdrawn last month, even as the United States pledged continued partnership with Nigeria in the anti terrorism fight, especially in areas of intelligence sharing and military support 

In April 2022, the US State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Nigeria involving 12 AH-1Z attack helicopters and related equipment at an estimated cost of $997m.

The package included 28 T700-GE-401C engines, 2,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance sections, logistics support and training.

The helicopter deal followed earlier US military assistance to Nigeria, including the 2017 sale of 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft for $497m.

The US State Department, in it’s post, noted that Nigeria made its first payment for the 12 AH-1Z helicopters in August 2023.

The post reads, “U.S.-Nigeria security cooperation continues to advance our shared efforts to strengthen regional security.

“The planned acquisition of 12 AH-1Z Viper helicopters underscores both countries’ commitment to building Nigeria’s defence capabilities and addressing current and emerging threats together.

“The United States values continued cooperation with Nigeria in support of peace, security, and stability,” the post added.

The planned acquisition of the AH-1Z Viper helicopters is part of a broader US-Nigeria defence partnership that has included military equipment, training and programmes aimed at improving Nigeria’s capacity to counter terrorism and other security threats.

Calling for the immediate rescue of Nigerian captives in terrorists and bandits den, the Senate, upon resumption of plenary on Tuesday demanded for intensified efforts to guarantee safety of Nigerians, and protect communities facing security threats.

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, assured that the Senate would deploy legislation, appropriation, and oversight to tackle insecurity, flooding, and the rising cost of living facing Nigerians.

Akpabio urged the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify operations to rescue kidnapped Nigerians and protect vulnerable communities.

He added that the Senate would take measures to scrutinise and consider additional legislative, budgetary and oversight interventions to address insecurity.

“So long as a single Nigerian languishes in captivity, a part of Nigeria is itself captive, and this chamber cannot call itself free of the burden,” he said.

He emphasised that government institutions must not leave citizens exposed to security threats, stressing that the protection of lives remained a responsibility of the state.

“We cannot summon citizens to courage and then leave them to face danger alone. Their safety is a charge laid upon us and upon every institution of government, particularly this Nigerian Senate,” he said.

The Senate President, who expressed concern over the abduction of Nigerians by terror groups demanded for rescue actions, adding that the government could not respond to the plight the people with sympathy alone

Akpabio identified the worsening challenges facing citizens as issues that must be tackled by the Senate upon resumption of plenary.

“Our victories should be measured in safer communities, better livelihoods for all Nigerians, and a stronger country for those we serve and for generations unborn,” he said..

“Sympathies alone cannot discharge our duties. They are entitled to our attention, our resolve and the full force of our constitutional responsibilities,” he stated

In a similar call, the House of Representatives charged the nation’s security agencies to intensify its operations to secure the immediate and safe release of 116 schoolchildren and other victims abducted in Borno State.

The Reps in a motion of urgent public importance moved by Hon. Midala Balami,  raised concerns over the prolonged captivity of victims abducted in Mussa, Lassa and along the Buratai–Maiduguri Road.

The Borno representative noted that about 44 schoolchildren were abducted from Mussa on May 15, 2026, alongside 36 other persons along the Buratai–Maiduguri Road.

He also recalled the abduction of 36 students and two teachers in Lassa Ward of Askira-Uba Local Government Area.

He noted further that the Mussa schoolchildren had spent more than 138 days in captivity, while those abducted in Lassa had spent more than 70 days, just as the victims abducted along the Buratai–Maiduguri Road had remained in captivity for more than 160 days.

Rep. Balami regretted that the prolonged captivity had subjected the victims’ families and affected communities to emotional distress, uncertainty and fear, urging urgent action to secure their release.

***’We can’t be intimidated, our hearts, minds will be our billboards,’ says Amadi, APP Imo east senatorial candidate 

***Why we can’t stop states from imposing fees on campaigns – INEC

By Eze Nnadi 

Ahead of the 2027 generation election,  stakeholders have raised the alarm over the imposition of what they described as outrageous fees for the pasting and mounting of election campaign posters and billboards across Imo state by the state government.

The Imo State Government had in a release on September  18 set a revised fee structure for political campaign billboards and advertising permits ahead of the upcoming elections, drawing criticism from opposition parties. 

The revised document which was released by the State Signage and Outdoor Advertising agency, listed the charges for campaign to be paid by candidates for the various categories of the upcoming general election.

According to the agency, the payments included ₦1.3 million for councillorship candidates, ₦5.3 million for LGA chairmanship candidates, ₦30.35 million for State House of Assembly candidates, ₦45.55 million for House of Representatives candidates, ₦50.75 million for senatorial candidates, ₦61.25 million for governorship candidates and ₦77.25 million for presidential candidates.

Recall that Imo state governor has similarly announced date for the conduct of chairmanship and councilorshp elections across the 27 local government areas in the state 

The new fees, according to the agency, replaced the earlier announced one, which the majority opposition political parties and candidates had earlier opposed.

Reacting to the fees, the Action Peoples Party (APP) senatorial candidate for Imo East (Owerri Zone) in the 2027 elections,, Chima Matthew Amadi expressed concerns, even as he described the signage bill as heavy.

Amadi in a release he personally signed deplored the revised schedule of political advertising fees, saying that such action deserves the attention of every citizen who believes that democracy must remain an open contest of ideas rather than a privilege available only to those who can afford increasingly prohibitive administrative charges.

He noted that the new figures represent a substantial increase over the earlier fees  reported publicly this year, under which the total charge for a senatorial candidate, for example, was ₦5.75 million..

He said, “while the government has a legitimate responsibility to regulate outdoor advertising, protect public spaces and ensure orderly placement of campaign materials, as indeed, the law establishing IMSAA gives the agency powers over outdoor structures and signage.  But regulation must never become an instrument capable of pricing political participation and communication beyond the reach of legitimate candidates.”

Amadi maintained that the democratic concern is particularly serious where candidates seeking to challenge an incumbent administration must pay tens of millions of naira to an agency of the same state government before communicating through ordinary outdoor campaign materials.

“If these extraordinary charges are intended, directly or indirectly, to intimidate political opponents, restrict their visibility or make legitimate campaigning prohibitively expensive, they will achieve the opposite of their purpose. Democracy cannot be strengthened by erecting financial walls around political expression. Governments should welcome competition, defend a level political field and allow citizens to hear competing ideas before making their choice.

“There is an even more fundamental point that those in government should remember: the best political advertisement is performance.

“A government that has transformed the lives of its people does not need to fear the billboard of an opponent. Good roads advertise themselves. Functional hospitals advertise themselves. Quality schools advertise themselves. Jobs, security, prosperity and accountable government require no giant portraits to announce their existence. When citizens can see and feel the results of governance in their everyday lives, they become the most persuasive advertisement any administration could possibly have,” he stated.

“No amount of restriction on billboards can manufacture public approval where performance has failed to produce it,” he stressed, adding “no proliferation of government-sponsored publicity can substitute for the lived experiences of ordinary people. If the people of Imo State are satisfied with those governing them, they will say so at the ballot box. If they are not, making it extraordinarily expensive for alternative voices to advertise themselves will not change that verdict.”

Amadi added, “for us, therefore, this is not a cause for panic. We will appeal directly to the people

“If they make physical billboards prohibitively expensive, we will build our billboards in the hearts and minds of our people. We will go from community to community, village to village, market to market and household to household. We will speak about our ideas, our record, our vision and the future we believe is possible for Imo East and our state

“Our greatest campaign infrastructure will not be mounted on steel poles beside the highway. It will reside in the conviction of men and women who believe that government can work better.

“Ultimately, democracy belongs neither to a government agency nor to an incumbent political party. It belongs to the people. Their judgment cannot be taxed out of existence, and their desire for change, where it exists, cannot be removed by taking down a poster.

“Our hearts and minds will be our billboards. The people will decide,” he said.

Reacting to the development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it lacks the constitutional powers to sanction state   governments imposing excessive fees on opposition parties erecting   campaign billboards ahead of the 2027 general election.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity, Mohammed Haruna, told journalists upon inquiry recently that the decision on the cost of such billboards was the prerogative of state and local governments, adding that there are no limits to what they can charge.

According to Haruna, “there’s not much INEC can do about parties putting up what seems to be prohibitive fees on erecting billboards in states where they rule.

“This is partly because signage for such billboards are the prerogatives of states and local governments and  there are no limits to what they can charge and therefore there are no penalties for over charging.

“Sadly, all the parties that are in power in the states are equally guilty. It is also partly because the law itself does not have prescriptions on how the private media must conduct themselves as it does for the public media.”

By Eze Nnadi 

The federal government has redeemed it’s financial and house pledges to the players and officials of both the Super Falcons and D’Tigress football and basketball teams, following their victories at the 2025 Women African Football Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and Federation of International Africa Basketball (FIBA) Women Afrobasket championship 

The National Sports Commission, in a statement on Thursday, confirmed the payment of the naira equivalent of $100,000 to each player of Nigeria’s senior women’s football and basketball team, as part of the Presidential Reward for their victory at the 2025 WAFCON and FIBA Women’s Afrobasket.

The commission also confirmed the payment of the naira equivalent of $50,000 to each of the two team’s officials.

The statement  further noted that accounts of the players and officials were credited on September 9, 2026, with the NSC saying all recipients had confirmed receipt of the funds.

D’Tigress won the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket title for a record fifth consecutive time and seventh overall in 2025., while the Super Falcons, who recently crashed out of the 2026 edition of WAFCON, won a record tenth championship last year 

The commission said the payment completed all components of the rewards promised to members of the team by President Bola Tinubu.

The NSC, in a statement signed by its Director of Information and Public Relations, Kehinde Ajayi, said the Presidential Rewards comprised three-bedroom flats in Abuja, national honours of the Order of the Niger and the cash payments.

The commission recalled that the players and officials received the title documents for their three-bedroom apartments in Abuja and certificates of national honours in February 2026 during the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in Lyon, France.

The NSC said the documents were duly signed by the president of the Federal Republic, Bola Tinubu.

The statement said, “With the payment, the entire presidential rewards promised to each member of the team by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR comprising a 3-Bedroom flat in Abuja, national honours of OON and Naira equivalent of $USD 100,000 to players and $USD 50,000 to officials have been fully redeemed and completed.

“This unprecedented rewards to the players and athletes by the Federal Government of Nigeria is in alignment with the Renewed Hope initiative and Shared Prosperity agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR which places athletes’ welfare and appropriate rewards top on the priority list.”

The commission thanked Tinubu for his support for Nigerian sports, saying his policies had given impetus to its reform agenda and efforts to develop a sustainable sports economy.

It also appreciated the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for their collaboration in implementing the rewards.

The NSC said the collaboration ensured that the Presidential Rewards were implemented “in record time within the due process requirements.”