Compilations of top 10 key latest happenings that you need to know this Sunday afternoon, 1st January 2026
Fraud and conspiracy: Ex-gov Sylva may be arraigned in absentia
Former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has yet to return to the country months after his Abuja residence was raided by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency
It was reported that the raid was connected with investigations into the alleged coup attempt against President Bola Tinubu.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that Sylva, who was also declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged $14,859,257 fraud, might be arraigned in absentia for financial crimes.
Top officers of the Department of State Services and the EFCC told one of our correspondents that the International Criminal Police Organisation and other Nigerian partners in the war against crime were currently trailing the former governor.
IPOB sit-at-home: Tension as traders, Soludo tango on Monday
There is tension in Anambra State as traders and leaders of the Onitsha Main Market face a dilemma on Monday when the government will reopen trading activities.This is due to the threat issued by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra last Friday against the resumption.
In a statement issued by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, the pro-Biafran group had called on traders, transporters, banks, schools, civil servants and other sectors across the Southeast to observe what it described as a peaceful solidarity sit-at-home on Monday.
The group said the order was a response to Governor Charles Soludo’s week-long closure of the market.
Ekiti 2026: PDP will defeat Oyebanji, others — Campaign group
The campaign organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the June 20, 2026, election in Ekiti State, Dr Wole Oluyede, has expressed confidence that the party and its candidate will overcome all challenges and defeat other contenders in the poll.
Other candidates in the election include the incumbent governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress; a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Mr Dare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress; and an oil and gas magnate, Dr Olusegun Osinkolu of the Young People’s Party.
The Director-General of the Wole Oluyede Campaign Council, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said Oluyede would triumph over “all obstacles placed in his path by political opponents and vested interests determined to retain the APC in power.”
In a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Sunday by the campaign’s Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, Ogundipe said that despite what he described as calculated attempts by certain political actors and contractors to derail Oluyede’s ambition, the PDP candidate remained focused on reclaiming power for the benefit of Ekiti residents.
Troops kill Boko Haram second-in-command, 10 fighters in Borno – Military
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have neutralised a top Boko Haram leader identified as the second-in-command, alongside 10 other foot soldiers in Sambisa Forest, Borno State.
The terrorists were said to have neutralised in the Komala general area, a location under Konduga Local Government Area, during a night operation on Saturday around 11pm.
In a statement on Sunday, the Media Information Officer of the Joint Task Force, North East Operation Hadin Kai, Lt. Col. Sanni Uba, said many weapons were also recovered during the operation.
The statement reads,
“Troops of the Joint Task Force (North East), Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), have recorded another significant operational success with the neutralisation of a top Boko Haram/ISWAP leader, Abu Khalid, identified as the second-in-command of Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest, alongside 10 other terrorists during a night operation in Borno State.”
NDLEA arrests businessman with Cocaine hidden in private parts at Lagos airport
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a Brazil-based Nigerian businessman, Uche Franklin Onyekwere, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, for allegedly concealing cocaine on his body and inside his footwear.
Onyekwere, 47, was arrested on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at the arrival hall of the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of passengers on a South African Airways flight from Brazil via Johannesburg, following actionable intelligence.
A statement on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said a body scan conducted on the suspect confirmed the presence of illicit drugs, leading to a strip search.
The statement said,
“A Brazil based Nigerian businessman Uche Franklin Onyekwere has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja-Lagos for concealing parcels of cocaine in his private part and soles of his footwear.
Police confirm bandits burning of police station, church in Niger
The Police Command in Niger has confirmed that suspected armed bandits set ablaze a Police Station and part of a church in Agwara community in the early hours of Sunday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed this in a statement in Minna on Sunday.
Abiodun said that the attack occurred at about 3:40 a.m., when the bandits invaded the Agwara Police Station.
He said that the police tactical team on duty engaged the attackers, adding that the bandits later overpowered the officers and used suspected dynamite to set the station on fire.
According to him, the assailants subsequently moved to the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the community, where they burnt part of the church building.
The police spokesman also said that the bandits later proceeded to other areas of the community and abducted about five persons, whose identities had yet to be ascertained.
2027: Why Labour Party is not party to anti-Tinubu coalition – Otti
The Abia State Governor, Alex Otti who doubles as the National Leader of the Labour Party (LP) has distanced the party from talks of a possible opposition coalition to oust the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power in 2027.
Otti said this while fielding questions from reporters during the first stakeholders’/ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), recognized the leadership of Senator Nenadi Usman.
The meeting which held in Abia Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, late on Saturday, had in attendance representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Senator Usman and other members of the party’s Interim National Working Committee.
Rivers crisis: 41 political groups slam Tinubu’s aide over verbal attack on Wike
The leadership of Rivers Restoration Movement, RRM, a Frontline grassroot mobilisation political group, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack his media aide, Daniel Bwala, for his “unwarranted” verbal attack on the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barr Nyesom Wike.
The group, in a coalition with 40 affiliate groups in Rivers State, on Sunday, condemned what it described as “unwarranted, vexatious and unfortunate public attack on the FCT Minister and leader of Rivers State politics, H.E. Nyesom Wike”, over the Rivers State political crisis.
The group alleged that, besides working for President Tinubu as Adviser on Media and Policy Communications, Bwala is also alleged to still be loyal to his former boss, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar GCON.
NCS confirms attack by suspected smugglers in Ogun
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ogun I Area Command, Idiroko, has confirmed another violent assault on its officers by suspected smugglers along a bush path at Alapoti in Ado/Odo-Ota Local Government area.Mr Zakari Chado, the Command’s Spokesperson, confirmed the incident in a statement on Sunday in Ota.
Chado said that the second attack on its officers was coming barely one week after a similar attack by the suspected drug traffickers, where two of its personnel sustained threatening injuries at the Akokoro area of Iwoye in Imeko-Afon Local Government area.
He explained that the incident occurred at about 6.00 p.m. on Saturday, when its officers went on a routine anti-smuggling patrol along a bush path at Alapoti in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area.
He said that the officers intercepted a convoy of motorcycles conveying smuggled foreign parboiled rice.“
46 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice were seized and evacuated into an official patrol vehicle as the team exited the location.
Again, OPHK troops kill Top Boko Haram commander,10 others
Barely 24 hours after Troops of the Joint Task Force (North East) ‘Operation HADIN KAI’ (OPHK) killed a notorious Boko Haram/ISWAP Commander (JULAIBIB), operating within the Gujba axis of the Timbuktu Triangle with scores of others, another second in command at Sambisa identified as Abu Khalid was killed, alongside 10 other terrorists by same Troops of Sector 1 and members of Civilian Joint Task Force on Operation DESERT Sanity.
The successes were recorded yesterday night after Troops made contact with the terrorists at Komala general area, Konduga local government area of Borno state.
Reliable Securiry Source told our Correspondent on Sunday morning that the incident took place at about 11pm, which led to recovery of five (5) AK47 rifles, magazines, several bicycles, logistics/ assorted food items and medical consumables.
