Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Naija News roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 3rd May, 2025.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently rein in his family members, particularly his son, Seyi Tinubu, who “appears determined to purchase political loyalty for his father by any means necessary, including coercion, violence, and intimidation.”
Naija News reports that Atiku made this known through his media aide, Paul Ibe, in a statement on Friday.
Atiku said the serious allegations made by the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Atiku Isah — alleging physical assault, abduction, and inducement at the hands of Seyi Tinubu — are deeply alarming and strike at the core of democratic norms and civil liberty.
According to him, such grave accusations are being levelled against a member of the first family is both disturbing and dangerous.
A prosecution witness on Friday informed the Federal High Court in Abuja that Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, would soon be extradited from Finland to Nigeria to face trial over his involvement in the agitation for Biafra.
The witness, identified as PW-AAA, a Department of State Services (DSS) operative who arrested Nnamdi Kanu in a Lagos hotel in 2015, disclosed this during cross-examination by Kanu’s lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN.
PW-AAA’s real identity was withheld for security reasons.
The witness confirmed that no weapons were found on Kanu or the woman arrested alongside him. However, he claimed that the nature and volume of the materials recovered, including electronic gadgets and documents linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), could suggest intentions beyond ordinary use.
The Lagos state high court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has sentenced a driver of the Lagos bus rapid transit (BRT), Andrew Nice Ominikoron, to death by hanging for killing a 22-year-old fashion designer, Bamise Ayanwola.
The trial judge, Sherifat Sonaike, gave the verdict on Friday, May 2, 2025.
Sonaike held that the prosecution successfully proved its case, relying on the doctrine of “last seen” and the victim’s dying declaration to establish Ominikoron’s guilt.
Bamise was last seen on February 26, 2022, after boarding a BRT bus driven by Ominikoron at the Ajah axis of Lagos. Her disappearance sparked public outrage and a widespread search at the time.
Nine days later, her lifeless body was found on Carter Bridge in Lagos Island.
Naija News recalls that the Lagos State Government had arraigned Ominnikoron on a four-count charge of conspiracy, murder, and two counts of rape.
The prosecution alleged that on November 25, 2021, Ominnikoron raped a 29-year-old woman, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, in Lagos.
He was also accused of conspiring with others, who are still at large, to sexually assault his 22-year-old passenger, Oluwabamise Ayanwole, before murdering her.
A former presidential media aide, Laolu Akande, has demanded better welfare packages and remuneration for Nigerian workers.
According to him, workers in both the public service and private sectors in Nigeria are poorly paid, and there is an urgent need to implement a living wage for workers in the country.
Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme Sunrise Daily on Friday, Akande stressed that the annual Workers Day Celebration presents a good opportunity for the government to confront long-standing labour issues in Nigeria.
“Workers’ Day is not just a celebration. It’s a moment to reflect on what is missing in Nigeria’s labour system,” he said.
“We don’t pay good remuneration at all.”
“Politicians will say the government is doing something. The private sector will pretend to pay decent salaries. Workers also pretend to be well paid. But the truth is, people are poorly paid in this country,” he stated.
The ex-presidential spokesman praised the recent government effort to improve judicial officers’ salaries but noted that the same effort must be put in place for other categories of workers in the country.
“What the government is doing to pay judges appropriately is a step forward. But that principle should be trickled down to all workers,” he said.
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Friday officially rolled out the implementation of the Dual Mandate Policy across all Federal Colleges of Education (FCOEs), following the passage of the Federal Colleges of Education Act, 2023.
Naija News gathered that the landmark legislation, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, empowers FCOEs to award both the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor’s Degrees in Education.
This policy marks a pivotal development in the ongoing reform of Nigeria’s teacher education system.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, who announced the rollout of the policy in Abuja, hailed the initiative as a bold and transformative move for the nation’s educational landscape.
Labour Party faction of Julius Abure has said it would not join any coalition or merger ahead of the 2027 election.
Naija News reports that Abure-led Labour Party stated this on Friday, in a communique, after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, in Abuja.
Abure said Labour Party would continue to rebuild, reposition, and re-strategise its programmes and policies to ensure it wins the 2027 general election.
He further promised to reach out and reconcile with dissatisfied members of the party before the general election.
“NEC declared that the Party is not and will not be part of any coalition towards the 2027 General Election. The Party will rather continue to rebuild, reposition, re-strategize, reconcile, strengthen, drive its programs and policies, win more members towards winning the 2027 General Elections,” it read.
Abure’s faction congratulated Labour Party’s Anambra State candidate, George Moghalu, for the November 8 governorship election.
The party urged Anambra voters to rally behind Moghalu. The party promised that Moghalu would birth a greater Anambra.
The Federal Government has once again issued a stern warning to foreigners residing in Nigeria on expired visas, urging them to depart within a 90-day window or face strict consequences.
In a statement released in Abuja on Friday, spokesperson for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), ACI Akinsola Akinlabi, confirmed the timeline, emphasizing the need for compliance.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service wishes to further inform the general public that a window period of three months from 1st May to 1st August 2025 shall be granted to allow foreigners residing in Nigeria with expired visas to return to their home country voluntarily without penalty,” he stated.
This fresh directive also comes with a new timeline: starting 2nd August 2025, foreigners who have overstayed their visas by more than a year will face a permanent entry ban.
During an earlier engagement in Lagos with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced that expatriates who overstay for more than six months would face a five-year ban, while those exceeding one year would incur a ten-year ban, along with a daily overstay fine of $15 from their visa expiration date.
However, the NIS has now made adjustments, stating that one-year overstayers will be blacklisted entirely.
The son of President Bola Tinubu, Seyi, has refuted allegations of bribery, abducting and torturing made by the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Atiku Abubakar Isah.
Naija News reports that the response followed claims made by Isah during a press conference on Wednesday, in which he alleged that Seyi and Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, offered him ₦100 million bribe in Lagos to promote the president.
According to Isah, he rejected the offer, stating that he could not promote a president who had not delivered results.
Isah further claimed that, upon his refusal, plans were made to abduct him.
Reacting in an Instagram post on Friday, May 2, 2025, Seyi described the allegations as an attempt to defame his character.
Seyi Tinubu denied meeting with Comrade Isah in Lagos regarding the subject matter.
Senegalese-American singer, Akon has claimed that he played a huge role in the success story of Nigerian international Afrobeats star Wizkid.
Speaking in a recent episode of the Bagfuel Brigade podcast, the singer said that Wizkid was a local musician before he signed him to his record label in 2008 and brushed him up.
Akon also claimed that Afrobeats wouldn’t have been what it is today without him developing some artists in Nigeria and opening bigger markets for them in the late 2000s to 2010s.
He said, “In 2008, I spent my time in Nigeria developing what you see today as Afrobeats. And all of them can attest to it.
“Wizkid was the first [Nigerian] artist we signed officially at that time. And then we went on to sign a group called P-Square, which was the first [Nigerian] group that made it internationally.
“Wizkid was just the local Nigerian star before we touched him and it opened up to a bigger market. I wouldn’t want to take credit for all of it but I can tell you that if we didn’t do what we did, Afrobeats would still have been in the same position it was when we got there [Nigeria in 2008]. That I can tell you 100 per cent.
“I brought the business side of music to Afrobeats because all they [Nigerian artists at that time] knew about was the creative [side of music]. There was no business, no infrastructure, none of it attached to it.”
The management of Shooting Stars Football Club has firmly refuted the serious allegations of match-fixing that were recently made by a radio sports presenter during a program broadcasted on an Ibadan-based station.
The presenter claimed that the Shooting Stars deliberately relinquished a two-goal lead against Katsina United and accused them of intentionally losing the South West derby against Remo Stars, which ended in a 1-0 defeat.
These allegations have raised eyebrows and sparked controversy, prompting the club to react against the claims.
In an official statement released on Friday, the Oluyole Warriors condemned the allegations as “baseless, barbaric, and unfounded,” expressing their deep discontent with the unprofessional conduct exhibited by the presenter.
The club emphasized that such remarks tarnish the integrity of the players and the organization as a