STAFF of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) have resumed work following a court order directing the suspension of the strikes action.

Consequently, the main gate of the FCTA Secretariat showed workers arriving and proceeding to their various offices, signalling compliance with the court directive.

Our correspondent observed a steady flow of staff across departments, pointing to a gradual return to normal operations within the FCTA and FCDA.

Schools across the Federal Capital Territory have also reopened, bringing relief to residents and raising hopes that ongoing engagements between government and labour unions will remain peaceful and constructive.

The alleged corruption trial of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke commenced on Tuesday at the London’s Southwark Crown Court.

Alison-Madueke sat in the dock alongside oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who is charged with one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.

British prosecutors told the court that Alison-Madueke took bribes including luxury goods and the use of high-end properties from industry figures interested in lucrative oil and gas contracts, when she was minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-president Goodluck Jonathan and was also briefly president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the first woman to hold either role.

According to Reuters, the 65-year-old is now one of the most high-profile former energy officials to stand trial for alleged corruption, having been charged in 2023 with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, which she denies.

Prosecutor Alexandra Healy told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court that Alison-Madueke “enjoyed a life of luxury in London”, where she often stayed, provided by those interested in being awarded or retaining contracts with Nigerian state-owned companies.

Healy said Alison-Madueke was given the use of high-end properties and vast quantities of luxury goods by people who “clearly believed she would use her influence to favour them”.

There was no evidence that Alison-Madueke awarded contracts to someone who should not have had one, Healy said.

But given Alison-Madueke’s role “she should not have accepted benefits from those who were no doubt doing extremely lucrative business in oil and gas with government-owned entities”, Healy added.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has officially debunked a viral social media post claiming that the notorious terror kingpin, Mohammed Bello Turji, has been registered as one of its members.

Reacting to the controversy on Tuesday, party spokesman Felix Morka described the purported membership slip as a “vile fabrication” designed by mischief-makers to mislead the public and tarnish the party’s image.

The APC clarified that the document, which allegedly emerged from the party’s ongoing Electronic Registration and Validation Exercise, bears no connection to its official database.Morka pointed out several glaring inconsistencies that expose the document as a crude forgery.

Specifically, the party noted that the fake slip claims Turji was registered in a “Ward 13” of the Shinkafi Local Government Area in Zamfara State.

However, official records show that Shinkafi LGA has only 10 wards, rendering the information on the slip geographically impossible.

“All digital parameters represented on the fake slip bear no connection to our Party’s membership register.

All other information paraded on the fake slip is nonexistent and certainly not contained in our membership database”, the party stated.

APC attributed the circulation of the document to “mischief makers” seeking to create confusion and foster discord within the polity for their own sinister objectives.