President Bola Tinubu has appointed former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, as the new Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

The appointment was announced in a statement issued by Presidential Spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, in Abuja.

Professor Ogundipe takes over from Emeritus Professor Olufemi Aina, who resigned from the position less than a year after his appointment. Aina was appointed in July 2025, while members of the NUC Governing Board were inaugurated in November of the same year.

A distinguished academic and Professor of Botany, Ogundipe served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos from 2017 to 2022. He is widely recognized for his contributions to molecular plant taxonomy, ethnobotany, ecological conservation, and related fields.

The new NUC chairman holds a Ph.D. in Botany from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and an MBA from the University of Lagos. He currently serves as Pro-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State.

Professor Ogundipe is a fellow of several prestigious professional bodies, including the Nigerian Academy of Science, the Linnean Society of London, and the Royal Society of Biology, London. He has also held leadership positions in the Botanical Society of Nigeria and the Lagos State Science, Research and Innovation Council.

President Tinubu expressed confidence in Ogundipe’s capacity to provide strategic leadership for the NUC. He charged the new chairman to strengthen quality assurance, improve access and funding, and promote integrity and global competitiveness within Nigeria’s university system in line with the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr Fatai Tijani, has assured residents of safety following a bomb explosion at the Shoe Materials Market in Mushin on Monday.

Tijani gave the assurance while addressing journalists at the scene of the incident suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which triggered brief panic in the area.

According to him, the police received information about an explosion and immediately deployed Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) operatives to cordon off and secure the area.

” We promptly deployed our EOD team after receiving reports of an explosion. The area was cordoned off and thoroughly searched,” he said.

He explained that preliminary findings indicated that the explosion was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device planted under a vehicle.

Tijani said the device was placed beneath the passenger side of the vehicle and detonated when the engine was started.

A witness has confirmed that the former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai wiretapped the telephone lines of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

At the resumption of the trial on Monday, a witness of the Department of State Services, DSS, Deji Adeyanju told a Federal High Court in Abuja that he appeared for an interview program on Arise News on February 16, the same day El-Rufai made the confession on the same television channel. ‎‎

Adeyanju, the second witness to appear for the prosecution during the trial, told the Court that the former governor admitted during the television interview that ‘we listened to the conversations of the NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Oluwole Aladedoye, Adeyanju confirmed that he knew El-Rufai as a former governor of Kaduna State and recalled issuing a public statement after reports emerged that the former governor was to be arrested by security operatives.‎‎

The prosecution tendered the subpoena used to summon Adeyanju, which was admitted and marked as Exhibit G. ‎‎

The Arise News interview was watched in open court. The prosecution subsequently tendered Adeyanju’s own interview contained in a flash drive alongside a certificate of compliance.

Both were admitted in evidence as Exhibits. ‎

Adeyanju told the court that he was invited by the Department of State Services, DSS, where he was asked to recount what transpired at the television studio.‎‎

Adeyanju confirmed to investigators that he was present when El-Rufai made the statements on air and that when further questioned during the interview, the former governor stated that someone carried out the phone tapping and passed the information to him.

‎‎Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Paul Erokoro, Adeyanju stated that while he did not hear El-Rufai specifically say he hacked the phone lines of the National Security Adviser, NSA, he heard him say, ‘we listened to the conversations of the NSA.

‘‎‎When asked whether he knew the means through which the NSA makes calls, and if he would be surprised to learn that DSS investigators did not ask the NSA which of his devices was allegedly compromised, he replied that those were not his business.‎‎

The matter was adjourned until June 23 for continuation of trial.‎‎

The DSS had filed a charge against El-Rufai over his alleged involvement in wiretapping the telephone lines of the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.

‎‎In the three-count charges, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026 was filed early before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the secret police accused the former governor of breaching the Cybercrimes Prohibition Act, (2024), and the Nigerian Communications Act (2003.)

The matter was adjourned until June 23 for continuation of trial.‎‎

‎‎Counts in the charge reads:

‎‎*That you, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, adult, male, on 13th February, 2026, while appearing as a guest on Arise TV station’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, did admit during the interview that you and your cohorts unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.

‎‎*That you, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, adult, male, on 13t February, 2026, while appearing as a guest on Arise TV station’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, did state during the interview that you know and relate with certain individual, who unlawfully intercepted the Phone Communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, without reporting the said individual to relevant Security agencies and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 27 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.‎‎

*That you, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, adult, male, and other still at large, sometime in 2026, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, with others still at large did use technical equipment or systems which compromised public safety, national security and instilling reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians by unlawfully intercepting the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to which you admitted during an interview on 13th February, 2026, on Arise TV station’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 131(2) Nigerian Communications Act 2003.