• [L-R] A collage of Soludo, Adeleke and Wike

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has named Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Ademola Adeleke, Osun governor; and Chukwuma Soludo, Anambra governor, as state campaign coordinators in its expanded presidential campaign council for the 2027 general election.

This is despite their affiliations with other political parties.

Wike belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Soludo is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), while Adeleke won re-election as Osun governor in 2026 under the Accord Party.

Under the new arrangement, Wike will coordinate the APC campaign in Rivers State and the FCT, Soludo will oversee Anambra, while Adeleke will coordinate the campaign in Osun.

The expanded list is scheduled for inauguration by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

The APC initially released its campaign council list on August 22, naming Abdulaziz Yari, former Zamfara governor, as director-general. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Yobe Governor Mai Mala Buni were appointed deputy director-generals.

Bangkok, 12 October 2026 – Nigeria and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have agreed to a joint technical review of the Bank’s portfolio in the country and to prepare an official visit by AfDB President Dr Sidi Ould Tah.

The agreement was reached on Monday when Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele met Ould Tah on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok.

Oyedele reaffirmed that Nigeria will remain the Bank’s largest shareholder and will meet its capital subscription obligations. He stressed that the long-standing partnership should now deliver greater development finance and tangible economic benefits.

He also expressed Nigeria’s support for the AfDB’s Four Cardinal Points agenda under Ould Tah’s leadership: bridging Africa’s financing gap, securing the continent’s financial sovereignty, harnessing its demographic dividend, and building resilient infrastructure through the local transformation of natural resources. Oyedele said the priorities align closely with Nigeria’s own development goals.

The planned portfolio review will identify implementation bottlenecks, accelerate project delivery and ensure ongoing operations are better aligned with the Federal Government’s priorities. Ould Tah’s proposed visit is expected to include meetings with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, senior officials and other stakeholders.

The two sides also discussed the high cost of borrowing facing African countries. Oyedele noted that international credit ratings often fail to reflect improvements in economic fundamentals and reform progress, raising financing costs for nations such as Nigeria.

In response, Ould Tah said the AfDB is developing a facility to provide African governments with technical and analytical support in their dealings with credit rating agencies, helping them present credible data and challenge assessments where necessary.

Other topics included African financial integration, local-currency transactions, trade insurance and credit enhancement to lower investment risk and attract private capital. Both parties also underlined the need to retain skilled professionals on the continent.

Technical work on financing and portfolio performance will continue alongside preparations for the AfDB President’s visit to Nigeria.

Rwanda has signed a 10-year deal with Formula 1 to host races in the African country, starting “in the early 2030s”.

The event – to be called the African Grand Prix – will be held on a new, purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital Kigali and next to the city’s new international airport.

It will be the first F1 race in Africa since 1993.

A statement from F1 said the project came as a result of “years of collaboration to ensure the right foundations, with the best partner, are in place to deliver a successful, sustainable and world-class grand prix for generations to come”.

The circuit, designed by the former F1 driver Alex Wurz, has been “designed to work in harmony with the natural landscape, using the area’s elevation changes to create a unique and challenging racing experience while delivering exceptional viewing opportunities for fans,” the statement added.

•Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen crosses the chequered flag at the finish line to win the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on October 11, 2026. (Photo by Ng Han Guan / POOL / AFP)

F1 hopes the race will provide an opportunity for the sport to expand its profile in Africa, a relatively unexplored market compared to Europe, Asia and the Americas.

It has not yet been established where the race may best fit into the schedule during the year.

The race is likely to be controversial as Rwanda has previously been accused of sportswashing.

The sport is likely to want to avoid holding the race in the main rain season of March to May. There is a shorter, less disruptive rain season from October to November.F1 is committed to keeping the season at no more than 24 races.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame said: “For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement.”

“Rwanda is proud to host the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, and to share this moment with more than 100 million fans across Africa, many of them young people who deserve to see the sport at home and to see themselves in it: as engineers, technicians, entrepreneurs and, one day, drivers.

“The circuit in Bugesera, alongside the new international airport, will bring jobs, skills, tourism and new business to our country and our region for decades to come, because our aim was never a single race weekend, but a lasting benefit for our people.”

F1 president Stefano Domenicali said the new contract was “a landmark moment for F1”, which would mean the sport was racing “on every inhabited continent”.

Domenicali added: “Africa has always been part of Formula 1’s future, and from the beginning we were determined to return in the right way, with the right partner, a long-term commitment and a clear vision for creating meaningful impact.”