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Rivers: Fubara hits back over allegations in Tinubu’s broadcast, lists Wike’s ‘faults’

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The suspended governor of Rivers State, Similanayi Fubara, has responded to some of the allegations made by President Bola Tinubu in his nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night.

During the broadcast, Tinubu declared a State of Emergency in the state.

The President also suspended Fubara and members of the Rivers House of Assembly for six months.

Tinubu appointed Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (rtd) as sole administrator of the state.

Fubara, in a statement signed by Chief Press Secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, denied some of the allegations made in the broadcast.

According to him, the Rivers State House of Assembly complex was not abandoned after it was demolished, but was under 80% completion.

The statement read in part, “First, it is important to clarify that Governor Fubara has nothing to do with the threats by militants and also did not in any way “telegraph” the reported attacks on any oil facility in the State.

”Fubara also claimed that some developments in Rivers State were owing to a controversial remark made by Nyesom Wike, FCT Minister, about the Ijaws.

“It is on record that the reaction of stakeholders in the Niger Delta, especially elders, chiefs, women, Ijaw National Congress, its youth wing, IYC, as well as militants, among others, were triggered by remarks by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, in a live media chat, during which he dismissed Ijaws as a minority of the minorities and powerless in the Nigerian polity, saying that Ijaws are not the only ones that are militants and can blow up pipelines; that Ogonis, Ikwerres, and others are also militants and can as well blow up pipelines.

“Most of the Ijaw groups and leaders even demanded an apology from the FCT Minister, which he rebuffed,” he said.

Fubara “made it clear that his administration was committed to the peace, security, and safety of oil facilities in the State.“

He often recalled his pivotal role as a member of the Presidential Committee on the Protection of Oil Installations in the Region, and repeatedly emphasized the need to protect oil pipelines and other facilities in the State, urging his supporters and the people of the State to avoid acts capable of destabilizing the State or sabotaging the nation’s economy.”

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Reps minority caucus confirms authentic version of tax laws passed by NASS were altered

This is a clear case of the Executive undermining legislative powers by illegally altering an already passed law to drag more taxpayers into the net,” the report read.

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The House of Representatives Minority Caucus said that its investigation has confirmed that the tax federal government’s tax reform laws were altered after they had been passed by the National Assembly.

“This is a clear case of the Executive undermining legislative powers by illegally altering an already passed law to drag more taxpayers into the net,” the Cacus said, warning that the actions amount to a direct assault on the constitutional authority of the National Assembly and a threat to democratic governance.

In an interim report, released on Friday the Cacus, under the leadership of Kingsley Chinda, said that it set up a 7-man Fact-finding Committee on January 2nd “to get to the root of the scandal” after public outrage over allegations of discrepancies in the passed and gazetted tax.

The ad-hoc committee set up by the caucus is independent of the committee set up by the House leadership.

It is led by Afam Victor Ogene. Other members of the committee include Aliyu Garu – Bauchi, Stanley Adedeji – Oyo, Ibe Osonwa – Abia, Hon. Marie Ebikake – Bayelsa, MB Shehu Fagge – Kano and Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan – Nasarawa.

The Cacus said that as part of its investigations, it’s Ad-hoc committee compared the Certified True Copies of the Acts released officially by the House of Representatives as directed by the Speaker, with the already gazetted version already in circulation before the alarm was raised by the House, and confirmed that there were some alterations as alleged by Dasuki on the floor of the House of Representatives, especially in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025;

The Cacus also confirmed that there were three different versions of the documents in circulation, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025.

According to the interim report by the caucus, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), 2025, has a number of discrepancies from the version passed by the National Assembly and the version earlier published in the official gazette. These discrepancies are obvious, going by the released Certified True Copies (CTCs) by the House referenced earlier.

..i. Section 29(1): On Reporting Thresholds: While the NASS Certified version provided for a tax compliance reporting threshold of N50 million for individuals and N100 million for companies, the gazetted version lowered the reporting thresholds for individuals to (N25 million from N50 million) and (N100 million from N250 million) for companies.

ii. Section 41: Introducing new subsections (8) and (9) prescribing a mandatory 20% Deposit for Appeals:The gazetted version introduced new subsections 41(8) and 41(9), which required taxpayers to deposit 20% of the disputed tax amount as a condition for appealing Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) decisions to the High Court.

These sections were not in the authentic version passed by NASS.


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TCN records National grid collapses first time in 2026

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the national grid, had yet to disclose the cause of the collapse as of the time of filing this report.

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The national grid collapsed on Friday for the first time in 2026.

The system failure occurred around 1 pm, when load allocation to all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) fell to zero.

Data obtained from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) showed that power generation dropped to zero megawatts (MW), leading to a total shutdown of electricity supply across the country.

A review of the national distribution load profile at the time of the incident indicated that all DisCos — including Abuja, Eko, Benin, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Yola — recorded zero load, confirming a nationwide outage.

The collapse came shortly after grid operators reported strong electricity demand in major urban centres.

Before the system failure, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company was receiving about 639 MW, while Ikeja Electric drew approximately 630 MW, reflecting what officials described as robust demand across key cities.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the national grid, had yet to disclose the cause of the collapse as of the time of filing this report.

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Awujale stool: Protest rocks Ijebu Ode over imposition plots

The protesters marched through Awujale Palace Road on their way to the Ijebu Ode Local Government Secretariat to register their displeasure over the development.

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• Awujale stool protesters, Friday 23 January, 2026.

A peaceful protest broke out on Friday in Ijebu Ode over alleged plans to impose the next Awujale of Ijebuland.

The protesters marched through Awujale Palace Road on their way to the Ijebu Ode Local Government Secretariat to register their displeasure over the development.

Earlier, the Ogun State Government, on Tuesday, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ganiyu Hamzat, halted the Awujale selection process following a flood of petitions received from security agencies and other stakeholders.

The nominees for the stool were mandated to report to the Department of States Security (DSS) office in Ogun State.

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