1. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has fired back at the former Governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili, saying that “an elder statesman should not be a trader and a sycophant all the time.” Wike said he won’t be shocked if Odili goes ahead to arrange a new wife for the incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara.

2. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and an ex-Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, Bode George, on Sunday, slammed one of President Tinubu’s sons, Seyi, for reviewing a guard of honour mounted by a group of young men in Nigerian military uniforms. While the former Vice President demanded a thorough investigation into the incident, labelling it a gross violation of military tradition, George described the act as unprecedented.

3. A Jeju Air plane, carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea, crashed on arrival, on Sunday, smashing into a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everyone aboard, except for two flight attendants plucked from the wreckage. A bird strike was cited by authorities as the likely cause of the crash.

4. The 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, says its troops have dismantled 20 illegal refining sites, deactivated 21 boats used for the crime and recovered over 90,000 litres of stolen petroleum products in the ongoing anti bunkering operations in the Niger Delta region. A statement by the Division’s Deputy Director of Public Relations, Lt. Col. Danjuma Jonah, said eight suspects were arrested in the operations.

5. Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is poised to win all the South South states in the 2027 general elections. Akpabio also described the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo as Edo State governor in the September 21 off-season election as divinely ordained by God to bring respite to the people of the state.

6. There are reports that the World Bank has fully disbursed a $1.5bn loan to Nigeria following the Federal Government’s implementation of key reforms, including removing fuel subsidies and introducing comprehensive tax policies. The loan, part of the Reforms for Economic Stabilisation to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing initiative, is among the fastest disbursements Nigeria has received with both tranches released in less than six months.

7. Six foreigners were arrested by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency after it intercepted two boats loaded with 1,960 kilogrammes of cannabis, popularly known as “Ghanaian Loud,” at Eleko Beach in Lekki, Lagos, on Christmas Eve. The six foreigners who brought the consignments from Ghana were arrested during a midnight operation.

8. The Nigerian Navy has been accused of illegally detaining a Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Kevin Okorie, for supporting a bill to create a Nigerian Coast Guard. Okorie’s wife, Esther, who raised the alarm said her husband was arrested on September 10, 2024, by naval personnel from the Iwofe Aker Base, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

9. Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States of America, USA, died on Sunday at the age of 100 years. The 39th president of the US and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient passed away in Plains, Georgia.

10. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, on Sunday urged President Bola Tinubu to request the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, to publish his assets. SERAP also urged Tinubu to encourage his deputy, Kashim Shettima, ministers, leaders of the National Assembly, state governors, and chairmen of Nigeria’s 774 local governments to also publish their assets.