The Insight Times

47mins Victor Osimhen scores for the Super Eagles 🇳🇬⚽️

Algeria 0-1 Nigeria

Nigeria Super Eagles starting lineup to face Algeria.

Kickoff scheduled for 5:00 PM.

Head coach Eric Chelle opts for a 4-3-1-2 formation, blending defensive solidity with attacking firepower.

Starting XI:

Goalkeeper: Stanley Nwabali

Defenders: Bruno Onyemaechi, Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Bright Osayi-Samuel

Midfielders: Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi (Captain), Frank Onyeka

Attacking Midfielder: Ademola Lookman

Forwards: Akor Adams, Victor Osimhen

All the best!!!

According to reports, Super Eagles captain, Wilfred Ndidi has promised to pay his teammates all winning bonuses at the AFCON if the expected funds from the CBN does not drop before Saturday.

JUST IN: Rivers Assembly Begins Impeachment Proceedings Against Fubara

GOVERNMENT OF AKWA IBOM STATE

6th January, 2026

PRESS RELEASE

RE: LEGAL STATUS OF STUBBS CREEK FOREST RESERVE

The Government of Akwa Ibom State has noted recent publications circulating in the social and conventional media by a group known as Ekid People’s Union, concerning the ownership and legal status of land within the area known as Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.

The Government would ordinarily not want to comment on this matter as there is a pending suit filed by the same group before a court of competent jurisdiction involving issues surrounding the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve. It has however become necessary, in the overriding public interest, to correct serious misrepresentations being made in the public space.

Contrary to the claims being circulated, the historic litigation, the case of Ntiaro and Ikpak Vs. Ibok Etok Akpan and Edoho Ekid, culminating in the 1918 decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council did not vest ownership of Stubbs Creek land in any ethnic group or community. The final judgment merely dismissed the claims before the court and granted title to no party whatsoever. Any assertion to the contrary is false, misleading and a distortion of the judicial record.

The Stubbs Creek land was thereafter lawfully reserved by the Colonial Government of Nigeria under the Forest Reserve Order No.45 of 1930, which was further amended in 1941, 1955 and 1962, and the principal rights of the land forfeited to the Government upon the change of status, and has since been administered under applicable laws by the Government of Akwa Ibom State. The State Government has at all times acted within its lawful authority in the management and allocation of land in the area for legitimate public and economic purposes.

Under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), particularly by virtue of its recognition and entrenchment of the Land Use Act, all land within Akwa Ibom State is vested in the Governor to be held in trust and administered for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians. Accordingly, claims of absolute or exclusive ownership based on ancestral or customary assertions are subject to, and regulated by, existing law.

The Government categorically denies allegations of fraud or misrepresentation in relation to the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve or any investment therein, and will take appropriate legal steps against any individual or group involved in the publication of false, misleading, and/or criminally defamatory matter capable of undermining public confidence or discouraging investment and infrastructural development in the state.

In furtherance of national development objectives, the Government assures the Federal Government of its support, and grants full access and Right of Way for the construction of the Coastal Highway through any part of the State.

The Government reiterates its commitment to the rule of law and to the determination of all disputes by the courts, and urges all parties to refrain from misleading the public and allow the issues currently before the court to be determined through due process.


Uko Essien Udom, SAN
Hon. Attorney-General &
Commissioner for Justice

STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT TINUBU NOMINATES BOARD MEMBERS FOR NMDPRA, NUPRC, SEEKS SENATE CONFIRMATION

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has written two letters to the Senate, seeking confirmation of 21 nominees for the boards of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

In the first letter, President Tinubu nominated Senator Magnus Abe to serve as the NUPRC board chair. Abe, who represented Rivers South East in the Senate for two terms, is a former NNPC board member and current chairman of the National Agency of the Great Green Wall.

Other nominees for the NUPRC board are Engineer Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman in Kaduna, and Mr Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which was abolished by the PIA in 2021. Both men will serve as non-executive commissioners.

President Tinubu also nominated s executive commissioners to the board.

They are: Muhammed Sabo Lamido, executive commissioner for finance; Mr Edu Inyang, executive commissioner for Exploration and Acreage; Justin Ezeala, executive commissioner for economic regulation and strategic planning; and Henry Darlington Oki, executive commissioner for Development and Production. Others are Indabawa Bashari Alka, executive commissioner for corporate services and administration; Mahmood Tijani, executive commissioner for health, safety and environment; and Ms Olayemi Adeboyejo, as secretary and legal adviser.

Former President Buhari appointed Lamido and Adeboyejo in 2022, while President Tinubu appointed Alka in 2023. Inyang, Ezeala, the former managing director of Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited, Mahmood Tijani, Babalola and Jezhi are new appointees of President Tinubu.

In his second letter to the Senate, President Tinubu nominated Mr Adegbite Ebiowei Adeniji, a lawyer, as chairman of the NMDPRA board. Adeniji has over 30 years of experience in energy and natural resources issues. He was a special technical adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum on upstream and gas until 2018. He was a member of the Oil & Gas Policy team at the World Bank, which advised the Government of Nigeria on the reform and restructuring of the petroleum sector, including the development of the Strategic Gas Plan for Nigeria. He is currently the managing partner at ENR Advisory.

President Tinubu also nominated Chief Kenneth Kobani and Mrs Asabe Ahmed as non-executive members. Kobani was a former minister of state for trade under President Jonathan and secretary to the government of Rivers State, under Nyesom Wike.

Also nominated for confirmation are Abiodun Adeniji, executive director of finance; Francis Ogaree, executive director of hydrocarbon; Oluwole Adama, executive director of midstream and Downstream gas infrastructure; and Dr Mustapha Lamorde, executive director of Corporate Services and Administration. President Tinubu appointed Adama in 2024, while late President Buhari appointed Lamorde and Adeniji in 2021 and Ogaree in 2022

Other members of the NMDPRA board, as proposed by President Tinubu, are Mr Yahaya Nasamu Yinusa, executive director, distribution systems; Adeyemi Murtala Aminu, executive director, corporate services; Ms Modie Ogechukwu, executive director, economic regulation and strategic planning; and Barrister Olawale Dawodu, as board secretary and legal adviser. Dawodu is an industry player and was, at a time, the Financial Reporting Manager at Exxon Nigerian subsidiaries.

The President urged the Senate to approve the nominees expeditiously.

The requests followed the recent appointment of chief executive officers for the two regulatory agencies. The Senate confirmed Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.

Mr President has charged all the appointees and nominees to discharge their duties and responsibilities professionally as regulators of the oil and gas sectors.


Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President,
(Information & Strategy),
January 5, 2026

Wike says he’ll be buried politically if Fubara secures second term

Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), says his political career would be ruined if Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, secures a second term.

Speaking on Saturday during a stakeholders’ meeting in Okrika LGA of Rivers state, Wike said a decision has been made on Fubara’s second term ambition.

“We have made a decision as far as Tinubu is concerned. The other one [Fubara] — no way. Because if we make another mistake, then we will go and bury ourselves politically. I will not allow myself to be buried. I will not allow that mistake again,” he said.

“So everybody should know we have made a decision.”

Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio withdraws lawsuits against Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, others

An electronics market in Ikotun, Lagos State, was completely destroyed by a fire outbreak that began around 12:05 a.m. yesterday, while residents were celebrating the New Year.

The incident resulted in the loss of goods and properties estimated to be worth billions of naira, leaving many traders in deep shock as they woke up to significant losses instead of a fresh start to the year.

Peter Obi Joins ADC, Calls for United Opposition Ahead of 2027

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has officially joined the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Obi announced his defection in Enugu on Wednesday, December 31.

The former Anambra State governor said his move to the ADC ahead of the 2027 general election is aimed at transforming and rescuing Nigeria.

“We are ending this year with hope, and in 2026 we will begin a rescue journey,” Obi said.

“We will resist rigging of election by every lawful means in 2027,” he added.

Obi also urged opposition leaders to come together as a family under the leadership of former Senate President David Mark to rescue Nigeria.