Author: The Whistler Newspaper

The Kano State Police Command says it has arrested 345 suspected thugs and drug dealers during a series of operations aimed at tackling crime and illicit drug activities across the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the Bompai Police Headquarters in Kano.

According to him, the arrests were made during a statewide operation conducted between June 5 and June 7 across all 44 local government areas of the state.

Bakori explained that the intelligence-led exercise targeted identified criminal hideouts, black spots and drug distribution centres as part of efforts to dismantle criminal networks and curb the spread of illicit substances.

He said 187 of the suspects were arrested during the three-day clearance operation, while the remaining suspects were apprehended through previous raids and ongoing investigations.

The police commissioner noted that all suspects are currently undergoing interrogation and would be prosecuted where sufficient evidence is established.

During the operation, security operatives also recovered 270 dangerous weapons, including knives, cutlasses and clubs.

Large quantities of illicit drugs and substances were also seized, including Cannabis Sativa, Exol tablets and a locally brewed intoxicating mixture commonly known as “Suck and Die.”

Bakori attributed the success of the operation to the activities of Operation Kukan Kura and the recently established Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), which he said have enhanced tactical response capabilities and visibility policing across the state.

“No form of criminality will be tolerated in Kano State. All suspects in custody will be subjected to due process, and we will continue to intensify operations until criminal activities become untenable,” he said.

The police commissioner commended the Kano State Government for its continued support and urged residents to assist security agencies with credible information.

He assured members of the public that all information provided to the police would be treated with strict confidentiality.

Bakori also warned criminal elements to stay away from the state, stressing that the command remains committed to protecting lives and property while strengthening community-based policing initiatives.

Police Nab 345 Thugs, Drug Kingpins In Kano is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

The 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has questioned President Bola Tinubu’s administration over what he described as excessive borrowing and poor fiscal accountability.

Obi said Nigeria’s total public debt has risen to about N200tn, which he attributed to what he called “imprudent governance” under the current administration.

He said the debt level represents an increase of over N100tn in three years, contrasting it with the approximately N49 trillion accumulated during the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former Labour Party(LP), presidential flagbearer in the 2023 election stated this in a statement posted on his X handle on Tuesday, saying the situation reflected a lack of accountability and transparency in the management of borrowed funds.

“President Bola Tinubu’s administration has engaged in remarkably imprudent borrowing, escalating Nigeria’s total debt to approximately N200 trillion. This represents an increase of over N100 trillion within a mere three years, a stark contrast to the roughly N49 trillion accumulated during President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure, which would have projected to around N80 trillion.

“As millions of Nigerians grapple with the shock of this unsustainable debt accumulation, the situation is exacerbated by the government’s reckless approach to borrowing and a profound absence of accountability and transparency in the utilisation of these funds,” he said.

Citing figures from the Budget Office, Obi said the government borrowed N11.89 trillion in the first three quarters of 2025 (January to September), exceeding its planned borrowing target of N10.34 trillion by about N1.54 trillion.

He said such an overrun should ordinarily attract scrutiny and explanation from relevant authorities.

“Under a responsible and accountable government, such an overshoot would necessitate rigorous scrutiny and explanation from relevant governmental bodies. Regrettably, this is not the reality under the current administration,” he said.

Obi further claimed that only N3.10 trillion of the borrowed funds was allocated to capital expenditure during the January–September 2025 period, representing 17.66 per cent of the N17.58 trillion earmarked for capital projects, leaving a funding gap of about N14.48 trillion.
He questioned how the remaining funds were utilised.

“The most disturbing aspect of the financial management fiasco under Bola Tinubu is that there is no explanation or information regarding how the balance was utilised or deployed.

“The question that Nigerians are rightly asking and deserve an answer to is what happened to the balance? Was it deployed for recurrent expenditure/consumption, for the entertainment of guests to Aso Rock or transferred to the Renewed Hope Agenda 2027 Election Campaign Fund?

“Nigerians deserve an answer on how our economy and resources are most unpatriotically managed,” he said.

Nigeria has faced mounting debt pressures since the Tinubu administration’s major reforms began in mid-2023, including the removal of long-standing fuel subsidies and unification of the foreign exchange market.

These moves aimed to correct fiscal distortions but triggered immediate inflation spikes, naira volatility, and higher living costs, while increasing the local-currency burden of debt servicing.

Tinubu had disclosed in May 2026 that Nigeria plans to spend about $11.6bn on debt servicing in 2026.

Obi Faults Tinubu Over Rising Debt, Missing Borrowed Funds is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

The 2027 Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress,  NDC, Peter Obi, has uncovered stark impropriety in Bola Tinubu’s three-year reign and asks for an explanation. 

Obi, who took a holistic look at the borrowing habit of the APC-controlled federal government from the Muhammadu Buhari era, wrote in his X handle on Tuesday that;

“President Bola Tinubu’s administration has engaged in remarkably imprudent borrowing, escalating Nigeria’s total debt to approximately N200 trillion. “This represents an increase of over N100 trillion within a mere three years, a stark contrast to the roughly N49 trillion accumulated during President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure, which would have projected to around N80 trillion. 

“As millions of Nigerians grapple with the shock of this unsustainable debt accumulation, the situation is exacerbated by the government’s reckless approach to borrowing and a profound absence of accountability and transparency in the utilisation of these funds.

“For instance, data from the Federation’s Budget Office reveals that the Bola Tinubu government borrowed N11.89 trillion in the first three quarters of 2025 (January to September), exceeding the planned borrowing target of N10.34 trillion by approximately N1.54 trillion. 

“Under a responsible and accountable government, such an overshoot would necessitate rigorous scrutiny and explanation from relevant governmental bodies. Regrettably, this is not the reality under the current administration.

“Compounding this issue, only N3.10 trillion of the borrowed funds was allocated to capital expenditure during the same January-September 2025 period. This constitutes a mere 17.66% of the N17.58 trillion earmarked for capital projects, leaving a deficit of roughly N14.48 trillion, or 82.34% of planned capital expenditure unfunded.

“The most disturbing aspect of the financial management fiasco under Bola Tinubu is that there is no explanation or information regarding how the balance was utilised or deployed. 

“The question that Nigerians are rightly asking and deserve an answer to is what happened to the balance? Was it deployed for recurrent expenditure/ consumption, for the entertainment of guests to Aso Rock or transferred to the Renewed Hope Agenda 2027 Election Campaign Fund? Nigerians deserve an answer on how our economy and resources are most unpatriotically managed! A New and Productive Nigeria is Possible, and Nigeria will be OK!”

Ibrahim Umar 

POMR Spokesman .

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has disclosed that Senator Ede Dafinone, who represents Delta Central Senatorial District, and former Delta State Secretary to the State Government, Patrick Ukah, were among passengers onboard the Warri–Itakpe train that derailed on Monday and killed four in Delta State.

At least 24 others were injured in the accident.

The corporation disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday while providing details of the accident near Agbor, Delta State.

According to the NRC, four coaches capsized and one coach derailed while the train was en route on the Warri–Itakpe corridor.

The deceased were identified as two adult females, one adult male and an infant.

The corporation said a total of 442 passengers were onboard the train alongside 40 crew members, security personnel and service providers, bringing the total number of occupants to 482.

It stated that emergency responders, including officials of the Delta State Government, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other local authorities, were deployed to the scene immediately after the incident.

Rescue and evacuation operations were completed by 6:30 p.m., according to the statement.

The Warri–Itakpe rail corridor is one of Nigeria’s major standard-gauge rail lines and connects communities across Delta, Edo and Kogi states.

The NRC said the injured were taken to hospitals in Agbor for treatment, while one staff member sustained a traumatic limb injury and is currently in stable condition.

The NRC condoled with families of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

It added that the full passenger manifest had been recovered and that efforts were ongoing to identify all those affected by the accident.

The NRC further disclosed that a full investigation had commenced to determine the cause of the derailment.

Delta Senator, Ex-SSG Among 442 Passengers On Train That Killed Four is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, has declared that Nigeria’s transmission network is not the major bottleneck in the power sector.

He declared that the national grid can currently wheel 8,700 megawatts (MW), far above the country’s highest-ever power generation of 5,801.84MW.

Speaking at the ongoing four-day Parliamentary/Stakeholders’ Engagement Summit on Power Sector Reforms in Nigeria in Lagos, Abdulaziz said available data showed that transmission infrastructure has the capacity to handle significantly more electricity than is currently being generated and supplied to the grid.

According to him, while Nigeria’s installed generation capacity stands at 13,625MW, the highest power ever generated and delivered to the national grid was 5,801.84MW, recorded on March 4, 2025.

He said: “On the same day, the country also achieved a record daily energy delivery of 128,370.75 megawatt-hours (MWh).

“The implication is clear: the national grid can currently transmit significantly more power than has ever been generated and supplied to it.

“TCN has consistently wheeled all available generation, demonstrating that the transmission network is ready to support higher levels of electricity delivery,” he said.

Abdulaziz described TCN’s achievements in recent years, noting that the company had expanded Nigeria’s bulk power wheeling capacity from about 7,000MW to 8,700MW through strategic investments backed by the Federal Government and development partners.

He disclosed that between January 2024 and November 2025, TCN commissioned 82 transformers nationwide, adding approximately 8,500 MVA of transformation capacity to the national grid.

The TCN boss also revealed that the company had secured more than $1.4bn in development financing from international partners, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the French Development Agency (AFD), to support transmission expansion and modernisation projects nationwide.

He added that the company was advancing the deployment of a nationwide Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to improve real-time grid monitoring, fault management, dispatch efficiency and future smart-grid operations.

Despite the progress, Abdulaziz identified vandalism of transmission infrastructure, encroachment on transmission rights-of-way, inadequate funding, foreign exchange constraints, weak market liquidity and land acquisition challenges as major obstacles facing the electricity sector.

He stated that unlocking Nigeria’s electricity potential would require coordinated investments across the entire value chain, including generation, gas supply, transmission and distribution.

While affirming TCN’s support for the implementation of the Electricity Act 2023, Abdulaziz called on the National Assembly to strengthen legal protections for critical electricity infrastructure, ensure adequate funding for priority transmission projects and support policies that would improve the financial sustainability of the electricity market.

He maintained that a reliable electricity supply could only be achieved through a sector-wide approach involving government, regulators, investors, security agencies and communities.

Transmission No Longer Nigeria’s Power Problem -TCN is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

Former UEFA president Michel Platini has launched civil and legal proceedings against FIFA and its current president, Gianni Infantino, over corruption allegations from 2015, which he said derailed his bid to lead the governing body.

The criminal complaint, filed in the French courts, accuses Infantino and two former FIFA officials – legal director Marco Villiger and audit committee chair Domenico Scala – of malicious prosecution.

In a separate civil lawsuit, Platini, 70, is seeking financial compensation from FIFA over alleged efforts to block his election as FIFA president.

Former France captain Platini was UEFA president from 2008 to 2015 and had been the favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in 2016.

However, in 2015, the pair became embroiled in allegations of fraud and corruption over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (£1.6 million) made to Platini in 2011, which was claimed to have been authorised by Blatter.

It led Blatter to resign from his role and ended Platini’s hopes of becoming head of FIFA, with the Frenchman also banned for eight years by FIFA’s ethics committee – a sanction later reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both Platini and Blatter subsequently faced criminal charges but were cleared of corruption by a Swiss federal criminal appeals court in March 2025.

Infantino, who served as UEFA general secretary under Platini, replaced Blatter as FIFA president.

Platini Begins Legal Proceedings Against FIFA is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

Two high-ranking Iranian military officers were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Monday, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported, as the two countries traded fire for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in April.

IRIB identified the dead as Bahman Hosseini and Alireza Abiri, saying their funeral ceremony would be held on Tuesday.

The broadcaster said both men were killed while on a mission “to defend the country’s skies.”

The escalation was triggered on Sunday when Israel bombed the Lebanese capital Beirut despite an ongoing ceasefire, prompting Iran to launch missiles at northern Israel.

Israel responded with several waves of airstrikes against Iranian territory, with explosions reported in Tehran, Isfahan and Tabriz. Fighting continued into Monday before Iran’s military announced it was halting its offensive against Israel, while warning of a “crushing” response if Israeli strikes on Lebanon continued.

The flare-up is the most serious breach of a fragile truce that has held since 8 April, when a temporary ceasefire was reached following the United States and Israel’s launch of airstrikes on Iran in late February.

Negotiations toward a permanent settlement subsequently stalled amid disputes over its implementation and broader regional developments.

United States President Donald Trump called on both sides to stop fighting and said talks were continuing at a “rapid pace.”

Israeli Strikes Kill Two Senior Iranian Military Officials, Tehran Confirms is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

Diogo Jota’s widow has urged Scotland captain Andrew Robertson to carry his former Liverpool team-mate in his heart when he lives their dream of playing at the World Cup.

Jota died aged 28 in a car crash last July, after helping Portugal secure World Cup qualification.

Jota won 49 caps but never played at a World Cup after missing the 2022 tournament through a calf injury.

“I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today,” defender Robertson said after Scotland secured World Cup qualification in November.

“We spoke so much about going to the World Cup because he missed the last one with Portugal and I did with Scotland. I know he’ll be smiling over me today.”

In a letter to Robertson published by Fifa, Rute Cardoso, the mother of Jota’s three children, said: “Diogo often spoke of you. Of the friendship you built, the battles you fought together, the challenges, the laughter, the conversations about football… and about dreams.

“The World Cup was one of those dreams, a dream that the two of you nurtured, side by side, with the same passion with which you took to the pitch.

“When I heard your words and learnt what you felt on that day when Scotland qualified for the World Cup, after so many years of waiting, I realised that Diogo never truly left the pitch.

“By achieving that moment and securing your place at the World Cup, you won’t be going alone.

“You’ll be taking his dream with you too. And when you step on to the pitch, I know it won’t just be you walking out. Diogo will be with you in your thoughts, in your steps, in your heart.

“So today, I want to thank you. Thank you for not forgetting him. Thank you for taking him with you. Thank you for turning the pain of loss into strength and into something so beautiful.

“That’s how we do it here at home too. Every day. He would be, and is, incredibly proud of you. Cherish that dream, Andy. Live it for yourself and for him.”

Robertson was filmed by Fifa reading out the letter and thanked Cardoso, saying it would stay with him for a “very long time”.

The World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July.

Scotland, playing in their first World Cup since 1998, face Haiti on Sunday, Morocco on 19 June and Brazil on 24 June in Group C.

Robertson, who has joined Tottenham since leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, said: “I’ll carry him in my heart and I know he’ll be with me come the first game, come the second game, come the third game and hopefully beyond that.

“He’s always there. The memories are always something that we bring up and sometimes laugh, sometimes cry.

“And that will be no different, especially going into a tournament which is full of emotion. I know he’ll be right at the front of my mind.

“I’m not only just playing for me. I’m playing for both of us.”

‘Diogo Will Be With You’ – Jota’s Widow Writes To Robertson is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

The General Overseer of the Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry, Chukwuemeka Cyril Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje has lambasted the President Bola Tinubu government over the deteriorating security crisis in the nation.

The clergy, who was addressing his congregation during a live service, lamented that while unsuspecting citizens are being killed and abducted by assailants, Nigerian leaders are moving with bulletproof cars.

According to him, all citizens have equal rights and should be entitled to bulletproof vehicles if that is the only way to be safe and secure in Nigeria, stating that resources belong to citizens.

Odumeje, who was reacting specifically to the recent surge in kidnapping, lamented that electorates are in the bush while politicians are busy campaigning.

He said, “One person and his family are just enjoying the resources of Nigeria. The president, the governors and senators have bulletproof cars, their children are overseas, they have international doctors that take care of them but they will tell you that Nigeria is working.

“Once you are a citizen of Nigeria, we all have equal rights. If the only security is bulletproof, they should buy the same for us because the money is our own.

“We voted for you to manage our resources but now, we don’t have security. Many of our children are kidnapped and are currently in the bush in Nigeria, and they said nobody knows where they are. Who are you deceiving?

“You see, the president, governors and senators moving every day as if nobody cares. They are not talking about how to bring these people out of the bush, they are busy campaigning for the next position they will occupy, even when the people who voted for them are in the bush.

“I will die for the truth. How can a bandit be making requests from the government?”

Watch video

Insecurity: President, govs, senators move like they don’t care – Prophet Odumeje spits fire [VIDEO]

Manchester United board are ‘optimistic’ of beating Premier League rivals Manchester City to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson.

The Red Devils’ hierarchy wants to bolster their manager Michael Carrick’s squad ahead of next season and have made Brazil midfielder Ederson their first signing of the summer in a £35m deal with Italian club Atalanta.

But Carrick wants Man United to sign at least one more midfielder as Casemiro has left Old Trafford, and Manuel Ugarte could be sold this summer.

However, according to The Guardian, Man United are optimistic of hijacking Manchester City’s deal for Anderson.

Man City had identified Anderson as their top summer target and are lining up another offer for the England midfielder after seeing their first £80m bid rejected.

The report added that Man United believes Anderson is yet to make the final decision over his future and are confident he can still be persuaded to choose the club over the Cityzens.

Anderson joined Nottingham Forest from Newcastle United in 2024 after signing a five-year contract with the club.

Transfer: Man Utd board optimistic of signing Man City target for Carrick after Ederson deal