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The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), on Thursday said terrorists are using motorcycles given to Nigerians as palliatives to wreak havoc across the country.

He, however, advised the state governors and lawmakers to stop giving motorcycles as palliatives, arguing that some of the motorcycles eventually end up in the hands of terrorists to facilitate and enhance their nefarious activities.

Musa, who stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said efforts are being made to curb terrorism and the operational challenges confronting the country’s security forces.

“We try to appeal to even governors to stop giving motorcycles out as palliatives. Because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up with these terrorists.

“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big capacity motorcycles; give them the small capacity ones that they won’t be able to use to run around, because that gives them leverage. They can easily enter and then disappear,” he said.

The minister also warned that motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and other palliative programmes by lawmakers could find their way back to bandits and terrorists.

“Those bikes… before you know it, they’re already back to the bandits, and that’s what they’re using. So we must stop that,” he said.

According to him, security agencies had identified illegal markets and motor parks as channels through which terrorists move arms and ammunition into areas where they operate.

“What we realise from experience is they establish illegal markets or illicit motor parks. They go to those motor parks; that’s where they move arms and ammunition into those areas,” he added

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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has announced the rescue of 15 minors allegedly trafficked and sold for N2 million each by a man posing as an official of a child-rights organisation.

NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, disclosed the development while briefing journalists at the Corps Headquarters in Abuja, saying the rescue was carried out during a wider operation targeting criminal syndicates involved in child trafficking and vandalism.

The Corps also said stolen rifles and vandalised telecommunications equipment were recovered during the operation.

According to Afolabi, a member of the alleged trafficking syndicate posed as an official of the National Council of Child Rights Advocate and deceived parents into releasing their children.

He said the suspect operated an NGO and orphanage programme known as the Back to School Project, which he allegedly used to lure less privileged parents into releasing their children with promises of free education.

Afolabi said the operation was conducted by the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad, headed by Commander Dandaura Appollos.

He said 15 of the 16 children allegedly trafficked from Kama Madaki and Gudindi Mada communities in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State were eventually rescued from their buyers.

According to him, the operatives used field tracking, technical intelligence and multi-state tactical operations to locate the alleged buyers, who were based in different parts of the country.

The NSCDC spokesman said three of the minors were rescued in Anambra, Imo and Enugu states, while the remaining 12 were recovered during a coordinated operation along eastern transit routes.

He further disclosed that three suspected buyers, comprising one man and two women, had been arrested in connection with the case.

The NSCDC said investigations into the alleged trafficking network were continuing.

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ABUJA — The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in congresses organised by committees appointed by the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The appellate court, in a split 2–1 judgment, dismissed an appeal filed by the ADC leadership and affirmed the April 29, 2026 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.

The ruling is the latest development in the prolonged leadership crisis rocking the opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Okon Abang, supported by Justice Donatus Okorowo, held that the appellants failed to provide sufficient grounds for overturning the decision of the lower court.

The majority agreed with the Federal High Court that the conduct of state congresses falls within the functions of the party’s duly elected state executive structures and could not lawfully be taken over by a caretaker national leadership whose authority was being contested.

The court consequently upheld the order restraining the Mark-led caretaker leadership from interfering with the tenure and functions of the existing elected state executives.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/581/2026, was instituted by aggrieved members of the ADC, including Don Norman Obinna, Johnny Tovie Derek, Obah C. Ehigiator, Olona Yinka, Charles Idowu Omideji, Samuel Pam Gyang and Obianyo Patrick.

They sued on behalf of themselves and ADC state chairmen and executive committees across the country. INEC, Mark, former Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola and other members of the caretaker leadership were listed as defendants.

Court nullifies disputed congresses, convention

The appellate court also addressed the validity of congresses and the national convention conducted by the Mark-led caretaker structure.

It held that the exercises were nullities because they were conducted in defiance of a subsisting order of the Federal High Court.

The court maintained that the caretaker leadership could not rely on the disputed structure to remove or replace elected state executives whose tenure remained valid.

INEC was therefore barred from recognising the outcomes of the disputed congresses, while the court awarded ₦10 million in costs against the ADC.

The Federal High Court had earlier ruled that neither the 1999 Constitution nor the ADC Constitution gave the caretaker committee the authority to appoint committees to conduct state congresses in the circumstances of the case.

Justice Abdulmalik had also held that the tenure of the existing state working and executive committees remained valid until congresses and a national convention were conducted in accordance with the party’s constitution.

The court rejected the argument that the dispute was solely an internal party affair, holding that allegations of breaches of constitutional and statutory provisions could justify judicial intervention.

Minority judgment

The judgment was not unanimous.

Justice Abba Mohammed, who headed the three-member panel, dissented.

In his minority judgment, he held that the dispute was essentially an internal matter of the political party and questioned the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain the suit.

He also disagreed with the majority’s decision to uphold the lower court’s intervention in the party’s internal affairs.

The majority, however, maintained that where a dispute raises allegations of constitutional violations, such matters may be subject to judicial scrutiny.

Implications for ADC and 2027 elections

The ruling could have significant implications for the ADC’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, particularly because the disputed congresses and national convention were used to establish party structures and select candidates.