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Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to constitute an independent team of experts to trace ₦33.75 billion reportedly paid to 3.29 million vulnerable Nigerian households, after an audit report raised questions over whether the money actually reached its intended beneficiaries.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Saturday, the former vice president said the audit findings amounted to a devastating indictment of a government that took away the poor man’s subsidy, increased his taxes and tariffs, promised support, and is now confronted with serious questions over whether that support ever reached him.

Shaibu quoted Atiku as saying the figures themselves expose the cruelty and inadequacy of the intervention, noting that ₦33.75 billion divided among 3.29 million households amounts to barely ₦10,258 per household.

According to the statement, after removing subsidy, driving up transport fares, electricity costs and food prices, the President Bola Tinubu administration’s supposed intervention amounts to roughly ₦10,000 per household, and even that sum has now failed to withstand basic audit scrutiny.

“This is beyond a bookkeeping scandal. The intervention is insultingly small, yet even that small amount cannot be cleanly accounted for. If money meant for hungry Nigerians cannot be satisfactorily traced while access to records required for accountability is frustrated, then what we are witnessing is unapologetic wickedness against the poor. You cannot punish people with hardship and then play hide-and-seek with money appropriated in their name,” Atiku said.

He, however, commended the Auditor-General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, appointed by the Tinubu administration in October 2023, for putting his constitutional responsibility above political convenience. “That is what institutions are supposed to do — protect the public purse, not the political comfort of those in power,” he said.

He noted that the situation was made more disturbing by the government’s own claim that more than ₦600 billion had been disbursed to over 10 million households, after Nigerians had earlier been told about 15 million households.

“It now appears that the Tinubu administration cannot give Nigerians a coherent account of how many households actually benefited from its intervention programme, while significant portions of the expenditure have failed to withstand independent audit scrutiny,” he said, insisting that “a ministerial announcement is not proof of payment. A name on a social register is not a bank alert.”

Atiku said the Auditor-General was reportedly questioning ₦33.75 billion supposedly paid to 3.29 million beneficiaries, alongside ₦36.74 billion in payments reportedly made without pre-payment audit and ₦4.62 billion for which payment vouchers were not produced. “These cannot be dismissed as another set of bogus figures buried in government accounts. These are resources appropriated in the name of poor Nigerians who desperately need protection from a cost-of-living crisis aggravated by this administration’s rash economic policies,” he said.

Explaining the rationale for the planned probe, he said Nigerians could not reasonably be expected to trust the same government whose expenditure was under question to investigate itself.

He said, “My team will constitute an independent group of financial, audit, technology and public-accounting experts to interrogate the available records surrounding these cash-transfer payments. We will follow the money as far as the available public and institutional records permit. We will examine the beneficiary figures, payment channels, reconciliation records, audit queries and every material inconsistency that has emerged. When that work is completed, we will furnish Nigerians with the findings.

“There must be no black box around the poor man’s money. If Remita processed these transactions, the relevant records should be available for scrutiny. If beneficiaries received the money, there should be evidence. If access to records was obstructed, Nigerians deserve to know by whom and why.”

Atiku argued that what Nigerians needed was not another palliative announcement but purchasing power, and an economic policy that reduces what they spend daily on transportation, food and energy, leaving more money in the pockets of ordinary families.

“Our intervention will follow production. It will support domestic refining, increase local supply, reduce the cost of energy and ensure that the benefit reaches Nigerians through lower prices. When fuel costs fall, transportation costs ease; when transportation costs ease, pressure on food prices and household budgets reduces,” he said.

He maintained that the Tinubu administration could not take away the little subsidy that supported struggling families, tax them heavily, increase electricity and transportation costs, and then obstruct accountability over the intervention supposedly designed to cushion those burdens.

Atiku demanded that if the beneficiaries were genuine, government should publish the verifiable payment trail, and if the money did not reach them, it should be recovered. “And if investigation establishes that any official diverted, misapplied or misappropriated funds meant for vulnerable Nigerians, that official must face prosecution. The poor have already paid enough through higher fuel prices, food costs, electricity bills, transportation fares and taxes. They must not also be made to lose the money appropriated in their name,” he said.

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. As NDLEA busts illicit drug-laden fuel tanker, recovers over 2 million pills of opioids, large consignments of skunk, meth in coordinated crackdown across 9 states

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have, in a coordinated sweep across the country arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant, intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment for illicit drugs, and recovered several other consignments of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine and other psychotropic substances in Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu states.

Following the interception of a 1.2kg cocaine consignment concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at a courier company in Lagos on 31st July 2026, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in NDLEA have successfully tracked the mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.

The suspect, arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday 4th September 2026 while posing as a herbal tea businessman, was identified as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu. In his statement, he admitted being the mastermind of some illicit drug shipments in the past while stating that he discarded his telephone SIM card once he learnt his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA.

Further investigation revealed the suspect is no stranger to the Agency: he was first arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos after ingestingw 900grams of cocaine and 130grams of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch. He was prosecuted for the crime, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail. He thereafter changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade.

A search of his residence located at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos on Friday 4th September led to the recovery of phone chargers similar to those used to conceal the intercepted cocaine, with their internal components removed to create space for drugs.

At the Lagos airport, operatives recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg worth over N1.1 billion concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan, and 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, worth over N173 million in street value, hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore that had lain unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies was conducted on Thursday 3rd September.

In one of the week’s most brazen discoveries, a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC, and notorious for evading arrest in the past was chased down by NDLEA officers along the Akoko/Lokoja expressway in Ondo state on Friday 4th September after its driver refused to stop. The driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko, and fled into the bush. A search of the tanker revealed a false compartment concealing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg alongside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau state.

Barely a month after three suspects: Yashim Dauji, Larry Ifeanyi, and Joseph Moji were arrested at Tincan Port in Lagos over the seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies, another 598.08kg (890 packets) of similarly infused cookies and gummies were on Wednesday 2nd September intercepted in a 40-foot container at the port and linked to the suspects already in custody.

In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Damilu and Jambutu axis in Jimeta, Yola North LGA, on Friday 4th September recovered 864,000 pills of opioids especially tramadol from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank, whose Honda Civic car rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped. In another interdiction operation in
Michika area of the state, a major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to Mubi and Michika axis, Calistus Ebubechukwu, 35, was arrested on Friday 4th September with a total of 2kg of the dangerous substance, while Attahiru Hussaini was intercepted with 750,027,530 pills of tramadol and other opioids concealed in a soap-laden Ford Galaxy bus marked JJM-953XD at Namtari check point in Mubi on Monday 31st August.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday 4th September recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350grams of cocaine, over 100kg of assorted tramadol grades, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of rohypnol at Gbaji area of the state, while two suspects: Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel were arrested with 720kg of cannabis at Agbara area.

Three suspects: Saidu Mustapha, 35; Zaharadeen Salisu, 29; and AbdulSalam Abdullahi, 25,
were nabbed with 636kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure aboard a bus travelling from Owo, Ondo state to Jos, Plateau state along Okene/Lokoja highway in Kogi state.

In Taraba, 58-year-old Kelechi Unachukwu, was arrested along Zaki-Biam road, Wukari LGA with a cocktail of over 109kg of tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin being conveyed in his Toyota Corolla car marked KUJ-333BT from Onitsha, Anambra state to Yola, Adamawa state.

A truck loaded with bags of cement was intercepted by NDLEA operatives along the Zaria-Kano expressway, Kaduna with 1,179kg of skunk recovered while a suspect Hamza Dahiru, 25, was arrested by NDLEA operatives in Bauchi in a follow up operation following the seizure of 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba town, Gombe state on Tuesday 1st September.

In Ekiti state, two suspects: Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35, were arrested after NDLEA operatives uncovered and destroyed a 4-hectare cannabis farm in Efon-Alaaye forest, recovering 117kg of already-harvested skunk, just as a 20-year-old Obinna David, was arrested at Ugbema Junction, Enugu with 40,590 capsules of tramadol on Saturday 5th September.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to nursing mothers and nurses at Ibereko Primary Health Centre, Abeokuta North, Ogun state; youths of Umouji/Okwo community at Olokoro, Umuahia South LGA, Abia, and NLNG staff and concessionaires at Saipem-Daewoo, NLNG terminal, Bonny LGA, Rivers state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Ondo, Tincan, Lagos, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu Commands for their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach to the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the current balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency. He reiterated that traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts will continue to be tracked down.

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Traders at the Kwaya Kusar Grains Market, Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno have raised an alarm over the circulation of counterfeit N1,000 notes in circulation.

A cross-section of the traders raised their concern in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Kwaya Kusar community on Saturday.

According to them, the issue is not limited to Kwaya Kusar market but cuts across other markets in Biu and Bayo LGAs, where they normally buy their commodities depending on their market days.

They said that the issue was affecting their businesses and sabotaging the economic activities at the markets, while eroding trust between traders and their customers.

Malam Ibrahim Yusuf, a grain trader from Gombe main market who came to Kwaya Kusar market to buy maize, said he had been a victim of fake currency notes twice.

“About three weeks ago, I went to Biu grain market to buy some bags of maize, and I was given four pieces of fake N1,000 notes, and I didn’t realise until I was in transit.

“It was when I was about to pay the driver that I saw one new N1,000 note that was very light and felt unusual in my hand, and I suspected it was fake. ”

He said he immediately called the person who gave him the currency to complain after discovering three other pieces of such notes in the cash he withdrew.

“My profit is not much, as I make between N3,000 and N4,000 per bag after taking out transportation cost.

“Now I bought three bags, meaning I am expecting roughly N12, 000 but now I have N4,000 counterfeit notes, which means my profit margin has been reduced, ” he said.

He said government and relevant authorities should visit the various markets in Biu, Kwaya Kusar and even Shani rural markets to mop up these counterfeit notes and find the source.

“This is highly imperative, especially now that farmers have started harvesting their produce, which will surely increase the volume of trade in the markets.

“Urgent action from relevant agencies is necessary to protect traders from making huge losses,” Yusuf said.

Also speaking, Alhaji Hassan Mai-Dawa said he was once a victim of fake N1,000 notes, which he collected from one of the POS operators in Kwaya Kusar.

He said it was when he went to deposit the money in the bank that the notes were discovered to be fake.

Mai-Dawa said many of the traders don’t collect transfers, so he had to withdraw from POS to be able to buy his goods.

“I think this is something the government should come in because I also faced similar issues in Biu market.

“Many traders do not know the difference; so, we use the fake note alongside the original ones,” he said.

Mrs Hauwa Aminu, a rice trader, said she often noticed some unusual new N1,000 notes inside her cash, but she never really bothered because people collect them from her.

Aminu recounted an incident where she almost fought with a buyer who needed a refund after depositing cash the previous day.

“I gave him the cash I had, and he rejected some of the notes, but I insisted that I am not the one printing them.

“It was an intense argument, and since then, that buyer never came back to my shop to buy from me, ” she said.

Aminu, however, appealed to the government to send its officials to some of the rural markets to monitor and make necessary arrests to protect traders.

Others who spoke to NAN but did not want their names mentioned also lamented their ordeals because they could not identify the counterfeit notes from original ones.

They called for massive sensitisation to enable local traders to identify counterfeit notes to protect their businesses.