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Seven persons have been killed in a motor accident along Damaturu-Damagum Road, Gaggaba village in Fune Local Government Area of Yobe State.

The spokesman, Yobe Police Command, Dungus Abdulkarim, said the incident occurred around 01:20 pm on Thursday.

“The Yobe State Police Command regrets to inform the public of a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred on 15th January, 2026, at about 0120 hours, at Gaggaba Village, within the Damagum area,” Abdulkarim said.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that a accident involved a DAF trailer with Registration Number DAL 963 YY, driven by one Malam Abubakar, aged 35 years, of Maiduguri, Borno State, who was travelling from Lagos to Maiduguri, and a Mitsubishi Canter with Registration Number XA 437 NNR, driven by one Salisu Ibrahim, of Dirra Village, via Fune Local Government Area” the police spokesman said in statement.

“It was gathered that upon reaching a point at Gaggaba Village, the Mitsubishi Canter, allegedly driven at excessive speed, veered off its lane and rammed into the oncoming DAF trailer.”

He said as a result of the collision, both drivers, three occupants of the trailer, and two occupants of the Mitsubishi Canter, making a total of seven persons, lost their lives on the spot.

While sympathizing with the families of the deceased, The Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Ado, expressed concern over the rising cases of road traffic accidents—which claimed 120 lives across the state in 2025—calls for collective solutions.

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Four astronauts returned safely to Earth early on Thursday after an undisclosed serious medical condition affecting one of them forced an end to their International Space Station mission a few weeks early.

Their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Pacific off California, capping a 10-hour-plus descent from the space station and fiery re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.

It was the first time that NASA has cut short the rotation of an ISS crew due to a health emergency.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft dubbed Endeavour parachuted into calm seas off San Diego at about 12:45 a.m. PST (0845 GMT).

The finale of the abbreviated mission was carried live by a NASA-SpaceX webcast.

Moments later, several dolphins were visible swimming near the capsule, their dorsal fins breaking the surface of the ocean, as the spacecraft bobbed gently upright in the water.

In a radio transmission to the SpaceX flight-controcentreer near Los Angeles, Endeavour’s commander, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, 38, was heard saying, “It’s good to be home.”

Joining her on the return voyage were fellow U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke, 58, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 55, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, 39.

In less than an hour, SpaceX recovery teams had secured their heat-scorched capsule and hoisted it onto the deck of a retrieval vessel, then helped the astronauts out of the spacecraft for their first breath of fresh air in nearly 24 weeks.

Each of the crew members, still garbed in helmeted white-and-black space suits, smiled and gave a thumbs-up as they emerged and were helped to their feet. It was not evident from their appearance which one was ailing.

Unable to bear their own weight on Earth after spending months in microgravity, the four were each assisted onto special gurneys and escorted to an onboard medical station for routine checkups at sea.

Afterward, they were to be flown to a local hospital for further medical exams, SpaceX said.

SERIOUS MEDICAL CONDITION

The decision to bring all four home early was announced January 8, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman saying one of the astronauts faced a “serious medical condition” that required immediate attention of doctors on the ground. Isaacman was also present at mission control for the splashdown on Thursday.

NASA officials have not identified the crew member of concern or described the nature of the medical issue, citing privacy requirements.
Fincke, a retired Air Force colonel who has now logged five missions to space, and Cardman, a rookie astronaut and geobiologist, had been scheduled to conduct a six-hour-plus spacewalk last week to install hardware outside the station.

The spacewalk was canceled on January 7 over what NASA then characterized as a “medical concern” with an astronaut.

NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer James Polk later said the medical emergency did not involve “an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations.”

As the 11th regular ISS crew flown to orbit by SpaceX, Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov arrived at the space station following a launch from Florida in August. They departed on Wednesday afternoon on a 10 1/2-hour flight home, ending a 167-day mission.

The return from orbit capped a plunge through Earth’s atmosphere generating frictional heat that sent temperatures surrounding the outside of the capsule soaring to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,900 degrees Celsius).

The astronauts’ space suits, fitted to special ventilation systems, are designed to keep them cool as the cabin heats up.

Live infrared video of the splashdown showed deployment of the two sets of parachutes from the nose of the free-falling capsule, slowing its rate of descent to about 15 miles per hour (25 kph) before it gently hit the water.

Crew-12 is expected to launch to the space station in mid-February with four more astronauts. In the meantime, the orbiting laboratory remains occupied by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and two cosmonauts who flew to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in November.

[Reuters]

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The Supreme Court is set to deliver its judgement on Friday, January 16, 2026, in the high-profile ₦1.35 billion fraud case involving former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his sons, Mustapha and Aminu Lamido.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the development on Thursday via social media, stating that the apex court will hear its appeal against the July 25, 2023 ruling by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had discharged the Lamidos of all charges.

Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s decision, the EFCC filed an appeal at the Supreme Court on July 31, 2023, seeking to overturn the judgement and remit the matter to the trial court for continuation.

The agency argued that the Court of Appeal erred by discharging the defendants despite “sufficient evidence establishing a prima facie case” against them.

Lamido, his sons, Aminu Wada Abubakar, and their companies—Bamaina Holdings Limited and Speeds International Limited—were arraigned before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 37-count amended charge, including money laundering and abuse of office.

The EFCC alleged that Lamido, who governed Jigawa from 2007 to 2015, laundered ₦1.35 billion in kickbacks from contractors handling state government projects.

The trial, which began in 2015, saw the EFCC call more than 16 witnesses before closing its case.

Instead of presenting a defence, the defendants filed a no-case submission, claiming the prosecution failed to prove wrongdoing.

Justice Ojukwu dismissed the submission, ruling that the defendants had a case to answer.

The Lamidos then challenged this ruling at the Court of Appeal, which ultimately discharged them, prompting the EFCC’s Supreme Court appeal.

This judgement will mark a key moment in one of Nigeria’s longest-running political and financial crime trials.