Good morning,
A tanker driver at Feesu Junction in Osun State did something most drivers would never attempt. The fire started shortly after he finished unloading. He detached the burning cabin from the tank and drove it towards a riverside, away from houses and filling stations. The margin between heroism and a body bag was thin. Name him. And while we are naming people, name the Falconets. They beat England 3-0 in Bielsko-Biała, Poland to reach the quarter-finals of the U-20 Women’s World Cup. Tosin Rafiu, Janet Akekoromowei and Mercy Mamudu scored. England had 56 per cent possession and missed a penalty. Nigeria had five big chances and took them. It was efficiency over elegance, and it was glorious. Two wins from a final. There are still matches to go. Do not start planning the parade yet.
Thirty-seven suspected illegal miners are dead in Minna, and a survivor says 65 detainees were packed into a single cell with no ventilation until they could not breathe. The state commandant has been suspended. A panel has been constituted. A survivor of Ansaru captivity told the Federal High Court this week how she and 45 others, including children as young as 18 months, were tortured and starved for 56 days in Oyo State. Two teachers were killed. And the Federal Government has asked a court to dismiss Atiku Abubakar’s latest certificate suit, arguing forgery must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Another certificate case, another preliminary objection.
Then there is Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, learning Yoruba for the 2027 Lagos campaign. He has hired a teacher. He earned a chieftaincy title in 2025. He lost in 2023 partly because critics said his Yoruba was not fluent enough. And this is what our politics has become: a man must prove his blood before he can be heard on flooding, housing and traffic. We did not ask this of the last candidate. We will not ask it of the next. We only ask it of the ones we have already decided do not belong. In Kano, the Hisbah has arrested a TikToker with 262,000 followers over videos showing him hugging and bathing with women. He has apologised. He is getting married. The board will charge him to court.
Petrol has hit ₦1,500 per litre, with marketers warning of ₦2,000. The Nigeria Labour Congress wants wage awards and naira-denominated crude. None of it touches crude prices or the exchange rate, which are the real drivers. Civil society groups are outside the Finance Ministry chanting “let Nigeria breathe” over a debt stock that keeps growing. The government says it needs the money. The debt service bill says both sides are right and neither has a solution.
And in Ondo, the death toll from a suspected poisonous herbal drink has risen to 49, with about 170 affected and the crisis spreading to Irele Local Government. The producer has been arrested. Fourteen others were picked up for violating a ban. We have seen this before, in Rivers in 2015, in Kano and Jigawa in 2020. Temporary bans, arrests, promises, then business as usual. May the souls of the dead find rest, and may their families find strength.
Warmly,
Lolade