In a dramatic show of solidarity, members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) staged a picket outside the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s headquarters in Abuja.

The protest was sparked by the ministry’s refusal to comply with a court order that demanded the reinstatement of Comrade Victor Ekpaha, who was dismissed from his position more than 20 years ago.

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The workers’ action resulted in the shutdown of the ministry’s operations, as they called for Ekpaha’s immediate reinstatement and the payment of his full salary, allowances, and other benefits for the over two decades that the case has been unresolved.

The NLC has expressed its determination to continue pressuring the ministry until the court ruling is respected and Ekpaha is fully compensated for the years of unpaid entitlements.

The union has also emphasized the broader issue of labor rights and justice, urging the government to address such longstanding grievances.

More to follow……………… 

Dangote Refinery has announced a N15 reduction in its ex-gantry loading cost, bringing it down to N865 per litre from the previous price of N880.

The new price, confirmed by a pro forma invoice and verified by petroleumprice.ng, was communicated to customers in a notice on Thursday morning.

This price adjustment follows earlier reports that the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery was expected to lower its petrol loading costs by the end of this week.

The reduction is expected to further drive down fuel prices in the country, providing some relief to consumers.

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Chinedu Ukadike, National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), assured the public that the price drop aligns with the Federal Executive Council’s recent directive on the Naira-for-Crude agreement.

“We are confident that this price reduction will be beneficial for the Nigerian people,” Ukadike said.

In a related development, the Federal Executive Council has authorized the full implementation of the long-suspended Naira-for-Crude agreement with local refiners.

This policy aims to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on foreign exchange for petroleum imports and boost local refining capacity.

The Ministry of Finance released a statement following a meeting between Finance Minister Wale Edun and Dangote Refinery officials.

The statement emphasized that the Naira-for-Crude initiative is a long-term policy, not a temporary measure.

“The initiative is designed to support sustainable local refining, enhance energy security, and reduce the country’s dependency on foreign currency for petroleum products,” the Ministry’s statement read.

It is the view of the pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, the Human rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) that the apex court has been presented with an opportunity to redeem the waning public image of the Nigerian judiciary by the emergency rule declared in Rivers State.

Biztellers reports that the matter challenging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency and the suspension of a sitting Governor of Rivers State, Siminilayi Fubara was instituted by some Nigerian governors.

The HURIWA, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that the Nigerian judiciary has never witnessed the kind of downturn, loss of public confidence and trust in the integrity to such a terrible extent that over 98 percent of Nigerians believed that President Tinubu has effectively pocketed the judiciary given that he was instrumental to the phenomenal rise of the current chief justice of Nigeria who was the justice that pronounced the then APC governorship candidate Hope Uzodimma who came 4th in the Imo State election as the winner thereby displacing the governor Emeka Ihedioha.

Ihedioha was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

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According to Onwubiko, besides, the Supreme Court’s recent highly biased and openly partisan judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim lambasting Governor Fubara and stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria from remitting the rightful allocations from the Federation Account to the coffers of the Rivers State government – a politically motivated ruling that led to the destabilisation of democratic structures of Rivers State including the unconstitutional suspension of Governor Fubara by President Tinubu.

The Rights group added that the inability of the Supreme Court to sanction Justice Emmanuel Agim for openly fraternising with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike at the recently held convocation ceremony of the University of Calabar shows the complicity and compromise with the executive arm of government by the Nigerian judiciary whose hierarchy is domiciled in the Supreme Court.

The HURIWA, therefore, affirmed that the time has now come for the world to see whether or not it is factually accurate the conspiracy theory that President Tinubu has the Nigerian judiciary in his pockets just as the Rights group said the decision by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in this matter brought by 11 governors of the PDP with a specific request for interpretation of the Constitution to ascertain if an elected president with same constitutional ways of impeachment just like the elected governor of the states, has the powers to unseat or unilaterally suspend a sitting governor like it was done to Gov Fubara.

Onwubiko maintained that the verdict on this case would be a verdict on the integrity of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and would be the last stroll that would break the camel’s back in terms of trusting the judiciary.

The HURIWA noted that the governors, in the suit marked: SC/CV/329/2025, predicated the summons on eight grounds.

The plaintiffs in the suit are Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, and Bayelsa States.

The plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court to determine if the President had the power to suspend a democratically elected structure of a state.

They also asked the apex court to determine if the way and manner the President pronounced the state of emergency declaration in Rivers State was not in contravention of the 1999 Constitution.

Amongst others, all 11 governors in the suit, filed through the states’ Attorney Generals, prayed the court to determine the following, “Whether upon a proper construction and interpretation of the provisions of Sections 1(2), 5(2), 176, 180, 188 and 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can lawfully suspend or in any manner whatsoever interfere with the offices of a Governor and the Deputy Governor of any of the component 36 States of the Federation of Nigeria and replace same with his own unelected nominee as a Sole Administrator, under the guise of, or pursuant to, a Proclamation of a State of Emergency in any of the State of the Federation, particularly in any of the Plaintiffs States?

The HURIWA expressed belief that there is no provision of the extant Grund Norm that authorises the sitting President to suspend a sitting governor, and therefore reminded the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kekere-Ekun that Nigerians will judge the Supreme Court and the judiciary by the kind of pronouncement the Supreme Court eventually makes in the aforesaid matter, especially with regards to the decision of the president to suspend a sitting governor.

“The judgment in this matter will determine whether Nigerians will support constitutional democracy or conclude that the judiciary has endorsed totalitarianism and dictatorship,” it added.