The European Union (EU) has pledged a defence support to the Armed Forces of Nigeria totalling €20 million.

The special assistant on media to the minister of defence, Leah Katung-Babatunde, disclosed the development in a statement on Saturday.

According to her, the proposed support was discussed when Christopher Musa, minister of defence, met with Gautier Mignot, EU ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, at the Ship House in Abuja.

She said the meeting focused on key bilateral defence agreements, including a review of security cooperation between Nigeria and the EU.

She added that Mignot commended Musa’s efforts to improve the country’s security situation and invited him to a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels later in the year.

Katung-Babatunde added that the discussions centred on arrangements for the EU’s €20 million bilateral assistance to the AFN under the European Peace Facility (EPF).

She said the ambassador noted that an EU technical delegation would visit Nigeria in November to agree on the details.

Musa thanked the EU for its continued support for Nigeria and reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to protecting lives and promoting national development.

The minister said relative peace was gradually returning to troubled parts of the country through the efforts of the armed forces and other security agencies.

He said that kidnapping along major highways and attacks on isolated communities remained a challenge.

Musa added that Nigeria was expecting the delivery of 10 attack helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other military equipment to strengthen security operations.

He identified the shrinking of the Lake Chad Basin, which supports more than 50 million people, as a source of instability.

The minister said denying terrorists access to holding areas on the Lake Chad islands remained a key operational priority for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

On the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme, Musa said the initiative would prioritise victims, including military personnel affected by the conflict.

1. The appointment of prominent opposition figures to President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign council has triggered discontent within the ruling All Progressives Congress and raised fears among opposition candidates that the political alliances could undermine their electoral fortunes.

Findings by Sunday PUNCH across several states revealed growing unease among APC stakeholders in Osun, Anambra and Rivers states, where opposition politicians were appointed to coordinate Tinubu’s campaign, while candidates in the affected opposition parties expressed fears of electoral losses.

2. Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shuaibu, arrived in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, on Saturday, amid heightened tensions and a looming protest by the parents of 78 school children who were abducted in May. The high-stakes visit comes as the parents shelved a planned journey to the nation’s capital, where they had threatened to occupy the streets outside the Presidential Villa in Abuja until President Bola Ahmed Tinubu personally addressed their plight.

3. Segun Sowunmi, convener of The Alternative, has the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi and his supporters, known as Obidients, as the biggest obstacles to the South-East producing Nigeria’s president.
Sowunmi said the region needed to build alliances with other parts of the country and reduce political hostility if it hoped to secure the presidency in a multi-ethnic and multicultural nation.

4. The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State has asked the State Police Command and other security agencies to pursue the perpetrators of the brutal killing of a middle-aged man, Ridwan Adeyemo, who was reportedly hacked to death by some assailants on Friday at Agbokojo Area of Ibadan. The party urged security operatives to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice.

5. Vice President Kashim Shettima has said he fears divisions within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, more than he fears the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections. Shettima spoke on Saturday in Abuja when he unveiled the campaign head office of Arewa for Asiwaju, A4A, a northern coalition backing the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, and formally inaugurated its campaign structure.

6. The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation, MDPCO, has vowed that its candidate, Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, will defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 12 battleground states, including Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, in the January 2027 presidential election. The campaign organisation said Tinubu’s planned visits to the states would do little to change what it described as growing opposition to his re-election.

Oyo State Police Command has rescued a one-month-old baby girl allegedly sold for N2m and arrested two suspects, including the baby’s mother and the owner of the health facility where she was delivered. The incident occurred in Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State. The suspects are the baby’s mother, 23-year-old Cecilia Amos, and the owner of Ebepraise Health Centre, Ido, Dr Adeleke Ebenezer, 40.

8. Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have arrested 95 suspected cultists in coordinated raids on criminal hideouts across the state. The operatives recovered five firearms, comprising two pump-action guns, one locally fabricated cut-to-size gun and two locally made pistols, alongside 12 live cartridges and seven expended cartridges.

9. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, on Saturday took his political consultations to Ogba Land, a kingdom in Rivers and appealed to the traditional leaders to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. Addressing the traditional council at the Palace of the Oba (King) of Ogba Land, Nwachukwu Obuoha-Obi III, in Omoku, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers, Wike said “supporting Tinubu is a support for prosperity”.

10. Troops of the Nigerian Army have killed two suspected kidnappers, rescued an abducted victim and recovered N10 million ransom during an operation in Falgore Forest, Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State. The operation, conducted by troops of 3 Brigade under Operation MESA, followed the abduction of Alhaji Kabiru Aliyu at Fanyabo village in Falgore Forest on October 11, 2026.

The suspended commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger state, Suberu Aniviye, has said that the deaths of suspected illegal miners in custody was a costly and avoidable mistake.

The embattled commandant reportedly apologised to the victims’ families while testifying before a panel of inquiry investigating the deaths in Minna, the Niger state capital. The panel is chaired by Mohammed Mohammed, a judge.

He described the incident as a costly mistake that occurred during his tenure.

Also, while giving evidence, Stephen Tsado, suspended head of the NSCDC legal unit, said that he had advised Aniviye to release the underage suspects to their parents on bail, but his advice was not heeded.

Aniviye said the operation followed complaints from residents around M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate about mining activities in their communities.

According to him, he visited the site on September 15 before deploying mining marshals, who arrested the suspected illegal miners the following evening.

Aniviye told the commission that he learnt of the deaths through a telephone call on September 17 and returned to the command’s office, where he found bodies lying on the detention cell floor.

He said he informed Umaru Bago, governor of Niger state, who directed that the bodies be taken to the mortuary, adding that he also contacted the state commissioner of police and the director of the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to him, the suspects were scheduled to be arraigned in court on September 17 before their deaths.

Maryam Etang, a nurse attached to the command’s medical unit, told the commission she was shocked to find the body of one Emeka Emmanuel among those brought out of the cell. She said Emmanuel was not among the miners arrested during the operation.

It would be recalled that 37 suspected illegal miners arrested in M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto villages in Niger state died in NSCDC custody in September.

Aniviye had said the suspects were arrested during operations conducted on September 15 and 16.

Following the death of the 37 miners, the Federal Government suspended Aniviye and ordered an investigation into the deaths.

It also constituted a 10-member independent committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.