Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), , has called on the international community to support efforts to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections in Nigeria.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, made the call on Thursday after meeting with the new British High Commissioner to Nigeria and his delegation at the Commissioner’s residence in Abuja.

According to Obi, in a statement shared on his X handle, discussions at the meeting focused on governance, the welfare of Nigerians and the forthcoming elections.

He said his appeal to the international community was not for support for any  political party or candidate but for the protection of Nigerians’ democratic rights.

“Our appeal to the international community is not for support for any particular candidate or political party. It is for something far more fundamental: the protection of the Nigerian people’s democratic right to freely choose their leaders through free, fair, transparent and credible elections, Obi stated.”

He stressed that democracy should reflect the choices and aspirations of the people, urging foreign partners to continue promoting accountability and respect for the people’s mandate.

“Democracy must be about the people, their choices and their future,” he said.

Obi also encouraged the international community to continue standing with Nigerians, insisting that the outcome of elections must reflect the genuine will of the electorate.

The NDC candidate further said he congratulated the British High Commissioner and the people of the United Kingdom on the occasion of the birthday of King Charles III.

1. The crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress leadership deepened on Thursday after the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the National Working Committee led by former Senate President, David Mark, in a ruling that also invalidated the process that produced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.

The judgment, delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, also nullified the emergence of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, as National Secretary, and other decisions taken by the Mark-led leadership, including the nomination of candidates for elective offices. The court further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to recognise or act on decisions taken at the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting of July 27, 2025.

2. African Democratic Congress (Adc) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar lacks what it takes to challenge President Bola Ahmed Ahmed Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 election, Vice President Kashim Shettima, said yesterday. He described Atiku’s  political influence as totally down, beginning with his Adamawa home state. According to him, in the Ekiti and Osun recent governorship elections, Atiku’s ADC performed abysmally, which is another piece of evidence of the former Vice President’s lack of political influence.

3. The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has said the armed forces will gradually withdraw from internal security duties as the Nigeria Police Force builds its capacity.
Musa spoke at the APC Abuja Roundtable in Abuja on Thursday. He said the military’s growing role in police affairs reflected declining confidence in the police, adding that the constitution allows the military to step in when situations exceed the police’s capacity, but admitted the current level of involvement was excessive

4. US President Donald Trump has blamed the stock market’s sharp decline on the electoral victories recorded by the opposition Democratic Party in the midterm elections earlier this week. Trump made the accusation on Thursday in a post on his Truth Social platform, following a sharp selloff in US equities.

5. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed the political support behind Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, saying the wave that propelled him in the 2023 election no longer exists. Wike also described Obi as a dramatist, insisting that the former Anambra State governor had nothing to offer Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general election.

6. The factional National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Nafiu Bala Gombe, has commended the Federal High Court for what he described as its independent, impartial and courageous handling of the party’s leadership dispute. Bala, in a statement on Thursday reacting to the judgment in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, involving him, the ADC and four others, praised the trial judge for determining the case based on constitutional and statutory provisions rather than political considerations.

7. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has raised concerns over the increasing involvement of South African nationals in international drug trafficking. The agency said three South Africans had been arrested in recent operations, with large quantities of heroin, cocaine and synthetic cannabis, popularly known as Loud, recovered from them.

8. A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday fixed December 7, 2026, for the trial of six alleged coup plotters who were arrested by the security operatives following the botched exercise. The court fixed the date after it dismissed the objections of the alleged coup plotters against the admission of their statements and video recordings made to the military during their interrogation.

9. The Zone XI Command of the Nigeria Police Force said on Thursday that its operatives involved in the raid on a hostel occupied by some students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, had been detained as an investigation into the incident commenced. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Olanrewaju Ojedele, disclosed this on Thursday, adding that the command had commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

10. Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has acknowledged worsening electricity supply disruptions in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and Oyo states, as the Federal Government moves to recover abandoned power equipment, beginning with the clearance of 44 containers from Apapa ports in Lagos. The minister said the affected areas had recently recorded noticeable improvements in electricity supply before the latest disruptions.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected Thursday’s court judgment that nullified the candidacy of its standard-bearer for the 2027 elections, Atiku Abubakar. 

Earlier in the day, a federal high court in Abuja nullified the David Mark-led
ADC, and invalidated all decisions made by the party’s caretaker committee, including Abubakar’s nomination as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.

The presiding judge, Justice Peter Lifu
declared the Mark-led caretaker committee illegal and ruled in favour of Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former national deputy chairman (north-east) of the party.

Bala had approached the court to challenge the process by which Mark and other members of the caretaker committee assumed control of the party after Ralph Nwosu, the former national chairman, resigned.

But in a statement, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC spokesperson, described the verdict as a “desperate attempt to cripple the opposition and deny Nigerians the right to choose their leaders in the forthcoming general elections”.

He said the judgment’s timing, barely 24 hours after the “massive turnout” at the ADC presidential campaign rally in Sokoto, “exposes the growing desperation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)”.

“We have reasons to believe that the judgment had long been written on this case. The Sokoto rally was simply a trigger that stampeded its delivery,” the statement reads.

“Yesterday, Nigerians came out in their hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their support for the ADC and our promise of making life affordable for them. Today, they are being told that the party that they support and the candidates that they have supported at all levels could be erased by the stroke of a reckless judicial pen.

“Do these people understand what they are playing with? This is not about Atiku Abubakar or David Mark. It is about the democratic rights of Nigerians to freely choose their own leaders. It is about the rights of thousands of candidates to participate in a democratic process.”

Abdullahi said the judgment is legally indefensible and would be challenged through every available judicial process.

“We have seen this script before. When they are scared that the opposition is gathering steam, they use their judges in the courts to influence legally indefensible judgments. But the millions of Nigerians that are hungry and waiting for them at the ballot box see right through them and will not sit down in silence while our democracy is taken away by the courts,” he said.

“We warn the APC: do not play with fires you cannot control. The peace and stability of Nigeria are bigger than the ambition of any president or political party. Nobody should be so desperate to retain power that they are prepared to put the entire country at risk. This is not the time to play silly games with the stability of this country.

“Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, not to the APC. The presidency is not an inheritance. If the President thinks he has performed well in office, why is he afraid of competition? If the APC thinks that its policies and candidates are popular, why don’t they subject themselves to free and fair elections?”

Abdullahi urged ADC members to remain calm and law-abiding while the party pursues all legal means to overturn the judgment.