1. Tuesday’s massacre in Woro, a remote community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, which left an estimated 176 residents dead, was not a random act of violence.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH show that the attack was the result of a calculated expansion of a jihadist front that the country’s security architecture failed to halt despite prior warnings. At the centre of the bloodshed is Abubakar Saidu, popularly known as Sadiku, a terrorist commander whose violent trail spans more than a decade and northern region of the country
2. It was a moment of national reflection as the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and family members of the late General Murtala Mohammed reflected on his legacies 50 years after he was assassinated in a coup d’état. The memorial event brought together representatives of the Nigerian Army and foreign diplomats who witnessed the official wreath-laying ceremony in honour of the late General where he was killed in a traffic ambush in his black Mercedes Benz on George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos
3. BudgIT, a budget transparency organisation that tracks budget performance in Nigeria, has uncovered 92 fraudulent projects across the country. In its 2024/2025 Tracka Report, released on Friday, in which 2,760 projects were tracked, 92 were categorised “Fraudulent Projects”, with many left unfinished.
4. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the N2.5 billion judgment given on November 30, 2015 by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, against the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria over its unlawful disengagement of 110 staff in 1996. The appellate court also ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to promptly release the judgment sum to the staff.
5. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has clarified that the attendance of the Samuel Anyanwu-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at its recent engagement with political parties does not amount to the commission’s recognition of one faction over another. The clarification followed questions over why only the Anyanwu group was present at the meeting, with the Turaki-led group absent.
6. Suspected armed herdsmen on Friday afternoon attacked Anwase Market in Mbaikyor, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, kidnapping several market women and setting the market ablaze. Witnesses said the attackers invaded the community from a nearby mountain, firing sporadically to cause panic before setting stalls on fire and abducting women.
7. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday received the Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Governor Sani briefed the President on the successful rescue of worshippers abducted from churches in the Kurmin Wali community of Kajuru Local Government Area on January 18, 2026.
8. A 40-year-old woman has been arrested by operatives of the Ondo State Police Command for allegedly poisoning a three-year-old boy, Abdulrasheed, in Odigbo Local Government Area of the state. The suspect, identified as Nafisat Lateef, who is the landlady of the victim’s mother, allegedly forced a liquid substance suspected to be poisonous into the mouth of the toddler.
9. Four soldiers were feared killed in a Boko Haram ambush at Auno, near Jakana along the Maiduguri-Damaturu road in Borno State. It was gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday night at about 10:50 pm. Some soldiers serving in the area said the troops were ambushed while going to reinforce colleagues under attack.
10. Gunmen suspected to be cultists have beheaded the President of the Omoku Youth Federation in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Ifeanyi Azuazu, and shot dead his personal aide, Chigozie Oluwu. The incident occurred around 6 pm on Thursday when about seven assailants stormed a popular drinking spot along Ogolo Street, off Palace Road in Omoku town.
