The National Sports Commission (NSC) has responded to claims by Peter Obi that he was prevented from celebrating with the Flamingos, Nigeria’s U-17 women’s football team, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), had said he was stopped from meeting and felicitating the victorious team because officials told his protocol team that they could lose their jobs if they allowed him near.

In a statement on Monday, Shehu Dikko, chairman of NSC, relayed that officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) who accompanied and received the team, reported that they did not see Obi near or around the players at the airport. 

According to the officials, two individuals wearing Obi campaign face caps and other campaign attire approached them to request that the former governor meet and take photographs with the players. 

The proposed arrangement was also likely to involve campaign materials, the NSC said. 

“The players had just arrived early that morning on an Air Maroc flight at about 5.30 a.m. and were tired after their journey and a demanding competition,” the statement reads. 

“The officials exercised their judgment in declining the sudden meeting and photograph request at that time, taking account of the players’ welfare and the circumstances of the request and without any prior notice of any arrangement for airport reception for the team. 

“Nothing in the account provided by the officials supports the suggestion that their jobs were at risk.”

Obi had said he was at the airport to board a flight to Enugu, which would ordinarily depart from the domestic terminal, while the Flamingos arrived through the international terminal.

Dikko said airport officials and passengers welcomed and celebrated the team without discrimination on grounds of political or other affiliations.

“This moment of joy and national pride was duly captured by the media present to cover the team’s arrival and Mr. Obi was never captured anywhere near the team and or at the vicinity of the international wing of the Airport,” he said. 

The NSC boss said the commission takes strong exception to Obi’s decision to present the incident as evidence of political intimidation without first seeking clarification from the NFF or the commission. 

According to him, turning a request for an unscheduled interaction into a toxic narrative of political victimisation shifts attention from the players’ achievement to an individual political grievance. 

“These young champions should not be drawn into that controversy and never deserved this from Mr. Obi,” he said. 

He urged the NDC presidential candidate to reflect deeply and offer an unreserved apology to the players “for souring their moment of glory with his regrettable actions, subsequent statement and media interviews deliberately weaponising a non-issue for political gain”.

He noted that the Flamingos are minors and have a dedicated safeguarding official within the technical crew to protect and guide the players. 

“Their welfare, dignity and protection from undue pressure must remain central to every engagement,” he stated.

“This responsibility includes managing access to the players and ensuring that interactions including planned photograph sessions are appropriate and within the regulations.”

He said young athletes in the country must not be used to suggest allegiance to any political party, adding that considerations apply equally to public officials, political figures and the public.

Dikko said the team’s journey to the World Cup final involved more than seven months of preparation, training, World Cup qualifiers, the WAFU tournament and the competition in Morocco.

He acknowledged Obi’s congratulatory messages during the closing stages of the competition but said such gestures were different from sustained engagement with the team’s preparation, welfare and development.

“Our national teams deserve consistent support from everyone through preparation, competition and setbacks, as well as when they return with trophies,” he said.

Dikko added that Obi, and any other Nigerian who wishes to meet or host the Flamingos should contact the NFF or NSC with a formal request so that suitable arrangements can be made around the team’s programme, welfare, and, most importantly, to ensure every activity is implemented within the rules. 

The NSC chairman also disputed Obi’s claim that he was prevented from visiting the Super Eagles in the dressing room after Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe in Uyo on March 25, 2025.

He said the players had declined to receive visitors after the match, which ended unfavourably for Nigeria, as they wanted to hold an immediate meeting among themselves. 

Dikko, who said he sat on the same row as Obi and a sprinkling of governors during the match, added that no dignitary or official, including himself, the governors and top NFF officials, visited the players. 

He added that FIFA protocols restricted access to the dressing room to accredited persons or those cleared through the football federation.

1. President Bola Tinubu has promised to recruit 28,000 additional military personnel and 50,000 police officers as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture and tackle terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.

According to the 109-page APC 2027 Presidential Election Manifesto, titled From Reform to Prosperity Agenda 2027–2031, obtained by The PUNCH, Tinubu plans to achieve six per cent annual economic growth, facilitate the construction of 200,000 affordable homes and sustain a downward trend in inflation and food prices by 2031

2. The Senator representing Abia North, Orji Kalu, has disclosed that he previously traded in heavy weapons internationally, saying he sold arms to buyers who could afford them before abandoning the business at his parents’ insistence. Kalu made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, while discussing his longstanding relationships with former and current South African leaders

3. Fifty-Four officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) linked to the manipulation of the voter registration are to face the law, Commission Chair Joash Amupitan has said. Prof. Amupitan announced yesterday that the electoral umpire uncovered “deliberate manipulation of the voter registration procedures”.

4. The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has vowed to prevent Peter Obi from repeating his 2023 presidential election victory in the state, declaring that the party has learnt from the defeat and is mobilising to secure President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027. The state APC Chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, said the outcome of the last presidential election had served as a wake-up call for the ruling party, which is intensifying its mobilisation across states and local government areas ahead of the January 16, 2027 poll.

5. The immediate past Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress in Kwara State, Abubakar Basambo, has defected to the All Progressives Congress. Basambo, who is a former governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, announced his defection in a statement made available to reporters in Ilorin.

6. Three Nigerians have been arrested in Delhi, India, for allegedly staying in the country without valid immigration documents. The Times of India reported on Sunday that the Delhi Police arrested the men for “allegedly staying in India without valid documents” and subsequently transferred them to a detention centre.

7. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has declined to endorse Senate President Godswill Akpabio for another term as head of the National Assembly ahead of the 2027 general elections. Yilwatda said he had no preferred candidate for the position, insisting that the decision would rest entirely with senators elected into the next National Assembly.

8. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Edo State Command, has arrested 75 suspected drug traffickers in connection with 16,818.17kg of illicit drugs in October 2026. The statistics were released in a statement on Monday by the Commander of Narcotics, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who described the visit of the chairman, Mohammed Buba Marwa, as a catalyst for the command’s fight against drug traffickers.

9. Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has yet to receive Certified True Copies, CTCs, of recent Federal High Court rulings concerning the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the submission of President Bola Tinubu’s academic credentials. INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this while speaking at a news conference on the voter register on Monday in Abuja.

10. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is secretly investigating the 774 local government chairmen across the country over their management and spending of public funds since the councils gained financial autonomy, sources said on Monday. The investigation, which is being handled by the commission’s zonal directorates, is aimed at determining whether the councils have been accountable in the management of their allocations.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that it has removed 1,608,660 invalid voter registrations.

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, Joash Amupitan, INEC chairman, said the invalid registrations were identified through a review conducted using the automated biometric identification system (ABIS) for the 2025 and 2026 continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise.

In October, the commissionfaced backlash after Nigerians flagged duplicate entries, artificial intelligence-generated photos and names of deceased persons on the voter register.

Amupitan said the commission also removed 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons, bringing the total number of records deleted from the register to 1,609,553.

He said the commission had concluded the cleaning exercise following complaints, claims and objections received during the display of the preliminary register at registration wards between October 9 and 15, 2026, and its subsequent online publication.

“The commission harvested 11,088,238 records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise. Of these, ABIS initially flagged 1,545,052 for examination,” Amupitan said.

“A flagged record is not necessarily an invalid registration: automated screening identifies matters requiring review, while authorised adjudication determines the outcome. Consequently, before publication of the preliminary register, 1,277,052 registrations had been confirmed invalid and excluded from the 1,545,052 for examination.

“As a result of objections, claims and complaints received during the display and publication, a further 268,000 cases underwent adjudication. A total of 217,722 were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid and retained.

“Additional screening subsequently identified 113,886 further invalid registrations, which were also removed. The cumulative total of confirmed invalid registrations removed after the objections, claims and complaints is 331,608, in addition to the 873 separately verified deceased voters’ records. This brings the total clean-up to 1,608,660.

“The commission confirms that the current register-cleaning exercise for the 2025/2026 continuous voter registration (CVR) has been concluded.

“All 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations have been removed. In addition, 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons have also been removed as a separate category. The combined total of records removed under these two categories is 1,609,553.”

On the irregularities recorded in the preliminary voter register, Amupitan said the commission had identified 54 officials across 10 states for disciplinary action, including possible prosecution, over irregularities detected in the 2025/2026 CVR exercise.

“To prevent recurrence, the Commission is strengthening its registration controls with enhanced biometric capture, authentication and verification safeguards,” he said.

“Fifty-four persons cutting across 10 states have been identified as complicit, and necessary disciplinary action will be taken against them, including possible prosecution.”

He said some registration personnel deliberately circumvented established procedures and abused provisions designed for exceptional registration circumstances, including those involving persons with disabilities.

“The affected records have been identified and subjected to the appropriate review and remediation processes, while the associated personnel have been identified for further administrative investigation,” he said.

Speaking on the complaints about omitted names, the chairman said INEC discovered that most of the affected voters had registered between 2011 and 2023 but subsequently registered again instead of transferring their voter registration to their new locations.

Amupitan said ABIS invalidated the subsequent registrations, while the voters’ names remained in their previous registration locations.

The INEC chairman advised affected voters to check their former registration locations.