The court also barred the protesters from anywhere close to the villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square and Shehu Shagari Way, pending the hearing of the motion on notice.

Justice Mohammed Umar, on Friday, granted the ex-parte motion moved by the police lawyer, Wisdom Madaki, on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRN, contrary to the earlier media reports in circulation.

The certified true copy of the enrolled order, signed by the court Registrar, Mr Kasim Muazu, and the presiding judge, Justice Umar, was made available on Saturday in Abuja.

The judge also made an order of abridgement of time “within which the respondents will respond to the application on notice to cause the ex-parte order be set aside on Monday, the 20th of October, 2025 at 9.00am.”

This was also contrary to some media reports that Justice Umar adjourned the matter until October 21 for the parties to appear in court.

“The respondents are hereby restrained in the interim from protesting in the following areas: Aso Rock Villa, or anywhere close to Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square and on Shehu Shagari way pending the hearing of the motion on notice.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: AI/Fact-checking: Curing ‘madness with madness’

“The court hereby abridged time within which the respondents will respond to the application on notice to cause this ex-parte order be set aside on Monday, the 20th of October, 2025 at 9.00am.

“The order of this court together with the motion on notice be served on the respondents today, Friday, the 17th day of October, 2025,” the judge ordered.

Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter until October 20 for hearing of the motion on notice.

“ISSUED AT ABUJA under the Hand of the Presiding Judge, Honourable Justice M. G. Umar, and the Seal of the Court this 17th day of October, 2025,” the enrolled order reads.

In the ex-parte motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/2202/2025, the police, on behalf of FRN, sued five respondents.

They are Omoyele Sowore, Sahara Reporters Ltd, Sahara Reporters’ Media Foundation, Take It Back Movement, (TIB), for the Transformation of Nigeria Or Any Form of Organisation or Any Other Person(s) Acting Either Express or Implied Instruction or Any Other Organisation or Group With the Like Intention; and Unknown Persons as 1st to 5th respondents respectively.

The motion dated and filed on October 16 sought one relief.

“An order of this honourable court restraining or ban protesters from protesting in the following areas, Aso Rock Villa or anywhere close to Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square and Shehu Shagari Way.

“And for such further orders as this honourable court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of this case.”

The affidavit in support of the ex-parte motion was deposed to by Bassey Ibithan, a police officer attached to Directorate of Legal Services, Force Headquarters, Abuja.

Mr Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, had planned to organise the protest for the release of Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Sowore, the 2019 and 2023 presidential candidate of African Action Congress, ACC, had begun mobilisation for what he called a planned peaceful protest against the detention Kanu.

However, there have also been ongoing calls for political solution to Kanu’s trial who is facing alleged terrorism offence at the Federal High Court before Justice James Omotosho.

Source: NAN

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The president, who spoke at a stage production held in honour of his late mother, Hajiya Abibatu Mogaji, said the government would invest more in culture and arts to bridge the past and the present and create a pathway for the future.

The play titled, ‘Abibatu Mogaji: An Opera’, was staged at the Conference Centre of the State House, on Tuesday, with the Vice-President, Senator Kashim Shettima; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and other dignitaries in attendance.

President Tinubu’s mother passed away on June 15, 2013, at the age of 96, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of service to family, community, the underprivileged, and the nation.

READ ALSO: Tinubu sets up committee on implementation of livestock reforms

The president said he inherited his resilience, determination, and discipline from his mother, who was “tough and determined”.

“My first restaurant was the best. My first toilet was the best. My first bedroom was her back. There is no way I could have come this far, and become this old without her care,’’ the president said.

The president thanked the executive producer of the play, Mr. Ola Awakan and the Director, Dr. Ahmed Yerima for scripting and directing a play to immortalize his mother.

President Tinubu commended the “thoroughly researched’’ play, which reflected her moments on earth.”

“I could see that they know her very well. She was tough. She was a disciplinarian. I can thank God for the gift I got from her. It was an enduring gift of character and determination. Never to give up,’’ the president stated.

The president said his son, Seyi, and other family members would benefit from the production, noting that theatre conveyed lessons from history through re-enactment.

In his vote of thanks, the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu, thanked the managers and crew for putting up a brilliant performance to immortalize the late Iyaloja of Lagos.

In his remarks, Awakan thanked the president for the opportunity and support to stage the play at the Presidential Villa.

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Let me say that one of the most stupid decisions ever made in governance was to build a ‘Federal Secretariat’ in Abuja Central District.

Those who conceived the idea have their brains where their asses ought to be. No other nation builds its entire workforce in one location. It’s simple, you congest one area and make your entire workforce prone to attack. We don’t wait until there’s a war to prepare for war. You anticipate it.

Imagine if there is a war between Nigeria and any other nation or entity. All they need is a suicide bomber or two to wipe out our entire workforce. I know there are anti-aircraft missiles around the presidency, but just put yourself in the position of Russia and Ukraine. You’ll need your entire budget to defend the secretariat and Aso Rock.

So, what’s the hullabaloo over Bola Tinubu’s decision to move certain agencies of government back to Lagos? Apart from re-congesting Lagos, there’s nothing wrong with it.

To compound the situation, we have the National Assembly and the Supreme Court and residences of justices within the same location. I blame the military for that asinine decision. In a command and control system, nobody critiques the commander in chief over his stupid decisions.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: Don’t end it, talk about it, By Asaju Tunde

So, what’s the hullabaloo over Bola Tinubu’s decision to move certain agencies of government back to Lagos? Apart from re-congesting Lagos, there’s nothing wrong with it. FAAN works best in Lagos, it has the busiest airport in Nigeria and is destination to probably 70 percent of international flights.

The CBN could operate from anywhere.

I don’t see the hoopla over this by my northern wheeler-dealers who think that Abuja is not a federal capital territory but ‘part of the north’. What the ‘North’ gains from these agencies being in Abuja remains to be seen.

These are people whose homesteads are being ravaged with mindless violence. They are not concerned about kidnapping and various insurgencies going on in their homestead as they are about agencies being relocated. Honestly, we can’t make progress as a nation if we keep politicizing every move of government.

One clown even threatens political repercussions if the move is not reversed. Abeg, what political repercussions can you make over an administrative decision? These clowns should be more concerned about the much more germane issues of insecurity that has turned an otherwise peaceful area into a cauldron of violence and mass abductions.

I may not be a friend of consecutive regimes, but I am with Tinubu on this one. I hope he never cows to these people whose gods is their belly. I am a northerner and these clowns do not speak in my interest.

I see no reason why the navy couldn’t shift their operational headquarters to Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom or Cross River. It is logistically cool.

If I had my way, I will turn the Federal Secretariat to a mass housing estate and relocate ministries to Abuja’s other municipalities. That way, we reduce the congestion in the centre and bring development to the area councils. I see no reason why the navy couldn’t shift their operational headquarters to Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom or Cross River. It is logistically cool. There are others that should move also. This is 2024 and everything is not about ethnic politics. Human life should mean more than parochial politics.

If anybody should threaten Tinubu on governance, they should be telling him that if the killings and general insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria is not quelled under him, there would be electoral consequences. If they start saying and working towards that, then they’ll have my support.

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Makinde was at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, to present the report to the president, at the weekend.

The president had earlier commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State following the incident.

He also directed the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, “to work with the Oyo State government to offer immediate and comprehensive relief to the victims.”

President Tinubu had equally called on all concerned agencies of government to quickly unravel the circumstances that led to the tragedy.

Governor Makinde appreciated the Presidency for its support following the incident, noting that the Oyo State government would do everything possible to provide succour to victims and to fish out and punish those behind the tragedy.

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President Buhari had invited Asíwájú Tinubu to join him for the prayers, his last at the State House Mosque before he hands over power and takes his final bow from office on Monday.

The formal handover ceremonies started Thursday with the investiture of the President-elect and the Vice president-elect with highest national honours and presentation of the handover documents to the incoming president.

Muslim prayers and interdenominational Christian service were scheduled for Friday and Sunday, respectively.

While the two events were billed to hold at the National Mosque and the National Ecumenical Centre in Abuja, similar prayer sessions were planned all over the country.

The events will climax on Monday May 29 when the former Lagos governor takes the oath of office as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

At the well-attended prayer session at the National Mosque, President-elect Tinubu was represented by Vice president-elect, Senator Shettima.

At both mosques, Imams prayed for the success of the incoming administration and supplicate for Allah’s guidance for Tinubu and his deputy to steer the ship of the country to greater destination.

They also admonished Muslim faithful to constantly remember their leaders and the country in prayers as enjoined by Islam.

Speaking after observing the prayers at the State House, President-elect Tinubu said he had come to join President Buhari to offer prayers to Almighty Allah to support him to carry out the task of governance successfully.

He said he would drink from the fountain of knowledge and wisdom of the Chief Imam of the State House Mosque, Sheikh Abdulwahid Abubakar Suleiman who reminded leaders of the burden of trust in leadership.

Among those who observed the Juma’at at the State House were former Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, General Buba Marwa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu Garba, and some other presidential aides.

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Abati had, in his October 14, 2016 piece, The Spiritual Side of Aso Villa Abati, published in The Guardian painted the picture of an Aso Rock filled with occupants with weird experiences.

But in his piece, The good in goodbye, in his weekly column, From the Inside …Fridays with Femi Adesina, the spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari said as an occupant of Aso Rock in the past eight years, he never experienced or witnessed any of those “wild” claims by Abati.

Describing them as false, he said none of them happened.

“Not in eight years”, he said.

Adesina’s piece reads in part:

My predecessor in office (read, ancestor) Dr Reuben Abati, had alleged that Aso Villa is haunted, and should be turned to a museum. Abandoned. True? I didn’t see any of his rather wild claims, not in eight years.

In a piece he titled The Spiritual Side of Aso Villa, Abati had postulated:

“I am ordinarily not a superstitious person, but working in the Villa, I eventually became convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it. I’ll start with a personal testimony. I was given an apartment to live in inside the Villa. It was furnished and equipped. But when my son, Michael arrived, one of my brothers came with a pastor who was supposed to stay in the apartment. But the man refused claiming that the Villa was full of evil spirits and that there would soon be a fire accident in the apartment. He complained about too much human sacrifice around the Villa and advised that my family must never sleep overnight inside the Villa.

“I thought the man was talking nonsense and he wanted the luxury of a hotel accommodation. But he turned out to be right. The day I hosted family friends in that apartment and they slept overnight, there was indeed a fire accident. The guests escaped and they were so thankful.”

Fire accidents in the Villa? I lived there for eight years. And not even a knockout exploded. Reason to be thankful to God. A good in goodbye.

Hear Abati again: “Around the Villa while I was there, someone always died or their relations died. I can confirm that every principal officer suffered one tragedy or the other; it was as if you needed to sacrifice something to remain on duty inside that environment. Even some of the women became merchants of dildo because they had suffered a special kind of death in their homes (I am sorry to reveal this) and many of the men complained about something that had died below their waists too. The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients.”

True? False. To the glory of God, I never experienced anything like this. Human beings normally face one vicissitude or the other, it is part of life. But God equally spares His own. No ailment to nurse, other than things typical of aspiring senior citizens like me. And nothing died under the waist. Lol

Let’s hear Abati again, before we finally weigh anchor: “I really don’t envy the people who work in Aso Villa, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency. For about six months, I couldn’t even breathe properly. For another two months, I was on crutches. But I considered myself far luckier than the others who were either nursing a terminal disease or who could not get it up.

“When Presidents make mistakes, they are probably victims of a force higher than what we can imagine. Every student of Aso Villa politics would readily admit that when people get in there, they actually become something else. They act like they are under a spell. When you issue a well-crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly. When the President makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong…I am therefore convinced that there is an evil spell enveloping this country. We need to rescue Nigeria from the forces of darkness. Aso Villa should be converted into a museum and abandoned.

“I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour.”

Well, I slept in my house in the Villa for eight years. And I snored, even so loudly to wake myself up. So, it’s really different strokes for different folks. And it really has nothing to do with Aso Villa. Yes, sound sleep is another good in goodbye.

The final hurray, the au revoir next week, by the grace of God.

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Before they joined the congregation in prayers, the two had a closed-door meeting at which they greeted one another on the last Eid-el-Fitr occasion following the completion of the 30-day Ramadan fast and privately discussed a host of issues of common concern to them.

The President-elect was accompanied to the State House by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and two governors – Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq   of Kwara State – as well as  Alhassan Ado Doguwa the Majority Leader of House of Representatives.

President Buhari in bidding a farewell to the visitor said “thank you for joining us in prayer.”

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Details of the meeting are however not available as at the time of filing this report.

The pictures of the meeting as recorded by the president’s personal photographer, Mr. Sunday Aghaeze, were displayed by the president’s media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, on his Facebook wall.

It would be recalled that Tinubu had on Friday picked the form to contest the presidential seat in the coming 2023 election, on the platform of the APC.

A member of the House of Representatives, representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, James Faleke, picked the forms for him.

Faleke was accompanied by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, and hundreds of members of the Tinubu Support Groups, TSG, to the party’s secretariat.

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Receiving a group under the aegis of Highly Respected Igbo Greats, led by First Republic parliamentarian and Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, at State House, Abuja, the president told the 93-year-old statesman:

“You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary. God has spared you, and given you a clear head at this age, with very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already. But the demand you made is heavy. I will consider it.”

Stressing his policy of non-interference with the Judiciary, President Buhari said when Kanu jumped bail, got arrested and brought back to the country, “I said the best thing was to subject him to the system. Let him make his case in court, instead of giving very negative impressions of the country from outside. I feel it’s even a favour to give him that opportunity.”

The president condoled with Chief Amaechi, who recently buried his wife, praying that her soul would rest in peace.

The nonagenarian had described the situation in the Southeast as “painful and pathetic,” lamenting that businesses have collapsed, education is crumbling, and there is fear everywhere.

He pleaded for a political, rather than military solution, requesting that if Kanu was released to him as the only First Republic Minister still alive, “he would no longer say the things he had been saying,” stressing that he could control him, “not because I have anything to do with them (IPOB), but I am highly respected in Igbo land today.”

Chief Amaechi said twice he had interfaced with Nnamdi Kanu in the past, and the latter rescinded orders earlier given on civil disobedience.

He concluded: “I don’t want to leave this planet without peace returning to my country. I believe in one big, united Nigeria, a force in Africa. Mr President, I want you to be remembered as a person who saw Nigeria burning, and you quenched the fire.”

Other people in the visiting delegation were; Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governor of Anambra State; Bishop Sunday Onuoha of the Methodist Church, Chief Barrister Goddy Uwazurike, former President of Igbo socio-cultural group, Aka Ikenga, and Mr Tagbo Mbazulike Amaechi.

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The Permanent Secretary stated this at the administration of Oath of Secrecy and Declaration of Secrecy to 42 staff of the State House, administered by Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court.

The Permanent Secretary explained that the oaths were administered to staff members who handle classified documents.

‘‘We discovered that due to deployment of officers and retirement a number of our staff need to be placed under the radar so that they will be aware that their jobs, the kind of documents or information they are handling from day to day and beyond, are so important and must be safeguarded.

‘‘That’s the reason we decided to do the needful by administering the Oath of Secrecy, highlighting the importance of letting them know what information they are managing and the consequences of the breach of such information,’’ he said.

The Permanent Secretary, who disclosed that the exercise would be continuous, expressed delight that so far the State House had not recorded any breach of information.

‘‘We have not had any breach. We don’t anticipate having any breach.

‘‘But then it’s our duty to let them understand that if there is any, there will be consequences after investigations and that also includes after they have retired from the Civil Service,’’ he said.

Earlier before the administration of the oaths, Mr Tukur Yahaya, the Director of Special Services Department, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, took the staff through sensitization, explaining the essence of the Official Secrets Act, 1962.

‘‘The essence of this exercise is to ensure the safety and security of government information, documents and facilities,’’ he said.

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