🗞️ NIGERIA TODAY — NAIJA NEWS FEEDS ROUND-UP

Wednesday, 11 March 2026 | By Our International Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE

From a courtroom in Abuja that is slowly suffocating Nigeria’s main opposition party, to pump prices climbing faster than the Saharan sun, to soldiers fighting off coordinated ISWAP offensives while a fever epidemic quietly kills in the provinces — Wednesday’s headlines from across Nigeria’s newsrooms paint a portrait of a country at a crossroads, with every pressure point in the national anatomy flaring at once. Here is how the day broke.

🏛️ POLITICS: THE PDP’S SLOW-MOTION COLLAPSE

The most seismic political story of the week reached a new crescendo as Nigeria’s main opposition party staggered under a combination of judicial blows and high-profile defections that are reshaping the country’s political landscape ahead of 2027.

A landmark Court of Appeal ruling confirmed that the PDP convention held in Ibadan in November 2025 is legally null and void — a unanimous three-member panel decision that found the party had failed to hold valid state congresses in more than 14 states before the convention and had served a legally defective notice signed only by the national chairman without the national secretary. The court went further, imposing a ₦2 million cost against the Turaki faction.

Critically, the ruling landed on the same day Zamfara’s Governor Dauda Lawal — the only PDP-elected governor in the entire North West — formally crossed the floor to the ruling APC, saying the appellate court’s decision “ended his long stay in the party.” The APC now governs more than 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states. In a further blow, Senator Ipalibo Banigo of Rivers West Senatorial District also defected, declaring that President Tinubu “deserves all our support.” The Turaki-led PDP faction has rejected the verdict and directed its legal team to head to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the PDP Board of Trustees is convening an emergency meeting in Abuja today — Wednesday — to deliberate on the party’s next steps.

Elder statesman and former Senate President Bukola Saraki has warned against the Supreme Court gamble, saying there is simply no time for further litigation if the party hopes to meet INEC’s congress deadlines ahead of the 2027 cycle.

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⛽ ECONOMY: A PETROL PARADOX AND THE MIDDLE EAST SHADOW

Nigeria finds itself in a deeply uncomfortable position — an oil boom simultaneously enriching the treasury and emptying the wallets of ordinary citizens.

With global oil above $114 per barrel following Middle East tensions, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has raised its gantry price of Premium Motor Spirit to ₦1,175 per litre — a third hike within a single week and a 51.8% rise since early March. Retail pump prices now swing between ₦1,200 and ₦1,400 per litre across major cities. The refinery also revised the diesel gantry price to ₦1,620 per litre.

In response, President Tinubu ordered the immediate deployment of 100,000 CNG conversion kits nationwide to cushion the impact on transportation costs — a welcome intervention, though one analysts say addresses symptoms rather than structural fragility. Filmmaker Kunle Afolayan captured the national mood, publicly lamenting that his businesses now spend ₦11 million monthly on diesel alone.

Nigeria’s OPEC+ quota sits at 1.5 million bpd for 2026, but the country averages closer to 1.46 mbpd — billions in unrealised export revenue bleeding from the national treasury even as the boom rages.

The House of Representatives also gave FAAN a two-week deadline to recover ₦18.98 billion in outstanding airport service charges owed by foreign airlines — a pointed signal that legislators are taking a harder look at revenue leakages across the aviation sector.

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🔐 SECURITY: FIGHTING ON MULTIPLE FRONTS

The security picture this week is sobering. ISWAP terrorists launched coordinated overnight assaults on at least five military positions in Borno State — targeting Forward Operating Bases at Delwa, Goniri, Kukawa, Mainok and a position deep within the Sambisa Forest. The attacks came from multiple directions simultaneously, in what the military described as a calculated attempt to overwhelm troop formations. Troops of Operation Hadin Kai repelled the assaults with support from air assets, killing several insurgents and recovering PKT machine guns, AK-47 rifles, RPG bombs and mortar rounds. Parts of the perimeters at Goniri and Kukawa were briefly breached, with structures and vehicles damaged.

An AP/Washington Times investigation revealed the wider picture: Boko Haram and ISWAP launched at least six coordinated attacks across Borno, Yobe and the Lake Chad region over the weekend, killing at least two officers and carting away military hardware — a level of coordination that has alarmed security analysts.

Separately, the EFCC’s Kaduna directorate arrested 15 male suspects over alleged illegal dealings in radioactive solid minerals — a chilling indicator of illicit underground economies in Nigeria’s north.

In Ondo State, suspected gunmen shot and abducted a council secretary and two others at a poultry farm in Akure North.

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🏥 HEALTH: LASSA FEVER’S DEADLY MARCH

Nigeria is in the grip of a severe Lassa fever outbreak — with 99 deaths recorded and nearly 2,000 cases confirmed in early 2026. The figures, alarming by any international public health standard, are drawing renewed scrutiny of Nigeria’s disease surveillance infrastructure and chronic underinvestment in primary healthcare. Benue State alone has recorded 251 suspected cases, 46 confirmed positive, and 11 deaths.

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⚖️ JUSTICE: ABBA KYARI WALKS — BUT REMAINS IN CUSTODY

In a verdict that divided legal opinion and ignited social media, a Federal High Court in Abuja discharged and acquitted suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari and his two brothers on a 23-count charge of alleged non-declaration of assets filed by the NDLEA. Justice James Omotosho ruled the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, describing the evidence as insufficient and — notably — characterising the prosecution as “persecution.” The ruling has prompted a detailed national debate on the standards of criminal prosecution in Nigeria.

However, Kyari remains in custody. The NDLEA confirmed the substantive cocaine trafficking case against him continues separately before Justice Emeka Nwite, scheduled for March 16, 2026.

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🎓 EDUCATION: UNILAG GOES ON STRIKE — TODAY

UNILAG’s ASUU chapter has launched an indefinite strike effective today, Wednesday March 11, over what it describes as “amputated, wicked and satanic” salary deductions for January and February 2026. Lecturers at Akoka campus received no Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), while those at Idi-Araba were denied both EAA and the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA). The dispute is particularly ironic given that the Federal Government and ASUU reached a landmark 40% salary increase agreement in late 2025 — the university appears to have rolled out the structure without paying the associated allowances. The action will continue indefinitely until full payments are restored.

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🌍 NIGERIA & THE WORLD: MIDDLE EAST WAR RIPPLES REACH ABUJA

The widening Middle East conflict is reverberating through Nigeria’s economy, diplomacy and diaspora. The Federal Government has commenced the evacuation of Nigerians from Iran across the Armenian border. Iran’s intelligence ministry arrested 30 alleged spies on the 11th day of the war. The FG has said it is monitoring global developments and may introduce policy adjustments. Meanwhile, a new report flags rising fuel costs in international markets — a pressure that, as Nigeria’s pump prices already show, hits African nations fastest and hardest.

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⚽ SPORT: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAMA OVERNIGHT

Nigerian football fans watching Europe were treated to spectacular continental action. Lamine Yamal’s stoppage-time penalty rescued Barcelona from defeat at Newcastle United, earning a 1-1 draw in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg. Atletico Madrid delivered a tactical masterclass against a hapless Tottenham Hotspur, racing to a 5-2 victory with Spurs conceding four goals inside 22 minutes — including two errors by goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky. PSG vs Chelsea kicks off tonight at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their own Round of 16 tie — the sides’ first meeting since Chelsea’s 3-0 Club World Cup final win last July.

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📌 EDITOR’S BOTTOM LINE

Today’s Nigeria is a country of compressed contradictions — an oil windfall that hurts the poor, a democracy quietly consolidating into near single-party dominance, a disease outbreak competing for headlines with geopolitical wars, and universities on strike even as a new FCT campus is promised. The Naija News Feeds aggregator will keep tracking every thread. Stay informed — because in Nigeria, the news never sleeps.

Compiled and edited from sources across the Naija News Feeds network including Punch, Vanguard, The Guardian Nigeria, Channels TV, Daily Post, Legit.ng, Premium Times, ThisDay, P.M. News, Sahara Reporters, BusinessDay, AP, Washington Times and others. Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

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