FIFA has officially penalized South Africa for fielding an ineligible player during the 2026 World Cup qualifying series.
The violation occurred in their match against Lesotho, leading FIFA to rule that South Africa must forfeit the game.
As a result, Lesotho has been awarded 3 goals and 3 points.
Additionally, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has been fined CHF 10,000, and the player in question, Teboho Mokoena, has received a warning.
In a decisive move, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has declared illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional the plan by a former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, to establish a shadow government in Nigeria.
The judge on Monday issued an order restraining Utomi and his associates from proceeding with their plan to establish a shadow government/cabinet in the country.
Justice Omotosho issued the order while delivering judgment on a suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) against Utomi.
He declared the concept of a shadow government/cabinet as unconstitutional and an alien concept to the nation’s presidential system of government.
The judge held that Utomi and his associates cannot hide under the rights of association and to criticise the government to engage in unlawful activities.
He commended the plaintiff for filing the suit and held, among others, that it was within the right of the DSS to take steps to prevent acts capable of threatening the nation’s internal security.
English Premier League leaders, Liverpool have released photo of its official Squad for 2025/26 season.
The Reds who were the League winners last session made this unveiling known through official X account on Monday.
This comes after the Arne Slot team at the weekend lost three points after conceding first defeat for the season to Crystal Palace via a last minutes goal by Eddie Nkitiah.
The game left with 15 points on top of the EPL Table after six games with five wins and one loss so far.
Liverpool are trailed behind by Arsenal with 13 points with four wins, one draw
Former lawmaker Senator Shehu Sani has explained why the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery should reinstate Nigerian workers recently dismissed from the company.
This is even as he appealed to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, to suspend its planned decision to cut off gas supplies to the refinery in protest.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Monday, Sani urged the refinery to respect labour rights, noting that freedom of association and unionisation are protected under Nigerian law.
He wrote: “Dangote should recall the workers sacked because of their decision to join their trade unions, and PENGASSAN should suspend their decision to cut off gas supplies to Dangote Refinery. The nation is proud of Dangote’s Refinery and its unprecedented level of success, but the right of workers to unionise is embedded in the laws of our country.”
The advice comes amid the feud between Dangote Refinery and PENGASSAN after the former terminated appointments of over 800 workers for voluntarily joining the union.
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has identified Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard as the player who helped Mikel Arteta’s side to beat his team 2-1 in the Premier League on Sunday.
According to Howe, Odegaard made the difference for Arsenal against Newcastle during the encounter at St. James’ Park.
Recall that Nick Woltemade gave the hosts the lead with a fine header in the first half.
But the Gunners fought back, thanks to goals from Mikel Merino and Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Two really late goals here at home hurts,” Howe said at his post-match interview after the game.
“We have to reflect and acknowledge that we were not at our best.
“I think Odegaard made a difference to their overall performance. The weight of pressure eventually told. No lack of effort but the little details have cost us.”
Fuel price hike averted as Dangote Refinery resumed sales of Premium Motor Spirit in Naira after the intervention of the Federal Government.
This was disclosed in an email to customers sighted by Nigerian Newssphere on Saturday.
The refinery stressed that the development comes after the intervention of Naira for Crude Technical Committee Chairman.
“Dear Valued Customer, following the intervention of the Naira for Crude Technical Committee chairman, we are pleased to inform you of the resumption of PMS sales in Naira commencing immediately.
“You may kindly proceed to place your orders in Naira for both self-collection and free delivery of PMS to the earlier advised location(s) across the country.
“Thank you for your continued patronage. Warm regards, Group Commercial Operations.
“For: Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE”, the email reads.
The development has averted fuel price hike nationwide.
Recall that the https://dailypost.ng/2025/09/27/fuel-price-hike-looms-as-dangote-refinery-suspends-petrol-sale-in-naira/ 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery suspended petrol sales in Naira.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria had on Saturday announced a plan to hike fuel prices.
Crystal Palace have ended the English Premier League leaders, Liverpool’s, unbeaten record this season with a 2-1 win on Saturday.
By Abiodun Alade
A storm is gathering over one of Nigeria’s most powerful labour unions, and the thunderclap may soon bring its roof down.
Once upon a time, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) wore the robe of a fearless defender of workers’ rights. Today, it is accused of having shed that robe, donned a silk agbada, and recast itself as a cartel, a cabal fattened on levies, intimidation, and extortion.
The elders of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), the very backbone of the union, are no longer whispering; they are shouting from the rooftops, demanding the resignation of NUPENG’s president, Comrade Williams Akporeha, and his general secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale. Their charge sheet reads like the script of a Nollywood political thriller: corruption, abuse of office, intimidation, and dragging a once-respected body into national ridicule.
But scratch beneath the drama and you’ll find a darker truth: NUPENG no longer behaves like a union. It behaves like a cartel, holding Nigeria’s fuel supply by the throat while sipping champagne in first-class jets.
The list of sins is long: harassment of drivers, defiance of court orders, illegal levies at depots, and the conscription of members into street-level enforcers. Its notorious N39,000 “gate fee” per tanker truck, imposed without law, regulation, or shame, generates billions. A hidden tax. A shadow treasury. None of it declared, none of it accountable.
Let’s do the maths. One fuel truck carries 33,000 litres. At N39,000 per truck, that’s about N1.18 slapped on every litre. Nigeria consumes roughly 50 million litres daily. That means NUPENG rakes in N59 million a day, N1.8 billion a month, and nearly N22 billion a year, money that does not enter the nation’s coffers.
At gas terminals, it is even worse. Members of the Nigeria Liquefied and Compressed Gases Association (NLCGA) complain of paying N72,000 per truck before loading. That’s another N3 billion in a year’s sweep, diverted straight into the union’s opaque vaults.
This isn’t trade unionism. It is armed robbery with an invoice.
And yet, the greatest tragedy is reserved for the tanker drivers themselves—the men whose sweat and spilt blood lubricate the nation’s fuel economy.
They drive rickety trucks on death-trap highways. They battle fatigue, accidents, fires, and the daily gamble of survival. For this, they get no pension, no insurance, and no fallback plan. Should calamity strike, they are discarded like worn tyres. NUPENG has no plan for them.
Worse still, instead of protection, they are harassed by touts waving NUPENG’s banner and squeezed for levies on every highway corner. How many of NUPENG’s executives have ever driven a tanker across Ore or Lokoja? None. Yet from their air-conditioned offices, they send men into the storm while they themselves float in SUVs, private jets, and international conferences, often with mistresses in tow, not the drivers they claim to represent.
As if that were not enough, NUPENG also deducts 1% of members’ salaries as dues. Millions vanish monthly. Who audits these accounts? No one. Perhaps it is time the Registrar of Trade Unions, or better yet, the EFCC, asked to see the books. But if history is any guide, NUPENG’s response will be as predictable as a badly written film: call a strike, threaten to collapse the economy, and hide its fear of accountability beneath the flag of “workers’ rights”.
The danger is not abstract. With one strike or blockade, NUPENG can paralyse the nation. This looming threat casts a dark shadow over the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, a $20 billion lifeline meant to end fuel importation and stabilise the energy market. If NUPENG’s extortion machinery hijacks Dangote’s planned 10,000-strong truck fleet, the dream could curdle into a nightmare. A single month of disruption could bleed Nigeria of $1.3 billion.
Yet, change is brewing. A new generation of tanker drivers is rising, no longer content to be pawns in the games of union barons. Led by men like Lucky Osesua, Dayyabu Garga, and Dr Humble Obinna Power, they are calling for reform, not of faces alone, but of the very soul of the union.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is clear: union membership must be voluntary, not coerced. NUPENG’s chokehold on workers and businesses mocks Convention 87 on Freedom of Association. Where the ILO envisions freedom, NUPENG enforces fear. Where it preaches transparency, NUPENG practises racketeering.
Can a cartel be reformed? Can intimidation be digitised? Can extortion be given a fresh coat of paint and rebranded as “union service charge”? Every litre of fuel sold in Nigeria today bears an invisible tax, not levied by the government but by a handful of union mandarins fattened on impunity.
That is not unionism. That is criminality dressed in overalls.
The end of NUPENG in its current form is not a matter of if, but when. The masquerade has danced too long in the market square. Nigerians deserve a union that defends labour, not one that weaponises it. The Registrar of Trade Unions, the Ministry of Labour, and anti-corruption bodies must summon the courage to break this cartel before it sabotages the nation further.
NUPENG’s fall will not be a tragedy. It will be a cleansing.
Abiodun, a communications specialist, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Nigerians may experience another round of nationwide blackouts as the National Union of Electricity Employees began strike action on Wednesday over non-implementation of the national minimum wage, casualisation of workers and other demands.
This is the case, as acting general secretary of NUEE, Dominic Igwebike, in a notice on Wednesday, asked members to withdraw their services.
The union said its decision to commence strike is due to the expiration of the ultimatum issued to the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria over its demands.
NUEE said it cannot fold its hands while the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) goes down the drain, hence the justification for the strike action.
“It is unfortunate that the TCN Management has decided to handle these issues with kid gloves and a lack of regard for the hard-working staff of TCN. This, they have displayed without any defined road map(s) to addressing them.
“We cannot continue to fold our arms while we watch our rights being vehemently violated and the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) going down the drain. To this end, the Union is compelled to withdraw its services.
“Members are hereby directed to withdraw services until such time that the management is ready to discharge its obligations towards the workforce,” the notice reads.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of TCN, Ndidi Mbah, is yet to respond to texts or calls as of filing this report.
Newssphere reports that strike action would affect the country’s national grid, electricity distribution companies and generation companies.
The union had downtools in June 2024, which resulted in a disruption in electricity supply.
Good morning! Here are six top headlines from Nigerian Newspapers today;
1. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday summoned the immediate past Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), to the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Ibas was accompanied to the meeting by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukayede.
2. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun has presented cheques worth a total of N2,171,124,041.87k to 1,574 beneficiaries and next-of-kin of deceased police officers. Egbetokun said the development is in continuation of efforts to support families of fallen heroes, under the Group Life Assurance and IGP Family Welfare Schemes.
3. The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced the commencement of electioneering campaigns for political parties participating in the 2026 Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections. According to the directive, campaigns are allowed to resume on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, and terminate at midnight on Thursday, February 19, 2026.
4. Bandits, on Tuesday, launched a deadly attack on some villages in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State, killing a pregnant woman and others. Residents said the attackers abducted eight people and left several others injured.
5. An angry mob, on Wednesday, set ablaze a lady accused in a failed child kidnapping attempt in Agbarho community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. An eyewitness claimed that the lady hid the seven year old boy she allegedly abducted in a sack, adding that she was even carrying a Bible on one hand.
6. The Naira on Wednesday appreciated to N1,515 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,518 per dollar on Tuesday. Similarly, the Naira appreciated to N1,486.8 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
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