The

ARCHIVE.

The institutional memory that doesn’t disappear when the news moves on.

thursday, 21 may 2026

THE PAPER AND THE ROAD 

Nigeria signed N690.8 billion in road contracts this week while OPEC confirmed the active rig count fell 41.7 per cent in a single month, from 17 rigs to 12.

THE BAIL THAT DIDN’T WORK 

A Federal High Court granted El-Rufai N100 million bail on Monday in his national security case, and DSS re-arrested him the same afternoon in contradiction of existing court directives.

THE WASHINGTON PLAY 

Atiku Abubakar’s US lobby firm Von Batten-Montague-York publicly briefed Trump officials on alleged political intimidation in Nigeria, citing El-Rufai’s 91-day detention and threatening Global Magnitsky sanctions ahead of 2027.

GOD TOOK HIM. 13 YEARS. 

Afro-house singer Niniola announced her husband Michael Ndika’s death on Wednesday, revealing a 13-year marriage she had publicly denied just seven months earlier.

THE QUESTION 

Nigeria missed its OPEC oil production quota for the ninth straight month in April, producing roughly 1.4 million barrels per day against a budget benchmark of 1.84 million.

KING SUNNY ADÉ 

King Sunny Adé’s Jùjú music transformed Nigerian live performance from seated orchestras into the participatory form that seeded Afrobeats, as traced in a Guardian Nigeria feature this week.

WEDNESDAY, 20 MAY 2026

THE SAME NAMES 

The APC senatorial primaries confirmed Akpabio, Lawan, Oshiomhole, and Kalu as 2027 candidates, with Uzodimma beating Okorocha 230,464 to 1,098, showing the same governing class selecting itself for another cycle.

THE ABYSS 

Nigeria’s development finance institutions held N8 trillion against a N130 trillion credit need for 39 million small businesses, with fewer than one in twenty MSMEs accessing formal bank credit.

THE VIDEO 

Teacher Michael Oyedokun was executed on camera after the Oyo school abduction on May 15, while his family asked Nigerians to stop sharing the footage as his children sat exams.

THE YORUBA KID WITH THE TITLE 

Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years after City drew at Bournemouth, with Saka, son of Yoruba Nigerian migrants, delivering the title-winning corner.

THE NUMBER 

Nigeria’s credit gap for 39 million small businesses stood at N122 trillion, the distance between N8 trillion held by development finance institutions and the N130 trillion the real economy required.

DAVIDO AND THE POLITICIAN 

Davido called out Marine Minister Gboyega Oyetola on X ahead of Osun’s August 15 election, while campaigning for his uncle Governor Adeleke, after Oyetola’s aide called him a celebrity noise-maker.

Tuesday, 19 MAY 2026

THE 72,000 

Yahaya Bello won the APC Kogi Central senatorial primary with 72,399 votes while his EFCC money laundering trial remained active, defeating two rivals who gathered a combined 507 votes.

THE SORT 

The APC ran nationwide senatorial primaries on Monday, clearing Akpabio and Oshiomhole unopposed while quietly revising its disqualified aspirants list from 47 names to 44 before voting began.

WHAT WE KNOW FROM THE LAST TIME 

WHO declared the DRC and Uganda Ebola outbreak a global health emergency on Sunday after 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths, as Nigeria confirmed no cases.

TWO GAMES LEFT 

Arsenal beat Burnley 1-0 to go five points clear with two games left, with City needing a Bournemouth win Tuesday night to keep the title race alive.

THE NAME. NATASHA AKPOTI-UDUAGHAN 

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, suspended after accusing Senate President Akpabio of sexual harassment, faces a ₦1 billion defamation ruling and Yahaya Bello as her APC opponent in 2027.

THE 50 

Bukayo Saka became the fifth player in Arsenal’s history to reach 50 Premier League assists, joining Bergkamp, Henry, Fabregas, and Özil, at 24 years old.

Monday, 18 MAY 2026

THE FOREST IS STILL OPEN 

Gunmen abducted 45 students and teachers in Oyo on Friday while Boko Haram took 42 children in Borno the same day, with a school principal filming a plea from captivity.

NINE DAYS 

Seventeen police officers killed in a terrorist attack on the Army Special Forces School in Yobe State on May 8 were confirmed dead by the Police Force nine days later.

THE UPGRADE 

S&P upgraded Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating from B- to B on May 15, the first upgrade in fourteen years, completing a clean sweep by all three major agencies.

YOUR MONEY ABROAD 

The CBN’s fourth edition forex manual, effective June 1, removed Form A requirements for domiciliary account remittances and capped overseas tuition payments at $25,000 per semester.

THE LENS 

Organised kidnap networks reached Oriire Local Government Area in Oyo State on Friday, attacking schools 800 kilometres from the north-east corridor where Nigeria’s school security framework was concentrated.

THE PREMIER LEAGUE 

Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 on Sunday as Bruno Fernandes equalled the Premier League single-season assist record with his 20th, matching Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

FRIDAY, 15 MAY 2026

THE HOSPITAL RAID 

EFCC operatives stormed the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital on Tuesday, arrested Professor Eyo Ekpe, Akwa Ibom’s only cardiothoracic surgeon, fired teargas inside the premises, and triggered an indefinite doctors’ strike and a ₦1 billion lawsuit threat from the NMA.

YOUR BUILDING JUST GOT MORE EXPENSIVE 

Cement prices rose to N13,000 per 50kg bag in May 2026, up from N9,000 in December 2025, after adjustments by Dangote and BUA Cement, with block prices already rising and analysts warning rent hikes will follow.

WIKE WINS THE PAPERWORK ROUND 

The APC screening cleared all 29 Wike-aligned sitting lawmakers for the Rivers State Assembly race and rejected all 32 aspirants backed by Governor Fubara, who left the screening venue after ten minutes and said “no comment.”

TWENTY-THREE 

Leah Sharibu turned 23 on 15 May 2026, having spent nine years in ISWAP captivity since her abduction from Dapchi, Yobe State, in February 2018, the only girl from that attack the Nigerian government has never brought home.

THE WEEKEND BRIEF 

Three signals from the week of 11 to 15 May 2026: Saleh Mamman sentenced to 75 years and still at large; Nigeria’s 2026 debt servicing confirmed at $11.6 billion; Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years.

THE PLANE TURNED AROUND 

Air Peace’s Lagos-London Gatwick service on 13 May 2026 turned back mid-flight after Algerian airspace authorities blocked the route over a permit documentation dispute, rescheduled, resolved the clearance issue, and departed the same evening.

THURSDAY, 14 MAY 2026

CONVICTED. SENTENCED. NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. 

A federal court sentenced former Power Minister Saleh Mamman to 75 years for stealing N33.8 billion from hydroelectric power projects, convicted in absentia, with Interpol ordered to find him.

THE SPEECH AND THE LOAN 

Tinubu told the Africa Forward Summit that Nigeria would spend $11.6 billion on debt in 2026, while his government moved to borrow a fresh $1.25 billion from the World Bank.

THE SECOND MARKET 

Nigerian military jets hit Tumfa market in Zamfara on Sunday. Amnesty International said at least 100 died in the second market airstrike in northern Nigeria in a month.

APPROVED DOESN’T MEAN APPROVED 

A Tuesday meeting produced a civil servant allowance circular, but the Head of Civil Service office then clarified it had not approved or communicated any new 40 percent allowance.

THE QUESTION 

A 27-year-old PhD holder protested unemployment in Abuja the same week a court sentenced the minister who stole the electricity money, with neither man reaching a resolution.

TWO POINTS

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad, with Phil Foden assisting twice on his return and City closing to within two points of Arsenal with two games left.

WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2026

BORROW, SPEND, REPEAT 

Nigeria’s 2026 borrowing plan was quietly revised from N17.89 trillion to N29.2 trillion, leaving debt service at N15.81 trillion before a Naira reaches any hospital or school.

WHEN THE STATEMENT WASN’T VOLUNTARY 

A Federal High Court trial-within-trial began Wednesday to determine whether written confessions from six alleged coup plotters were obtained by coercion, with defence lawyers citing torture and missing legal representation.

THE TICKET IS ZONED 

The NDC zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to southern Nigeria at its Abuja convention on Saturday, with northern figure Rabiu Kwankwaso endorsing the decision despite joining as a presidential contender.

YOUR MONEY ISN’T BEING TAXED. YOUR ASSETS MIGHT BE. 

Nigeria’s Tax Act 2025 left remittances untouched but introduced new rules making rental income, dividends, and Nigerian business profits taxable for diaspora Nigerians with an economic footprint at home.

THE NUMBER 

Nigeria committed N15.81 trillion to debt service in 2026, more than the health and education budgets combined, out of a N68.32 trillion spending plan backed by N36.87 trillion in revenue.

THE JERSEY 

Victor Osimhen scored twice as Galatasaray beat Antalyaspor 4-2 on Saturday to win their 26th Turkish league title, then gave his winning jersey to a fan holding a Nigerian flag.

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Nigerian. Life. Explained.