ABUJA, October 15, 2026 — Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has challenged opposition political figures to acknowledge what he considers the achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, arguing that political differences should not prevent an objective assessment of government policies and performance.

This is contained in a statement issued by FORCEPA MEDIA AND PUBLICITY TEAM
Forum of Chief Executives of Federal Parastatals, Abuja, Nigeria

Wike made the remarks during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja on Wednesday, October 14, where he addressed party leaders, governors and other political stakeholders.

Speaking at the event, Wike described himself as a leader of the PDP while explaining his support for President Tinubu. He maintained that political affiliation should not prevent politicians from acknowledging decisions they consider beneficial to the country.

The former Rivers State Governor disagreed with opposition narratives portraying the administration as lacking direction, arguing that Tinubu had demonstrated the willingness to confront difficult national problems that previous governments had recognised but had not adequately addressed.

On national security, Wike expressed confidence in the administration’s capacity to confront insecurity and highlighted the proposed establishment of state police as a reform he believes could strengthen security management. The debate over state policing has continued to generate national discussion, particularly around constitutional safeguards, funding, accountability and the relationship between federal and state authorities.

The FCT Minister also challenged members of the Presidential Campaign Council to demonstrate their political influence through measurable results within their respective areas of responsibility, rather than relying solely on their appointments or positions.

In a review of the proceedings prepared by the Media and Publicity Team of the Forum of Chief Executives of Federal Parastatals (FORCEPA), Wike’s intervention was identified as one of the significant moments of the inauguration.

His remarks formed part of an inauguration that brought together political figures from different parties, including Anambra State Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke.

For the FORCEPA Media and Publicity Team, the inauguration presented an opportunity to document the positions articulated by political stakeholders on governance, public accountability, security reform and the relationship between political competition and national development.

The Forum maintains that public discussion of government performance should be informed by verifiable policies, measurable outcomes and the experiences of Nigerians across different sectors.

Kenyan billionaire Mary-Ann Musangi, plans to expand Haco Industries, the consumer goods maker founded by her late father Chris Kirubi, from eight export markets to 30 African countries by 2030, using local manufacturing partners and five regional hubs.

Musangi, the managing director of the Nairobi-based company, set out the target in an interview with CNN published this week. Haco, which makes about 90 household, hair and skincare products, currently exports to eight African countries. Kenya is its largest market, and it also sells in Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

She identified distance and logistics as challenges making sells across the continent from a single base in Kenya difficult. That is why local partners would be used rather than build all of its capacity itself. She told CNN:

“The only way I see we can do it is through these partnerships, working with local people,”

Ghana as a West African base

Ghana is set to become the company’s manufacturing base for West Africa. Haco this month signed a manufacturing and distribution agreement with Ghanaian company Ayewa Aberfur to produce and sell its Amara skin lotion in Ghana. Under the deal, Haco keeps control of formulations, quality standards and technical processes, while the Ghanaian partner provides production capacity and knowledge of the local market.

Musangi told Kenya’s Business Daily earlier this month that the company is “not investing in factories and in equipment” in Ghana and declined to disclose the size of its investment. Haco supplies the raw materials from Kenya. Nanayaa Bates, the founder of the Ghanaian partner, told CNN that the arrangement had increased her company’s manufacturing output tenfold.

Haco has identified Nigeria and Senegal as its next markets, according to earlier reports.

Inside the Nairobi plant

Haco’s factory in central Nairobi includes a plastics plant that makes the company’s own packaging and can produce 5 million components a month, manufacturing director Peter Ndichu told CNN. A separate plant can process and pack 1,365 metric tons of products a month. Packing lines currently handle about 3,000 pieces an hour, and the company says automated machinery could raise that to about 12,000, which it plans to install in a new factory.

The company sources raw materials from more than 500 farmers across Africa and says its brands reach more than 3 million families. It has shifted some sourcing to the continent to cut costs. Shea butter imported from the United States cost about 5,000 Kenyan shillings ($38.50) a kilogram, compared with about 1,000 shillings ($7.70) when bought from Uganda, CNN reported. The company now buys it from Uganda and Ghana.

“It is unacceptable that we continue to simply extract raw materials from Africa,” Musangi told CNN.

The expansion plan leans on the African Continental Free Trade Area, the agreement meant to cut tariffs and other barriers to trade among African countries.

Kirubi’s heir

Kirubi founded Haco in 1974 and built it into one of Kenya’s best-known household goods makers. He became one of the country’s most prominent businessmen, with interests in manufacturing, media, real estate and finance, and was a major shareholder in Nairobi-listed investment firm Centum Investment.

Musangi, a former marketing director at Kenya Commercial Bank, became managing director of Haco in February 2019, after her father was diagnosed with cancer. When Kirubi died in June 2021, he left 80% of his estate to Musangi and her brother, Robert, and she took over the management of his business interests. In July this year, she was elected vice chairperson of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the country’s main industry lobby.

The family has considered the company’s long-term ownership. Haco has explored a stock market listing or bringing in a strategic investor as part of succession planning, according to The Africa Report.

By Son Tertsea, Abuja

The outcome of the 2027 General Elections, will be decided by the sovereign will of the Nigerian people, not by algorithms, according to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN.

He said this while speaking at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja, with the theme “Safeguarding the 2027 General Elections in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Amupitan emphasised that technology, however sophisticated, must remain only an instrument for serving human agency, institutional efficiency, and administrative transparency.

“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” adding that:

“The choice of who leads Nigeria belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people. Algorithms may predict patterns; they may optimise routes, and they may even suggest preferences. But they do not have a conscience, they do not have a country, and they do not have a vote.”

The forum, co-convened by INEC and Yiaga Africa, brought together the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions and Chairman of Senegal’s Electoral Commission, Mr Abdoulaye Sylla; members of the diplomatic corps; National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners; heads of sister election management bodies across Africa; international development partners; political party leaders; civil society organisations; media executives; security agencies; technology companies; and members of the academic community.

With exactly 92 days to the 2027 General Elections, the INEC Chairman acknowledged that AI will undeniably shape the information environment, influence electoral logistics, and alter the tactics of both democratic actors and anti-democratic disruptors.

“While algorithms will not decide the vote, AI will undeniably shape the information environment in which citizens form their choices, influence the speed and security of electoral logistics, and alter the tactics of both democratic actors and anti-democratic disruptors,” he said.

Prof. Amupitan described the 2027 General Election as the largest democratic exercise on the African continent and one of the most complex administrative undertakings in the world, with over 103 million registered voters, 176,846 polling units across 774 Local Government Areas, and multi-tiered balloting spanning presidential, national assembly, governorship, and state assembly elections.

He noted that INEC has already executed ten of the fourteen major operational milestones stipulated by the Electoral Act 2026, procured additional BVAS units, digitised candidate nominations through the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal (ICNP), processing over 15,000 nominations across 22 political parties, and introduced online voter registration for the first time in Nigeria.

Rather than defaulting to alarmism, the INEC Chairman outlined opportunities for AI to optimise election administration, including predictive logistics and route optimisation, automated result audit assistance, biometric database hygiene, multilingual voter engagement through Natural Language Processing, and AI-driven cybersecurity defence.

He, however, affirmed the Commission’s commitment to the Human Oversight Principle, stressing that no critical electoral decision, result collation, voter accreditation, or candidate qualification will ever be fully automated or delegated to an autonomous system.

“Human accountability, statutory oversight, and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral chain,” he said.