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PDP Crisis and Atiku’s Campaign In Plateau State

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PDP Crisis and Atiku’s Campaign on the Plateau

In this piece, Seriki Adinoyi writes on the damage the internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party is likely to wreak on the presidential bid of Atiku Abubakar in Plateau State, if not quickly addressed.

The internal crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again reared its head by way of low turnout at the presidential campaign rally in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where the stadium was not as electrifying as it used to be in the past rallies of the party.

Former Governor of the state, Da Jonah Jang, who is famously described as a rallying point of the party, with substantial control over the party in the state, was conspicuously absent.

His absence alone cast a dark cloud over the rally that used to be charged with large number of able-body young Plateau men that are his foot soldiers. No thanks to the protracted internal wrangling that has torn the once robust party into shreds. Jang belongs to the camp of the Governor of River state, Nyesom Wike that has been calling for the head of the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.

His position has not changed on the matter. He has continued to reiterate that Ayu promised that if a Northern presidential candidate emerge from the party primaries he was going to resign as the party National Chairman, and that promise must be honoured for the sake of justice and fair play. He decided therefore that he was not going to be part of Atiku’s campaign, and was therefore not at the rally.

 

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Anduril raises $5B, doubles valuation to $61B

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Another year, another massive influx of capital for Anduril: the funding round that was rumored to be in process in March has officially closed. Anduril has raised a $5 billion Series H round at a $61 billion valuation, led by returning investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, the company announced Wednesday.

This is more than double the valuation it landed just under a year ago, when it raised $2.5 billion at a $30.5 billion valuation led by Founders Fund. (Founder’s Fund invested a $1 billion check, the largest check it has ever written, it told TechCrunch at the time.)

This latest raise comes after the nine-year-old defense tech company doubled revenue in 2025 to $2.2 billion, CEO Brian Schimpf wrote in a blog post announcing the raise.

Interestingly, as much as Anduril is the clear-cut winner among VC investors, the Department of Defense is already giving signs that it won’t lock itself into any one rising-star startup.

Shield AI, another U.S. drone company, recently had its software selected by the Air Force to work with Anduril’s “Fury” autonomous fighter jet, rather than granting the whole hardware and software contract to either one of them.

Still, Anduril is hardly hurting by sharing. In the past few weeks, it has announced a number of contracts, expanding outside the U.S., too.

In May it announced it was part of a contract with others to develop a space-based “golden dome” defensive system — a missile defense shield designed to protect the continental U.S. — for America. Anduril also announced a contract win from the Dutch Ministry of Defense and a U.S. Army contract for battle manager software, using its Lattice platform to analyze data from joint missile defense systems.

“When we founded Anduril in 2017, defense was not a category that attracted significant venture investment. That has changed meaningfully over the last several years,” Schimpf wrote in the post.

It has. To offer just a few recent examples: in March, Shield AI raised $1.5 billion in Series G funding at a $12.7 billion valuation. Last month, Hermeus, maker of hypersonic unmanned fighter jets, raised $350 million at a $1 billion+ valuation, led by Khosla Ventures. And European defense tech darling Helsing is reportedly close to raising a new $1.2 billion round at about an $18 billion valuation, led by Dragoneer and earlier Helsing investor Lightspeed.

Anduril has now raised more than $11 billion from investors altogether.

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NITDA, IDCA partner to transform Nigeria’s digital economy

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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the International Data Centre Authority (IDCA) to accelerate Nigeria’s transition into a fully integrated digital economy through a large-scale national digital infrastructure programme.

NITDA announced the partnership in a joint statement signed by the Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations Department, Hadiza Umar, and the IDCA’s Global Head of Strategic Services, Head of Europe and Africa, Solomon Edun, on Wednesday.

The partnership is in line with the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud (NSC) initiative, which aims to establish an execution-led, investment-driven framework for infrastructure deployment.

The NSC initiative also aims to achieve regulatory standards and workforce development into a unified national platform designed to mobilise both public and private capital and accelerate long-term economic value creation.

Integrated pillars

According to NITDA, at the centre of the programme is the ‘Nigeria Digital Triangle (NDT)’, a network of strategically located hyperscale, AI-enabled data centre clusters intended to anchor investment, host global cloud and enterprise workloads, and serve as the backbone for Nigeria’s emerging digital economy.

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According to the partners, the initiative will be built around four integrated pillars: a national digital economy masterplan with clearly defined milestones; hyperscale infrastructure development through interconnected digital hubs; national digital standards aligned with international best practices; and a structured education and workforce development system aimed at sustaining long-term capability building.

Speaking on the partnership, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, described the initiative as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s economic and digital transformation.

“This initiative represents a defining moment in Nigeria’s economic transformation, reaffirming the government’s commitment to advancing the Digital Economy and Data Sovereignty Agenda.

“By working with the leading experts of IDCA and members of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative Technical Working Group as the most advanced and credible think tank, prioritizing digital infrastructure, talent development, data sovereignty, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurship, Nigeria is laying a strong foundation for sustainable infrastructure growth, job creation, global competitiveness, and innovation-driven, inclusive development,” the NITDA boss, Mr Inuwa said.

On his part, the Chairman of IDCA, Mehdi Paryavi, noted that Nigeria’s economic position and growth potential will make the initiative strategically important for the continent.

“Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and has the potential to become larger and more impactful to the lives of the people of Africa and beyond.

“This is more than a national initiative; it is a platform for long-term economic value creation. By integrating digital infrastructure, standards, and talent, bundled with investments and the right policymaking.

“Nigeria is building a competitive advantage in the global digital economy,” the data centre authority chairman said, emphasising Nigeria’s digital role on the continent.

READ ALSO: NITDA raises alarm on DeepLoad AI malware attacks, proffers solutions

Execution

The Chief Research Officer at IDCA, Roger Strukhoff, said the programme positions Nigeria to become a regional technology leader. According to him, the initiative is a structured, investment-ready approach that aligns strategy with execution and global best practices.

“Nigeria is taking a decisive step toward becoming a regional digital powerhouse. IDCA is pleased to be fundamental to this historic economic evolution,” he said.

Solomon Edun, global head of strategic services and head of Europe and Africa, stated that the IDCA and Nigeria have worked for years to reach the point of digital economy transformation and partnership.

He added that the partnership will enable a scalable, sustainable digital ecosystem by focusing on infrastructure deployment.

“This is a historic moment, and the program is designed to translate vision into measurable outcomes. By focusing on infrastructure deployment, investment attraction, and skills development, we are enabling a scalable and sustainable digital ecosystem,” he said.

NITDA’s Acting Director, Regulation and Compliance, Emmanuel Edet, highlighted the importance of standards and governance in supporting the project.

According to him, the development of nationally endorsed standards, implemented in parallel with enabling physical infrastructure, is fundamental to ensuring regulatory consistency, data security, and long-term sustainability.

“This collaborative initiative between Nigeria and the International Data Centre Authority establishes the requisite technical benchmarks and strategic governance framework to support effectively,” Mr Edet added.

The initiative will be implemented over three years with defined milestones and structured engagement across government, private sector, and international partners.

The partnership reinforces Nigeria’s commitment to leveraging digital infrastructure to drive economic diversification, innovation, and global integration.


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