News

Plateau residents berate Tinubu for addressing attack victims at airport

Published

3 months ago

April 3, 2026

Preport

Some residents of Plateau State have berated President Bola Tinubu following his visit to the state on Thursday to commiserate with victims of the Palm Sunday attack in Gari Yawaye, a community in Angwan Rukuba of Jos North Local Government Area where more than 30 people were killed and several others injured.

The President, who visited the state in the wake of the violence, however, ended up at the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang, about a hundred kilometres from the scene of the attack, where he gave an address before departing the state.

However, the President’s visit did not sit well with many residents, who felt the occasion lacked the empathy expected of a leader.

Many said he should have either visited the affected city or gone to see the victims in the hospital.

The aggrieved residents, who shared their minds on social media, wonder why Tinubu would address the people at the airport when the real victims were far from the spot.

First to fire the salvo was Kacholom Luka with this post on Facebook:

“Welcome to Heipang Airport of Plateau State, Mr. President. Are the injured victims of the attack, currently receiving treatment in the hospital, being transported there for your viewing? Should you not be visiting the victims in the hospital? It is well with all of us in this country.”

Read other comments below:

“I don’t know our crimes and offenses, but surely I believe God is punishing us with these kinds of leaders we have at the moment. A leader sympathizing and addressing victims in an armored truck, a president sitting and welcoming high dignitaries and stakeholders at the airport.” – Comrade Bright Gyang

“This is the most insensitive, callous, unfeeling, uncaring, thoughtless, and tactless act ever exhibited by a leader whose people have suffered untold hardship. Why did he even come to Plateau in the first place? He could have given his speech in Abuja instead of coming in the first place. The victims were not invited to the airport instead politicians, traditional and religious leaders, and party supporters were the ones invited. What sort of leaders do we have in this country? ” – Joel Poret

“This is not what we expected from President Tinubu. No sign of humanity. Don’t worry, we will vote for you at the airport in Heipang in 2027. Tinubu please don’t dare come for a campaign in Jos since you can’t enter now. ” – Rhoda Daniel

“His coming is more of a waste of our resources. Since our governor had traveled and informed him of what befell us, his coming doesn’t make much sense. The governor had told him that the steps taken were a waste of resources.

“Was the president not the one who, before the election, came and danced mokossa with us on the Plateau? Today, the same people he danced with in their woe are not worthy of empathy in their woes and sorrow. He chose to stay a stone’s throw away and apply healing balm on the land.

“All I know is that the presence of our leader at tumultuous times, gives us hope, energy, and balls that we are not alone. Their words are therapeutic.” – Kefas Habila

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is holding a stakeholders’ meeting at Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang, Barkin Ladi LGA, over 40 minutes from Angwan Rukuba where the March 29 attack occurred.” – Joey Shekwonuzhibo

“I only pity those who thought President Tinubu would act differently from the bunch of insensitive leaders we have. His antecedents should have been taken into cognizance. Last year when he visited Benue State following the Yelewata killings, he did not go to the affected communities to commiserate with the people. Instead, the visit was turned into a political rally. There have been violence and killings in Kwara, Kaduna, Borno, Niger, Zamfara, and many other states but Tinubu has not visited those states, so I wonder why our people expected something different.” – Aaron Azi

“Typical of Nigerian politicians who do not care about the masses. All they care about is the next election and entrenching their positions.” – Ibrahim Yakubu

“President Bola Tinubu truly disappointed me. I am one of his strongest supporters and I had expected him to act differently from others but he showed the traits of a typical Nigerian politician who doesn’t care about the ordinary people.” – Emma Jando

Business

Insider Dealing: Mutual Benefits Director, Ogunbiyi Sells Shares Worth Over ₦6.3 Million

Published

51 minutes ago

June 18, 2026

Preport

BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has disclosed an insider transaction involving one of its directors, Dr. Akinade Ogunbiyi, who sold more than 1.5 million shares in the insurance company in a deal valued at over ₦6.3 million.

The disclosure, signed by Jide Ibitayo, Company Secretary, filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and the investing public, showed that Ogunbiyi, a Non-Executive Director of the company, disposed of 1,507,309 ordinary shares of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc between June 3 and June 9, 2026.

According to the notification, the shares were sold at prices ranging from ₦4.20 to ₦4.33 per share, placing the total value of the transaction at between ₦6.33 million and ₦6.53 million.

The transaction was reported as an initial notification of insider dealing in line with regulatory requirements that mandate directors and other insiders of listed companies to disclose transactions involving the securities of their companies.

Mutual Benefits Assurance identified the financial instrument involved in the transaction as its ordinary shares, traded on the Nigerian Exchange under the ticker symbol “MBENEFIT.”
Insider dealing notifications are a key component of market transparency and corporate governance, providing investors with information on share transactions undertaken by directors, executives, and other individuals with access to potentially price-sensitive information.

While insider transactions often attract investor attention, market analysts note that such dealings do not necessarily indicate changes in a company’s outlook, as they may be influenced by personal investment decisions, portfolio rebalancing, or other financial considerations.

The disclosed transaction took place in Lagos, Nigeria, and was executed over a seven-day period between June 3 and June 9, 2026.

Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc remains one of the companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange that regularly complies with insider dealing disclosure requirements, reinforcing transparency in the capital market.

The post Insider Dealing: Mutual Benefits Director, Ogunbiyi Sells Shares Worth Over ₦6.3 Million appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a race with SpaceX

Published

53 minutes ago

June 18, 2026

Preport

Relativity Space—a rocket maker acquired by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the path to orbit—might just beat SpaceX to Mars.

On Tuesday, NASA said it hired the company to build a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space, and fly it to Mars.

The structure of the contract is akin to the deals that NASA made with SpaceX to fly cargo to the International Space Station, or Firefly Aerospace to put a lander on the Moon. The government agency handles the science, while the private company provides low-cost infrastructure.

Aeolus, as the mission is dubbed, will contain four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing what NASA expects to be the first daily, global view of dust, winds, and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency said that data will make it safer for landers and, someday, astronauts, to visit the surface of the Red Planet.

“By pairing NASA’s world‑class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science, more often, and reduce the time it takes to get essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in statement.

The mission is set to launch in 2028—a rapid pace that will require Relativity to design and build the spacecraft to carry the Aeolus instruments, and finish building the rocket that will carry it to space, all on a tight timeline. NASA did not disclose how much it is paying Relativity for the mission, and Relativity did not respond to questions from TechCrunch.

Isaacman, who has flown to space twice on private SpaceX missions, has championed public-private partnerships like this. Under this model, the company working with NASA takes on some of the development cost of the project, in exchange for allowing NASA to stretch its budget further—a structure that has become a template for how the agency funds ambitious missions without bearing all the financial risk itself.

But NASA is taking on risk as well: Relativity is unproven, and there’s no guarantee the mission will even make it off the ground. Past startup partners of NASA have gone bankrupt or seen Moon landers arrive askew. The potential payoff for the company is meant to extend beyond the NASA contract itself, including commercial applications, like launching satellites or delivering cargo to the Moon. Still, the further out into space these partnerships reach, the murkier the market becomes for commercial services.

Relativity was founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, with the idea of using 3D printing to its maximum potential as a path to building a cheaper rocket. The company’s first design, Terran-1, launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. Relativity doubled down by moving on to a larger design, dubbed the Terran R.

Before Relativity could get it to the launch pad, the company ran into fundraising challenges, and Schmidt took a majority stake in the company in it last year, installing himself as CEO. He’s been tight-lipped about the investment but has expressed interest in orbital data centers, and is thought to be using Relativity to launch a space telescope, Lazuili, financed by his family philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences.

The former tech executive’s decision to take over a space company last year puzzled some observers because rocketry is a crowded and capital-intensive field. But pent up demand for new rockets—fueled by delays at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin—could still lead to a payoff for Schmidt if Terran R can actually make it to space.

And the new contract might give Schmidt a chance to put one over on Elon Musk, a regular sparring partner of his on the issue of AI safety. While Musk has long talked of his Martian ambitions, SpaceX has never actually sent its own mission to Mars (no, the Tesla he launched into space in 2018 missed).

If Relativity’s Aeolus launches on schedule, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet.

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