Secrets Reporters

‎Fresh details have emerged regarding the whereabouts of abducted SecretsReporters journalist, Stanley Ugagbe, who was allegedly seized by armed men in mufti on his way home before being taken to his residence, where his laptop and mobile phone were confiscated.
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‎SecretsReporters has obtained videos showing masked security operatives handcuffing and taking Ugagbe away. According to information available to this newspaper, he was intercepted by armed men in Karu, Abuja, while returning home from official training on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at about 6:00 p.m.

Policemen in masks abducting Journalist Stanley Ugagbe

‎The operatives handcuffed him, took him to his residence in Jikwoyi, seized his work laptop and phone, blindfolded him and drove him to an undisclosed location.
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‎As earlier reported by this newspaper, Ugagbe’s arrest is believed to be connected to a report published by SecretsReporters titled: “EXCLUSIVE: CBN Deputy Governor Emem Usoro Linked to N3.6bn Los Angeles Property Amid Questions Over Asset Declaration Compliance (Part 2).”
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‎Sources said Ugagbe remained blindfolded throughout the night at the first location until Thursday, July 2. He was then driven to another facility, still blindfolded, before the blindfold was removed. SecretsReporters has since established that the facility was the National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC).
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‎Sources within the NCCC told SecretsReporters that one of the petitions against the journalist was submitted by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Emem Usoro, who reportedly alleged that he published false information about her.
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‎According to the same sources, a second petition, allegedly submitted anonymously, accused the journalist platform of leaking sensitive government information and official secrets considered detrimental by the authorities.
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‎During questioning, Ugagbe reportedly maintained that, as a reporter, he was assigned stories by the management of SecretsReporters and was not the custodian of the source materials used in preparing some investigative reports, as all investigations belongs to the organization.
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‎The sources further stated that he noted that laptops, communication devices and other equipment used by him and other reporters in carrying out their official assignments are company property belonging to SecretsReporters.
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‎Meanwhile, an examination of Ugagbe’s mobile phone call records obtained by SecretsReporters showed that his phone was switched on by security operatives at about 4:00 a.m. on July 2. During that period, four calls were received but went unanswered before the device was switched off again.

The Police is yet to officially own up to kidnapping the journalist.

Secrets Reporters

The battle for the renewal and cancellation of the N2.1 trillion pipeline surveillance awarded to two companies owned by two cousins namely Tantita Security Services Limited and Maton Engineering Limited has shifted to Abuja.

SecretsReporters can exclusively report that the decentralization of the pipeline surveillance championed by social activist and businessman, Tega Oghenedoro, popularly known as Fejiro Oliver, has led to President Bola Tinubu giving his words to stakeholders that he will split the contract along ethnic line, which has caused worries to Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, who owns Tantita Security company covering the Western Corridors of the pipeline contract. His cousin Matthew Tolangha owns Maton Engineering Limited that covers the central corridor.

To convince the President that his company Tantita be solely responsible for holding the multi trillion Naira contract while subleasing to other minor companies, we can authoritatively report that he has bought flight tickets and reserved hotel accommodation for almost all the Niger Delta traditional rulers, apart from the first class kings who refused the gestures, to meet the President next week Thursday in Abuja. They will be leaving for Abuja on Wednesday, revealed several traditional rulers to this medium. The contract is due for renewal in August 2026 but has faced opposition from major stakeholders under the banner of ‘Guard your pipeline and I guard my own’, led by Fejiro Oliver and former Niger Delta agitators like HRM Ateke Tom, Victor Ben aka General Boyloaf, Ajube aka Shoot at Sight, Ateke Tom and many others. Recently, Niger Delta stakeholders such as Ayiri Emami and Diden Michael aka Ejele also joined in the call for the decentralization of the pipeline surveillance.

“We have been promised $5,000 per person after seeing Mr President, which is different from our already paid return flight tickers and hotel accommodation. We should be around hundred selected kings that will meet the President to discuss Niger Delta issues, pass a vote of confidence on Tinubu, endorse him for a second term, even though we know the main purpose is to tell him to give the contract back to Tompolo next month” narrated a king who craved anonymity. An estimated cost of the logistics and welfare package means over N5 billion may be spent by the warlord on the king’s alone.

The meeting we gathered was made possible by the embattled Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is facing national heat for allegedly demanding for over Ten billion Naira bribe from Prince Adeyemi ‘fake’ Presidential Investment Council and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who is at the forefront of ensuring that the contract is awarded back to Tompolo despite obvious resistance from the region.

The National Assembly committees on Gas, Midstream, Upstream and Downstream recently passed a vote of confidence on Tantita, a move condemned by stakeholders led by Ijaw Youth Council President, Theophilus Alaye during a two hour live coverage on national television.

Since the award of the contract to the ex militant, local oil bunkering has reduced drastically, yet oil production has been below the OPEC benchmark.

Bulmun Dakwal

In Adamawa State, where thousands of rural families still wake before dawn in search of water, where pregnant women walk long distances carrying yellow jerrycans on their heads, and where children drink from contaminated ponds shared with animals, the state’s House of Assembly Service Commission appears to have different priorities.

Buried inside the state’s budget documents is a project that, on the surface, looks ordinary “Drilling of a bore hole with Overhead Tank at HASC Complex” but the figures attached to it tell a deeper story.

In the 2023 revised budget, the project was valued at N1 million. By 2024, the approved budget jumped dramatically to N36 million. In the 2025 out-year performance estimate, it rose again to N39.6 million and by 2026, the estimate climbed further to N43.56 million.

At a time when many communities in Adamawa remain trapped in water crisis, the steady inflation of a single borehole project inside a government property raises questions about public spending, accountability, and the wide disconnect between government institutions and ordinary citizens. 

For residents of Duwa Gari in Gombi Local Government Area, water is not a line item in a budget document, it is a necessity for survival in the community.

In the dusty community, women and children spend hours daily searching for drinkable water. During dry seasons, families depend on muddy sources contaminated by open defecation and animal waste. Residents say outbreak of diarrhea and typhoid are common, especially among children.

The situation reflects a broader reality across several rural communities in Adamawa, where access to clean and safe drinking water remains a luxury rather than a basic right.

Yet while communities battle thirst and disease, millions of Naira are being budgeted for a borehole and overhead tank within the comfort of a government administrative building.

In many villages across the state, broken hand pumps stand like abandoned monuments to failed promises. Some communities rely on streams that dry up under the harsh northern sun. Others trek kilometers to neighboring settlements in search of water.

Without clean water, primary healthcare centers struggle to function effectively. Pregnant women face heightened risks during childbirth, children become vulnerable to cholera, dysentery, and other waterborne illnesses that continue to thrive in neglected rural environments.

Across parts of Adamawa, primary healthcare centers remain in terrible condition. Some buildings have leaking roofs and cracked walls. Others lack electricity, essential drugs, or qualified medical personnel. In certain communities, residents say healthcare facilities exist only in name but not in reality.

Patients often arrive at clinics only to discover there are no nurses on duty or no medication available.

The roads leading to many rural settlements are equally poor, cutting off vulnerable communities during rainy seasons and worsening poverty in areas already struggling with insecurity and underdevelopment.

Against this issue, the rising allocation for a single borehole project at the House of Assembly Service Commission complex appears excessive and ridiculous to many observers.

In Nigeria’s public sector, borehole projects have attracted scrutiny for a long time from anticorruption advocates due to widespread allegations of inflated contracts and poor execution. Across several states, investigations by civic organizations have repeatedly uncovered situations where boreholes budgeted for millions were either never completed, poorly constructed, or disappeared entirely after funds had been allocated.

What makes the Adamawa case particularly sensitive is not merely the cost of the project, but the environment in which it exists.

The House of Assembly Service Commission is not a remote rural institution cut off from infrastructure. It operates within the administrative structure of government. Meanwhile, entire rural populations remain excluded from basic social services.

Civil society advocates argue that budgets are moral documents. They reveal not only how governments spend money, but the value they place on their citizens and in Adamawa today, many rural residents feel forgotten by the people they personally voted into power.

The water crisis in communities like Duwa Gari has triggered repeated calls for government intervention. Community leaders have appealed for urgent action as residents endure worsening conditions. Yet despite these appeals, progress remains painfully slow.

Children continue to miss school while searching for water. Women continue to bear the burden of daily water collection under dangerous and exhausting conditions. Families continue to spend scarce income treating preventable illnesses linked to unsafe water.

The same government system struggling to provide rural boreholes appears capable of sustaining a legislative water project whose budget has multiplied more than forty times since 2023.

Public finance experts note that inflation alone cannot reasonably explain such a huge rise in the cost of a borehole project over a short period, especially in a state where many rural water projects operate on far smaller budgets.