Terrorists have shot dead the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman of Rantan Ward in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State, Alhaji Garba Buba, during an attack on the community.

Buba was killed on Sunday night, August 30, 2026, after terrorists reportedly invaded Rantan community and opened fire on residents. Another resident identified as Sulaiman Zunduma was also killed during the attack.

A resident of the community, Hamza Isah Rantan, confirmed the incident in a Facebook post, saying the attack forced residents to flee their homes in search of safety.

According to Hamza, the terrorists shot Buba inside his house before he was taken to a hospital for treatment. He, however, died from the injuries sustained during the attack.

Hamza also said Zunduma was shot during the invasion and died instantly. He expressed condolences to the families of the victims while praying for the recovery of those who sustained injuries.

“On Sunday night kidnappers attacked our town, Rantan, where they shot Alhaji Garab Buha, the APC ward chairman in Rantan, who later died in a hospital. They also killed another resident, Sulaiman Zunduma,” Hamza said.

The development was also confirmed by the Kano State APC spokesperson, Alhaji Auwalu Soja, who said Buba was killed on Sunday. He added that the party would issue an official statement on the incident.

The killing occurred less than 24 hours after another attack in the area, where three residents of Garun-Mallam were reportedly killed by unidentified attackers. The successive attacks have heightened concerns over the security situation in communities around the area.

The latest killing has further raised concerns over the safety of residents in Kano communities, with calls growing for security agencies to strengthen operations and prevent further attacks.

As of the time of this report, the identities and motives of those responsible for the Rantan attack had not been officially established.

Former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has resigned from the All Progressives Congress, citing what he described as the party’s departure from its founding ideals.

Sylva, a founding member of the APC, announced his resignation in a letter dated August 31, 2026, addressed to the APC Chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

He said he made the decision after consulting his family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers.

Sylva also criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu, saying it had disappointed most Nigerians and expressing confidence that voters would seek a change in the 2027 general elections.

In the letter, which was electronically delivered, Sylva said he could no longer remain in a party whose leaders appeared to believe that “all is fair in politics.”

He wrote, “Having consulted widely with my family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers, I wish to formally tender my resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC), with immediate effect.

“As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.

“Moreover, I cannot, in all good conscience, continue to belong to a party whose leaders believe that ‘all is fair in politics;’ and have consistently demonstrated that belief in practice.

“All cannot be fair in any endeavour of life. The demands of basic decency and morality forbid it. Unfortunately, this mentality appears to underpin virtually every action, and even inaction, of this administration.”

The former governor said the APC-led government had failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians, adding that he saw no realistic effort to change its direction.

“The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he said.

Sylva said he had therefore decided to leave the party rather than remain part of what he described as a “floundering ship.”

“I am therefore left with no other choice than to jettison a floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities. I have no doubt that, in the coming election, Nigerians will vote for Nigeria and free the Country from this stranglehold on our beautiful country,” he stated.

Sylva also explained why he copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in his resignation letter.

He said he knew the decision could lead to increased scrutiny of him and his associates but was prepared to face the consequences.

“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take,” he said.

Copies of the resignation letter were also sent to the National Chairman of the APC, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC and the APC Chairman in Bayelsa State.

• Say capital projects development under threat

Economic experts have lamented that despite fuel subsidy removal in 2023, the Federal government struggled to implement 2024 budget with the 2025 budget recording barely 30 percent implementation.

They said the continued delay in the implementation of rollover and the current budget by the government posed a threat to capital projects.

Speaking at the weekend with the Nigerian Tribune, an economic expert, Eze Onyekpere, explained that under the current expenditure, “you have salaries and embodiments of public officers. So the only people you can touch are those people who are working with government, which is very few.

“Another part of recurrent expenditure is debt, which is taking 53 percent of all our revenue. So, those ones are not impacting on anybody. Now, the part of the budget that touch lives of the people is the capital budget, particularly the developmental capital” he stated.

Onyekpere said the developmental capital deals with building bridges, hospitals, schools, water facilities, improving electricity and agriculture.

“So, if you are not implementing capital projects that mean you are only running the bureaucracy, paying salaries, paying debts. You are not doing projects that will impact the life of the original people.”

He explained, ‘Don’t forget that it is from capital budget that you also buy bullets, buy arms, which after paying salaries of the soldiers and the military and the police, they also need equipment to be able to work. So if you are not funding that, there is no way they will be performing optimally.

“So that is the danger of not implementing the capital budget. We are being told that the resources are improving, that the money is there. So why is the government not implementing the budget if the money is there?” He questioned.

The Economic Expert further explained that part of the Ease of Doing Business is building the road that transport the goods, or that there are good railways, or that we are having constant 24-hour electricity instead of factories having to run a generator or start producing their own mini grids to power production, causing commodity price increase.

It is reported that only 30 percent of the 2025 capital budget was funded and executed during its initial cycle due to revenue shortfalls. 70 percent of the unexecuted 2025 capital projects were deferred and rolled over into the 2026 capital budget framework.

Also lamenting the non-implementation of the country’s budget, another Economic Expert and the Co-founder of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde, said the current administration has declared more revenue with low capital releases.

“You don’t need to continue to roll the budget over and over. There are so many items you find in the budget that have no priority; they don’t make any developmental sense to the Nigerian people. For example, you are putting palaces in the budget.

“The Federal Government trying to build palaces, or investing in churches and mosques, or buying musical instruments for a church is not going to bring any developmental opportunity. So there are multiple layers of these issues, and there is no coordinated fiscal program from the federal government.

“The federal government is raising revenues, but there are challenges. One is the issue of debt servicing cost. Because of the devaluation of the currency, debt servicing cost has skyrocketed. It’s around 17 trillion naira as of last year.”

He warned that debt servicing cost is not slowing down any time soon. So the federal government needs to reflect on its fiscal choices and ask itself, how do I generate more revenue? That is the first point.

The second point you have to ask is, how do I prioritise capital spending that gives us impact? And that starts from the budgeting process» he stated.

During the Senate engagement with the Ministry of Finance recently, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno raised the alarm.

He questioned why capital projects and critical government programs appear to be lagging if revenue collections are exceeding projection.

The senator also expressed concern over the reported absence of capital releases to security agencies and sought clarification on the retention of about 1.7 trillion naira from recent federation account allocations.

“We have exceeded the target of our revenue collection. It is inherently contradictory for government to woefully fail to implement the budget. Where are these revenues going to? If the budget, for example, 2025 budget, has not been implemented, and we have to roll over 70 percent of 2025 to 2026, and that with the promise that 30 percent will be implemented before March.

«Up to March, even 30 percent was not implemented. National Assembly had to extend the lifespan of the budget up to September to allow government to implement just 30 percent component of 2025 budget”, he lamented.

In response, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele said for external loans, “we always need the approval of the National Assembly.

“So, what happens is, when we get the approval of the National Assembly, the media would rightly report it, and many people take that as money borrowed. When we now borrow the money, they report it again. So, in fact, I think it was last year when the National Assembly approved about $20 billion, which was based on MTEF. So people add up big numbers as the money we have borrowed, and that is misleading in terms of the analysis.

“We are currently finalising this breakdown in the Ministry of Finance. We’ll make it available to the public. It will show how much the National Assembly approved and how much of what we have borrowed and how it has been spent” he stated.

Analysts believe that the low budgetary implementation, particularly the capital project aspect, has denied many citizens the benefits of the fuel subsidy removal as only a few who has direct business to do with the government that may have gained from the policy. (Nigerian Tribune)