By Augustine Akhilomen

The Lagos State Government has issued a flood alert to residents, warning that several parts of the state may experience heavy rainfall, flash floods, rising water levels and possible riverbank overflows between June 14 and June 21, 2026.

The advisory was issued by the Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources, Mahamood Adegbite, following a flood prediction update released by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

According to the forecast, communities considered to be at critical risk include Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Lekki, Ojo, Orile-Agege, Surulere, Agege, Alimosho and Kosofe..

The flood prediction update, signed by the Director of Erosion, Flood and Coastal Zone Management, Usman Bokani, classified the listed areas as “Critical Risk Areas.”

The update advised communities within the affected locations to maintain immediate flood watch, identify evacuation routes and protect vulnerable households.

It also urged residents to “avoid settlement or trading activities within active floodplains, low-lying drainage corridors and riverbank areas.”

However, the Lagos State Government assured residents of the affected communities and the state at large that there was no cause for panic, stressing that it has continued year-round maintenance and clearing of primary and secondary drainage channels.

According to the government, these proactive measures have helped prevent any devastating impact associated with heavy rainfall since the onset of this year’s rainy season.

“These proactive steps have ensured that the state has not suffered any devastating effect that comes with heavy rainfalls since the advent of the rains this year,” the statement added.

The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, believes that the party’s presidential ticket of Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi will defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

Abdullahi, who was interviewed on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the party believes any of its presidential aspirants would have offered better leadership than the incumbent administration, describing the Atiku-Amaechi combination as a formidable team capable of winning the election.

“We believe that everybody who was running as an aspirant on the platform of the ADC, whether it’s Atiku or Rotimi Amaechi or Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, will do far better than what President Bola Tinubu is doing.

“We believe that the emergence of Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi as our presidential and vice-presidential candidates actually gives us a formidable team that is immensely capable of winning this election. So we are not surprised with the kind of shenanigans that have been cropping up the moment we announced Rotimi Amaechi as our vice-presidential candidate,” the party spokesman said.

According to Abdullahi, the ADC “will be on the ballot in the 2027 general elections” and will soon hold a formal presentation and a major event to unveil its presidential ticket to Nigerians officially.

He also insisted that the party conducted a credible primary election. Amaechi, who contested the ADC presidential primary, lost to Atiku before subsequently being announced as the party’s vice-presidential candidate earlier on Monday.

With the 2027 general election drawing closer, political parties are consolidating their positions following their primaries. President Bola Tinubu is the APC’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar will fly the ADC flag, while Peter Obi is the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Notably, Tinubu, Atiku and Obi were the leading contenders in the 2023 presidential election, with Tinubu emerging as the winner with over eight million votes, while Obi and Atiku got over six million votes.

Amaechi was a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election.

Atiku has pursued the nation’s top job on six occasions over the past three decades, with his presidential ambitions dating back to 1992–1993 and continuing through election cycles up to 2023.

The APC has however, remained Nigeria’s ruling party since assuming power in 2015.

The ADC spokesman Abdullahi, speaking further on the show, condemned a Federal High Court ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC and four other political parties, calling it an attack on democracy and an example of judicial misconduct.

He argued that many candidates had already contested elections under the ADC platform and rejected the judgement entirely.

The ruling, delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, directed INEC to deregister the ADC, Accord Party, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance, and Zenith Labour Party for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators.

“We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.

“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC,” Abdullahi said.

An overnight Russian barrage of missiles killed at least 11 people across Ukraine and sparked a fire at one of the most important Orthodox monasteries in the capital Kyiv.

AFP journalists across Kyiv witnessed residents running through the streets seeking shelter throughout the night as projectiles were intercepted in the sky and glowing debris fell across the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday called for more pressure on Moscow from G7 leaders, gathering at a summit in France set to be dominated by the US-Iranian deal to end the Middle East war.

He also said he told US President Donald Trump he was willing to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the United States, calling it an offer Putin would find “harder to refuse”.

The violence killed five people and wounded 34 in Kyiv as a fire broke out on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra UNESCO world heritage site, setting ablaze the roof of its Dormition Cathedral.

“This is one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date,” Zelensky said on social media.

Founded in the 11th century, the site holds huge significance for Orthodox believers in both Ukraine and Russia.

Russia’s military said it had carried out a “massive strike” on military sites in Kyiv, as well as the Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, but denied targeting the Lavra, saying it was hit by an outdated US Patriot air defence missile.

After he visited the site, Zelensky said two Russian drones “deliberately” targeted Kyiv’s monastery quarter.

Moscow fired 70 missiles and 611 drones, mainly targeting the capital, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that it had downed 50 of the missiles and 582 drones.

In the morning Kyiv sun, an AFP reporter saw rescuers carefully cleaning up rubble at the monastery, as the church bells rang out the tune of the Ukrainian anthem.

The Ukrainian security service said it was putting the debris from one of the drones on display.

Makariy, a monk who lives in the monastery, said he “jumped” from his bed after having been woken by a strong “roar” at five in the morning.

After stepping out of his room, he saw the complex engulfed in “fire and smoke” and took cover in a shelter.

Emergency service worker Ivan told AFP that “everything is fine inside” the Dormition Cathedral and that its roof took most of the damage.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastery with emblematic golden domes, is venerated by both the Russian and Ukrainian wings of the Orthodox Church as one of their most important spiritual centres.

Its sprawling cave system holds the relics of dozens of saints revered by both Churches.

The Dormition Cathedral, set alight in the overnight attacks, was almost completely destroyed during World War II and rebuilt only in the 1990s.

The Russian Orthodox Church administered the site via its Ukrainian branch for centuries.

In 2022-2023, the monks serving in the Ukrainian branch of the Moscow church were evicted from the monastery, accused of having ties to Russia.

The United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO condemned the air raid and Kyiv’s Metropolitan Epiphanius, who heads the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, also denounced the attack.

“What more must the Kremlin antichrist do for the world to realise that decisive action must be taken to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and against the very principles of peace?” he said.

In total, 11 people were killed, including four in Kyiv and five — rescue workers and a civil servant — in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike also killed three people and wounded three others in the city of Tula, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Moscow, the regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Monday.

Zelensky said he was waiting to see what came of his proposal to meet Putin in the US, warning that if Russia again refuses talks, “additional pressure will be needed”.

Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for a face-to-face meeting, including a fresh invitation from Zelensky to meet during the G7 summit.

Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has turned into Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, with thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops killed.

As the near-daily pummelling of its cities by Russian drones and missiles continues, Ukraine has in recent weeks stepped up its own aerial attacks, which it says mostly target Russia’s oil infrastructure to sap its profits that fund the war.



AFP