Good Morning, Welcome to Daily News 24 Roundup of Top Nigerian Newspapers Headlines for today Monday, 22nd November 2021.
- Zamfara Governorship Aspirant Gunned Down By Bandits
Alhaji Sagir Hamidu, an ex-governorship aspirant in Zamfara State, has been shot dead by bandits.
He was killed when bandits blocked the Kaduna-Abuja Highway and opened fire on travellers, on Sunday. Daily Trust gathered that the incident occurred around 3:30pm close to Rijana along the busy highway.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that Rijana, a former FCT Director of Protocol who was also a Zamfara State Governorship aspirant, lost his life in the incident.
He was killed when bandits blocked the Kaduna-Abuja Highway and opened fire on travellers, on Sunday. Daily Trust gathered that the incident occurred around 3:30pm close to Rijana along the busy highway.
2. 90 ships seized by EFCC rot away in Lagos, others
Some of the ships seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have begun to sink in waters across the country, while many of those temporarily and permanently forfeited by suspected corrupt persons are being damaged due to lack of maintenance, The PUNCH has reliably learnt.
Sources in the know of the development at the House of Representatives told our correspondent that the Nigerian Navy, which was mandated to oversee the seized, recovered or forfeited assets, had no budgetary provision to maintain them, leaving them damaged and submerged eventually.
According to the lawmakers, most of the vessels are in Lagos State and they are the worst hit by the abandonment.
3. Kanu’s lawyer says IPOB leader’s release is in Buhari’s hands not judiciary
Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel for Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has argued that the release of his client is not in the hands of the judiciary as claimed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari had recently said that the demand for the release of the detained IPOB leader by Igbo elders was difficult for him as Nigeria’s leader, saying he didn’t want to interfere in the work of the Judiciary.
The President said this when some Igbo elders, led by Minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, visited Buhari in Aso Rock in Abuja to request Kanu’s release.
4. ‘60% of corruption issues in Nigeria legalised in budget’
A Civil Society Organisation, the Anti-Corruption Network has said that 60 per cent of corruption issues in Nigeria are built and legalised in the nation’s budgetary system.
The group alleged that the proposed 2022 budget for the presidency and other agencies were laced with fake items running into billions aimed at defrauding the citizens.
Speaking in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of ACN, and former Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, Dino Melaye maintained that budget fraud is the real foundation of all corrupt practices in the country.
5. APC Governors in late night meeting over National Convention
Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC on Sunday night met in Abuja to deliberate in the way forward for the party, especially with regards to its planned national convention.
The meeting which started around 8pm took place behind closed doors at the Kebbi state Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro.
Although the agenda for the meeting was kept to their chest as of the time of filing this report, it was gathered that the focus was on zoning of party offices ahead of the national convention.
The party is currently divided on the issue of the convention as some stakeholders want it held before Christmas while others are pushing for the second quarter of next year. As of 8.30pm, at least 17 of the governors had already seated for the meeting.
6. Pressure Mounts On President Buhari To Sign Electoral Act Amendment Bill
Civil society organisations (CSOs) and other political stakeholders yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to give his assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill forwarded to him last Friday by the National Assembly.
The demand of the stakeholders is against the backdrop of concerns that the debate over the adoption of direct primaries as contained in the amendment bill might scuttle its passage.
There are also worries that the president has less than 27 days to sign the bill into law. The president has 30 days to sign any bill sent to him by the National Assembly.
7, Army Vows To Treat Bandits As Terrorists
Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Farouk Yahaya declared yesterday that the Nigerian Army will eliminate the bandits rather than take them as war prisoners.
The Army chief, who stated this when he visited the Training and Doctrine Command TRADOC and 31 Artillery Brigade in Minna, said he has directed his men to be more resolute and decisive against bandits.
According to him, ” I urge the troops not to relent but to continue to be more resolute and decisive in dealing with the criminals and when we engage criminals and bandits, we are not looking for prisoners of war, we kill them and bring their weapons, that we will continue to do.”
8. Lecturer, student shot dead at Lagos College of Education
Suspected cultists have killed a lecturer and a student at the Michael Otedola College of Primary Health Education (MOCPED) Epe, Lagos State.
The lecturer was identified as Ahmed Saheed and the student as Rasak Bakare.
The lecturer was said to have been killed around Poka Town on Friday while the student, who was chased by his assailants, was killed inside a church he ran to on Wednesday.
9. NDLEA arrests suspected owner of hidden cocaine at Lagos airport
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Brazil-based suspected drug dealer, Okafor Okwudili Moses, in connection with 2.55kg of cocaine recovered from a restroom at the E-Arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said the drug was discovered on November 12 in the restroom where it was hidden by a trafficker.
Babafemi said the following day, the owner of the consignment, Moses, arrived at the airport from Brazil via an Ethiopian Airline flight and was promptly arrested.
10. SERAP sues Buhari over failure to publish names of alleged looters of N6tr NDDC funds
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
It accused the duo of failure to publish names of persons indicted in alleged misappropriation of over N6 trillion meant for running Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2000 and 2019, as documented in the recent Forensic Audit Report on NDDC.
The suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/1360/2021), filed on behalf of SERAP by its counsel, Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi, seeks an order of mandamus compelling Buhari to direct Malami and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to bring to justice anyone suspected of being responsible for the missing N6 trillion and recover any stolen public funds.
