Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Monday, 3rdJuly, 2023.
1. Large consignments of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, being imported by major oil marketers, are to hit Nigeria from next week and may force down the price of the commodity, both major and independent dealers stated on Sunday.
2. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said it will prosecute one Ejikeme Mmesoma for allegedly inflating her score from 249 to 362 in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, thus parading herself as the 2023 UTME top scorer. The examination body said it also uncovered one Atung Gerald from Kaduna State, who never sat the exam, but claimed to have scored 380.
3. The Nigeria Labour Congress is set to engage President Bola Tinubu on the agitation for extension of civil servants’ retirement age to 65 years. The National President, NLC, Joe Ajaero said on Sunday that labour was not relenting on the agitation, which started under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
4. The Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has vowed to stop the Monday sit-at-home in his constituency with immediate effect. Ubah said the adverse effects the exercise has so far inflicted on the commercial, economic, and well-being of the South-East residents have become so devastating that the exercise has to be tackled with every strength it deserves.
5. The Presidency has rejected the report of the European Union on the outcome of the 2023 general elections. In its final report on the Nigerian elections, the EU had said trust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had been severely damaged, especially as a result of the failure to upload the result of the presidential election electronically.
6. Gunmen invaded a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ogun State, killed a pastor and abducted some worshippers. The incident occurred at Abule-Ori in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state, this weekend.
7. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, returned to Abuja from Lagos, 13 days after he left the nation’s capital to attend the Summit on New Global Financing Pact in Paris, the capital of France. The President had returned to Lagos last Tuesday to observe the Eid-el-Kabir festival in his home at Ikoyi.
8. The House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas has distanced himself from an interview by one of his aides maligning former President Muhammadu Buhari. Abbas said he never authorised him to grant such an interview. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Kirshi, the Speaker said the views expressed in the interview by the aide remained his personal opinion.
9. President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would today open their defence against the petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, respectively.
10. Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has hailed the European Union Election Monitoring Group for stating in its report that the last election was, indeed, fraught with irregularities and failed to meet the minimum standard of credibility. He also lambasted President Bola Tinubu and his spokesman, Dele Alake, for trying to discredit the report.
