Good morning Nigeria, welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Sunday, 30th July 2023.
1. Some bandits have killed no fewer than six farmers, including the Vice-Chairman of the Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus-Sunnah, Mallam Yakubu Bugai in the troubled Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Also, the hoodlums were reported to have abducted over 40 villagers while they were working on their farms.
2. The European Union, in a statement on Saturday, said it would not recognise Niger’s putschists who seized power last week and that it was suspending security cooperation with the jihadist-hit country. The bloc’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the EU was ready to support future decisions taken by West Africa’s regional bloc, “including the adoption of sanctions”.
3. A native doctor, Chidozie Nwangwu, freed by kidnappers in Anambra State, said on Saturday that he witnessed the killing of about 20 other victims by the kidnappers. The native doctor, popularly called Akwa Okuko Tiwaraki, was kidnapped at his Triple P Hotel in Oba, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State at about 11:30 pm on Sunday, July 23.
4. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has dropped Dr. Ibrahim Yusuf Ngoshe from the list of commissioner-nominees submitted to the State House of Assembly for screening. The Governor transmitted the list to the lawmakers on Friday. But in a statement on Saturday, Zulum’s spokesperson, Mallam Isa Gusau, disclosed that the Governor had withdrawn the name of the affected nominee.
5. The Department of State Services (DSS) grilled Alhaji Ahmed Ododo, governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November governorship election in Kogi State. Ododo was invited for questioning over a petition filed against him by the opposition party. This is coming a week after the campaign office of Muritala Ajaka, Ododo’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) rival, was razed.
6. The Caritas Nigeria, a Foundation of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, has described the 2023 general elections as the worst in history of Nigeria’s electoral system. The Director, Church and Society Department of Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) who is also the Executive Secretary, Caritas Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, said this at the public presentation of the 2023 General Election Observation Report.
7. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday, met with some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other stakeholders of the party. The meeting, which was held behind closed doors is not unconnected to recent developments in the party, especially the nomination of the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as a minister by the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government.
8. A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has delivered judgment in the long-drawn litigation over the management and control of some of the assets of Ojukwu Transport Ltd, OTL, in favour of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, widow of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and her two children.
9. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says approximately 14.3 million Nigerians are involved in drug abuse. The Ogun State Commander of the NDLEA, Ibiba Odili, stated this during the Launch of the War Against Drug Abuse in Abeokuta on Saturday.
10. The National Executive Council, NEC, of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, on Saturday, rejected the 25 per cent increment in the basic salary of doctors, as well as the accoutrement allowance. They insisted that their earlier demand is for full restoration of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to its right value as at the time of the approval of the structure in 2009.
