Good morning Nigeria, welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Monday, 7th August 2023.
1. Niger’s military rulers announced on Sunday that they had closed the country’s airspace, warning that any attempt to violate it would meet with an “energetic and immediate response.” The country’s junta made the announcement in a statement in Niamey.
2. The Special Assistant on Public Communications to Atiku Abubakar, Mr Phrank Shaibu, says his principal has dragged President Bola Tinubu before the United States of America District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to Shaibu, Atiku’s suit against Tinubu is marked No. 23-5099 (N. D. III.). He said the filing of the fresh suit was why Atiku withdrew an existing case before a Circuit Court in Illinois.
3. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it will deploy 11,355 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines for voter accreditation in the November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo States. According to INEC, Bayelsa State has 2,244 polling units; Kogi, has 3,508 polling units, while Imo has 4,758 polling units.
4. The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a 45-year-old man, Bankole Oginni, following the death of a woman who was said to be his ex-lover. According to the police, the 45-year-old woman, (whose identity has not been revealed) was found dead in the house of the suspect while some parts of her body have been removed.
5. A female soldier enforcing the curfew imposed by the Adamawa government has killed a senior colleague at a checkpoint in Yola, the State capital. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri had imposed the curfew after hoodlums broke into a government warehouse and looted several items, including palliatives meant to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.
6. The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said the time is ripe for Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso to join the ruling party. Kwankwaso had dumped the APC for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before moving to the New Nigerian People Party (NNPP), where he contested the 2023 Presidential election.
7. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and African Union (AU) leaders were locked in a meeting on Sunday as the deadline set by the regional bloc for the Niger junta to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power expired. The meeting was virtual. There are indications that ECOWAS leaders will this week convene a meeting in Abuja after their virtual meeting to make a crucial decision on the ultimatum.
8. Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo on Sunday said efforts to end the sit-at-home exercise in the Southeast were succeeding. Speaking on Twitter Spaces, he said before his administration took off, the State was held hostage by criminal elements masquerading as pro-secessionist groups.
9. Delta State Police Command says it has arrested seven suspected kidnappers, including a self-acclaimed female pastor in whose house a victim was kept. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, stated this in a statement on Sunday.
10. The Police in Bauchi State have arrested suspected kidnappers, including their informants, and rescued 10 of their victims in Burra Forest in Ningi LGA. The Commissioner of Police, Auwal Musa Muhammad, who paraded the suspects alongside other criminals on Sunday, said the arrest was made on July 2, 2023
