Good morning Nigeria, welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Thursday, 9th November 2023.
1. The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday insisted that electronic collation of results is illegal in Nigeria. The commission said this against the backdrop of expectations that the results of Saturday’s off-cycle governorship elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states would be transmitted electronically.
2. Every banknote remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, the Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed. This is as the apex bank directed all its branches across the country to continue to issue different denominations of the old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities.
3. A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama has granted bail to former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. The court granted him bail after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) complied with the order made on November 2.
4. The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced a husband, Mr Ikechukwu Okafor, and his wife, Ifeyinwa Okafor, to two years imprisonment for unlawfully dealing in 19.12 kilograms of Methamphetamine, a prohibited drug. Justice Nicholas Oweibo handed down the jail term to the couple, who resides at Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos State, after they pleaded guilty to the offence.
5. Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has pleaded for calm among citizens of the state following protests that erupted in different parts of the state on Wednesday. The protests came after the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja sacked all six National Assembly members from the state elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, including the Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon.
6. The Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party lambasted the aides of the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Wednesday for allegedly not making the governor return to the state since he returned to the country. Akeredolu has since been at his private residence in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, after he returned from a medical vacation in Germany. This has continued to generate reactions from different quarters.
7. Imo State Governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Hope Uzodimma; as well as the candidates of the Labour Party, Athan Achonu; All Progressives Grand Alliance, Tony Ejiogu; and New Nigeria Peoples Party, Ben Odunze; were all absent as the peace accord meeting organised by the National Peace Committee in Owerri for all the governorship candidates in the state, ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state.
8. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the second 2023 supplementary appropriation bill, totalling N2,176,791,286,033 into law. The bill was recently passed by the National Assembly amid controversy over the provision for a presidential yacht by the Navy and over N6bn allocated for vehicles to the State House.
9. The presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, has faulted the signing into law of the N2.17trn supplementary budget by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday. In his reaction, he claimed, in a statement, that the president failed to consider certain emergencies and pressing needs of the country. He noted that, going by the manner in which the budgetary allocations were done, it was obvious the president was unaware of the dire crisis in the country.
10. The Kwara State Fire Service said that it recovered the lifeless body of an 18-year-old girl identified as Waliyah from a domestic well where she fell into on Tuesday evening. The service also said that it brought out the corpse of an unidentified 43-year-old man from Isale Odo Asa in Amilegbe area, Ilorin in Ilorin East Local Government Area of the state.
