Good morning, Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Tuesday, 21st November, 2023.
1. The House of Representatives has summoned 83 ministries, departments, and agencies of the Federal Government as it begins an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of over N447.6bn COVID-19 intervention fund from 2020 to 2022. At least 22 of the MDAs got not less than N447.6bn as COVID-19 funds in 2020 alone.
2. The Presidency, on Monday, blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the current state of Nigeria’s democracy. The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, noted that the democracy the country currently practises dates back to direct inputs by Obasanjo when he led the country first as military Head of State from 1976 – 1979 and as civilian President from 1999 – 2007.
3. The Peoples Democratic Party has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to probe the alleged All Progressives Congress influence in the Court of Appeal judgment that sacked the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang. The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party was appalled by a viral video where an APC leader, Yusuf Gagdi, boasted that they know people in the Supreme Court.
4. Following the expiration of the deadline earlier given to land allottees owing ground rents in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has extended the payment deadline till December 14, 2023. In the publication signed by the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, the debtors were advised to pay up “within two weeks from the date of publication, failure of which such titles may be revoked.”
5. Factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, has said he is ready to die while doing what is right for the interest of the state. He said some powerful individuals were after him because he is standing with the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and opposing the sinister plot to impeach him.
6. The prospect of German investment in Nigeria’s power and rail sector brightened yesterday after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. It was the second meeting between the two leaders in one month, both of which focused on German investment in Nigeria.
7. Monthly revenue inflow into the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) fund has risen from N650 billion to N1trillion since the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said. He spoke in Asaba, the Delta State capital, at the opening of a four-day retreat organised for FAAC members.
8. The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Monday affirmed Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected governor of Benue State. The court dismissed the appeal filed before it by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Titus Uba, and declared Alia the true winner of the March 18 polls.
9. A man, Ade Olowopopo, has taken his two sons, Kunle and Mayowa Olowopopo, to court for allegedly assaulting their sister, Bisi Olowopopo, and for stealing his properties at Lakwe Lekki, Lagos State. The Olowopopos were arraigned on Monday before Magistrate O. M. Ajayi presiding over an Ebute Metta Magistrate’s Court on five counts bordering on breach of peace, assault, breaking, stealing, and threat to life.
10. The Lagos State Police Command has said the autopsy report of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, aka Mohbad, conducted two months ago has not been given to them. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who made this known on Monday, urged Nigerians to disregard the rumour making the rounds.
