Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. The Chief Imam of Lagos, Garuba Ibrahim Akinola is dead. He died at the age of 100 on Sunday at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. Report says he had been on admission for an undisclosed ailment. The late cleric will be buried on Monday according to Islamic rites.
2. Ghana, Sunday defeated Nigeria to win this year’s West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup. The hosts defeated Nigeria with 4-1 at the Cape Coast Stadium after taking a lead in the 44th minute of play.
3. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has commended the leadership of the Nigerian Senate as well as the caucus of South-eastern senators for their position on the proscription of the group. A statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, argued that mass execution of members of IPOB would have commenced under the cover of Operation Python Dance II, if not for the quick intervention of the Senate President and his colleagues from the South-East.
4. National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, has said Nigerians should not condemn but listen and understand the agitations by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He also kicked against the agitations for the breakup of the country.
5. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disclosed that its investigative team has not been allowed to meet with the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the United Kingdom,as her lawyer, John Binns of BCL Solicitors, refused to allow the commission’s team of investigators, led by Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, to meet with her in the UK earlier in March this year.
6. The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has said the Nigerian Air Force is expecting new fighter aircraft from four countries to boost its capabilities. He listed the countries to include Russia, the United States of America, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. He identified challenges facing the NAF as insufficient aircraft and low aircraft serviceability.
7. The United States government has said that it does not see the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as a terrorist organisation. Spokesman for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, said that IPOB is not seen under US laws as a terrorist organisation. He, however assured that the US government was committed to Nigeria’s unity and would support a peaceful resolution of any crisis in the country.
8. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said that the state was not part of those agitating for the country’s breakup. He, however, argued that unless Nigerians experience good governance at the federal level, agitations will continue across the country. He was speaking during the 57th Independence Church Service at Saint Mark’s Anglican Church in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
9. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has labelled University of Ilorin as a “terrorist” organization over the purported sack of its branch chairman, Dr. Kayode Afolayan. ASUU noted that suppressing genuine whistle blowers who provided evidences through threat of sack was against the avowed commitment of the Buhari administration to fighting corruption. It called on President Muhammadu Buhari to show genuine interest in the corruption going on at the University of Ilorin and victimisation of citizens committed to fighting corruption.
10. Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has warned Biafra agitators and others calling for Nigeria’s separation to stop forthwith. Osinbajo urged the people to resist attempts by any group trying to push them to destroy the existing peace in the country.
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