Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers
1. Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has ordered the immediate arrest of the contractors and engineers that constructed the Reigners Bible Church, which collapsed in Uyo on Saturday leaving over 50 dead. Emmanuel narraowlly escaped death alongside his Deputy while attending the ordination service of Bishop Akan Weeks, when the building caved in on them.
2. The Nigerian government had claimed that it was not planning to pay the Swiss government $79 million as commission before it could release the $321 million stashed in the country by late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
Festus Akanbi, Special Adviser, Media, to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, noted that the negotiations with the Swiss officials on the repatriation of the loot had no provision for commission, whatsoever.
3. Three worshippers reportedly died at the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Ikotun, Lagos State, after a stampede on the church’s premises on Saturday.
The victims were part of a crowd that struggled to see the church’s General Overseer, Prophet Temitope Joshua, during a special healing service.
4. The senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers South-East, Senator Magnus Abe, has won the legislative rerun election in his senatorial District.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Gideon Onukwuisi, declared Abe winner on Sunday after announcing the result at the collation centre in Bori, Khana Local Government Area. Abe polled 125,938 votes to beat his opponent from the Peoples Democratic Party, Olaka Wogu, who got 25,394 votes.
5. Several persons were killed and many injured after twin bomb blasts ripped through the city of Maiduguri, Borno State. The incident occurred around old NEPA office near Monday market in Maiduguri, the state capital.
6. The Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, has refuted a recent statement attributed to the National Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Joe Nwaorgu, where it accused President Muhammadu Buhari of allegedly excluding Ndigbo from the scheme of things in the country.
Ngige, also frowned at the claims that the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to pull the country out of the current recession was due to lack of an economic team.
7. President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that the 2017 Appropriation Bill that he will present to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday has the ability to take the country out of its current economic quagmire.
The President, who gave this assurance on Sunday in an Eid-el Maulud message to Nigerians, personally signed by him, expressed optimism that with collective dedication and hard work, Nigerians will by next year overcome the economic difficulties, and return the country to the path of prosperity.
8. The Presidency has debunked the media reports on the alleged appointment of the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, insisting that “she remains our Minister of Environment.’’
In a tweet on Sunday in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, assured that Nigerians would be fully informed on any development concerning the matter.
9. A Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Mohammed Alkali, was on Sunday beheaded by suspected cultists in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local government area of Rivers state.
DSP Alkali was said to be leading about 12 Mobile Police officers of MOPOL 48 on election security duty before they ran into heavy gunfire attack by the cultists.
10. The Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called for the need to reposition the party through what it tagged as major political ‘surgery’ in order to free it from the grip of some selfish, lawless, and undisciplined individuals.
The party stated this in a statement signed on Sunday by the factional PDP Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bernard Mikko, in Abuja.
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