Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know this Monday morning

Good morning! Here are 10 things you need to know this morning:

1. A member of the House of Representatives, Raphael Igbokwe, has dragged the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Minister of Communication Technology, Adebayo Shittu to the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking for determination as to whether the defendants had power under the laws of the land to reduce the fine imposed on MTN. Also joined in the suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/448/2016, are the Nigerian Communications Commission, and MTN Communications Limited.

2. The Finance ministry has said that the monthly disbursement of the N90bn conditional loan facility to state governments announced by the Federal Government on June 14 will stop as soon as the monthly allocation from the Federation Account hit N500bn. This was disclosed by the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Festus Akanbi.

3. Niger-Delta Sea Commandos, NDSC, a militant group, in the Niger Delta, yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop his alleged fake plea to militants in the region to cease bombing of oil and gas facilities and commence dialogue with stakeholders to avert looming disaster. Spokesperson of the group, acclaimed Major Osama Blatter, in a statement, said the group was running out of patience.

4. There are reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized 29 properties from the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu; a former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF, Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun (retd.) and a former Director of Finance and Budget, Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo (retd.). According to the reports, while about 11 properties were seized from Amosu, 12 were seized from Adigun and six from Gbadebo.

5. President Muhammad Buhari, Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, have been dragged to the Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State, over allegation of attempting to Islamize the country. Buhari Also joined as defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Malami and the National Assembly. They were dragged to court by Dr. Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe, who is suing for himself and on behalf of members of Nigerian Civil War and Genocide Research Network.

6. Ahead of today’s arraignment of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules, a traditional ruler in Enugu State, His Royal Highness, Igwe Dr. Hafford Agana, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of chasing shadows. The monarch said instead of concentrating on the various ‎problems facing the country, the President was engaging in witch-hunt. He said the murder attempt on the life of Ekweremadu on November 17, 2015, and the silence of the presidency over the matter lent further credence to the fact that there was a grand plot to remove the Senator at all costs.

7.The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Babachir David Lawal has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari is empowered by the constitution to nominate ambassadors anyway he deems fit, stating that the action of the lawmakers who have now suspended deliberation on the nominee was unnecessary. He said such action was inimical to the country’s economy.

8. The umbrella body for the natives of the southern part of Kaduna state, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, yesterday warned that its current generation and the next will resist the creation of Cattle Grazing Reserves on its land, stressing that no inch of its land will be given out for such. The National President of SOKAPU, Barr. Solomon Musa said in a statement that the creation of grazing reserves in Southern Kaduna amounts to rewarding herdsmen with the lands of the over 4, 000 natives of the enclave believed to have been killed by herdsmen since 2011.

9. The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, and the Association of African Writers on Human and Peoples Rights, AFRIRIGHTS, on Sunday linked the online publication concerning the ownership of offshore property by the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Tukur Buratai to an earlier alarm they raised of a well-coordinated plot by some forces opposed to the counter-terrorism efforts in the North-East to launch a smear campaign in the media against the Army Chief. The groups accused disgruntled erstwhile top member of staff of the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, under the immediate past dispensation of masterminding a well-oiled subterranean smear campaign against the person of the COAS.

10. As workers in Kogi State are set to commence strike action against the government over non payment of salary today, the State Government has asked them to sheathe their swords as it has already commenced payment of salary. It further viewed as sabotage the decision to embark on an industrial action even after government commenced payment of arrears two weeks ago, stressing that 48 MDAs out of the total 55 MDAs have been paid, while 7 MDAs are yet to be paid because the correct grade levels of the workers are being verified.