Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. The Presidency has said Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, did no wrong in his last year’s approval of the sum of N5.8bn fund for the supply of food to about 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, without the knowledge of the National Assembly. According to Laolu Akande, the Special Adviser to the Vice President, when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV, the time the VP gave the approval, the nation was facing a looming food crisis and there was a need for the executive to act fast. He said that during emergency situations, the Public Procurement Act supported such executive approval for funds without necessarily going through legislative vetting.
2. No fewer than five persons have been allegedly killed and several others declared missing in a communal clash that ensued between the people of Ebijakara, Ebom and Usumutong communities in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State. The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday when the people of Ebom, who had been refugees in Usumutong finally left to their ancestral home, Ebom without prior information. They were violently attacked and resisted by Ebom youths and were also resisted by the Usumutong people when they tried to return to base.
3. Unknown gunmen have attacked the venue of a PVC sensitization programme in Ipo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, leaving one person dead and several others injured. It was gathered that the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Wanosike, narrowly escaped death in the attack. Wanosike is said to be an ally to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
4. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it is ready to commence negotiations with the Federal Government to resolve the ongoing strike. ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja. Ogunyemi said that meeting with the Federal Government delegation has been scheduled for Thursday at the instance of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
5. The Senate on Wednesday uncovered fresh multiple unapproved withdrawal of $1.151.6 billion from the dividends accounts of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. This whooping sum of money was beside the $1.05 billion earlier withdrawn in April this year also without relevant authorisation. The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mikati Baru, admitted this while fielding questions from the Senate committee on Gas headed by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.
6. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on Wednesday said it would probe the allegation of corruption levelled against the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, over the recently concluded primaries of the ruling party. The spokesperson of the ICPC, Rasheedat Okoduwa, stated this during a protest by some members of the APC under the aegis of Coalition for New Nigeria.
7. The apex Igbo socio-political organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and other groups such as the Igbo Leaders of Thought; the political elites; the intelligentsia; women groups, religious leaders, among others, have resolved to support the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi in the 2019. The Igbo groups pointed out that they would identify with the former Vice President and his deputy because of their promise to restructure the country along geopolitical zones. The group made their stand public in a communiqué read on behalf of Ndigbo by Chief Olisa Agbakoba, SAN.
8. The Abuja chapter of the Federal High Court has ordered Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, and others who stood sureties for Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to pay the sum of N100m each into the court’s account. The court said the money must be paid within two months, for their failure to produce the Biafran activist in court. Justice Binta Nyako gave the order while delivering ruling on the matter, in which she amended the conditions of the bail she had in April 2017 granted the IPOB leader.
9. About 40 girls Wednesday sustained various degrees of injuries in a skirmish that broke out between students of Government Girls’ College Damaturu and that of Government Girls’ Secondary School Buni Gari. The injured victims were taken to the emergency unit of Yobe State Specialists’ Hospital Damaturu for medical treatment and were discharged after treatment and examinations.
10. The National Examinations Council (NECO) on Wednesday, announced that its November/December 2018 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) earlier scheduled to commence on November 15, has been shifted to November 19. This was contained in a statement signed by the Acting Registrar, Abubakar Gana and made available to newsmen in Abuja.
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