Nigerian Newspaper Review: Top 10 Stories For Friday Morning

Good morning to you! Here is today’s summary from the Nigerian Newspapers:

1. Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has disclosed that he declined to pay a N300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019, saying he would not negotiate with criminals rather than encourage the growing menace of kidnapping for ransom. “I have taken my decision based on the fact that the payment of ransom only encourages the criminal groups to continue to abduct innocent people,” the governor said.

2. Danladi Umar, the former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting in Maitama. The remand order was given by Justice Peter Kekemeke after Umar was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a four-count charge of conferring undue advantage on himself while serving as the chairman of the CCT.

3. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday arraigned the leader of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on an alleged $2.33 million money laundering offence. Bodejo, who was earlier detained by the Department of State Services, DSS before being transferred to the EFCC, was arraigned before Justice Daniel Osiagor on a 12-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering.

4. The Federal Government has said it has doubled the minimum monthly salary of Nigerian soldiers from N49,000 to N100,000 in its latest move to improve troop welfare and boost morale. Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, said the salary review in a TV interview. He described the development as a welfare improvement introduced by the current administration for military personnel.

5. Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, said President Bola Tinubu sees governance as a serious business that must work. A mindset, he said, that had resulted in the unprecedented infrastructural revolution sweeping the nation’s capital.

6. A Nigerian Army captain and two soldiers are feared dead after their patrol vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device, IED during a routine operation in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. Troops on patrol from Babanna town ran over an explosive device on Tuesday in Maciyan-Kyada village in Babanna Ward, a security source said, adding that the device was suspected to have been laid by terrorists.

7. The disclosure of the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa that Nigerian soldiers now earn a minimum monthly salary of N100,000 has trailed reactions. Veterans and serving personnel said it was grossly inadequate. This is as they accused President Bola Tinubu of failing to implement a salary increment he promised almost four months ago.

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8. President Bola Tinubu on Thursday withheld his assent to two bills passed by the National Assembly, citing constitutional issues and defects that must be addressed before the proposed legislation can become law. The President’s decision was communicated to the Senate through two separate letters read on the floor of the chamber by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

9. The Zamfara State Police Command says it has repelled coordinated bandit attacks in Gummi, Talata Mafara and Gusau Local Government Areas, rescuing an abducted staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission and other captives while recovering hundreds of rustled cattle. This was revealed by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar, in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday.

10. A Federal High Court in Calabar has ordered the Nigeria Police Force and other respondents to pay N100 million damages for the torture and killing of a 22-year-old man, Onyekachi Mba. The judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the applicant and deceased’s mother, Mrs Victoria Mba through her counsel, Chief Roland Ndubuka.