Good morning to you! Here is today’s roundup from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal said he refused to pay N300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019, saying he would not negotiate with criminals and encourage the growing menace of kidnapping for ransom. The governor said his decision was based on his belief that paying ransom only encourages criminal groups to continue abducting innocent people.
2. Former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting in Maitama. Justice Peter Kekemeke ordered that he be kept in remand after Umar was arraigned before him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a four-count charge of conferring undue advantage on himself while he was 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 arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS and later handed over to the EFCC, was docked before Justice Daniel Osiagor on a 12-count charge of 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 on TV interview. He called the development a welfare improvement by the present administration for the military.
5. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said President Bola Tinubu sees governance as a serious business that must work. A mindset he said had led to the unprecedented infrastructural revolution sweeping the nation’s capital.
6. A Nigerian Army captain and two soldiers have been feared dead after their patrol vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, IED during a routine operation in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. The incident occurred on Tuesday in Maciyan-Kyada village in Babanna Ward, when troops on patrol from Babanna town drove over an IED suspected to have been planted by terrorists, a security source said.
7. The disclosure by the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, that Nigerian soldiers now earn a minimum monthly salary of N100,000 has been trailed by reactions. Serving personnel and veterans said it was grossly inadequate. This is as they accused President Bola Tinubu of not fulfilling a promise to increment salary he made almost four months ago.
8. President Bola Tinubu on Thursday withheld his assent to two bills passed by the National Assembly, stating that there are constitutional concerns and defects that need to be addressed before the proposed legislation can become law. The President’s decision was communicated to the Senate via two separate letters which were read on the floor of the chamber by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
9. The Zamfara State Police Command said it repelled coordinated bandit attacks in Gummi, Talata Mafara and Gusau Local Government Areas, rescued an abducted staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission and other captives and recovered hundreds of rustled cattle. The command’s spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar disclosed this 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 over the torture and killing of a 22-year-old man, Onyekachi Mba. The judgment was on Thursday delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in a suit filed by the applicant and mother of the deceased, Mrs Victoria Mba through her counsel, Chief Roland Ndubuka, seeking enforcement of her fundamental rights.
