Nigerian Newspapers: 10 Things You Should Know This Saturday Morning

Nigerian newspapers: 10 things you should know this Saturday morning

Good morning!

iexclusive News Nigeria brings to you today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. Publisher of Leadership Newspaper and a former presidential aspirant, Sam Nda-Isaiah is dead.

The newspaper organisation confirmed that the pharmacist and journalist died on Friday after a very brief illness. Reacting to the sad news, a statement from the presidency said that President Muhammadu Buhari expressed shock and sadness over the Publisher’s death.

2. Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has gone into self-isolation after one of his close aides tested positive for Coronavirus on Thursday. The state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, disclosed this in a statement. The unnamed aide was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 necessitating the governor to proceed on self-isolation.

3. The United States has commended the Nigeria Police for arresting two members of a trans-national kidnap syndicate involved in the abduction of its citizen, Philippe Nathan Walton. Reacting, the Assistant Secretary for the US department of state’s Bureau of African Affairs in a tweet via his Twitter account, commended the efforts being made by the police force in capturing the suspects.

4. Some Northern elders have rebuked Ango Abdullahi, Chairman of Northern Elders Forum, NEF, for accusing people of the South East of attacking Northerners in other parts of Nigeria. The elders under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development described Abdullahi’s remark as false, insensitive, callous and meant to instigate Nigerians against each other.

5. Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, has said that Dave Umahi, the Governor of Ebonyi State, has always been a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC. He said that Umahi had been functioning as a member of the ruling party at heart even while he was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

6. Following violent clashes rocking Ude and Isinigbo communities in Akure North Local Government Areas of Ondo State, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, on Friday imposed a 24-hour curfew on both communities. Akeredolu, who fumed over the unrest between the two communities also ordered a massive manhunt for perpetrators of violent attacks.

7. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it has not suspended the ongoing industrial action.

The Chairman, ASUU, University of Jos, Dr Lazarus Maigoro, explained that the union hasn’t signed any agreements with the Federal Government of Nigeria to call off the strike as being peddled in some quarters.

8. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has raised the alarm over Nigeria’s high debt profile, lamenting that it is spinning out of control.

He spoke at a virtual event organised by the World Bank in Nigeria. The governor said the country’s domestic debt was getting to its debt ceiling as far as liquidity was concerned.

9.  The Presidency has warned those threatening the President to perform certain functions within specific timelines to desist.

The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu who issued the warning in a statement released on his Twitter account said such unpatriotic outbursts were unhelpful and unwarranted. He said the President will not succumb to threats nor take any decision out of pressure.

10.  The Nigerian ambassador to the United States of America, Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor is dead. Nsofor died on Thursday in Maryland hospital, Washington DC at the age of 85. Nsofor, a retired justice of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, assumed office as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States on November 13, 2017.