Good morning, Nigeria. Welcome to the CityNews roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Monday, 27th November 2023.
1. President Bola Tinubu will on Wednesday present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly. This came as the Federal Executive Council on Monday approved the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N27.5tn. This is an increase from the N26.01tn earlier considered by the council.
2. Fresh protests erupted in Kano city and its environs on Monday afternoon with the demonstrators denouncing the recent judgment of the Court Appeal that sacked Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigerian People’s Party. In what appeared like a coordinated action on Monday, a huge crowd of protesters stormed strategic positions in the city, a situation that resulted in temporary hiccups in commercial activities.
3. Two policemen and a civilian were on Monday shot dead at Ahiara Junction in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. The attack came by the time the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Danjuma Aboki, was in the area on a morale-boosting visit to his officers in the Mbaise area.
4. Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has declared his interest to contest the forthcoming 2024 governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declaring that nobody can halt his ambition. The deputy governor said he is a home boy who feels the pain of the people, urging the electorate and party members to back his ambition.
5. President Bola Tinubu on Monday appointed a new Board and Management team for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), consisting of nine members. The new Board and Management team has Chief Pius Akinyelure as non-Executive Chairman, with Mallam Mele Kyari retaining his position as Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Umar Isa Ajiya coming back as Chief Financial Officer and Mr Ledum Mitee as Non-Executive Director.
6. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Sokoto State. Three-member panel of the court, in a unanimous judgment on Monday, held that the appellants failed to prove their case.
7. A veterinary doctor, Bello Lawan, has been reportedly shot and his wife kidnapped in Bagama community on the outskirts of Mpape town, in Bwari Area Council of the FCT. It was learnt that three members of his family, including his son, who took a ransom of N13.5m, as well as foodstuff and drugs, were also held by the kidnappers.
8. The corpse of a missing Fulani leader, Umar Ibrahim, who went missing on Wednesday, has been found in an abandoned well in Jokom community in Mangu town of Mangu LGA of Plateau State. The late Ibrahim was the Ciroma of Kumbun District in Mangu LGA. The spokesperson of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), a security task force maintaining peace in the state, Captain Oya James, confirmed the incident.
9. The Chief Justice Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has reiterated the judiciary’s determination not to be overwhelmed by the sentiments of the “mob” in their decisions. Speaking at the opening of the special session of the 2023/2024 legal year and the swearing-in of 58 newly conferred Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Ariwoola asked judges to remain firm amid sentiments and allegations.
10. An Ondo State High Court, sitting in Akure, the state capital, has jailed a man, Abayomi Joseph, to death for killing his neighbour. Joseph was sentenced after he was found guilty of hacking to death one Thomas Oluwole, who was his neighbour, with a machete, in 2021, at the Ijoka area of Akure, following an allegation of well water poisoning.