10 Things You Need to Know Inside the Nigeria Newspaper Today (02/11/2019)
Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. A two-storeyed building Friday evening collapsed in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State, killing one person, and injuring four others. Report says the building which was under construction along Glover road suddenly caved in, trapping many people in the rubbles. There were, however, efforts by other workers on-site to save those trapped at the time the report broke, but details of more casualties have remained unknown.
2. All Progressives Congress state chairmen have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, over his alleged overbearing behaviour. A statement by their Chairman, Ali Dolari, and Secretary, Ben Nwoye, after their meeting in Asaba, questioned Akpabio’s alleged interference in the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
3. The Federal Government says it has seized over N2.3tn worth of contraband as a result of the intensive joint border patrol by security agencies. This is coming barely three months after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the closure of all land borders in the country. The spokesperson for the Joint Border Security Exercise and National Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service, Joseph Attah, listed the seized items to include guns, ammunition, rice, vehicles, drugs and jerrycans of petrol.
4. Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has said that the Federal Government would work very closely with states and local governments in order to shut down sub-standard secondary schools. Nwajiuba, in a statement signed by Ben Bem-Goong, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations Unit in the ministry, said that such schools would not be allowed to operate and that the National Secondary Education Commission (NSEC) would take action on such schools.
5. A former leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to strictly follow the year 2000 Establishment Law of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to avoid anarchy. The ex-militants leader while speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Friday kicked against the constitution of a new Interim Management Committee for the Federal Government’s interventionist agency – NDDC.
6. The Rivers State Police Command has declared a notorious armed robber identified as Justice Amadi, aka Italian, and his gang members wanted. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, in a statement on Friday said that Amadi and his gang members were declared wanted in connection with the killings of two policemen, among other heinous crimes. Omoni, who described Italian as a man in his mid-20s, explained that he was responsible for the kidnap of one Mrs. Chioma Ewor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God and took away her Lexus Sport Utility Vehicle.
7. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has said that at least, 69,282 personnel would be deployed to provide security during the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States. He was reacting to the fear expressed by the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security organised by the commission in Abuja that thugs have been mobilised to cause violence during the elections. Speaking in Abuja on Friday, the IGP assured that the Nigeria Police Force was prepared to provide adequate security during the election.
8. The All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed it has uncovered fake Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) allegedly manufactured in large scale by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the Nov. 16 Bayelsa State governorship election. In a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, in Abuja on Friday, APC alleged that the fake PVCs have been code-named “Biafra Cards” by the PDP. According to Nabena, Bayelsa state chapter of PDP has begun large scale manufacturing of fake PVCs.
9. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammed Bello, has disclosed that all illegal car parks would be closed to ensure safety in FCT. Bello said this during an advocacy visit to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) headquarters in Abuja on Friday. He said that Abuja was witnessing a massive influx of vehicles, hence the need to take action.
10. The Akwa Ibom State Police Command said it has arrested four suspected kidnappers terrorising Eket and its environs at their hideouts in Ikot Ubo, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of the State. It was gathered that the police demolished the building where the suspects stayed and rescued one of their victims, Glory Samuel. The husband of the victim, Mr Samuel Ekerenam, had paid a sum of N3 million as a ransom, yet the kidnappers demanded for additional N17 million before his wife would be released. But the police swung into action and arrested the suspects on Wednesday evening after a gun battle.