Nigerian Newspapers: 10 Things You Need To Note This Tuesday Morning

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers

1. President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki was conspicuously absent at the National Caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC, which held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

No reason was given for Saraki’s absence at the meeting attended by top government officials and APC chieftains, including President Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Yakubu Dogara and other members of the National Assembly.

2. The Yobe State Commissioner of Education, Mohammed Lamin, has said that Government Girls’ Science and Technology College in Dapchi, Yobe State, where 110 girls disappeared after a Boko Haram attack will remain closed indefinitely.

Lamin maintained that the school would remain closed “for a while, until the situation normalises and the girls are psychologically prepared to resume.”

3. The forum of All Progressives Congress (APC) State Chairmen has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to contest the 2019 election.

The forum in a communiqué issued after their meeting in Abuja on Monday night, also declared support for the Bola Tinubu led-APC reconciliation committee.

4. The Headquarters of Theatre Command Operations LAFIYA DOLE, has frowned at a statement credited to Ibrahim Gaidam, Governor of Yobe State, that withdrawal of troops was responsible for the abduction of female students from Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi.

Col Onyema Nwachukwu, Deputy Director Public Relations, Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole, in a statement on Monday said the allegation “is not only unfortunate but also very far from the truth”.

5. Youths from the Tiv speaking parts of Benue, Nasarawa, and Taraba states under the aegis of Tiv Youths Organization (TYO) have advised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against fielding President Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential flag bearer in the 2019 presidential election.

The youths, at a press conference on Monday at the Makurdi NUJ House, said Buhari had failed in his duties as Commander in Chief to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians.

6. President Muhammadu Buhari has told the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to prepare for the 2019 elections.

Buhari, who spoke on Monday, when he hosted top members of the party at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, thanked his party men for standing by him despite the “antics of the opposition”.

7. One of the senators being probed for opposing the reorder of the 2019 elections, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday admonished his colleagues and members of the House of Representatives “plotting” against President Muhammadu Buhari to quit the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to him, there was no point using a party platform to win elections only to be disrespecting the party in the name of legislative immunity and to be plotting against the President.

8. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, then domestic aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has said the $15.5m seized from the ex-President’s wife, Patience, was her legitimate money.

Dudafa, who appeared as Patience’s first witness in the case in a statement made on oath and tendered before the court on Monday, claimed that the $15.5m seized from Patience by the EFCC was not proceeds of fraud but “consisted of her personal inheritance and money which she held in trust for her siblings, as well as gifts from friends and well-wishers over the years.”

9. The implementation of the new national minimum wage would commence in the third quarter of this year, the Federal Government announced on Monday.

According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the negotiation committee for the new minimum wage for workers had received memoranda from all stakeholders involved in the process, adding that implementation should begin later this year.

10. President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday assured Nigerians that all abducted persons by insurgent groups, including the schoolgirls from the Government GirlsTechnical College, Dapchi, Yobe, would be rescued safely.

Buhari, who gave the assurance when he received three rescued lecturers of University of Maiduguri and the 10 Police Officers’ wives at the presidential villa, Abuja, noted that the rescue of his visitors on Feb. 10 was a `very huge relief’ to him and to all Nigerians.