Top Nigerian Newspapers Headlines For Today, Friday, 17th December, 2021

Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Ezenwoko’s Blog roundup of top newspapers headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 17th December 2021

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday departed Abuja for Instanbul to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit.

The announcement was made in a statement released by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Thursday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Shehu said the theme of the summit is “Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity” and the agenda includes reviewing the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.

He stated that the summit is coming on the heels of President Recep Erdogan’s recent state visit to Nigeria during which several agreements were signed.

Shehu added that the summit would provide guidelines and direction for cooperation with African countries for the next five years.

Former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has accused his predecessor, Chief Bisi Akande of corruption and betrayal.

Oyinlola made the accusation while reacting to an allegation made against him by Akande in his autobiography titled “My Participations”.

In the book, Akande claimed that Oyinlola wrongly accused him of corruption in the construction of the Osun state Governor’s Office, also known as Bola Ige House.

Reacting, Oyinlola denied making any false allegations against the former APC chairman regarding the construction of the government facility.

The PDP chieftain, however, claimed Akande financed his 2003 re-election by collecting kickbacks from the contractor building the governor’s office.

Oyinlola stated that he has details of how the APC leader collected the money in his forthcoming book.

Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu has advanced reasons why the planned National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should not hold in February 2022.

Kalu in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Governor Mai Mala Buni said the party must first resolve all issues and disagreements resulting from the conduct of the party’s congresses.

He stated that failure to do this may result in the implosion of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections

The former Abia State Governor went ahead to recommend that the APC hold its National Convention at the same time as the 2023 presidential primaries.

Kalu in the letter titled, “Urgent appeal for postponement of APC national convention”, said to avoid doom, the party must postpone its national convention.

Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has given reasons why he doesn’t believe in and would never support the agitations for the Yoruba Nation.

This is as he declared that secession is not the way to go and promised his loyalty to a united Nigeria.

The former president argued that more can be achieved by having a united Nigeria than promoting agitations for the break up of the country.

Obasanjo made the submission during a retreat on inclusive security organized by the Global Peace Foundation in collaboration with Vision Africa.

A research firm, SBM Intelligence, has released a report revealing that 973 Boko Haram members, 1,989 bandits and 88 kidnappers have been gunned down between October 2020 and September 2021.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the firm made this disclosure in a report released on Thursday titled, ‘Nigeria at war: Combatant casualties Q4 2020 to Q3 2021’.

SBM intelligence revealed that 100 outlawed IPOB members, 290 cultists, 129 vigilantes, nine militants and nine smugglers were also killed in the period under review.

It stated that 985 security operatives comprising of 642 military officers, 322 police officers, 11 NSCDC officers, five Customs officials, two DSS operatives, two Immigrations officers, and an FRSC officer were killed in the last year.

According to the firm, the report was based on a number of gathering tools including the Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria security tracker, as well as SBM’s own internal database of security incidents around the country.

A source in the presidency has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari is in a tight corner about signing into law or rejecting the amended electoral act sent to him by the National Assembly.

According to the source, some strong people in government including state governors and lawmakers have been trying to prevail on the President not to sign the bill.

The source added that the President himself has nothing against signing the bill but is trying to consider the reservations and opinions of others on the matter.

Ezenwoko’s Blog recalls two major amendments been proposed in the bill by the National Assembly is the compulsory use of direct primaries by political parties to choose candidates for election as well as the provision to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically or decide otherwise.

Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, has asked a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to reveal his source of wealth.

Adebanjo made this known in a statement issued on Thursday while reacting to the allegation made by former Osun governor, Bisi Akande, that he pressurised Tinubu to build his Lekki home.

The Afenifere leader advised Tinubu to disclose the source of his wealth with which he bankrolled President Muhammadu Buhari’s election and the All Progressives Congress (APC) elections in the Southwest.

Adebanjo also asked the APC national leader to disclose how he bought his various properties and businesses in Lagos and other parts of the country.

He also called on Tinubu to allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe him and to verify his properties in the country and abroad.

The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has said that the administration of President Muhamadu Buhari has failed to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.

NEF’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, made this known on Thursday while reacting to a report released by a research firm, SBM Intelligence.

The report titled, ‘Nigeria at war: Combatant casualties Q4 2020 to Q3 2021’ revealed 985 security operatives were killed in the last year.

In an interview with Vanguard, Baba-Ahmed said that the Buhari government has not done enough to secure the nation.

He advised the government to step up its effort in the fight against insurgents and bandits killing innocent Nigerians.

Gunmen have killed the traditional ruler of Ihitte Ihube autonomous community in the Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State, Paul Ogbu.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the criminals abducted the slain monarch and the traditional ruler of Amagu Ihube, Acho Ndukwe, on Sunday and set their palaces and vehicles ablaze.

However, Ndukwe regained his freedom on Monday after combined security operatives rescued him during a raid on kidnapper’s den in Orsu Local Government Area and Uli in Ihiala LGA of Anambra state.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a resident of the community said a youth leader, Fabian Nwosu, who was also kidnapped alongside the two monarchs was also killed by the gunmen.

The resident added that the tragic news was revealed by Ndukwe, who said that Ogbu was killed in his presence.

He claimed that Ndukwe disclosed that the unknown gunmen had killed Ogbu and dumped his corpse in a ditch.

The Kaduna State Command of the Nigeria Police has debunked reports that its operatives collude with bandits and terrorists across the nation.

The Police Command in a statement by its public relations officer, ASP Muhammed Jalige on behalf of the Police Commissioner, Mudassiru Abdullahi denied any form of complicity in the operations of the bandits and terrorists.

The statement on Wednesday by Jalige comes in response to an allegation by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase who accused some policemen of working with bandit terrorists across the country.

But in its reaction, the Police stated that contrary to the allegation, its operatives have been working tirelessly to curb the activities of the bandits.

The statement revealed that within the past eleven months, the Kaduna State Police Command has been at the forefront in the fight against banditry, armed robbery and kidnapping in the state.

Those are the top Nigerian newspapers headlines for today. Read more Nigerian news on Ezenwoko’s Blog. See you again tomorrow.

Download NAIJA NEWS app: