Top Nigerian Newspapers Headlines For Today, Monday, 20th December, 2021

Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Ezenwoko’s Blog roundup of top newspapers headlines in Nigeria for today, Monday, 20th December 2021

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday returned to Abuja, Nigeria, after his official trip to Turkey.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that this was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is back in Abuja after attending the three-day Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul,” he said.

“The official BBJ aircraft which he hadn’t used for several months as it underwent repairs and improvements landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at exactly 2:35.”

Buhari had on Thursday departed Abuja for Istanbul to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of insensitivity to the killings in the country and other challenges Nigerians are suffering from.

The PDP in a statement on Sunday said it is callous and an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians for many government leaders to have gathered on Saturday in Katsina State for the turbaning ceremony of President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf.

Ezenwoko’s Blog recalls Yusuf was turbaned as the new District Head of Kwasarawa, Duara in Katsina State. He was turbaned as Taliban Daura by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk.

The event attracted the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, SGF Boss Mustapha, Ministers, State Governors, and many other top government functionaries.

However, the PDP in a statement on Sunday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba said it is worrying that the APC-led federal government felt comfortable ignoring the escalating violence in several parts of the country caused by bandits, terrorists, and other criminals and chose to have a lavish ceremony in Katsina State.

The party called on President Muhammadu Buhari to visit the states where there have been fresh cases of violence and urgently adress the worsening security challenges in the country.

Ologunagba said it is unacceptable that the APC-led federal government ignored the plight of the victims and families of recent attacks in Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, and Katsina States and chose to celebrate Yusuf Buhari’s turbaning with so much fanfare.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Sunday submitted that Nigeria and Nigerians have fared better in the last six years under the All Progressives Congress (APC) than the sixteen years when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power.
The Senate President said during the reign of the PDP at the federal level, the country had huge resources but most of it ended up in private pockets.

Lawan said there is no concrete achievement that can be pointed to during the 16 years of PDP rule, warning that Nigerians should not vote for the umbrella party in 2023.

He stated this at the empowerment programme held at the APC square in Gombe State where Governor Inuwa Yahaya also announced his plan to recruit 3,700 youth personal assistants across the 11 local government areas of the state.

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, had described President Muhammadu Buhari as someone who cannot speak.

Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, the Shiites leader stated that he is not aware of any personal issue with Buhari to have warranted his ordeal in the hands of Nigeria security agents.

According to him, Buhari may have sanctioned his persecution as a fulfillment of a deal to keep himself at the Presidential Villa.

The Shiite leader also berated the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, for lying that the DSS spent N3.5m monthly to feed him and his wife during their time in detention.

According to El-Zakzaky, they actually took care of their own feeding the entire five years they spent in detention and prison.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, of begging western countries to proscribe the group.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB accused the federal government of declaring bandits as terrorists so as to get the pro-Biafra group outlawed globally.

While stating that the international community does not need to be told who to declare as terrorists, IPOB warned Garba Shehu to stop his campaign of calumny against the group.

Powerful added that the presidential spokesperson is displaying his annoying ignorance and by calling the international community to tag IPOB as a terror group.

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has fixed January 3rd, 2022, to name those sponsoring insecurity in the Southeast state.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the Imo governor stated this on Saturday while addressing elected officials of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state.

The governor revealed that the name of the sponsors were revealed by 18 suspects arrested by security agencies.

Uzodinma vowed that the masterminds of killing in the state will be made to face the full wrath of the law no matter how highly placed.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has accused state governments of targeting Fulani herdsmen with the Anti-Open Grazing Law.

The South-East Zonal Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, made this known in an interview with Daily Trust.

Reacting to a viral video where a man allegedly attacked a rice farmer in Ugbene community in Anambra, Siddiki claimed an herder by the name Adamu Musa was attacked but he luckily escaped from being killed.

He claimed that some individuals accused the herder of attacking a rice farmer when they failed to kill him.

Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has advised the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to drop his presidential ambition.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, the APC chieftain urged the former Lagos governor to instead back someone from the southeast to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

While urging Tinubu to remain a kingmaker, Okechukwu urged the ‘Jagaban’ to back a younger aspirant from the South in line with the country’s zoning convention.

“If one has the ears our national leader, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on whether he should run or not for the exalted office of the President of Nigeria in 2023, my candid advice is that he should use his abundant endowments to unite the APC, mobilize the South and our beloved country, by backing a candidate from the southeast,” he said.

Describing Tinubu as a strategist, he said the former lawmaker should do the job of a mobilizer by helping to galvanize the APC for a compromise candidate.

Okechukwu stated that by so doing, Tinubu would have united the South and dispelled the notion by some northerner stakeholders that their reluctance to support southern candidates is based on lack of cohesion among the two major geopolitical zones in the south.

Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani has mocked Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State over the incessant attacks in the state.

This comes after the governor on Saturday disclosed he would be revealing those sponsoring insecurity in the Southeast state.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that there has been a rise in insecurity in Imo state.

According to the governor, the name of the sponsors were revealed by 18 suspects arrested by security agencies.

Uzodinma vowed that the masterminds of killing in the state will be made to face the full wrath of the law no matter how highly placed.

Reacting to the development, Sani via his micro-blogging page Twitter mocked the former senator, saying that the attacks in Imo is pushing the state closer to the north.

He urged the governor to come and join the northern governor meetings.

The woman who was accused of starving her employee’s 5-month-old son to death has shared her side of the story.
Tina Ugbonaya revealed that late Chidubem’s mother, Gift refused to take care of her late child.

In an interview with Punch, Ugbonaya stated that the baby lacked maternal care from his mother.

She said that after the baby was born in June, Gift left for the village claiming she was going to write WAEC that her uncle had enrolled for her.

The suspect also stated that Gift refused to breastfeed the baby and decided to run away when she and her husband insisted she took care of her son.

Ugbonaya further revealed that she took the boy to a nurse whom she paid 30,000 to treat because he had been emancipated. Her husband also confirmed her story.

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

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