Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know this Monday morning

1. Former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo has dismissed claims that he was involved in the alleged N34 billion Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s fraud. He said in a statement that he was not a signatory to any of the companies indicted.

2. Following the threat by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, to embark on a fresh massive protest across different states in the South East and South South, the Enugu State Government has warned the groups to stop creating unnecessary tension in the State. It also stated that measures have been put in place to resist further protests in the state.

3. An age-long feud between the Ooni of Ife, and the Alaafin of Oyo came to an end on Sunday when the sitting Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III to felicitate with him on his 45th year on the throne. The visit has now become the subject of discussion, and exciting many Yorubas nationwide.

4. President Muhammudu Buhari has directed the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to move confiscated items in various customs warehouses to designated officials for onward distribution to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.This is just as the NCS has already set up a national committee that would coordinate and manage the movement and the transfer of the seized items to give effect to the President’s directive.

5. Islamic group, Shiites has listed conditions under which it would appear before the Kaduna State Government’s Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which is currently investigating the clash between the Nigerian Army and its group.

Among the conditions listed by the group is the unconditional release of its leader, El Zakzaky and the corpses of its members that were killed in the clash for proper burial.

6. The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, has debunked the reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, ordered him to refund the N100m he collected from a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih.

The elder statesman was listed among those who benefited from the $2.1bn funds meant for the procurement of arms for the Armed Forces fighting insurgency in the north-east.

7. President Muhammadu Buhari has officially written to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki requesting the formal withdrawal of the proposed 2016 budget for proper adjustment.

The development, has therefore, laid to rest the controversy surrounding the ‘alleged’ missing of the original budget document presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.

8. The Lagos State Government has stated that there is no new case of Lassa fever recorded in the state.

It also said that the index case, a 25-year-old male undergraduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, is presently responding to treatment in the hospital and would soon be discharged. It, therefore, called on residents of the state to remain calm and go about their normal businesses.

9. The ongoing economic crisis in the country continues to worsen as Nigerian naira hit lowest level in 43 years on Sunday.
The Naira depreciated further at N305 per dollar as scarcity of dollars intensified in the unofficial market. From an average of N287 per dollar on Tuesday, the parallel market exchange rate rose to an average of N305 per dollar across the country.

10. A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu has denied the report, which quoted him as saying that the Peoples Democratic Party will unseat Buhari in 2019.

Tinubu said he never granted any interview to the online platform that published the story, insisting that it was the imaginative work of the writer.