10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers Friday morning, December 13, 2019

These 10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers will make your Friday morning.

1. Court orders should be obeyed to the letter, Sultan of Sokoto cautions

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar has said that court orders should be obeyed to the letter. The Sultan, who is also the president-general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), said that laws of the land should never be disregarded to avoid consequences. He spoke on Thursday at the 2019 fourth quarter meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council. The warning by the Sultan came on the heels of allegations of human rights abuses, disobedience to court orders by President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government. Read more

2. Senior Advocates of Nigeria demand investigation into DSS court invasion

The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BoSAN) Thursday warned that if the truth behind the invasion of the Federal High Court in Abuja was not unravelled, Nigeria would lose respect and become an object of ridicule among the comity of Nations. It was reported that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) had invaded the court in an attempt to arrest convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore; but the service denied this report. Read more

3. Buhari is the most democratic president I have ever seen —Yahaya Bello

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has described Muhammadu Buhari as the most democratic president he had ever seen. The governor spoke in response to the Punch’s decision to be referring President Buhari as a dictator over supposed human rights abuses under his government. The governor also said that the fact that Buhari allowed Nigerians to know the crisis in his homefront, where Aisha Buhari has been clashing with his nephew and aides, further proved that he was very democratic. Read more

4. Buhari govt’s visa free policy for Africa will lead to conflict, total catastrophy —Fani-Kayode

Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has raised alarm over supposed dangers that would come with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government’s visa free policy for Africans. President Buhari had on Wednesday in Egypt, at the opening session of Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in Africa, said his government would start issuing visa to persons with passports of other African countries at the point of entry from January next year. But in a post on Thursday in his verified Twitter handle- @realFFK, the former minister argued that the policy was “subtle attempt to alter the racial and religious demographics of our country and open our front door for mass Fulani, Berber, Taureg and Arab migration into our shores.” Read more

5. Adamawa court orders arrest of Diezani

A high court in Adamawa has ordered the arrest of a former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. The court ordered her arrest for allegedly giving a bribe of N362 million to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election. This was announced in a statement on Thursday by Wilson Uwujaren, spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Read more

Read also: 10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers Thursday morning, December 12, 2019

6. Reps to probe MDAs over alleged insurance fraud

The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies for alleged fraud in insurance policies. During plenary on Thursday, the House specifically called out the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the National Youth Service Corps. The House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters was mandated to “conduct an investigative hearing involving all relevant stakeholders, to identify any breaches and ascertain the veracity of the suspected infractions by the aforementioned institutions.” Read more

7. Nigerian govt grounds Turkish Airlines

The Federal Government has ordered the suspension of Turkish Airlines’ operations in Nigeria on account of “repeated cases of poor passenger treatment.” The directive, which was issued by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), ordered the airline to suspend its operations until it was ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that can transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time. Read more

8. IGP suspends APC rally in Edo

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Thursday suspended the rally of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for Benin, Edo State, on Friday. The letter suspending the rally has been forwarded to the Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shuaibu. Read more

9. Lebanese drug trafficker jailed six months

Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Thursday sentenced a Lebanese drug trafficker, Charbel Chalouhi, to six months imprisonment for unlawful dealing in 1.2 grams of cocaine. The judge handed down the prison term after the Lebanese had struck a plea bargain agreement with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The convict was first arraigned before Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel in October 2018, after he was arrested at his residence, 18, flat BB, Simon Akinolu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, on September 10, 2018, for trafficking in the said banned drug. Read more

10. 2 INEC staff jailed 42 years for receiving bribes

Two staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were on Thursday sentenced to 42 years in jail, for collecting bribes. The sentence was handed down to them, by Justice Nathan Musa who presided over a high court sitting in Yola, Adamawa State. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had brought the case against Ibrahim Mohammed Umar, and Sahabo IyaHamman, both staff of INEC as well as the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Aliso-Madueke, for conspiring to defraud the federal government with the intent to compromise the 2015 general elections. Read more

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