10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers Sunday morning, December 29, 2019

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

1. ISWAP EXECUTIONS: Nnamdi Kanu vows to make stunning revelation

Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has vowed to expose alleged complicity of President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the cabal within the presidency, in the recent beheading of 11 Christians by the Islamic State of West Africa, ISWAP.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Kanu told Nigerians to “Get ready!”, saying that, “I will reveal the complicity of @MBuhari’s govt. @elrufai & @NGRPresident cabal in the beheading of 11 Christians by #ISIS in a video released on 26/12/2019 . Date: Tue. 31/12/2019. Time: 7:00 PM Biafraland Time.” He also shared a picture where President Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, were allegedly holding the ISWAP flag. Read more

2. SOWORE: Int’l rights watchdog urges Buhari to stop clampdown on ‘political enemies’

The International Human Rights Commission on Saturday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to conceive a new model of conflict resolution rather than arresting and detaining perceived political opponents. The rights watchdog also described as a pleasant development, the recent release of the convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore and the ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).

The Country Representative of the IHRC, a Prague, Czech Republic-based organisation, Dr. Friday Sani, who stated these at a press briefing in Abuja, said the era of arresting and detaining political opponents and perceived enemies of government had become outdated across the world. Read more

3. We will present ‘the best material’ for president in 2023 —PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Saturday it would do everything possible to win the presidency in 2023. The party said it would go the whole hog to ensure that events that led to its defeat in the 2019 presidential election would not be repeated. The party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi, in a chat with journalists, said the party was determined to return to winning ways in three years’ time.

He, however, added that the PDP did not lose the 2019 presidential election. Odeyemi said: “Nigerians are aware of the shame that played out in 2019 elections. We did not lose but I don’t want to dwell in the past because the apex court in the land has adjudicated on the matter. Read more

4. CAN TO SULTAN: Speak up against persecution of Christians or shut up

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Saturday it stood by its claim that Christians were being persecuted in Nigeria. The Christian umbrella body stated this in a statement issued by its National Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel.

CAN was reacting to a statement credited to the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, that the claim of Christians’ persecution was false and partial. The association said the Sultan “got it totally wrong” by making such a statement. Read more

5. Suspected thug caught with gun in family house of Edo Deputy Governor

A suspected thug identified as Victor John was on Saturday caught with a locally- made gun inside the family compound of the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu. The man was said to have scaled the fence and landed in the premises of the deputy governor’s old house in Jattu, Etsako west local government area of the state. He was arrested by a policeman on duty and is currently undergoing interrogation at the state police command headquarters in Benin City. Read more

Read also: 10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers Saturday morning, December 28, 2019

6. LAND REVOCATION: Kwara governor has ‘crossed the line’, but ‘in this war..he won’t win’ —Saraki

Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, claimed on Saturday that Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, was pursuing vengeance against his family. The ex-Senate president stated this in reaction to the revocation of a piece of land occupied by his family in Ilorin, by the state government. The state government had said on Friday that the land was originally designed for government secretariat and parking space of a clinic.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaiye, said in a statement that the government has now made provisions for the secretariat in the 2020 budget. However, Saraki pushed back, claiming in a statement he personally signed that the land was duly allocated and a Right of Occupancy title issued on it. Read more

7. Aso Rock Watch: Buhari’s 77th birthday gifts tasting almost sour. 2 other things

Nigeria got a bit of bashing here and there past week. Perhaps, not the sort that President Muhammadu Buhari would have loved to witness on his 77th birthday. First, he was told that his government had damaged Nigeria’s international image. As if that was not enough, another report listed Nigeria under his watch as being among countries that tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom.”

It was John Campbell, a United States (US) former ambassador to Nigeria, who gave Buhari what may have tasted as a sour birthday gift. In a post entitled “Buhari’s dictatorial past and the rule of law today in Nigeria” and published on the website of the Council on Foreign Relations, on December 18, a day after Buhari’s birthday, Campbell decried the court invasion by the operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) to re-arrest Omoyele Sowore.

He said, “The SSS assault on a court room and the re-arrest of Sowore has already damaged the country’s international reputation.” While that was yet to settle, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced Nigeria’s inclusion on the “Special Watch List” of nations that engaged in, or tolerated religious violations in their territory. Read more

8. Atiku hails security operatives for foiling Abuja robbery attack

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday, commended the Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Army for foiling a robbery attack at First Bank, Mpape, the outskirts of Abuja. Ripples Nigeria had reported that a suspect was shot dead while four others were arrested during the robbery attempt.

Atiku tweeted on Saturday, saying, “I’m proud of the proactiveness of the @HQNigerianArmy and @PoliceNG in foiling the bank robbery in Abuja. “It is my hope that this will be the face of a reinvigorated security in the new year.” Read more

9. Why Buhari may not win the war on corruption —APC Chieftain

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bala Ka’Oje, said on Saturday corruption is still endemic in the country despite the present administration’s best effort to tackle the problem. He also said some government agencies and parastatals awarded contracts before they were advertised. Ka’Oje, who is a former Minister of Sports during ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, told journalists that many Nigerians spent huge sums of money to get pre-qualification papers not knowing that the contracts had been awarded. Read more

10. Hours-long standoff ends as police kill one, arrest four other bank robbers in Abuja

Policemen from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command Saturday foiled a robbery attack on First Bank Plc branch in Mpape, Abuja. The policemen shot dead a suspect and arrested four others who were trapped inside the banking hall.

They were trapped inside the bank for several hours following the arrival of the police operatives who cordoned off the building. The FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, confirmed the incident to journalists. Read more

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now