Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. President Bola Tinubu has appointed Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi as the new Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS). Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, announced this in a statement on Monday.
2. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Monday, ordered a manhunt for the sponsors of members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria, popularly known as Shiites, as well as those who killed two policemen and injured others. About 97 suspects have been arrested so far.
3. The economy is on the right path and will soon turn the curve. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu expressed this enthusiasm on Monday following the report that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew in the second quarter (Q2). The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the growth of GDP in Q2 at 3.2 per cent year on year, far above the 2.51 per cent recorded in the same period of 2023.
4. As from next year, individuals below the age of 18 are not eligible for the examinations conducted by West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO), the Federal Government said on Monday.
5. The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, on Monday, commenced a seven-day warning strike to push for the rescue of a Kaduna-based doctor, Dr Ganiyat Popoola, who was kidnapped last December and has spent about eight months in the abductors’ den. The strike, which held across the country, left patients stranded.
6. The police on Monday arraigned Shafi’u Tureta, a media aide to former Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, for allegedly defaming the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu. The suspect was allegedly accused of spreading unlawful media content and was detained by the police on August 25, 2024, before his first arraignment in court on Monday.
7. A middle-aged woman identified as Theresa Awuhe, was killed by gunmen in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State while they abducted a director with the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Service, identified as Aribibia Fubara. According to a resident, nothing was taken from the woman as her assailants fled after killing her.
8. Six suspected cultists and drug dealers were nabbed when operatives of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command raided a criminal hideout at the Afaha Offiong community in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of the state. This was contained in a statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Timfon John, on Monday.
9. Some suspected kidnappers abducted a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Christiana Idowu, along the Ikorodu-Yaba Road last week. A family source, who spoke on Monday, disclosed that the abductors were demanding the sum of N3m as a ransom before they could release the student.
10. The Media Rights Agenda, MRA, has condemned the continuous harassment and intimidation of journalists in Nigeria by security and law enforcement agencies. In a statement on Monday, the organisation expressed concern over recent cases of abductions, arbitrary arrests, detention and other attacks on media professionals, stating that the incidents posed a serious threat to media freedom and democracy in the country.