Good morning! Here is today’s summary of Latest Nigerian News from Nigerian Newspapers of Thursday 31st August 2023
1. A group of senior Gabonese military officers have announced the seizure of power. The officers claimed to represent all of Gabon’s security and defence forces, asserting their authority over the nation.
2. President Bola Tinubu has reacted to the latest coup in Gabon, where President Ali Bongo has been ousted and placed under house arrest. Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said the presidency was watching closely with deep concern for the country’s social-political stability and at the seeming autocratic contention apparently spreading across different regions of the continent.
3. The Nigerian Army has said troops of 343 Artillery Regiment conducting anti-oil theft operations on Monday, August 28, 2023, cracked down on an oil thieves’ camp in Obokofia community, Imo State. A statement by Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Public Relations, disclosed that the vigilant troops intercepted 15 sacks and 13 Jerry cans of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) concealed in the camp.
4. Former lawmaker and renowned social critic, Senator Shehu Sani has stated that poisoned elections are responsible for the collapse of democracy in Africa. Sani’s statement is coming on the heels of a coup in the Central African country, Gabon.
5. A video of ousted Gabon President, Ali Bongo calling for his “friends” to speak up following a successful military coup in the oil-rich central African country has been published. Bongo in the video asked his friends to “make noise” about the people who arrested him and his family.
6. Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi, the designer of the Nigerian Flag is dead. His son, Akinkunmi Akinwumi Samuel confirmed his demise on his Facebook page.
7. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dared the leadership of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to suspend or discipline him. Wike stated this on Wednesday during his interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
8. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has announced that the long-awaited Blue Line Rail will start commercial operations next month, September 4. The announcement was contained in a post on his social media platform X, on Wednesday.
9. An ad hoc committee investigating the non-remittance of money into the National Housing Funds has summoned 54 insurance companies in Nigeria to appear before it over the non-remittance of N267 billion into the fund. The Chairman of the Committee, Dachung Bagos, during an interaction with the representatives of AIICO Insurance, said the insurance companies failed to remit money into the NHF as mandated by law.
10. The National Working Committee (NWC) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has refuted the purported suspension of Rabiu Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential candidate of the party. The party’s national auditor, Ladipo Johnson, stated this at a news conference on Wednesday at the NNPP national headquarters in Abuja.
