1. Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media, Garba Shehu, has said that negotiations are ongoing to ensure release of the victims of Abuja-Kaduna train attack. Shehu disclosed this during an interview on Friday.
2. A Lagos High Court, on Friday, sentenced a Dane, Peter Nielsen, to death by hanging for killing his Nigerian wife and daughter. Justice Bolanle Okikiolu-Ighile convicted Nielsen, 54, on two counts of murder brought against him by the Lagos State Government.
3. Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has lifted the curfew imposed on Sokoto metropolis with immediate effect. He explained that the decision was taken after due consultation with relevant security agencies and stakeholders.
4. Hundreds of residents of the Abuja Municipal Area Council have shut down the office of Malam Mohammed Bello, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the FCT Administration Secretariat over the inauguration of the newly elected council chairmen and councillors. The administration had suspended the inauguration, citing the ruling of an FCT High Court.
5. President Muhammadu Buhari is in the United Arab Emirates to condole with the country over the death of former President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Zayed Al Nahyan died at the age of 73 on May 13, 2022.
6. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended the resumption of train services on the Abuja-Kaduna route. The train service was scheduled to resume on Monday, May 23, 2022, but in a statement on Friday, Yakubu Mahmood, the spokesperson of NRC, said a new date would be announced soon.
7. Justice A. T. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has sentenced George Turnah to four years imprisonment. Turnah was former Special Assistant to Dan Abia, a former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
8. The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, yesterday cautioned the two major political parties, the All Progressive Congress, APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, against denying the Southeast geopolitical zone presidential tickets. In a statement, the group warned that there will be a total lockdown in Igbo land on 25th February, 2023, which is the day of the Presidential and National Assembly elections if the region fails to get the ticket.
9. The hope of one of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Farah Dagogo to participate in the party primaries appears to be uncertain. This is as the Rivers State High Court again adjourned his bail application to May 25, 2022.
10. A presidential aspirant under the All Progressive Congress (APC), Rotimi Amaechi, was on Friday evening, stunned when delegates from Kogi State told him point blank that they will not vote for him. Ameachi and his entourage, which included former Army Chief, Gen. Buratai were in the State to woo delegates ahead of the Presidential primary of the party.
