Happy morning! The summary from Nigerian Newspapers for today is as follows:
1. The Federal Government reports that all of the passengers who were kidnapped from a train on March 28, 2022 that was headed for Kaduna have been freed. On Wednesday afternoon, following the announcement of the final 23 casualties, Prof. Usman Yusuf, Secretary, Chief of Defense Staff Action Committee (CDSAC), confirmed.
2. On Wednesday, the Federal Government and the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, were urged by the Court of Appeal in Abuja to settle their differences out of court. The Appellate Court recommended giving the two parties twenty-four hours to reflect, meet, and develop a solution that would satisfy Nigerians.
3. The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, has announced the final list of candidates that will run in the 2023 elections for the Houses of Assembly and governorships in 28 States of the federation. Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, said in a statement yesterday that 837 candidates and their running mates representing 18 political parties were on the list for the 28 governorship elections.
4. According to the leading Igbo sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, over 18 State governors from different political parties are presently working in the background for Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate. Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the organization’s secretary general, revealed this in a statement on Wednesday.
5. On Wednesday, when the deputy director of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and seven governors met with the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, security was stepped up at the All Progressives Congress, APC, headquarters. Although the meeting’s agenda wasn’t made public, reports claimed that it might have something to do with the controversial presidential campaign council’s list of 422-men.
6. The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, Ifeanyi Okowa, and Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman, were in the state of Bauchi on Wednesday to welcome defectors from other political parties. They were welcomed by a sizable crowd of admirers.
7. Nwankwo Ifeanyi, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl, was given a life sentence by Justice R. A. Oshodi of the Special Offenses Court in Ikeja, Lagos State. In June 2017, Ifeanyi, the victim’s father’s apprentice, committed the crime there.
8. As part of efforts to reduce vote buying and promote transparency in the general elections held next year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced that undercover security operatives will be stationed at voting places across the nation.
9. Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State, criticised former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday after the latter said that governors are to blame for the country’s electoral violence. The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, warned against election rigging and the deployment of thugs during the upcoming general elections on the same day that it bemoaned the Federal Government’s tardy response to the country’s terrorist problem.
10. Chelsea defeated AC Milan 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to earn their first UEFA Champions League victory of the year. Wesley Fofana gave the Blues the lead in the 26th minute, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled it with his second goal for Chelsea in the 56th.
