Daily News Round

Some Nigerians resident in Niger Republic have appealed to the Federal Government to facilitate their evacuation and return home before any possible offensive against the coup plotters by the Economic Community of West African States’ forces to restore constitutional governance.

 At least eight worshipers were killed and 25 others sustained injuries as a section of the 150-year-old Zaria Central Mosque collapsed on Friday during prayers.

The incident, it was learnt, occurred at about 4pm while the worshippers were praying.

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 Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State, has jetted out of the country after withdrawing his interest in ministerial appointment, Daily Trust can confirm.
Reports said El-Rufai was off to Europe but will be in Egypt first. He was said to have dropped his ministerial ambition.

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 Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, has said the Niger junta will be punished if any harm befalls President Mohamed Bazoum. The junta had threatened to kill Bazoum in the event of military intervention against Niger.

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The fresh killing of five people in two villages of Benue State by suspected armed invaders has sparked off massive protests along the Makurdi-Lafia federal highway. It was gathered that hundreds of women and youth from the affected communities of Guma Local Government Area trooped out early on Friday morning to mount roadblocks on the highway leading from Makurdi to Lafia and Abuja.

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 The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its indefinite nationwide strike, which began on July 26, 2023. The association has directed its members across the country to resume work from Sunday at 8am. The National Executive Council (NEC) of the association said it will review the progress made in terms of the implementation of the union’s demands in two weeks.

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 The African Union has pledged support to the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS. The union’s chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, in a statement, said he stands behind the group’s response to the coup in Niger.

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The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has told the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government not to plunge the West African sub-region into a senseless war.

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The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, stated this in response to the order given to the ECOWAS Defence Chiefs by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State

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 Elder statesman, Prof Usman Yusuf, has warned that the declaration of war by ECOWAS on Niger Republic is also a declaration of war on Northern Nigeria. The former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), gave the warning against the background of the regional body’s intention to use military force to reinstate the overthrown civilian government in the Anglophone country

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 Information emerged on Friday that gunmen allegedly killed two soldiers attached to the Ekaago-Ogboloma-Adada Road project in the Abia/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State. The miscreants were also said to have abducted an expatriate, and three others working at the site of the project, being executed by the state government on Tuesday.

from dailypost