News Roundup

Barely 40 days to the end of the year, the Federal Government has urged the Supreme Court to grant an extension of time for old naira notes to remain in circulation. The government wants the apex court to lift its March 3 order that old naira notes should remain legal tender along with new notes till December 31.

. Minister of Works, David Umahi, says the Federal Government needs $35 billion to kick-start the construction of concrete roads nationwide. According to a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Orji Uchenna, this was disclosed when Umahi met with Shuaib Audu, Minister of Steel Development, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

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. The Senate Committee on Electoral Matters has said that it will make it mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload election results online. The committee chairman, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, told Channels TV on Tuesday that the current law does not make it mandatory for INEC to upload results, but that the committee is working on amending the law.

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 The former Minister of Interior and a four-time senator, Abba Moro, has been appointed the Senate Minority Leader. His appointment was made known at the plenary on Tuesday by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

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 Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, on Tuesday, revealed that Boko Haram members held in prisons across the country still carry out their criminal operations through the help of some prison warders. Musa made the disclosure, yesterday, during the sectoral debate with service chiefs organized by the House of Representatives during plenary in Abuja.

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 The New Nigeria People’s Party, (NNPP), has welcomed the call by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for the merger of opposition parties to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC). The party’s position was made public in a press conference addressed by the Ag. National Chairman of the party, Abba Kawu Ali, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

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. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday, vowed to rid the nation’s capital of syndicates who specialise in offering fake Certificates of Occupancy, C of Os, to unsuspecting members of the public. Wike, who disclosed this at a meeting with estate developers in Abuja, also said he had been able to save over N110 billion since he assumed office in August this year.

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. There was confusion in Kano State on Tuesday with the emergence of a Certified True Copy of the Court of Appeal judgment on the state governorship election. While reports earlier indicated that the appellate court upheld the decision of the petition tribunal sacking Governor Abba Yusuf, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa-Dederi, argued that CTC of the judgment showed that Yusuf’s Victory at the poll was affirmed by the Appeal Court.
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. A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Tuesday, sentenced a vandal, Clement Ododomu, to death by hanging and Tiwei Monday to 16 years imprisonment at the Nigerian Correctional Service. Justice Hakeem Oshodi handed down the verdict after he found them guilty of the offences of murder and conspiracy.