News Roundup

 President Bola Tinubu has set up a special panel to probe the National Social Investment Programmes, which were under the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu. Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, announced this in a statement on Saturday.

A political stalemate is brewing in Plateau State following threats on Saturday by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, federal and state lawmakers who were recently sacked by the Court of Appeal to launch a fight for the restoration of their mandates. Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Gabriel Dewan, threatened to derecognize the All Progressives Congress, APC, legislators who were declared winners by the Appeal Court.

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 The National Assembly will now resume plenary on January 30 instead of January 23, 2024. The Clerk to the House of Representatives....

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 Pioneer ruler of Dnata chiefdom located in Tafa Town, along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, Chief Bitrus James, has lamented that bandits have sacked territorial communities under his rulership. In an interview, James said that the activities of bandits have restrained his subjects from farming, stressing that women are subjected to rape.

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 The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has sought the approval of the Federal Government to hit the domestic market with diesel and aviation fuel. The approval is expected from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.

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. The 35 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Abeokuta, says it handed over 176kg of Indian hemp to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in Abeokuta. The brigade’s spokesman, Lt. Mohammed Goni made this disclosure in Abeokuta on Saturday.

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 Following the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the electoral victory of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, has offered an olive branch to the All Progressives Congress, APC. NNPP acting National Chairman, Abba Kawu Ali, at a press briefing on Saturday, told all opposition parties to accept defeat in good faith and join hands with the governor to develop the state.

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. Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, on Saturday, called on the abductors of Ukum Local Government Area Caretaker Chairman, Rev. Gideon Haanongon, to release him and his aides. Governor Alia gave the directive at Akume Atongo stadium during the burial of the paramount ruler of Katsina Ala, the Ter Katsina Ala, Chief Fezaanga Wombo.

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# A young lady identified as Najeebah has been reportedly killed by gunmen who abducted her and five others in Abuja. Najeebah and her sisters were abducted on January 9, alongside their father. It was gathered that the gunmen later released their father, asking him to go get N60m as ransom for the release of his daughters before Friday, January 12, but he failed to meet the deadline.

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 The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority on Saturday disclosed that it found two corpses under an empty diesel truck at the Barracks Bus Stop along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway. In a statement by the Public Relations Officer of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, on Saturday, he said the accident occurred at the same location where a soldier was arrested by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for disobeying traffic laws.