Daily News....

Senators will uphold the yearnings of Nigerians in their deliberations and passage of the Tax Reform Bill, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said on Thursday. He challenged governors, traditional rulers and other categories of Nigerians, who have misgivings to attend the public hearing to air their grievances.

Amnesty International has said that at least 10,000 people have died in military custody since the Boko Haram conflict in North-east Nigeria began. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the Country Director of the human rights organisation, Malam Isa Sunusi, said they were in Maiduguri to remind the government of the need for justice.

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 Max Air, bound for Abuja made an emergency landing back at Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri, on Wednesday, after its engine damaged following a suspected bird strike, officials reported. Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Usman Kadafur, was among the over 100 passengers that escaped death, and successfully landed in the airport.

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 Scores of retired military personnel on Thursday stormed the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance and shut down the place over non-payment of their entitlements by the government. The retirees, who arrived at the protesting ground with sleeping mats, chairs and canopies, accused the federal government of not paying them a 20% to 28% salary increment from January to November 2024.

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 Gunmen, suspected to be bandits, reportedly attacked Jumai Kefas, the mother of Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, along with her daughter, Atsi Kefas. The attacks which occurred on Thursday, reportedly took place along Kente Road in Wukari Local Government Council of the state.

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 Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have foiled a kidnap attempt and killed a wanted kidnapper, Ikem ThankGod, popularly known as ‘General 2Man’. It was gathered that 2man is a notorious cultist, who is a leader of the Greenland cult group, reportedly known for kidnapping and armed robbery in Ahoada East and West Local Government areas of the state.

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 The Labour Party caucus in the House of Representatives lost four of its members to the ruling All Progressives Congress on Thursday. The lawmakers who left LP for APC are Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), and Iyawe Esosa (Edo).

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 The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Bayo Onanuga, has said work is currently ongoing at the 150,000 barrels per day plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State. Onanuga also said the 60,000bpd refinery is operating at 70 per cent of installed capacity and plans to increase production shortly.

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 Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State has appointed 200 youths of All Progressives Congress (APC) as his Special Assistants. Presenting the offer to the beneficiaries comprising males and females at the APC Secretariat in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday, the party Chairman in Kebbi, Alhaji Abubakar Kana-Zuru, said the party was proud of the governor.

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 Anambra Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has detained six persons for alleged illegal mining in the state. NSCDC’s Commandant in the state, Olatunde Maku, who said this on Thursday in Awka, said the suspects were apprehended and detained at Odele, Aguleri Anambra East Local Government Area.

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