News: 10 Top Updates You Need To Know This Thursday

Good evening readers! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu says the commission is not contemplating any adjustment to the election timetable, let alone postponing the 2023 general election. Yakubu stated this at the presentation of an electronic copy of the 93,469,008 voter register to leaders of political parties on Wednesday in Abuja.

2. The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State took a turn for the worse on Wednesday as major party stakeholders boycotted the APC presidential campaign rally in the State. Leaders of the party in the State, including the Minister of

Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani; a former governor of the State, Sullivan Chime and others were absent from the campaign rally.

3. The lifeless body of a man, identified only as Segun, has been found in a hotel in Orile-Imo, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State. It was gathered that the deceased lodged in the hotel with another man suspected to have murdered him on Saturday, January 7, 2023.

4. A Jos-based pastor, Albarka Bitrus has been arrested by operatives of the Plateau State Police Command for burning two cars and a bicycle belonging to other clerics whom he claimed hated him. The spokesman for the command, Alabo Alfred, in a statement on Wednesday, said Bitrus disclosed that on January 4, 2023, he set ablaze a Mercedes Benz, a Toyota car and a bicycle, owned by his colleagues because they hated him.

5. Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have killed a man, Benjamin Ogundare, and abducted two of his relatives, Goodluck Ogundare and Janet Ogundare, in Ushafa community, Bwari Area Council of Abuja. It was gathered that the gunmen struck at an apartment behind the LEA Primary School, close to Going-Park, shooting sporadically between 1am and 1.30am on Wednesday.

6. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that 93,469,008 registered voters, comprising 49,054,162 males and 44,414,846 females are eligible to vote in this year’s general elections. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a meeting with the 18 registered political parties.

7. President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said Boko Haram was fraudulent and a plot to destroy Nigeria. The President who stated this while receiving Executive members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria at the State House, Abuja, faulted the ideology of the terrorist group which barred people from

seeking knowledge, thereby affecting the intellectual growth of citizens.

8. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday said it has enough new naira notes to replace the old notes. It noted that following complaints by Nigerians that the redesigned naira notes were not in circulation, it directed banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with the new notes to enable customers to have access to them even when banking halls are closed.

9. Albarka Sukuya, a pastor based in Plateau State, has been arrested by the Police for allegedly kidnapping himself and collecting ransom from his church members. Alfred Alabo, Police Public Relations Officer in

Plateau, who confirmed this in a statement, said the suspect was arrested in November.

10. The Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party (LP) has expressed worry over the low distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) across the country. It then urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the collection point of PVCs to polling units for easy access.

Source: Daily Post