• 2023 Elections: Court okays suit seeking to void nomination of all APC candidates
• NSCDC CG Commander’s wife kidnapped in Nasarawa
• FEC approves Nigeria’s first ‘sports as business’ policy
• It’ll be difficult convincing voters PDP can rescue Nigeria – Wike
• Addax Petroleum exits Nigeria, transfers assets to NNPC

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top Nigerian news stories you shouldn’t miss:

2023 Elections: Court okays suit seeking to void nomination of all APC candidates

The All Progressives Congress, or APC, is in greater legal problems now that the Federal High Court in Abuja has approved a new lawsuit attempting to exclude all of its candidates from running in the general elections of 2023.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed the lawsuit with the court with the filing number FHC/ABJ/CS/1864/2022.

PDP is specifically questioning the legitimacy of the selection process that produced both APC national officers and its candidates for the upcoming elections.

It is requesting that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, be ordered to disqualify each and every candidate that the APC’s Extraordinary Convention Committee, which is chaired by Governor Mai Mala Buni, has nominated.

Every nomination made by the Governor Buni-led Committee, according to the Plaintiff’s legal team, lead by Mr. Ayo Ajibade, SAN, was done so in flagrant contravention of current provisions of both the Electoral Act of 2022 and the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The Federal High Court’s ruling from September 30, 2022, which declared all actions and activities undertaken by the Governor Buni-led committee to be illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional, served as the foundation for PDP’s lawsuit, which included the nomination of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for the recently held gubernatorial election in Osun State.

The Plaintiff pointed out that the high court had declared invalid the nominations of Oyetola and his running mate, Benedict Alabi, as APC candidates for the governorship election in its ruling delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, on the grounds that Governor Buni had submitted their names to INEC in violation of Section 183 of the Constitution and Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.

The APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shetima, as well as all of the party’s governorship candidates and their appointees, were listed as defendants among the 53 people named in the PDP’s new lawsuit.

The lawsuit also calls for the party’s candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives to be disqualified.

The lawsuit has already been given to Justice Inyang Ekwo, who has scheduled a mention for November 22.

The court further ordered that all defendants should receive service of every applicable process.

NSCDC CG Commander’s wife kidnapped in Nasarawa

The wife of Deputy Commandant Apollos Dandaura, the head of the Commandant General’s Special intelligence squad, was abducted on Wednesday evening, and his younger brother was shot in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State.

Apollos Dandaura, the younger brother of the deputy commandant, is reportedly responding to treatment at a private hospital in Lafia.

The Commander’s wife was abducted in the Shenge neighborhood of Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State.

Jerry Victor, the NSCDC’s public relations officer for the Nasarawa State Command, verified the occurrence over the phone when reached, but added that the victim’s whereabouts were still unknown.

FEC approves Nigeria’s first ‘sports as business’ policy

The National Sports Industry Policy, Nigeria’s first sports program authorized as a business policy, was adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday (NSIP).

Sunday Dare, the minister of youth and sports development, made the announcement on his official Twitter account.

“Today, Nigeria’s first Sports as Business Policy, or NSIP, was approved by the Federal Executive Council. A new sports code of governance for sporting federations is born as a result, which will attract private investment through government incentives,” according to him.

“Private investors will have opportunities to invest in the nation’s sports industry as a result of this development, and the sector will draw both domestic and international economic opportunities for growth.”

It’ll be difficult convincing voters PDP can rescue Nigeria – Wike

Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, claims it is getting harder to persuade Nigerians that his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can save the nation.

Nigeria faces major security issues, including the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, violent Biafra movement in the South-east, kidnapping and banditry across the nation, in addition to high rates of inflation, hunger, and poverty.

According to Mr. Wike, a large portion of Nigeria’s problems stem from the marginalization of the nation’s minority ethnic nations.

He said that persuading Nigerians that the PDP can save the nation was becoming a “more difficult task”.

When the New Telegraph newspaper’s management paid him a visit at the Government House on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to propose its nomination of the Rivers governor as the Political Icon of the Year 2022, Mr. Wike made this statement.

The meeting’s transcript is available on Governor Wike’s Facebook page.

“The problem in this country today is not only as a result of the banditry or kidnapping, no. Part of the issue that has to do with security is the issue of marginalisation.

“And I continue to tell our people or those who believe that they are dominant, you need peace for you to preside over those who you think do not have the number. You need peace. If there is no peace, it will be difficult,” the governor said.

Mr. Wike and other governors who support him have been calling for Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP’s national chairman, to step down in order to make room for a southerner to lead the party and establish “regional balance.”

Mr. Ayu and Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s presidential nominee, are both from the north.

Mr. Ayu has vowed not to step down.

The PDP chairman recently asserted that he has the authority to prevent his political adversaries, such as Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State, from achieving their goal of being elected to the Senate in 2023.

Addax Petroleum exits Nigeria, transfers assets to NNPC

In order to vacate its four significant oil mining blocks in the nation, Sinopec’s Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited announced on Tuesday that they had signed a settlement and exit agreement.

According to NNPC Limited, Addax’s role as the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) contractor for Oil Mining Leases (OML) 123/124 and OMLs 126/137 has ended as a result of this arrangement.

The agreement was signed on behalf of the business by Umar Ajiya, Chief Financial Officer of NNPCL, and Yonghong Chen, Managing Director of Addax Petroleum. The NNPC corporate office in Abuja served as the location for the agreement’s signing.

The Transfer, Settlement and Exit Agreement (TSEA) for Oil Mining Leases (OML) 123/124 and OMLs 126/137 was signed by NNPC Limited and Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) Ltd earlier today, according to a statement posted on Tuesday on the state oil company’s official Twitter account.

NNPC and Ashland initially agreed to a PSC for the blocks in 1973, but the agreement was canceled after 25 years.

The four OMLs were acquired by Addax when the NNPC ended its 1998 contract with Ashland.

The NNPC once more inked a PSC with Addax on the blocks in 1998, and for another 24 years they ran through Addax Petroleum.

The four oil mining licenses were cancelled by Nigeria’s oil regulator in April 2021 due to the company’s failure to meet goals, but President Muhammadu Buhari overturned the decision three weeks later.

Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, claimed that the Addax transfer would increase the assets’ capacity to produce crude oil, which would be advantageous to Nigeria.

“We have worked with all our regulatory agencies, the FIRS, the FCCPC, NUPRC and all other agencies of government to arrive at what we have today,” Mr Kyari said.

“We believe that we have delivered on the mandate given to us by the government to take over this asset and as expected. There have been ongoing engagements with the FIRS and this is in line with the approvals that we have.

“From today, we expect the asset to take off immediately and we will restore production, ensure all governance requirements and as we proceed and also maintain the confidence of workers in this company in line with the commitment that we have, there will be no disruptions in the operations of this company.

“Lastly, I know that the team in NNPC and Addax have done great work to arrive at what we have today. Today, we see the exit of our partners and we hope they stay with us in Nigeria because Nigeria is a good place to invest,” he said.