• FG says over 21 million Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19
• Petrol marketers increase pump price amid scarcity
• Gunmen demand ₦100m to free abducted worshipers
• We may have 50% invalid registrants for 2023 polls because of court verdict – INEC
• ‘How Islamic school teacher sexually assaulted nine children’ – Nurse

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

FG says over 21 million Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19

Nigeria has fully vaccinated a total of 21,236,404 of its eligible population with the COVID-19 vaccine.

Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, who disclosed this at a ministerial briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, observed that from available statistics, it was clear that Nigeria is still far from achieving the set target of vaccinating 70 per cent of its eligible population.

The NPHCDA boss said that more aggressive actions needed to be taken to fast-track the process to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 infections in the country.

Petrol marketers increase pump price amid scarcity

Independent marketers, who started implementing a new price regime of between ₦170 to ₦190 at the weekend, insisted yesterday that it would be difficult for them to sell at the official pump price.

The scarcity resurfaced in Lagos, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Abeokuta, and Jos, among other towns in the Southwest. The situation in Abuja worsened at the weekend with long queues at the filling stations where petrol is sold.

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN)  in a statement by its Lagos Depot (LSD) Secretary, Akeem Balogun, said: “With the current price, there is no way we can sell less than ₦180 per litre. Members are hereby advised to sell at a sustainable price within their environment. Just make sure that the price is on your pump. Kindly contact the Secretariat should you have any authority challenging your operations.”

The official price is still fixed at ₦162.50 and ₦165 per litre.

Gunmen demand ₦100m to free abducted worshippers

Gunmen, who attacked Maranatha Baptist Church and St Moses Catholic Church in the Rubu community of Kajuru council of Kaduna Sunday, have asked for ₦100 million to free worshippers in their custody.

A traditional leader of Angwan Fada in the Rubu community, Elisha Mari, who was one of the kidnapped victims in the Sunday attack, said the bandits stormed their villages on over 30 motorcycles and took them away.

He said he was freed because he is a traditional leader but was asked to raise at least ₦100 million in ransom before others in captivity would be released.

We may have 50% invalid registrants for 2023 polls because of court verdict – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says extending the period for continuous voter registration (CVR) may result in a significant percentage of invalid registrants.

Festus Okoye, the INEC commissioner for information and voter education, spoke on Monday in an interview with Channels Television, while reacting to a recent court verdict on the CVR exercise.

“We recognise it as a constitutional and legal right of people to register. We also recognise the fact that it will add value to our electoral process if we get as many Nigerians as possible to register,” he said.

“But we cannot do CVR ad infinitum and be registering people who have registered before. I think Nigerians should exercise patience and be calm. At the end of the day, the commission will do all it takes to improve the registration process.”

In reaction to the idea of placeholders as with Bola Tinubu – Kabiru Masari, and Peter Obi – Doyin Okupe, Okoye said the “placeholder is a unique Nigerian invention” for which the commission’s law has no provision.

He added that the commission can only replace a candidate if the person writes a “sworn affidavit stating that he is withdrawing from the race within the time frame provided by the law.”

‘How Islamic school teacher sexually assaulted nine children’ – Nurse

A nurse, Oluchi Nwoke-okoi Monday, told an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how an Arabic teacher, Farouk Adam, allegedly fingered his nine Islamic pupils, aged seven to 13 years, NAN reports.

Adam is facing a nine-count-charge bordering sexual assault.

The witness told the court that she attended to nine survivors and conducted vagina examinations on seven of them after their mothers brought them to the WARIF centre on February 20, 2019.

“The survivors and their mothers were brought to the centre by police officers. We took time to question each of the survivors and also conducted a vagina examination on them.

“Seven of the survivors said that the defendant, who is their Arabic teacher, on several occasions, inserted his fingers into their vaginas. The eighth survivor said the defendant only touched her breast while the ninth survivor told us that she was afraid to attend the lslamic class after her sister told her that the defendant inserted his fingers into her vagina.

“Vagina examination was carried out on them. Based on their histories and the vagina examination, the result shows absence of hymen. Conclusion is suggestive of sexual assault of minor,” she said.