• I’ll handle security while Tinubu will handle economy if elected – Shettima
• Obasanjo, Wike, Peter Obi, others meet in London
• Nigerian stocks record biggest daily gain since start of year
• Nigerian military eliminates 57 terrorists, top commanders – DHQ
• Locally-made COVID-19 vaccine for trial November

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

I’ll handle security while Tinubu will handle economy if elected – Shettima

Kashim Shettima, the vice presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), declared that if the ruling party wins the presidency next year, he will focus on reducing insecurity in the nation.

During a panel discussion at the just concluded Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which took place on Monday in Lagos, Mr. Shettima stated that he would personally head the Nigerian military’s fight against criminals while his principal, Bola Tinubu, would be in charge of the country’s economy.

“I have been in the theatre of conflicts for 18 years, I will lead the troops, my principal is an economy wizard who has transformed Lagos into the third largest economy in Africa. He will concentrate on the economy.

“By God’s grace, I will handle the security, and not only handle the security, I will lead the troops to battle across the length and breadth of this country,” he said.

Nigerians on social media are speculating about whether Mr. Shettima will usurp the position of his principal, Mr. Tinubu, after making a comment that has been interpreted to mean that he will act as the commander-in-chief if elected vice president, a role that is constitutionally reserved for the President or the acting President.

As commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, the Nigerian president, and not his deputy, has sole authority, as stated in Section 130(2) of the 1999 Constitution.

Obasanjo, Wike, Peter Obi, others meet in London

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo met in London with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State, and Peter Obi, presidential candidate for the Labour Party (LP).

Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Donald Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, all attended the meeting on Thursday.

The meeting’s topics reportedly included planning for the general elections in 2023, according to a source.

The PDP is currently experiencing a crisis, with Mr. Wike and the party’s presidential nominee, Atiku Abubakar, still at odds despite efforts at reconciliation.

To represent them at the reconciliation talks, the two men established independent committees.

While the first scheduled meeting was canceled because no location could be agreed upon, the second meeting, which took place last week, was impasse-ridden and some party chieftains also begged the governor not to defect from the PDP.

Nigerian stocks record biggest daily gain since start of year

Nigerian stocks made a fairly big advance on Thursday, on course for a positive return this week, as the main equity index added N532.2 billion or 2 per cent as sector leaders Airtel Africa and Nestle drove gain.

Huge buy interests in the two helped the market record its biggest appreciation since the turn of the year, a rare milestone at a point when a great deal of investment money is shifting to the fixed income space, where yield has improved reasonably for a while.

A higher trade volume partly spurred the surge, with the size of trade expanding by 35 per cent when set beside that of the previous session.

Market breadth closed positive as 18 advancers were reported compared to 11 losers. The 75 other stocks that traded on Thursday closed flat.

The all-share index added 986.6 basis points to close at 49,661.9, while market capitalisation increased to N26.8 trillion.

The index has yielded 16.3 per cent so far this year.

Nigerian military eliminates 57 terrorists, top commanders – DHQ

According to Defense Headquarters (DHQ), Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) troops killed more than 57 terrorists during various operations from August 11 to August 25 in the North-east.

Major General Musa Danmadami, Director of Defense Media Operations, announced this on Thursday in Abuja at the biweekly news briefing of the Defense Headquarters.

According to Mr. Danmadami, the operations were carried out by conducting air and ground raids against the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) strongholds in the states of Borno and Yobe.

In addition to killing numerous terrorists in numerous airstrikes, he said that the operation also left more than 18 of them critically injured.
He stated that throughout the time eight suspected terrorists and four of their logistical support staff were captured. Four innocent victims were also saved.

He asserted that throughout the time period, 1,652 BHT members and their families—320 adult males, 442 adult females, and 890 children—surrendered to the military at various points.

Locally-made COVID-19 vaccine for trial November

The federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine will be tested in November.

The project, a mega-grant intervention, is a cooperative effort involving cluster researchers from five different institutions to consolidate problem-solving research and foster innovation in the nation. Its working title is “Accelerated development of COVID-19 vaccines using innovative technological approach.”

Tertiary Education Trust Fund awarded a total of N1.25bn to four clusters of researchers.

One of the clusters, which is the Vaccine Production Cluster, got a total grant of N450m.

According to a statement by TETFUND, the VPC is made up of researchers from the National Veterinary Research Institute Vom; Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Jos; Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos; and National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria.

The statement titled, ‘TETFund-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine ready for trial November’ read in part, “The Vice Chancellor of Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Prof Lawal Bilbis, who led the team of researchers to brief the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, on the progress so far explained that they were able to make the breakthrough through the maximum support of the fund.

He recalled how the COVIC-19 pandemic ravaged and unleashed untold hardship on humanity globally, noting that Nigeria was only saved by divine intervention, since the nation was not prepared for such eventuality.

“TETFund believed in us and supported us to get to where we are now. That is why we have come to give a firsthand report on the progress made so far.”