The Big 5: Nigerian Air Force joins Operation Python Dance II; ‘Army may have killed Nnamdi Kanu’; and other top stories

Good morning.

Here are the top 5 stories you should be monitoring today:

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico Tuesday, with the death toll rising to up to 139 by Tuesday evening.

This earthquake occurring less than two weeks after another massive earthquake hit the region also coincidentally falls on the 32nd anniversary of the devastating 1985 earthquake that killed at least 10,000 people in Mexico City.

When you think the Operation Python Dance II exercise by the army in Southeastern Nigeria can’t get any more complicated, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) announced on Tuesday that it has joined the operation.

NAF spokesperson Commodore Olatokunbo said, the air force has “deployed some of its air assets, including the Alpha Jet aircraft, to its 115 Special Operations Group in Port Harcourt, to support the ongoing Nigerian Army’s Exercise EGWU EKE II (PYTHON DANCE II).”

Olatokunbo explains the motivation behind the air force’s decision to join the army’s controversial operation, here.

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Meanwhile, the pro-Biafran movement leader Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, alleged that soldiers have kidnapped and “possibly killed” his client. He said this in reaction to insinuations that Nnamdi Kanu had fled his residence after soldiers allegedly attacked.

“I made last contact with my client few minutes into the bloody onslaught in his home on the 14th day of September 2017,” he said. “Till date, I have not established further communication with him.”

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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its report on Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt – June 2017 data yesterday, said Nigeria’s foreign debt stood at $15.05 billion, while the domestic debt portfolio was put at N14.06 trillion in June this year.

Federal Government debt accounted for 74 percent of Nigeria’s total foreign debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accounted for the remaining 26 percent.

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“High overheads” in governance and other expenses associated with Nigeria’s federal system is the real reason why Nigeria fell into recession, according to former Minister of Finance and one-time High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji.

He said the creation of states under the federal system had heightened the level of corruption.

“…all our money is used to settle political office holders. The more states we have, the more corruption we have.”

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