These are the stories you should be monitoring today.
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, had confirmed that the last known Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, who was held back by Boko Haram insurgents will be released on Saturday.
He said: “I am supposed to go to Dapchi today (yesterday), but because I learnt that that schoolgirl, Leah, may be released today, that was why I had to shelve my trip to the town.
“It is very understandable that is such circumstance one does not create too much security presence in the area in a manner that it could sabotage the efforts being made there.
“You know, I move with a helicopter, and by the time I fly into the area, they (Boko Haram) may think I break what the understanding may have been there. So I have to postpone the visit to Dapchi.”
But Leah’s father, Nathan Sheribu told The Nation that she was yet to be returned.
He said, “I heard about the release of my daughter from the media. Many people were calling me and congratulating me but I have not seen my daughter up to the time we are talking now.”
The chairman of the Kaduna All Progressive Congress (APC) faction opposed to Governor Nasir El Rufai, Danladi Wada, is missing, his family has said.
According to The Nation, a spokesman for the APC faction, Multala Abubakar, said Wada had been missing.
“He was missing since morning and we went to Police and DSS offices but they told us he was not with them. So we are suspecting he must have been abducted because his phones were not with him,” he said.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC-led federal government to revisit the 2014 national conference’ report.
He said the report of the conference, which he convened as a President, remained the solution to the agitations, protests, killings, provocations and clamour for reforms in the country.
Jonathan spoke yesterday at the mega rally tagged ‘Restructuring the Nigerian Federation’ organised by leaders of Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF), Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere and Middle Belt forum under the aegis of Mass Alliance for Inclusive Nigeria (MAIN) Front.
The Nigerian Senate has technically endorsed the establishment of Federal Polytechnic Adikpo, Benue; Federal Polytechnic Item, Abia and Federal College of Education, Omuo Ekiti, Ekiti.
The endorsement followed the consideration of the Bills, which proposed the establishment of the institutions at a widely attended public hearing held by the upper chamber in Abuja.
Senators Barnabas Gemade sponsored the Bill for the establishment of Federal Polytechnic, Adikpo while Senator Mao Ohuabunwa proposed the establishment of Federal Polytechnic Item.
Senator Biodun Olujimi sponsored the establishment of Federal College of Education, Omuo Ekiti.
The Arewa Consultative Forum, the Northern Elders’ Forum and 16 other leading groups in the northern region, on Saturday, passed a vote of no confidence in politicians of northern descent, saying most of them had failed.
The groups, in a communique, said politicians from the region had failed the North because they were unable to address the problems of the region, especially in security and poverty.
And stories from around the world…
Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont has foiled attempts by Finnish police to arrest him under a European arrest warrant after his lawyer confirmed on Saturday he had left the country.
“I confirm that President Puigdemont is no longer in Finland,” his lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas tweeted on Saturday, without stating where the former leader was.
After US President Donald Trump’s order late on Friday supporting a ban on transgender troops except under “limited circumstances”, gender rights groups said they would “vigorously defend” existing legal injunctions on the implementation of the exclusionary measures.
Jennifer Levi, the Glad transgender rights project director, told the Guardian: “It’s extremely disappointing to see these gross misstatements about transgender people’s ability to serve, particularly given the thousands of people who have been serving for decades, including in high positions of responsibility.”
On Friday, the White House said retaining troops with a history or diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” – wanting to transition gender – “presents a considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality”.
UK authorities raided Cambridge Analytica’s offices overnight amid an investigation into whether the political consulting firm illegally acquired Facebook data to target voters.
Around 18 investigators were seen entering the company’s London headquarters after obtaining a warrant to search its database and servers Friday night, the Guardian reported. The search lasted seven hours, according to the BBC.
The Democratic Republic of Congo says it will not attend a donor conference in Geneva next month, complaining the country is being given “a bad image“.
The meeting aims to raise nearly $1.7 billion (£1.2 billion) for what the UN has described as a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Acting Prime Minister Jose Makila acknowledged that the country was facing an emergency but said the UN’s reaction was discouraging investors.
Cameroon‘s President Paul Biya recently held a cabinet meeting for the first time in more than two years.
Presidential elections are scheduled for October and Cameroonians are waiting to hear if the 85-year-old will seek a further term. But no such announcement was made at the meeting.
Biya has been in power since 1982, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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