These are the stories that drove the conversation today:
The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and Governor of Plateau, Simon Lalong, on Thursday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the incessant killings of Christians in the northern part of the country.
The Christian leaders demanded for the review of the country’s security architecture to end incessant killings by suspected herdsmen and also urged the President to speed up actions for the release of Christian girls in captivity, especially the abducted student of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Leah Sharibu.
They also made an appeal that communities ravaged by the herdsmen violence in the North be rebuilt and adequate security put in place to enable displaced persons to return to their homes and means of livelihood.
President Buhari noting that “a single life lost in any part of the country is one too many” added that he remains committed to his vow of ensuring the protection of lives and properties despite the challenges experienced.
The Senate mandated its committees on Youth and Sports, Health and Police Affairs to investigate the cause of the incident and report back to it in 2 weeks.
According to an account of the incident shared by ‘End SARS champion,’ Segun Awosanya on Twitter, the late Linda who had her primary assignment at Outsource Global Company, Mabushi, finished work late at about 11pm and joined a few friends at a hangout before her Passing Out Parade on Thursday, but encountered the police officer, who shot at them with the bullet hitting her at her side around 3am, before she later died at the Garki hospital on Wednesday.
Leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will officially react to the emergence of a new faction of the party soon.
Hours after the new faction of the APC, Reformed-APC (R-APC) emerged on Wednesday, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, has said the party would react to the development as soon as they have enough details.
According to Abdullahi: “We have report of a group of people who have purportedly described themselves as a faction of our party. We will be able to give our reaction as soon as we get the full details and have the opportunity to review it.”
The House of Representatives has resolved to set up an ad-hoc Committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the protest by some policemen in Maidugiri.
This followed a motion of urgent public importance by Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers) unanimously adopted by the house who said the argument put forward by the Police authorities that the men were being owed because the 2018 appropriation bill was signed into law only recently does not hold water.
Chinda explained that salaries and allowances were recurrent expenditures which were still effective and running from the 2017 Appropriation Law, noting that if the above issue was not immediately checked, it could lead to anarchy, cause despondency in the minds of people and negatively affect society.
The Senate on Thursday asked the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to dismantle multiple roadblocks mounted along major highways in the South East geo-political zone.
The Nation reports that the upper chamber mandated its Committee on Works to take a tour of federal roads in the zone to ensure compliance with the directive without further delay.
The resolution followed the adopting a motion presented by the Senator representing Abia North, Mao Ohuabunwa, on matter of urgent national importance.
And stories from around the world:
A police officer who shot and killed a man during a stop-and-search operation in Nantes, sparking two nights of rioting and violence, has been taken into custody for questioning.
Announcing the arrest on Thursday, the Nantes prosecutor’s office said: “Only at the end of this questioning will the prosecutor be in a position to announce his decision regarding what happens next in this affair.” (The Guardian, UK)
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has defended the country’s new social media tax, saying in a Facebook post that users had been enriching foreign-owned telecoms companies without benefiting the national economy.
He also said taxes on mobile money transactions would be charged at a rate of 0.5%, rather than the 1% initially announced. He said this was due “to a miscommunication”, but Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper says it was lowered following public outcry. (BBC)
Britain is holding an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday over a couple who were left critically ill after being exposed to the same nerve agent used on a former Russian spy earlier this year.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will be chairing the talks in London, as counter-terrorism police lead an investigation into the incident in Amesbury, a village in southwest England. (AFP)
President Donald Trump will drill down on Russia’s “malign activity” during summits with NATO allies and President Vladimir Putin, U.S. officials said on Thursday, signaling a harder line against Moscow than Trump traditionally has sought to take. (Reuters)
Two explosions at fireworks workshops outside Mexico City on Thursday killed at least 19 people, including rescue workers, and injured dozens more, officials said, in the latest deadly blast to hit a town known for its fireworks production. (Reuters)
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
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