Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian newspapers:
1. President Bola Tinubu met with heads of security agencies in the country on Thursday, charging them to demolish all bandits’ camps and rescue abducted victims across the country. The meeting, which lasted for hours, also centred on how to provide an enabling environment for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.
2. Senate President Godswill Akpabio says he has supported Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca for 25 years and would not disparage the religion. Speaking during plenary on Thursday, Akpabio said he had consistently sponsored people to visit the holy city to pray for him and Nigeria, insisting that his remarks during legislative proceedings had been taken out of context and misinterpreted for political purposes.
3. At least 10 soldiers and four civilians are feared dead following a coordinated assault by suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, terrorists on a military base in Mairari, Borno State. It was gathered on Thursday that the attack, which took place last Tuesday, occurred in Guzamala Local Government Area, roughly 120 to 130 kilometres north of the state capital, Maiduguri.
4. Doctors in the service of the Kwara State Government on Thursday commenced a seven-day warning strike over alleged salary deductions for the state’s health insurance scheme. Their grievances also include alleged unpaid allowances, staffing shortages and other unresolved welfare concerns.
5. About 20 people have been injured and more than 50 houses burnt following the explosion of a gas pipeline in Aleto community, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State. The incident, which occurred around 5 p.m. on Thursday, was reportedly caused by a ruptured pipeline belonging to the Nigeria Gas Company along the Old Bori Road in Aleto.
6. The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said on Thursday that the Federal Government had no plan to increase electricity tariffs. Tegbe made this known in Ibadan while flagging off the 17.7MW hybrid solar mini-grid project, which includes a 17.74MW battery energy storage system for communities in Oyo State. The minister described reports of a planned tariff hike circulating on social media as misinformation and urged Nigerians to disregard them.
7. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has seized counterfeit packaging materials worth more than N200 million from five shops at Old Court Road Market in Aba, Abia State. The agency said the materials, allegedly intended for the production and supply of counterfeit alcoholic beverages and other products, included labels, corks, packs and outer packaging bearing the names of popular brands.
8. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, has assured party members that the ruling party will translate its numerical strength and organisational capacity into victory in the 2027 general elections. Yilwatda gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja, disclosing that the APC had more than 261,000 executive committee members nationwide, as well as more governors, ministers, local government chairmen and councillors than other political parties.
9. The Osun State Police Command has arrested three suspects in connection with the murder of Seun Ajayi in Ikire, Irewole Local Government Area. The command’s spokesperson, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday. Ojelabi said that on October 3, at about 7:30 p.m., a man reported at the Ikire Police Divisional Headquarters that some hoodlums had attacked him and his friend at a barbershop in Oja-Ale, Ikire, at about 6 p.m. on the same day.
10. The Federal Government on Thursday reopened the First Niger Bridge linking Asaba and Onitsha after extensive rehabilitation works. Speaking at the reopening, the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, said the intervention reflected President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to maintaining critical infrastructure. He said the rehabilitation was aimed at improving structural safety, strengthening security and restoring seamless vehicular movement between the South-South and South-East regions.
Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Friday morning