1. The candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has said the leaked audio of an alleged conversation between him and the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, is fake. Obi, in a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, said at no point in his “issue-based campaign” did he ever refer to the election as a religious war.
2. The Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba, on Wednesday, ordered that the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Fredrick Nwajagu, be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre. Nwajagu was arrested and arraigned following a viral video, in which he threatened to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people.
3. The Federal Government has secured the sum of $800 million from the World Bank under the National Social Investment Programme as part of palliatives to cushion the negative effects of the plan to remove subsidy on the petroleum products by June 2023. The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, announced this Wednesday
4. A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has restrained Julius Abure from parading himself as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP). He was restrained alongside three other officials of the party over alleged forgery.
5. Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday wrote a letter to the Chief Court Clerk in London, United Kingdom over the trial of the former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who was convicted of organ trafficking in the UK alongside his wife, Beatrice. Obasanjo begged the UK government to temper justice with mercy.
6. The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, has attributed the party’s loss in the governorship election in Kano State to selfishness of some party members. In an interview with BBC Hausa service, the party chairman said it is sad for the party to lose an important state like Kano, adding that the party would take action on the erring members.
7. The apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, tackled Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, on Wednesday over his stance that the 2023 general election was credible. Afenifere, in a statement issued by its Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, stated that the minister was not sincere in his claims.
8. The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia on Wednesday granted the prayers of the Labour Party and Abia State governor-elect, Alex Otti, to jointly inspect the election materials with the Peoples Democratic Party. The court further directed that the Independent National Electoral Commission should avail the Labour Party the Certified True Copy of all governorship nominations from the late Prof. Uche Ikonne to Okey Ahiwe.
9. Men of the Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have arrested three suspects for their alleged involvement in printing and spending fake naira and dollar notes. The command’s spokesperson, Ikor Oche, identified the suspects as Kamalu Sani, Uzaifa Muazu and Suleiman Yusuf.
10. The Federal Operations Unit, Zone ’C’, Owerri, of the Nigeria Customs Service intercepted contraband goods valued at N2.8 billion between January 25 and March 25. The unit also arrested 13 suspected smugglers during the period.
