1. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has reportedly quit its role as the sole buyer of Dangote Refinery’s Premium Motor Spirit (petrol). This is according to a Premium Times report on Monday. The implication is that petroleum marketers would have to purchase petrol directly from Dangote Refinery.
2. Yiaga Africa has said most of the recently held local elections in the country are a travesty of democratic elections and fell short of electoral integrity standards. Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said this in a statement on Monday that State Independent Electoral Commissions need to be liberated from the stronghold of governors.
3. Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has asked Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to allow Governor Simi Fubara of River State to work. In a statement on Monday Bode George asked President Tinubu to call his Minister, Nyesom Wike to order and prevail on him to allow Governor Siminalayi Fubara to work.
4. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday directed the police to immediately restore and maintain peace, law, and order in Rivers State, following reports of arson and explosions after last Saturday’s local government council election. In a statement issued on Monday by his media aide, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu expressed deep concern over the violence and urged all political actors to de-escalate the situation.
5. A father of nine children, identified simply as Mr Charles, has reportedly committed suicide in the Jeddo community of Delta State. It was gathered that the gory incident occurred in the early hours of Monday. The man allegedly took his own life after drinking an insecticide.
6. A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday permitted the Inspector-General of Police to arrest a suspect, Olusanya Sunday Okusanya, a fugitive believed to have fled to the United Kingdom, after an alleged N64m fraud. Justice Yellim Bogoro approved the IGP’s motion for Okusanya’s arrest, following an ex parte application filed and moved by the police lawyer, S. O. Ayodele.
7. A suspected serial killer, Philip Ogunnaike, who was arrested in Ogun State, has pleaded that he and his accomplices be sentenced to death. Ogunnaike made the plea in an interrogation video on Monday and shared by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, on her X page.
8. No fewer than five persons were feared dead on Monday, following gunfire at different local government council secretariats in Rivers State by thugs. Newly sworn-in chairmen of some of the LGAs were also chased out of their offices by the marauding thugs.
9. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday pledged to tackle corruption head-on, emphasizing that no Nigerian was immune from the fight. In his address at the 6th Economic and Financial Crimes Commission – National Judicial Institute Workshop for Justices and Judges in Abuja, Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu noted that corruption had become a cancer denying Nigeria the full benefits of its resources. He stressed the need for collective action against corruption.
10. The Naira depreciated to N1,635.15 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM. Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM rose to N1,635.15 per dollar from N1,631.21 per dollar last Friday, indicating N3.94 depreciation for the naira.
