1. The Federal Government is set to rev up the war against insurgents and other criminal elements with 34 fighter jets. Already, a team of experts headed by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, is in Italy finalising the procurement process. The Air Marshal Abubakar-led team is made up of officials of the Ministries of Defence and Finance who participated in a Programme Management Review Meeting with Messrs Leonardo S.p.A in Rome.
2. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Treasurer, Ahmed Yayari Mohammed on Sunday said he has resumed as acting national chairman. Although yet to visit the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, he said in a statement that he has started work as interim chairman following his endorsement by a section of the National Working Committee (NWC).
3. Self-acclaimed Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has submitted a petition to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, seeking his support for the creation of a Yoruba nation. His spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, made this known in a post on Sunday via his X handle (formerly Twitter).
4. A couple and one other person have been crushed to death in an accident involving a truck, space wagon car and a motorcycle in Sagamu-Ogijo road, Sagamu, Ogun State. The police spokesman in the state, Omolola Odutola, disclosed this on Sunday in Abeokuta.
5. The Department of State Service, DSS, this weekend, released two #EndBadGovernance protesters, who have been in detention in Kaduna. At press time, there are no fewer than 125 protesters still in detention, including 38 remanded by Justice Emeka Nwite, in Abuja.
6. A 26-year-old man, identified as Nura Mas’ud, has set on fire his grandmother, Zuwaira Muhammad, in Mu’azu village, Dan Gwanki Ward, Sule Tankarkar Local Government Area of Jigawa State. He claimed that the grandmother upset him by expressing concern about his physical appearance and health, which did not go down well with him and had on several occasions warned her but she refused.
7. The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Customs Service, will today ground over 60 private jets owned by very important persons in the country over unpaid import duty running into several billions of naira. According to documents exchanged between the NCS and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, the enforcement exercise will commence on October 14, 2024.
8. The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is poised for talks with Dangote Petroleum Refinery between Tuesday and Wednesday to finalise agreements on the cost and lifting of petrol from the plant. It was learnt on Sunday that the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria has been asked by the $20bn Lekki-based refinery to resend its request for petrol lifting.
9. Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, have arrested a Thailand returnee, Simon Peter Oguejiofor, for importing 13.30 kilograms of heroin worth over N3.192bn. Oguejiofor was arrested on October 7, 2024, while attempting to smuggle out of the airport the drug concealed in six backpacks and then packed into two big suitcases.
10. Ahead of the November 12, 2024 handover, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has called on the state’s governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, to raise a panel to interface with his (Obaseki’s) transition committee towards the smooth handover of power. Obaseki proposed October 14, 2024 (today) for both panels to hold their first meeting.
