Newspaper Headlines: 10 things you need to know this Friday morning

Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested the leader of the Monday’s EndSARS protest, Emmanuel Adebayo popularly known as Captain in Osun. It was gathered that Adebayo was arrested on the basis that he was allegedly impersonating the Nigerian Army and receiving accolades on that basis.

1. The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Port-Harcourt, Major-General Olubunmi Irefin, is dead. He passed away after contracting COVID-19 while attending the annual Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Abuja.

2. President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday snubbed the invitation of the House of Representatives. Commenting on Buhari’s absence, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said the House would wait for official communication from the President.

3. A former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, collapsed during the resumed hearing in his N2bn money laundering trial on Thursday, at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The defence lawyer, Anayo Adibe, was briefing the judge, Justice Okon Abang, that his team was yet to receive the records of proceedings requested from the court’s registry when Maina’s collapse attracted attention from the dock.

4. The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Port-Harcourt, Major-General Olubunmi Irefin, is dead. He passed away after contracting COVID-19 while attending the annual Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Abuja.

5. The Federal Government has said that some religious organisations were sabotaging the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country by holding large gatherings events contrary to laid down coronavirus protocols. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, at the joint national briefing of the task force on Thursday, said the PTF had continued to engage with relevant stakeholders on issues arising from the impact of COVID-19, including mental health, drug use and gender-based violence.

6. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said former Nigeria president, Goodluck Jonathan, would be free to contest for the presidency in 2023 on its platform. The National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, during a media parley on Thursday in Abuja, insisted that the presidential ticket has not been zoned to any region of the country yet.

7. The House of Representatives Thursday passed through second reading of a bill to amend the constitution to put a limit on the number of days for the trial of a case. The bill, sponsored by Luke Onofiok, seeks to amend the constitution with the intent to put a limit a case could last during trial.

8. On Thursday, December 10, Nigeria recorded its highest number of COVID-19 infections in five months. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 675 new cases across 15 states, with the fatality toll rising to 1,190.

9. The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Thursday, assumed office to commence his second tenure for a period of five year. Speaking during a takeover ceremony at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, Yakubu said that quick passage of the Electoral Act amendment remained a top priority.

10. A High Court in Abia State, Thursday, vacated the order restraining the Abia State Independent National Electoral Commission, ABSIEC, from conducting December 18th local government election across the wards in the seventeen LGA of the state. The court also restrained ABSIEC from excluding candidates of the All Progressive Congress, APC, from participating in the forthcoming Local Government election on the ground of non-payment of the fees it imposed or any other ground not supported by law whatsoever pending the determination of the motion on notice.