Why Tinubu picked Akpabio to be Senate President – Shettima

Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima has disclosed that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, picked Godswill Akpabio as his preferred candidate for the position of senate president to avoid the “negative narrative of Islamization”.

Mr Shettima spoke Friday during a meeting with some elected lawmakers including Tajudeen Abbas, whose ambition to be House Speaker has been endorsed by Mr Tinubu and the ruling party, APC.

Mr Shettima said Mr Tinubu wants to prevent a situation where the President, Vice President, Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives would all be Muslims.

Messrs Tinubu, Shettima and Abbas are all Muslims while Mr Akpabio is a Christian.

The same faith ticket of Messrs Tinubu and Shettima already created a situation where the president and vice president are Muslims. There have, therefore, been calls by many Nigerians for the APC to ensure religious balance in its choice of presiding officers of the parliament.

Mr Tinubu and the APC picked Mr Akpabio (South-south) and Barau Jibrin (North-west) as preferred senate president and deputy senate president respectively. They also picked Mr Abbas (North-west) and Ben Kalu (South-east) as speaker and deputy speaker.

However, the decision has been criticised by some lawmakers and members of the party for various reasons including the fact that the North-central was excluded from the arrangement.

Three aspirants for the senate president’s seat, Abdulaziz Yari (APC-Zamfara), Sani Musa (APC-Niger) and Orji Kalu (APC-Abia) have been very vocal in speaking against the arrangement.

FG sacks FAAN MD

The Federal Government has removed the Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Capt Rabiu Yadudu.

This is as the FG approved the appointment of the current Manager, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Kabir Mohammed, as the new FAAN managing director. He is expected to assume duty next week.

Mohammed before his appointment as the new FAAN boss was also the Regional General Manager, North Central.

He was appointed as the Chairman of Aviation Roadmap Implementation Committee in January 2022 by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, a position he effectively combined with his office as the General Manager, Special Duties at FAAN.

Details of why Yadudu was removed were still sketchy as of press time.

Gunmen strike again, kidnap Catholic priest in Imo

Rampaging gunmen in Imo State, early hours of Sunday kidnapped the catholic priest of Christ the King Parish, Ezinachi/Ugwaku, with the Okigwe Catholic Diocese, Reverend Father Jude Maduka in Okigwe council area of Imo state.

It was gathered from different sources of residents and parishioners in the area how the incident happened.

Some said he was kidnapped while hurrying to celebrate Sunday mass, while others alleged that he was kidnapped during an inspection of his New Adoration site at Ogii Village in the Okigwe area.

However, while the people have been enmeshed in confusion and fear some of the residents who did not want to mention their names on the condition of anonymity, linked the incident to the report of the kidnapping for ransom that has been happening in the Okigwe axis as well as politically sponsored attacks in the area.

2 Eko Electricity Distribution Company Staff Electrocuted

The Police Command in Lagos State on Sunday confirmed the electrocution of two members of staff of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) in Lagos State.

The incident took place in the Obalande area of Lagos Island.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Hundeyin said the case was reported to the Lion Building Division of the command on Saturday at about 5.55 pm, by another member of staff of the EKEDC from Lagos Island.

He said the EKEDC worker reported that on Saturday, one of his colleagues simply identified as Umaru, 51 years old, allegedly got electrocuted while digging to locate a faulty transformer cable at the P&T Obalende area.

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