Newspaper Headlines: Adeleke, Oyebamiji sign peace pact as INEC warns troublemakers

Reports on how the federal government is spending savings from petrol subsidy removal perfuse the national dailies.

Punch reports that President Bola Tinubu said he did not negotiate with kidnappers of Oyo pupils and students because they were viewed as criminals and murderers. The newspaper says the Nigerian Army has commenced an investigation into the leakage of a classified Department of State Services (DSS) intelligence report warning of planned attacks by suspected Boko Haram insurgents and bandits in Adamawa and Borno states.

Daily Trust reports that two years after the nationwide protests against hardship, during which 12 demonstrators were killed and others injured in Kano state, victims’ families are still awaiting compensation from the government. The newspaper says Femi Otedola, chairman of First HoldCo Plc, has strengthened his position as the largest shareholder in the financial services group after acquiring an additional 1.77 billion ordinary shares valued at N222.20 billion.

Vanguard reports that the federal government and organised labour disagreed over the use of savings from the removal of fuel subsidy, with the government explaining how the savings were used to finance ways and means, service foreign debt, increase federal workers’ salaries, and students’ loan. The newspaper says the United States detailed that Nigeria and other African countries faced more than a sixfold rise in security threats in the last two years.

Tribune reports that the Osun state chapter of the Accord party has criticised the absence of Bola Oyebamiji, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who sent a representative, as political parties signed a peace pact in Osogbo ahead of the governorship election. The buildup to the poll has been marred by violence and counter-accusations.

The Guardian reports that a devastating gap in affordability and specialised care for controlling viral hepatitis B and C is leaving the country’s most vulnerable populations behind. The newspaper says the federal government has adopted Kaduna state’s household mapping model as the national framework for identifying out-of-school children with verified data to tackle the education access crisis.

THISDAY reports that Bobby Moore, consul general of South Africa in Lagos, has called for healing and reconciliation between Nigeria and South Africa following anti-migrant violence in his country. The newspaper says the red chamber has summoned the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), major international and indigenous oil companies, regulators and several government agencies.

The Nation reports that the federal government said petrol subsidy savings were deployed in servicing rising debt obligations, implementing the new national minimum wage and financing student loans. The newspaper reports that Tinubu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo described Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, first head of state, as a symbol of patriotism, discipline and national unity.