TOP NIGERIA NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES TODAY 15TH JANUARY 2020

These 10 top stories from Nigerian newspapers will interest you this Wednesday morning.

1. Supreme Court ruling on Imo election sad for Nigeria’s democracy —PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday described the Supreme Court’s decision to sack Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State governor as another very sad commentary on the nation’s democratic order. The party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was surprised at the apex court’s ruling on the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.

2. PROFILE: Hope Uzodinma, the fourth-place finisher who became governor

Senator Hope Uzodinma, on Tuesday, January 14, emerged as the governor of Imo State. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Mohammed, led a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court that sacked Emeka Ihedioha and declared Uzodinma as governor. Uzodinma, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had finished in fourth place in the March 9 governorship election in Imo State.

In the results declared by INEC, Ihedioha came first, followed by Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA) and Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Apart from becoming governor after only finishing fourth, below are some other interesting things about how the former senator rode to the exalted position he now occupies.

3. OKOROCHA TO UZODINMA: You have my unflinching support

Former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, on Tuesday assured the new governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma, of his “unflinching support” in his new position. The Supreme Court had earlier on Tuesday declared Uzodinma as the duly elected governor of the state.

Okorocha in a statement issued by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, shortly after the apex court delivered the verdict, pledged to support Uzodinma in his quest to take the state to the next level. He also urged the people to help the new governor succeed in the onerous task of governing the state.

4. Is a clash imminent? Nigerian govt brands Operation Amotekun ‘illegal’

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Tuesday explained why the new security outfit put together by southwest governors to address security challenges in the region, “Operation Amotekun” would not be validly allowed to operate, saying the arrangement was illegal and a nullity. Malami also accused the governors of not consulting the Federal Government before launching the security outfit, thereby bringing avoidable trouble upon their shoulders.

5. I am who I am today because of the kind of teachers I had —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday tasked the leadership of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to encourage qualified and willing graduates to join the teaching profession. President Buhari, who made the call when he received in audience the leadership of NUT at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the Federal Government would soon engage more qualified teachers in order to increase the teacher-to-pupil ratio in the country. The President in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, also paid tribute to teachers who had been at the forefront of cultivating young minds to be innovative and inventive.

6. Buhari has not ordered stoppage of salaries over IPPIS —ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said on Tuesday President Muhammadu Buhari had not directed the stoppage of salaries of university lecturers who were yet to enroll on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). The ASUU president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said in a statement in Abuja that the report was fake. He said the union met with President Buhari on January 9 and discussed the IPPIS issue which the union had rejected “with sound reasons.”

7. Court grants bail to mastermind of Buhari’s fake marriage video

The Chief Magistrate Court in Kano on Tuesday granted bail to Kabiru Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the fake marriage video between President Muhammadu Buhari and two of his ministers. The two ministers in question are that of Humanitarian and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouk, and her Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning counterpart, Zainab Ahmed.

8. INSECURITY: Demand for war materials competing with welfare of Army personnel, Buratai sssays

The demand for war materials is competing with that of welfare of personnel of the Nigerian Army due to the current insecurity the country is facing, so says the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai. The COAS revealed this while speaking during the commissioning of 206 remodeled flats for non-commissioned personnel at 81 barracks in Ribadu Cantonment in Kaduna, on Tuesday. Buratai who was represented at the commissioning by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Division headquarters, Major General Faruq Yahaya, however assured that the government is striving to balance the demand in the face of strained financial resources.

9. Three PDP members die in auto crash on way to Supreme Court

Three members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State died on Monday in an auto crash along the Kaduna-Abuja road.The PDP Organising Secretary in Kano, Sunusi Sirajo Kwankwaso, who confirmed the incident to journalists on Tuesday, said the victims were on their way to Abuja where the Supreme Court was expected to deliver judgment on the governorship election dispute between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and his PDP challenger, Abba Yusuf, when the accident occurred.

10. HUMAN TRAFFICKING: NAPTIP arrests 2 suspects, rescues 21 victims

Two persons suspected to be involved in the illicit crime of human trafficking have both been arrested by officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). The agency revealed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, that the two suspects were arrested on January 13, and no fewer than 21 victims were rescued from the suspected human traffickers.