Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. Kenneth Udeze, the National Chairman of the Action Alliance, AA, was on Friday, kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Abuja. Udeze was kidnapped outside a Zenith Bank branch in Dutsen Alhaji. Genevieve Udeze, his wife, said her husband woke up Friday morning and found several text messages indicating heavy withdrawals from his accounts that were not authorized and went to the bank to find out why. She explained that the kidnappers took her husband away in a black SUV.

2. Thugs suspected to belong to a political party attacked the convoy of governor Bello Muhammed Matawalle of Zamfara state on Thursday, killing two armed policemen, leaving many with various degrees of injuries. The armed bandits attacked the governor’s convoy very close to Funtua in Katsina State, a border town with Zamfara state. The sitting governor is currently in a running battle with the immediate past administration. Consequently, the governor has set up a committee headed by the immediate past deputy governor, Mallam Ibrahim Wakalla to investigate the immediate past administration led by Mr. Yari.

3. The National and State Houses of Assembly Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, on Friday, struck out the petition filed by the PDP, and Senator Suleiman Adokwe, challenging the election of Sen. Tanko Al-Almakura of the APC as the winner of the Nassarawa South Senatorial seat. Adokwe challenged the election on account of alleged unlawful declaration of Al-Makura as winner of the poll and claimed that the polls did not comply with provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, among other claims. But in a unanimous judgment, the tribunal held that the petitioner failed to prove that the respondent had not scored the highest lawful votes at the election.

4. The PDP, on Friday, declared that it has evidence that the victory of its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 election was stolen. The PDP said the general expectation pervading the nation across the board was that the judiciary will be dauntless in addressing the substance of the petition by Atiku in the collective quest to retrieve a stolen mandate through the legal process. It however, urged Nigerians not to lose faith in the country and its democracy.

5. An Ilorin, Kwara State lawyer Olarewaju Aluko and his client, Taiye Na’Allah, have sued the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) at a Kwara State High Court for alleged defamation of character. They are seeking redress and asking for N20 million damages from the commission. The Ilorin Zonal office of the commission had accused the lawyer of defrauding Pastor Adetunji Adedoyin of his property valued at N20 million. The commission also claimed that Aluko was on the run, following invitation and interrogation of other lawyers reportedly involved in the matter. Aluko and his client prayed the court to restrain the EFCC from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them pending the determination of a motion on notice filed at the court.

6. Members of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has mocked Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the President, and other members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inner circle, for allegedly failing to deploy their diplomatic clout to suppress them in Yokohama, Japan. The IPOB and the Nigerian Presidency have been at war of words over plans by the pro-Biafran group to embarrass and arrest President Buhari in the East Asian country where he is participating in the ongoing seventh Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD). However, the group on Friday, claimed the President was afraid of holding public meetings outside the prestigious Hotel Intercontinental in Yokohama because of the threats by the Biafra agitators to harass him.

7. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday disclosed that there might not be a theoretical transmission of election results electronically. It said Nigerian law does not support the theoretical transmission of election results. INEC insisted that the electronic transmission of results was not immune to manipulation as it can also be manipulated by those whose aim is to undermine results. It stressed that the most important part of an election process was the actual voting and direction of result.

8. The Appeal court sitting in Port Harcourt on Friday set aside the judgment of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that dismissed the petition of the Governorship Candidate of the AAC, Biokpomabo Awara for abandoning their petition. The five man panel consequently directed all parties to return to the tribunal to hear the matter on its merit. The judgment read by Justice J.O BADA disclosed that the appellant did no harm for requesting the regularization of his suit.

9. No fewer than five people were confirmed killed, while several houses were burnt during an attack by unidentified gunmen at Zangan village in Attakar Chiefdom of Kaura local government of Kaduna State. Bege Katuka, the Interim Management Committee Chairman of the Council who confirmed the incident on Friday, added that the attackers invaded the community around 4 pm, Thursday evening, and shot sporadically at the innocent residents. He said that five persons were killed, two others still missing, while a number of houses including, the newly Police Outpost were burnt and vandalised respectively.

10. President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday called on the governments of Benue and Taraba States to exercise restraint following the gruesome killing of Rev. Fr. David Tanko at Kpankufu Village on Wukari Road in Taraba State. Buhari directed the Taraba and Benue State governors, traditional rulers, specifically the Tor Tiv and the Aku Uka of Wukari, religious and community leaders in the two states to meet urgently and bring an end to persistent violent clashes between Jukun and Tiv people. Buhari said it was time for leaders of the ethnic groups to come together and draw up a roadmap for lasting peace.