Top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines For Today, Saturday, 16th July, 2022

July 16, 2022 Mary

Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Naija News roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today Saturday, 16th July 2022.

In a bid to defray the aggressive pushback attending the same-faith presidential ticket of his party, APC national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu mendaciously declared with a straight face that such pairing is “the will of God”! How convenient! This was the same arrangement bemoaned as “satanic” by another prominent member of the ruling party, no less a person than former Secretary to the Federal Government, Babachir Lawal. Therein lies the fundamental problem with APC presidential candidate, Alhaji Bola Tinubu’s choice of tag-team partner. That faith of the politician he is paring with has split his own party down the middle so much so that each camp had to invoke God and Satan to further their arguments. Adamu could not even sustain his attribution of this purely human decision to God as he said in the same breath that “we are as practical as we can in this situation”. No sir, practicality and the will of God are mutually exclusive in this instance.

The APC Chairman will be hard press to justify how “God [who] has His reasons for having two major religions to be in this country” will allow a contraption where: the incumbent President is a Muslim from Katsina State; the Senate President is Muslim from Yobe State; the Speaker of the House of Representatives is a Muslim from Lagos State; the Deputy Speaker is a Muslim from Plateau State; the ruling party’s Standard Bearer is a Muslim from Lagos State; the Vice Presidential Candidate is a Muslim from Borno State. Even Adamu, the party’s national chairman and his deputy are both Muslims from Nasarawa and Borno States respectively. God is not unjust; His will cannot be so cruelly skewed in favour of a particular proclivity in a plural society. Nigerians can’t be deceived as this isn’t the first time that God is being dragged into the ruling class’ ineptitude and indiscretions. In April 2017, then Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, ascribed the outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis in his state as God’s punishment for fornication among residents. Three months ago, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi called for God’s intervention in the fight against insurgents and other criminal elements in the country!

President Muhammadu Buhari has describe as fake news report that he got advice from the Department of State Services (DSS) against the Bola Tinubu-Kashim Shettima ticket.

Recall that the former Lagos governor had last Sunday announced the ex-Borno governor as his running mate after visiting Buhari in Daura, Katsina state, drawing widespread criticism from concerned Nigerians and some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

An online news platform (not Naija News) had claimed that the DSS warned against the fielding of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

The report alleged that a Muslim-Muslim ticket might lead to a renewed sectarian crisis that could destabilize Nigeria.

Details have emerged revealing why Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was conspicuously missing from the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship rally.

Naija News reports that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; vice-presidential candidate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; former Senate President Bukola Saraki; Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State; and many others stormed Osun State to canvass support for Senator Ademola Adeleke, who is running for Governor on the party’s platform.

Wike, who has been at loggerheads with the party’s leadership since its presidential primary, alongside his allies like Governor Seyi Makinde, Governor Samuel Ortom, Ayo Fayose, and others, were missing.

A source has revealed that Wike may have been absent at the grand rally of the PDP due to his current foreign trip.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to a suit by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking the disqualification of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi from the 2023 presidential election.

Naija News reports that the PDP on Thursday had filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop Labour Party’s Obi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu from selecting Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed as their running mates.

The PDP also asked the court to rule that Tinubu and Obi cannot run for office unless they do so with their respective former running mates, Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe.

In the originating summons with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, the PDP is seeking an order barring the INEC from replacing the running mates of Tinubu and Obi.

Controversial writer and Professor of Journalism, Farooq Kperogi has claimed that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, may become Nigeria’s president in 2023.

Naija News reports that the scholar made the claim in a post on his Twitter page on Friday.

Kperogi stated that Peter Obi might succeed President Muhammadu Buhari even if he doesn’t win the plurality of votes cast.

According to him, Obi may emerge victorious because Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be disqualified.

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Kehinde Agboola has accused a former state governor, Ayodele Fayose of creating confusion in the party with his demands for a 2023 southern presidency.

According to Agboola while there is nothing wrong with a southern presidency, the timing of Fayose’s demand is absolutely wrong and causing unnecessary tension in the party.

He said after participating in the PDP presidential primaries which clearly produced Atiku Abubakar, Fayose now suddenly turned round to start demanding a southern presidency.

He argued that all the agitation should have been before the emergence of a party candidate and not after.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced 31st July, 2022 as new deadline for continuous Voter Registration.

Naija News reports that the electoral body made this know in a statement released on Friday via their official social media page.

The statement reads partly; “In compliance with the interim injunction of the court pending the determination of the substantive suit, and in order to enable more Nigerians to register, the commission continued with the CVR beyond 30th June 2022.

“For this reason, the CVR has already been extended beyond 30th June 2022 for a period of 15days.”

A former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal has stated that leadership cannot be based on competence alone, adding that if it is based on competence Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is more deserving of the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Lawal was reacting to the decision of APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate thereby making the ruling party field a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidential election.

Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, the former SGF slammed Tinubu for saying Shettima was chosen due to his competence.

While insisting that there are competent northern Christians, Lawal said he cannot asked Christians in Adamawa State to vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

A report has emerged amid the political hurdles in the country, unveiling how a Boko Haram kingpin, Kabiru Umar Sokoto had plotted to kidnap the children of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential running mate, Kashim Shettima.

Naija News recalls Sokoto was arrested and convicted in January 2012 and was convicted the following year for masterminding the 2011 Christmas day car bomb attack on St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger which resulted in the death of about 40 people, scores injured as well as the destruction of many properties.

The terrorist was sent to life imprisonment by the Abuja federal high court in 2013 after finding him guilty of the charges read against him.

He was initially arrested at the Borno governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, on January 14, 2012, before he escaped from police custody and was re-arrested a month later in Taraba state, Naija News recalls.

In the bid to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi from selecting Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed as their running mates, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The PDP also asks the court to rule that Tinubu and Obi cannot run for office unless they do so with their respective former running mates, Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe.

In the originating summons with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, the PDP is seeking an order barring the Independent National Electoral Commission from replacing the running mates of Tinubu and Obi.

The first to seventh respondents in the case are INEC, APC, Tinubu, Masari, Labour Party, Obi, and Okupe.