Top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines For Today, Sunday, 12th November, 2023

Good morning Nigeria, Welcome to the Naija News roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Sunday, 12th, November 2023.

A former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shakarau, has called on the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to investigate the party’s performance in the 2023 elections.

The PDP chieftain called for a post-mortem analysis of the party’s failure in the 2023 presidential election and governorship elections in some states in order not to repeat the same mistakes made ahead of the 2027 elections.

In an interview with The Punch, Shekarau asked the party leadership to also settle all grievances, reconcile aggrieved members, discipline any erring member where necessary, and move forward.

After casting his vote today in Bayelsa State, former President, Goodluck Jonathan, declared that off-cycle elections must stop in Nigeria.

The former leader, who arrived at his Polling Unit 39, Ward 13, Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, on Saturday morning alongside his wife, Patience, urged the National Assembly to work towards stopping the off-season poll.

Naija News reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts the ongoing off-cycle election in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States.

“I’m worried about this issue of off-season election because it does not conform with global best practices,” Jonathan said.

The former President expressed concerns that with the way things are going in Nigeria, the presidential election might become off-season soon.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed its staff members to declare their relationships with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in the country.

The apex bank made this known in a memo signed by its Deputy Director of Human Resources Department, Christian Eze.

According to the memo seen by Premium Times, the apex bank also directed its staffers to declare their ‘close relatives’ in the employment of the bank.

The bank said all submissions should be made on or before 12 noon, Friday, 10 November 2023, warning that non-disclosure or false declaration shall attract sanctions.

Another crisis seems to be brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the party’s governors’ purported rejection of the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum.

Naija News gathered that governors want Damagum removed from his position and demand a total overhaul of the party’s national leadership from the top to the bottom.

Recall that Damagum was the party’s National Deputy Chairman (North) before being appointed as the acting National Chairman in March after a High Court order suspended Senator Iyorchia Ayu from parading himself as the party’s national chairman.

However, according to the Punch, most of the PDP governors are not interested in confirming Damagum as the party’s substantive National Chairman.

A source, a party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) member, disclosed that the governors have their plan and confirmed Damagum is not part of it.

Former Governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed reports of bad blood between him and his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.

Naija News reports that the Minister made this known while speaking in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Friday, as the special guest of honour at a book presentation.

Wike warned those fanning the embers of chaos in the state to desist from such to enable the state to enjoy relative peace.

The former governor seized the moment to rebuke some people who inputted ethnic colourations into the political instability experienced in the state recently.

Security operatives on Saturday halted an attempt by alleged political thugs to abduct officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and cart away election materials in Imo State.

Naija News understands that the attempt to abduct the commission officials occurred at a Registration Area Center in Amaimo, Ikeduru Local Government Area.

Security personnel deployed in the centre quickly repelled the attempt by the thugs to whisk away the INEC officials into their waiting vehicle.

An eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria that the armed security operatives fired into the air from a distance, when voters in the area raised an alarm over the presence of the thugs.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to viral forged results from Kogi State.

Naija News earlier reported that a civil society organisation, YIAGA Africa, raised the alarm on Saturday morning, over the discovery of election results from a polling unit in Kogi before the conclusion of the exercise.

The results were said to have emanated from Polling Unit 004, Eni Ward of Ogori/Mangogo in Kogi State.

Yiaga Africa made this claim in a post on its handle, @YIAGA, on X.

It called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the results.

In a statement via X, the electoral umpire said the situation was severe and senior officials deployed to Kogi State are investigating the incident.

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Kogi State election, Dino Melaye has refused to cast his vote.

Naija News gathered that Melaye failed to show up at his polling unit to vote and has alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities.

The former lawmaker representing Kogi West senatorial district was expected to vote at Iluafon quarters, Aiyetoro 1, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi state.

Journalists have converged at the house of the PDP governorship candidate in Kogi as he is set to address the press on the electoral process

MTN Nigeria has sent a message to its users over the disappearance of debt on the accounts of subscribers in the early hours of Saturday, November 11.

This comes amidst nationwide jubilation from subscribers owing the network.

A social media user @iam_mikewellam said on X, “Mtn just cleared my 6.5k debt omo check your mtn account if you were owing, @MTNNG Weldon O.

Also, @convenant-film wrote, “Though I owe MTN Nigeria some debt, I want to thank MTN Nigeria for paying off all their customer’s debt because of the hardships in this country. Thank you MTN Group for paying back to society… We love you.”

The Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government has begun compiling the list of new ambassadors following the recall of all Nigeria’s ambassadors, both career and non-career.

Naija News reports that the recalled ambassadors were asked to return to the country on or before October 31, 2023.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, had reportedly communicated the recall to the various envoys.

According to The PUNCH, some ambassadors had returned, while a majority of them still left behind had formally handed over to their most senior officers but perfecting travel plans to return home as directed.

That’s the top Nigerian newspaper headlines for today. Read more Nigerian news on Naija News. See you again tomorrow.

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