President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech at the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA)
warning hard times for international criminals and the opposition party’s appeal against the
affirmation of Buhari’s election are some of the leading stories in Nigerian press on
Wednesday.
The Punch reported that President Buhari warned on Tuesday that Nigeria would not tolerate
attempts by persons and organisations he called international criminals to defraud the
country.
Buhari cited the Federal Government’s prosecution of Process and Industrial Development
over the controversial $9.6bn judgment it obtained from a London court against Nigeria
as an example of “a scam”.
He also stressed that his administration would sustain its anti-corruption fight.
Channels TV said President Buhari on Tuesday addressed world leaders at the 74th Session
of the United Nations General Assembly, calling for strong action against xenophobia,
racism, and abject poverty.
He also expressed concern about climate change which forced thousands to protest across
the world, as well as terrorism and other forms of threat to life, Channels Television reported.
Many newspapers reported that the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate
in the February 23 election, Atiku Abubakar, have formally filed their 66 grounds of appeal
against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal at the Supreme Court.
The Nation reported that from the impact of the latest wave of violent xenophobic attacks
on foreigners by South Africans, a group of West African citizens have gone before the
Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court), seeking, among
other things, to compel member states to take the necessary steps to allow citizens and
non-government organisations (NGOs) access to the African Court on Human and Peoples’
Rights (African Court).
The Daily Trust quoted Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as saying that the federal government
has injected about N1.5 trillion intervention fund into the power sector in the last two years,
even as frequent outage persists across the country.
ThisDay said despite the claim of the federal government that it has “technically” defeated
Boko Haram and the terror group was no longer in control of any territory, two members
of the House of Representatives from Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency, have
told the House that eight local government areas in the state are under the control of the
insurgents.
The Guardian said with three more months to wrap up the year, leaving one more rate
meetings and inflation rate at 11.02 percent, there appears a near impossibility for the
nation’s rate-setters to slash the current Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5 percent.
The Sun reported that the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals
of Nigeria (CIFIPN) has concluded plans to build a financial fraud detection academy, which
will serve as the institute’s training ground to groom real and budding forensic investigators.
The Tribune quoted the Senate as saying that it was not aware of any alleged power play
between the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and certain individuals within the
Presidency.
MM/GIK/APA