Nigeria: Press spotlights plans for low key 63rd Independence anniversary, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Nigerian Government has not invited any world leader to the country’s 63rd Independence Day anniversary scheduled for October 1, maintaining that this year’s event will be low-key is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government says it has not invited any world leader to the country’s 63rd Independence Day anniversary scheduled for October 1, maintaining that this year’s event will be low-key.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and former Governor of Benue State, George Akume, disclosed this on Monday in response to a question by The PUNCH during a press conference in Abuja.
Akume, however, said Nigeria had a lot to be grateful for, including the democratic dispensation in the country.
“Despite political tremors and a wave of coups in some parts of the ECOWAS sub-region, Nigerians have fully embraced democracy with its core values and practices as the best form of governance. Democracy affords the citizens the opportunity through elective structures and processes to effectively participate in the affairs of their country.
“The relationship between the people and government in a representative democracy is symbiotic: while the citizens support the government, the government provides security, protects, and enhances their interests,” the SGF said.
Akume said the decision to have a low-key celebration “has nothing to do with whether we’re not doing well.”
The newspaper says that a total of 108 power transmission towers were destroyed by vandals in various parts of the country between January 2022 and September this year, data obtained from the Transmission Company of Nigeria, on Monday revealed.
It was gathered that the vandals destroyed 132kV double circuit power transmission lines, 330kV double circuit lines, and carried out soil excavation that threatened transmission towers, as the Federal Government described the development as sabotage.
The vandalism of transmission towers occurred in the Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, and Benin regions, though the government, through TCN, had contracted out the repairs of some of the vandalised towers.
It had also deployed in-house engineers of the transmission company to work on other vandalised towers.
An analysis of data from the transmission company showed that 27 towers were vandalised in the Abuja region during the review period, while nine towers were destroyed in the Lagos region.
The Kano region recorded the highest number of destroyed transmission towers, as 52 towers were vandalised in the region during the review period, while 10 towers were shattered in each of the regions of Enugu Benin.
Nigeria’s power grid had collapsed twice in September, throwing the country into widespread blackout in both cases. The government and consumers blamed this on sabotage and destruction of transmission facilities.
According to information obtained by The PUNCH, TCN stated that in 2023 alone, it had recorded over 10 incidents of vandalism at different degrees across its regions, especially attacks on its transmission towers.
The Guardian reports that the Sports Development Minister, Senator John Owan Enoh, is set to attend the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt, tomorrow, as the nation solidifies its bid to host the 2027 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Owan-Enoh will be attending the meeting as the representative of the Federal Government, in company of officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
At the meeting, the Nigerian delegation is expected to make its case for the hosting right of 2027 AFCON. All countries that indicated interest in hosting AFCON in 2025 and 2027 are expected to attend the meeting, where the independent assessment committees of CAF will submit their reports for assessments and discussions by CAF Executive Committee.
The Nigerian delegation includes NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau; General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi and bid coordinator, Mallam Mainasara Ilo.
Nigeria will make a 10-minute presentation to the CAF Executive Committee and will thereafter have time to answer questions.
The newspaper says that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has filed a more detailed objection to a US court order requiring Chicago State University to release his academic records to Atiku Abubakar, his main challenger in the February 25 presidential election.
Tinubu, represented by his New York-based attorney, Oluwole Afolabi, submitted a comprehensive objection aimed at convincing the court to reverse the previous order outright.
Tinubu’s lawyers argued that his academic records are irrelevant in Nigerian courts, as “the Nigerian election proceedings and the Nigerian courts have explicitly been unreceptive to the discovery.”
He contended that Atiku’s request “is unduly intrusive because it allows the applicant (Atiku) to conduct a fishing expedition into Intervenor’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.”
The lawyer, therefore, urged the court to set aside the previous order, saying his political opponents had previously used his illegally obtained academic records to attack him.
“The unlawful release of documents previously allowed Intervenor’s opponents to sow confusion and spread conspiracy theories,” Tinubu’s objection read in part.
Tinubu’s lawyer characterised Atiku’s application as mere “opposition research on a political opponent.”
The legal battle began when Atiku, a former vice president, filed an application on August 2, 2023, in a U.S. district court, requesting access to President Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University.
Atiku had, in his application, argued that, among other things, a “second Chicago State University diploma has since emerged (dated June 27, 1979) that bears the name “Bola Ahmed Tinubu” but also presents with a different font, punctuation, seal, and signatures than the June 22, 1979 diploma, among other alleged discrepancies.”
Atiku told the US that he wanted to authenticate these documents to determine whether a “Chicago State University diploma in the name of Bola Ahmed Tinubu dated June 22, 1979, that was submitted to the INEC before the Nigerian presidential election in February 2023 is genuine or was forged.”
Atiku added that “under Nigerian law, the submission of a fraudulent document to INEC would have disqualified President Tinubu from participating in the election.”
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, on September 19, ordered the university to release the requested documents to Atiku within two days.
In response, Tinubu’s legal team swiftly approached a district judge of the court to suspend the order to enable them to file a more elaborate challenge against it.
At an emergency hearing on Thursday, September 21, the district judge, Nancy Maldonado, agreed to delay the order compelling Chicago State University to release the academic documents of President Tinubu.
Following the approval, Tinubu, through his legal team, filed his objection on Monday.
In the objection filed on Monday, Tinubu’s legal team argued that the magistrate judge granted Atiku’s application even though the applicant was barred from attempting to use the discovery in the foreign proceeding.
“That conclusion should be rejected because the discovery cannot be ‘for use’ in the foreign proceeding due to the decision of the Nigerian Election Court, and that decision shows the Nigerian courts would not be receptive to the discovery sought by the application,” the team said.
GIK/APA