The $44.9 million deals levelled against the Chairman of the Nigerian carrier, Air Peace and the abandoned properties in Lagos are some of the leading stories in the Nigerian press on Monday.
The Sun quoted the Personal Assistant on Social Media to the Nigerian President, Lauretta Onochie, as telling the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace Airline, Mr. Allen Onyema, to stop “tales by moonlight” and respond to the $20 million fraud allegation levelled against him by the United States government.
The Nation lead story had it that a probe of Presidential Amnesty Office’s involvement in the $44.9 million wire deal linked to Air Peace Chair Allen Onyema in the United States has opened.
Following the bursting of the alleged deals, a former top officer of the Amnesty Programme has sneaked out of the United States to evade arrest.
It also reported that Lagos is littered with abandoned buildings. Some belonging to private individuals and firms, while many others belong to governments and their agencies.
The Daily Trust reported that President Muhammadu Buhari is expecting scrupulous investigation into the heinous murder of Madam Achejuh Abuh, the Women Leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Wada/Aro campaign council, in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Kogi state.
The Guardian said the push for a financially independent local government system in the country has been re-energised in the Senate.
It reported that a bill to amend the constitution to achieve financial autonomy for local government councils has already been gazetted and is ready for a debate on the floor of the Senate this week.
Channels TV said that Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a letter to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the commission’s members requesting them: “to urgently intervene and put pressure on the Nigerian authorities and their agents to immediately end the intimidation and harassment of detained journalist and activist Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare.
The Punch said there are indications that the Federal Government and states are heading for a fresh battle over the delay in refunding the money spent by the state governments on federal roads.
ThisDay quoting the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, that the policies and interventions of the apex bank are geared towards supporting economic growth and job creation.
It also reported that Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, on Saturday in Moniya, Ibadan, disclosed that the delay in completing the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan rail project was as a result of urban renewal, noting that such should not be the case of Ibadan-Kano project.
The minister, while speaking to the press shortly after inspecting the pace of work from Iju, Lagos to Ibadan, said that by his assessment there was a huge improvement in the work.
MM/GIK/APA