The jailing of former governor of Abia state over fraud and the death of seven persons in pipeline explosion in Lagos are some of the trending stories in Nigerian press on Friday.
The Nation reported that the Senate Chief Whip and former governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu, was on Thursday jailed for 12 years after a 12-year trial for fraud and money laundering.
Kalu was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for N7.65 billion fraud committed during his tenure as Abia State governor between 1999 and 2007.
The Daily Trust reported that a former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has joined two former governors, Joshua Dariye (Plateau) and Jolly Nyame (Taraba) as an inmate in a correctional centre.
ThisDay said that seven persons, including a prophet attached to one of the white garment churches and his parishioner, were some of the casualties of the explosions that engulfed the pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at Igando area of Lagos State.
The Guardian said that the Senate on Thursday passed the 2020 budget, approving NI0.59 trillion as aggregate expenditure. The approved figure is N263.946 billion higher than N10.330 trillion presented to the National Assembly for consideration and approval by President Muhammadu Buhari in October.
Channels TV said that the Department of State Services (DSS) has released the convener of the Revolution Now protest, Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare.
They were released at exactly 7:15 pm on Thursday, hours after Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, had expressed displeasure over their continued detention by the agency.
The Punch said that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, will today (Friday) lead state chairmen of the party to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The visit is coming a day after governors elected on the platform of the party met behind closed doors with the president.
The Sun reported that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has promised to comply with order of Federal High Court, which directed the recovery of pension payments to former governors serving or have served as senators and ministers.
The order was made on Wednesday by Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Lagos division of the Federal High Court in a judgment in a suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
MM/GIK/APA