Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Tuesday morning

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers: 1. A key figure in the emerging coalition of opposition parties, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that the coalition does not need the backing of governors to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 elections. He said the coalition’s strategy is focused on mobilising voters directly, not courting political officeholders. 2. A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, has sentenced Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, to death by hanging. Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme delivered the verdict on Monday, finding Nwachukwu guilty of culpable homicide. 3. Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Apo, Abuja, on Monday dismissed an application filed by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, seeking to reclaim a vast estate in Abuja comprising 753 duplexes and apartments. 4. No fewer than 7 mourners were killed, with others sustaining gunshot injuries, when suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists invaded Kopl village, Chibok local government area of Borno state. The incident is coming barely seven hours after dozens of motorists and passengers were killed along Gamboru Ngala -Kala Balge road after stumbling on an Improvised Explosive device, IEDs. 5. Labour Party, LP, Akoko-Edo Ward 1 Chairman in Edo State and a realtor, Okasime Olowojoba has been kidnapped on the Auchi-Benin-Ibillo Road while on his way to Igarra from Auchi, where he was said to have gone to pick his children to resume school in Igarra. The incident reportedly happened weekend at the bad spot around Sasaro, which has been notorious for kidnappings in the past. 6. President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, described the defection of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and the entire structure of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State, to the All Progressives Congress as a political tsunami of unimaginable proportions. He stated this while receiving Oborevwori, Okowa and the entire membership of the PDP to the APC at the Cenotaph, Asaba. 7. Chidinma Ojukwu, a 300-level student of the University of Lagos, who is standing trial for the alleged murder of Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Michael Ataga, on Monday, told a Lagos State High Court that she did not report the incident to the police because she was afraid. Chidinma, in her defence before Justice Yetunde Adesanya explained that she feared being wrongly accused if she reported the crime. 8. The police in Benue State on Monday confirmed the death of four persons during a clash involving suspected cultists. The clash occurred at a popular bar, located at Akpehe in Makurdi, the Benue capital, on Sunday night. Eyewitnesses recounted that the clash happened when a group of youths, suspected to be cult group members, invaded the bar at around 8 pm on Sunday. 9. Eight people lost their lives while six others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a road accident along the Nteje-Awka road, near the New Terminal, Ukpo Junction in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State. The accident occurred when a Toyota Hiace bus, registered as EKP375XM, collided with a Mack tanker without a registration number. 10. The Russian Government has expressed its willingness to share with Nigeria the new strategies it has developed to support the country’s fight against terrorism. This is contained in a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Tukur Gusau, on Monday in Abuja.