Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Monday morning

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. Thirteen passengers abducted at Eke in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State have been rescued through a joint operation by the police and local vigilantes. The victims were traveling in a Benue Links bus from Abeokuta to Makurdi when they were kidnapped.

2. Saudi Arabian authorities have approved the burial of businessman and philanthropist, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, in the Islamic holy city of Madina. The announcement was made on Sunday by Dantata’s Principal Private Secretary, Mustapha Junaid, in a statement posted on Facebook.

3. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested an ex-international football player, Segun George Hunkarin, along with his businessman partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, over attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

4. Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has blamed the country’s persistent security challenges on the powerful and influential members of the society. He spoke in Jos during a stakeholder meeting themed “Dialogue on Community Policing as a Panacea for Insecurity in Nigeria: The Case of Plateau State’.

5. The suspended governor of Rivers, Siminalayi Fubara, says there is no sacrifice too big for the peace, stability, and progress of the state. Fubara, who said this while addressing his supporters at the weekend, reassured them that every step he has taken, including the recent reconciliation with his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, was done with their collective interest in mind.

6. Controversy surrounding the status of today’s National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting, has torn the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, apart as two factions within the party have resolved to proceed with two parallel NEC meetings. The decision comes amid growing tensions over party leadership and procedural disagreements with INEC.

7. Defence Headquarters, on Sunday, said troops of Operation Fasin Yamma have killed a wanted and notorious terrorist kingpin in Zamfara State, Mai Wada, who had been terrorizing several communities in the North West. This is as troops of Sector 3 in Monguno, Borno State, intercepted a vehicle conveying items suspected to be logistics supplies for terrorists, including petrol, rice, groundnuts and yams.

8. A Lagos-based socialite, Gail Fajembola, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking judicial intervention over what she described as continuous threats, harassment, and intimidation allegedly orchestrated by the Nigeria Police Force on behalf of private individuals.

9. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery says it will absorb over N1.07tn annually in its plan to distribute fuel directly to marketers nationwide. The refinery said it invested over N720bn to implement the initiative of deploying 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas-powered trucks for the nationwide distribution of petroleum products, saying this was expected to save Nigerians over N1.7tn annually.

10. Ondo State Police Command said it had arrested and prosecuted no fewer than 30 confirmed kidnap suspects while hundreds of armed robbery and other criminal suspects were nabbed in the first half of 2025. According to a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr Olayinka Ayanlade, on Sunday, the period under review was under the leadership of the outgoing Commissioner of Police, Mr Wilfred Afolabi.