1. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to depart Abuja today for a two-week vacation in the United Kingdom, as part of his annual leave. This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday, October 2, by the special adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
2. The Federal Government says it has removed Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel, cooking gas, among others. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed this while unveiling two major fiscal incentives, on Wednesday.
3. Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays to enable residents of the state to travel to their various communities ahead of the Saturday local government elections. The governor also announced restriction of vehicular movement from midnight on Friday, October 4 to 5pm on the election day.
4. The military high command has announced the dismissal of a naval rating, Seaman Haruna Abbas, who was reportedly detained for about six years. Haruna’s dismissal came on the heels of his wife, Hussaina Iliya’s claim on a popular radio station in Abuja that her husband was detained unjustly by the military, since 2018.
5. The federal government has commenced arrangements to evacuate Nigerians in Lebanon following escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran. Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun disclosed this on Tuesday and requested the citizens in Lebanon to reach out to the Nigeria mission for documentation.
6. The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, asked the Presidency to note that as one of the chambers that make up the National Assembly, it is not inferior to the Senate. This was as the House rejected the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic conferred by President Bola Tinubu on the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, demanding that the Speaker should get the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, just like the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
7. No fewer than 10 people, including three children and seven adults lost their lives to a road crash in the late hours of Tuesday along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, while three others sustained varying degrees of injuries. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority blamed the accident on wrong-way driving and excessive speeding.
8. A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice G. O. Ollor has granted bail to the tune of N1m each to three ex-soldiers and seven civilians facing trial over alleged armed robbery, burglary and receipt of stolen property in the state.
9. The Senate on Wednesday stood down a bill for an act to prescribe standard and condition of licence for operation and practice of private investigations in the country. The piece of legislation, sponsored by Senator Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West) was rejected by the majority of lawmakers during debate on the floor of the Red Chamber.
10. With a few weeks to the gubernatorial election in Ondo State, the deputy governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Mrs. Susan Gbemisola Alabi, has resigned her membership from the party. Alabi disclosed this after notifying the governorship candidate of the party, Bamidele Akingboye of her decision to step down as his running mate in a letter addressed to the party’s standard-bearer and the National Chairman of the party, Shehu Musa Gabam.
