National Assembly approve Police Trust Fund budge

• The House of Representatives has approved the 2020 budget of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, which President, Muhammadu Buhari  presented to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration and approval.
• THE Senate on Wednesday approved N11,352,457,101.70 as budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund in the 2020 fiscal year.
• The approval came following consideration of the harmonized report of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs.
• The implementation of the NPTF 2020 budget would lapse on the 30th of April, 2021.

We’ll starve schoolboys to death – Niger abductors

• Abductors of the 27 students and 15 workers of Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State,  have threatened to starve them to death if the ransom they are demanding is not paid on time.
• One of the abductors stated this in an audio recording made available to one of our correspondents on Wednesday by a prominent Islamic cleric,  Sheik Ahmad Gumi.
• In the audio recording, the abductor, who spoke in Hausa, was heard conversing with a negotiator, identified by Gumi as a top official of the school.
• Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has appealed to Fulani herders not to carry Ak-47 riffles but remain peaceful.

• The governor who made the plea at the inauguration of the 2020/2021 annual livestock vaccination campaign held at the Galambi Cattle Ranch, Bauchi, on Wednesday, described the Fulani people as humble, simple and humane despite that they have been lampooned and subjected to caricature.

Court fixes March 2nd for Shell $2.7bn suit ruling

• The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed March 2, 2021, for ruling to decide whether to hear a motion challenging its jurisdiction or contempt application filed against three banks for allegedly disobeying a court order to block Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd’s bank accounts.

• The judge had made the Mareva order on January 25 following the plaintiff; AITEO Eastern E and P Company Ltd’s ex parte application in suit no FHC/L/CS/52/202 seeking to recover the cash value of more than 16 million barrels of crude oil allegedly diverted by the SPDC from AITEO.

• Justice Oguntoyinbo directed 20 banks to ring-fence any cash, bonds, deposits, all forms of negotiable instruments to the value of $2.7bn and pay all standing credits to the Shell companies up to the value into an interest yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the court.

Lagos to shut Third Mainland Bridge Saturday

• The Lagos State Government will shut the Third Mainland Bridge on Saturday.
•  The government explained that the closure was to enable the contractors to remove the equipment used during the rehabilitation of the bridge.
• The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, in a statement on Wednesday said the closure would last for 24 hours between Friday midnight and Saturday midnight.

• He added that traffic management personnel would be deployed along the affected routes to minimise and address any traffic impediments during the closure.

• Gunmen have killed three persons, abducted nine women and injured many others in Sabuwa Council of Katsina State.
• The bandits, who operated late Monday night into the early hours of yesterday, ransacked three communities of Mai Bakko, Kawarawa and Unguwar Bako.
• The gunmen attacked Matazu Council in the wee hours of Tuesday and abducted Rabi Musawa, the mother-in-law of renowned business mogul, Dahiru Mangal.
• In an operation that looked coordinated, a third group of gunmen on the same day, abducted Rabi’s son-in-law, Buhari Muntari, in Katsina town.
• Both incidents came less than a week after gunmen abducted a 91-year-old traditional ruler along with about 20 women in two separate operations in the state.
• Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Katsina command, SP Gambo Isah, was yet to confirm the incident.

SON arraigns businessman for engine oil adulteration, logo forgery

• l  Justice Maureen Onyetenu of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has remanded in police custody a businessman, Chidi Nwanyanwu, charged with adulteration of engine oil and inscribing forged Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON) logos on the products.

• The judge made the order following Nwanyanwu’s arraignment alongside his two firms. The SON accused the defendants of dealing in adulterated engine oil, non-compliance with SON’s Conformity Assessment Programme and forging of SON’s logo, the mark of quality and certification number.

• The defendants pleaded not guilty. Their counsel, Uchenna Umoneke, informed the court that his client’s bail motion had been filed and served on the prosecution.