Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Friday morning

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sworn in Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan as the new Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, HoCSF, formally ushering in a new leadership for the federal bureaucracy. The President administered the oath of office to Enitan at the State House, Abuja, a week after announcing his appointment as the successor to Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday ordered a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football, following a string of disappointing outings that have seen the country’s senior men’s and women’s national teams fail to qualify for major international tournaments. The President said the overhaul had become necessary to address persistent structural weaknesses blamed for Nigeria’s inability to translate its abundance of football talent, huge public investment and passionate following into consistent results. 

The former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Ondo State, Barrister Eyitayo Jegede, has resigned from the crisis-ridden party. Jegede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, tendered his resignation in a letter dated August 7, 2026. 

The Federal Government and state governors have agreed to jointly leverage cheaper Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, and electric vehicles to reduce the cost of intra-state transport from October 1. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu disclosed this after his meeting with APC governors on Thursday.

The minority caucus of the House of Representatives has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take immediate and decisive action to end the escalating wave of terrorism leading to bloodshed across Northern Nigeria. In a statement issued on Thursday, the caucus decried the scale of killings and growing attacks on communities.

Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi on Wednesday ordered the arrest of the Managing Director of Hartland Nigeria Ltd over the alleged non-performance of an 11-kilometre road contract for which the company reportedly received about N14 billion. Umahi gave the directive during an inspection of road infrastructure along the Agbor-Asaba-Onitsha corridor in Delta State, expressing anger that the contractor had completed only about 40 per cent of the work despite receiving the funds.

It was a chaotic scene on Thursday morning after a young man, simply identified as Charles, died under suspicious circumstances at a hotel in Eagle Island Estate, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. It was gathered that family members and friends of the deceased stormed the hotel after learning of his death and demanded an explanation from the management.

The Nigeria Police Force has invited social media activist, Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, to provide evidence backing his allegation that some police officers at checkpoints collude with kidnappers and bandits. The Force, in a statement on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, said it had taken note of comments made by Otse at the recent Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt.

Justice Friday Ogazi of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to produce Lagos social media influencer and businessman, Kazeem Afolabi, popularly known as “KC Luxury” before the court following his alleged 14-day detention without a formal charge. The order was made on Thursday in an ex parte application filed by Afolabi through his counsel, A. Labi-Lawal, SAN, pursuant to the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009.

Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, says his administration pays N6.7bn monthly from the state’s Federation Account Allocation Committee revenue to service loans inherited from the previous administration. Sani disclosed this on Channels Television’s Politics today on Thursday, saying the payments would continue until 2048.