Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Tuesday morning

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr Fatai Tijani, has assured residents that a commercial area in Lagos, remains safe following a bomb explosion suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, which triggered brief panic in the area. Tijani gave the assurance on Monday while addressing journalists at the scene of the incident at the Shoe Materials Market in Mushin, after security operatives carried out a comprehensive sweep of the environment.

No fewer than 18 farmers have been killed and several others injured in an attack at Kawel village, Mushere District of Bokkos LGA, Plateau State. Christopher Luka, Bokkos Youth Leader, confirmed the incident to Daily Trust on Monday, saying the attack occurred around 11:30 p.m on Sunday.

A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard that former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai admitted, in a television interview, that he intercepted the phone conversations of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu. The second prosecution witness in El-Rufai’s ongoing trial, Deji Adeyanju, told the court that he was at the same television station, awaiting his turn to be interviewed on February 16, the day El-Rufai allegedly made the administration on the same station.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Southwest zone, DIG Adegoke Fayoade, on Monday assured that all security agencies are working to secure the release of schoolchildren and their teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State last month. He said their freedom was imminent.

Confusion has trailed the abduction of a chieftain of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Comrade Bayo Fabiyi, alongside two other persons in Oko-Irese, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. It was gathered that Fabiyi was abducted alongside a driver and another associate while reportedly travelling to deliver ransom and other items meant for the release of a previously kidnapped victim.

The Joint Task Force (North East), Operation HADIN KAI, OPHK, has recorded yet another significant humanitarian success with the rescue of 47 persons, mostly women and children who were held captive by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Kangarwa village, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Acting Media Information Officer Headquarters Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI, Captain Mohammed Goni stated this on Monday night.

No fewer than eight persons have been killed following a communal clash between farmers and herders in Gulma town, Argungu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. The violence reportedly began when a Fulani herder allegedly stabbed a farmer to death on his farmland.

Ondo State Police Command has begun an investigation into the death of a senior member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Elder Omotayo Fajana, whose lifeless body was discovered in a hotel room in Akungba-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state. Fajana, 71, was in Akungba-Akoko for a church programme where he was scheduled to be installed as the Head Prayer Warrior Father (Baba Aladura) of Ogo Orimolade C&S Church, Okerigbo.

The Federal Government has ordered a clampdown on marketers engaged in hoarding or diversion of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas following the recent surge in the price. The government directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, and other regulators to intensify market surveillance, investigate product hoarding and diversion, and sanction operators found manipulating the market.

The Naira opened the week stronger at the official market, trading at the N1,369.10 to a dollar on Monday. Data from the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that the Naira gained N1.34. This represents 0.09 per cent gain against the dollar when compared to the trading figure of N1,370.45 on Friday.