South, Middle Belt Leaders Tell National Assembly To Restructure Nigeria and Other Headlines Today

The ongoing calls for restructuring of the Nigerian federation received another boost on Thursday as opinion Leaders from the Southern and Middle Belt part of Nigeria visited the leadership of the Senate in Abuja.

The Leaders of the South and the Middle Belt appealed to the National Assembly to save Nigeria, which they said was on the edge of a precipice. While calling on the legislature to drop partisan politics in handling the affairs of the country, they asked that a national emergency be immediately declared.

The leaders were drawn from the South-West, South-South, South-East and North-Central. They include the leader of the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; a former Federal Commissioner of Information and Chairman, Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, Chief Edwin Clark; President General, Ohanaeze Ndi’gbo, Chief John Nwodo; a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and ex-Minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae; and the first Military Governor of Plateau State, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (retd.).

To receive the delegation were the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Majority Leader, Ahmad Lawan and other principal officers of the National Assembly.

Virtually all the Papers for review today including THE PUNCH, TRIBUNE, DAILY INDEPENDENT, VANGUARD make the story their  frontpage headlines.

The NATION deviates from that and makes its lead the caption “Presidency Hits Obasanjo Over Buhari’s Visit To U.S.” The paper reports that contrary to the views in some quarters, President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States (US) was beneficial to the country. The Presidency scored the visit high, saying the President was satisfied with its outcome.

THE GUARDIAN’s interest is also about the President but with another headline in President Buhari’s London Stopover Stirs Speculations. The newspaper writes that President Muhammadu Buhari made a stopover in London, as he returned from his trip to the United States where he held talks with President Donald Trump. The Presidency, however, dismissed insinuations the visit had any significance beyond the ordinary.
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Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu told journalists, yesterday, that Buhari’s technical crew decided to break the long trip from the U.S. to refuel and carry out routine checks.