Newspaper review: Buhari receives ‘August’ visitor as Tinubu takes drastic step against Melaye

Major Nigerian dailies for Tuesday, July 19, are focused on several national issues such as the tension in the Nigerian Senate, President Muhammadu Buhari’s closed door meeting with some ex- leaders of the National Assembly and the raging war between Senators Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye.

The former Senate presidents, David Mark and Ken Nnamani, former House of Representatives speaker, Aminu Bello Masari (now Katsina state governor) and the senior special assistant to the president on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang were at the presidential villa on Monday, July 17.

It was not clear the agenda of the meetings with the president, but they may not be unconnected with the strained relationship between the presidency and the Senate leadership, The Nation reports.

The Nation front page

At the executive session of the Senate last week, Mark was appointed to lead a team of peace makers. His visit to the villa which was the first since he stepped down as Senate president last year may be part of his effort to normalise the relationship between the Senate and the presidency.

Daily Sun reports that the war between Tinubu and Melaye took a twist on Monday as former wrote a letter to the acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris requesting adequate security.

Daily Sun front page

In the letter titled: Request for Police Protection, Tinubu claimed her life was in danger.

Melaye allegedly verbally assaulted Tinubu on Tuesday, July 12, threatening to beat her.

Tinubu said she would have ignored his threat but she did not feel safe, noting that her request became necessary given what she termed as Melaye’s antecedents in the House of Representatives where a brawl allegedly led by the latter resulted in the death of a lawmaker.

In other news, investigation into the murder of the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige and ex-deputy national chairman (south-south) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Aminasoari Dikibo has been reopened.

Vanguard reports that police authorities have commenced moves to re-arrest some of the principal suspects in the unresolved murders.

Vanguard front page

Report has it that crack detectives attached to the investigating team have commenced recalling the files and studying the confessional statements and investigative reports, with a view to getting ideas on new leads to follow.

All forensic analyses reports pertaining to the case that were hitherto inconclusive, will now be concluded with the new technology available to the police.

Chief Olu Falae, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has expressed optimism that the new probe would fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly acts.

Meanwhile, The Punch reports that some former state governors are reportedly plotting to infiltrate the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by influencing the postings of some security operatives, who were once their aides during their tenure as governors, to the anti-graft agency.

The Punch front page

Most of the former governors are either currently undergoing investigations or had been arraigned by the anti-graft agency for alleged corruption.

It was learnt that the ex-governors came up with this strategy after failing to get the commission to either drop the cases against them or to frustrate the cases in courts.

Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the commission was said to have been surprised to discover that a former Aide-De-Camp to an ex-governor from a North-Central, who is undergoing trial for alleged corruption, was working at a sensitive position in the commission.

Due to the discovery, the anti-graft agency is reportedly planning an overhaul of its investigators by carrying out discreet investigations about their past.

On the front page of The Guardian is the headline: “Low patronages threatens local meter production.”

The Guardian front page

The electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) have been accused of being unwilling phase out estimated billing of electricity consumers.

Manufacturing companies in the country say they are on the verge of losing over N50 billion invested in the production of smart meters because of low patronage by electricity DISCOs and lack of credit from banks.

Report has it that even when the DISCOs have meters in stock, they would delay or decline altogether installation and insist on estimated billing to increase profit.

The over N50 billion invested by the local manufacturers to produce meters to meet the demand of one million units of the product by the government may be ruined if urgent steps are not taken to increase patronage.

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