Newspaper Review For Saturday, 22nd of August

1. Buhari Appoints Obasanjo as Special Envoy to Guinea Bissau
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concerned over the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau following the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr Domingos Pereira, and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz. This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina. It stated that Buhari had already sent former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his Special Envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in that country.

2. Bala Muhammad, 5 others eye PDP Chair
There are indications that a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, and five others are warming up to square it up for the vacant position of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Others who are jostling for the job are Prof. Ahmed Alkali, a former Special Adviser on Political Affairs to former President, Goodluck Jonathan, former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil and PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Jalo Abdullahi. According to reports, some governors are pushing for ex-Governor, Sule Lamido and ex-Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema.

3. Airstrike by US kill ISIS Deputy Leader, Haji Mutazz
The United States-led coalition has killed the deputy leader of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Hajji Mutazz. A terse statement by the White House Friday night says Mutazz was “prominently involved in directing ISIS finance operations”. The US Air Force struck the ISIS second in command while he was travelling in a vehicle in company of others.

4. Buhari Suspends Immigration Boss
In a move that may herald the clamp down on officers who might have been implicated in the issuance of visa to a wanted ISIS chieftain, President Muhammadu Buhari has suspended the comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, David Parradang, with immediate effect. His suspension was made known in a statement issued by the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Interior, Mr. Yusuf Isiaka Alhaji, on behalf of the permanent secretary of the ministry on Friday in Abuja.

5. NYSC Secures #200m Bank Facility, Corpers To Access Loan
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Friday said it had secured over N200 million bank facility for disbursement to corps members as loans to enable them start their businesses. Brig-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, the Director-General of the corps, said this when the Commander, Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Musa Yusuf, paid a familiarisation visit to the NYSC Headquarters in Abuja.

6. I Stepped Down For El Rufai Bacause I was told Buhari Endorsed him - Shehu Sani
The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, has revealed that he dropped his ambition to become the Kaduna State governor after party chieftains prevailed on him to step down for Mallam Nasir El-Rufai because he was President Muhammadu Buhari’s choice candidate. While insisting that his present rift with the governor of Kaduna State, El-Rufai, is purely ideological, Sani told Leadership that: “I never intended to contest for the Senate; I wanted to contest for the governorship and I opened offices in Zaria, Kaduna and Kafanchan, and later there was pressure on me that I should step down. Politicians came to meet me; that I should step down and allow el-Rufai to contest because they said he was the favourite of the president.

7. DHQ set up Joint Task Force to Curb Cattle Rustling
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Thursday announced the setting up of a Joint Task Force to curb cattle rustling in some parts of the country. The DHQ, said the task force, comprising men of the Nigerian Army and the Air Force, was specifically put in place to combat cattle rustling at the Kamuku Forest in the North-West and would remain in place until the forest was rid of all criminals and their activities. Also, the DHQ announced the seizure of an illegal vessel containing 150,000 litres of refined petroleum products by its Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, in the Niger Delta region.

8. Excess Crude Account Now Stands at $2.2Bn - FG
The Federal Ministry of Finance on Thursday told the National Economic Council (NEC) that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) now stands at $2.207 billion as at August 2015. The latest figure presented before NEC shows that there has been N200,000,000 (two hundred million naira) increase since the new government came into power in May 29. It would be recalled that the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, noted that the ECA stood at $2.07 billion as at May 2015.

9. Ogun Teachers Decry Delay in Remittance of Salary Deductions
Teachers in Ogun State have cried out over the delay in the remittance of deductions made from their salaries into their cooperative accounts. The teachers, who spoke to our correspondent in separate interviews, said the development, which has persisted for over eight months, has made life difficult for them. The state government is said to be owing various cooperative establishments since last October, only to remit merely the June deductions from civil servants’ salaries. However, the teachers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claimed that the problem had brought them untold hardship, saying that they have committed a large percentage of their salaries to their respective cooperative societies.

10. Students Urge Gov Ambode to end LASU Crises
The Lagos State University Students Union on Friday urged Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to end the lingering crisis between the institution’s vice-chancellor and the staff unions. The Union’s Public Relations Officer, Adebanjo Fatai, said Mr. Ambode should step into the matter to disallow it from getting out of hand.
Mr. Fatai said that the union is in support of the protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students, Zone D, on August 20, to call the governor’s attention to LASU’s crisis. He said that the protest at the Ojo campus of LASU, during which its gate was barricaded for hours, was not aimed at attacking the staff unions or any other personality. “NANS intervened to call on the governor for an action, and not to attack the staff unions. So, their action should not be misinterpreted.