Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Sunday morning

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1. Troops of the Nigerian Army have killed two suspected kidnappers, rescued an abducted victim and recovered N10 million ransom during an operation in Falgore Forest, Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State. The operation, conducted by troops of 3 Brigade under Operation MESA, followed the abduction of Alhaji Kabiru Aliyu at Fanyabo village in Falgore Forest on October 11, 2026.

2. Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shuaibu, arrived in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, on Saturday, amid heightened tensions and a looming protest by the parents of 78 school children who were abducted in May. The high-stakes visit comes as the parents shelved a planned journey to the nation’s capital, where they had threatened to occupy the streets outside the Presidential Villa in Abuja until President Bola Ahmed Tinubu personally addressed their plight.

3. Five people have been confirmed dead at Aduloju Bus Stop along the Ojoo–Iwo Road Expressway in Ibadan, Oyo State on Saturday after a fully loaded 45,000-litre diesel tanker reportedly crushed five people in a road crash. According to sources, the incident involved a tanker, an unregistered car, and four commercial cabs popularly called Micra vehicles, leaving five people feared dead.

4. The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State has asked the State Police Command and other security agencies to pursue the perpetrators of the brutal killing of a middle-aged man, Ridwan Adeyemo, who was reportedly hacked to death by some assailants on Friday at Agbokojo Area of Ibadan. The party urged security operatives to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice.

5. Vice President Kashim Shettima has said he fears divisions within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, more than he fears the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections. Shettima spoke on Saturday in Abuja when he unveiled the campaign head office of Arewa for Asiwaju, A4A, a northern coalition backing the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, and formally inaugurated its campaign structure.

6. The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation, MDPCO, has vowed that its candidate, Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, will defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 12 battleground states, including Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, in the January 2027 presidential election. The campaign organisation said Tinubu’s planned visits to the states would do little to change what it described as growing opposition to his re-election.

Oyo State Police Command has rescued a one-month-old baby girl allegedly sold for N2m and arrested two suspects, including the baby’s mother and the owner of the health facility where she was delivered. The incident occurred in Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State. The suspects are the baby’s mother, 23-year-old Cecilia Amos, and the owner of Ebepraise Health Centre, Ido, Dr Adeleke Ebenezer, 40.

8. Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have arrested 95 suspected cultists in coordinated raids on criminal hideouts across the state. The operatives recovered five firearms, comprising two pump-action guns, one locally fabricated cut-to-size gun and two locally made pistols, alongside 12 live cartridges and seven expended cartridges.

9. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, on Saturday took his political consultations to Ogba Land, a kingdom in Rivers and appealed to the traditional leaders to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. Addressing the traditional council at the Palace of the Oba (King) of Ogba Land, Nwachukwu Obuoha-Obi III, in Omoku, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers, Wike said “supporting Tinubu is a support for prosperity”.

10. The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, has criticised Nigeria’s economic situation, saying economic growth is meaningless if citizens continue to become poorer. Obi made the remark in a post on X on Saturday, marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. He argued that rising poverty levels showed that the country was moving backwards despite its abundant human and natural resources.