APC Patrons Launch Battle To Sack Saraki’s Supporters And Other Newspaper Headlines Today

Senate President Bukola Saraki’s political future is causing ripples in the Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC). Saraki, who is the leader of the party in the state, is obviously on his way out, following the defection of 13 APC senators to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Saraki is yet to announce his political future, but stakeholders across the state’s three senatorial districts yesterday insisted on the dissolution of the Ishola Balogun-Fulani-led state executive, which is believed to be loyal to the Senate president. According to THE NATION, DAILY INDEPENDENT and the VANGUARD, the stakeholders recognised the Bashir Bolarinwa faction, they also ordered for its dissolution to allow a level playing field for fresh members of the party. Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed read the stakeholders resolution in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area. The resolution reads: “That Balogun Fulani-led Kwara APC executive committee be immediately dissolved and a fresh congress that will include all Kwara APC members and those who are just coming into the party be held at the various levels to constitute a new executive.

According to THE PUNCH Buhari didn’t want alliance with Tinubu in 2013 says R-APC chair. The Chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress, Buba Galadima, said President Muhammadu Buhari was against forming an alliance with a former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, who had nominated Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate before the 2015 elections. He also said he blocked the Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, from becoming the running mate of  Buhari during the build-up to the 2015 Presidential election. Galadima said this during an interview with ‘The Interview’, an Abuja-based monthly magazine. He, however, said he was the one who insisted that he would not sign the correspondence to the Independent National Electoral Commission unless Bakare’s name was removed.

Moving to the Security sector, Buhari sends 1,000 combined forces to Zamfara. According to NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the deployment of 1,000 strong combined military force in Zamfara State, to tackle attacks attributed to bandits which have claimed many lives in the state. A statement issued by Garba Shehu, senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), in Abuja saying the security forces would launch “fierce attacks” on the bandits terrorizing the villages and towns of Zamfara State.

DAILY SUN reports that Troops kill I6 terrorists and recovered arms and ammunition in Mairari village, Mungono Local Government Area, Borno State. Also one soldier and four civilians were injured during the operation.

Moving to the 2019 elections, NEW TELEGRAPH reveals President Muhammadu Buhari saying, my victory in 2019’ll be landslide. President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday boasted that he will win the 2019 presidential election by a landslide despite recent defections of some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The president, who gave a state-by-state analysis of how he will win the election, said despite all the noise by PDP, he expects his soaring popularity to be reflected in the 2019 elections. “In the final analyses, despite all the noise from our ‘noisy neighbours,’ we may be in for a landslide victory in 2019,” he said.

Nigeria gets fresh prospects in ECOWAS, int’ll trade according to THE GUARDIAN. The upcoming handover of a $4.5 billion Seme border facility to Nigeria and the Republic of Benin has increased hopes of smoother trade across West Africa and with third party countries.The European Union (EU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have embarked on a technical simulation of the new post, which will be opened for preliminary operations today, ahead of the official launch in September. Reports show that Nigeria will be the better for the initiative. The total trade of the West African region is about $300 billion. Exports are projected at approximately $137.3 billion, while imports total about $80.4 billion. The main active countries in trade are Nigeria, which alone accounts for approximately 76 per cent of total trade, followed by Ghana (9.2 per cent) and Côte d’Ivoire (8.64 per cent).

Finally from Business Day, earnings season lifts stocks as investors cheer results. Investors are bidding stocks higher after a flurry of positive half year corporate earnings by Nigerian companies last week helped the stock market climb by 0.58 percent Friday. Among the companies that posted impressive half-year earnings last week include Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Fidson healthcare and 11 plc (Mobil). Other companies that posted profit last week were Dangote Cement, Okomu Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Dangote Sugar. The flurry of positive half year earnings comes at a time where a long standing sell-off, triggered by political uncertainty ahead of the 2019 Nigeria elections and rate hikes in the United States, have pushed the market to a negative return of 4 percent year to date.
“Despite the continued sell-off in the equities market in recent times, we believe this presents decent entry opportunities in our quality names,” Investment One said in a research note to clients Friday. “Furthermore, we could see investors take position in anticipation of the release of H1 2018 results and possible corporate action,” the financial advisory firm noted.