ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

28 Nov ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

🌍 The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State, which held that Senate President Ahmad Lawan was not the APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2023 elections and affirmed Bashir Machina as the authentic candidate .

🌍Oil prices fell to near their lowest levels this year on Monday as street protests against strict COVID-19 curbs in China, the world’s biggest crude importer, stoked concern about the outlook for fuel demand. Brent crude dropped $2.66, or 3.1%, to trade at $80.97 a barrel at 1000 GMT, after diving more than 3% to $80.61 earlier in the session – its lowest since Jan. 4.

* The Shell Petroleum Development Company has begun exporting limited amounts of oil from the Bonny terminal as the company works to reinstate full pipeline operation.

🌍Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, has refuted allegations of budget padding by some ministries, departments and agencies. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management had alleged that N206,242,395,000 put in its budget without its knowledge. But in a statement, the Special Adviser to the finance minister on media and communications, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, said the funds in question were only wrongly captured in the budget estimates submitted to the National Assembly.

🌍The Ministry of Transportation has announced a postponement of the resumption date for the Abuja-Kaduna rail services. The Minister, Mu’azu Sambo, spoke in Kaduna on Sunday during an inspection tour to assess the state of readiness of the Abuja-Kaduna rail services before the commencement of operations. No new date was provided.

🌍The NNPCL and NIPCO Gas Limited have signed a gas infrastructure agreement with the Lekki Free Trade Zone Development company ( LFZDC ) to enhance gas supply to industries in the Lekki corridor of Lagos State.

🌍Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina says his principal, President Buhari, has done enough to leave a safer nation and the security situation has indeed improved.

🌍Nigeria has begun the process of refining gold, gemstones and other mineral resources in the six geo-political regions of Nigeria, according to Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite.

🌍Ademola Adeleke was on Sunday sworn in as the governor of Osun state. Adeleke, who contested the governor election on the platform of the PDP, defeated Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who was seeking re-election.

🌍Security Stories: Troops of Operation Forest Sanity neutralised four bandits during clearance operations in identified hideouts around Tsohon Gayan, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, according to Samuel Aruwan, the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs.

* Some hoodlums have set the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on fire.

🌍Russia-Ukraine War: Ukraine’s national power supplier says it is back at about 80% capacity. Russian strikes have wreaked havoc on the country’s energy grid ahead of winter.

* Power, water, heat and internet are “almost completely restored” in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv after a scramble to make repairs, city leaders said.

* Shelling killed at least 16 people and wounded 37 others in the Kherson region in recent days, local officials say. Residents are evacuating due to Russian attacks.