Index to Nigerian Newspapers

Nine lawmakers of the Ekiti House of Assembly have fled to Ibadan, Oyo State, claiming their lives were unsafe. They alleged that a batch of detectives from the Force Criminal Investigation Department arrived in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday to arrest them, led by a Chief Superintendent of Police, Mohammed Abubakar. The lawmakers also alleged that some leaders of the All Progressives Congress were seen helping policemen identify their homes, stressing that they fled Ekiti because their lives were being threatened.The Assembly's Committee Chairman on Information, Youths, and Sports, Gboyega Aribisogan, said it was necessary to come to Ibadan to alert the public to the new clandestine plot by the APC-led Federal Government to cripple the government of Ekiti State. The Assembly has revealed that the three legislators declared missing by the state government actually ran into hiding to evade arrest by the officials of the Department of State Services.The lawmakers had gone underground since March 4, when a member of the legislature, Afolabi Akanni, was arrested and detained for 18 days by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged sundry allegations. The Assembly has directed the state lawmakers to shun any invitation from the DSS due to an alleged plot to arrest and detain them.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has accused Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Olubadan of Ibadan land, of not receiving his allowances for the past six months. The party's Director of Media, Research and Strategy, Dr. AbdulAzeez Olatunde, praised Olubadan for seeking legal action over the installation of 21 new kings by Governor Abiola Ajimobi. Olatunde stated that the monarch collected statutory allocations from the 11 council areas and the state government, stating that both sources had been remitting the money regularly. The APC also noted that the state government has paid all monarchs in the state up to June 2017 from the appropriated fund of the approved budget.