Newspaper Headlines: FG spent $1bn to recover territories seized by terrorists, says Buhari

The Punch says controversy has surrounded the presence of a team of police officers at the residence of Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in the federal capital territory (FCT). The newspaper reports that Buhari said Nigeria has spent $1 billion on military hardware to recover territories seized by terrorists.

The Nation says Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Atiku Abubakar,  candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of planning to sell the country’s assets to his allies. The newspaper reports that Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the general election will be held as planned despite violence in various parts of the country.

THISDAY reports that Stephen Baba Panya, president of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), said the church would soon announce its preferred presidential candidate for the February 25 election. The newspaper says Zainab Ahmed, minister of budget and planning, said the projected economic recession for 2023 should not pose much threat to Nigeria owing to the $34 billion in the nation’s foreign reserves.

Daily Trust reports that INEC has disclosed that it will conduct mock accreditation in selected polling units to ascertain the integrity of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS). The newspaper says the plan by the federal government to raise between N320 billion and N400 billion per month in bond sales has been described as too ambitious.

Daily Independent reports that the federal government has presented certificates of registration to Congress of University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA). The newspaper says the Atiku campaign organisation has asked Nigerians not to submit to the “overlordship” of Tinubu.