President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday sent his goodwill and prayers to the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar after he was admitted to the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina State. President Buhari, who holds the traditional title of “Bayajidda” Daura, his hometown, said ”he received the news of the Emir’s sudden illness with concern and expressed best wishes for the speedy recovery of the monarch.” “I join the Daura Emirate and the entire people of Katsina State in praying for the recovery of our humble and dedicated Emir, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar,” the President said. The President in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, expressed satisfaction with the reported progress and recovery of the Emir since his hospitalization. Get more stori...
The Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, has expressed worries that residents of the State do not obey the directives of Governor Dapo Abiodun on the compulsory use of face mask. Newsmen reports that Gov Abiodun has directed all indigenes of Ogun State, who must go out during the relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown, to wear a face mask. According to Abiodun, anybody who refuses to wear a face mask will be arrested and quarantined for 14 days. But, Abudu-Balogun, while speaking on Sweet 107.1FM Abeokuta on Wednesday, said many residents of Abeokuta were in town today without face masks. Abudu-Balogun said he decided to see what was happening within the metropolis, saying the people, around Okelewo, did not obey the regulations as they ignored social distancing ...
Farrah Berrou takes The Trip into Lebanon’s wine country. It’s 6:45am and Farrah Berrou, host of the podcasts B is for Bacchus and A Better Beirut, is picking me up in her mom’s car to make the climb out of Beirut, past snow-capped mountains, dusty villages, endless military checkpoints, almost to the border of Syria itself, for a full day of Lebanese wine. We’re going to Domaine Wardy, one of the great wineries of the Beqaa Valley, a winery whose roots started out actually in Aleppo, Syria, long ago. But before that, it’s time for an early-morning trip to Baalbek, the ruins of the colossal roman temple of Bacchus, the god of, among other things, wine and group sex. What a combination, what a testament to the eternal determination of the people in this part of the world to live, and live w...
This week on The Trip podcast: Drinking baijiu with Tom Tillotson in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. At the stroke of midnight in the high mountains near the Canadian border, in a lodge on the property of the abandoned Balsams Resort, there’s a table covered with red-white-and-blue bunting, a podium, two closet-sized voting booths. Five voters, 30 journalists, four TV trucks, two cakes celebrating the 60th anniversary of the midnight voting at Dixville Notch, NH. Now, you may think this a departure from our usual subjects. But for me, the performative small-town democracy of New Hampshire’s primaries has always been the stuff of drinking podcasts. Photographer Shane Carpenter and I were first dragged up here to Dixville Notch 16 years ago by a hard-drinking fringe presidential candida...
This week on The Trip podcast: Eva Castillo on Presidential politics and immigrant advocacy in New Hampshire in the time of Trump. So this was it, election day in New Hampshire, the real starting gun of the race is that is now settling in. And if the Democratic primary looks a bit different nationally than it did when New Hampshire’s results started rolling in (Rest in peace, campaign of Mayor Buttigieg), critics of the first-in-the-nation primary usually point to one main factor: race. The numbers don’t lie: New Hampshire is a very Caucasian state. It is 93% white; that’s like, whiter-than-Wyoming White. Not to be essentialist here, but that not only affects how voters respond to candidates, but also how candidates respond back to voters; the kind of questions they get asked in those famo...
Source: Netflix / Courtesy of Netflix Michelle Obama is clearly disappointed with Black people who didn’t come out to vote in the 2016 presidential election, and she’s letting her frustrations known in her upcoming Netflix documentary “Becoming.” According to the New York Post, Michelle Obama says it was a “slap in the face’’ that minorities didn’t go to the polls in 2016 — and has no plans on re-entering the political spotlight amid a push to make her Joe Biden’s running mate. “It takes some energy to go high, and we were exhausted from it … when you’re the first black anything,’’ Michelle Obama explained in the film, referencing husband Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential win. “You know, the day I left the White House, it was painful to sit on that stage, and then a lot of our folks didn’t ...
Manchester United target and Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho has admitted looking up to Wayne Rooney as a youngster. The Bundesliga winger is believed to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s priority signing for the summer despite the increasing uncertainty surrounding football. Sancho represents the missing piece to United’s otherwise exciting attacking in Marcus Rashford as a left-winger, Anthony Martial as a striker and Bruno Fernandes as an attacking-midfielder. The former Manchester City man would slot in with ease in the right-wing position and give Solskjaer a new dimension to his attack. Sancho has been dropping a few hints over a potential move to the Red Devils with Dortmund reportedly looking for a somewhat realistic fee of €100m. In the video above, Sancho says: “Who did I look up to ...
The Kogi State Government has began the payment of April salaries to civil servants. In spite of the agreement to pay 80% salaries to workers, those in the grade levels of 1-6, were paid in full, while pensioners who retired before harmonization also got their pensions in full. Similarly, all political appointees and the legislators in the state were all paid 80% as salaries in line with the slash in salaries paid in April. The salary payment was confirmed by the Kogi State Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Asiwaju Idris Asiru, who assured that the commitment to workers by the present administration would not be taken for granted. According to the Commissioner, the covid 19 pandemic has opened up new thinking and government has decided to remodel and equip the Special...