Actions
Ahmadu Bello University announces date for resumption
The management of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in Kaduna State, has fixed Monday, January 25th, 2021 as the date for the reopening of the institution for academic activities. However, the Director of Public Affairs of the ABU, Mallam Auwal Umar, said in a statement that the resumption date was subject to review by the Federal Government. The statement titled, ‘Ahmadu Bello University fixes January 25 for reopening,’ said the resumption date was approved by the Senate of the University at its 501st (Special) Meeting on Tuesday The statement read, “The 2019/2020 academic session would be completed based on the adjusted calendar as approved by the Senate. “The decision to reopen the University followed the suspension of ASUU strike, and the directive by National Universities Commission...
Uganda election: Will Bobi Wine derail Yoweri Museveni’s sixth term bid?
As millions of Ugandans prepare to pick the country’s president this week, the stakes could not be higher. The run-up to Thursday’s vote has been marred by restrictions on campaigning, arrests of opposition figures and deadly violence. At least 54 people were killed in November as security forces put down protests by opposition supporters. Longtime President Yoweri Museveni, 76, is facing a strong challenge from popular musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine in his bid to secure a sixth, five-year term in office. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was just four years old when Museveni, a former rebel leader, came to power in 1986. In 2005, Uganda’s ruling-party-dominated parliament removed presidential term limits. And in 2017, lawmakers scrapped the age limit of 75 fo...
#EndSARS: Eight arraigned in Ekiti over attack on police stations
Eight persons were on Friday arraigned before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrates’ Court for alleged attacks on police stations and stealing during the recent #EndSARS protests. The defendants are Olatayo Abiodun, 25; Olaoye Toyin, 23; Fasoroti Ifedayo, 25; Ojo Idowu, 18; Adetayo Damola, 20; Owolabi Oluwaseun, 21; Ajewole Ojo, 21, and Moses Ifeanyi, 20. They are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, willful damage, arson and stealing. The defendants were those arrested in connection with the widespread national protests against police brutality which were later hijacked by hoodlums. Their actions resulted in the destruction of property and deaths across the country. Trial The prosecutor, Oriyomi Akinwale, a police inspector, told the court that the defendants committed the ...
US police officer who shot black emergency technician told he will be fired
One of the Louisville police officers who shot Black emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, and the officer that prepared the warrant for the botched raid during which she was killed, were told on Tuesday that the department aimed to fire them. Taylor’s death when police entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, early on March 13 was one of a string of killings of African Americans that fueled mass protest demonstrations across the United States in 2020. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was with her when police burst into the home, fired once at what he said he believed were intruders. Three police officers responded with 32 shots, six of which struck Taylor, killing her. Lawyers for Detective Myles Cosgrove, one of the officers who shot Taylor, and Detective Joshua Jaynes, who prepared ...
Coronavirus: Nigerian government rolls out measures for UK, South African returnees
The Federal Government has rolled out new containment measures against the importation of COVID-19 particularly from the United Kingdom and South Africa, saying returnees from both countries are required to present two documents before boarding. National Coordinator of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, disclosed this during Thursday’s briefing of the Taskforce. He said; “In particular, international travellers must register with the Nigeria international travel portal. “We are concerned a out the emergence of the new variant of COVID-19 in the UK and an additional mutant in South Africa. Our protocol to ensure the safety of our citizens and prevent the importation of cases into the country is one of the most strict. “Specifically, for the UK and South Africa, the P...
Why we shutdown Total E&P gas plant – Rivers community
Obite indigenes in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have an advanced reason for shutting down a gas plant operated by Total Exploration and Producing Nigeria Limited in their domain citing alleged insensitivity of the oil multinational to their plight. The aggrieved natives, drawn from the five villages of Obite community also lamented the alleged refusal of the oil firm to honour a Supreme Court judgement that compensation is paid to the community for the land acquired in the area for its operations. Mr Daniel Clifford Uma, one of the natives, who spoke during the community protest march to the oil firm said, “What you are seeing here today is as a result of total negligence from Total E and P. This thing started 22 years ago. Some of the people that started this ma...
FIFA lodges fresh criminal complaints against Sepp Blatter
Getty Images FIFA has lodged a criminal complaint against former president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter over the finances of a museum in Zurich, Switzerland bringing the name of the ex-President into the fray. The football world governing body lodged the complaint on Tuesday. The involvement of Bladder and other former officials in the FIFA museum project is the crux of the latest allegation of financial impropriety against the 84-year-old, who resigned from his post as president in 2015 amid a corruption scandal. The Swiss have always denied any wrongdoing. However, football’s world governing body allege that Blatter’s administration cost them £420m in renovation costs for “a building that the organisation doesn’t own”, while also “locking itself into a long-term rental agreement on unfavourable...
Nigerian students threaten government over lecturers strike
File Photo The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has given the Federal Government till January 5, 2021, to resolve its impasse with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Describing the ongoing strike action by ASUU as the longest so far, NANS said in Katsina at the weekend that it would mobilise its members to block all Federal highways indefinitely at the end of the ultimatum until the issue is resolved. The President of NANS Comrade Sunday Asefon, who addressed a press conference after a visit to the rescued Kankara school boys said that, “it is ridiculous that government and ASUU have not found a common ground yet and this is leaving us with no other alternative than to do everything within our power to bring an end to this strike. “If by January 5, 2022, there...
Governor Sanwo-Olu: Lagos can’t afford another total lockdown
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the state cannot afford another total lockdown amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Friday said there were indications that the country had entered a second wave of the pandemic. “In Nigeria, the indication is that we have entered a second wave of infections, and we stand the risk of not just losing the gains from the hard work of the last nine months, but also losing the precious lives of our citizens”, Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, who represented Boss Mustapha, chairman of the PTF, said. Sanwo-Olu, who went into isolation last Saturday after testing positive for COVID-19, advised residents to adhere to health protocol and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to help limit the ...
Nigerian polytechnic workers to begin strike January 4
The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANU) is beginning a warning strike on January 4 next year, the President of the association, Adebanjo Ogunsipe, says. In a press statement on Thursday, Mr Ogunsipe said the strike will last 14 days. He said the declaration was owing to the nonchalant attitude of the federal government towards issues bordering on education. Mr Ogunsipe said the polytechnics and tertiary education system generally have a myriad of problems militating against their development. “You may recall that for the past three years, the union has consistently presented these issues in our various communique at the end of our NEC/GEC meetings which comes up at least four times every year for the avoidance of doubt,” he said. Mr Ogunsipe said the association’s dema...
Senators decry executive’s disregard for resolutions on insecurity
Federal lawmakers, on Tuesday, deplored the federal government’s continued disregard for Senate’s resolutions on the issue of national security. The Senators spoke while contributing to a motion on the recent kidnapping of students at the Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State. The Red Chamber had twice called for the replacement of the service chiefs. The lawmakers, in their various contributions to the motion, expressed deep frustration over the recurring issues of killings and kidnappings across the country and the inability of the security agencies to address the challenges. They insisted that the service chiefs had overstayed and should allow other officers with fresh ideas to take over. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger) said, “Every day, people are dying and nothing ...
Why coronavirus will not be last pandemic – UN report
United Nations The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the latest crisis facing the world, will not be the last until humans release their grip on nature, says a new UN report published on Tuesday. According to the report titled “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene,” world leaders need to take bold steps to reduce the immense pressure that is being exerted on the environment and the natural world, or humanity’s progress will stall. “Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. Redefining issues of our time “In the wake of COVID-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden,” said Achim Steiner, the Administrator of ...
