Citizens
Iran says medics exhausted in battle against coronavirus
Iran reported 216 new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, calling on its citizens to observe health protocols more closely to ease the burden on exhausted medical staff. The Islamic republic announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, and the outbreak quickly became the Middle East’s deadliest. Declared coronavirus deaths have surged since the end of June and claimed more than 200 lives nearly every day in the past week, including a record 229 on Tuesday. “Our biggest concerns are the infection and fatigue of medical staff,” health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised briefing on Sunday. “We can help them and prevent the spread of the disease” by observing basic guidelines such as hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing, she added. Iran said ear...
Police ask Governor Wike to handover ex-NDDC chief
Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, has called on Governor Nyesom Wike to handover former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joy Nunieh, to him. On Thursday, July 17, 2020, Governor Wike stopped police operatives from arresting Nunieh from her residence. The governor, who argued that the police had no arrest warrant, thereafter took Nunieh under protective custody in Government House, Port Harcourt. However, while addressing journalists at his office on Friday, July 18, 2020, in Port Harcourt, Mukan asked Wike to handover Nunieh to him, saying the former NDDC MD was under investigation. He said the police officers from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit had been endorsed the Rivers State Police Command before going to Nunieh’s residence to arrest he...
Nigerian government activates all FCT public hospitals for coronavirus sample collection
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), has said that all government hospitals in FCT would become COVID-19 sample collection sites so that walk-in cases could have samples taken for testing. The Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, who announced this during the PTF briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said that the move was geared towards scaling up the number of daily tests conducted in the country daily. “This assures users and caregivers of reduced bottlenecks and improved efficiency in our response. We intend to scale this up to other states of the federation,” he said. Ehanire said that all health workers would be trained and retrained on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and issued PPEs and materials required for discharge of their duties. The minister also directed the deployment a...
Ondo CP: My confrontation with Ondo deputy governor an attempt to promote sentiment
Mr. Bolaji Salami, the Commissioner of Police in Ondo State, has said that the open confrontation between the Deputy Governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, and him is an attempt to promote sentiment. Salami who stated this in a statement signed by the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Tee-Leo Ikoro said the Command would not condone lawlessness in the state. The State Commissioner of Police, Salami, while reacting to the confrontation between him and Ajayi said he has been misrepresented in the video being circulated on the development. Salami described the video being circulated as an attempt to foment sentiment and cause misunderstanding in the state, maintaining that the police under his supervision will take decisive responsibility when performing their legitimate functions as prescr...
President Buhari begs Nigerians to be patient with government on insecurity
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with his government as everything is being put in place to tackle headlong the insecurity in the polity. The President has also approved joint military, police operations to tackle insecurity in North West. President Buhari also called for calm in his home state of Katsina, assuring that security agencies were working to bring the current wave of banditry and killing to a halt. The President in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in Abuja, Tuesday, observed that violent reactions to the security by citizens could distract the plans already laid out by security agencies, assuring that security forces were capable of stemming both terrorism and banditry. The President ...
Katsina urges villagers to expose fleeing bandits
Katsina has called on villagers and rural dwellers to expose fleeing bandits and their informants to quickly end the spate of banditry attacks in some parts of the state. The Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Masari on Security Matters, Ahmad Katsina, told newsmen the ongoing bombardment of the forests by the joint security operatives has forced a few of the remnants of the bandits who escaped to seek refuge amongst villagers. He appealed to communities to be courageous enough in reporting such suspected movements to security agencies for prompt actions. According to him: “Fighting banditry should be a collective effort between the citizens and the security forces, the security forces without the collaboration of the citizens, would find it difficult, so the best approach is the collaborat...
NHRC: Most govt officials are ignorant of human rights
The Ebonyi state coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Christopher Onyekachi, says most government officials are ignorant of human rights. Onyekachi who spoke with newsmen on Monday, in Abakaliki, called on government to make provision for human rights education our various academic institutions. “Most of the government officials are ignorant of human rights. There is need to help us through the program which UNICEF is ready to partner too. “Human rights education should be inserted in the curriculum of the schools so that children from the primary, secondary and Tertiary school levels will be ready to know what their rights are because these are the major people that will form members of the society. “So, when they learn their rights as the basic thing they will ...
301 Chinese nationals evacuated from Nigeria
At least 301 Chinese citizens have returned home from Nigeria. The nationals were evacuated on Thursday night through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The about 20 hours flight is expected to arrive at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China on Friday evening barring any technical or logistics hitches. “Air Peace on Thursday, May 28, 2020, operated its second flight to China as we evacuated 301 Chinese nationals back to their country. “The flight departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at exactly 22:05 yesterday to arrive at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China,” the airline said in a statement on Friday. Although the Federal Government had shut all airports in the county in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, it allowed essent...
Aminu Zang: I’ll unite with Senators Jang, Useni, Mantu for PDP victory in 2023
A candidate for the Chairmanship of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, Hon Aminu Zang, has said that he would reconcile all aggrieved factions and unite with Senator Jonah David Jang, Gen Jeremiah Useni (retd) and former Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu to bring the party back to power in 2023. Zang described himself as a neutral force who desires to lead the party to power if entrusted with its leadership. The aspirant stated this yesterday during a briefing with reporters in Jos, adding that Jang and Useni remain a strong political block that must be united to give Plateau people a purposeful leadership. ‘Primarily, I came to contest the Chairmanship of the PDP because I have all it takes to unify the party as it were; take it or not, there are feuding interests a...
INEC approves new policy framework for Edo, Ondo states
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday approved a new policy framework known as Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic. The commission, in a statement issued by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja said the policy document would be released on May 25. Okoye said that the provisions would be applied to the conduct of governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States scheduled for Sept. 19 and Oct. 10, respectively, as well as other by-elections to be conducted soon in seven states. “The general purpose of the Policy is to enable officials and staff of the Commission to understand and respond adequately to the challenges of conducting elections in the context of the COVI...
Speaker Gbajabiamila inaugurates coronavirus committee, to interface with government
The House of Representatives on Tuesday inaugurated the 18 man ad-hoc Committee on Coronavirus pandemic. The committee has the task of working in tandem with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and by extension, the entire relevant machinery of the federal government to find a solution to the challenges posed by the epidemic. Performing the ritual at the national assembly complex, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila charged the members to give utmost attention to the welfare of frontline workers. He said: “The 18 man Committee we have come to inaugurate reflects the intention of the House of Representative to engage the executive arm of government in a partnership that serves the best interests of the Nigerian people as we join hands to confront and conquer the most severe chal...
Rivers governor splashes N5 million on community which reported unlawful entry of cattle, bearers
Governor Nyesom Wike on Friday rewarded Rumuigbo community, Obio Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers state, with N5 million for providing information which resulted in the arrest of trucks, cattle, and passengers who sneaked into Port Harcourt in breach of the state’s COVID-19 restriction orders. The Governor in a Friday broadcast on state of his administration’s fight against coronavirus also vented frustration on perceived Federal Government (FG) and security agents sabotage of efforts at containing the pandemic in the state. He said, “I commend Rumuigbo community vigilante for rising to the challenge, as any responsible community should do, by intercepting a lorry-load of livestock with 50 persons who illegally entered the State in violation of the lockdown orders. For this show of cour...
