Emergency
21 runners dead as extreme weather hits China ultramarathon
Twenty-one people were killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds hit runners taking part in a 100-kilometre (62-mile) cross-country mountain race in China, state media said Sunday. The extreme weather struck a high-altitude section of the race held in the scenic Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin city in northwestern Gansu province Saturday afternoon. Among the dead were elite Chinese long-distance runners, local media reported. Official news agency Xinhua confirmed the death toll had risen to 21, citing the local rescue command headquarters. State broadcaster CCTV also reported the final missing competitor had been found dead. Baiyin city mayor Zhang Xuchen said that at around midday Saturday a section of the rugged ultramarathon course — between kilometres 20 and 31 — was “sudde...
Ebonyi governor: Some people in South-east think 2023 elections won’t hold
David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says some people in the south-east region are convinced that the 2023 elections will not hold. Umahi said those with such a mindset believe that if elections do not take place, the national assembly will declare a state of emergency in the region. In recent times, the south-east has witnessed a spate of attacks on police stations and government facilities including offices belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Speaking at the presidential ministerial press briefing on Thursday, Umahi said the country will remain together under the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended), noting that “until it is changed, nobody can do anything about it”. “A lot of people have been brainwashed in the south-east about Biafra. The Biafra I des...
Ogun governor suspends aide arrested for ‘fraud’ in US
The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has suspended his aide, Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested in the United States for an alleged $350,000 (about N140 million) COVID-19 unemployment fraud. Kunle Somorin, Abiodun’s chief press secretary, confirmed the suspension to newsmen on Tuesday. This was also confirmed to newsmen by the chief press secretary to Abiodun, Kunle Somorin. “Our position is that the law should take its course,” Somorin said in a WhatsApp interview. “Meanwhile, the governor has ordered his immediate suspension from office to answer charges against him.” Sources within the government told newsmen that the governor took the action immediately he was briefed about Rufai’s arrest. This newspaper earlier reported that Rufai, Senior Special Assistant to Abiodun, was arrested l...
INEC increases polling units in Anambra to 5,720
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has increased polling units in Anambra from 4,608 to 5,720. Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, INEC Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, disclosed this on Monday in Awka during Stakeholders’ Forum on Expansion of Voter Access to Polling Units. Orji explained that the expansion became necessary as the commission last expanded its polling units more than two decades ago. “From INEC records, the existing polling units were created 25 years ago and some of them today are in locations where they no longer promote healthy electoral activities. “Some of the polling units are located in front of shrines, some in private buildings and others in churches,” he said. Orji, who said that INEC national headquarters began the process about two weeks ago, hinted ...
Federal pensioners pull out of pensions union
The crisis among pensioners on Sunday got messier as Federal Civil Service Pensioners (FCSP) finally opted out of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) over alleged denial of the branch’s rights and privileges. Members of FCSP also premised their decision on “illegal and unconstitutional” appointment of a caretaker committee by the NUP at its April National Delegates Conference held in Abuja. FCSP announced it was pulling out from NUP in a communique issued at the end of the emergency NEC meeting of the union which was held at Labour House by its national chairman, Omezi Sunday. Sunday explained that opting out became necessary over the lingering trade dispute between the FCSP and the NUP. According to him, the protracted impasse is occasioned by the blatant refusal of the NUP to give a co...
House asks federal government to suspend upcoming census exercise
Following the ravaging insecurity in the country, the House of Representatives yesterday called on the federal government to suspend the upcoming census exercise until security improved. The House also said it will be counter-productive and a waste of scarce financial resources to conduct such exercise amidst the economic recession. The call was made on the heel of a motion under matters of urgent public importance titled “Call on the federal government of Nigeria to Suspend the Proposed 2021 Population and Housing Census to be conducted by the National Population Commission” sponsored by Shelia Barwa Bell. Moving the motion, Bell said that the state of insecurity would not guarantee accuracy if the census was conducted now, arguing that many Nigerians have fled their homes and villages. H...
UNICAL security apprehends suspected cultists with hard drugs on campus
Security operatives in the University of Calabar, UNICAL, have arrested two suspected cultists for being in possession of packs of 100mg of tramadol on campus. The suspect, Abarakwe Darlington, 23, and Asuquo Effiong, 25, were arrested following an interrogation from the security operatives after he allegedly beat up an ice cream vendor, George Emmanuel, who had raised an alarm that he sold the suspects ice cream and they refused to pay him. The Acting Chief Security Officer of the University, So Usani Okon-Etim(rted), told some Journalists on Wednesday on campus that the suspects were arrested close to the moot court on campus. He said: “These two suspects bought ice cream from the seller and they refused to pay him, rather they started flogging him. The boy however raised alarm and some ...
Mexico City rail overpass collapses, killing 15 and injuring 70
Fifteen people were killed and 70 hurt when an overpass carrying Mexico City metro train cars partially collapsed on to a road on Monday night, authorities said. A dramatic video on local channel Milenio TV shows the overpass of the metro’s 12 line collapsing on top of cars on a road below. Videos on television and social media showed emergency medical crews and firefighters combing through the wreckage looking for survivors. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said 15 people were killed and that a car was trapped under the rubble. Sheinbaum said on Twitter “unfortunately there are dead and injured people. I am on site supporting the installation of the command center.” The city’s Comprehensive Risk Management and Civil Protection Agency initially put the toll at 13 and 70 people injured. ...
Nigeria’s president under fire over surging violence
With his country ensnared in mounting jihadist violence, bandit attacks and kidnappings, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is under fire from allies and enemies alike for appearing incapable of tackling the security crisis. April saw an almost daily toll of bloody assaults and abductions in Africa’s most populous nation. In the past week alone, at least 240 people have been killed and more than four dozen kidnapped, according to tallies by local media. The fatalities included 19 Fulani herders gunned down in southeastern Anambra state; five students in the northwest who were shot to death days after gunmen snatched them from their campus; 31 troops, slain in a jihadist ambush in the Lake Chad region; and nine police killed by cattle thieves in northwestern Kebbi state. Senators, local go...
Katsina governor: State of emergency won’t solve security problems
The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, on Thursday said that declaration of state of emergency on security will not solve the security situation in the country. The House of Representatives had on Tuesday in its resolution on a motion over the worsening security situation in the country called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security. But Governor Masari, who was a former Speaker of House of Representatives said that declaration of a state of emergency was not the solution, rather the commitment of every Nigerian irrespective of political and religious affiliations to a peaceful nation. He spoke to State House correspondents after meeting with the Chief of staff to the president, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He appealed ...
APC chieftain asks President Buhari to declare state of emergency on security
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Otunba Olusegun Agbalajobi, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently declare a state of emergency on security in the country. This, he said has become a child of necessity following the rising waves of kidnappings, killings, banditry, insurgency and other manifestations of insecurity bedeviling the country. Agbalajobi, in a statement titled, ‘Nigeria and its preponderance of insecurity’ issued in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, said declaring emergency on security would help to stem the rising waves of security challenges that are fast pushing Nigeria to precipice. He stressed that the worsening security situation in the country requires desperate and decisive measure in the best interest of Nigerians, hence, the need to ...
U.S. pledges sustained help for India in tackling coronavirus crisis
Senior U.S. officials on Tuesday pledged sustained support for India in helping it deal with the world’s worst current surge of COVID-19 infections, warning the country is still at the “front end” of the crisis and overcoming it will take some time. The White House’s National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell, told a virtual event on the U.S. assistance that President Joe Biden had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a phone call on Monday: “You let me know what you need and we will do it.” Campbell said at the event, organized by the U.S.-India Business Council and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, that Washington was committed to helping the world’s second most populous country get to grips with the crisis. “We all have to realize that this is no...
