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Official: No evidence of cholera outbreak in Oyo community

The Commissioner for Health in Oyo State, Dr Bashir Bello, says there is no evidence to back recent claims of a cholera outbreak in Lagun Village of the Lagelu Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State. This is contained in a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday by Mr Taiwo Adisa, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Seyi Makinde.According to the commissioner, the state Ministry of Health has submitted the report of its technical committee that investigated the claim of cholera outbreak in Lagun village. The report, entitled, “Re: Rumours of suspected cholera outbreak in Lagelu LGA of Oyo State,” was signed by the Commissioner. The report, Bello said, indicated that investigations by the state’s Epidemiological Team, including the Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer (DSNO) and t...

Police dismiss 10 officers for misconduct in Lagos

The Police Command in Lagos yesterday announced the dismissal of 10 police officers for various offences. The command’s spokesperson, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, said this was in a bid to promote discipline and core values of policing in the state. Adejobi said the command tried 81 personnel for various criminal and disciplinary offences that were committed between October 2019 and October 2020. The offences, he said, ranged from murder, discreditable conducts, excessive use of power, corrupt practices and negligence. According to him, the command dismissed 10 personnel, reduced the ranks of 18 officers and issued warning letters to others. “Others were awarded extra fatigue, while 16 of the men were discharged and acquitted for want of evidence. “The personnel tried in the order...

US election crimes director resigns after Donald Trump’s attorney general authorises probes

The top federal investigator of election crimes in the US has resigned just hours after Donald Trump’s attorney general William Barr authorised probes into claims of voter fraud. Richard Pilger, director of the election crimes branch of the Department of Justice, stepped down from the post he has held since 2010 on Monday. The branch director, Richard Pilger, handed in his resignation within hours of Barr’s authorization. In an email to colleagues about Barr’s order, Pilger said, “Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role,” The New York Times reported. US Attorney General William Barr gave federal prosecutors blanket authorization Monday to open investigations into voting irregularities, as President Donald Trump repeated u...

Senator Ndoma-Egba: Attack on my house premeditated

Former Senate Leader and ex-Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndo­ma-Egba, has said that the re­cent onslaught on his abode in Calabar, Cross River State, was well planned by the per­petrators and those that may have prompted them. Ndoma-Egba, who spoke through a statement, lament­ed that despite assurances given by the security agen­cies that his house would be secured, there was no evi­dence of any security offi­cer in the vicinity when the hoodlums carried out their nefarious operation for over four hours. “At about 2.am (local time, as I was abroad) on Saturday 24th October, 2020, I received a text informing me that there were plans by arranged hoodlums to attack my residence in Cal­abar, that of Senator Ger­shom Bassey and a hotel owned by Senator Joh...

House of Rep member arraigned over ‘N1.6 million bribe’

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged a member of the House of Representatives, Oghuma Egwakhide, for allegedly collecting N1.6 million as bribe from three contractors. In a statement on Thursday, the commission said Mr Egwakhide was charged on a four-count before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Jabi. The commission accused Mr Egwakhide, who represents Etsako East/West/Central Federal Constituency, Edo State, of collecting kickbacks from contractors handling school projects in his constituency. The ICPC said investigations revealed that Mr Egwakhide, demanded 10 per cent kickbacks from the N16.5 million contract for the construction of one block of three classrooms at Fugar Mixed Secondary Sc...

Embattled AfDB chief survives another probe into his conduct

Embattled President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Adewumi Adesina, has survived a second round of investigation into his conduct, giving him a boost in his re-election bid next month. A team of independent auditors demanded for by the US government said they could not find proof he had engaged in corruption or nepotism as anonymous whistleblowers had alleged. The panel was set up on the insistence of the US to review the report of the Ethics Committee of AfDB, which had earlier cleared Adesina of wrongdoings as alleged by whistleblowers. The unanimous report of the independent panel of three said there had been insufficient evidence to prove the allegations. According to the report, the members of the panel said they “considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds ...

Grand jury indicts Woodberry for ‘wire fraud’

Olalekan Ponle, a Nigerian held in the United States for alleged multi-million-dollar fraud, has been indicted by the grand jury, a group of lawyers empowered to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct. Ponle, popularly known as Woodberry, alongside Ramoni Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, was arrested in the United Arab Emirate on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit. According to the complaint, an unnamed Chicago company was defrauded into sending wire transfers totalling $15.2 million. Companies based in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say. Newsmen reported how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nabbed Ponle through details accessed from his What...

House of Reps quizzes NDDC over N70.495 billion awarded contracts

The House of Representatives at the weekend flagged off its investigation into the N70.495 billion allegedly paid by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to 1,773 contractors as mobilization fees without resorting to site, between 2008 and 2012. Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Wole Oke who presided over the investigative hearing into the audit queries from the Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF) for the period under review, underscored the need for the NDDC acting Managing Director, Prof. Pondei Kemerbrandikumo to provide details of the projects and list of all defaulting contractors along with a statement of accounts showing the recovered funds as alluded to by the NDDC acting Director of Internal Audit, Mr Itu Eno Ubi who argued that only the sum of N19 bill...

George Floyd: We’ll evaluate evidence – US

The United States says it will compile and evaluate information obtained from witnesses in the killing of a black man, George Floyd. In a joint statement on Thursday, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Minneapolis Field Office said they were conducting a “robust criminal investigation” into the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s killing on May 25. “The Department of Justice asks for cooperation from all witnesses who believe they have relevant information and urges calm as investigators methodically continue to gather facts. “The Department of Justice and FBI’s comprehensive investigation will compile all available information and thoroughly evaluate evidence and information obtain...

WHO pledges to use ‘every tool’ to fight coronavirus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) would use every tool at its disposal to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General, has said. Ghebreyesus spoke at the closing of two-day virtual World Health Assembly in Geneva. In his speech posted on WHO website, Ghebreyesus said some of the recommendations from the assembly would be shared and be implemented. “WHO’s focus now is fighting the pandemic with every tool at its disposal. “Our focus is on saving lives. At the end of the day, what matters is life. That should be at the centre of everything we do and everything we say. “I’ve been heartened by the way countries have shared experiences, best practices through our regular Member State briefings and at this Assembly,’’ he said. The director general said the agency woul...

No ‘miracle cure’ for coronavirus until clinical trials prove Madagascar’s herbal medicine

Scientists are putting an herbal remedy from Madagascar, purported to cure COVID-19, to the test. Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, in Potsdam, are collaborating with a U.S. company, ArtemiLife, to test an extract from the plant Artemisia annua to determine its effectiveness in speeding recovery from the virus. “We are working with two independent laboratories to ensure the highest possible quality and exclude any bias in the results,” Peter Seeberger, lead researcher, told VOA in an email response. Seeberger is hopeful the first results will be back soon. “We have collected a significant body of data but are again repeating the work to make sure any results are reproducible multiple times,” he said. “Within the next couple of weeks, we will be in a ...