Friday
Coronavirus: Nigeria records 18 more deaths, 645 new infections
A total of 1,831 deaths have now been recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria after 18 more people died on Saturday, health authorities have said. The 18 deaths on Saturday indicated a significant increase from the eight fatalities recorded on Friday. Nigeria also reported 645 new infections on Saturday, increasing the total number of known cases in the country to 151,553. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday night. Low testing figures in many states has limited Nigeria’s ability to determine the true extent of the spread of COVID-19. A recent general fact sheet published by the NCDC showed that Kogi, Cross River and some other states were not conducting enough tests. More than two-third of the over 151,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeri...
Official: Why Imo government invited soldiers to Orlu
The Imo State Government has declared its support for the “ongoing military operation” in Orlu Local Government Area of the state. There were apprehensions in Orlu a few days ago when a military helicopter flew at low level in the area. Channels TV quoted the Attorney General of Imo State, Cyprian Akaolisa, as saying the operation, which was conducted jointly with the police, was aimed at “clearing camps” said to have been built by the Eastern Security Network, a security arm of the pro-Biafra group, IPOB. Akaolisa, who briefed reporters on Friday in Owerri, said the Nigerian Army was invited to Orlu by the Imo State Government. He said “the state government got intelligence that IPOB was planning an attack against the Orlu people and the government, under the pretext of looking for herder...
Edo government warns worship, events centres against violating coronavirus protocols
The Edo State Government has warned owners of event centres, eateries, restaurants, pubs, shopping malls and other places hosting social events in the state against violating the state’s COVID-19 prevention protocols. In a statement signed on Saturday by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, the government said event centres or business premises that violate regulations on social gatherings would be shut and owners or operators would be prosecuted at designated mobile courts. Ogie noted that the state COVID-19 compliance team had been mandated to ensure strict enforcement of the directives at the weekend, starting from Friday, February 19, 2021, with instructions to ensure full compliance with the protocols. “The Edo State Government hereby warns all event centres, eaterie...
Nasarawa assures electoral agency of total independence
Nasarawa State has assured its internal electoral agency of a free hand to run elections into the 13 local councils. The Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Akabe, disclosed this on Friday while declaring open a two-day training workshop organised for members and staff of the Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC). Akabe, who represented Governor Abdullahi Sule at the event, assured that the state government would not interfere in the conduct of council elections, but support the complete independence of the commission to conduct free, fair and credible council elections. “In a society like ours, free, fair and credible election constitutes the basic principle of democracy. In this regards, electoral administrators are the drivers who ensure that the tenets of democracy are greatly...
U.S. to de-link Ethiopian aid pause from dam policy
The U.S. State Department on Friday said Washington will de-link its pause on some aid to Ethiopia from its policy on the giant Blue Nile hydropower dam that sparked a long-running dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that President Joe Biden’s administration will review U.S. policy on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and will assess the role the administration can play in facilitating a solution between the countries. A bitter dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the filling and operation of the dam remains unresolved even after the reservoir behind the dam began filling in July. “We continue to support collaborative and constructive efforts by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to reach an agreement on the GERD,” P...
Prince Harry, Meghan markle officially resign from royal duties
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have resigned from all duties related to the UK’s royal family. A statement by Buckingham Palace on Friday revealed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would no longer serve as working members of the royal family. “Following conversations with The Duke, The Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service,” the statement read. It also disclosed that the couple’s honorary military appointments and royal patronages would go back to Queen Elizabeth II for redistribution. “While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family,” the statement concluded. Get more stories like...
Chelsea boss takes blame for Hakim Ziyech struggles at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has shouldered the blame for Hakim Ziyech’s stalled progress at Stamford Bridge, challenging the midfielder to fight for his place in the team. Morocco international Ziyech, who signed in July, has only featured twice so far under Tuchel, leading to suggestions the former Ajax star could seek a summer exit. But Tuchel is adamant he will need to call on Ziyech as the hectic season unfolds. “It is my fault actually, not his,” Tuchel said on Friday. “It is my hard decisions at the moment as well for Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and for Christian Pulisic sometimes in the half positions where we seem the strongest. “It is the same for Hakim at the moment and for some other players — there were hard decisions to make. It is never easy but it is a good thing, we have...
Senator Saraki calls for stakeholders’ meeting on solution to insecurity
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has called for a stakeholders meeting to find solution to the problems of insecurity across the country. Saraki made the suggestion in Minna, Niger State on Friday while fielding questions from newsmen after leading the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Reconciliation and Search Committee to former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at his uphill residence. “It (insecurity) is of great concern to all of us as I have always said it is a matter that should not just be left to the government. “It is a matter that both the ruling party, opposition and elder statesmen should all meet and contribute to find solution to the problem so that we can successfully address the problem,” Saraki said. On the mandate of the committee, the former Senate Preside...
Asiwaju Tinubu: How Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for president
National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has recounted how late first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for the president in Nigeria. Tinubu revealed this on Friday during the eight-day Fidau prayer for Jakande in Ilupeju area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. He said Lagos State was luck to have a man like Jakande and that those in government had been extremely lucky to draw from his fountain of knowledge. ”To all of us in Lagos, we have been extremely lucky to have him, extremely lucky to draw from the fountain of his knowledge, Nigeria equally is lucky but when the crisis of military and many other arose, we met him, we said, we want Jakande but he said, he was no longer interested in becoming the president in the mi...
Fire guts goods worth over N35 million in Aba
A late evening fire outbreak on Thursday gutted a three-storey building at No 74 Jubille Road, Aba, Abia, destroying goods worth more than N35 million. The fire also gutted a makeshift warehouse at the back of the three-storey building with Motorcycle spare parts and also burnt the contents of rooms on three floors at the back of the main building. Newsmen visited the scene of the incident and reports that the three-storey building, other adjoining blocks with their wares were not spared by the inferno. Mr Donatus Ezenwaka, a victim and Motorcycle Spare Parts dealer at the building told newsmen on Friday that he was called back at about 11 pm to his shop by a neighbour because the building was on fire. “I came and it was as told me and there was a crowd around here. “They said the fire beg...
Hundreds of thousands protest in Myanmar as army faces crippling mass strike
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to run the country. People surround a police vehicle as they protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar February 12, 2021 in this still grab obtained by Reuters from a video on February 13, 2021. Trains in parts of the country stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media reported, while the military deployed soldiers to power plants only to be confronted by angry crowds. A civil disobedience movement to protest against the Feb. 1 coup that deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi started with doctors. It now affects a swa...
Iran’s president warns of coronavirus ‘fourth wave’
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned Saturday of a Covid-19 “fourth wave” as cases rise in certain areas of the Middle Eastern country hardest hit by the pandemic. “This is a warning for all of us,” Rouhani said in televised remarks. He said some cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan were now “red” — the highest on Iran’s colour-coded risk level — after weeks of low alert levels across the country. “This means the beginning of moving towards the fourth wave. We all have to be vigilant to prevent this,” Rouhani added. The country of more than 80 million people has lost close to 59,000 lives out of more than 1.5 million cases of Covid infection. Iran has officially registered less than 7,000 daily infections since late December, but the number has crossed this level since early ...
