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Atiku Abubakar receives coronavirus vaccine
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has received Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. Confirming the news, Publisher of Ovation magazine, Chief Dele Momodu, displayed Atiku’s picture when he was administered the vaccine by a medical practitioner. Though Dele did not mention the place Atiku took the vaccine but information reaching newsmen said it was in Dubai. In one paragraph sentence, Dele wrote: “Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination…” Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination… pic.twitter.com/286BCmBqHD — Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) January 7, 2021 Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has recorded 1,664 new COVID-19 ca...
Russian coronavirus vaccine trials begin in UAE as cases rise
Abu Dhabi has started Phase III clinical trials of Russia’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, known as Sputnik V, amid a surge in infections in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s media office said on Thursday. The human trial, announced in October before the recent rise in cases, is initially seeking up to 500 volunteers to be vaccinated at a hospital in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Two doses of the vaccine will be given, 20 days apart, to volunteers, the statement said. Participants will have to be 18 years or older, have not previously been infected with COVID-19 or participated in other COVID-19 vaccine trials, it said. The UAE is also conducting Phase III trials of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The UAE has approved the vaccine and it is a...
YouTube removes Donald Trump video addressing US Capitol attack
YouTube has removed a video from US President Donald Trump addressing a mob attack on the Capitol today because the president repeats false information about the outcome of the 2020 election. The company will allow Trump’s message to appear in other creators’ videos if there is proper educational or news context; basically, if people are talking about Trump’s message as part of a greater point, YouTube will allow it to remain up. The removal comes after YouTube instituted a new policy update in December 2020 that forbids any type of content that alleges widespread voter fraud impacted the results of the 2020 presidential election. In Trump’s new video, which was also posted to Twitter and Facebook, he continued to spread misinformation about the 2020 election, calling the results fraudulen...
Edo election: Court annuls Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Gani Audu’s APC candidacy
An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has nullified the candidacy of the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in the State, Mr. Gani Audu. The court presided over by Justice Courage Ogbebor, by extension, also nullified the candidacy of the party’s governorship candidate for the election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Audu is a former member of the State House of Assembly. The Plaintiff, Sunday Kadiri, from Ogbona ward, in Etsako West Local Government Area of the State, had asked the court to disqualify Audu from participating in the election on account of having given false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to aid his qualification for the election. Kadiri further prayed the ...
Sokoto border communities warned against aiding smuggling
Border communities in Sokoto State have been warned against aiding the smuggling of illicit items into the country. The Area Comptroller of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdulhamid Ma’aji, gave the warning at Illela during a sensitisation meeting held Tuesday with youths and community leaders at Illela town, a border community in the northern state. The border post was among four major international borders announced for reopening by the Federal Government in late December 2020. Ma’aji, while officially reopening the border’s gate, described the event as a remarkable day, urging the people to observe all the guidelines layout by the Ibrahin l Government. According to him, ‘now that these borders have been reopened, I want you to note that those illicit items that have been prohibited rema...
BUK: ASUU worries over coronavirus spread as university announces resumption date
File Photo Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday worried over a potential spread of COVID-19 pandemic in schools as the country battles the second wave of disease. ASUU’s concern was announced after the Senate of Bayero university, Kano approved January 18 for resumption and commencement of lectures for the 2020/2021 academic session. Director Public Affairs, BUK, Mal. Ahmad Shehu told newsmen that the decision was reached at the end of the meeting presided over by the university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Sagir Abbas. Ahmad noted that contrary to information making round on the social media, the university did not cancelled the 2019/2020 session but rather adjusted the previous session to be concluded in April, 2021. According to him, the postgraduate program will also ...
Police foil armed robbery attack in Nasarawa
The Nasarawa State Police Command has foiled an armed robbery attack at Gidan Gambo community along Lafia-Shandam road with the attempt to rob unsuspecting commuters at about 10:45 on Sunday night, January the 3rd. A statement signed by the Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ramhan Nansel, and issued to reporters in Lafia, said that the Command had received a distress call that hoodlums suspected to be armed robbers had blocked the road at Gidan Gambo along Lafia-Shandam road with the intent to rob unsuspecting commuters. ‘Upon the receipt of the information, the Commissioner of Police mobilised police personnel attached to Assakio Police Station and a team of Safer Highway personnel to the area where a gun duel ensued. Consequently, the hoodlums were dislodged and one yet...
Nigeria: 1,375 irregular migrants arrested during border closure
The Federal Government said on Monday that no fewer than 1,375 irregular migrants were arrested while the border drill code-named, ”Exercise Swift Response,” lasted. Newsmen report that the border drill held between Aug. 20, 2019 and Dec. 17, 2020. Speaking at a new year media briefing in Lagos on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the border drill was a huge success. The minister said the seizures so far during the period included 157,511 – 50kg bags of parboiled foreign rice, 10,447 bags of NPK fertiliser used for making explosives and 18,630 jerry cans of vegetable oil. The total monetary value of the seized items, according to him, is about ₦12.362 billion. Newsmen recall that ”Exercise Swift Response” was launched as part of efforts to secure th...
Police: Only 10 suspects escaped from Benin facility
The Police Command in Edo on Monday said only 10 suspects -two of whom have been rearrested, escaped from its cell at the Command Headquarters in Benin. A statement from the command’s spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the incident occurred at about 02:45 hours of Friday, January 1. Mr. Nwabuzor said the command decided to set the record straight, contrary to publications that had gone viral on social media and other platforms alleging that hundreds of armed robbery and kidnapping suspects had escaped. “Only 10 suspects escaped after the cell break, two of the escapees have already been rearrested while we have intensified hunt for the remaining eight,” the statement read. It said that the publication on social media and other platforms alleging that hundreds of suspected armed robbers and...
Police move to rescue abducted Oyo farmer
The Oyo State Police Command said it is making frantic efforts to rescue Mr Oluwole Agboola, a farmer, who was abducted on Monday by six gunmen allegedly dressed in Army uniform. Agboola, who owns a piggery and fish farm at Nagbede Village in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State, was reportedly kidnapped in his farm at about 6.30 p.m. SP Olugbenga Fadeyi, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Ibadan. Fadeyi stated that the community had also intensified its efforts to complement the deployment of security operatives in the area to rescue the victim. He added that the Moniya Divisional Station and other security agencies in the state swung into action immediately they received information about the kidnap. “Search party...
Yobe governor calls for caution to combat fire incidents during harmattan
Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Mai-Mala Buni, has called for extra vigilance during the harmattan season to combat incidents of fire disaster. The governor made this call in a statement yesterday while commiserating with victims of a fire outbreak that occurred at Potiskum Market. The fire had broken up in the early hours of yesterday, razing six traditional medicine shops. The governor in a statement, said he received the news of the incident with sadness, while directing the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide the victims with all necessary support and to take stock of damages caused by the inferno. He also directed the state’s Fire Service to be proactive, especially in the current harmattan season. He said, “I wish to express my deep sympathy to victims who lost their valu...
Ever-present Boko Haram threat casts shadow in Niger
Seven years after the first Boko Haram attacks in southeastern Niger, people in the city of Diffa, dare not even speak the group’s name. Residents live in a state of siege, frightened and struggling with the economic impact of the Islamist threat. For fear of reprisals, people speak of “insecurity”, of the “problems” or the “current situation”. The fear is well-founded, according to one security source who says Boko Haram sympathisers in the city pass on information to the group. Among the poorest countries in the world, Niger, which is holding presidential elections on Sunday, faces jihadist groups from the Sahel in the west and Boko Haram in the east. “I don’t have 1,000 CFA francs (1.5 euros) in my pocket. I have been unemployed for four years,” says Abdou Maman, 46, who has two wives a...
