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Northern elders restate total support for President Buhari, APC
Northern elders have restated their unflinching support to President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal administration in the country. They have also appealed to Nigerians to be patient and believe in the Buhari government, saying the president was taking steps to addressing the current challenges especially insecurity confronting Nigeria. This came as they berated stakeholders in the region over what they described as their long silence in the face of unbearable criminal acts by herdsmen across the country thereby denting the image of the region. The elders under the umbrella of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, in a statement on Saturday, however, commended renowned Islamic Scholar and preacher, Sheik Abubakar Gumi for taking bold st...
PTF: Nigeria has over 100 molecular laboratories
Nigeria can now boast of over 100 molecular laboratories for the testing of COVID-19 in the country, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF), Boss Mustapha, has said. This is just as the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, flayed the non challant attitude of people in his home state, Kwara, to the pandemic. The SGF who spoke Tuesday at the commissioning of State House Clinic Special Care Centre (COVID-19 Isolation Centre) stated that the number of molecular laboratories grew from two last year to more than 100 as at today and are spread across the 36 states of the federation. His words: ‘‘From just two molecular laboratories for the testing of COVID-19 in Nigeria, we now have over 100 molecular laboratories, public and private, across the 36 States of the Feder...
Rivers governor seeks end to external influence on NDDC
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has regretted the continuous interference of external forces who are not from the oil-rich region on the activities of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, noting that the act frustrates programmes of the commission. Wike, however, condemned the posture of some ethnic groups in the region that behave as if the commission belongs to them, clarifying that NDDC was set up to cater for needs of the states of the region. The governor disclosed this in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, after the visit of the Interim Management Committee of NDDC to Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday. The governor said people are abusing the entire region because the commission has wasted trillions of Dollars without lifting the mass...
Sunday Igboho: Why Ibarapa residents rejected Fulani herders
Yoruba freedom fighter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Igboho, who issued a seven-day eviction notice to Fulani herders that had been terrorising residents of Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State has said the threat of arrest can never be used to intimidate him. He said this in a viral video that was just released. Narrating what happened in Igangan in a video, he said all the suspected Fulani herders that were handed over to the police were released after a DPO got a directive from above (Abuja)”. “God will not allow the destruction of Yorubaland. These herders, after holding their kidnap victims, would be asking the females among them to undress and rape them. Anyone they kidnapped, the least ransom they collect is N10m.” “Imagine the case of that Dr Aborode that they killed recent...
HURIWA accuses IGP Adamu of bias over Sunday Igboho’s arrest order
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Saturday accused the Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Mohammed Adamu of partiality and double standards by ordering the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko to arrest the Yoruba Ethnic Rights Activist, Mr. Sunday Ighoho. But, HURIWA said IGP has refused to order the immediate arrest of the leader of a faction of Miyetti Allah Association, Bello Badejo who has threatened to take over lands of communities across the country unlawfully. HURIWA in a statement issued by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said: “May be the IGP is lobbying for extension of tenure and can do everything to please the powers that be that have unambiguously made it known that the Fulani Ethnicity and Fulani herdsmen are sacred cows wh...
Minister: Over 60 workers contracted coronavirus during Lagos-Ibadan rail project
Over 60 workers, who were working on the Lagos-Ibadan rail, tested positive for coronavirus while trying to complete the project, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said. Mr Ameachi disclosed this, on Monday, on a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme, Good Morning Nigeria. The rail project, which was delivered recently, and had since been in use, is the second rail project completed in 2020. The Itakpe-Warri was the first and was commissioned on September 29, 2020. The minister had disclosed at the inauguration of elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA) that the Lagos-Ibadan rail will be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, in January 2021. He, however, said the commissioning will be put on hold, due to the u...
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho expects Aston Villa match to go ahead
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho expects their Premier League fixture against Aston Villa to be played. The match is understood to be in doubt after an outbreak of coronavirus at the Midlands club. Villa played their FA Cup game with Liverpool on Friday night with a youth team, losing 4-1. It is understood that Spurs are yet to hear anything from the Premier League regarding the fixture, so Mourinho will begin preparations on Monday. He may have been making more of a point about the lack of information from the league, but asked after Sunday’s 5-0 win at Marine when he expects his side to next play, Mourinho said: “Wednesday.” Asked again whether he thinks the Villa game will go ahead, he replied: “Yeah. Nobody told me that I’m not going to play so (on Monday morning) we start to prepare for t...
Coronavirus: Prof. Maurice Iwu restates efficacy of herbal medicine
Bioresources Development Group (BDG) chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu has restated the efficacy of herbal medicine in the treatment of the COVID-19 cases as the virus enters variant stage globally. The former chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and eminent Professor of Pharmacognosy, Iwu, in a chat with Vanguard said that the effectiveness of special herbal drugs produced in the country, stands the chance of combating the disease at an early stage, but noted that the slow pace in acceptance and approval hinders its feasibility. Iwu also pointed that herbal extracts from a plant, “Andrographis Paniculata”, commonly known as green chiretta, already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Thailand is on its way to serve as an alternative treatment to the seve...
Coronavirus: Rivers governor threatens to shut down churches
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has threatened to shut down churches if they fail to comply with the COVID-19 guidelines. Wike made this known during the thanksgiving service in celebration of the 90th birthday of Priscilla Mark, held at St. Martin’s Anglican Church, Omagwa in Ikwerre local government area of the state. He lamented the refusal of residents to use face masks, especially in churches and markets. “When you go to most churches, they don’t wear masks. Go to markets, they don’t wear masks. They believe COVID-19 is not real. It’s not real because it has not happened to you. Nobody has died whom you know that is very close to you. But if somebody has died and the person was close to you, you’ll know that COVID-19 is real,” he said. “I want to appeal to all of you that we have to...
Senator Sani visits survivors of 2012 Kaduna church bombing
CNN Ex-Senator from Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on Saturday visited survivors of a 2012 Boko Haram bomb blast at St Monica Catholic Church, in Malali, Kaduna. In 2012, about eight worshippers had died at the explosion, with several others sustaining injuries. Those who survived the attack lamented that they have since been abandoned to cater for themselves. The survivors used the former lawmaker’s visit to call on the government and citizens for aid to be able to get back their life. A survivor, Polycarp Lawrence, who lost an eye in the attack, said that he has been paying for his medical bills with the little support from the church, which has not been enough. ‘Since the bomb blast of 2012, I have not found my rhythm back in life. Life has been so difficult for me and my family. There has...
Lai Mohammed: My only regret as minister
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said his only regret as a minister is that some Nigerians have failed to appreciate that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing so much with little resources. Mr Mohammed stated this at a Special Forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He said with dwindling resources, no government in the history of Nigeria has implemented programmes alleviating poverty among women and vulnerable groups as well as created jobs for the youth as the Buhari administration had done. The minister said his regret was that some Nigerians have failed to appreciate the efforts of the government but keep celebrating negative developments. “My regret in this government is that Nigerians have failed to appreciate that the ...
Nigerian National Assembly spends billions of naira on constitution review
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown. The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail. At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise. While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals. Considering the huge spending, lawyers and civil society groups have pointed out that no significant amendments ...