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Police dispel report of armed Fulani invasion of Ekiti market
The Ekiti State Police Command has dispelled reports that armed Fulani bandits had stormed Ado Ekiti, the state capital. The state’s Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo, said it is important to allay the fear that engulfed residents of the town when the news made the rounds on Wednesday. A report had trended online on Wednesday that a truck loaded with Hausa-Fulani men, all armed with AK-47 rifles and other weapons, had arrived at the Shasha market, along Ikere Road in Ado Ekiti. Mobayo, in a statement signed by the Command’s spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, and made available to reporters on Wednesday night, explained that the report was concocted by purveyors of fake news, and should be disregarded by residents of the town. The statement, entitled “No Armed Hausa/Fulani Invaded Shasha Marke...
Belarus’s forced landing of Lithuania-bound Ryanair plane sparks outrage
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land on Sunday in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist on board was detained, prompting international condemnation. EU member Lithuania urged the European Union and NATO to respond, Germany called for an immediate explanation and Poland’s prime minister called it a “reprehensible act of state terrorism”. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Belarus’s action was “utterly unacceptable”. The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA state news agency. Belarusian law e...
South Africa signs J&J vaccine deal, eases restrictions
South Africa has signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to secure 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and will ease restrictions due to a decline in new cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. South Africa has been the hardest-hit on the continent by the pandemic, recording almost half of the COVID-19 deaths and more than a third of reported infections. But daily cases have fallen below 2,000, from a peak above 20,000 last month during a second wave of infections. Ramaphosa said in a televised address that 2.8 million of the J&J doses would be delivered in the second quarter, with the rest spread throughout the year. South Africa started administering the single-dose J&J vaccine this month in a research study targeting healthcare workers but has not yet rolled out sh...
