Request
Ondo governor: Our people cannot continue to live in fear
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state has declared that the people of the state can not continue to live in fear arising from the cases of kidnapping, robbery, and other criminal activities recorded in the state. Akeredolu said this while receiving the newly posted Assistant Inspection-General of Police for Zone 17, headquartered in Akure, Isaac Akinmoyede, and the new Brigade commander of the 32 Artillery, Owena Catonement, Brig. Gen. Raymond Utsaha. He urged the new AIG and brigade commander to collaborate with other security agencies in the state for optimum performance. According to him” insecurity can be tackled in a different way when there are collaborative efforts. ” We have great challenges. We need all hands on deck. Our challenges are enormous. Top of it is the issue of kidnap...
Uber ‘lays off’ 185 former Postmates workers
Uber has laid off about 185 Postmates workers, and plans to further integrate Postmates’ infrastructure within its Uber Eats segment, The New York Times reported. Uber acquired Postmates in July for $2.65 billion, following a failed attempt to buy rival food delivery service Grubhub. Meal delivery has been one bright spot for Uber amid the pandemic, as bookings in its Uber Eats division rose 135 percent year-over-year in the third quarter while its ride-hailing segment dropped 50 percent over the same time period. It’s consolidated other parts of the company in a bid to become profitable by the end of 2021, selling its autonomous vehicles segment to Aurora Innovation in December, the same month it sold its Uber Elevate flying taxi division to Joby Aviation. The latest cuts will see Postmat...
Donald Trump mired in ‘self-pity’ as rift with allies deepens amid impeachment
Donald Trump has reportedly reverted to “self pity-mode” following his impeachment amid frustration that his Republican allies are failing to defend him. A White House adviser told CNN “everybody’s angry at everyone” inside the White House following the ratification against the president for “incitement to insurrection.” “He’s in self-pity mode,” the source told the broadcaster. On the other hand, the view among a number of those who are close to the US president is that “his actions led to here, no one else,” the source explained. “He instigated a mob to charge on the Capitol building to stop decertification, he’s not going to find a lot of sympathetic Republicans.” The White House did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment on the claims. The siege on the Capitol...
Coronavirus: Concern grows over potential superspreader event during US Capitol riot
Concerns are mounting about the health of lawmakers and other people in the Capitol last week, after the first member to test positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) since Wednesday’s chaos, said she believed she was exposed in a crowded hiding place with hundreds of other legislators. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., tested positive on Monday while experiencing mild symptoms, and said in a statement that she believes she caught the virus from her fellow lawmakers while hunkering down as Capitol Police struggled for hours to contain a Trump-inspired mob attack on the Capitol. Lawmakers were trapped in a room near the Capitol with hundreds of others, in some cases for hours, where at least one person who later tested positive for the coronavirus was present. The Office of the Attending P...
Igbo group writes Nigerian government to request extradition of Nnamdi Kanu for ‘treasonable felony
YouTube An Igbo professional group, Coalition of South East Professionals’ Network in Nigeria and Diaspora (CSEPNND), has written an open letter to the Federal Government of Nigeria, urging it to immediately write the Government of the United Kingdom and Israel, requesting for extradition of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra,Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,to face the law over his involvement in alleged treasonable felony. The group whose request was contained in the open letter dated January 8th, 2021, and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained that its action was predicated on Kanu’s ceaseless treasonable activities in the country. Noting that Kanu possessed citizenship of the two foreign nations, the coalition, according to the letter signed by its National President, Prof. Madumere Ch...
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...
#EndSARS: Lagos hires forensic team to investigate Lekki toll gate shooting
The Lagos State government has hired a team to conduct an independent forensic examination of the Lekki toll gate. Nigerian soldiers attacked peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the toll gate on October 20, 2020 after weeks of demonstrations against police brutality. Soldiers fired on the protesters after the declaration of a curfew, leading to a yet-to-be-determined number of fatalities disputed by the government. A judicial panel of inquiry investigating the incident revealed during a sitting on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 that the Lagos government has paid a forensic team to aid the investigation. Chairperson of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, announced this after the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) repeated a request that it be allowed to retake control of the toll gate which was vandalised ...
Court orders Governor Obaseki to open defence in ‘certificate forgery’ case
The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday, closed the forgery case it instituted against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, after it called a total of six witnesses and tendered 17 Exhibits. Lead counsel to the APC, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, announced decision of the party to rest its case, shortly after the court discharged the sixth witness, PW-6, Dr. Mikano Asekome, who is an Associate Professor in Banking and Finance Department at Benson Idahosa University, Benin city, Edo state. The PW-6 told the court that he was on December 23, 2020, summoned to appear as witness in the matter. The witness went ahead and tendered in evidence, the original copy of his certificate in Agricultural-Economics, which the University of Ibadan awarded to him on July 31, 1978. Under cross-examination, ...
Anambra election: PDP orders members to withdraw all litigations against party
File Photo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked its members in court against the leadership of the party in Anambra to withdraw all litigations ahead of the November governorship poll in the state. The South-East National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Ali Odefa, made the request in Awka during a meeting of the Zonal Working Committee with stakeholders in the state on Monday. Odefa said that it was in the overriding interest of the party for peace and unity to reign ahead of the poll. According to him, the party needs unity and cannot afford any court distractions, if it must form the next government in Anambra. He, therefore, urged the aggrieved party members to direct their complaints to the zonal leadership for amicable and dispassionate resolution. Odefa, who expressed satis...
Nigerian government posts 35 firefighters to man new Treasury House substation
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday commissioned a fire substation built for the Treasury House which houses the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Speaking at the event, the Minister extolled the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Idris Ahmed, for building the facility which will help battle fire incidents in the building and its environs. She was also pleased that 35 firemen have been posted to man the facility by the Comptroller-General of the Fire Service. According to her, “the Treasury House is the key driver of the ongoing Public Financial Management Reforms in line with the desire of the Federal Government to bring the nation up to speed with other leading world economies. “In carrying out this enormous task, ...
Delta community protest exclusion from creation of electoral wards
The people of Ogbe-Ijoh Community, an Ijaw ethnic group in the Warri South Local government area of Delta State, on Tuesday, protested the new electoral Wards creation by the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC). The Protesters, who alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to incorporate their ethnic group into the new wards in the local council; said that their proposed ward has met all DSIEC’s requirement for ward creation in the state. They accused DSIEC and Delta state government of sidelining them in favour of the Urhobos and Itsekiris of Warri South Local government area. Earlier, the Ogbe-Ijaw Youths had in a position paper signed by Comrade Nathaniel Oronomoni, chairman Ogbe-Ijoh Concern Youths Warri Kingdom; Comrade Lot Loyibo, Coordinator ...
National Assembly raises 2021 budget by N580 billion, approves N13.588 trillion
The two chambers of the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, increasing the budget size from N13.08 trillion presented to them by President Muhamnadu Buhari 11 weeks ago to N13.588 trillion. The passage of the 2021 budget followed consideration and adoption of harmonised reports separately submitted to them by their Committees on Appropriation. The two chambers increased the 2021 budget by about N580 billion and pegged daily crude oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day, while oil benchmark price was fixed at $40 per barrel. They approved N379 to dollar as the official exchange rate while GDP growth rate was pegged at 3 per cent. Highlights of the report approved by the Senate showed aggregate expenditure to be N13,588,027,886,175, statutory transfer of N4...
