South Sudan’s main rivals were at loggerheads Friday over who will control the country’s 10 internal states, an issue that analysts and diplomats worried could jeopardise a power-sharing deal reached earlier this year. President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, old foes whose fallout in 2013 sparked a civil war, agreed on February to form a new government after intense international pressure to deliver lasting peace to the conflict-torn country. But while they managed to name a cabinet in March, they have yet to strike a deal on who can appoint governors to the states. On Thursday night Kiir announced a breakthrough on the state’s issue, saying his party would appoint six governors while Machar’s would appoint three. The remaining state would be governed by the South Sudan Oppositi...
A British-Nigerian rapper, TY Ben Chijioke, has died from coronavirus complications. He was 47 . The rapper’s death was confirmed by his team on Thursday. The late rapper, who recorded several acclaimed albums, died of pneumonia as he was being treated for coronavirus. He was hospitalised after contracting the virus and placed in a medically-induced coma. A fundraising to fund his medical bill was closed on April 19 when he appeared to be recovering after leaving the ICU. The fundraising page explained that Ty was admitted to hospital with medical complications related to the coronavirus. The star was then placed into a medically-induced coma, and later put on a ventilator, but was moved out of intensive care after his condition improved. Ty first shot to prominence in 2001 with his album ...
The president made a similar suggestion earlier Friday, implying state and local Democratic officials were continuing to enforce coronavirus-related restrictions, meant to curb the spread of the disease, simply to hinder his reelection campaign. There, too, he failed to offer evidence for his assertion. “I will tell you, you look at some cases, some people think they’re doing it for politics. Here we go again. But they think they’re doing it because it’ll hurt me, the longer it takes to — hurt me in the election, the longer it takes to open up,” Trump told “Fox & Friends.” “And I can see some of that, because some of these — some of these people are being unrealistic,” he continued. “They’re being ridiculous. I’ve looked at a couple of states that are being absolutely ridiculous. But u...
The Zamfara State Government has sacked the Executive Secretary and two other directors of the state’s Zakkat and Endowment Board, with immediate effect. The decision came following an emergency meeting held by the Chairman and board members of the board on Friday. While addressing journalists in Gusau, the board chairman, Prof Kabiru Jabaka said that the board members had raised an alarm that some retired workers were sabotaging the efforts of distribution of Zakkat and Endowment to less privileged persons in the state. Jabaka explained that 13 out of 15 board members had passed a vote of no confidence on the Executive Secretary, Mallam Bashir Surajo, and two of his Directors, Mallam Ibrahim Tudu and Mallam Dalhatu Jauri. According to the chairman of the board, the tenure of the Executive...