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#EndSARS: Eight arraigned in Ekiti over attack on police stations
Eight persons were on Friday arraigned before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrates’ Court for alleged attacks on police stations and stealing during the recent #EndSARS protests. The defendants are Olatayo Abiodun, 25; Olaoye Toyin, 23; Fasoroti Ifedayo, 25; Ojo Idowu, 18; Adetayo Damola, 20; Owolabi Oluwaseun, 21; Ajewole Ojo, 21, and Moses Ifeanyi, 20. They are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, willful damage, arson and stealing. The defendants were those arrested in connection with the widespread national protests against police brutality which were later hijacked by hoodlums. Their actions resulted in the destruction of property and deaths across the country. Trial The prosecutor, Oriyomi Akinwale, a police inspector, told the court that the defendants committed the ...
Country Singer-Songwriter Ed Bruce Dies at 81
Country singer-songwriter Ed Bruce died Friday (Jan. 8) of natural causes in Clarksville, Tenn. He was 81. Born William Edwin Bruce Jr. on Dec. 29, 1939, Bruce met with Sun Records sound engineer Jack Clement and ended up writing and recording “Rock Boppin’ Baby” for Sun Records owner Sam Phillips when he was just 17 (under the name “Edwin Bruce”). He began writing country hits for other stars, such as “Save Your Kisses” for Tommy Roe, while recording his own material that grew popular with other stars’ versions. Charlie Louvin recorded Bruce’s 1963 pop-oriented song “See the Big Man Cry” two years later, which reached No. 7 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart in May 1965. Bruce tallied 35 t...
Steve Earle Honors to Justin Townes Earle with “Harlem River Blues” Cover on Kimmel: Watch
Earlier this week, Steve Earle honored his late son, Justin Townes Earle, with the release of the covers album J.T. In what was surely an emotional moment for the country legend, the surviving Earle performed his rendition of “Harlem River Blues” on Thursday’s Kimmel. JTE passed away over the summer after an accidental drug overdose. As he mourned, his father decided to record J.T. because it was “the only way I knew to say goodbye.” Backed by his band The Dukes on Kimmel, Earle’s performance of “Harlem River Blues” was thus something of a public eulogy for his departed son. Watch the replay below. 100% of the artist advances and royalties earned from sales of J.T. will be donated to a trust Justin’s three-year-old daughter with Jenn Earle, Etta St. James. [embedded content] Rela...
Nigerian government begins three-month special public works scheme in Jigawa
The federal government on Friday inaugurated the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW) programme in Jigawa with 1,000 unskilled youth benefiting from the 27 local government areas of the state. Each participant will receive N20,000 monthly for three months for the duration of the programme. The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who made this known at the ceremony in Dutse, said that the extended programme was an outcome of the pilot SPW in rural areas approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020. Mr. Adamu said that the programme was introduced following the emergence of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, as a measure to cushion the adverse socio-economic effects on citizens. “It aimed at shielding the vulnerable from the ravaging effects of COVID-19 pandemic which included, but are ...
Manchester United winger tests positive for coronavirus ahead of FA Cup clash with Watford
Manchester United winger Facundo Pellistri has tested positive for Covid-19, ruling him out of making his senior debut against Watford on Saturday. The 19-year-old, who signed in the summer transfer window, has not been displaying symptoms but returned a positive test, his agency confirmed. He must now follow the Government guidelines and isolate for 10 days. “I think we’ve done well to follow the protocols as we have, we’ve had the odd case and Facundo Pellistri got a positive, so he reported that on his Twitter, we don’t normally comment on who they are but Facundo is well and hopefully he’ll be back with us soon,” manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said at his pre-match press conference. “He’s been with the reserves and under-23s and he wasn’t really in our group over Christmas. Apart from th...
Barry Gibb Returns With Country Collection ‘Greenfields’ Featuring Dolly Parton, Keith Urban & More: Listen
The new collection spans a dozen classic songs, including “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You,” “Jive Talkin,’’” How Deep Is Your Love,” and “To Love Somebody”. Isbell sings on “Words of a Fool”. Gibb, he enthuses, “is one of the greatest songwriters and singers in popular music history, and I’m happy to say he still has that beautiful voice and that magical sense of melody. Working with him on this project has been one of the great honors of my career. He’s a prince.” Gibb, along with his late brothers Maurice and Robin, is a bona fide member of music royalty, with an enormous armory of silverware including eight Grammys, the Grammy Legend Award and, most recently, the 2015 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Also, he’s a recipient of the AMAs Lifetime Achievement Award, the BMI Icon Awa...
Coronavirus: Nigeria now at tipping point – PTF
The Federal Government, yesterday, took stock of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic vis-a-vis the attitude of Nigerians to embracing safety precautions, and concluded that the country was now at a tipping point. This came as government announced its decision to establish oxygen plants in all states of the federation as part of measures to resolve the “oxygen crisis” that had engulfed some of the isolation and treatment centres in the country. Meanwhile, Edo State has recorded 28 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 270, as the state government cautions residents to abide by the precautionary health and safety guidelines. Vanguard, meanwhile, gathered that former vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe and th...
Nigerian government begs residents not to reject coronavirus vaccines
Federal authorities have appealed to Nigerians not to be hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it gets to Nigeria. Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, and head of Nigeria’s primary healthcare agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, made the appeal at the PTF briefing on Thursday in Abuja. Nigeria intends to get 42 million COVID-19 vaccines to cover one fifth of its population through the global COVAX scheme, the PTF had earlier announced. The initial vaccines would come as part of Nigeria’s plan to inoculate 40 percent of the population in 2021 and another 30 per cent in 2022, with 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arriving by the end of January 2021. The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries including Nigeria whose 200 million people and poor ...
Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ Is Here: Stream It Now
Morgan Wallen is starting off 2021 with a bang. The country star released his highly anticipated sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album, on Friday (Jan. 8). “The ‘double album’ idea started off as just a joke between me and my manager because we had accumulated so many songs over the past couple of years,” Wallen said in a statement announcing the record in November. “Then quarantine hit, and we realized it might actually be possible to have enough time to make it happen. I also ended up writing quite a few more songs during the quarantine with some of my good buddies.” “I also wanted the songs to speak to multiple phases of life and have multiple different sounds based on my influences and based on what I enjoy,” he a...
Kano government reaffirms commitment to minimum wage, says deductions temporary
Kano state government has reaffirmed its commitment to the continuous implementation of the N30,600.00 minimum wage for civil servants. It however said, that deduction in November/December workers’ salary was a temporary measure informed by the drop in federal allocation and dwindling internally generated revenue occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba who stated this in a statement, Thursday, indicated that the deduction was necessary to keep the government going in the face of the prevailing economic recession facing the country. “The state government took the measure instead of contemplating on paying half salary or in batches as obtained in other states or layoffs. “Similar temporary measure was taken, including cut in the allow...
NANS: Nigerian government’s 2021 budget for education worst in 10 years
The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Com. Sunday Asefon, has frowned at the 2021 budgetary provision for education under President Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as the worst in the last ten years in the country. Disturbed by the neglect of the education sector, which was apportioned with a paltry of 5.6 percent in the 2021 budget and the high level of insecurity in the country, NANS has planned to organise a Security and Education Summit to partner stakeholders on how to arrest the drift in the two critical sectors Asefon said this in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, during a courtesy visit to the office of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Correspondents’ Chapel, Ekiti chapter. He said: “I condemn totally, the federal government’s 2021 budgetary provision to edu...
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...
