May
Court orders remand of two Chinese nationals who offered EFCC officer ‘N100 million bribe’
Sokoto State High Court presided over by Justice Sa’adu Sifawa on Friday ordered two Chinese to be remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly attempting to bribe an EFCC officer with N50 million. The N50 million which is in the custody of the EFCC is said to be the first tranche of the alleged N100 million bribe offered the agency official. Mr Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi were arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and offering bride to the commission’s zonal head. EFCC alleged the defendants offered bribe to it zonal head Abdullahi Lawal to compromise the ongoing investigation into he case against the defendants’ company Zhonghao Nigeria limited. The bribe was allegedly offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations ...
BRT users lament shortage of buses, time spent in queues
Some users of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Friday in Lagos decried a shortage of buses being released for services since the ease of lockdown on May 4. The commuters in separate interviews at the BRT Bus Stations stated that inadequate deployment of the buses had increased the time they spent in queues. However, according to observation, it appeared the operator had withdrawn many of the buses from the roads, because of the government’s new operational guidelines restricting them to carry only 20 passengers instead of 70 per buses. Commenting, Mr. Tope Musowo, a media practitioner, told newsmen that passengers were subjected to long waiting in queue at the station, as most of the BRT high-capacity buses seemed to have disappeared. “These days, passengers are kept at Bus Stops for hours. ...
Court issues bench warrant for arrest of two Sri Lankans
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory High Court at Maitama, on Wednesday, issued a bench warrant for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to arrest two nationals of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Trial Justice Olasumbo Goodluck ordered that the two Sri Lankans Messrs Saththiyaraj Kantharasa and Vinith Ukantharasa, should be arrested after they failed to appear in court to enter their plea to a criminal charge pending against them. They were accused of forging the passports, national identity card and driving license of the Republic of Malaysia, in connivance with their Nigerian partner, Anthony Adetokunboh. A statement that was signed by spokesperson for the Commission, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, disclosed that the trio were ...
US stands in solidarity with Nigeria to defeat coronavirus – envoy
Following President Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari on efforts to defeat Covid-19 in Nigeria, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Berth Leonard, has restated the United States government’s promise to stand in solidarity with Nigeria to defeat the deadly virus. Ambassador Berth who said this at a teleconference with journalists, Tuesday May 12, 2020, stated that President Buhari was the first African Head of State that President Donald Trump spoke with on issues concerning the deadly virus that is ravaging the world noting that the US government is very pleased to work with Nigeria to see the end of the pandemic. She also disclosed that about 237 million USD had been expended on Covid-19 activities with Africa continent and about 32.8 million USD already...
Coronavirus: Two football games in Belarus postponed due to coronavirus fears
Two games in the top two tiers of Belarusian football have been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. The Premier League match between FC Minsk and Neman Grodno – scheduled for May 15 – has been called off, as has the second-division meeting between Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and leaders Lokomotiv Gomel. The country’s football federation confirmed it was because of suspected cases of COVID-19 among the Minsk and Lokomotiv players. No new dates have yet been arranged. Belarus is one of the few European nations in which major sporting competitions have continued despite the spread of the virus. Premier League games have been played, often in front of spectators, while the rest of the continent has largely been forced to suspend all football. All grounds are required to have several sanitiser statio...
Enugu lifts ban on religious gatherings
The Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), Enugu State chapter, has said that normal services will resume in churches in the state on May 10. The council said that this was part of the agreements reached with the state government on Thursday. A statement issued in Enugu by Most. Rev. Christopher Ede, the state Chairman of CCN, said that church worship services would resume in all churches across the state on that day. Ede, who is the Archbishop of Enugu Methodist Church Nigeria, said that each denomination must observe all the safety protocols on public gatherings, as recommended by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other government guidelines. Newsmen report that the state government had, on March 31, suspended all religious and social gatherings, after announcing a partial l...
Nigerian nationals in US now to be evacuated Saturday
Luc Doan/Foursquare The federal government has announced that the evacuation of the first batch of Nigerians from the United States will take place on Saturday, May 9, as against Sunday, May 10, 2020 that was earlier announced. It added that the Ethiopian Airline aircraft would depart Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, on May 9, 2020 at the estimated time of 19:15 hours and arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja on May 10, 2020, at the estimated time of 11:15 hours. The Consulate General of Nigeria in New York in a statement dated May 5, 2020, and made available to journalists on Thursday, added that only 270 passengers would be accommodated in the evacuation batch. It stated categorically that the mission would attend to applicants on a first come, first served basis a...
Petrol to sell at N117 per litre as PPMC cuts ex-depot prices
AHA Taxis The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Wednesday, slashed the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N108 per litre, a move reflecting the drop in crude oil prices. It is also expected to result in a lower pump price at petrol stations by end of this week. In a memo to oil marketers and other stakeholders in the petroleum marketing business, dated May 5, 2020, with the subject: ‘Re: PPMC Petroleum Products Prices for May 2020,’ the PPMC also slashed the ex-depot price of Automotive Gasoline Oil, also known as diesel, to N164 per litre for depots in Lagos and N166 per litre for depots in Oghara, Calabar, Port Harcourt, among others. The indicated that the new prices would take effect from May 5, 2020. The ex-depot price is the price at whi...
Court convicts 717 for lockdown violation in Kano
The Kano mobile courts have convicted 717 persons for violating the subsisting lockdown order in the state in the last 4 days. Kano has 11 mobile courts that were inaugurated by Kano Chief Judge, Justice Nura Sagir to sit in various parts of the state to enforce the lock down order recently. Baba Jibo Ibrahim, Spokesman, Kano State judiciary, told newsmen in Kano that from Sunday 3 May to Wednesday 6 May 2020, the 717 offenders were arraigned and convicted for violating the lock order, disclosing that there were those sentenced to rendering community services, payment od fines and those who received strokes of cane as punishment. Ibrahim explained that “out of the 717 persons convicted are some Muslim clerics from Minjibir local government. The court ordered that they should go and sanitiz...
