State
Kano relaxes lockdown restriction on Mondays
Kano State governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has relaxed the restriction placed on Monday as a lockdown day in the state A statement signed on Sunday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Malan Abba Anwar, said the additional day means that Kano State has a total of four free days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) as opposed to three free days that were previously approved. The statement added that the policy decision was to further cushion the effect and hardship caused by lockdown in the state as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state. “People are now free to move freely on Mondays within the stipulated time of 6am-6pm” said the statement. The governor urged the people to continue to wear their face masks, to maintain social distancing, use their hand sanitize...
Lagos seals 56 illegal structures in Ikoyi, Banana Island
The Lagos State Government has asked 56 property owners sealed in Ikoyi and on the Banana Island axis to produce their building plan permits and evidence of stage certification. The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, said this in a statement released to newsmen by Mr. Mukaila Sanusi, the spokesman of the ministry on Sunday. Salako had during an ongoing Special Enforcement Operations, said that the government was alarmed at the rate of unapproved and illegal structures springing up in Ikoyi and on Banana Island of the state. “The exercise continues to send strong signals of government’s determination to guard the State Operative Development Plans. “Also, it is meant to curb illegal physical developments as the buildings/building construction sites se...
How music legend Majek Fashek passed on
Legendary reggae artiste, Majekodunmi Fasheke, aka Majek Fashek is dead. The artiste died in a New York hospital after a protracted illness on Monday about 5:45pm. He was aged 71. His manager, Uzoma Omenka, confirmed this in a video uploaded on the late singer’s Instagram handle. “Yes, it is true that the legend has gone to be with the Lord. But this time I want to say we should all celebrate him, his achievements. He has done a lot for Nigeria and for Africa. Whatever the family decides, I will get it to you. This is all I have to say for now.” He said. Fashek, who battled a mysterious protracted illness had been down since 2019 and was at a time on admission at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich in England . Fashek was born in Benin-City, Edo state to an Ijesha father and a Benin mot...
Delta medical practitioners declare two-day warning strike over kidnap of colleague
Medical doctors in Delta have declared a two-day warning strike to protest the kidnap of a Principal Medical Officer Dr. Wisdom Iboyitete, who was kidnapped at the General Hospital, Ojobo, in Burutu Local Government Area of the state on Monday. The warning strike, it was learñt took effect this morning, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Iboyitete was whisked away by arms-wielding gunmen who pretended to be patients in the wee hours of Monday and reportedly whisked him to unknown location through the creeks in the Ijaw riverine community. The two-day warning strike was declared on Monday night by the state branch of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) at the end of an emergency meeting of the body. In a statement obtained by newsmen on Tuesday, the...
NHRC: Most govt officials are ignorant of human rights
The Ebonyi state coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Christopher Onyekachi, says most government officials are ignorant of human rights. Onyekachi who spoke with newsmen on Monday, in Abakaliki, called on government to make provision for human rights education our various academic institutions. “Most of the government officials are ignorant of human rights. There is need to help us through the program which UNICEF is ready to partner too. “Human rights education should be inserted in the curriculum of the schools so that children from the primary, secondary and Tertiary school levels will be ready to know what their rights are because these are the major people that will form members of the society. “So, when they learn their rights as the basic thing they will ...
Nigerian government receives coaches, locomotives for Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna railways
The Federal Government on Monday announced that it had received some coaches and locomotives to be deployed on key rail lines in Nigeria. It said the coaches were the last set which were ordered in March. It was also gathered that the locomotives and coaches, which arrived Nigeria from China, would be deployed once operations begin. The government disclosed this via a tweet by the Nigerian Railway Corporation through its official Twitter handle, which was also confirmed to our correspondent by the NRC’s spokesperson, Yakub Mahmood. The corporation said, “Some days ago, Nigeria took delivery of the last dozens of train coaches ordered in the month of March. “The coaches have been transported to Nigerian train base in Papalanto, Ogun State and will be used on the Lagos-Ibadan railway when op...
President Buhari meets Governor Obaseki at Villa
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The Personal Assistant on New Media to the President, Bashir Ahmad, announced this via his Twitter handle. He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari meets with Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki this afternoon, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.” Newsmen reports that eight governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, on Sunday, held a meeting with the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, at the State House Marina, Lagos State to make a case for Obaseki. It was gathered that the governors were at the closed-door meeting to seek Tinubu’s intervention in the search for a truce in the political conflict between Obaseki and h...
Why we won overwhelmingly in Benue council polls – PDP chair
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Sir John Ngbede has attributed the overwhelming victory of his party in last Saturday’s council polls in the state to the preparedness of the party for the election. Recall that the PDP cleared all the chairmanship seats in all the 23 local government areas as well as all the councillorship positions in all the 276 council wards of the state in the election. Ngbede who spoke to newsmen in his office on Monday said, “the PDP won the elections because we have been campaigning while other parties were busy going to court.” He explained that the party’s victory was a form of compensation for what the PDP government under the leadership of Governor Samuel Ortom is doing in the state. Reacting to the non participation of the All Prog...
Panic in Imo community as ‘herdsmen’ kill security operative
There is palpable fear in Umuanuma community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State as suspected herdsmen murder a private security operative, Mr Hycinth Ikegwu, at about 6 am on Sunday while returning from work with his motorcycle. A source from the community who revealed the incident to our reporter noted that the community suspected herdsmen because of the brutal way he was murdered. Ikegwu who worked as a private security operative as we were reliably informed was said to have been brutally chopped with a very sharp objected on the head that caused him to blead to death. “Houses were around the road he was returning, he was very close to his home before they killed him. We don’t know what happened to him but because of the deep cut on his head, we just have to suspect the he...
Delta doctor abducted by gunmen in government hospital
Gunmen have abducted a resident doctor identified simply as Dr. Wisdom Iboyitete at Central Hospital, Ojobo in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State. It was learnt that the hoodlums disguised as patients during the attack. The incident it was gathered occurred on Sunday night at 11:30 pm. Sources said, “Dr. Iboyitete was said to be with the newly elected Ojobo Community Chairman when he received a call from the hospital over an emergency case. “Unknown to him that the supposed patient and others who accompanied the patient turned out to be kidnappers. “The kidnappers numbering eight spoke in Ijaw language during the attack. “The victim has been whisked away to an unknown destination through a nearby river in the community. “The kidnappers have not established contact with the doctor’...
Professor worried by low number of coronavirus tests in Kano
The Director, Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Bayero University, Kano, Professor Isa Abubakar, has expressed worry over the decline in the number of samples being supplied to the state epidemiology team for COVID-19 tests. He spoke in Kano while receiving a GeneXPert modular machine, certified by the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) for COVID-19 and other diseases test, donated to the centre by philanthropists. The professor of infections and epidemiology insisted that the present decline in the number of active cases in the state is not a sign of relief as the number of COVID-19 tests being conducted in the state had equally dropped in the recent time. ‘Honestly, as an epidemiologist, I will only be happy if the number of tests we are conducting is larger than what we a...
Lagos records 21 more coronavirus recoveries, three fatalities
Lagos State has discharged 21 coronavirus patients. The state also recorded three more COVID-19 fatalities, according to the state Health Ministry on Saturday. It said in a statement that 15 of the discharged patients were males while six were females, noting that they tested negative twice for the virus upon treatment at the state isolation centres. “21 COVID-19 patients; 6 females and 15 males including a foreign national have been discharged from our Isolation facilities to reunite with the society. “The patients; 6 from Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba; 11 from Onikan; 3 from Agidingbi and 1 from Gbagada Isolation Centres were discharged having fully recovered and tested negative for COVID-19. “This brings to 875, the number of COVID-19 discharged cases in Lagos now. “3 addit...
