Wednesday
Ondo guber: Chief Imam of Akure urges politicians to embrace peace
Sheikh AbdulHakeem Yayi-Akorede, Chief Imam of Akure, Ondo State, has urged all politicians to embrace peace before, during and after the forthcoming governorship primary election Yayi-Akorede made the appeal while speaking with newsmen in Akure on Sunday as the political parties prepared for primary elections in the state. Newsmen report that All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state will hold the governorship primary elections on Monday, July 20 and Wednesday, July 22 respectively while governorship election holds Oct. 10 in the state. According to him, all aspirants and their followers must shun any act that can be inimical to the peaceful coexistence of the people living in state. The cleric said that the contestants should have it at the back of t...
Grand jury indicts Woodberry for ‘wire fraud’
Olalekan Ponle, a Nigerian held in the United States for alleged multi-million-dollar fraud, has been indicted by the grand jury, a group of lawyers empowered to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct. Ponle, popularly known as Woodberry, alongside Ramoni Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, was arrested in the United Arab Emirate on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit. According to the complaint, an unnamed Chicago company was defrauded into sending wire transfers totalling $15.2 million. Companies based in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say. Newsmen reported how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nabbed Ponle through details accessed from his What...
Serge Aurier returns to home following brother’s tragic death
Tottenham star Serge Aurier has returned home to France to be by his mother’s side following the tragic death of his brother earlier this week. Christopher Aurier, 26, was reportedly shot in the stomach outside Kin’s nightclub in Tolouse around 5am on Monday morning. Aurier shared a heartfelt picture on Instagram on Friday of him embracing his mother, as the family continue to mourn Christopher’s death. The Ivorian international revealed he learned of the news after being sent a tweet by a friend and had to break the news to his mother. But despite the pain of the situation, Aurier insists he does not feel any ‘hatred’ towards the killer. Speaking to French publication La Depeche, Aurier said: ‘It was 7am. I was in bed at home when a friend sent me the image of a tweet. ‘I asked if he was ...
Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 to end hopes of record points haul
Arsenal capitalised on shocking errors from Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Alisson to beat the champions 2-1 at The Emirates on Wednesday and end their hopes of a record points tally for the Premier League season. The loss means Liverpool, on 93 points, can now only stretch that tally to 99, one short of Manchester City’s record. Arsenal’s first win against Liverpool since April 2015 lifts them one place to ninth in the table on 53 points. The visitors created all the early pressure and opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Sadio Mane lashed in his 17th goal of the season from close range. Yet the home side, playing without their leading scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, were handed a free pass back into the game 12 minutes later when Van Dijk made a back pass straight into the path ...
Abdulaziz Yari: I never assaulted airport official
The immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has denied reports that he assaulted an airport official last Saturday at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano. This was even as Yari demanded that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), retract its offensive tweets regarding the incidence and tender an apology for the falsehood peddled against him. Yari in a statement by his media consultant, Mayowa Oluwabiyi, said although he did use the airport on the said date, but such incidence never occurred. Recall that FAAN had on Wednesday in a series of tweets, condemned Yari’s action for violating COVID-19 directive at the airport. FAAN further alleged that Yari refused to adhere to the protocols and procedures put in place by the Federal Government th...
Lagos government opens recruitment portal for doctors, health workers
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday, opened its portal for the recruitments of over 700 doctors and other health workers. It said that the exercise is in a bid to ensure adequate manpower in all its health facilities and the need to fill the vacant positions in the 27 General Hospitals across state necessitated the recruitment exercise for efficient and top-class healthcare delivery in all government health facilities. The State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that approval was given for the Health Service Commission to employ over 760 health workers of which 400 would be doctors in line with the government’s commitment towards addressing the shortage of health workers across the state. He however disclosed that the exercise has been phased in batches to ensure compliance with coron...
Nigerian government approves e-SIM trial for MTN
MTN Nigeria Plc (MTN) has announced the trial of e-SIM services on its network based on approvals received from the Federal Government. The trial which kicked-off on Wednesday will run for one year and is open on a first come first served basis to a limited number of subscribers who own compatible devices, a statement from MTN said. Chief Operating Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mazen Mroue, said the company was eager to get through the trial process so that the technology can be deployed for the benefit of every Nigerian. “We are in a fast-paced digital age with new technological advancements driving the constantly changing landscape. Against this backdrop, customers depend on us to provide high quality, reliable and easy-to-use connectivity solutions. “With the introduction of the e-SIM, we will ...
Kanye West ‘drops out’ of 2020 presidential race
Kanye West has reportedly dropped out of the 2020 presidential race less than two weeks after announcing his bid for the White House. On Tuesday, Steve Kramer, a member of West’s campaign team, told Intelligencer that after amassing a 180-strong campaign team in Florida, the rapper would allegedly no longer be contesting the election. “He’s out,” Kramer said, telling the publication that he was in the process of getting “all our stuff cancelled”. He later added: “I have nothing good or bad to say about Kanye. Any candidate running for president for the first time goes through these hiccups.” According to the report, West had attempted to get his name on the ballot as a third-party candidate, but needed to collect 132,781 signatures by Wednesday (15 July) to be eligible to run in Florida. K...
German pharmacists develop gargle test to detect coronavirus
Pharmacists at Germany’s University of Halle-Wittenberg have developed a way of detecting small amounts of coronavirus in gargling solution, a technique which could be used for testing. The study used samples of a solution that patients infected with the coronavirus had gargled with, successfully tracing the virus with a technique called mass spectrometry, the university said in a statement on Wednesday. The institution said the new method must be further refined before it could be used as a standard diagnostic tool to complement existing coronavirus tests. The test is highly specific as it targets protein components that exist only in the novel coronavirus, also known as Sars-CoV-2. “We measure direct peptides coming from the virus, not the genetic material,’’ Andrea Sinz, who worked on t...
Oyo judiciary releases names of vacation judges
As the Oyo State judiciary commences its annual vacation, on Wednesday, based on the provisions of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2010 and other enabling laws, the placement of area of operations for vacation judges has been released for judges that have shown an intention to work during the vacation so that there won’t be a vacuum for time-bound cases. The Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Munta Ladipo Abimbola, had made the order declaring the period of July 15 to September 10 as the annual vacation of the judiciary in his capacity as the head of the state judiciary in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by paragraph 4(b) of Order 45 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2010 and by virtue of all other powers enabling in that behalf. He had declared that courts will b...
Bauchi upgrades child birth units, renovates health centres
The Bauchi government says it has renovated and upgraded 26 existing childbirth spacing units in seven local government areas in the state, in its efforts at ensuring safe child delivery. Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Chairman of the State Primary Healthcare Developmental Agency, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Bauchi on Wednesday. He said that the benefiting birth units were located in Bauchi, Toro, Jama’are, Ningi, Zaki, Katagum and Shira local government areas. Mohammed said that the initiative was achieved in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He said that the units would facilitate safe delivery as well as guarantee good health to both the mother and the new-born child. “We are committed to promoting the health of our people. The Gov. Bala M...
Ethiopia dam reservoir filling as talks with Egypt, Sudan stall
The reservoir behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is filling, its water minister said on Wednesday, a day after talks with Sudan and Egypt on the giant Blue Nile hydroelectric project stalled. Sudan and Egypt both fear the $4 billion dam could lead to water shortages in their own nations. “The construction of the dam and the filling of the water go hand in hand,” Ethiopian Water Minister Seleshi Bekele said in televised comments, a transcript of which was provided to Reuters by his office. “The filling of the dam doesn’t need to wait until the completion of the dam.” The water level had increased from 525 metres to 560 metres, he said. The comments by Seleshi did not address whether Ethiopia had closed the gates of the dam. The area has also seen recent heavy rainfall. “My understan...