Lockdown Relaxation Will Be Reviewed This Week

    Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 has announced that the effectiveness of relaxation of lockdown in some parts of the country would be reviewed this week.

   He made this known while briefing newsmen on Tuesday. “We continue to monitor closely some of the guidelines we have produced,” he said.

    “You are probably aware that by the end of this week, we will be coming to the end of the second week of easing the lockdown and we will be taking further decisions based on the review of the performance of the restrictions that we have in place. And we will not hesitate to change our strategy if it looks like it is not working.”

Lawmakers Resolve To Probe Controversy Surrounding Benue State COVID-19 Index Case

  The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the case involving Mrs Susan Idoko, the index case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Benue State who was transferred to Abuja.

The matter was raised on Tuesday as a motion of urgent public importance by a member of the House from Benue State, Blessing Onuh, during plenary at the lower chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja. Onuh, who represents Otukpo/Ohimini Federal Constituency, said Idoko was quarantined by the government following misinformation and diagnoses.

According to her, the 56-year-old woman who is an indigene of Benue State with dual citizenship from the United Kingdom flew into Nigeria on March 22 for her mother‘s funeral. The lawmaker added that Idoko, unfortunately, got quarantined by the government for COVID-19, saying it was an assertion backed by discrepancies in the laboratory results.

She noted that Idoko had a long flight following her departure from the United Kingdom and must have had jetlag – a common occurrence that necessitated her presentation to the hospital where she was primarily managed.

Onuh decried that the details of Idoko were not consistent with that of the lady who was referred from Benue State Teaching Hospital, Makurdi to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, Abuja.

She added that the personal information on the laboratory result from the NCDC did not tally with Idoko’s personal details.

According to the lawmaker, COVID-19 is real but not a death sentence or a yardstick for discrimination, and human rights infringement or violation, and Idoko’s case should not be different.

While commending the measures put in place by the government to tackle the disease, she said Idoko has begun to deteriorate psychologically and already having suicidal thoughts.

Onuh claimed that Idoko has been in isolation for about 50 days and has been forced to take treatment for COVID-19 even in her asymptomatic state.

Following contributions from other lawmakers, the House resolved to mandate the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), through the Federal Ministry of Health to critically evaluate Idoko as a matter of urgency and if proven otherwise, she should be allowed to go home.

It also resolved to carry out quality contact tracing and urge persons who are symptomatic to go for proper clinical evaluation and management with prompt release when they return to their premorbid state.

The lawmakers condemned the stigmatisation, inhumane treatment, and violation of the human rights of the people.

Zlatan surprises longtime friend with car gift

 

 

  Nigerian indigenous rapper, Zlatan Ibile, has left his childhood friend, Odum Louis speechless when he presented a Benz car to him as a birthday gift.

    The Zanku originator shared photos and video clips of his friend who he also made the media director of his record label, receiving the automobile on his Instagram. Sharing the images, he captioned them;

  “The bedrock of friendship will never change from the art of not giving up on each other. It is a beautiful thing to do if both parties make it worth it irrespective of the distance. We have come a long way by virtue of this art.Through the times and tides, distance, and long spaces that may exist between us.

 

EFCC Arrests Two Chinese For Offering N100m Bribe To Top Official

 

  The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested two Chinese for offering the sum of N100m as bribe to the Zonal head of the anti-graft agency in Sokoto State, Mr Abdullahi Lawal.

The agency disclosed this in a series of tweets on Tuesday, noting that the arrest was made on Monday in Sokoto.

According to the EFCC, the sum was allegedly offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations of a construction company, China Zhonghao Nig. Ltd, which was handling contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government in the sum of N50,000,000,000.00 (fifty billion naira) between 2012 to 2019.

“The zonal office of the Commission is investigating the construction company, in connection with the execution of contracts for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nassarawa towns of Zamfara state; and also the construction of one hundred and sixty-eight (168) solar-powered boreholes in the 14 local government areas of the state.

“Alarmed by the consistency and professionalism of investigation being conducted, the company reached out to  Lawal with an offer of  N100,000,000(One Hundred Million Naira) as bribe to “bury” the matter,” the statement read.

  It, however, noted that in a grand design to trap the corrupt officials, Lawal played along. “On Monday, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totalling fifty million naira in their office along airport road, Sokoto. The cash was offered as a first installment”. But the suspects were promptly arrested with the cash as evidence.

CHANNELS

 

Nigeria Records 146 New COVID-19 Cases

 

  The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in a tweet late Tuesday confirmed the new cases. Of the 146 cases, the health agency said 57 were from Lagos, 27 from Kano, 10 in Kwara, nine in Edo, eight in Bauchi, seven in Yobe, and four each in Kebbi and Oyo states.

Other states with new cases include Katsina and Niger, each with three cases, the quartet of Plateau, Borno, Sokoto, and Benue, with two cases each; posting one case each were Gombe, Enugu, Ebonyi, Ogun, FCT, and Rivers states.

146 new cases of #COVID19;

57-Lagos

27-Kano

10-Kwara

9-Edo

8-Bauchi

7-Yobe

4-Kebbi

4-Oyo

3-Katsina

3-Niger

2-Plateau

2-Borno

2-Sokoto

2-Benue

1-Gombe

1-Enugu

1-Ebonyi

1-Ogun

1-FCT

1-Rivers

4787 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria

Discharged: 959

Deaths: 158 pic.twitter.com/vlqzSxqacq

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) May 12, 2020

 CHANNELS

Inspector-General of Police orders immediate withdrawal of E-Money's police escorts

    

 

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the immediate withdrawal of the police escorts attached to the Chairman of Five Star Group, Emeka Okonkwo aka E-Money.

Lagos state command says an order came from the Inspector General of Police's office for the immediate withdrawal of the police escorts attached to E-Money.

House of Representatives Ask Federal Government To Stop Repatriation Of Almajiri Children

 

  Members of the House of Representatives have called on the Federal Government to intervene and immediately halt the repatriation of the Almajiri children to their states of origin.

This formed part of the resolutions of the lawmakers during Tuesday’s plenary at the lower chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja. They made the call following a motion sponsored by a member of the House, Aishatu Dukku.

Clergy, Imam and 27 others arrested for violating lockdown order in Lagos

   

   The Lagos state police has paraded 29 worshippers arrested in the state for violating the Federal Government's directive against congregational worship.

   The Christan and Islamic clerics arrested alongside their congregants at different locations in the state while holding congregational services, were paraded on Monday May 11 at the Command headquarters, Ikeja.

President Buhari yet to show interest in our drug on Coronavirus– Iwu

 

 

  Maurice Iwu, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has lamented that the federal government is yet to show interest in his COVID-19 cure.

   Iwu, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Bioresources Development Group, said government should show interested in the drug. Speaking at a conference in Lagos via Zoom with the title: “Covid-19 and the proposed Vaccination Bill: Implications for Nigeria,” Iwu said funds raised from private sector could be deployed in ensuring locally produced antidotes for COVID-19.

  The former INEC boss urged the National Assembly to call for public hearing on the issue. According to Iwu, lawmakers should direct concerned agencies to validate the drug.

  He said: ”Government needs to show interest in our drug, the money raised by private sectors can be deployed, it does not need to come to Prof. Iwu, it is information, the product is ours, but the information is already outside.

  “There must be interest on the part of government that they want to test the drug, once the government shows interest, every other thing will fall in place.” Iwu had led a group of researchers that discovered a possible plant-based patented treatment for COVID-19. The drug was recently presented to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.

American Lady Visiting Nigerian Lover She Met Online Dies Of Suspected COVID 19 Complications

 

 

   A United States citizen said to have been invited to Nigeria by a young man she met on the Internet, has died of suspected Coronavirus complications in Delta State. The American, whose identity could not be ascertained at the time of this report, was said to have died on Sunday morning after she manifested some symptoms of the virus and was rushed to a private hospital at Osubi, Orerokpe under Okpe Local Government Area of the state.

   Speaking with a correspondent, a security official attached to a police station in the local government, disclosed that the young man and the white lady had been lodged at a hotel in Osubi town since her arrival in Nigeria on March 3, 2020.

   The official said, "The young man and the American white lady lodged in a hotel in Osubi where they spent some weeks. The white lady fell sick and she began to manifest some symptoms of COVID-19, especially severe coughing. At this stage, her lover rushed her to a private clinic in Osubi but she gave up the ghost this morning.

   "Immediately she died at the hospital, her Nigerian lover carried her corpse in a Venza car to the Orerokpe Police Division and he was arrested by the police. While still at the station, a doctor was brought and took samples from the corpse for test."

    The situation, gathered had created tension in the council area. When contacted over the issue, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Onome Onowakpoyeya, confirmed the incident, explaining that the white lady’s corpse was brought to Orerokpe Police Station by her lover, who revealed to the police that the deceased had severe cough for about a week until she died on Sunday morning. According to Onowakpoyeya, the blood sample of the woman, that of her lover and others, who may have had contact with her, have been taken for test.

  Sahara Reporters

Senegal to re-open mosques and churches ease restrictions

 

   Senegalese President Macky Sall announced the re-opening of mosques and churches and the easing of other restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus, even as the largest one-day jump in cases was recorded on Monday.

   Sall ordered places of worship closed in March and imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew. Since then, the daily pace of new cases has picked up, 177 on Monday from a previous high of 104, with increasing community transmission in hotspots such as the holy city of Touba. Senegal has recorded 1,886 coronavirus cases in total, including 19 deaths.

EFCC secures forfeiture of $300,000 belonging to a Chinese

 

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the final forfeiture of $300,000, belonging to a Chinese, Li Yan Pin, to the Federal Government of Nigeria. The forfeiture order was granted by Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

   But the judge spared him a jail term because he allegedly had symptoms of COVID-19. A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Dele Oyewale said the Chinese was tried for money laundering.

   The statement said: “The judge had earlier ordered the interim forfeiture of the money following an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

“Yan Pin stood trial for a money laundering charge, leveled against him by the EFCC over the said sum after intelligence led to his arrest at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for failing to declare the sum in his possession, as he attempted to board a flight to China en-route Dubai.

 THE NATION

 

 

Nigeria Reports 242 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Infections Now 4,641

 

Nigeria has recorded 242 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total infections to 4,641. In a tweet late Monday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 88 new cases in Lagos, 64 in Kano, 49 in Katsina and 13 in Kaduna.

According to the health agency, Ogun state had nine cases, Gombe six, Adamawa four, and the FCT three.

Six other states – Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Zamfara, Borno, and Bauchi – reported one case each.

242 new cases of #COVID19;

88-Lagos

64-Kano

49-Katsina

13-Kaduna

9-Ogun

6-Gombe

4-Adamawa

3-FCT

1-Ondo

1-Oyo

1–Rivers

1-Zamfara

1-Borno

1-Bauchi

4641 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria

Discharged: 902