THE Nigerian government on Friday issued a suspension to outbound Emirates flights from Nigeria due to the airline’s non-adherence to the stipulated protocol of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
The federal government’s suspension of the outbound Emirates airline was contained in a circular signed by Musa Nuhu, director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), on Thursday.
Nuhu said Emirates had continued to engage in airlifting passengers from Nigeria using rapid antigen tests conducted by laboratories which were not approved by regulatory authorities on COVID-19.
“Based on the foregoing and to enable the Nigerian government to put in place the needed infrastructure and logistics for COVID-19 RDT testing for departing passengers, the PTF has directed that Emirates Airlines should either accept passengers without RDT pending when the infrastructure and logistics are put in place or suspend its flights to and from Nigeria until such a time when the required infrastructure and logistics are fully established and implemented,” the letter read in part.
The Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) is a medical diagnostic test that is quick and easy to perform but mostly used for emergency medical screening while the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test is performed to detect genetic material from a specific organism. Due to its rigorous process, PCR tests are said to be more reliable than the RDT.
However, the Nigerian government stated in the circular that Emirates Airlines had not been in compliance with the two options given by the PTF.
NCAA stated that records obtained from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) indicated that Emirates Airlines operated its flights from both Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos,and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.
Following the Nigerian government’s 72-hour suspension to outbound Emirates flights from Nigeria, no fewer than 300 businesses and tourists would suffer the consequences.
Dubai, capital of the United Arabs Emirates (UAE), has been a tourist attraction to many Nigerians over the years. Apart from tourism, Nigerians who are involved in importing and exporting businesses also visit the UAE capital in large numbers.
According to Data obtained from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Nigeria ranks 14 of the top 20 countries that visited the UAE capital in 2020.
The Data states that between January to December 2020, 81,000 Nigerians visited Dubai despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
While there are no publicly available data to show the number of daily travellers from Nigeria, The ICIR can confirm that as of the time of filing this report, the last Emirates aircraft that left Murtala Muhammed Airport had a capacity of over 300 passengers.
These passengers were visiting the UAE capital either on business or on tourism.
Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, did not respond to The ICIR‘s calls and messages on the fate of passengers already booked to travel to Dubai through the airline
ADEGBOYEGA Oyetola, Osun state governor, has released an additional sum of N708 million to further offset pension arrears of retired officers of the State civil service.
Four weeks after The ICIR published a special report that exposed the travails of the retired Osun pensioners; the state government had in December 2020, released the sum of N1 billion naira for the settlement of the pensioners.
Another batch of funds worth N200 million was also released to the pensioners in the first week of January.
This latest release was contained in an issued statement by Festus Olowogboyega Oyebade, the state head of service, on Friday.
According to the statement, “the sum of Five Hundred and Eight Million Naira (N 508,000,000) of the released sum was approved for the payment of retired civil servants, while an additional sum of One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N 150,000,000) was approved for the payment of retirees under the contributory pensions scheme.”
He added that an additional N50 million has also been approved for the payment of gratuities of retired officers under the old pension scheme.
He noted that the list of beneficiaries of the approved sum has been pasted on the notice board of the ministry of information and civic orientation, the state’s pension bureau and the office of the head of service.
The governor assured all workers, both serving and retired that all efforts will be made to always give their welfare the priority it deserves.
NGOZI Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist and former minister for finance, could be on course to clinch the director-general position of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) following the withdrawal of South Korean opponent, Yoo Myung-hee.
Yoo’s withdrawal is contained in a statement issued by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Friday. She is the current minister of the South Korean Trade Ministry.
South Korean Minister of Trade, Yoo Myung-hee.The South Korean minister said she had been ‘in consultations with major countries, including the United States’.
Before her announcement, Okonjo-Iweala and Yoo had been the remaining candidates of the eight from various continents who showed interest in leading the WTO following the decision of Roberto Azevedo, former WTO DG, to stepped down from his post in August- a year before the end of his tenure.
Earlier in October 2020, the panel of three senior WTO ambassadors had told Okonjo-Iweala that she had a wide margin of support and was best poised to command a consensus from the organization’s 164 members.
Sherwin Bryce-Pease, United Nations bureau chief of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), reported that the WTO General Council chair had recommended Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be the next DG of WTO.
However, Bryce-Pease said the Trump-led US government had insisted that the South Korean candidate remained its candidate for the position, This led to a stalemate in the process.
Consequently, the General Council shifted the decision to elect the next director-general of the WTO to November 9th , but the process is yet to be concluded.
How change in US government might have influenced Yoo’s withdrawal
There are indications that the recent change in government in the United States might have influenced the withdrawal of the South Korean candidate.
Bloomberg reports that Yoo’s withdrawal followed advice from ‘dozens’ of former U.S. government officials who urged Joe Biden, incumbent US President, to endorse Okonjo-Iweala for the post.
Candidates for World Trade Organisation DG selection process CREDIT: The ICIR
The Biden-led US government has appointed many individuals of Nigerian and African descent into his cabinet since assuming power on January 20, 2021.
Although a Nigerian, Okonjo-Iweala also holds US citizenship which could further influence the new US government to support her bid.
If Okonjo-Iweala emerges as WTO DG
If the former Nigerian minister of finance is appointed DG of the WTO, she would not only be the first African to hold the seat but also the first woman to ever become the DG of the 164-member organisation.
Okonjo-Iweala combines experiences as a development economist, and finance/international development expert.
She graduated with a degree in Economics from Harvard University in the United States (US) and also earned a doctorate degree in Regional Economics and Development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), also in the US.
The development economist also has 15 honorary degrees from top universities around the world, including Yale, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Beyond her Ivy League education, Okonjo-Iweala has served twice as Nigeria’s finance minister, after a successful career in the World Bank, rising to the level of Managing Director.
One of her achievements as a minister in Nigeria was the debt relief package which she helped Nigeria to secure from the Paris Club.
CHIDI Odinkalu, a professor of law and former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has said that the announcement of former service chiefs as Nigerian ambassadors does not grant them immunity from criminal charges.
Odinkalu said this on Thursday in a series of tweets in reaction to the appointment of the former service chiefs as ambassadors by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on concerns by some Nigerians that the service chiefs were appointed in order to escape prosecution from the International Criminal Court, Odinkalu said there was no such immunity yet.
The former NHRC chairman said to enjoy the immunity that came with ambassadorship, another sovereign country had to accredit them.
“Briefly, this isn’t exactly good news for the former service chiefs. To begin with, to enjoy Sovereign Immunity (that’s what it’s called) in international law, they have to be accredited to another sovereign as Nigeria’s ambassadors. Carrying a diplomatic passport isn’t enough,” Odinkalu said.
He added that due to allegations levelled against some of the former service chiefs, a few credible countries would not accredit them.
Odinkalu noted that, for example, a member-state of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) would likely not take the former service chiefs as ambassadors.
“In any OSCE country, for instance, any effort to deploy them as ambassadors would almost be guaranteed to end up in a raucous domestic and diplomatic mess and will be resisted seriously. In all likelihood, they will not pass muster with those countries,” he stated.
According to him, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court had already decided to initiate formal processes for an investigation into atrocities in Nigeria, including possible or alleged crimes by the Nigerian Army under the command of both Tukur Buratai, former chief of army staff and Abayomi Olonisakin, former chief of defence staff.
On Thursday, Femi Adesina, special adviser to President Buhari on media and publicity, announced that all the former service chiefs who ‘resigned’ only 10 days ago had been nominated to the Senate as non-career ambassadors.
The retired service chiefs include: Olonisakin; Ibok-Ete Ibas, former chief of naval staff; Sadique Abubakar, former chief of air staff; and Mohammed S. Usman, former chief of defence intelligence.
During their watch as Nigerian Service Cheifs, there were several allegations of high-handedness by military officers.
In November 2020, the International Criminal Court confirmed that it received petitions over the killings of peaceful protesters during the #ENDSARS protests by men of the Nigerian Army. Buratai, particularly, was accused of ordering the killings of Shiites and young members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
WITH just five cases of COVID-19 in Kogi State but about 32,880 infections so far in the 10 bordering states, is Kogi not a high-risk state?
On Tuesday, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 warned against travelling to Kogi State after classifying it as ‘high-risk.’
Mukhtar Muhammad, national incident manager of the PTF, who made the announcement, said Kogi was not testing.
“We have states where data is not coming forth. If you don’t test, your data will not be analysed, and if your data is not analysed, we won’t know the level of the pandemic in your state,” he said.
“Notable among the states that have not been reporting adequately are Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi and, of course, Kogi that has not been reporting at all.”
Muhammad also mentioned that states that were not testing were at much higher risk than states currently known as ‘high burden states.’ He indicated that such states without tests had no testing facilities and isolation centres.
However, the state government rejected the high-risk tag given to it by the PTF. Kingsley Fanwo, commissioner for information and communication in the state, said that the PTF and NCDC’s intention was to drive away investors from the state.
“Despite their unreliable figures, Kogi emerged as the preferred investment destination of Nigeria in the last quarter of 2020. They felt embarrassed, and the best way to hit back is to create a picture of health crisis in the state.”
According to him, Kogi was the first state to procure face masks in thousands and distributed them to all the councils and the first to set up a team to combat the spread of the virus.
“We set up isolation centres with state-of-the-art equipment. We have done sensitisation more than any other state. So, if we don’t believe that Covid-19 exists, we won’t be doing all we are doing to ensure it doesn’t ravage our state.
“What we said and are still saying is that Covid-19 is not worth all the marketing going on just for a few to make billions; that we do not have to suffer innocent Nigerians while a few smile to the banks,” the commissioner said.
Analysing COVID-19 data of states bordering Kogi shows that the state has conducted the lowest number of tests when compared with neighbours. It also has the lowest number of infections in the country.
Kogi, a state of almost 3.5 million people, has tested a meagre 3,142 samples (about 0.089 percent of the population), the national situational report published January 22 by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed.
The bordering states with their total tests are FCT- 186,497; Enugu- 16,392; Edo- 27,879; Ondo-17,570; and Kwara- 16,240.
Other states are Niger- 14,403; Ekiti- 12,453; Benue- 12,389; Nasarawa- 16,681, and Anambra- 17,724.
Covid-19 cases of 10 states bordering Kogi
The PTF, in October 2020, lamented how about 26 states, including Kogi, were yet to achieve the target of testing one percent of their populations. It also said only Lagos and the FCT had so far achieved this target.
As of 03 February, a total of 32,880 cases of COVID-19 had been recorded in the 10 states bordering Kogi. Only five cases have been recorded by the North-Central state since the first index case was reported in Nigeria on February 27, 2020. Even as the second wave of the pandemic bites, Kogi is yet to record another case since it reported its last case in June 2020.
Of the 10 bordering states, FCT, which is about 212 kilometers away, has recorded 17,243 confirmed cases. Others are Edo- 3,862; Ondo-2,339; Kwara- 2,003; Nasarawa- 1,871; Enugu- 1,829; Anambra- 1,053; Niger- 789; Benue- 848, and Ekiti- 587.
Covid-19 cases of 10 states bordering Kogi
While states are solely in charge of their coronavirus management and response, the NCDC supports and receives daily infection information.
However, these figures’ reliability has raised concerns due to several loopholes and challenges, including state officials not turning in enough test samples.
Health experts believe the virus must have infected more people than reported due to limited testing and low contact tracing mechanism. They say the situation can also mask the severity of localised outbreaks in slums and crowded cities with large clusters of people.
Yahaya Bello’s fictitious claims
Yahaya Bello, Kogi State governor, has, on numerous occasions, rejected the existence of the virus and was seen lately discouraging a crowd of supporters from taking COVID-19 vaccines.
He had told the cheering crowd, without evidence, that vaccines introduced to combat the virus was intended to kill people.
“…They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid!” he said.
“These vaccines are being produced in less than one year of COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet for HIV, malaria, cancer and for several diseases that are killing us… We should draw our minds back to what happened in Kano during the polio vaccines that crippled and killed our children. We have learned our lessons.
“If they say they are taking the vaccines in the public, allow them take their vaccines. Don’t say I said you should not take it, but if you want to take it, open your eyes before you take the vaccines.”
He had also, in his new year broadcast, said his administration would not respond to the second wave of COVID-19 with ‘mass hysteria.’
Yahaya Bello is a danger to the health security of the country- Professor Tomori
Professor Oyewale Tomori, a professor of virology and chairman of Expert Review Committee on COVID-19, said Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi State, was a danger to the country’s health security. Tomori said this in an exclusive interview with The ICIR.
He pointed out that the governor was uncaring because he did not care about his people, did not care about their good health, did not care about their welfare, and was a danger not only to the people of Kogi but also to the entire country.
“We waited too late to do that. It is right for the PTF to have declared the state a high-risk state. The day he started denying the existence of the disease is when the state should have been declared that, but it is never late than never,” he said.
Tomori, chairman, Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, classifies the governor as one of the country’s most dangerous people.
“If the governor says there are no cases of COVID-19 in his state, has he forgotten that some cases that were recorded in the FCT originated from his state?”
“Some Youth Corps members that were deployed to the state tested positive, but he denied it. Why is he so afraid of testing?” he asked
Tomori explained that disease was not a static thing as people would always move, go out, come in, and infect others. “Is it that people in Kogi state are so good at wearing their masks?” he asked. He said the governor often gave a false impression that Kogi had just five cases almost one year after the country recorded its first case.
The Redeemers University’s pioneer vice-chancellor also blamed the federal government for not ensuring that states accounted for the COVID-19 fund that was disbursed to them all. He said, “I recall that each state got 1 billion naira, so what has Kogi State done with the money if there are no COVID cases in the state?” he asked.
In its response, the state government had accused the PTF and NCDC of scaring away investors from the state, Tomori, in his response, asked if it was only Kogi that needed investors in its state.
“What has investors got to do with the health of the people? We are talking about the life of your people, and you are talking about business. The economy can be revived later. If there is no life, there is no livelihood,” Tomori said.
Tomori was unhappy that Nigeria would often make little investment in health because of its inability to yield immediate revenue, but stressed that any health disaster often destroyed all the economy built over the years.
He said he was glad that the Governors’ Forum dissociated itself from Yahaya Bello’s comment and that the PTF had taken the right decision now. “Everyone from every angle should condemn this governor for what he is doing,” he noted.
The NCDC was contacted for reactions on the state government’s response to the declaration. China Cindy, a clinical epidemiologist at the NCDC, did not respond to questions posed to her, saying she was not authorised to speak to the press.
“I am a public servant, and we have a protocol. You need to get permission for an interview to be granted,” she told the reporter on the phone.
She gave the reporter contact details of Chukwuemeka Oguanuo, who is in charge of external communications and media at the NCDC, but calls placed to his line did not connect and a message sent to him did not get a response.
ON January 29, 2021, Aso Rock once again raised an alarm that some unnamed Nigerians were plotting to wage a campaign of calumny against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Femi Adesina, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said a plan was afoot to portray the president as pandering to ethnic and primordial tendencies contrary to his pledge to belong to all Nigerians.
Sketching out the alleged plot with the sole intent of sullying Buhari’s supposedly sterling repute, Adesina said it entails the release of editorials by media houses alleging, among other things, that the president places members of his ethnic nationality in sensitive positions.
“The campaign, scheduled to be launched any time soon through editorials and purported special investigative stories, is designed to further exacerbate tension in the land, by portraying the President as pandering to ethnic and other primordial tendencies, contrary to his pledge to belong to all Nigerians,” Adesina cried out.
Apart from “alleging subjugation and suppression of a particular religion and ethnic groups,” he added, “part of the planned publication is to make unwary readers believe that the President has continually used the powers of his office to shield and protect an ethnic group against crimes of murder, kidnappings, rape and banditry in the southern, middle belt and some northern states.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his conclusion that the idea was to damage Buhari’s reputation.
Why would anybody bother to embark on such a campaign that will only succeed in telling people what they already know? Is it worthwhile preaching to the converted?
Who does not know that Buhari is Nigeria’s most unapologetic provincial leader ever? Who does not know that Buhari as president of Nigeria values his relationship with fellow ethnic Fulani from Niger Republic than citizens who happen to be Igbo for instance?
To be sure, Buhari didn’t become an ethnic irredentist today. What has changed is that he has used his position as president to further enhance the ethnic supremacy agenda he has championed all his life.
When he, as a former head of state, led a delegation of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) chieftains – that included former Lagos State Governor, Buba Marwa, and Aliko Muhammed on October 13, 2000 – to confront the then Governor of Oyo State, Lam Adesina, over the alleged killing of his “people” by the Yoruba, what was that?
Has Buhari ever championed the cause of any other group in Nigeria other than the Fulani?
Narrating what happened in that meeting, Lam Adesina’s Chief Press Secretary, Kehinde Olaosebikan, quoted Buhari as telling his host at the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House, Ibadan thus:
“Your Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your government our displeasure about the incident of clashes between two peoples … the Fulani cattle rearers and merchants are today being harassed, attacked and killed like in Saki.
“In the month of May, 2000, 68 bodies of Fulani cattle rearers were recovered and buried under the supervision and protection from a team of Mobile Police from Oyo State Command.
“That some arrests were made by Oyo State Police Command in the massacre with their immediate release without court trial. This was said to have been ordered by Oyo State authorities and they were so released to their amazement.
“The release of the arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the authorities are backing and protecting them to continue the unjust and illegal killings of Fulani cattle rearers ….”
Buhari asked the governor to immediately stop the killings, bring the alleged culprits to book and pay compensation to the Fulani.
These allegations were false. But it is instructive that Buhari only bothered because he was fed with a false narrative that his people, the Fulani, were being massacred by the Yoruba.
But now that he is the president and it has become evident that the Fulani, most of them non-citizens, are wreaking havoc across the country, killing and maiming Nigerians, what is he doing? He asked Benue people to be good neighbours. How many people have been brought to justice over the unending carnage in the country?
So, Buhari has no reputation on such matters. Nigerians know that. To borrow a legal parlance, res ipsa loquito (the fact speaks for itself). So, if there is no such reputation, what then is there to protect?
Was it not Lord Alfred Thompson Denning, the legendary English lawyer and judge, who famously said in the celebrated case of Benjamin Leonard MacFoy versus the United Africa Company Ltd on November 27, 1961 that, “You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse.” Buhari simply has no peg to hang his assumed nationalistic coattail.
Curiously, last Friday’s false alarm is the second time in a month that the Presidency is crying wolf.
On December 23, 2020, the Presidency also raised an alarm over an alleged plan to smear Buhari’s image by portraying him as someone not in charge of the government.
Just as he did last Friday, Adesina pointed fingers of blame at unnamed persons who have allegedly procured the services of an equally unnamed online platform to launch a campaign of calumny that would portray Buhari as not being in charge of the country.
Till date, the Presidency did not bother telling Nigerians what happened to the December plot. Was it carried out or the plotters were scared away after their cover was blown?
So, why is Buhari crying wolf? It smacks of mischief. Having reached its wits end in disinformation and propaganda, the government is crying wolf to divert attention from something. Sooner than later, Nigerians will know.
But after Adesina’s latest hoax, I remembered the Igbo axiom of the guilty fleeing when no one is pursuing, or as the Bible puts it in Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
Buhari’s false alarm is a metaphor for guilty conscience. If he had taken to heart the time-tested aphorism of his progenitor, Usmanu Dan Fodiyo, that ‘conscience is an open wound, which only truth can heal,’ he wouldn’t have been in this bind.
If he is doing the right thing and living by his Oath of Office – “… in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will …” – there will be no pangs of conscience.
The problem is that the Presidency has mastered the ill-advised art of believing its own lies and Buhari has been corralled into the mendacious loop.
Or, how else can one explain that he actually believes that he treats all Nigerians equally, that those accusing him of nepotism are lying? If Buhari has somehow managed to convince himself that the charge of nepotism against him is, indeed, false, then he is a man to be pitied.
But he needs not bother about those who portray him as someone not in charge of the government because I sincerely believe that Buhari is in absolute control. He is in charge, a fact which explains why things have gone dangerously south. Those who blame his aides for all the shenanigans don’t get it.
While Buhari has remained Teflon, his aides have always taken the bullet on his behalf. That was the case with the late Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, who took all the flak. A friend who had a very close relationship with Kyari insisted after his death that he was only a victim of blind loyalty.
“If you knew Abba, you will understand what I am talking about. The man just couldn’t do anything against the wishes of his boss even if he feels otherwise. Take this to the bank, he never did anything without the clearance or directive of the president. The man did nothing that Buhari didn’t ask him to do. He never did anything without the president’s say so or approval.”
I didn’t believe him then, but I do now because almost one year after the death of the man who became Nigerians’ bête noire, nothing has changed.
Truth be told, nobody is launching any smear campaign to convince Nigerians that Buhari is nepotistic. It is unnecessary. His base instincts bear eloquent testimony against him every day.
Writer’s opinion does not represent the viewpoint of The ICIR
SUPPORTERS of Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba activist have through Gofundme fundraiser raised more than seven million for his activities in the western region of the country.
The Gofundme organised by one Maureen Badejo has raised £13,820 out of the proposed £100,000 for the purchase of buses.
In the description of the fundraiser, the organiser said Igboho is in need of buses in order to move around and ‘secure our ancestral land’.
The description further read that their security is threatened and the people in the position of authority are helpless.
“Let us rise up and support chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho, they need buses to move around to secure our ancestral land. Our security is threatened as we speak. It seems people in a position of authority are helpless,” the description read in part.
In support of the donation, one Bankole Ogedengbe who donated £50 to the Gofundme account said Yorubaland must be free of a ‘bad deal’ called the 1999 Nigerian constitution.
Another donator identified as Kayode Ojetunde who donated £100 while stating his reason for donating said it is in order to liberate Yoruba nation from looming dangers if insurgency and banditry.
The Fulani herders’ crisis has again become an issue of national crisis in Nigeria.
The ICIR had reported that after issuing an ultimatum, Igboho visited Igangan town in Oyo state, alongside his supporters razed the residence of the Seriki of Igangan town over allegations that the Seriki connives with Fulani bandits to perpetrate violence on residents of the town.
Although the Seriki Fulani had fled the town before the expiration of Igboho’s ultimatum, he insists that he is innocent of the allegations.
After his time in Igangan, Igboho moved to Ogun state where he visited some town in the Yewa North Local government of the state.
According to reports, a series of violence was unleashed on the residence of the Seriki Fulani of Kaza town while one person was reported to have died as a result of the crisis.
Apart from Oyo and Ogun states, many other states in the Southern part of the country including Edo and Delta states have demanded the departure of Fulani herders.
The residents of some of the states alleged that the Fulani herders’ are responsible for the destruction of their farms and attacks on their properties.
In Igangan town, residents of the community said the Fulani herders’ kidnap their people and demand for ransoms.
Meanwhile, Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state has said that Nigerians have the rights to live anywhere in the country.
El-Rufai said this in a statement Wednesday as regards the ongoing crisis in the country over the activities of Fulani herders.
“On behalf of the Government of Kaduna State, I call on all Nigerians living in our state to respect law and order and the rights of all citizens to live in peace and security wherever they reside or work,” the statement read.
He also called on other state governments to ensure that citizen’s right to live anywhere in the country are protected.
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has extended the tenure of Mohammed Adamu, by three months despite the completion of his tenure as the inspector-general of police (IGP), on Monday.
Muhammad Dingyadi, Nigerian minister of police affairs, announced this to newsmen on Thursday in the State House, Abuja.
He said that the decision of the President to extend the IGP’s tenure for another three months was to give time for the proper selection of a new police helmsman.
On Monday, while fielding questions on Channels Television, Garba Shehu, a senior presidential spokesperson had said there was no date for the announcement of a new IGP, raising suspicion among Nigerians that there were plans for tenure elongation for Adamu.
Buhari violates Police Act
The 2020 amended Police Act, signed into law by Buhari in September last year specifically spelt out the tenureship of any personnel of the police force. The Act pegs the retirement age of police officers at 60 years of age or 35 years of service.
Part 111 Section 7 (6) of the Act, which repealed the Police Act Cap. P19, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, prescribed a four-year single tenure for a person appointed to the office of the IGP subject to the provisions of clause 18 (8), which stipulates that every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for a period of 35 years or until he attains the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.
Also, under the Police Act, Adamu’s tenure extension also violates Section 7 (6), which fixes a single term of four years without an option of extension of tenure for the holder of the office of the IGP.
PASTOR Tunde Bakare, general overseer of Citadel Global Community Church, has urged the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to end open grazing presently practised by herdsmen in the country.
He also said there was the need for herdsmen to register in their host communities and states for proper identification.
He made the call when he appeared on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ monitored by The ICIR on Thursday.
The pastor said he would bring the issue of the ‘obsolete’ practice of open grazing to the president when the opportunity availed itself.
Bakare’s comments came amid calls from communities in South-West and North-Central part of the country that herders should leave over concerns related to insecurity.
Some communities across the country have accused herdsmen of invading farmlands, forcing some state governments to enact anti-open grazing laws and ordering registration of herders in their states.
Rotimi Akeredolu, Ondo State governor had, on the 18th of January, in a bid to curb kidnapping, rape, destruction of farms by herdsmen, ordered herdsmen to register with the state government or vacate the state’s forest reserves.
The government had said, “These unfortunate incidents are traceable to the activities of some bad elements masquerading as herdsmen. These felons have turned our forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating for ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.”
But the presidency, through Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, while reacting to the governor’s order said the governor had no constitutional powers to ask anybody to leave the state or any part of the state.
But on Thursday, Bakare said, “Open grazing needs to end as nations of the earth have gone beyond the practice and will also solve the myriad of issues associated with open grazing.
“Please, let’s be very very careful not to tear this country apart and I am appealing to all men of goodwill to rise to this occasion. There are four issues involved in this matter that I have considered and by the grace of God, as soon as I have the opportunity, I will also bring to the attention of president.
“We have lived with Fulanis and Fulanis have lived with us across this land. We must separate this agricultural pastoralism from the second thing, which is the terrorist issues in the forest.
“One of the issues is open grazing. I think it’s obsolete and it needs to end. It needs to end because the nations of the earth have gone beyond this. I was in Glasgow, I was in Israel, there are so many things we can do about agricultural pastoralism that will stop all the trouble in our land,” he said.
“We must be careful of indiscriminate violence, and separate terrorists in the forests from agricultural pastoralism. Those who are invading other people’s farms must be stopped. If our laws do not stop them and if property rights are not respected, then the government is not doing what it should do,” he added.
A few days after the passing of American television and radio host, Larry King, a post surfaced online in Nigeria that he survived several ailments and multiple divorces before finally dying of COVID-19.
The post was meant to get people to take COVID-19 seriously and observe its prevention protocols, like wearing masks.
The post made by an online user, Ben Agande, on Facebook has been shared multiple times.
THE CLAIM
Larry King survived two cancers – lung and prostate, quintuple by-pass heart surgery, cardiac arrest, seven wives, and diabetic.
The finding
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is TRUE.
Larry King was a prominent broadcaster and host of the famous show – ‘Larry King Live’ on Cable News Network (CNN).
He hosted the show for more than 25 years and recorded over 6,000 episodes.
King died at 87. His family announced his death on January 24, 2021, on his verified Facebook page.
“He was an amazing father, and he was fiercely loyal to those lucky enough to call him a friend. We will miss him every single day of our lives,” the statement reads in part.
King’s family did not categorically state the cause of his death. However, his former employer said he was hospitalized for contracting COVID-19.
A day before, Ora Media, a firm he co-founded also disclosed that he died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, in Los Angeles, United States.
For 63 years, the ace broadcaster worked across different news platforms such as radio, television, and digital media. “Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster,” the firm stated.
King has suffered from a series of ailments and largely managed to survive them. Some of which are cancer of the lung and prostate cancer.
In 2017, King struggled with lung cancer, USA Today reports.
Medical doctors discovered a stage 1 tumour during the broadcaster’s annual chest X-ray, which was removed via surgery.
In an interview with EXTRA, King said he had a heart attack and a heart surgery.
“I have a check-up every year. I have gone through a lot in my life – I’ve had a heart attack and heart surgery. Part of my check-up is the chest X-ray, and that is the protocol, I do it every year. Then, the doctor says I see a little spot here,” he said.
In a statement to the CNN, his representative also stated that King was “diagnosed with stage 1 Adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer, through a routine chest examination.”
The report also noted that King has type 2 diabetes.
On February 24, 1987, King suffered a heart attack. The heart disease was found to be hereditary. When King was 9, his father died of cardiac arrest at 46. In an interview with Alene Dawson of the Los Angeles Times, he said:
‘I’ve had heart attack and heart surgery. I defeated prostate cancer, have type 2 diabetes, but I remain in good health…I follow my doctor’s wishes, I take my prescriptions drugs, I take a lot of vitamins…”
King was married eight times to seven different women, including Alene Akins, whom he married and divorced twice. One of his marriages was reportedly annulled.
His longest and last marriage was with Shawn Southwick. He filed for divorce after 22 years of marriage.
The verdict
The claim that Larry King survived two cancers – lung and prostate, quintuple by-pass heart surgery, cardiac arrest, seven wives and was diabetic is TRUE.
