Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 30th April 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 30/04/20
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BREAKING: Nigeria Records 196 New Coronavirus Cases
Nigeria has recorded 196 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 1728.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control disclosed this in a tweet on Wednesday.
It said, “196 new cases of #COVID19 reported; 87 in Lagos, 24 in Kano, 18 in Gombe, 17 in Kaduna, 16 in FCT, 10 in Katsina, eight in Sokoto, seven in Edo, six in Borno, one in Yobe, one in Ebonyi and one in Adamawa.
“As at 11:55pm 29th April, 1728 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria. Discharged: 307, deaths: 51.”
196 new cases of #COVID19 reported;87-Lagos24-Kano18-Gombe17-Kaduna16-FCT10-Katsina8-Sokoto7-Edo6-Borno1-Yobe1-Ebonyi1-AdamawaAs at 11:55pm 29th April- 1728 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria.Discharged: 307Deaths: 51 pic.twitter.com/1ul1P8JvTH— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 29, 2020
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E2%80%94trump United States Will Send At Least 200 Ventilators To Nigeria —Trump
Donald Trump, President of the United States, has said that America was ready to send at least 200 or more ventilators to Nigeria
Trump had in a telephone conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday promised to send some ventilators to support Nigeria in the fight to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Speaking at a press briefing aired on Fox News, Trump said there were plans by the US to send ventilators from Florida to other countries amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said, “We’re going to send at least 200 ventilators to Nigeria; probably more than that.”
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BREAKING: United States President, Trump, Promises Nigeria Ventilators After Telephone Conversation With Buhari
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Former Borno Governor, Goni, Is Dead
The first civilian governor of Borno State, Alhaji Mohammed Goni, has died at the age of 78.
A family source, who confirmed the death to SaharaReporters, said the former governor died on Wednesday evening from an undisclosed illness.
In 1979, Goni was elected as the first civilian governor of the former Borno State on the platform of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party and was in office from October 1979 to September 1983.
He was also part of the Progressives Coalition led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Goni founded the Borno Radio Television to counter the propaganda being pumped out by the Nigerian Television Authority at the time.
Before the 1983 elections, he defected to the Unity Party of Nigeria, running unsuccessfully for reelection against the Nigerian People’s Party candidate, Sheikh Jarma.
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Ondo Government Reinstates Sacked Nurses Who Protested Non-payment Of Salaries
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu
The Ondo State Government has re-instated six nurses sacked recently at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital.
The nurses were sacked in February for embarking on a protest to demand payment of their accumulated salary arrears.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu
A source at the Ministry of Health in the state said the sacked workers were asked to resume back after a meeting between the ministry, nursing leaders in the state and management of the hospital.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ondo Government Sacks Nurses For Demanding Payment Of Accumulated Salaries
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“I can confirm to you that they have all been reinstated, there is one among them who proved stubborn, he failed to be remorseful nor apologize but he has been told to resume too,” the source said.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ondo Government Asks Sacked Nurses To Deny SaharaReporters’ Story Before Being Reinstated Into Service
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Abba Kyari: Of Friendship And Public Service By Remi Oyeyemi
Remi Oyeyemi
“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.”
-Kenneth Levine
“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.”
-Lois McMaster Bujold
After what appeared to be the overwhelming verdict of the majority of Nigerians on the stewardship of late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, that adjudged his actions in office as calamitous, catastrophic, woeful and grief-filled for the average citizen, some of his friends, both personal and official, have since bombarded the media space with “his other side”.
There were pieces from Femi Fani-Kayode, Simon Kolawole, Geoffrey Onyeama, Segun Adeniyi, Waziri Adio, Reuben Abati and a number of others. The obvious attempt by this group was to humanise a personality that was by reputation, a monster to the majority of Nigerian citizens. Their attempts were obviously to mitigate the notoriety and obloquies of Abba Kyari as Chief of Staff.
It must of necessity, be conceded to the individuals identified above and their ilk that they are all entitled to their perspectives on their friend, Abba Kyari. They have every right to celebrate their friend who died. It was not a sin to go down memory lane to avail the rest of us of the beautiful experiences they had with him. “Kìí burú títí kó má ku enìkan soso mó ni, eni tí yíó kù la ò mò,” so goes the Yorùbá aphorism. This aphorism, literally, would mean “No matter how bad one’s situation is, there would be someone to sympathize, who that would be is unknown.”
Remi Oyeyemi
It is a good thing some or all of them had unfettered access to the late Chief of Staff. It was a great thing that they were able to discuss his private lamentation about some of the occurrences in the government. It was a great thing that they either worked together or they were classmates with Kyari. They regaled us all with the details of their personal relationships which had nothing to do with public interest.
Suffice to say that all of us have friends at different cadres of government. How we relate to them is up to us. What we discuss with them and vice versa is up to us. Those of us who are also relatives to those who hold public offices have the same rights of whatever type of relationship that mutually suit us. We are all entitled to such.
In such relationships, either with friends and or family, the variables are patently different from the variables that govern the relationship and expectations of the public on whose purse the public office holders are maintained. They live in government houses. They drive expensive cars. They fly in different types of jets. They have the law enforcement officers of various grades and genre at their beck and call. They enjoy a lot of special privileges. On our purse.
Thus, to whom much is given, much is highly expected.
The question that demands immediate answer from the apologists of Abba Kyari, who are competing with themselves to tell us his “other side” was asked by Mark Twain in his book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, as follows: “What’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?”
When one is in public office, the basic expectation is one’s responsibility to the people on whose financial account one is maintained in that office. The people on the street. The powerless. The voiceless. The vulnerable. The weak. Those who have no access and should not have needed it if good governance had been given the priority.
This also include responsibility to the businesses and the creation of conducive atmosphere for citizens to engage in whatever their interests are within the confines of the extant laws. Ensuring of social and economic stability is of great importance. With that, goes the most important of all — safety of lives and property with tools of justice, equity, balance and fairness.
In all the tributes from Abba Kyari’s friends, trying to show us “his other side,” there were too many sordid revelations about his person. As a public office holder, what came across most was his arrogance. His sense of irresponsibility. His “I don’t care attitude.” His meanness. His pettiness. His vindictiveness. His brutality. His cunningness. His duplicity. His manipulations. As posited elsewhere, Abba Kyari, with a mien akin to that of a dove, was a heinous hawk, a vicious vulture that is egregious and atrocious in its debauchery and cupidity.
In this conscious cascade into casual casuistry, Waziri Adio and Simon Kolawole, my colleagues in our days at TheNews and TEMPO magazines, did the most damage. Segun Adeniyi also is in this cadre of those, who did as much damage. In an attempt to humanize a monster friend of theirs, they showcased his arrogance and putrid sense of irresponsibility. Acquiescing with Kyari’s refusal to publicly defend himself was a demonstration of bad faith, first to him as their friend, and second to the Nigerian public.
Without any prejudice to their motives for so doing, they left their friend vulnerable to the harsh judgement of History by such acquiescence. They did Abba Kyari a lot of harm. On the other side of it, they also did a great disservice to the public who paid the wages for the comfort of Abba Kyari in office. On so many national issues that one would not want to repeat here, they did not tell their friend the truth and did not encourage him to be honest with Nigerians.
Also, one is flabbergasted by the mere expectations of theirs, that Abba Kyari’s death should redeem him of his heinous acts against Nigerians; that his nicety to them as his friends should override his duty and responsibility to the public as a public office holder. As such, he, according to them, ought to be seen from that “other side” purview rather than be judged by his actions in office.
That they refused to separate personal relationships from responsibility of a public office was very troubling. By virtue of their profession, they are in the best position to realise that personal relationships with a motley crowd of fawning friends and flattering family members have no meaning to the ordinary man on the streets of Ilésà, Warri, Rano, Enugu, Calabar, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Owerri, Akure, Itire, Iwo, Sokoto, Yola, Port-Harcourt, Benin, Asaba and or elsewhere in Nigeria.
Mixing up the disposition of a tyrant to his family and friends with the expectations of the public from a public office holder is very gross and much more distressing coming from journalists of their caliber. They know and or ought to know that there is a big gulf between the two. The measurement of the performance of a public office holder is the happiness and progress of the people, not the happiness and progress of his crowd of friends, cronies and family members, immediate or extended.
Every tyrant has a friend. Every tyrant has a wife or concubine. Every tyrant, if he went to school would have a classmate. Every tyrant if he didn’t go to school would have a street friend and playmate. Every tyrant would have people in his lives to whom he has shown a soft side at one time or the other. Every tyrant has a sense of justification for his actions. Every tyrant has a sense of self – righteousness, no matter how vacuous. Every tyrant almost always have the “other side.”
But to the average citizens on the streets, he is still a tyrant. He is still a monster. He is still a wicked soul who has made their lives miserable. He is still that cruel person who never cared about their welfare. He is still that person who swims in the pool of arrogance of power. He is still that ignoble soul who took decisions that hurt the system and damagingly pulverized the man on the street. He is still the one responsible for their tears, their gnashing of teeth. He is still the one responsible, either in part or whole, for their povertisation and squalorisation.
To the man on the street, no matter the education of the tyrant, no matter “his other side,” no matter his loyalty to his friends, his close allies and sycophants, he is still the one stultifying the voice of the voiceless. He is still the one pumelling the powerless. He is still the one hurdling the path of those without access. He is still the one creating anarchy within the system, inflicting it with more dysfunctionality.
Any public officer, whether elected or appointed, is accountable to the public, to the man on the street and not to his friends and family as well as cronies and sycophants. Whatever private communication between any public office holder and his friends is totally irrelevant and of no consequences to the perception, assessment and judgement of his performance in the office by the public on whose financial account he was maintained in office.
Those of us who are passing judgements on Abba Kyari are doing so on the account of his performance in the public office. His “other side” is of no interest to us. What is of interest to us is why and how he traumatized our lives so heartlessly without remorse. We are bothered as to why he could be so mean and cruel; cared so less, marinated in rancid arrogance and be so unconscionably corrupt.
This is the crux of the matter. They should please save us from the tales about his “other side.” That should be left to his family and friends, with whom we also sympathize because of our own humanity. They are entitled to their accrued happiness as his bosom friends and family. But that is gulf apart from his duty and responsibility to the public at large.
Then I read Femi Adesina’s piece about dreaming of Abba Kyari’s death. In the concluding part of that piece, Femi made an appeal to sympathy, using religion and the vulnerability of us all to death, as his tools. He expressed disgust that many are dancing on the grave of Abba Kyari. But he forgot to remember that Abba Kyari himself danced on the graves of many Nigerians who died as a result of nidorous policies on which he collaborated with Muhammadu Buhari and the cabal. What some of us seek to know is whether the former Chief of Staff ever believed he would ever die while he was exercising power with such uninhibited disdain for his fellow human beings? Did he know that we are all made of dust and would return to dust?
I am sure if he did, Abba Kyari would have acted differently in so many circumstances in which he acted ruthlessly, without mercy, without fairness, without balance and with condescension and arrogance. No matter how we roll it, no matter how we dice it, no matter how we spin it, no matter how we twirl it, no matter how we turn it, no one among us would leave this life alive. We should all remember that.
And to Femi Adesina himself, before he begins to pity the rest of us, he should also remember that one day, like everyone else, he would bite the dust. Telling us to either give up our land or die, would one day be remembered by the relatives and victims of wanton murder, mindless maiming, rapacious raping, ferocious arson, destruction of farms and villages driven by ethnic cleansing of which he is a proud mouth piece.
All of us must always remember that we all have appointment with death. It is a necessary end to which we must all come. In or out of power, we must always be very careful what we do to others.
It was Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology and was influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, as well as religious studies who admonished as follows:
“The wrong we have done, thought, or intended will wreak its vengeance on our souls.”
And I dare to add, “dead or alive.”
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E2%80%94presidency Verbal Autopsy Ongoing In Kano To Determine If Strange Deaths Are COVID-19-related —Presidency
Verbal autopsies are currently being carried out to determine if the cause of the deaths recorded in Kano are from Coronavirus, the Presidency has said.
Garba Shehu, Presidential spokesperson, on Wednesday said the result of the autopsies must be accepted by all and not be used to play politics.
He said, “Nigeria is only weeks into our fight against the invisible COVID-19 that earlier this year was unknown to almost every nation in the world.
“Only earlier this month, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, made clear that ‘We are at the beginning in Africa’.
“There is much that remains unknown about this virus. What we do know is that global infections rates continue to rise each day, even when in some nations affected some time before Nigeria, the daily rate of infection is now slowing.
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Panic In Kano As Over 150 Persons Die ‘Mysteriously’ Under Three Days, Sparking Coronavirus Fears
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“We know too that there is a global shortage of personal protective equipment, virus testing kits and other medical devices required to fight this pandemic.
“And we also know that in each and every country there are some cities and regions more severely affected than others.
“In Nigeria, there are currently verbal autopsies underway in Kano State to identify the precise cause of the sudden and rapid increase in mortality in recent days.
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Kano Residents Groan As Doctors Turn Patients Away From Hospitals After ‘Mysterious’ Deaths Hit City
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“While some may wish to believe that there are other causes at play here like hypertension, diabetes, meningitis, and acute malaria’, there are others who say it is COVID-19.
“We should be prepared to accept the medical and scientific result of the autopsies and work together to confront the common enemy.”
He added that if the deaths are determined to be COVID-19, all hands would be required on deck to ensure that the virus is wiped out of Nigeria’s most populous state.
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E2%80%98ll-quit-if-jobs-assigned-nigerians-are-hijacked-politicians-%E2%80%94keyamo I‘ll Quit If Jobs Assigned To Nigerians Are Hijacked By Politicians —Keyamo
Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has threatened to resign his appointment if the 774,000 jobs approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for the ‘masses’ was hijack by politicians.
Keyamo disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while answering questions from journalists during the inauguration of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Extended Special Public Works across the 774 local governments of the federation.
When asked if politicians won’t hijack the process, the minister said, “This is not for PDP or APC, who will want slot from my local government because I am a politician. I assure you it will not happen.
“I will leave this job, if they want to insist that it will happen.
“Mr President is targeting ordinary Nigerians who are neither PDP or APC or just anything. They just want to get jobs, they just want to feed their family.
“This is not a time for us to empower our followers as politicians. We are going to dig deep, it is one of the recommendation.”
Keyamo maintained that the programme would be benefited by those targeted.
The pilot scheme was approved to be implemented in five local government areas in eight states of Adamawa, Borno, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina and Kwara.
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COVID-19: Nigeria Labour Congress Warns Governors, Employers Against Salary Reduction
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The Nigeria Labour Congress has warned state governors and employers against any reduction in the salaries of workers in the country due to COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued by the President of the union, Ayuba Wabba, on Wednesday, the NLC said workers’ salaries were core elements of employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements.
He said the labour union had directed workers in the country to resist any form of salary deduction or stoppage by any employer as a result of Coronavirus.
File Photo
He urged the leadership of the union at all levels to be on guard to protect the income and livelihood of workers at these trying times.
He said, “We wish to state that any move to deduct the salaries of Nigerian workers anywhere is illegal.
“Salaries are core elements of employment contracts and most of the times products of collective bargaining processes.
“It is therefore illogical and illegal to deduct a worker’s salary for any reason whatsoever without the consent of the worker involved.”
He said celebration of this year’s May Day would be quiet as result of the Coronavirus outbreak.
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COVID-19: Fear Grips FCT Residents As Kano, Kaduna Returnees Flood Abuja
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory are now living in fear as strange faces believed to be from neighbouring states including Kano and Kaduna have flooded the nation’s capital.
Minister of State for FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, had last week raised an alarm over the influx of destitute into the territory from neighbouring states despite the current lockdown in Abuja.
Findings by SaharaReporters showed that returnees from Kano and Kaduna states have migrated into the suburbs of the territory.
There have been cases of hijack of food items and attack on members of palliative committee by thugs during the distribution of relief materials to residents in the city.
Security agents drafted to the entry points of the city centre to enforce interstate movement restrictions were not helping matter as many of them took advantage of the situation to feather their own nest.
A Kano returnee, who arrived few days ago, said that coming into Abuja had never be a challenge for him, adding that he knows how to appease the security agents on the road.
Truckloads of destitute and street urchins from Kaduna axis were said to have been emptied into the FCT and Niger State, which harbours all manners of people.
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Lockdown: Abuja Residents Defy Mobile Courts, Move Around City Freely
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It was gathered that the fleeing destitute sensed that they may run into trouble at the military checkpoints in Deidei but decided to disembark at Tunga-Maje along Kaduna Road.
The porous nature of the FCT borders may expose many residents living in satellite towns to the community transmission of COVID-19 pandemic.
With the current situation in Kano where many people have died under strange and mysterious circumstance, the latest development leaves much to be desired.
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Nigerians Mourn Death Of Covenant Varsity Graduate Whose Surgery Abroad Was Delayed Due To Lockdown
Judith Omonua
An entrepreneur and graduate of Political Science from Covenant University, Judith Omonua, popularly known as Ghunu, has died after battling a heart condition for years.
Omonua was 24 years old at the time of her death.
She was supposed to undergo a heart surgery abroad but owing to the lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of Coronavirus she couldn’t travel for the surgery.
The young lady died on Monday after battling the ailment for three years.
Judith Omonua
Omonua was the Chief Executive Officer of Ghunu Effects, an organic skincare brand.
SaharaReporters had last week reported how with no alternative, Nigerian patients billed for elective and emergency surgeries in India and other developed countries had to cancel their plans and seek care at home.
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In a tribute to her by her sister, Obehi Omonua, the deceased was described as one, who risked her health to support others.
The tribute read, “She supported the launch of so many brands and was the technical adviser to many. She planned so many weddings for friends and family, travelled when necessary for all her friends’ weddings knowing fully well that it would take a toll on her health because on her return, it would land her in the hospital.”
Obehi said she had regularly been on oxygen mask since 2017 and was being treated at a private ward at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.
She added, “Judith was one of Nigeria’s best makeup artists but had to give up that career when her health started declining in 2017. Several hospitals stays, countless injections, drips and oxygen mask marked Judith’s life from 2017 till 2020.
“On several occasions, she passed out but our prayers brought her back. LASUTH became used to her and always reserved a private ward for her but Judith was known to work from her sickbed.”
Mourning her death, Nigerians described her as a hardworking and loving lady, who died when she was just rising to fame.
Joke Oshodi said, “Why…someone who accomplished so much so young… already an independent business guru and very beautifully and wonderfully made? So many questions but we cannot question Almighty God, for only He holds all the answers. May her soul rest in peace with God. Amen.”
Tosin Ola wrote, “RIP. The most intelligent and hardworking girl filled with wisdom. Angels rejoice over your beautiful soul.”
Adebola Fayeun, who identified herself as Judith’s cousin, said she was a loving person and also attested to her kind nature.
She said, “Judith is my cousin (I can’t even bear to address her in the past tense as I can’t believe she’s gone).
“She was loved, adored and admired. It gives me great comfort and joy to hear of her glorious achievements and to know that she was loved because she touched lives beyond measure.
“I’m so deeply hurt at her passing. I am still trying to make sense of it. Thank you all for your beautiful tribute to her.”
Eweka Patricia Iyos said, “This is so sad, oh my God. You left at the peak of your career, at a time you started making an impact and your name becoming a household name. Ghunu effect, may your soul find rest.”
On Twitter, @Bubble_minakie recounted how Judith sent her money for her birthday cake in 2019.
She said, “She sent me money for my birthday cake last year and she barely knew me, I was always stuck on her page, she was so lovely.
“You will never ever know she was going through something like this. May Ghunu rest in peace.”
@Betty_Ekems said, “I’m in disbelief, how she always stayed strong, happy and ever hardworking. I would never have imagined she was battling a heart condition. I’m in so much shock.”
@Igu_chioma tweeted, “I’ve found it really hard to accept this news since I saw the news yesterday. She was a bubbly person, so full of life. She’s resting now. The earth lost one of her angels.”
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