NYSC Scandal: Adeosun speaks on judgment but silent on certificate forgery she committed ByPremium Times

Mrs Adeosun celebrated the judgment despite the fact that it left the allegation of forgery of NYSC certificate hanging around her neck. Former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday, celebrated a court judgment which trivialised her failure to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme prior her appointment in 2015. In a statement, the former minister described the judgment as vindicating her “after a very traumatic spell”, although she was silent on the forgery of the NYSC exemption certificate she was caught to have committed to be appointed minister in 2015. The judgement, too, was silent on the forgery scandal. This is because the minister who instituted the suit apparently to obtain a judicial clearance did not present it before the judge for a review. But despite the judgement leaving the forgery allegation hanging around her neck, Mrs Adeosun issued a subtle threat to institute a legal action, perhaps against PREMIUM TIMES, whose report exposed the forgery scandal in 2018. “I wish to add in light of the court’s ruling, I will at the appropriate time and without hesitation, take all further steps necessary within the law to protect my reputation,” her statement read in part. Taiwo Taiwo, the judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, said in his judgement, that the former minister did not need an NYSC certificate to be appointed a minister or elected into a legislative house at either the federal or state level. But the verdict left the more serious allegation that she forged a certificate of the NYSC purporting to have exempted her from the scheme unaddressed. Revelations A PREMIUM TIMES investigative report had exposed how she skipped the scheme and went on to forge a certificate purporting that she was granted an exemption by the NYSC. She was forced to resign following PREMIUM TIMES’ revelation in 2018. RelatedNews THROWBACK: How Kemi Adeosun admitted using forged NYSC certificate to be appointed minister UPDATED: NYSC Scandal: Court grants Kemi Adeosun reprieve but silent on certificate forgery Former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun returns to public life, launches foundation UPDATED: ANALYSIS: Pantami’s case portrays screenings by SSS, Senate as charade She admitted in her resignation letter to the President that she realised that the NYSC certificate she presented was “not genuine” after the PREMIUM TIMES report. She also admitted presenting the same certificate to be appointed the Commissioner for Finance in home Ogun State in 2011. The judgement given in her favour on Wednesday appears to be at variance with the NYSC law, which stipulates that the one year-long service is compulsory for all Nigerians who graduate from universities or equivalent institutions at less than 30 years of age. TEXEM Eligible Nigerians who skipped the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/or N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law. Read her full statement: My lawyers have informed me of the judgment by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in the case of Folakemi Adeosun v The Attorney General of the Federation (FHC/ABJ/CS/303/2021) in which the court, presided over by Honourable Justice Taiwo Taiwo, ruled that the constitution does not require me to present my first-degree certificate or any other certificate, including the NYSC certificate, to be appointed a Minister. More importantly, he also ruled that I was not eligible to perform NYSC by virtue of the constitution. This is the position I have always maintained and am happy for this official clarification. The ruling vindicates me after a very traumatic spell. It is, however, not only a personal victory; it’s also a victory for many Nigerians in the Diaspora under similar conditions who are desirous to serve their country. I wish to thank God, my family, friends, my counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and numerous well-wishers for their love, care and concern throughout this difficult period, which has lasted 3 whole years. I wish to add in light of the court’s ruling, I will at the appropriate time and without hesitation, take all further steps necessary within the law to protect my reputation. I thank you all.

Social Media And The English Language By Reuben Abati

I get confused these days reading many of the posts on social media, and text messages sent through cell phones, because of the kind of new English that young people now write. The English language is without doubt quite dynamic. In the last 200 years, it has lent itself to many innovations, as cultural, religious, and situational codes have transformed the language and extended the dictionary, with new words and idioms. The kind of new English being written by twitter and what’s app users, particularly young people is however so frightening and lamentable, because it is beginning to creep into regular writing. Texting and tweeting is producing a generation of users of English, (it is worse that they are using English as a second language), who cannot write grammatically successful sentences. I was privileged to go through some applications that some young graduates submitted for job openings recently and I was scared. This new group of English users does not know the difference between a comma and a colon. They have no regard for punctuation. They mix up pronouns, cannibalize verbs and adverbs, ignore punctuation; and violate all rules of lexis and syntax. They seem to rely more on sound rather than formal meaning. My fear is that a generation being brought on twitter, Facebook, instagram and what’s app English is showing a lack of capacity to write meaningful prose, or communicate properly or even think correctly. To an older generation who had to go through the rigour of being told to write proper English, and getting punished severely for speaking pidgin or vernacular or for making careless mistakes of grammar and punctuation, the kind of meta-English now being written by young people can be utterly confusing. The irony is that it makes sense to the young ones, and they can conduct long conversations in this strange version of the English language. I’d not be surprised if someday a novel gets written in this new English, which seems like a complete bastardization. You may have come across the meta-English that I am trying to describe. It is English in sound, but in appearance it has been subjected to the punishment of excessive abbreviation, compression and modification. Hence, in place of the word “for”, you are likely to see “4”, and so the word “forget” becomes “4get”, or “4git”, “fortune” is written as “4tune”, “forever” as “4eva”. The word “see” has been pruned down to a single alphabet “C”, same with “you” now rendered as “u”. In effect, you are likely to read such strange things as “cu” or “cya” meaning “see you.” Some other words have suffered similar fate: “straight” is now written as “Str8”, “first” as “fess”; “will” as “wee” (I can’t figure out why), “house” is now “haus”; “help” has been reduced to “epp”; (“who have you epped?”) instead of the phrase “kind of”, what you get is “kinda”, “money” is simply “moni.”, the computer sign ”@” has effectively replaced the word “at”; “come” is now “cum”, the conjunction “and” is represented with an “n” or the sign &, “that” is now “dat”, “temporary” is likely to be written as “temp”, “are” as “r”, “your” as “ur” “to” as “2”, “take” as “tk.” In place of “thank you”, you are likely to find “tank u”, “with” is now “wit” or “wif”, and “sorry” is commonly written as “sowie”. I have also seen such expressions as “Hawayu?” (“How are you?”), or “Wia r d u?” (“where are the you?”). The you? The me? The us? By the time these new words get combined in what is supposed to be a sentence, you’d have a hard time looking for the sense beyond the sound. On many occasions, I have had to call the sender of such messages to explain what he or she is trying to communicate in simple English, and if it is on social media, I still often call for help. In recent times, I have encountered such messages as “This kidney gist is giving me heddik. I wee hold ya hand if you need kidney love you till we find a miraku. It kent happun pass dat.” Try and help translate that into correct English. And how about this: “As fuel don add moni, everybody don park dem moto for haus.” Pidgin English? Well, may be. Or this: “B/c we d p’pl thought #fuelscarcity was temp. with the fuel hike policy, high cost of living is now a perm cond’n in Ng.” Oftentimes, this special prose arrives amidst a number of other confusing symbols, emoticons, memes, acronyms and abbreviations, looking like a photographic combination of English and hieroglyphics. Some of the more popular abbreviations include Lmao (“laughing my ass off”) lol (“laughing out loud”), lwkmd (“laughter wan kill man die”), stfu (“shut the fuck up”), omg (“Oh my God”), rofl (“Rolling on the floor with laughter”), uwc (“you are welcome”), smh (“shaking my head”) brb (“be right back”), #tbt (“throw-back Thursday”), #WCW (“Woman Crush Wednesday”), and such new words as “bae”, “boo”, “finz”, “famzing”, “Yaaay”. Not to talk of such expressions as “You should mute me now”; “get wifed-up”, “birthday loading”, “you hammer”, “kwakwakwakwa. This paring down of language gets really worse when it is further reduced to mere jargon that is understood only by the young people who are adepts at it. You can take a look at your child’s text messages or BB or what’s app and not be able to make any sense out of the jumble of incorrect English, graphics, memes and pure lingo. The danger is that sexually suggestive conversations can be carried out by two young persons, texting each other, and a dinosaur-parent would have no idea. What can any parent make out of the following for example: “10Q” (it means, thank you), “1174” (this means nude club), “121” (one to one), “143” (I love you), “182” (I hate you), “1daful” (Wonderful), “2BZ4UQT” (Too busy for you, cutey), “420” (Marijuana), “53X” (Sex); “9” (Parent is watching), “PAW” (Parents are watching); “99” (Parent is no longer watching), “ADIDAS” (All Day I Dream About Sex); “aight” (all right), “AITR” (Adult In The Room); “AML” (All My Love); “B4N” (Bye for now), “BF” (Best Friend) and “BFF” (Best Friend Forever). This resort to abbreviations, lingo and special English reveals certain things about the growing up generation. There is a fascination with speed- when they get on their phones and other appliances, they want to get the message out of the way as quickly as possible, and they have a lot to say. There is emphasis on secrecy and privacy: that’s why there is so much concern about third party presence. Many of the children who have become socialized into this new mode of communication are not always able to differentiate between correct and incorrect English, and this is why parents and teachers must be concerned. It is possible to assume that the teaching of morphology and syntax in our various schools is no longer as rigorous as it used to be. Anyone who was brought up in those days on a compulsory diet of Brighter Grammar By Ogundipe, Eckersley and Macaulay and Practical English by Ogundipe and Tregdigo) would find it difficult to write this new English being made popular on social media. It would feel like an act of murder. Teachers and parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children are able to learn the very minimum of skills: the ability to communicate in decent prose. Some persons may well argue that this may not be the most important of skills required to live in a modern age, or that it doesn’t really matter in the long run, but I really doubt if a time will ever come when the business of communication will be reduced to a mastery of abbreviations and lingo. The ability to write clearly strengthens a person’s ability to think clearly and to communicate effectively. It should not be surprising that many young persons these days, seem more at home in the world of gadgets and electronic appliances. They are forever texting or playing computer games and trapped in the electronic, virtual, space. They live both online and offline, spending a better part of their day on websites, thus, their emotional development is tied to this reality. Most parents lack the knowledge of what happens in the social media, and while some parents are trying to learn very fast, a knowledge gap still exists between them and their more digitally savvy children. But this should not result in the abdication of responsibility. The abuse of the English language, and the inability to write well, is certainly not the only risk that an obsession with social media poses for young people. Parents also need to worry about addictiveness, exposure to inappropriate content and liaisons: all kinds of paedophiles and sexual predators operate online looking for innocent victims and luring them with sweet lingo. There are bullies too, harassing and stalking their targets. Under ordinary circumstances, parents have a duty to teach their children basic etiquette: this is even more required as they relate with others and navigate both online and offline spaces. Back to the issue of language, our despair is slightly moderated by the fact that the interface between man and technology through the social media has also resulted in much useful creativity. New words have been invented through the social media, which are now gradually finding their way into mainstream English and the dictionary. In 2013, the word “selfie”- referring to a photograph taken by oneself with a smartphone, or Ipad- was declared the Oxford Dictionary Word of The Year. Similarly, such words as textspeak, texting, sexting, twitter troll, tweeps and emoticons, are becoming common words in regular, daily communication. Words like “friend”, “timeline”, block” and “like” have also assumed new meanings and recognition, the same with such other words as: “unfriend”, “unlook” “twitter status”, “profile”, “trending”, “timeline”, “twitterati”, “blogging”, “bloggers”, “tweet”, “retweet”, “hashtag”: all of which have caught the attention of lexicographers as clear evidence of the living and evolving nature of the English language. If this is all that there is to social media and the English language, there probably would have been no cause for alarm, but the emergence of a generation of young Nigerians who cannot spell well, punctuate properly, or get their tenses right, because they now write social media English may have far-reaching implications for the use of English as a foreign language in our society.

Women in Agriculture: How I turn fish into different products – Farmer

Olubunmi Agbato processes fish into 10 products which has attracted international grants. Olubunmi Agbato is the Chief Executive Officer of B-Spice Fish (a subsidiary of Bspice products and services limited) in Oyo State. She processes fish into 10 products which has attracted international grants to her business. In this episode of our Women in Agriculture, Ms Agbato shares her experience. PT: Can you put us through your journey in Agriculture? Ms Agbato: Firstly, I’m an aquaculture person which is like a subsection under agriculture. I studied Aquaculture and Fishery Management in university as an undergraduate and a postgraduate. I am still doing my research in that field. Tactically, I’m into food fish value addition, processing, marketing and sales. I do more product development but you can say that it all started in university. PT: Agriculture is a course people don’t apply for willingly, what inspired you to study agriculture at the university? Ms Agbato: In all honesty, I didn’t want to study agriculture in the university and I’m more of a spiritual person. I was supposed to study pharmacy but due to some reasons I had to choose between agriculture and microbiology. I prayed and concluded that whichever way it is I should dwell in that and I also know a lot of pharmacists that are not doing so much so I just prayed and I think the guidance was to move on with agriculture. But as a young girl, I didn’t want to do agriculture. I happily applied for pharmacy in the university of Ibadan but as God will have it, I’m doing agriculture. PT: Since you started your career in agriculture, have you had any regret of going into the business? Ms Agbato: So far so good. I’ll say it has been so so great. I’m not saying there are no challenges but I have no regret. Regret? No! Challenges? Yes. A lot of it. Technical challenges, workmanship, etc but so far so good we are scaling through them one after the other. But for regret, I love what I’m doing so no regret at all. PT: How many ponds do you have? Ms Agbato: I have a fish farm comprising six ponds. Two large ponds and four smaller ponds with a capacity of 10,000 fishes or about 10 tonnes weight fishes. PT: Some fish farmers produce the feeds for their fishes, do you produce fish feeds? Ms Agbato: I don’t but my husband does produce fish feeds and the machines for its production. He is an engineer and produces the fish feed aspect of the business. Sometimes, we buy fish feeds but it’s when the fishes are growing till about eight weeks old that we switch to our own produced feeds. PT: When did you start your fish business? Ms Agbato: From the year of registration I’ll say 2017. But in 2016 I was already doing my awareness and practice. PT: It took you a year to create awareness for your business, most likely it may be presumed you didn’t have the resources to start immediately. How did you raise capital to begin your farming? Ms Agbato: It was not easy at all. The first equipment that led to all this, although very small, cost about N100,000 and that money was raised during my service year. I did a lot of work as a corp member which gave me the avenue not to touch my alawee at all. I got my processing oven which processes plenty and we were saving up. Along the line, I got a grant from an international organisation in 2020. And that helped us move up from where we were to where we are now. Basically though, I’ll say from my savings and my husband. PT: Association have helped and informed a good number of farmers, do you belong to any association? Ms Agbato: Yes, I’m a member of the Fish Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (FFON) and also the Fishery Society of Nigeria (FSN). Olubunmj Agbato PT: Since you joined these associations, have you benefited from any government policy at all? Ms Agbato: So far so good. In this industry it’s more like the fastest growing sector and a lot of assignments are still undone. I won’t say I’ve benefited directly but as a member of an association we do meetings where we learn and unlearn from each other but politics; no. Finance; No. Personally, I got my support from international bodies but locally it’s just to learn from each other. So many policies from the government are unfavourable. We have been discussing certification for people to scale up their businesses. For example, now it’s cheaper to get a NAFDAC certification which is fair but what of other requirements which are not favorable for a starter. How will you ask a starter to have a building structure of about 8 to 10 rooms, is that person still a starter? So being in an association, there are many things we end up discussing even though there might be slow impact but there’s progress. TEXEM PT: You mentioned getting international grants, what would you say attracted the international grant to your business? Ms Agbato: The creativity and the gender because the first two organisations I had to work with have invited me as a stakeholder because they felt since a woman can do this she can inspire other women to do such too. PT: Creativity; what is the special thing about your product that attracted international organisations? Ms Agbato: We are into catfish farming and from catfish we have value actions. So from catfish we have about 10 other products. We have fish powder which can be included in baby food to increase their nutrition. We have fish pellets, fish oil, fish cake, fish cookies, etc. Those actually leave a way for us in the market because people could find something different than the regular fish processors. PT: You earlier mentioned you have challenges and there are basic challenges that affect agriculture these days. Challenges that include insecurity and the likes. So how have these challenges affected your business? Ms Agbato: There are so many challenges and I’ll discuss the ones that are particular to me and the insecurity also. Firstly, my workstation is different from my farm. My farm is just for fish production but my workstation is in the heart of Ibadan where people are working and you can bring in your fresh stuff and we can add value for you. At my workstation we have this big generator we use in powering the facility which was stolen and it’s about five months old now. We reported and there’s a police station which is not far away. We also have security but the generator was stolen. The generator we use for work has been stolen, the electric supply is bad, there are insecurity issues on the farm. You hear people saying people come to their farm for grazing but on my farm, there are missing fish. That’s a major issue. I’m considering stopping the fish production part and going into purchasing fish from other farmers due to the challenge of missing fish. You get there today and they tell you fish is stolen, tomorrow fish is stolen and so on. We don’t know if it’s the people in charge, the farm manager, the grazers, etc. You’ll be expecting a particular quantity from the farm but when you get there it has reduced. As a business owner, I have my own personal challenges which includes staff. Getting people to work with you for a long time is hard. People can get greedy along the line, people are not willing to do dirty jobs because the process is dirty but with the best products. You get an elderly person and over time gets greedy, you get a younger person who gets lazy which makes the work difficult. PT: You said you have about 10 products from fish and fish is a durational animal where you start today and wait for them to grow into maturity. How do you meet up with the demand of the products? Ms Agbato: We do a lot of statistics and we do buy from other farmers. We have partnered with so many other farmers. Some are on the agreement that I consult for your farm but you own everything and when it’s time to take to the markets we buy off from them. Some we ask to bring their money while we do the technical part and when it’s time to sell we buy from them at the regular rate that is obtainable in the market. Speaking of statistics, we don’t grow our fishes to the fully grown size and at some point we stopped supplying pepper soup joints and restaurants. We stopped selling fresh fish and diverted all our energy to value addition. Maybe in future we can go back to them as for now we grow every four months and just for the value addition. Also in statistics, we stock up monthly. We stock one pond this month to harvest in four months and then next month, stock another one to harvest after four months of stocking and so it goes so as to have fish in constant production which is still not sufficient. Seventy per cent of the fish used in our production is gotten from other farmers which is a major challenge to us. That is the problem with our lack of capital. We could do the production ourselves if the capital was there and not have to buy from other people. So generally, finance is a major challenge in this business which is affecting virtually everyone. You mentioned seasonal fish that are not catfish. They are not cultured fish. They are captured fishes. Those captured from the world are bought at their season. We have a facility where we can store fish for about 6 months which is the strategic farming and production we do. PT: What do you think it means for a woman to make a significant difference in agriculture considering the fact that it is regarded as a man’s thing? Ms Agbato: Being a woman in the agricultural venture is one hard thing and to be in Nigeria is another thing entirely. Sometimes, it’s courage as we just have to keep encouraging ourselves. It’s harder for me now that I’m married with children unlike when I was single without kids. For some single people, it’s still very difficult though. But what worked for me is that we decided to go into that part that doesn’t require us to be on the farm all the time. For a woman, for you to do it you’ll have to make up your mind. You can’t do agriculture online, you have to be available, hardworking, consistent, etc. What also helped me is that my husband is in the feed production aspect of agriculture which makes him oversee what goes on on the farm while I do my thing at the workstation. As a woman, take one step at a time and look out for women empowering organisations that can maybe give things that’ll make it easy. Also getting training under the agricultural venture they want to go into is very important. PT: Storage and preservation are important segments in the value chain considering that it is into fish farming and processing. And I believe there are some times you have to store and preserve your fishes and products. So, aside from price destabilisation, are there other problems these storage and preservation have caused? Ms Agbato Storage issue is a problem although we have our ways of solving issues like this. We have a problem with storage especially when there’s no power supply. If we are expecting a fish supply at 12pm and due to logistics, it came in at 6pm all we can do is condition it. If some are going to die due to being weak and some are freshly dead what we do is we cut up and put in the freezer but then what if there’s no power supply and we can’t run the generator over the night, we just incur the loss. But then losses are avoided, especially those that can be prevented from the beginning. But losses that can’t be prevented are losses incurred after processing. For example, maybe while processing, the fish got burnt or got soiled due to insufficient heat. These losses are part of the reasons we have other products. When we see a product not looking marketable, we improvise and that gives us another product. There are times we buy because it’s their season and it’s cheap at that time and we start seeing ants and other insects and even before then we put them on discounted prices so as to prevent losses. But for us, we don’t do anything outside biology. Everything we do is biological as we don’t use chemicals or anything but the problem of storage is there. PT: Do you export some of your products? Ms Agbato: No we don’t as we are yet to get an export certification. But sending to people who have African stores abroad or maybe people who need for private consumption we send to them through export agents that we partner with.

How I Made It: Resilent Banking Guru, Jim Ovia by Zara Shenew

An unmistakable icon of Nigeria’s banking sector, Mr. Ovia is the founder Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria. Zenith bank is widely known as a leading bank today from Ovia’s astute leadership. He headed the bank for 20 years until he resigned in July 2010. Four years later, he was brought out of retirement to be reappointed as chairman in 2014. Due to owning 11.29% of the direct shareholding in Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, will earn over N9 billion in dividends this year from the financial year of 2020. This is made possible by the number of shares Ovia holds in the lender, as the single majority shareholder of the bank. This makes him one of the highest-paid company chairman in 2020. Jim Ovia was born on the 4th of November, 1951 to the large family of Obi Olihe of Agbor-Obi, in Agbor, Delta State. He narrated in his memoir how his father died in his mid fifties, when Jim was just four years old. His mother, left to fend for herself and her family, “called upon her intuitive entrepreneurial skills to set up her own small trading business.” He attended Ika Grammar School, Bojiboji-Owa for his secondary education, before going to Lagos to join his elder brother. While in Lagos, he started his banking career in 1973 as a clerk at Union Bank, (formerly Barclays Bank) working at the branch at Oba Akran way, Ikeja. He worked for 3 years as a bank clerk before moving to USA, where he became widely read. He got a degree in Business Administration from Southern University, Louisiana, USA, in 1977, then a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Ovia founded Visafone, which was later acquired by MTN Nigeria. In 2015, he was profiled by Forbes to worth at least $550 million. His major drive in establishing his foundation is, in his words “to equip the future of our nation Nigeria, with the necessities for leadership and foster an ICT literate society that innovates and protects the future.” The Jim Ovia Foundation Scholarship was founded and funded by Mr. Jim Ovia in 2004, to provide financial aid to outstanding Nigeria youths. The scholarship gave rise to the MUSTE scholarship in 2007, where awardees are given funding for undergraduate study for the duration of their undergraduate program. The award includes tuition and maintenance allowance. The scheme offers an average of 100 opportunities every year. The Financial records show that as at October 2010, Mr. Ovia has invested 100 Million Naira in the program on 1,500 beneficiaries. The businessman also owns Jim Ovia Scholarship, Jim Ovia ICT Entrepreneurs Program and most recently, the Jim Ovia Foundation Leaders Scholarship (JOFLS) Fund (in partnership with Africa America Institute (AAI)

IPOB probes Wike, Ifeanyi Uba’s roles in Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest Edward Nnachi

The Indigenous People of Biafra has called on Nigerians and its global supporters to disregard as fake news the statement and audio notes making the rounds that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and the senator representing Anambra South in the Senate, Ifeanyi Uba, were among those who facilitated the alleged ‘abduction’ of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The group, however, said a probe that would reveal their alleged involvement had been begun. According to the group, the statement, which was maliciously credited to its Directorate of Media and Publicity, was being peddled by agents of confusion, stressing that at the moment, nothing had indicted Wike and Uba in Kanu’s repatriation to Nigeria. Read Also Wike threatens election riggers, calls poll manipulation coup Wike lifts curfew in Rivers after two months UK parliament to debate Nnamdi Kanu's repatriation to Nigeria The secessionist group said in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, it had no evidence to link Wike and Uba to the “unlawful” arrest of its leader and called on its supporters to ignore the politics behind the statement. The statement read in part, “The attention of the global movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra, ably led by our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the false and malicious press statement and audio being circulated and purported to have been issued by our Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful. In the said statement, Powerful was quoted as accusing Senator Ifeanyi Uba and Governor Nyesom Wike of colluding with the enemies and facilitating the betrayal and abduction of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in Kenya. “We, therefore, wish to dissociate ourselves from the fake statement being peddled by agents of confusion. Our publicity secretary never at any time linked Senator Ifeanyi Uba or Governor Wike with the wicked betrayal of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. If they were involved in the dirty deal, our investigations into the matter will reveal it. But for now, we have no evidence to link them with the atrocity. IPOB does not act based on speculation or rumour. Our assertions are evidence-based and products of credible intelligence.”

Global COVID-19 deaths now over four million Agency Report

More than four million people have now died of Covid-19 infections, the WHO said on Wednesday, as many richer nations prepared to loosen restrictions even as countries in Asia battle surging infections. Indonesia has become a global hotspot, with hospitals having to turn away patients, authorities forced to import oxygen supplies and a record 1,040 deaths reported on Wednesday. “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling the four-million figure an underestimate of the true toll. He said some countries with high vaccination coverage were “relaxing as though the pandemic is already over”, while others have seen sharp spikes in cases because of highly-transmissible variants and a “shocking inequity” in access to vaccines. Indonesia is one country being hit hard. The government has expanded restrictions across the archipelago following earlier clampdowns on the capital Jakarta and some other areas. “We need to pay attention to the availability of hospitals,” said senior minister Airlangga Hartarto. The new restrictions apply to dozens of cities and extend across the vast nation of nearly 270 million people, which has been hammered by the highly infectious Delta variant that was first detected in India. Delta-fuelled outbreaks have also led to the imposition of restrictions in Australia, including in its biggest city Sydney where lockdown orders on more than five million residents were on Wednesday extended by at least another week. “This Delta strain is a game changer, it’s extremely transmissible,” said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital. Australia has largely kept its outbreaks in check since the pandemic began, but the government is under increasing pressure over the slow rollout of vaccines. “It’s still scary that the virus is out there,” said Menno De Moel, 44, at a vaccination centre in Sydney where he was getting his first shot. “Hopefully this is going to be the last lockdown, but on the other hand anything that is needed, needs to be done.” Officials announced Wednesday that the Olympic torch relay had been scrapped on Tokyo’s roads to prevent crowds. And with infections on the rise, the government is expected to extend restrictions this week that will likely affect the number of fans that can attend Olympic events. But in London, the Euro 2020 football tournament’s semi-finals and final are set to be held this week with 60,000 fans permitted at Wembley Stadium, despite Britain facing a new surge in infections. Mass vaccinations, however, have stopped a resultant surge in hospital admissions or deaths. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the end of most virus restrictions, such as face masks and indoor social distancing, in England. Other UK nations — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — are moving more slowly. – ‘Obnoxious’ anti-maskers – As some countries peel back Covid restrictions, the WHO sounded alarm over a lack of funding to fight the pandemic. It said Tuesday its global appeal for funding for coronavirus vaccines, treatments, diagnostics and equipment was still $16.8 billion short — almost half its total needs. Even in wealthier nations with successful inoculation programmes, authorities are wary of a resurgence and have kept some restrictions in place, such as the requirement for face masks on flights in the United States. But an American Airlines flight from North Carolina to the Bahamas was delayed by a day after around 30 teenagers refused to wear masks, US media said Tuesday. “It was bad. First, they were yelling. They were cursing,” witness Malik Banks told local station WSOC-TV. “They were being very obnoxious.”

APC to punish Lai Mohammed over attacks on Kwara governor By Omeiza Ajayi

The ruling All Progressives Congress APC has said it is examining the recent outburst made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed against the Kwara state Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, with a view to punishing the minister. Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the party in Kwara state, Abdullahi Samari Abubakar disclosed this in an interview Wednesday in Abuja. He said the party may apply disciplinary measures according to its constitution. The minister had recently claimed that he singlehandedly bankrolled the election of the governor in 2019, accusing Mr Abdulrazaq of biting the fingers that fed him. However, Samari said: “I still see the Minister as a member of our party. Because he has not formally told us that he is moving out of the party which I doubt if he will go. He is a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where the APC as a ruling party is running the administration of government. So I would not think he will want to move out, but from those utterances he made, the party, APC as a structure has guidelines over issues. If we feel that what he said publicly amounts to disrespect or causing acrimony within the party, honestly, we are going to make sure the rules of the party are applied against him and any other person.” Asked whether the minister will be suspended or expelled from the APC, the Kwara party Chairman said: “Well, there are guidelines like I told you. If the offence is commensurate with suspending him, or any other, definitely the rules of the party are going to apply because nobody is too big to be sanctioned. We want to have sanity in the party.” The sanction, Samari said will take place “very soon”. “There are steps according to the party. It has to start from the particular Ward of that fellow. Then, come down to the Local Government than to the state. So, whatever decision is taken at the Ward, to Local government then to state, it will then be forwarded to the national level for ratification.” The APC chieftain also confirmed that Lai Mohammed had earlier revalidated his membership of the APC in the state. “There are certain facts that some of you do not know. When the appeal committee came to Kwara, we met with them. There was this allegation that some people were not allowed to register, but mind you, that was wrong. If you come in then, the rooms were open. It was just that some people were discouraging others not to come out and register. For whatever reason, we may not know. Let me tell you categorically that Alhaji Lai Muhammed as a minister registered. Quote me anywhere. I can show the date he registered. “He registered at his ward at Oro, Kwara state. You can confirm that from me. The extension of registration is not a new thing. It is not that the Alhaji Lai group or camp has won anything. Remember that I also authorized a document that the APC national secretariat should extend the registration in Kwara state for at least one week because a lot of people came into the party. And, we just have to allow them as members of the party whereby they will have the equal rights to take part in whatever is going on during the congresses. “I authored a paper signed under the leadership of the governor who is the leader of the party in Kwara state, that is Governor Abdulrahman urging the national secretariat to please extend the registration exercise for at least a week in Kwara. If they are now extending it to two weeks, it is not glory to anyone who wants to claim because we requested for that, and I think the national leadership only acted in recognition of our letter.” Vanguard