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#EndSARS: ICC begins probe into Lekki toll gate incident

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#EndSARS: ICC begins probe into Lekki toll gate incident

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an enquiry into the alledged shooting of endSARS protesters, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

A statement from the office of the ICC prosecutor had earlier said it had received information on alleged crimes and would conduct a preliminary investigation.

The examination will “assess whether the legal criteria for opening an investigation under the Rome Statute are met”, the statement noted.

Some 51 civilians, 11 police officers and seven soldiers were killed, according to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

Rights group Amnesty International said security forces opened fire on protesters, killing and injuring a number of people. Both the police and the army have rejected the allegation.

Ekiti govt uncovers 362 ghost workers

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Ekiti govt uncovers 362 ghost workers

The Ekiti State Government said it has uncovered the payment of N20 million monthly as salary for 362 ghost workers in local governments.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Adio Folayan, made this known while presenting a State Staff Verification Committee report to Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday.

The committee was set up by government to audit the local government staff towards identifying those who are genuine or fake workers.

Mr Folayan said earlier preliminary findings put the ghost workers at 652.

“Further screening by the committee revealed that only 362 workers out of the initial figure were clarified to be on government payroll as at June 2019.

”The committee recommends that all illegal salary so far earned by the affected workers should be deducted from their pension and gratuity.

”It also recommended that all involved should be prosecuted for fraud, along with anyone or persons identified to be their accomplices,” he said.

The commissioner said there is need for the councils’ Heads of Department to start enforcing discipline.

”They must introduce schedules of duties to their officers so that errant officers would be punished for any infraction,” he said.

Receiving the report, Mr Fayemi expressed gratitude to members of the committee for their dedication and promised to look into the recommendations for immediate implementation.

 

NAN

Landlord threatens to eject Nigerian Embassy in Hungary over non-payment of rent

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Landlord threatens to eject Nigerian Embassy in Hungary over non-payment of rent

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, says the Nigerian Embassy in Hungary risks being ejected from its building over non-payment of rent.

Mr Onyeama made this disclosure on Tuesday while defending the ministry’s 2021 budget at the House of Representatives.

He also said the ministry needs N1.6 billion to move ambassadors and pay officers N3.7 billion.

“Just on Monday, the Ambassador in Hungary called to say they are going to throw them out from the chancery building. That the landlord is coming and that they do not have the money to pay,” he said.

“And we get that from a lot of missions across the world and that is not a sustainable way of running foreign service.

“Then this exchange rate differential with the CBN is really something we need to address once and for all.”

The minister added: “It is not so easy, all of these things are computed in naira and all the payments abroad are in dollars and once the exchange rate is changed, it never goes the other way, it always goes up, it never comes down vis-a-vis the dollar. This means immediate shortfall for all our missions.”

Trump declares self winner of U.S. presidential election

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Trump declares self winner of U.S. presidential election

US President Donald Trump has declared himself the winner of the presidential elections.

Trump spoke from the White House this morning, stating that from his point of view, “We already have won this election.”

“The results tonight have been phenomenal,” he said to a room of cheering supporters.

“Such success. The citizens of this country have come out in record numbers. There’s never been anything like it.”

The incumbent also threatened Supreme Court action to stop vote counts.

Trump won the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Texas, dashing Joe Biden’s hopes for a decisive early defeat of the president, but the former Vice-President said he was on track to winning the White House by taking three key Rust Belt states.

Biden, 77, was eyeing the so-called “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that sent Trump, 74, to the White House in 2016 for possible breakthroughs once those states finish counting votes cast earlier by mail and in person.

In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and much of Michigan, mail-in ballots were not processed until Election Day on Tuesday.

“We feel good about where we are,” Biden said in his home state of Delaware, shouting over a din of supporters in cars honking their horns in approval. “We believe we’re on track to win this election.”

Even without Pennsylvania, Biden victories in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with his projected win in a congressional district in Nebraska, which apportions electoral votes by district, would put him in the White House, as long as he also holds the states that Trump lost in 2016.

“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” Trump said on Twitter, which swiftly tagged the tweet as possibly misleading.

Trump has repeatedly and without evidence suggested that an increase in mail-in voting will lead to an increase in fraud, although election experts say that fraud is rare and mail-in ballots are a long-standing feature of American elections.

In Pennsylvania, of the 4.5 million votes counted so far, only 750,000 were absentee votes, or just 17%. According to Edison Research, more than 2.4 million early ballots were cast in the state, of which nearly 1.6 million were by Democrats and about 555,000 by Republicans.

In Georgia, Trump was leading 52% to 48% at 1:40 a.m., but several hundred thousand ballots remained to be counted early Wednesday in Atlanta and its suburban counties. Many of those areas had favored Democrats in the past, and many of the votes remaining to be counted were those cast before the election.

Supporters of both candidates called the election a referendum on Trump and his tumultuous first term. The winner will lead a nation strained by a pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people and left millions more jobless, racial tensions and political polarization that has only worsened during a vitriolic campaign.

States have received N50bn to fight COVID-19 – PTF

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States have received N50bn to fight COVID-19 – PTF

 

 

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 says the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have received N50 billion to boost the fight against the spread of the virus in their domains.

PTF National Coordinator Dr. Sani Aliyu, made this known during a media briefing in Abuja.

He, however, appealed to the states to apply the resources released to them for the purposes they were given.

According to him, the least each of the states had received as support for the fight against COVID-19 was N1 billion, pointing out that the states have the financial wherewithal to effectively push back Coronavirus spread.

Dr. Aliyu said: “We have given resources to state governments; every state has received at least a billion (naira), the state governments have received the largest single bulk of the PTF.

“As of today, a total of N50 billion went to states. So, we have enough resources at the state level to be able to push for increased testing and improved surveillance.

“We will continue to work with states government and urge them to use these resources for the purpose that the federal government has given.

“We have to invest in making sure that the pandemic comes down. There is no doubt we have not flattened the curve yet. For those of us that follow the numbers very closely, despite the fact that we are not testing enough, if you follow the number on a week to week basis, you would have noticed a change in the trajectory in the last one week based on the numbers released.”

FG freezes bank accounts of #EndSARS promoters

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FG freezes bank accounts of #EndSARS promoters

Strong indications have emerged to show the Federal Government had begun a clampdown on promoters of #EndSARS protests by freezing their bank accounts.

Several #EndSARS promoters told PUNCH they were informed by their banks that the Central Bank of Nigeria had directed that their accounts should be frozen.

Multiple sources told the newspaper that the CBN instructed banks to place a ‘Post No Debit ’ restriction on their accounts after flagging transactions that included EndSARS in the description.

In October, protesters stormed the streets of Lagos, Abuja and several other places to demand an end to police brutality with the hasthtag EndSARS. The protest grounded economic activities in Lagos after about two weeks.

A pharmacist Bassey Israel who was in charge of the #EndSARS medical team in Port Harcourt said his account with Access Bank marked 003397 XXXX had remained frozen since October 15.

“The lady (branch manager) was surprised and even asked me if I had any issue with the CBN and I responded that if I had any issue with the CBN, I wouldn ’t be in the bank in the first place, I would be on the run. I asked what could be done and she gave me no answer. She had to show me the mail on her computer which I read. It was directly from the CBN and it read , ‘Place this account on PND,’” he said.

The newspaper said it could not reach the acting CBN spokesman Abdulmumin Isa for comments.

The development follows the restriction placed on a lawyer and #EndSARS promoter Modupe Odele from leaving the country.

Odele had raised alarm on Monday that she attempted to fly to the Maldives on Sunday but her passport was seized by immigration officers.

She tweeted on Tuesday: “Hello people, I went to retrieve my passport today but was told this: ‘We cannot release your passport because you are still under investigation.’

“As of now, I’m not aware of any charges against me or what I am under investigation for.”

Soon, there were reports the Federal Ministry of Interior had generated a ‘no fly list’ to bar #EndSARS campaigners from travelling, but the ministry denied the allegation.

Source: QED.NG

Senate probes Lai Mohammed over N109m travel expenses

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Senate probes Lai Mohammed over N109m travel expenses

The Senate, on Tuesday, queried Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, over claims that he spent N19 million on foreign trips during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation to defend the ministry’s 2021 budget and review performance of the previous year’s appropriation, the minister was asked to explain how N19 million of the N43 million vote for international travels was expended when the country was on lockdown for almost six months.

He was also quizzed on N90 million expenditure out of the N96 million appropriated for local trips during the period.

Representative of Imo East, Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, had brought the issue to the fore in his observation.

He told the minister: “I am sure you will remember you did a lot of enlightenment programme. I am sure you will remember that most of us were prevented from moving into other states. So, I don’t know how you also had the luxury of spending the entire amount that was appropriated on those travels. So, these are the information we need to get from you.”

Responding, Mohammed submitted: “You will notice that N43 million was budgeted, but less than 40 per cent was spent precisely because of the COVID-19. And before then, remember that we had travelled to attend several international summits starting with the UNWTO conference and UNESCO in Spain and the United Kingdom.”

He said they had also carried out advocacies in UK during the period, adding that the expenditure covered January to March.

The minister further clarified: “Before the lockdown, I think our last trip was to Addis Ababa where we accompanied the President to an African Union meeting that held around March.

“So whatever we spent was before the lockdown.”

The committee also tackled the minister over the “zero per cent performance” of a controversial constituency project that had been 100 per cent funded by the Ministry of Finance for the 2020 fiscal year.

Former Army spokesperson, S.K. Usman, 137 others inducted by IOARM

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Former Army spokesperson, S.K. Usman, 137 others inducted by IOARM

 

 

A former Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. S.K. Usman (rtd) has been inducted as a ‘Distinguished Fellow’ by the Institute of Organisational and Administrative Risk Management (IOARM) of Nigeria. 

Usman was among 138 persons inducted into IOARM’s various categories of membership on Saturday at the General ML Agwai Block of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja.

IOARM is a professional training, consultancy, research and leadership institution approved and licensed by the Federal Ministry of Education, guaranteed by the Federal Ministry of Justice and incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria.

A breakdown shows that the following were inducted into the institute : 9 Distinguished Fellows, 51 Fellows, 11 Senior Members, 36 Full Members, 23 Associate Members, 6 Graduate Members and 2 Student Members.

In his address, chairman of the event, Professor Babatunde Rabiu, who is the Director and Chief Executive of the Centre for Atmospheric Research of the National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria (CAR-NASRDA), and Chairman of the Governing Council of IOARM charged the inductees to bear the torch of the institute and give light to their immediate environment and workplaces. 

“I believe that every one of us present here today, including our fellows, shall take advantage of this event to learn new ways of managing all forms of risk in our workplaces, homes and businesses; initiate networking opportunities with new partners here present today, and imbibe some formidable skills capable of advancing personal administrative prowess,” he said.

“I congratulate our new inductees and urge them to go and be a true reflection of the ideals of this Institute. Mind you, as from today, ‘by your fruits shall people linked you with us’ I thus urge you to live your lives in the consciousness of the emblem of the Institute you are bearing as from today. Today, you shall become our brand ambassadors and should so live”.

The occasion featured two induction lectures on Introduction to risk management and Application of risk management methods in the emerging world presented by Professor (Mrs) Oluwabunmi Olaitan Agarry, a renowned resource person in the area of Risk Management Methods, as well as oath-taking for members presided over by Barrister Akomolafe Bankole Joel, the principal partner of Bank-Akomolafe & Co, Mount Zion Chambers, Abuja.

The high point of the ceremony was the conferment of the various membership status on the new members.

Beside the former Army spokesperson, others inducted as ‘Distinguished Fellows’ include Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadeija; Major General Jide Jeelel Ogunlade, Executive Director Consult at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre; Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman (rtd), Elder Ade Alemi and Adeyemi Ademola Edward, amongst others.

UK’s terror threat level rises to ‘severe’ after attacks in Austria and France

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UK’s terror threat level rises to ‘severe’ after attacks in Austria and France

UK’s national terrorism threat level has been raised to “severe” following the murderous attacks by Islamist militants in France and Austria.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) made the assessment following a spate of attacks in France and a shooting rampage by an Isis supporter in Vienna.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, said: “This is a precautionary measure and is not based on any specific threat.

“The public should continue to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police.”

Isis, al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups have been ramping up calls for supporters to launch atrocities around the world in recent days.

The terror threat level was lowered to substantial a year ago, just weeks before an Islamist extremist murdered two people at a rehabilitation event in London.

It was followed by three other alleged terror attacks this year in HMP Whitemoor prison, Streatham and Reading.

Lagos may experience second wave of Covid-19 – Commissioner

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Lagos may experience second wave of Covid-19 – Commissioner

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday advised citizens to strictly adhere to precautionary measures against COVID-19 infection to prevent a recurrence of the lockdown of the economy.

 

Prof. Akin Abayomi, the State Commissioner for Health, said that resurgence of cases in Lagos might lead to reversal of strategical measures put in place by the state government to open up the economy.

 

Abayomi warned that continuous flagrant disregard of safety guidelines by citizens portends danger and might lead to a second wave of new infections in Lagos.

 

He also advised the citizens against unnecessary movement and social gatherings, saying that travelling into and outside the country should be discouraged, except if absolutely necessary.

 

Abayomi said that many countries and cities were experiencing a second and third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a resultant spike in the number of cases and fatalities.

 

The commissioner said many of the affected countries around the world have found it necessary to impose a second lockdown and restriction of movements, which have significant socioeconomic and security consequences.

 

“The first wave of Coronavirus started in December 2019 and swept through an unprepared world.

 

“The first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was recorded in Lagos on Feb. 27. Lagos has since become the epicentre of the outbreak in Nigeria with a record of 21,107 confirmed cases and 212 deaths from the virus till date.

 

“The containment measures put in place at the time included COVID-19 testing, isolation and treatment, surveillance, total shutdown of the state for about 12 weeks and partial shutdown of social, economic and academic activities for over four months,” Abayomi said.

 

The commissioner expressed concern that the use of face masks, social distancing and hand hygiene had reduced among citizens.

 

He called for the reinforcement of the adoption and adherence of various preventive measures put in place by the state government to tackle the disease.

 

“The erroneous belief that COVID-19 has been conquered and is no more in Nigeria should be discarded.

 

“Based on our data, this assumption is invalid.

 

“It creates a false sense of security among the citizens, causing many to abandon the use of face masks and other safety measures and protocols put in place by the government,” he said.

 

According to him, though, the state has reached its peak as predicted, and a decline in the number of positive cases, citizens should not conclude that it is over.

 

“COVID-19 is still very much with us as evidenced in the number of cases being recorded in the community daily and occasional deaths from severe complications.

 

“This is the more reason why citizens should not relent in this regard if we don’t want to experience a second wave of the disease,” he said.

 

Abayomi said that the increased COVID-19 testing capacity of the state had been impactful in reducing community transmission.

 

According to him, any citizen who falls within the case definition of COVID-19 infection should visit any of the dedicated sample collection sites in their local government or public laboratories to get the test done free of charge.

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