The Nigerian Government has fumigated the burial site of late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
This was done as a precautionary measure after an NCDC official who served as a pallbearer at Kyari’s burial was caught on tape disposing of his PPE suit carelessly without following due procedure. In a swift reaction, the acting secretary, health and human services secretariat, FCTA, Dr Mohammed Kawu ordered total decontamination of the entire cemetery.
Below is a statement signed by Kawu on the development;
“The Health and Human Services Secretariat of the FCT Administration has noted with concern the video trending on social media, showing a man pulling off his Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) unprofessionally after participating in the burial of the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Abba Kyari, at the Gudu cemetery, Abuja.”
“The Public Health Department has since taken necessary action. The said PPE left over by the individual has been professionally evacuated and the entire cemetery has been decontaminated. In addition, all the individuals including the man in question that participated in the burial and were not properly kitted have been identified and are being isolated.”
“Necessary tests will be conducted on all of them to determine their level of exposure and ensure that they do not infect other people. The Administration has also taken steps to ensure that all future burials of victims of COVID 19 are conducted in line with protocols established by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).”
“Residents are therefore urged to remain calm and rest assured that the FCT Administration will continue to do all that is necessary to curtail and eventually end the spread of the Coronavirus in the FCT.”
The General overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye has predicted a big fire outbreak in the country.
Adeboye, who gave the warning during a live service on Sunday, also alerted Nigerians about impending flood.
The cleric urged Nigerians to clear their gutters and pray God to avert the disaster.
“If you have notice there have been different fire outbreak, we need to pray against fire incident because a big one is on the way.
“Clear your gutters and pray against fire outbreak and flood there is little we can do but pray against flood. I am also praying and he will answer me.”
The 78- year-old further commended Nigeria’s medical team for fighting the coronavirus pandemic. He prayed that God gives them more strength to conquer the virus.
Nollywood Actress Funke Akindele-Bello has said she has learned a lot from her trial for breaking the social distancing rule of Lagos State government.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Funke and her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, were sentenced to 14-day community service and fined N100, 000 each for breaking the restriction order.
In a sensitization video released on Sunday via her social media platforms, the actress said she has learned to be a better citizen.
She, however, urged her fans to maintain the social distance order of the state and federal government in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
She said: “Hello my dear friends, family and fans, my name is Funke Akindele Bello, thank you so much for all the love, support, feedbacks, calls, I really appreciate it. These past few weeks have been a learning curve, but we must keep moving forward.
“My dear friends, coronavirus is real, we must all continue to collaborate with the Lagos state government and Federal government, by staying at home, staying safe.
“We must ensure we wash our hands regularly and maintain social distancing, so as to contain the spread of the virus.
“A lot of us are so used to ourselves or trusted group of friends, that we forget to practice social distancing, but trust me, it is very important this period.
“Social distancing will help to contain the spread of COVID-19, prevention is better than cure.
“My heart goes out to all those who have lost a loved one to this. May their souls rest in peace.
“And to our health workers at the front line, we can’t thank you enough I pray that this pandemic will pass soon.
“To everyone living in fear and uncertainty daily, trust me we are all in this together. We can only achieve our dreams if we are alive, so we need to fight for our lives.
“Let’s stay at home, and stay safe. Thank you.’’
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At least five people mostly civilians and a top presidential guard commander have been killed after a military aircraft mistakenly shells private residence in N’Djamena heightening security tension in the capital.
A Chadian military aircraft had mistakenly dropped an ordnance over N’Djamena on Friday, April 17, destroying a private residence in the capital.
The rocket accidentally fired by a Chadian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoot parked at Base Aérienne Kossei NDjamena, Chad, struck an empty tanker truck, missed a French Air Force C-130H from the Escadron de transport (Transport Squadron) 2/61 Franche Comté, and landed in the house of Deputy Commander of the Presidential Guard, General Mahamata Salaha Brahima, killing two children and two adults, and wounding two others.
“Buratai is killing us, yet he calls himself a Muslim, he will be judged by Allah”
Factional leader of the Jama’atu Ahl al-Sunnah lil-Dawa wal-Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau, was reported to have made the above statement during the week when the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, moved to the North- east, Nigeria, to lead the war against insurgency and terrorism.
The chief of army staff on arrival in Borno State, decided to do some military drills as a prelude to the final onslaught against the terrorists when Shekau let out the scream and cry of intended surrender.
This is in total contrast to the image of Shekau who had in the past surpassed himself with various propaganda video clips where he would pose in military fatigues in between two of his body guards, wielding a loaded machine gun, pour invectives on those in authority, issued countless warning and round up with threats before firing his weapon repeatedly in the air.
The last verified video outing of Shekau has shown him to be more circumspect, less arrogant and almost pleading on behalf of the members of his group.
This did not come as a surprise as the tables have turned. The Chief of Army Staff who in the past had preferred to prosecute the war on terrorism quietly, is the one sending messages to the camps of the terrorists and making it clear to them that their days are up and has decided to match his words with action.
Buratai had in the beginning of the month taken steps that showed he was about to launch an all out offensive on the base of the militants by reorganizing the command structure of military formations and redeploying the theatre commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole.
The Army Chief has since then been in Borno State and has joined several reconnaissance operations around the Timbuktu triangle, after which he issued specific directives with the Intel gathered from the reconnaissance operations
The moves are in anticipation of the final touches required to bring both the ISWAP and the Boko Haram terrorists to their knees.
Nigerian troops had long been dealing with the terrorists and would have rounded them up to the last man but have been hampered by the logistics of cross border diplomacy which restricts their movements.
The insurgents, well aware of this use the precinct of the borders of other countries especially Chad to escape shelling as troops of other countries and the Multinational Joint Task Force are not allowed beyond 25 kilometers into the borders of another country.
Realizing this, the insurgents usually take cover by taking refuge on the fringes of the Lake Chad region that border the other countries.
The opportunity has however come for the kind of operation Nigerian troops had always asked for when the insurgents last month, tried to ambush the convoy of the former theater commandeer of the Operation Lafiya Dole but were overpowered and subdued.
Reeling from the bloody nose they suffered in that encounter, the terrorists tried to put up a face saving manouvre by attacking the strike force of Chad and killed 98 of them.
The action which angered the Chadian president saw Chad for the first time since pulling out the multinational joint task force taking military action against the terrorists by killing about 1,000 of them, forcing their remnants to flee back into Nigerian territories.
They are suspected to have ran back to their former enclave in the Sambisa Forest.
It was the kind of push that Nigeria had been looking forward to consolidate the feats it had achieved in the past in that regard to put the final nail on the coffin of the terrorists.
Since Buratai assumed position as Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, there have been some major onslaught against the terrorists.
Prior to that, the group has been carrying out numerous attacks on Nigeria since 2009, including the 2011 bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Abuja, the bombing of the police headquarters in Abuja, the 2014 abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State and many others.
In January 2015, Boko Haram unleashed a massive assault on the villages of Baga and Doron Baga in Borno State and claimed control over the area, killing many and in March of that year, Boko Haram became an affiliate of the Islamic State (IS).
Boko Haram grew increasingly violent conducted numerous attacks against foreigners in northern Nigeria and its neighbors between 2013 and 2014.
Reports say that by August 2015 more than 16,000 people had been killed and 2.5 million people displaced because of Boko Haram violence.
By early 2015, the group had seized 14 local governments in Borno State, three in Yobe and five in Adamawa thereby controlling an area about the size of Belgium.
It formed part of the reason the African Union (AU) endorsed a military coalition to contain and degrade Boko Haram’s activities in Nigeria which made it to change the mandate of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to encompass counter-terrorist operations.
The story began to change when Buratai assumed position as Chief of Army Staff.
The Nigerian Army changed its strategy and took the war to the enclave of the terrorists culminating in the 2016 hosting of President Muhammadu Buhari to a Guards Brigade Regimental Dinner where it presented to the President, the captured Boko Haram flag.
About 1,240 suspected Boko Haram terrorists were arrested during that mop-up operation and in the same year, the Nigerian army, following a large-scale offensive, captured Boko Haram’s last enclave in the vast Sambisa forest that was the group’s stronghold.
The capture of the camp marked the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave.
President Muhammadu Buhari had acknowledged the gallantry of the Nigerian Army saying the Boko Haram been technically defeated.
In 2019, Nogerian troops arrested 16 Boko Haram terrorists including two of its top commanders during a sting operation at Pulka in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.
The two Boko Haram commanders arrested were Lawan Garliga and Bayaga Manye. Others are Boko Haram logistics supplier which are Umaru, Goni Agwala, Momodu Shetene, Hassan Audu, Usman Manye aka Yega, Ali Lawan and Modu Mallum.
They also include Modu Abubakar Jugudum, Bulama Ali, Umar Usman, Mustapha Alhaji Mele (Boko Haram rifle man and vulcaniser), Abor Lassan, Mallum Ari and Mala Bala.
Nigerian troops also killed scores of the Boko Haram Terrorists and Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgents who attempted to infiltrate their location.
That was not all as the Nigerian Army changed the narrative by making it impossible for the Boko Haram to carry out any fresh attack by constantly repelling them.
In June 2019, Nigerian troops again thwarted an ISWAP attack on a military formation in the Northeast where the Boko Haram came in seven gun trucks and motorcycles and stormed the base at Goniri, Yobe State and in December of that same year, drove away insurgents at Gonar Bukar settlement on Gashua Road on the outskirts of Damaturu, in Yobe State.
This year, Nigerian troops repelled an attack by the terrorists in Monguno, and another in Damboa, Borno State, where a top commander of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Abu Usamah, was killed after troops of Operation Lafiya Dole decimated some key Boko Haram insurgents.
Over 100 insurgents were killed in that operation while scores of them escaped with gunshot wounds. this is in addition to several equipment casualties suffered by the Boko Haram members.
Their regrouping around the Sambisa Forest shows that the insurgents have been terribly weakened and are now clutching at straws to see what they could make of the present resolve to permanently put them out of action.
It is not likely that after making all the preparations and moving to the theatres of war, that the Nigerian Army would leave base until the war is over.
This has been made clear by the Army Chief himself who has sent a message across that the coming days would spell the final days for Boko Haram and ISWAP inspired terrorism in Nigeria
Little wonder Shekau is now making frantic efforts to seek a soft landing as he prepares to surrender.
Audu, a security affairs journalist wrote from Maiduguri.
Furious doctors have warned they might be forced to stop treating patients as ministers admitted tonight that a crucial consignment of personal protective equipment has failed to arrive from Turkey.
Medical associations have warned that their members face difficult choices about exposing themselves and other patients to risk of infection, with fears that supplies of critical items are running low in hospitals.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he ‘hoped’ the 84 tonnes of kit from Turkey would now be in the UK tomorrow, despite it having been announced with fanfare by Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick last night.
But appearing alongside Mr Williamson at the daily Downing Street briefing, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries complained that critics are not being ‘adult’ about the problems with PPE.
She urged people to reflect on what had been ‘achieved’ in maintaining levels of equipment amid global pressures, and insisted the UK was an ‘international exemplar in preparedness’.
Dr Harries also played down concerns about revised guidance that some pieces of protective kit should be re-used, urging health workers to ‘implement’ the rules as effectively as possible.
The comments could inflame tensions with medical staff with the NHS Confederation joining the groups backing staff who refuse to treat patients unless they have adequate PPE, such as gowns, goggles and masks.
The Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Nurses and Midwives, and the British Medical Association have also raised serious concerns.
The row comes as Britain recorded 596 coronavirus-related deaths today, bringing the national death toll to 16,060. Some 43 NHS workers are official confirmed as having lost their lives so far, although the true toll is believed to be higher.
Mr Williamson confirmed that the expected shipment from Turkey has been held up – although the cause is not clear. ‘We hope to see that coming into the country tomorrow,’ he said.
As the government scrambles to get a grip on the spiralling PPE situation, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has appointed former Olympics chief Lord Deighton as a ‘personal protective tsar’ to shore up supplies.
Michael Gove admitted today that some PPE was sent to China during its initial outbreak – although he stressed it was not from core pandemic stockpiles and the UK had received ‘far more’ back from Beijing since then.
Even before the news on the delayed shipment, the BMA said last night it will support doctors who refuse to work without adequate PPE.
Dr Chaand Nagpul, BMA council chair, said: ‘There are limits to the level of risk staff can be expected to expose themselves and their patients to. In the most extreme circumstances, if adequate protective measures are not in place, doctors can refuse to put themselves at risk of becoming infected, and inform their management to make alternative arrangements’.
Prof Neil Mortensen from the Royal College of Surgeons has told his colleagues not to risk their health if good PPE could not be used when treating coronavirus patients.
He said: ‘We are deeply disturbed by this latest change to personal protective equipment guidance, which was issued without consulting medical bodies.
‘After weeks of working with PHE and our sister medical royal colleges to get PPE guidance right, this risks confusion and variation in practice across the country.’
But Dr Harries said: ‘I think we have had, if I might say from my own professional perspective, we could perhaps have a more adult, and more detailed conversation about PPE supplies.
‘For example, quite rightly, the conversation at the moment is very much focused on gown supplies. Earlier, in earlier weeks, I’m very aware of consideration of eye-wear for example, in goggles and masks.’
Dr Harries called the pandemic a ‘huge pull on services which we have never seen before’.
She continued: ‘We have managed actually despite signalling many potential shortfalls to continue to supply going forward, and even as I stand here, I know with the gown position, for example, that even though when orders go in overseas, supplies may be very different what is received to what we think we’re going to get.
‘We perhaps need to, rather than lumping all of the PPE together, which is not a homogeneous mix at all, we just need to think carefully through what has been achieved and the challenges which are acknowledged ahead.’
Asked if she would be comfortable treating Covid-19 patients by re-using single-use PPE, Dr Harries said: ‘If I happened to be working on the frontline today I have a responsibility to look after patients to the best of my ability, to protect my colleagues and my staff and to manage my practice safely.
‘All of those in the current climate will mean that I need to understand the agreed guidance on PPE .. and to implement that whenever I can.’
She said it was ‘very easy to make a throwaway comment about single-use PPE’ but the situation was ‘actually quite complex’.
Dr Harries added: ‘It is the fact we are in a global shortage … we all need to use this PPE carefully.
‘Some sessional use is entirely appropriate. For example wearing a gown for sessional use with a disposable plastic apron on top of it is an entirely appropriate use of PPE.
‘In that example you can see there is one element of what some people may call re-use and one element of what some may call single use.’
When asked why the Government has not responded to manufacturers willing to produce PPE, Mr Williamson said that they will be contacted in the next 24 hours.
The Education Secretary said that a billion extra PPE have been brought into the country while the Government was doing ‘immense work’ in trying to find British suppliers. He encouraged those suppliers who have been in contact with the Government and have ‘slipped through the net’ to get in touch again.
He added: ‘We recognise this is a national endeavour and we are so incredibly grateful for so many people who are willing to step forward to make a real difference, and we certainly don’t want to miss out on those opportunities.’
The press conference comes amid intensifying fears that underfunding during a prolonged period of austerity has left the NHS inadequately prepared in terms of PPE for a pandemic.
Mr Hancock appointed Lord Deighton, chief planner from the London 2012 Olympics, as ‘PPE tsar’ after the Government issued guidance stating that medics would have to re-use PPE supplies.
Lord Deighton, 64, who is personally known to Boris Johnson from the Olympics, will be charged of the ‘end-to-end process of design through to manufacture’ including streamlining approvals’, sources claim.
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The Lagos State government has reacted to the release of the remains of the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, for burial.
During a briefing on Sunday, Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, said there is no policy against the release of dead coronavirus (COVID-19) patients to their families.
Abayomi noted that the only restriction on burial is the number of people who can attend the burial ceremony. He said the crowd must not be more than 25 people, including the clerics the ceremony and the grave-diggers.
He said: “There is no policy against the release of the diseased with COVID-19 in terms of release for burial. If you demise from any condition, there is a protocol to manage any scenario.
“The protocol for managing death from COVID-19 is that the body is decontaminated, and now placed in a special body bag.
“We put them in two body bags and then place within a coffin, then the coffin is sealed. The family is then given the opportunity to collect the body and be taken for burial.
“So, there is no current policy that bars us from handing over the deceased to their family members.
“It just has to be done in a way that does not expose family members or does not break the current law around the number of people to be aggregated in one place.”
Abayomi said the government would allow family members of dead COVID-19 patients to conduct a private burial for their loved ones after carrying out a proper protocol for decontaminating the body.
The commissioner also said the families must ensure that the body was sealed in body bags and further sealed in a coffin.
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…Buratai salutes troops for gallantry, exploits against insurgents.
Following aggressive follow up/exploitation operation carried out by troops of Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE (OPLD), it is now comfirmed that a total of One Hundred and Five (105) Boko Haram/ISWAP Terrorists were neutralized during the Buni Gari encounter.
This was disclosed by the Commander Sector 2 OPLD Brig Gen Lawrence Araba while briefing the Chief of Army Staff and his entourage on Sunday.
Consequently, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusufu Buratai, applauded the troops for their gallantry and resilience that led to the killing of the 105 terrorists at Buni Gari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe state on Saturday the 18th of April 2020.
He gave the commendation when he visited the injured troops at the Field Ambulance Logistics Base 3 Damaturu and Special Forces’ School in Buni Yadi on Sunday.
The visit was sequel to the successes recorded by the troops in neutralising 105 Boko Haram and ISWAP Criminals that attempted to infiltrate/attack Buni Gari Village in Yobe State on the 18th of April 2020.
Gen Buratai visited two officers that were wounded in action during the Buni Gari encounter and other soldiers already on admission at the medical facility in Damaturu before proceeding to the Special Forces’ School in Buni Yadi where he and his entourage were briefed on the incident by the Commander, Sector 2 OPLD, Brig Gen Lawrence Araba.
Brig Gen Araba informed him that the recent success was as a result of intelligence report which revealed plan by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists to attack the village.
According to the Commander – “Based on intelligence received about the plan by the terrorists to attack Buni Gari, our troops swiftly intercepted and engaged the criminals in fierce battle that led to the killing of 105 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as well as the capture of several arms and ammunition from the criminals”.
“Initial situation report reported that 10 terrorists were Neutralized. However, following exploitation by our troops, a total of 105 Boko Haram/ISWAP Criminals are comfirmed to have met their waterloo as a result of the encounter and some of the pictures are here for you to see Sir”.
The Commander further disclosed that items captured from the terrorists include five (5) AK-47 Rifles, three (3) GPMG, one (1) Duska Anti Aircraft Gun, one (1) PKT Gun, two (2) handheld radio, while one (1) terrorists’ gun truck was destroyed.
He added that several ammunition and ammunition links, two(2) hand grenades, two (2) magazines with ammunition and assorted hard drugs were captured.
All the seized arms and ammunition as well as the other items were inspected by the Chief of Army Staff.
While assuring the troops of necessary support, Gen Buratai charges them to upscale the momentum to ensure the defeat of terrorism very soon.
The Presidency has revealed it ignored the social distance order at the burial ceremony of former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that many Nigerians attacked the Federal Government for defying social distance rule in order to cushion the effect of Coronavirus.
Speaking to State House correspondents on Saturday evening, Buhari’s media aide, Garba Shehu, said the crowd that attended the ceremony were not invited.
He noted that the burial was delayed in their attempt to maintain social distancing but had to begin as more people kept coming into the cemetery.
The presidential aide added that the federal government could not have invited security agents to chase the crowd away.
“Was there any invitation for the public to come for the burial? Go back to my Twitter handle and read what I posted. From 10am, when we picked up the body at the airport, we sent a message out that the funeral will be private and that the public should please go and pray for Abba Kyari.
“We also said no condolence visits to the President and family. What can we do? Are we going to invite soldiers to flog people who came to pay their last respect to the man?
“We didn’t invite people. We were trying to move people back and observe social distancing and it was delaying the funeral. We just have to do it because people are not ready to leave. What are we going to do?” he asked.
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Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Lawyer to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has revealed that the Muhammadu Buhari administration exempted its detained members from the recent pardon granted to 2,600 prisoners nationwide.
It will be recalled that the President issued the pardon to decongest prisons all over the country as part of measures to limit the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.
However, in a recent interview with Sun, Ejiofor expressed angst at the President’s decision to exclude members of the pro-secessionist group.
“The reality on the ground is that the prevailing prejudice President Buhari’s administration holds against IPOB members cannot permit fair discretion that will take cognizance of injustices being meted out against IPOB members.”
“I am under no illusion that the amnesty exercise is schemed towards favouring a sectional ethnic group. Despite my call for the amnesty to be extended to members of IPOB still held in various correctional centres across the Southeast and South-south, this administration refused to extend the amnesty to IPOB members.”
“Simply put, the detained members of IPOB were not part of the selected group that was meant to enjoy the amnesty. We are not shocked at all by the inhuman decision not to include them,” he said.
![BREAKING: FG Fumigates Abba Kyari’s Burial Site over Coronavirus Concerns [PHOTOS]](https://tvn.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Screenshot-2020-04-18-at-9.38.20-PM-713x405.png "BREAKING: FG Fumigates Abba Kyari’s Burial Site over Coronavirus Concerns [PHOTOS]")
