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Lagos jails 34 persons for breaking lockdown to exercise in Gbagada

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No fewer than 34 persons have been sentenced by a Yaba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos to one month of community service for violating the social distancing directives of the Lagos State Government.

All the defendants pleaded guilty except three.

The court on Wednesday found them guilty on a one-count charge of working out in a group larger than 20 persons on the Gbagada-Oworonsoki Expressway.

The court ruled that the violators should be quarantined for 14 days at the Infectious Diseases Hospital Yaba or any other place designated by the government.

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Five Nigerians test positive for coronavirus after eating in Chinese restaurant

Five Nigerians test positive for coronavirus after eating in Chinese restaurant

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Five Nigerians have tested positive for coronavirus in China, Daily Mail is reporting

Four of them had reportedly visited “Emma Food”, an eatery, multiple times, according to the Guangzhou Health Commission.

The restaurant owner, alongside her daughter and another child, later tested positive for the contagion.

The Nigerian citizens with the infections were detected between March 28 and March 30, after screening 3,779 travellers from high-risk countries.

The coronavirus epidemic erupted in China after dozens of people suffering ‘mysterious viral pneumonia’ were linked to the same seafood market in Wuhan.

Guangzhou is situated 1,028 kilometres (638 miles) south of the former epicentre.

Yuexiu district, where the restaurant is located, has imposed strict measures in a response to the new cluster of infections, according to the press.

The new cases have raised an alarm in Guangzhou which has so far reported 466 coronavirus cases.

A total of 197 people who had close contact with the patients were isolated and tested.

The owner of Emma Food, known as Zhuang, was put under quarantine on April 1.

The owner’s daughter, aged 8, and her three-year-old playmate both were diagnosed with the deadly disease on the next day.

The Emma Food restaurant has been closed for inspection. Other restaurants in the district have been forced to shut down for 14 days, Chinese media repo

Abusing Buhari not way out of your poverty, group lashes Aisha Yesufu

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The Citizens Against Fake Activists (CAFA) has lashed out at co-convener, BringBackOurGirls, Aisha Yesufu, appraising her that abusing President  Muhammadu Buhari won’t lift her out of poverty.
In a foul-mouthed attack, Yesufu described President Buhari as a “coward” simply “cowering in Aso rock” wasting every single kobo spent on him by Nigerians.
Yesufu’s statement attracted the ire of Nigerians, with many rebuking her for lacking manners and disrespecting  the country’s most-revered office.
The Citizens Against Fake Activists, on Monday, joined fellow compatriots to reprimand the self-acclaimed activist, who according to them is unteachable, empty and bereft of knowledge; quick to jump into issues to satisfy her paymasters.
CAFA took out time to school Yesufu on issues surrounding insurgency in the country and the West-African sub region, particularly as it concerns Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
In a statement by Director Communications and Publicity, Comrade Ibrahim Kabir Dalla, CAFA reckoned that the Nigerian troops would have achieved more than it already did if not for Yesufu’s associates, comprised mostly of terrorists.
The Citizens Against Fake Activists, however, advised Yesufu to tender an apology to the Office of the President.
The group further called on Nigerians to report offending posts and any other irresponsible attacks coming from her to Twitter, just like they did some time ago.
 Read full statement below:
The Citizens Against Fake Activists (CAFA) has noted with disgust the new low to which the co-convener of the BringBackOurGirls group, Aisha Yesufu has sunken to when she decided to describe the office and person of President Muhammadu Buhari as a waste. Even for the pay-for-hire activist that Aisha Yesufu has been confirmed to be, her decision to desecrate the highest office in the land is the height of irresponsibility regardless of how much she has been paid to distract the government of the day.
Her justification for this unpatriotic criminal act was supposedly because Chadian troops were able to give Boko Haram terrorists a fight, which made her to ignorantly conclude that Nigeria has not done enough to deal with the insurgents when the opposite is the case. She irresponsibly wrote _“The coward we have as Commander-in-chief who is supposed to be a Rtd Major General is cowering in Aso rock villa. His theatre of war is reading in front of the camera. Buhari @MBuhari is a waste of every single kobo spent on him by Nigeria,”_ which is most unfortunate and unacceptable.
In reality, the saddest part of the entire incident is that Aisha Yesufu is unteachable, incapable of keeping quiet and composed long enough for the facts being presented to her to sink in before she goes all hyper in her desperation to satisfy those that are deceiving her that they can pay her way out of poverty. Had Yesufu been capable of these qualities, CAFA would have undertaken to provide knowledgeable experts to educate her to the cardinal errors that underpin her commentaries on national issues.
Even at that CAFA will like Aisha Yesufu to orientate herself to the concept of international relations, international law and jurisprudence, which would easily point her to understand that while Boko Haram operates in an area that transverses Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger it is still not possible for one country to intrude into the territory of the other, which the terrorists have been exploiting to launch cross border attacks before fleeing into a different jurisdiction.
In terms of military realities, an intelligent person, even without military background, would have realized that it took the constant containment and degrading from the operations conducted by the Nigerian Army to have corralled the Boko Haram terrorists into the underground holes from where the Chadian Army smoked them out. She must also be made aware that her comments are supporting Boko Haram recruitment drive by creating the impression that there is a preponderance of public sympathy and acceptance of the crime that the terrorists are committing.
It is important to mention that the Nigerian military would have made further gains against the terrorists but for the sabotage of Yesufu’s associates, comprised mostly of terrorists’ sympathizers and organizations that trade in human misery, who do everything possible to prevent the military from wiping out those scums of the earth.
CAFA hereby calls on Aisha Yesufu to immediately apologize to Nigerians for treating the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with disrespect and disdain. Yesufu’s personal angst against President Buhari is something that only her understands so we are not going to ask her to apologize to Mr. President, what we demand from her is an apology to the office being proprietary to Nigeria and one that must not be disrespected by anyone. We must however offer her the free counsel that she risks damaging her health if she does not take measures to manage her pointless anger against President Buhari.
We urge Nigerians of good conscience to report the offending tweet and any other irresponsible attacks coming from her to Twitter as hate speech. Twitter does not accept that kind of behaviour from users in some other countries and we can collectively make the company respect the same level of decorum here.

Insurgency: Group knocks PDP over Deby’s fraudulent role

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The National Democratic Front (NDF) believes the Peoples Democratic Party has once again exposed the height of its hypocrisy and dangerous ignorance by comparing President Muhammadu Buhari to Chadian President, Idriss Deby.
The PDP had insinuated that President Buhari should be physically present at the war front like his Chadian counterpart recently did.
In a statement signed by Secretary General, Dr. Abdulkadir Bolaji, on Wednesday, the NDF mocked the PDP for being benighted with the Constitution despite almost two decades at the helms of affairs.
As a democrat, the NDF revealed that President Buhari appointed competent military chiefs that degraded Boko Haram, reduced to conducting cross border attacks from the territory of the same Chad and its francophone neighbours – Niger and Cameroon.
Instead of drooling over the Chadian President, the NDF advised the PDP to visit Deby and find out why his country took so long to address the presence and activities of Boko Haram in its territory.
The group expressed shock that the opposition party ignored France’s influence on Chad and Nigeria’s other francophone neighbours, which has made it impossible for these countries to support terrorism.
NDF, however, urged the PDP to “ wake up to the realty and see President Deby’s one-off stunt in leading Chadian troops against Boko Haram as a case of a relationship turned sour, a mere case of things gone wrong between two thieves or equally ferocious terrorist factions.”
Read full statement below:
The National Democratic Front (NDF) is amused at the position of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for heaping scorn on the government of President Muhammadu Buhari while praising Chadian President Idriss Deby, whose country’s troop recently took on Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad Basin area. PDP’s response to the development has exposed the height of its hypocrisy and dangerous ignorance of what is at stake.
PDP, ignorant of the details behind the Chadian military operation against Boko Haram, rushed to join beer parlour commentators by suggesting that President Buhari should have been physically present at the war front against the terrorist like Deby. This suggestion is a confirmation that the PDP, in spite of all the years it held Nigeria hostage when it was in power, simply does not understand that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) anticipated Mr. President to delegate his functions as the Commander-in-Chief.
As a democrat and good manager, President Buhari had appointed competent military chiefs that had in the past years degraded Boko Haram by as much as 90%; the terror group that once laid claim to a caliphate has been reduced conducting cross border attacks that are planned and launched from the territory of the same Chad and its francophone neighbours – Niger and Cameroon. What the Chadian troops had to deal with are part of the terror group’s remnant that usually makes cross border incursions into Nigeria.
Instead of drooling over the Chadian President, the PDP should have used the opportunity presented by the joblessness of its senior officials to visit Deby and find out why his country took so long in addressing the presence and activities of Boko Haram in its territory. A sincere Deby will perhaps educate them that he was more vested in exacting revenge for the over 90 troops that Boko Haram terrorists killed after relations between the group and Chad deteriorated. It borders on mental incapacitation to accept that Boko Haram would have an operational bases on that scale within sight of Chad and the country’s government was not aware of it until its troops were attacked.
It is also surprising that PDP chose to ignore the toxic influence that France exerts over Chad and Nigeria’s other francophone neighbours, which has made it impossible for these countries to support Nigeria in tackling the menace of Boko Haram. If the PDP is smart enough, it would have used its statement to urge Dby and his francophone counterparts to take Chad out of France’s strangling embrace for the region to become truly independent and be able to rid itself of the murderous terror group.
But these are lofty ideals that cannot be expected from a PDP that as recently as the last General Elections hired foreign mercenaries to carry out copycat attacks that mimicked Boko Haram in order for it to create the impression that security has degenerated under President Buhari and should thus not be re-elected. This was a development that NDF sufficiently raised the alarm about at the time and we will not be surprised that the PDP will be able to pick out the weapons they bought for terrorists from the caches of arms seized by Chad from the military operations. Maybe their rush to make PrPresidente look good is to forestall the holding of such weapons identification parade.
PDP must wake up to the realty and see President Idris Deby’s one-off stunt in leading Chadian troops against Boko Haram as a case of a relationship turned sour, a mere case of things gone wrong between two thieves or equally ferocious terrorist factions. The party should not be in a hurry to conclude that Mr. Deby has repented and is no longer a Boko Haram sponsor in the Lake Chad region. NDF will like to believe that President Deby has finally switched sides for the good will no longer harbour the terrorists and Chadian rebels to torment the region, but this will amount to expecting a miracle.
NDF will not bother to recommend to the PDP to go study President Deby’s democratic credentials because that will force the party to remove the word “democratic” from its name since it has suddenly found a dictator of 30 years as a shining example to hold up to the world. What we will do however is to ask PDP to stop dancing on the graves of the victims of the terror group it created with its years of misrule. Without PDP’s wasted years in power there would be no Boko Haram.

ISWAP confirms killing of its top commander, al-Ansari by Nigerian Army

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The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction of Boko Haram has confirmed the killing of one of its top commanders, Muhammad bin Mallam Fow, who went with the nom de guerre, Abu al-Kukhtar al-Ansari.

A biography published for al-Ansari in the Issue 228 of the digital terrorist propaganda newsletter, al-Naba, that was distributed on April 2, 2020 and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group confirmed his death at the hands of government troops.

The ISWAP propaganda newsletter confirmed that the Nigerian Army killed al-Ansari when the terrorists undertook a failed revenge attack on Damaturu, which the they launched in retaliation for the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu ai-Muhajir, ISIS leaders that were earlier taken out by US forces.

In addition to sundry crimes, the publication confirmed that al-Ansari masterminded attacks on Damaturu, Geidam, Garanda and Mallam Fatori in his capacity as the emir of Security Work Battalion.

While the mainstream media had been skeptical of the report by the Nigerian Army that it had neutralized a senior Boko Haram commander, al-Ansari, and scores of other terrorists during the attack on Damaturu, the obituary verified that he was killed when he tried to fire an RPG round to destroy an armoured tank.

The deceased terrorist also ran ISWAP’s indoctrination programmes in addition to managing the terror group’s intelligence network that identify and arrest those that are planning to embrace the offer of surrender from the Nigerian Military.

His death four months after he was appointed Commander of ISWAP’s Security Work Battalion shows that the Nigerian Army regularly neutralize occupants of the position.

Source: The Sun

Insurgency: Northeast residents berate social media handlers for recycling fake news

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Following the circulation of an old story published in 2015 by some social media handlers alleging that the Nigerian Army has been absent in the fight against Boko Haram and that it is the Chadian Army alone that is battling the insurgents, some of the residents in the North-east have reacted to the issues describing it as “an attempt to demoralize the Nigerian troops.’’

A cross section of the residents who spoke to our correspondents in Borno, Gombe and Bauchi states on Wednesday said issues of security remains a very sensitive matter which must not be politicized, trivialized or peddled as fake news.

Alhaji Idrissa Babakura, a resident of Maiduguri said Nigeria supports Chadian forces in routing Boko Haram and President Idriss Déby of Chad has revealed that the Nigerian government supported his country’s Military onslaught against Boko Haram.

Deby who has relocated from Ndjamena to Baga Sola in the Lac Region said Nigeria provided “fairly substantial equipment,” in support of Operation Anger of Bohoma. The Chadian leader spoke on Monday when a parliamentary delegation made up of the ruling party and the opposition visited him in Ndjamena.

Malam Ibrahim Kawu, a rice farmer from Dadin-Kowa in Gombe state said it is discouraging for anyone to share fake story when there are successes in the fight against insurgency.

“Before 2015, we know how we were living and how we now live. The difference is clear and the army under Lt. Gen. Yusuf Buratai has done a good job. You cannot be online and be circulating nonsense just for motives that we don’t understand.

“We are on ground and we felt the heat of insurgency but today we owe our peace to the Army. We do our farming activities without any fear or intimidation,’’ he said.

Alhaji Mohammed Usman, a civil servant from Bauchi said: “We have to be fair to the Army. They have done a fine job from 2015 and whatever story or stories being circulated should not be used to demoralise our security agents.

“This is because it has a way of discouraging the Army who has really done well for all of us. The peace that we now enjoy must be sustained through massive support for the troops who are at the frontline of these battles.

Usman said government must initiate punitive measures to ensure that anyone who uses the social media or any platform to circulate fake news is punished to send a strong message to others.

“This is a threat to our collective existence as a nation. Fake news for any purpose must be discouraged and fought to a standstill.

Hajiyah Aishatu Idris, a resident of Nafada, one of the border towns in Gombe said though there is still work to be done in the Northeast “There should be no denial of the successes being recorded in the fight against insurgents.

“The army has done a lot and today Gombe state is safe and we are grateful to Allah. We must continue to pray for the Army and its current leadership for being professional, patriotic and committed to sustaining peace.

Bernie Sanders quits presidential campaign

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Senator Bernie Sanders is suspending his campaign for president, after falling behind former Vice President Joe Biden in recent primary contests.

He announced his decision to campaign staff Wednesday.

“I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth,” Sanders told supporters Wednesday morning in a live stream address, saying “the path towards victory is virtually impossible.”

“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will be unsuccessful,” Sanders continued, calling it a “difficult and painful decision.”

Sanders alluded to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that continuing his campaign would”interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour.” Sanders said that the virus “has exposed for all to see how absurd our current employer-based health insurance system is.”

However, Sanders emphasized that he would not stop fighting for political change.

“While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not,” Sanders said. He congratulated Biden, calling him a “decent man,” but said that he would remain on the ballot in upcoming primaries. Sanders said that he would continue to rack up delegates so that his supporters, and his priorities, would have a strong presence in the Democratic convention and be able to influence the party platform.

Sanders thanked his supporters for making a “profound impact in changing our nation.”

“Together we have transformed the American consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become,” Sanders said. He argued that ideas such as Medicare for All and raising the minimum wage had gained traction in mainstream Democratic politics, proving “our movement has won the ideological struggle.”

Sanders adopted a sad but positive tone as he informed his staff, according to an aide on the call.

“The struggle goes on. This was never about Bernie Sanders, this was always about the movement,” the aide said.

Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 don’t earn a dime – Lai Mohammed

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Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has rubbished insinuations that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 are paid per session.

Headed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, the Task Force is at the forefront of coronavirus fight in the country, providing daily updates.

Reports in some quarters, however, suggested that the group receive bogus allowance per sitting.

However, Mr Mohammed denied any of such at Wednesday’s briefing.

Details later.

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Coronavirus: Chinese medical team lands in Nigeria

Coronavirus: Chinese medical team lands in Nigeria

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A team of Chinese medical experts has arrived in Nigeria for a month-long visit to help in the fight against the coronavirus.

The Asian mercenaries arrived Abuja on Wednesday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport at about 5:30 pm via an Air Peace chartered flight.

The invitation to the Chinese experts is opposed by local doctors, with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) terming it “ill-timed” and raising concerns over the impact of a similar team that visited Italy.

The Chinese team includes experts in infectious diseases, intensive care, respiratory illness, cardiology, general surgery, neurology, and anesthesiology.

The group are expected to share medicines and equipment, including test kits, ventilators, disinfectants, and protective face masks.

“The primary purpose of the team is to provide China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) employees with critical and necessary healthcare,” CCECC Executive Director Jacques Liao as saying.

He said the team, under the directives of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria and as a response to the Nigerian government’s request, may also share with Nigerian doctors effective methods to treat the disease and stem the virus’ spread.

Liao said all members of the Chinese team have tested negative for the virus but will still spend 14 days in quarantine in Nigeria.

Pope blames climate change for coronavirus outbreak

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Pope Francis said the coronavirus pandemic may be nature’s response to people’s failure to take climate change seriously.

His comments came in an interview posted by The Tablet on Wednesday. He was asked if he saw the crisis as an opportunity for ecological conservation.

He said: “There is an expression in Spanish: ‘God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives.’ We did not respond to the partial catastrophes.

“Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?

“I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s responses.”

And he was critical of certain unnamed political personalities and their responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

“This crisis is affecting us all, rich and poor alike, and putting a spotlight on hypocrisy,” he said. “I am worried by the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons. This is a time to be converted from this kind of functional hypocrisy. It’s a time for integrity. Either we are coherent with our beliefs or we lose everything.”