France has declared that all non-essential stores, restaurants, movie theaters and cafes will be shut down starting Sunday to prevent the spread of Coronavirus throughout the country.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said public services such as banks, grocery stores and pharmacies will be allowed to remain open.
By Sam Nwosu
In all society across planet earth, there are laws that are impossible to enforce, there are those that are enforceable. If any government structure, be it autocracy, plutocracy, parliamentary, dictatorship, communism, democracy or any nomenclature, attempts to force unpopular laws down citizens throat it always ends in disaster, the action results to disobedience, resistance or outright revolution.
This is especially where the law has to do with infringement on cultural values and fundamental rights of citizens, no government wins such war. This stupid laws only exposes the empty headedness of the state assembly members, an assembly mostly populated by FSLC or NECO certificate holders a good number even forged. If they were sound in reasoning they would have taken into consideration how impassible it is to enforce such laws especially in a state like Anambra that is populated by very proud,stubborn, well traveled and well to do individuals. The confused law makers didn’t even consider the economic impact of the silly law on the entire state. When you see people from around the country flocking the state on weekends 90% of the visitors come for burials and traditional marriages, they bring serious money into the state. Food vendors, hotels, spare parts dealers, students, women of easy virtues, transporters, super markets, every aspect of the state economy thrives and the government collects its taxes. The multiplier effect on the wellbeing of the businesses and residents can never be quantified. All over the world countries and states thrive on tourism, they will do anything to protect their tourism industry and here our law makers want to do the opposite.
In Anambra state marriages and funeral ceremonies has been elevated to serious tourism industry. The politicians in the churches masquerading as religious leaders are behind this misconceived attempt to infringe on human rights of citizens. They do not want people to spend money on burials in honour of those that toiled to raise them, simply because the self acclaimed saviours want the money spent on their business centres called churches, which they operate primarily to intimidate and fleece people. They surreptitiously condemn any action that will reduce their source of income which they use to maintain their expensive lifestyles.
The God we serve is not a begger God that must be appeased with money. The pretenders to the throne of God will manipulate the government and the law makers through self idolatry preachings or private duscussions using the holy book to give verve to their postulation into making very unpopular laws.
The only other reason I see is that government need to improve its revenues so have decided to pretentiously tax funerals, if I am right I think they got it wrong, they should have come straight to say if you want an expensive funeral you pay tax of 100k to the government, of course there will be grumbles here and there but eventually everybody will pay.
If you try to infringe on citizens rights you will be vehemently and collectively resisted.
Nkea adabaro cha cha!
Source: Anambra Mirrow
Haufei restaurant and Mall 33 Aboyade Cole, Victoria Island, Lagos, sealed by the federal government for refusing to serve Nigerians
The Federal Government has closed Haufei Restaurant and Mall, a Chinese eatery in Lagos State, for refusing to serve Nigerians.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in a tweet on Saturday, said the staff of the restaurant, located on 33 Aboyade Close, Victoria Island, admitted that it was the business policy of the owners.
“Today, FCCPC closed Haufei restaurant and Mall 33 Aboyade Cole, VI, based on credible intelligence and surveillance that the business declines service to Nigerians. Staff of the business admitted this is the policy and our operatives experienced same. Both now closed for further regulatory action,” the tweet read.
The tweet was accompanied by photos of the sealed restaurant.
Some Nigerians had earlier shared their experiences on social media, wondering why workers at the restaurant refused to serve them food.
One Folabomi had shared a video of herself in front of the eatery.
She said, “So, my friends and I have been asked to leave this Chinese establishment, a restaurant o, simply because we are blacks. In Nigeria!”
“Our only option is to take out, but we cannot physically sit down and eat at the restaurant. As you can see, this has turned me to a crazy person. I don’t joke with my food,” she also wrote.
An Instagram user, @coco_nutter, said, “I don’t understand how this is even possible. It is a recent policy made by the proprietor and the chef (who only spoke Mandarin) could not give us a reason why we could not sit and have a meal. In Nigeria, yu wont serve non-Chinese customers? Are you mad? But you have Nigerian staff?”
Contrary to insinuations that President Muhammadu Buhari instigated the removal of former Emir of Kano Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, the President, sources say, actually tried his best to save the ex-monarch from being dethroned.
Against the backdrop of series of conspiratory theories and allegations of collusion involving the president to remove Sanusi from office, the presidency it emerged, had intervened at many stages of the conflict to avoid escalation in the last two years.
A reliable source in the State House, Abuja, who spoke on condition of anonymity informed correspondents that the efforts collapsed because of the intransigence of the two sides to shift ground.
According to the source, when the Gov. Ganduje administration made up its mind to remove Emir Sunusi as far back as 2017, the governor informed President Buhari of this decision.
”He, however, asked for advice and guidance. Outrightly, President Buhari said it was inappropriate and requested that the plan be shelved.
”This meeting was followed with a written letter to the governor dated Nov. 17 2017 in which the President’s advice was clearly stated.
”The President directed his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari to follow up for a peaceful resolution of the crisis of confidence between the two,” the source added.
The source maintained that this led to the setting up a Committee made up of five state Governors led by Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, adding that the governors did their best.
He said following the intervention of the committee calm returned but occasional flare-ups continued and were aggravated by the tense situations under which the governor reemerged for his second term in the 2019 general elections.
The source further narrated: ”In the course of that period, Gov. Fayemi, his Jigawa State counterpart, Abubakar Badaru and to some extent the Inspector General of Police made several expeditions to Kano, to prevail on the Governor not remove the Emir in those tense moments in the interest of peace and security.
”The main grouse of the administration was that the Emir had failed to stay above the fray of partisan politics, especially as it related to the Governor’s re-election.
”In reaction to the various suggestions by senior citizens including Generals Ibrahim Babagida, Wushishi and Abdulsalami Abubakar, among others, the Chief of Staff sought for permission and gave the green light for the commencement of work by the Abdulsalami Abubakar committee.
”The committee members sat down with the President at the Villa to discuss their mission.
”At this meeting, the President outlined the efforts he put into the resolution of the conflict in Kano and said he had had enough.
“He gave assurances of support and put at their disposal, the use of the Presidential Air Craft, then wished them the best of luck.
”But he did make clear that if the situation warranted it, we would not hesitate to clamp an emergency rule on the state.
”Governor Ganduje gave conditions for peace, including the withdrawal of court cases by Emir Sanusi against the Kano State Government.”
The source revealed that Sanusi allegedly accepted to withdraw some of the cases, but stood his ground on the others, including his refusal to withdraw a court case instituted by Bashir Tofa and his group, who the state government alleged to be Sanusi’s proxy in the case.
According to the source, the Governor insisted that the newly-created emirates must be kept but acceded to the Emir that four of the five Kingmakers whose districts were excised from Kano be reinstated. He said the Emir agreed not to appeal the decision to uphold the Emirates by the courts.
The source said: ”It was clear all this while that the inflexibility to meet some of the conditions for peace by both have added complications that made peace almost impossible.
”For example, the former Emir had wanted the Kano State Anti Corruption Commission to stop its case against him completely.
”He stood firmly that the case he instituted against the Code of Conduct Bureau will not be withdrawn because, in his view he needed to pursue it to clear his name, a demand that Gov Ganduje rejected.”
The source, however, said the Abubabar Committee report did not give any “glimmer of hope” for ending the crisis, adding “a mediator’s success depends largely on the cooperation of the parties involved.”
Despite these frustrations, the source explained that the President did not give up on the efforts for peace.
The presidency official said that when the Chief of Staff led a delegation to condole the former Emir over the death of Amb. Sunusi, the late Dan Iyan Kano, and the former Emir’s uncle, Abba Kyari met separately with Ganduje and Sanusi in a renewed effort to reconcile the two actors in the conflict.
According to the source, having gone to this extent for peace, it is uncharitable and baseless to accuse President Buhari of ordering Ganduje to depose Sanusi.
The President holds Sanusi in the highest esteem and has nothing personal against him and, therefore, he could not have told Ganduje to depose him.
The presidency source also described as ‘nonsensical’ the allegations that “Abuja,” referring indirectly to President Buhari, is complicit in the Emir’s alleged forceful removal from the palace and exile to Nasarawa.
He said: “Chieftaincy law in Northern Nigeria going back to 1919 makes for the deposition and confinement of Emirs and Chiefs.
”Sarki Alu of Kano was removed by the colonial administration using this law and was walked to Lokoja on foot to start a life of exile.
”State governments have used tha law to full effect dealing with Sultan Dasuki in Sokoto, removed and kept in Zing, Taraba state, and Emir Jokolo of Gwandu, Kebbi State, who has been kept away from the state now for over two decades.
”Kano State did not need President Buhari’s authorisation for anyone to remove and exile Emirs and Chiefs.”
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday visited Gui Community, FCT to condole with the family of the late Insp. Ali Gomina, an escort rider attached to his office, who died in an accident.
Gomina died in an auto accident along the Abuja Airport road as he led the vice president’s convoy on Friday.
His remains were buried immediately in accordance with Islamic rites.
Osinbajo was received by the leader of the community, Alhaji Alhassan Yussuf.
Muslim and Christian prayers were said after which the vice president interacted with the widow of the deceased and his children.
Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande, told newsmen that following the death of Gomina the vice president aborted his trip to Lagos on Friday and asked his aides to visit the family immediately.
“He decided to come today to personally express his condolence, the wife, the children and the community and to say that himself and the federal government of Nigeria will continue to support the family and do everything necessary to comfort this family.
“He also expressed his personal regrets; he is very greatly saddened by what has happened and decided to come and show it personally.”
On the uncertainty expressed by the children of the late Gomina that their father’s death could force them to end their education, Akande said that it would not be a problem as the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was compassionate.
“Everyone knows that this is a government that is very high on compassion and the vice president himself is somebody that values that kind of relationship.
“I can tell you right away that won’t a problem for this family.
“The Federal Government would do everything that is right and that is worthy of a diligent and hard working officer like Inspector Aliyu Gomina,” he said.
Earlier, Gomina’s wife, Hasia Gomina, who was delivered of a baby on Nov. 11, called on the Federal Government to support the family.
Gomina’s son, Abdullah Husseini, who is a first-year student at the College of Education, Zuba, Abuja, expressed fears that his father’s death could force him out of school because there was no other person to take care of him and his siblings.
“The family, as it is now, we have no other person we can run to for help for our education,” he said.
Husseini added that his late father also laid the foundation of a building, which he feared might collapse now that he was dead.
More so, Ali’s first daughter, Hafsat Ali, who is also a student, said her father’s death was very painful.
“I don’t have much to say but to ask the government to look into our plight and help us,” she said.
A police escort rider attached to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has died in a road accident, state house said on Friday.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the accident occurred on the road to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport as Prof Osinbajo was on his way to a scheduled trip.
He noted that Prof Osinbajo is saddened by the death of Inspector Ali Gomina, 45, and has aborted the scheduled trip.
Describing Inspector Gomina, VP Osinbajo was quoted saying the officer was “a diligent, hardworking and serious-minded officer who will be greatly missed by the team.
“He is survived by his wife, children and relatives.”
Read full statement below:
With grief in our hearts, we announce the death of one of the police escort riders on the Vice President’s convoy, Inspector Ali Gomina, aged 45, who was involved in a road accident while on official duty today.
The accident occurred on the road to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. The Vice President, who is greatly saddened by this occurrence, has aborted the trip.
The Vice President described Gomina as a diligent, hardworking and serious-minded officer who will be greatly missed by the team. He is survived by his wife, children and relatives.
May his soul rest in peace.
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By Toby Prince
US President Donald Trump has declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak which has led to over 5000 deaths across the world.
The move will allow the Trump administration to utilise the Stafford Act, the federal law that governs disaster-relief efforts, to provide emergency funding to state and local governments.
“The action I am taking will open up $50 billion. Our overriding goal is to stop the spread of the virus,” he said.
Trump also said the move will waive a number of other requirements meant to benefit doctors and fight the coronavirus pandemic.
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Osinbajo’s police escort dies in road crash, VP aborts trip
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By Toby Prince
A doctor who had been handling the coronavirus crisis in northern Italy has died from the disease. Roberto Stella, 67, suffered a respiratory failure on Tuesday after being diagnosed in Como, Italy, according to the country’s National Federation of Doctors and General Practitioners.
The federation’s secretary Silvestro Scotti said in a statement: ‘He was the example of the capability and hard work of family doctors.
His death represents the outcry of all colleagues who still today are not equipped with the proper individual protection needed.’ Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus epidemic shot past 1,000 on Thursday as the economic impact worsened, with much of the country at a standstill and the Milan bourse posting its largest ever one-day fall.
Looking to halt the spread of the disease, the government introduced yet more restrictions on Italians, ordering the blanket, nationwide closure of restaurants, bars and almost all shops except for food stores and chemists.
‘The government is doing its best, we’re in a war against an invisible enemy,’ said Rome delicatessen shop owner Roberto Castroni.
Confirmed cases rose to 15,113 from a previous 12,462, the biggest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion came to light on Feb. 21 in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy.
In an ever-escalating series of measures to halt the spread, Rome’s Catholic churches were ordered closed on Thursday — an unprecedented move in modern times that will apply to more than 900 parochial and historic churches in the Italian capital.
History was also made in the Milan bourse, which fell 17% for its worst single-day loss ever, underperforming a generally disastrous global market, as investors fretted over the huge, long-term cost of the coronavirus lockdown.
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BREAKING: Court orders release of Sanusi from detention
By Bukola Olasanmi The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, ordered the release of the dethroned Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, from detention, in Awe, a town in Nasarawa State, where he was banished to following his dethronement on Monday
BREAKING: Court orders release of Sanusi from detention
TheNigerian News
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Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, has tested positive for coronavirus, a statement from the prime minister’s office says.
“She will remain in isolation for the time being. She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild,” it read.
The couple is now self-isolating.
Mr Trudeau is in good health and has no symptoms, according to his office, but he will remain in isolation for 14 days.
There are no plans at present for Mr Trudeau to be tested for coronavirus.
“The prime minister will continue to fully assume his duties and will address Canadians tomorrow (Friday),” his office said.
There are currently approximately 103 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Canada.
Meetings postponed
Ms Grégoire Trudeau began to show mild flu-like symptom including a low fever on late on Wednesday night after returning from London.
After she tested positive for Covid-19, she said: “Although I’m experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of the virus, I will be back on my feet soon.
“We will get through this situation together. Please share the facts and take your health seriously.”
Health workers will contact people whom Mrs Grégoire Trudeau has recently met.
However, those who have been in contact with the prime minister are deemed not to be at risk, as Mr Trudeau has shown no symptoms.
A number of politicians around the globe have been self-isolating in recent days after coming into possible contact with the virus, including five senior US Republicans and a Canadian cabinet minister.
Mr Trudeau was scheduled to hold meetings over the next two days in Ottawa with provincial premiers and First Nations leaders.
Those meetings have been postponed.
Mr Trudeau will now be speaking with those provincial counterparts over the phone, with the topic focusing on Canada’s response to the pandemic, said the prime minister’s office in a statement on Thursday morning.
Another federal party leader, the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh, said on Thursday he was also staying at home because he was feeling unwell, though doctors have told him that his symptoms are not consistent with the coronavirus.
“Their advice is for me to limit contact with the public until I am feeling better,” he said on Twitter.