Kaduna Bomb Scare: Nathaniel Samuel is a Christian, not Muslim – Suspect’s father
By Toby Prince
Contrary to speculation, Mr Samuel Ezekiel, the father of Nathaniel Samuel, the suspect arrested for allegedly trying to bomb a Living Faith Church in Kaduna, has confirmed that his son is a Christian.
Despite bearing a Christian name, the social media was awash with rumours that Nathaniel is actually a Muslim.
However, the father of the suspect has affirmed that Nathaniel is actually a Christian after reporters visited the his house at Marabar Demishi village located few kilometres from Maraban Rido in Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.
According to Mr Samuel, Nathaniel was born in 1991 and schooled in the state, adding that his mother was from Nasarawa state even though she no longer live with them.
He further revealed that his son has always been a Christian and not a Muslim even for a single day.
Asked if Nathaniel bears Mohammed Sani as being speculated, he said, “No! Not even for a single day has he been a Muslim.”
Mr Ezekiel also said he was shocked when he was told that his son carried a bomb into a church because he wondered what would have happened to the lives of people in the church.
“If he was alone, I don’t care but for the lives that are in the church, I begin to wonder. I shed tears,” he added.
Lesotho’s first lady to be charged with murder of PM’s former wife
The first lady of Lesotho is set to be charged with murder in connection with the 2017 killing of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s former wife, Lipolelo, police said on Tuesday.
Maesaiah Thabane, who fled the country on January 10 to escape arrest, returned to the small southern African kingdom on Tuesday afternoon and handed herself to police in the capital, Maseru. Police said she had been hiding in neighbouring South Africa.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Mokete Paseka said Maesaiah Thabane, 42, would spend the night in custody and will be taken to court after the director of public prosecutions prepares the chargesheet.
“She has been charged with murder alongside eight others who are in Lesotho and South Africa,” Paseka told reporters, adding that the investigation had been “satisfactorily completed”.
He said police had a “strong case” against the first lady, who was unable to appear in court on Tuesday due to logistical reasons.
An arrest warrant for the first lady was issued the day she fled the country after she refused to report to police for questioning in connection with the murder.
Maesaiah Thabane was picked up on the border with South Africa following an arrangement between her lawyer and the police.
The killing occurred two days before Thomas Thabane’s inauguration for a second term in 2017, and two years after a court ruled that Lipolelo was the lawful first lady and entitled to benefits.
Thomas Thabane, 80, married his current wife two months after Lipolelo’s death.
Two weeks ago, police interrogated the prime minister following the alleged use of his mobile phone to communicate with whoever was at the scene of the killing.
The prime minister last month announced he was planning to step down after the governing party considered him no longer fit to lead. The premier did not specify when he would resign, only saying it would occur “when all is in order”.
The murder of 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane sent shockwaves through the tiny mountain kingdom, which is ringed by South Africa and has a long history of political turmoil.
Senior members of the governing All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have accused the prime minister of hampering investigations into the killing.
Last month, hundreds of opposition supporters marched through the streets of Maseru as the prime minister was questioned by the police, demanding he step down with immediate effect.
Coronavirus: Global death toll reaches 427 with two reported dead outside mainland China
…Number of infections passes 20,500.
Hong Kong reported its first death from the new coronavirus on Tuesday – only the second outside mainland China – as the death toll from the outbreak rose to at least 425 and China admitted “shortcomings and difficulties” in its response to the flu-like infection.
The Hong Kong victim was a 39-year-old man who had recently travelled to Wuhan, where the virus originated, and had underlying health problems, the authorities said. It was the second death recorded outside mainland China – the first was in the Philippines on Sunday.
Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission reported 64 new deaths as of midnight on Monday – the biggest daily increase since the virus was first detected late last year. Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei have been effectively sealed off from the rest of the country for more than a week.
There are now 20,438 people confirmed to have the infection in mainland China.
Late on Monday, the Standing Committee of the Politburo – the country’s top leadership – met in Beijing and acknowledged “shortcomings and difficulties” in China’s response to the outbreak.
“This is very rare sort of language to hear,” Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown said from Hong Kong, where he is reporting from the border. “This was the senior leadership of the party essentially admitting they had failed the people. They said officials who had made mistakes would be punished. And they said China would have to improve the way it responded to this sort of national emergency in the future.”
Other countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei and its capital city, Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travellers to and from China.
More than 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries, with the United States reporting the second case of human-to-human transmission on Monday.
Don’t reverse ban on Okada, Sagay counsels Sanwo-Olu
By Sylvanus Okpe
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), on Tuesday, advised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State not to reverse the ban on commercial motorcycles (Okada) and tricycles (Keke) which came into force Friday last week.
He, however, regretted the failure of thd state government to put measures in place to mitigate the pains of the masses that depend on these as their mode of transportation before the enforcement of the ban.
While faulting the timing, Sagay said the state government should have first cleared the buses which are still lying at the ports, put them on the roads before the announcement on the restrictions was made.
Sagay who lives and has his office in Lagos said though painful, the state government must have taken the decision in the interest of Lagosians as the Okada riders have constituted themselves to menace to other road users.
He said the state government must have considered the security of the state before embarking on the decision based on the nefarious activities of the Okada riders.
“The ban is right on principle. Lagos state government is not telling us everything. I always say that the government knows more than we do. It is not every information available to them they will reveal to members of the public. Lagos state government must have seen some danger signals which makes them act before it is too late. That is my impression on the ban”.
“But I blame them that they did not take little more time to prepare for the consequences. Now they are saying that they have about 600 buses at the ports, they should have cleared those buses first before initiating the ban”.
“ They are a government body, they can accelerate the clearance of the buses within a week, put them on the roads and then go ahead with what they want to do”.
“I support the ban on principle. Apart from what I do not know and I am sure it has to do with the security of Lagos state people. Apart from that, those Okada people are a threat to our existence. They don’t obey any law, they cross red lights”.
“On many occasions, I have had cause to complain to the Commissioner for Transport that Okada riders confront me every time on Eko bridge when I am going home. They are so indiscipline, dangerous and reckless in terms of the injuries and pain they cause”.
“They are riding against the traffic, threatening those of us who have the right of way. We have to move aside for them to rush through. As they are doing it, that encourages yellow buses (Danfo) and they too will join them in going against traffic”.
“Right now on Eko bridge, there is no division between the road that takes you into Lagos and the one that takes you out. They are using it as they like and it is so dangerous to other road users”.
“So, I think the ban is a good idea. Let us clear it and remove that danger from our existence. Maybe the timing was a bit abrupt, maybe they should have brought in alternative vehicles to cushion the effect but as far as I am concerned, there should be no going back.
“They should now rush to provide the alternative buses to cushion the pains of the people” Sagay advised.
Breaking: Saudi ambassador to Nigeria, Mahmoud Bostaji is dead
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, Adnan Mahmoud Bostaji is dead.
He died in the early hours of today, February 4 in his sleep. A staff of the Saudi embassy, Malam Abubakar, confirmed in a telephone interview that the Ambassador returned from Saudi Arabia yesterday, February 3 hale and hearty but died in his sleep before day break.
His death was first discovered in a Facebook post today before the confirmation by Abubakar.
Source: Daily Times
World leaders mourn Kenya’s former president, Arap Moi
Many world leaders including African heads of state have commiserated with the Kenyan people following the death of its longest-serving President Daniel Moi, who passed on at a Nairobi Hospital.
Leaders across the world have sent their condolences to Kenya and the family of the late former president Moi who died on Tuesday morning.
Presidents from the East African region including Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania’s John Magufuli were among those who took to social media to eulogise Moi.
The late former president who died aged 95 has been undergoing treatment at the Nairobi Hospital since October.
Similarly, the U.S. embassy in Nairobi offered its condolences to Kenyans on the death of Moi.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the people of Kenya and to the family and friends of former President Daniel Arap Moi upon his passing.
“As a friend and partner of Kenya for over 55 years, the U.S. stands with Kenyans during this time of mourning,” Ambassador Kyle McCarter broadcast on the embassy’s official Twitter page.
Moi, a former school teacher who ruled Kenya for 24 years, had been in hospital for over a month.
“It is with profound sadness that I announce the death of a great man of an African state,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement.
He ordered a period of national mourning until a state funeral is held on a date not yet announced.
The former president died “in the early morning of Feb., at a Nairobi hospital in the presence of his family,” Kenyatta said.
The former president will be laid to rest in a state funeral, with all appropriate civilian and full military honours.
His son, Gideon Moi, said his father passed away peacefully, and that the family had accepted it.
“I give my heartfelt gratitude to all Kenyans,” he said.
Moi was in office from 1978 to 2002, a time that was marked by the centralisation of power, corruption and allegations of human rights abuse.
Moi served as vice president under Kenya’s first post-independence president, Jomo Kenyatta, before taking over the top post.
Coronavirus: Drama as Reps reject motion to evacuate Nigerians in China
By Bukola Olasanmi
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a motion to evacuate Nigerians allegedly stranded in China following the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
According to lawmakers who voted massively against the motion raised by the spokesperson of the house, Benjamin Okezie, China has better facilities to handle the situation than Nigeria.
Despite efforts by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila to calm the lawmakers and allow Mr Okezie to move his motion, the lawmakers denied him the opportunity.
Drama ensued when two other sponsors of the bill who were meant to support the motion, declined to second the motion to be moved.
We are doing well in the security sector says Osinbajo
By Bukola Olasanmi
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the regime is handling the security of the country well.
Osinbajo spoke when he received clergymen from the north — the Arewa Pastors Forum for Peace — at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Monday.
In a statement by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, the VP said the regime would recruit more troops and officers to increase the personnel of security agencies so as to curb security threats in the country.
He added that it was part of an “ongoing deliberate and comprehensive consolidation of the security situation in the country”.
“We are doing everything that needs to be done. We are handling security well, and as you know, including military deployment in diverse fields, like the Boko Haram in the Northeast, ” Osinbajo was quoted to have said.
“In fact, we have to now recruit more into the Army, and much faster than we ever did because we need men on the ground; resources also – to buy more arms, to buy more platforms.”
Osinbajo said though the security situation is challenging measures have been put in place to beef up the country’s security.
“At the last meeting of the National Security Council that was held on Thursday, we had discussions on how to beef up the military’s platforms. How do we beef up the numbers?’ How do we recruit more men and women into the Army? How do we collaborate more with local vigilante, the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and all that? So, there is a lot going on in terms of trying to beef up security. The security situation is one that is very challenging,” he said.
“We are also looking at aspects of surveillance – how we can do more aerial surveillance using drones and electronic devices to improve surveillance.”
He assured Nigerians that the federal government is committed to finding solutions to the crisis in the north and in other parts of the country.