Akeredolu sacks aide over negligence of duty, appoints another

The Governor of Info State, Rotimi Akeredolu has sacked his aide, the Special Assistant on Youths and Students Affairs, Mr Banji Adewumi over negligence of duty.

This was disclosed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Segun Ajiboye in a statement:

“it was recently discovered that Adewumi has abandoned the office and his responsibilities for some months now, and that he is no longer resident in the country.

“Expectedly, his absence has made the office suffer serious neglect, which if left unattended to, may lead to incalculable damage in the relationship between the government and the students population,’’ he added.

Ajiboye said that the governor has approved the appointment of Mr Ogunyemi Ojo as the new Special Assistant on Youths and Students’ Affairs.

“The governor wishes the new appointee success in his job and urged him to see his assignment as a challenge to create a platform for robust relationship between the government and youths in the state,’’ he added.

Regina Daniels: Am not after his money, I married him for some reasons

The relationship between Nigerian girlfriend Regina Daniels and contributing businesswoman Ned Nwoko remains the subject of intense debate among Nigerians on various social networks.

Their marriage sparked controversy after many accused Regina Daniels’ mother.

Rita Daniels, of allowing her teenage son to marry an elder for money.

The difference in their age is 40 years, however, as alludes say, their age is a small number, the couple says they found each other in love.

While speaking to Kemi, the 59-year-old opened up about her marital life by reiterating that he is a devout Muslim, thus defending marriage options as many women as he wants.

The prominent politician who is married to five women says his step is based on Islamic teachings.

“Allamdulilai, Hon. Ned Nwoko is royal blood and has access to as many women as he wants.

He is not a child and knows what is best for him. Don’t forget that he is a Moslem and has more rights than a woman.

He would not want to comment on Regina Daniels. ”

On the other hand, Regina Daniels made it known that she married him for a purpose not for his money.

FG offers Medical workers life insurance

The Federal Government has offered a total of 5,000 health workers in the front line of Covid-19 fight in the country life insurance.

This was made known by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19, Boss Mustapha.

“The premium in the sum of N112.5m for the cover has been fully paid by the Nigerian Insurance Industry in line with the principle of No Premium, No Cover,”

“The PTF wishes to thank the Insurance Industry immensely and calls on other sectors of the economy to rise up to support the efforts to fight COVID-19.”

“I also call on our frontline health workers to double their efforts just as we assure them of our determination to protect them.”

I was not a virgin when I married my billionaire husband- Regina Daniels

It appears that Nollywood high schooler entertainer Regina Daniels used to be not a virgin when she wedded her extremely rich person spouse Ned Nwoko.

We can reach determinations that Regina Daniels’ virginity used to be broken ahead of time of her marriage.

You would review that Regina Daniels’ mother Rita Daniels, gloated about the truth that Regina Daniels was previously a virgin sooner than she got married with the 59-year-old government official.

Might it be able to be that she lied or she just the statement essentially to come to a meaningful conclusion.

A video located through Marioofficialblog via web-based networking media proposes the dazzling entertainer on the whole with her sisters in a Tik Tok venture the spot they did the ‘Never Have I Ever’ game.

The game necessitates that the member drops a finger on the off chance that the individual have ever.

“Drop a finger in the event that you have a build depend bigger than 5” The questioner inquired.

Regina Daniels’ more youthful sister, Destiny Daniels, made her to drop a finger seeing pleasantly she would be duplicity to her and done being honest with her fans.

This offers a sign that the vigorously pregnant had hacked cassava sooner than transforming into a married spouse.

Her admission presently repudiates her mom’s comments about prior.

This disclosure has started a discourse via web-based networking media in Nigeria as adherents increment inquiries over Rita Daniels’ input about her little girl’s virginity status.

China sends doctors to check on Kim Jong-un’s health

China has sent a team to North Korea including medical experts to check on Kim Jong-un, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean ruler. It was not immediately clear what the trip by the Chinese team signalled in terms of Kim’s health.

A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist party’s international liaison department left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday, two of the people told Reuters.

The department is the main Chinese body dealing with neighbouring North Korea. The sources declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

The liaison department could not be reached for comment late on Friday. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday.

Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, reported earlier this week that Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on 12 April. It cited one unnamed source in North Korea.

South Korean government officials and a Chinese official with the liaison department challenged subsequent reports suggesting that Kim was in grave danger after surgery.

South Korean officials said they had detected no signs of unusual activity in North Korea.

On Thursday the US president, Donald Trump, also played down earlier reports that Kim was gravely ill. “I think the report was incorrect,” Trump told reporters, but he declined to say if he had been in touch with North Korean officials.

On Friday a South Korean source told Reuters their intelligence was that Kim was alive and would likely make an appearance soon. The person said he did not have any comment on Kim’s current condition or any Chinese involvement.

An official familiar with US intelligence said that Kim was known to have health problems but they had no reason to conclude he was seriously ill or unable eventually to reappear in public.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, when asked about Kim’s health on Fox News after Trump spoke, said: “I don’t have anything I can share with you tonight, but the American people should know we’re watching the situation very keenly.”

North Korea is one of the world’s most isolated and secretive countries, and the health of its leaders is treated as a matter of state security. Reuters was not able to independently confirm any details on Kim’s whereabouts or condition.

North Korea’s state media last reported on Kim’s whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on 11 April. State media did not report that he was in attendance at an event to mark the birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, on 15 April, an important anniversary in North Korea.

Kim, believed to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state media before. In 2014 he vanished for more than a month and North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp. Speculation about his health has been fanned by his heavy smoking, apparent weight gain since taking power and family history of cardiovascular problems.

When Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, suffered a stroke in 2008, South Korean media reported at the time that Chinese doctors were involved in his treatment along with French physicians.

In 2019 Xi Jinping made the first state visit in 14 years by a Chinese leader to North Korea, which depends on Beijing for economic and diplomatic support.

China is North Korea’s chief ally and the economic lifeline for a country hard hit by UN sanctions, and has a keen interest in the stability of the country with which it shares a long, porous border.

Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who came to power after his father Kim Jong-il died in 2011 from a heart attack. He has visited China four times since 2018.
Trump held unprecedented summits with Kim in 2018 and 2019 as part of a bid to persuade him to give up North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.

China struggles to block EU’s report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about COVID-19 outbreak

China struggled to block a European Union report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to four sources and diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters.

The report was eventually released, albeit just before the start of the weekend Europe time and with some criticism of the Chinese government rearranged or removed, a sign of the balancing act Brussels is trying to pull off as the coronavirus outbreak scrambles international relations.

The Chinese Mission to the EU was not immediately available for comment and China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the exchange.

An EU spokeswoman said “we never comment on content or alleged content of internal diplomatic contacts and communication with our partners from another countries.”

Another EU official Reuters said that the disinformation report had been published as usual and denied any of it had been watered down.

Four diplomatic sources told Reuters that the report had initially been slated for release on April 21 but was delayed after Chinese officials picked up on a Politico news report hat previewed its findings.

A senior Chinese official contacted European officials in Beijing the same day to tell them that, “if the report is as described and it is released today it will be very bad for cooperation,” according to EU diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters.

The correspondence quoted senior Chinese foreign ministry official Yang Xiaoguang as saying that publishing the report would make Beijing “very angry” and accused European officials of trying to please “someone else” – something the EU diplomats understood to be a reference to Washington.

The four sources said the report had been delayed as a result, and a comparison of the internal version of the report obtained by Reuters and the final version published late Friday showed several differences.

For example, on the first page of the internal report shared with EU governments on April 20, the EU’s foreign policy arm said: “China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed.”

Why we can’t relaxed lockdown, says FG as Nigerian cases rise to 1,095

As Coronavirus cases hit to 1,095 as of yesterday the 24th April 2020, the Federal Government, through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, have come up with reason why the lockdown measure should not be relaxed amid efforts to curb the virus pandemic.

You could recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had on March 29 ordered a lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states for 14 days to curb COVID-19 spread. Many states had also followed.

However, as the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the President on April 13 extended the lockdown for 14 more days.

During a media briefing on Friday in Abuja, Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 said, it was not yet time to relax the lockdown.

He added that, although the lockdown was having negative effects on the economy as it was impeding Nigerians’ ability to go about their daily activities, he said it was vital to be patient and endure the lockdown further to ensure a safe and healthy society when the economy would be reopened.

He said, “We will eventually exit this stage and restart our normal life but that stage is still a while to come and I ask for your endurance, support and patience. Lots of efforts are going on across the world to find new therapy, to find vaccine.

“Everybody is pushing hard along this direction. We need unprecedented level of caution to continue carrying out the preventive measure that we have advised many times on this platform.

“Many families have not been able to bury their dead, rescheduled their marriages and baptism and everything they are doing. In a way, life is in suspense. Everyone recognises the sacrifice Nigerians have made but we really have to encourage one another to continue to a position where we can relax some of that (lockdown) but until we get to that place, we have to continue in the short term.

“We are working hard to reach a point where we can relax some of these measures but we are not there yet. We ask you to join us to continue this journey with us and amplify these messages that we are giving. We are happy to have the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress here with us today (Friday).”

Ihekweazu added that the citizens must remember that the most vulnerable people were the elderly and people with other illnesses.

“We must protect them. In protecting them, if they are living in the village, leave them there and support them with whatever resources you have. But please, now is not the time to encourage travelling,” he added.

Indian Refiners rejects Nigerian Crude oil

India’s Reliance Industries owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, saw its imports of Nigerian crude oil slump to zero in the first quarter of the year, compared to 9,800 barrels per day in Q1 2019.

India has remained the single largest buyer of Nigerian crude oil in the past few years after the United States slashed its imports from the country on the back of its shale oil production boom.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Reliance Industries imported 8.3 per cent less oil in March than in the same month of 2019, according to data from shipping and industry sources.

It said the March imports, at 1.24 million bpd, were 6.1 per cent per cent above the previous month’s.

Indian Refiners rejects Nigerian Crude oil

Reliance shipped in about 43 per cent of its imports from Latin America, slightly lower than about 43.5 per cent a year before, the data showed.

The share of Middle Eastern oil in its overall purchases rose to 43.19 per cent from about 37 per cent a year ago. Imports from the US declined to about 10 per cent from 13 per cent a year ago, the data showed.

No health worker should be dismissed at this time: Minister

Osagie-Ehanire

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has advised against removal or dismissal of any health workers at this period.

The minister gave the advice to health authorities on Friday during the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, in Abuja.

He said, “This is not the time for any doctor to be pulled out of service. We need all at this time, we need nurses, laboratory scientists, we need all hands on deck at this time.”

Responding to questions concerning the dismissal of a certain group of doctors, Ehanire added that although he is not aware of the incident, it will be investigated.

“With regards to the doctors who were dismissed, there must have been administration reasons which I don’t know about. It will be looked into by the board at the hospital,” he said.

Also applauding frontline health workers, he said, “We salute your courage and patriotism.”

“Protect yourselves as prescribed. Use your personal protective equipment judiciously. Do not attempt to treat COVID-19 patients without wearing adequate PPE or if your institution is not accredited to do so.

“This is important because we need to keep health workers safe at such a time and cannot afford an increase in number of those who test positive to COVID-19 and have to go into self-isolation.

“Remain vigilant in the line of duty and maintain high index of suspicion for this infection,” he said.

WHO appoints Okonjo-Iweala as COVID-19 Special Envoy

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a Special Envoy for the newly inaugurated Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

She is to serve alongside British business executive, Sir Andrew Witty in the same capacity, to mobilise international commitment to the initiative.

This was made known by the Director-General of the organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, during the launch of the ACT Accelerator — via webinar from Geneva.

“I would especially like to thank Sir Andrew Witty and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for agreeing to act as Special Envoys for the ACT Accelerator,” Ghebreyesus said in his remarks.

Obaseki’s govt, a sinking ship as 5 commissioners dumped camp ahead of party’s primary

Ahead of Edo state governorship primaries billed for June, 2020, five influential Commissioners might have concluded plans to dumped the administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Their decision to resign, Blueprint gathered was mainly due to internal squabbles within Obaseki’s government.

Tontrends further gathered that the commissioners are mainly from Edo North, the stronghold of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

A government source who craved for anonymity said, “The planned resignation may not be unconnected with the power-play by some “cabal” in the Obaseki-led government who have reportedly shut out every other person in the scheme of things.

“This is not going down well with many of the appointees; especially now that the governor appears to be helpless. And the commissioners now see the resignation as a way of getting back at the forces by aligning with Oshiomhole’s faction of the APC to stop the governor’s reelection bid.”

The internal squabbles was said to have heightened when Obaseki went into self-isolation after his contact with person who later tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

His deputy, Phillip Shaibu and the Secretary to the Government, Barrister Osarodion Ogie were said to have taken charge of the affairs of government at the time.

Besides, the planned resignation of the commissioners is coming less than 24 hours after the governor’s Chief of Staff and trusted ally, Mr. Taiwo Akerele, threw-in his resignation letter over issues bordering “administrative and governance grounds.”

However, multiple sources have attributed his resignation to powerful forces in the administration who have continually undermined his office financially and politically in his Akoko-Edo local government.

But Mr. Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser to Obaseki on media, communication & strategy said, “The governor is yet to receive any official communication of the resignation of Chief of Staff, Taiwo Akerele.”

According to him, “While the governor has not received any formal communication to this effect, he believes that this is a personal decision of Mr. Akerele.

“However, whenever the resignation letter gets to the governor, he would accept it, and he wishes Akerele all the best in his future endeavours.”