Another batch of stranded Nigerians has returned to the country from Saudi Arabia.
A social media post by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) states that the batch which had a total of 425 citizens arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Wednesday, February 3.
This is the third batch of Nigerians that have returned to the country within the last week.
Last Thursday, a total of 384 Nigerians returned from the Middle East Kingdom, and a day after that, another batch numbering over 400 returned to the nation.
NIDCOM says they will join other returnees that arrived earlier and are currently undergoing quarantine at the Federal Capital Territory Hajj camp for 14 days in line with the reversed COVID-19 protocols by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.
Eating less meat can help reduce the risk of a pandemic, in addition to saving the environment, the UN Environment Programme said on Wednesday.
The programme said this while announcing a new Chatham House report. “At a time when so much of the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s never been more obvious that the well-being of people and animals, wild and farmed, are intertwined,” said Philip Lymbery, of Compassion in World Farming, which also backed the think tank. If ecosystems continue to be destroyed, the population’s food supply will be at risk, they warned.
A move towards more plant-based foods are necessary to ensure biodiversity loss will not accelerate, they add.
In addition, more land needs to be protected, and agriculture needs to become more environmentally friendly, they said.
Natural ecosystems have been increasingly converted into arable land and pasture in recent decades, leading to the loss of animal habitats.
“The intensive farming of billions of animals globally seriously damages the environment, causing loss of biodiversity and producing massive greenhouse gas emissions that accelerate global warming,” said famed primatologist Jane Goodall in the UNEP statement.
Following what many described as an unguarded statement, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has apologised to his imperial majesty, Ooni of Ife. Igboho in a viral video vented that the Ooni of Ife along with other Yoruba leaders have failed in speaking truth to power.
In his retraction video, Igboho said he didn’t mean to disrespect the Ooni, but “I apologise if it is perceived as a disrespect.
“I apologise to Yorubas at large, I have spoken with the Ooni and I am not fit to disrespect his royal majesty. “On kidnapping and invasion of the Yorubaland, we must all stand up to it. We must prove that we have gallant and patriotic people in the southwest.
“There are many powerful people, more powerful than I am in Lagos, Ibadan, Osun and other areas, we cannot afford to fold our arms and put the Yoruba nation into shame,” Sunday Igboho said.
“Expounding what birthed the statement against the Yoruba leaders, Sunday Igboho said: “When the Ooni visited President Muhammadu Buhari, some said he went to receive money on my behalf and that is a blatant lie, I didn’t receive money from anybody, I am not working for any politician, it is for the love of the Yoruba Nation.”
Sunday Igboho, had, given quit notice to ‘terrorist herders’ in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, that led to some fulani residents fleeing to other states. He recently took the campaign against kidnapping, rape, banditry and other crimes to Ogun State.
Nollywood actress, Bose Alao has acquired a new car.
She took to her Instagram page to celebrate her new achievement with her fans.
Bose disclosed that she has been blessed in the month of January by God but she wasn’t able to flaunt her new car to thank God because two of her kids were seriously sick when she got her new car. However, she thanked God for making her a happy person and blessing her.
Tyson Fury revealed his wife Paris is pregnant with a sixth child as the heavyweight champion opened up on how he keeps his kids grounded.
Fury has three sons, eldest Prince John James, Prince Tyson Fury II and Prince Adonis Amaziah, who was born in 2019.
And the WBC champion has two daughters, Valencia and Venezuela - but Fury announced he is expecting a sixth with long-time partner Paris.
He told Gareth A Davies: "Paris is pregnant again and the Lord has blessed us definitely with another child and I'm very thankful.
"Got a beautiful wife, beautiful kids, they're all healthy. That's the most important thing, you know, your health and your family.
"Nothing else really matters. Your job, your money, your wealth, your career, none of that really matters because you can get another job, you can start snooker or you can go make more money.
"It doesn't really matter but the one thing you can't get back is your family. You can't get back time lost and that's the crazy thing about it all."
Fury - the highest-paid fighter of 2020 with £46million earned - goes on to admit that he does not care for fame or fortune.
Reality tv star, Kiddwaya has confirmed his romantic relationship with Erica has ended and that they are now friends.
All the beautiful love and honour that once existed between Kiddwaya and Erica is no more as he took to his instastory to explain to his fans.
During a question and answer session which he held for the second time on his Instagram page, a fan asked him to explain why he claimed he had no love life when Erica is thought to be his lover.
Reacting to the question, Kiddwaya said Erica was his girlfriend when he honoured the interview and also didn’t want the media into his private life hence the reason for such a statement during the interview.
He added that the media twisted his words to suit a narrative that set him up for drags. Also, there no relationship between them but just positive vibes.
A truck carrying grain has derailed off the Lagos-Ibadan road forcing it to crush a pedestrian to death as it emptied its content on the pavement.
The accident has occasioned serious traffic along the busy corridor.
Attempts by emergency agencies comprising: Nigeria Police , Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and others has created a bedlam on the road as the section of the corridor outwards Lagos at Arepo junction was blocked
Hundreds of commuters had to divert to the alternate road towards Punch Place to connect out of the gridlock.
The crashed truck was yet to be moved out of the road.
The crushed pedestrian, has, however been packed in a body bag.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 1,138 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 134,690.
The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Wednesday.
“On the 3rd of February 2021, 1138 new confirmed cases and 5 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
“Till date, 134690 cases have been confirmed, 108657 cases have been discharged and 1618 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 1138 new cases are reported from 21 states- Lagos (377), FCT (172), Plateau (86), Kano (84), Edo (60), Osun (47), Nasarawa (41), Imo (40), Rivers (36), Niger (32), Oyo (32), Borno (29), Kaduna (27), Delta (18), Kwara (17), Cross River (9), Ekiti (8), Bauchi (7), Ogun (7), Sokoto (6) and Bayelsa (3).
“Our discharges today include 476 community recoveries in Lagos State and 121 community recoveries in Plateau State managed in line with guidelines,” the NCDC said.
Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has urged herdsmen to return to the northern region if their security could not be guaranteed in their host communities in the southern part of the country.
NEF also told northern Governors to commence preparation to receive the Fulani communities being ejected from southern states.
NEF Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, in a statement, said the relocation advice became necessary following alleged attack on herders, families and communities in some states of the south.
The forum warned the nation would be treading dangerous grounds if it continued to tolerate demonisation of entire groups over particular types of crimes.
The elders called on President Muhammadu Buhari and Governors to “protect law-abiding members of Fulani communities from killers and criminals who apparently believe that Fulani has no rights in Nigeria.”
The statement reads in part: “NEF is deeply worried by reports of ejections, under threats and attacks, of Fulani herders, families and communities in some states of the south.
“The forum has been receiving these reports since the night of Sunday, January 31, and has taken the responsible step by drawing the attention of authorities to the dangers, which these attacks represent for all Nigerians.
“We have also advised law-abiding Fulani communities to seek protection where it is available, and have appealed to other Fulani to resist the temptation to take the law into their own hands.
“It is necessary to warn people who threaten law-abiding Fulani communities in all parts of Nigeria, but particularly in some parts of the South, to desist.
“Majority of Fulani are law-abiding and have rights to live lawfully wherever they can find means of subsistence.
“The Fulani will not be ejected from any Nigerian community only on the basis of being Fulani or herding cattle within the limits of laws and regulations.
“States that seek to limit criminal activities are perfectly entitled to do so, but they must follow due process, and avoid exposing innocent citizens to danger at all cost.
“The forum demands that the Nigeria Police must live up to its constitutional responsibility to detect crimes and arrest and prosecute criminals, whoever they are.”
The elders appealed to Nigerians to exercise restraint and not play into the hands of people who desire to achieve dubious political goals by pitting citizens against each other.
A man has shared the story of how he and other passengers who had boarded a bus from Ijebu to Sango Ota alighted on the expressway.
He said the driver of the commercial vehicle almost ram them into a trailer.
On getting to Sagamu interchange they all alighted and asked him to give them something out of their paid amount as they were still very far from Sango Ota, but he refused. He said they didn't mind and let him zoom off.
Thirty-two people died and five were injured on Tuesday when a truck carrying mourners and a coffin collided with a car and three other vehicles in Uganda, the Ugandan Red Cross said.
“The road is small, it’s under construction and it was dark,” said Nakasiita.
Shortly afterwards, two trucks coming from Kasese ploughed into the crash site and a third coming in the opposite direction, from Bundibugyo, also struck the vehicles and overturned.
“So it made up five cars all involved at the same scene,” said Nakasiita.
Red Cross staff and volunteers worked with Ugandan soldiers to transport the dead and evacuated the five survivors.
Several women on Wednesday blocked major roads in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State to protest the activities of criminal herdsmen which they said have brought hardship to their communities.
The women accused the herdsmen of armed robbery, r3ping, and destruction of farmlands, among other crimes.
The women took their protest to the Palace of the Onojie, Anselm Edenojie, and the Divisional Police headquarters in Uromi, and demanded the immediate removal of herdsmen from their lands.
One of the protesting women however said they were not able to see the monarch and the divisional police officer to present their complaint.
The women, who came from the main Uromi town and neighbouring villages, assembled in the city centre where they set up a bonfire.
They later divided themselves into smaller groups and blocked major roads in the town, chanting solidarity songs.
Another protester, Angela Esangbedo, said they could no longer access their farmlands for fear of being r3ped.
The decomposing body of Atlanta, Georgia-based Prince Eloniyo Dennis Abuda, who was kidnapped in Edo on January 30 2021, has been discovered in the forest.
A top security chief, who spoke in confidence, authoritatively confirmed the discovery.
But Edo Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chidi Nwabuzor, a Superintendent of Police (SP), was not forthcoming when contacted by The Nation.
The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lambasted the Ogun State government for saying it did not invite Sunday Adeyemo to help solve its security challenges.
Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, on Monday, stormed Igua, Yewa North Local area of Ogun State to chase away herdsmen, days after he visited Igangan in Oyo State to sack Fulani herdsmen, whom he accused of killings, kidnapping among others.
It was reported that houses belonging to Fulani herdsmen and a cow market were set ablaze in Igua during his visit.
But, the Ogun State Government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusile, said it did not seek the assistance of Sunday Igboho in Ogun.
Reacting, the PDP said, “the shameless disclaimer on the intervention of Chief Sunday Adeyemo is clear evidence that all is not well with the government.
“It is a manifestation of the fact that the government is not only confused by its manifest failures in core areas of governance, it shows that the government is obviously bereft of problem-solving ideas and initiatives.”
In a statement signed by the State Chairman, Sikirulahi Ogundele, the PDP recalled that “the ruling APC government in Ogun State has earlier made a public statement through one Remi Hazzan on purported invitation to the popular Pan Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, on the growing advocacy for self-help in the face of deteriorating issues of security across the South West zone and Ogun State in particular.”
The party said it was, however, not too surprised to see the same government, in what it called its “unending penchant for confusion and ‘trial and error’, issuing a disclaimer to what its official had earlier confirmed”; saying it “wonders when the ruling government would desist from blowing cold and hot at the same time.”
The statement reads in part:
“For us as a pro-people party, the government’s disclaimer seems to be an attempt to pull wool to cover the eyes of Ogun people from the facts. The denial is a blatant attempt to massage the ego of the General Muhamadu Buhari-led federal government.
“In the last few days, we heard the news of how Fulani herdsmen were allegedly led by a team of fully armed military personnel into a sleepy rural community around Ijoun, Yewa North axis of Ogun state. The reports of harassment, beating, and molestation of locals and some community leaders who tried to prevent the trespass by the herdsmen was conveniently waved off by the ruling government.
“On this, the ruling APC government maintains silence all in a desperate attempt to satisfy the whims and caprices of the Federal Government, which has successfully turned itself into the official mouthpiece of criminal elements amongst the herdsmen.
However, as a political party with good conscience, we shall continue to follow, educate and mobilise members of the public on all insecurity challenges going on in Ogun State and in Nigeria with rapt alertness and will issue full condemnation to the killings of innocent citizens and residents by foreign or local Fulani or any criminal group in the state.
“Without any delay, we make bold to, therefore, call on the ruling government to go an extra mile and be bold enough to engage all stakeholders in the State and South West, particularly anyone or group who volunteers to assist the state in stemming the current trend of insecurity.”
A former Minister of Aviation and a known critic of this government, Femi Fani Kayode has called out Buba Galadima for daring to call Governor Akeredolu of Ondo state an Illiterate over his quit notice to herdsmen.
FFK referred to him as a monster, a dysfunctional misfit, psychotic sociopath among other unprintable names. Calling out the elderly man, Fani Kayode on twitter wrote;
"Akeredolu is an educated illiterate"- Buba Galadima.
You need to be a reprehensible monster, a dysfunctional misfit, a conciousless degenerate, a psychotic sociopath & a village idiot to describe a man that is trying to save the lives of his people as an illiterate. Eran oko.''
