IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, never denied being the leader of the Igbo nationalist organisation while taking his plea at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has said. According to the lawyer, the clarification became necessary because of what he described as “deliberate misrepresentation/falsehood and wrong   narratives being perpetuated by some mischief makers” and gaining prominence in social media. Ejiofor said this in a statement on Thursday titled, “Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu never denied being the leader of IPOB – Let the records be set straight”. According to him, it was pertinent to provide clarification and clear the doubt. He said, “S.M. Labaran Esq, who stood in yesterday (Wednesday) for the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation is a colleague I hold in high esteem, but I shall resist every mischievous ploy being adopted to misinform the unsuspecting members of the public wh...

The Federal Government has put on hold the planned resumption of federal schools. It has also stopped students from participating in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations earlier scheduled for August 4 to September 5. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The minister said federal schools would remain closed until it is safe to reopen them. He also urged state governments that have announced school resumption plans to rescind such. Adamu stated that the West African Examinations Council could not determine the resumption date of schools for Nigeria. He said he would prefer that Nigerian students lose an academic year than to expose them to heath dangers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Osun State Government has confirmed 14 new cases of coronavirus and recorded two death from the pandemic. The State’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu, in a statement, said with the development, the number of our active cases as of Saturday, July 4, is 95. Isamotu also disclosed that four patients were discharged from the state’s Treatment and Isolation Centre on Saturday after testing negative for the virus. The Commissioner noted that the new cases were discovered following contact tracing of previous cases in the State. He then enjoined residents to always observe all the precautionary measures laid down by the State against the spread of the virus. The statement read in parts, “With the latest development, the number of our active cases as at today, Saturday, July 4 is 95. We have 165 confirmed cases, out of which the State has successfully treated and discharged 63 patients while seven deaths have been recorded.”

The police have arrested a Chinese couple in Abuja for allegedly locking up their Nigerian employees in their apartment for the past four months. Eight domestic workers were rescued by the personnel of the Utako Divisional Police Station on Tuesday following a tip-off by a resident, who reported the incident to the  Human Rights  radio station. The police raided the residence of the Chinese in the Jabi area of Abuja and took the unidentified couple and their domestic employees to the station. In footage provided by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, the victims said they had been locked up in the apartment since February. A lady, who did not give her name, said the domestic workers were not allowed to move out of the building and that the couple refused to allow her to go for treatment when she took ill. She stated,  “When I was seriously sick, I asked these people (Chinese employers) to open the gate for me, but they refused until I became very ang...

The immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, has died at age 70 after battling coronavirus-related symptoms for a month, WEXERES has learnt. Ajimobi, who was governor from 2011 to 2019, was named the Acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress last week but never resumed. The former governor was hospitalised at First Cardiologist and Cardiovascular Consultants Hospital, Lagos on June 2, 2020. He was said to have tested negative for COVID-19 but the illness had caused his health to deteriorate. Ajimobi’s wife, Florence, had earlier been hospitalised with her husband. She was, however, discharged. He was said to be managing the illness at home before the situation worsened and he had to go to a hospital. Like other VIPs, he was said to have opted for private treatment rather than a public facility after his condition worsened. A source close to the family said the former governor had diabetes and other ailments. “It is true that Ajimob...

Despite the suspension of interstate movement across Nigeria, some travellers from northern Nigeria have entered Osun State by hiding in trucks carrying essential goods, an official said. This was communicated to journalists on Wednesday evening by the Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Adeyanju Binuyo. He, however, said the youth had been tracked down by the government and will immediately be sent back to their home states. “Government is aware of a huge influx of non- Osun residents into the state, especially from Zamfara. They were coming majorly through the Ondo axis, accompanying trucks that are carrying food materials purportedly to be sold around the South West generally. “The intelligence that we’ve gathered in the last few days is such that they usually have two or a maximum of three people attached to a truck to assist in discharging the goods. But now we have sometimes ten of them hidden among the goods. “Sometimes the trucks would stop an...

Zamfara State Government has warned its Osun counterpart against deporting Northern youths who allegedly sneaked into the South-West state. Zamfara made its position known in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, Zailani Bappa, on Thursday. WEXERES had on Wednesday reported that Osun raised the alarm over the large influx of northern youths, especially Zamfara indigenes, into the state. The Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of Osun State, Prince Adeyanju Biniyo, accused the northerners of “sneaking” into the state, threatening that the Osun Amotekun Corps has been notified to arrest and deport the “strangers”. Reacting, Bappa faulted Binuyo, claiming that the Zamfara’s youths are Nigeria citizens who can reside in any state. The statement read in part, “The attention of Zamfara State Government was drawn to a story credited to the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of Osun State, Prince Adey...